{"title": ["Shares fall as new Covid strain spooks investors - BBC News", "Refunds pledge for scrapped Christmas travel plans - BBC News", "Covid: Case for recalling MPs over emergency, says Sir Keir Starmer - BBC News", "Rosalind Knight: Friday Night Dinner and Carry On actress dies aged 87 - BBC News", "Grace Millane murder: Jesse Kempson guilty of attacking two more women - BBC News", "Russian agent 'tricked into detailing Navalny assassination bid' - BBC News", "Marcus Rashford given Expert Panel Special Award at Sports Personality of the Year 2020 - BBC Sport", "Brexit: No trade deal unless 'substantial shift' from EU, UK says - BBC News", "Essex lorry deaths: Two found guilty of killing 39 migrants - BBC News", "Covid-19: NI Executive meeting over GB-NI travel ban - BBC News", "Covid outbreak declared at Swansea DVLA contact centre - BBC News", "Covid-19: Tighter restrictions likely, Sir Patrick Vallance warns - BBC News", "Harrods mega-spender loses Supreme Court challenge - BBC News", "Brexit: Johnson resists calls to extend transition into 2021 - BBC News", "European regulator says Boeing's 737 Max is safe - BBC News", "Covid: Cases rise as Christmas rules come into force - BBC News", "Sir Keir Starmer promises to shift power from Westminster - BBC News", "Coronavirus tier 4 restrictions: Aerial footage shows queues and empty streets - BBC News", "Covid-19: 'Serious disruption' feared as Dover halts traffic to France - BBC News", "Coronavirus as it happened: UK working to unblock border 'as fast as possible' - BBC News", "Sports Personality of the Year 2020: Lewis Hamilton crowned winner - BBC Sport", "Mocked drive-through Santa's grotto now 'magical' - BBC News", "Brexit: Hugo Boss and Zalando suspend NI deliveries - BBC News", "Covid-19: Christmas 'in jeopardy' after ban on UK travellers - BBC News", "Covid-19: Visitors from tier 4 and Wales 'must self-isolate' - BBC News", "Cardiff family split for Christmas after 'visa bungle' - BBC News", "Boy accidentally drowned in River Tees, inquest rules - BBC News", "Covid: Passengers stranded as countries ban UK travel - BBC News", "Halle synagogue attack: Germany far-right gunman jailed for life - BBC News", "Covid: Policing Christmas rule-breakers in Wales 'difficult' - BBC News", "Quarantine rules to be relaxed for business travellers - BBC News", "NHS workers: 'Vaccine is a game changer' - BBC News", "Avonmouth explosion: Four dead in Bristol water works blast - BBC News", "Covid: Jersey to enter 'hospitality circuit breaker' - BBC News", "Where and why earthquakes occur in Scotland - BBC News", "Piers Corbyn guilty of lockdown protest restrictions breach - BBC News", "Baby girl born from record-setting 27-year-old embryo - BBC News", "Chinese step up attempts to influence Biden team - US official - BBC News", "Fans return to English Football League matches after nine-month absence - BBC Sport", "Dune and Matrix 4 streaming plan prompts urgent talks from AMC cinemas - BBC News", "Ken Maginnis: Peer faces 18-month ban over homophobic bullying claims - BBC News", "As it happened: Covid-19 - UK first in Europe to pass 60,000 Covid deaths - BBC News", "Can cloud computing save money? - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "US revokes visas for 1,000 Chinese students deemed security risk - BBC News", "Covid rules on hospital visits and maternity appointments relaxed - BBC News", "Covid: First batch of vaccines arrives in the UK - BBC News", "Rapid Covid test: Daughter and mum, 95, hug for first time since March - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Much of NI lockdown to end next Friday - BBC News", "Fauci apologises for saying UK 'rushed' vaccine - BBC News", "Being a Chinese student in the US: ‘Neither the US nor China wants us’ - BBC News", "'Ditch 4K video and new tech to fight climate change' - BBC News", "Defund the Police: Obama says 'snappy slogan' risks alienating people - BBC News", "Asda joins rivals to pay back Covid rates relief - BBC News", "Brexit: EU and UK at odds over approval for food exports - BBC News", "Two Covid tests for students in England before quick Christmas exit - BBC News", "Brexit: Are both sides running out of road to make a deal? - BBC News", "Giscard d'Estaing: France mourns ex-president, dead at 94 - BBC News", "Avonmouth: Four dead in 'tragic' explosion - BBC News", "Covid: Unpaid carers 'should be prioritised for vaccine' - BBC News", "Coronavirus: US hits record Covid cases and hospitalisations - BBC News", "Cardiff Airport: Wizz Air base to create 40 new jobs - BBC News", "Brexit: 'Prospect of breakthrough receding' in UK-EU talks - BBC News", "Boeing 737 Max sees first firm order since crashes - BBC News", "Channel crossings: Suspected people-smuggling gang arrested in raids - BBC News", "Premier League and EFL agree rescue package amounting to £250m - BBC Sport", "Covid in Scotland: No extension to Scottish school Christmas holidays - BBC News", "Mad Max star Hugh Keays-Byrne dies aged 73 - BBC News", "Live animal exports to be banned in England and Wales - BBC News", "Covid: Some students not back until February next term - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Hackers targeted Covid vaccine supply 'cold chain' - BBC News", "Madeleine McCann still a missing person case - Dame Cressida Dick - BBC News", "As it happened: Four dead after silo tank blast - BBC News", "BBC Radio 1 announces Christmas guest presenter line-up - BBC News", "Covid-19 vaccine: First jabs 'could cut 99% of deaths' - Jonathan Van-Tam - BBC News", "GCSEs and A-levels: Extra measures 'to ensure fair exams next summer' - BBC News", "Matt Hancock 'thrilled' with Covid vaccine approval news - BBC News", "How machine learning is allowing thousands of students to sit exams at home - BBC News", "Covid-19: Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine judged safe for use in UK - BBC News", "'Multiple casualties' after Avonmouth explosion - BBC News", "Student Covid testing begins for Christmas exodus - BBC News", "Obama, Bush and Clinton pledge to film themselves getting Covid vaccine - BBC News", "Covid-19: Shoppers return to stores under England's new tier system - BBC News", "Top teacher wins $1m and gives half away - BBC News", "Engineering firm BiFab goes into administration - BBC News", "Ofsted points to total school disruption in some areas - BBC News", "Climate change: You've got cheap data, how about cheap power too? - BBC News", "Manchester United 1-3 Paris St-Germain: Neymar scores twice for Parisians - BBC Sport", "'We've just moved to a remote island we'd never visited' - BBC News", "Coronavirus: UK got vaccine first because it's 'a better country', says Gavin Williamson - BBC News", "Prince Charles 'praying' that more entertainment venues can reopen - BBC News", "Daryl Bunn death: Man guilty of one-punch killing in Maldon - BBC News", "Covid-19: 'Do not resuscitate' decisions complaints up - BBC News", "Topshop owner Arcadia limits gift cards to 50% of purchase - BBC News", "Enniskeen pipe bomb: Man is arrested after explosion - BBC News", "Covid-19: Millions to enter toughest tier and furlough extended - BBC News", "Port of Dover facing 'unnecessary holdups' on 1 January - BBC News", "MI6 'may be committing crimes in UK' - BBC News", "Covid cases in schools 'reflect community levels' - BBC News", "Covid: Toughest rules extended in south of England - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "Dangerous cladding: 'Fire patrols at our flats cost us £500,000' - BBC News", "Covid: Areas in England await Covid tier changes - BBC News", "Covid: 11,000 positive tests delayed in Welsh figures - BBC News", "Trump Twitter ‘hack’: Police accept attacker's claim - BBC News", "Covid-19: Patient waits 28 hours as hospitals struggle - BBC News", "Future of economy 'unusually uncertain', warns Bank of England - BBC News", "Tom Cruise: Recording emerges of star 'shouting at film crew' over Covid - BBC News", "Cancelling Christmas: 'They said they understood' - BBC News", "BA drops 15 long-haul routes including Seoul and Seychelles - BBC News", "China's Chang'e-5 mission returns Moon samples - BBC News", "As it happened: Millions move into tier 3 of virus rules in England - BBC News", "Staggered return for England's secondary schools next term - BBC News", "Brexit: Trade talks in 'a serious situation' says Boris Johnson - BBC News", "Bobby Storey: Funeral investigation completed by police - BBC News", "Covid vaccine: More than 130,000 vaccinated in UK in first week - BBC News", "Dominic Cummings: Politicians too focused on Twitter and gossip - BBC News", "Royal Christmas card: Prince William and Kate release family photograph - BBC News", "Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah: Air pollution a factor in girl's death, inquest finds - BBC News", "Nicola Sturgeon says Scottish drug deaths record 'indefensible' - BBC News", "Liverpool 2-1 Tottenham: Roberto Firmino's late winner sends Reds clear of Spurs at top - BBC Sport", "£30m fund for flats with dangerous cladding - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf says coronavirus approach 'has failed' - BBC News", "Timeline: Lockerbie bombing - BBC News", "Rail fare rise a ‘kick in the teeth’ for passengers - BBC News", "EU data law row threatens child abuse investigations - BBC News", "Equality debate can't be led by fashion, says minister Liz Truss - BBC News", "Covid: 'Miracle' survivor Mal Martin feared his life was over - BBC News", "'I've lost £20,000 in sales because of shipping delays' - BBC News", "Lockerbie - BBC News", "Concussion in sport: More former rugby union players prepare to take action - BBC Sport", "Serco: Test-and-trace firm hands £5m bonus to workers - BBC News", "Chancellor Rishi Sunak reveals date of next Budget - BBC News", "Brexit: 'Narrow path' in view for trade deal - EU chief - BBC News", "Jacob Rees-Mogg accuses Unicef of 'playing politics' over UK food campaign - BBC News", "Atlantic City to auction off demolition of former Trump casino - BBC News", "Google ad practices under fire in new lawsuit - BBC News", "Star Wars' Boba Fett actor Jeremy Bulloch dies aged 75 - BBC News", "Canary Islands: Holidaymakers react as quarantine deadline passes - BBC News", "Covid-19 in Wales: Mass testing a 'waste of resources' - BBC News", "Live: The Andrew Marr Show - BBC News", "Newham stabbing: Murder arrest after boy dies - BBC News", "Brexit: Any deal better than no deal, first minister says - BBC News", "Britons told not to stockpile food ahead of January - BBC News", "Energy bills: Automatic switching plan for fairer tariffs - BBC News", "Anthony Joshua knocks out Kubrat Pulev to raise hope of Tyson Fury bout - BBC Sport", "Merlin's beard! Harry Potter first edition sells for £68k - BBC News", "Brexit: What are the UK and EU doing to prepare for no deal? - BBC News", "Ikea sorry after port disruption causes stock shortage - BBC News", "Charley Pride: Country music singer dies of Covid-19 - BBC News", "Brexit: No-deal navy threat 'irresponsible', says Tobias Ellwood - BBC News", "Suspected gas explosion causes Lincolnshire house collapse - BBC News", "Brexit: Are chances of a trade deal rising again? - BBC News", "'Not enough' climate ambition shown by leaders - BBC News", "US Covid vaccination: 'The mission begins' - BBC News", "Covid: More tier 3 areas to get mass testing from Monday - BBC News", "Teenage glider pilot flies solo for first time on 14th birthday - BBC News", "Brexit trade talks: UK and EU to 'go the extra mile' in effort to agree deal - BBC News", "Boy and man arrested after teenager found dead in Lincolnshire - BBC News", "Brexit talks: UK and EU 'still very far apart on key issues', says PM - BBC News", "Covid: Public must think carefully about Christmas risk, NHS bosses warn - BBC News", "Rape investigation into Tory MP dropped by police - BBC News", "Coronavirus: US starts huge vaccine delivery operation - BBC News", "Marr challenges Raab on broken promises over free trade deal - BBC News", "US election: Pro-Trump rallies see scuffles in US cities - BBC News", "US Election 2020 - BBC News", "Brexit trade talks: ‘Political will’ needed for deal, says Dominic Raab - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Care home vaccinations to begin on Monday - BBC News", "Newborn baby found dead in Weston-super-Mare garden - BBC News", "Covid: Health board sees 'alarming' rise in cases - BBC News", "Paolo Rossi: Italian World Cup hero's home burgled during funeral - BBC News", "Covid: Christmas five-day relaxation period 'a mistake' - BBC News", "Peter Alliss: Legendary BBC golf commentator dies at 89 - BBC Sport", "Coronavirus: Vaccine rollout 'marathon not a sprint' - Powis - BBC News", "Manchester Arena bomber's brother Hashem Abedi admits involvement - BBC News", "Isle of Wight monolith: 'Magical' structure appears on beach - BBC News", "Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani admitted to hospital with Covid-19 - BBC News", "BBC Sound of 2021 longlist includes Griff, Girl In Red and Greentea Peng - BBC News", "Ikea scraps traditional catalogue after 70 years - BBC News", "South Africa v England: ODI series called off after Covid-19 tests - BBC Sport", "Ella Kissi-Debrah death: Family 'didn't know about toxic air' - BBC News", "As it happened: UK makes final preparations for mass vaccination - BBC News", "ITV broke Ofcom competition rules over postal votes - BBC News", "Flood inquiry 'would untangle' who is responsible, Plaid Cymru says - BBC News", "Ursula Von Der Leyen: 'Significant differences remain' in Brexit trade deal - BBC News", "Brexit: UK and EU make one last push for trade deal - BBC News", "What will climate change look like in your area? - BBC News", "Nottingham's Christmas market closes for the rest of the year - BBC News", "Covid-19: Welsh Government update - BBC News", "Rita Ora apologises for second breach of Covid lockdown restrictions - BBC News", "Covid forces Davos forum to move to Singapore - BBC News", "Salisbury Novichok-poisoned police officer 'fighting for pension' - BBC News", "Climate change: Snowy UK winters could become thing of the past - BBC News", "'Kevin's identity was stolen by police after he died' - BBC News", "Murder probe begins after woman, 48, dies in hospital - BBC News", "Covid-19: Vaccine preparations, care home tests and Trump's lawyer - BBC News", "School photo is viral internet meme, Adrian Smith finds - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Sturgeon confirms level 4 restrictions will end on Friday - BBC News", "Brexit: Are the borders ready? - BBC News", "Derby v Millwall: Man arrested over 'racist' Facebook posts - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Vaccine rollout could be 'decisive turning point' says health boss - BBC News", "Scotland: World Cup 2022 draw pairs Scots with Denmark, Austria, Israel, Faroe Islands & Moldova - BBC Sport", "Nottingham house party with 'up to 150 guests' raided by police - BBC News", "Covid: Scottish Care homes trial rapid tests for visitors - BBC News", "Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales discover qualifying groups - BBC Sport", "Australia shark attack: Surfer survives mauling that was like 'being hit by a truck' - BBC News", "Roald Dahl family sorry for author's anti-Semitic remarks - BBC News", "London Gateway: £100m cocaine stash hidden in banana pulp - BBC News", "As it happened: Brexit talks fail to break deadlock - BBC News", "Paris 2024 Olympics: Breaking confirmed in Games programme - BBC Sport", "Covid: Military could be used to transport Covid vaccine - BBC News", "Brexit: Toyota says no-deal outcome will be 'very negative' - BBC News", "Zalando boss to quit 'to prioritise wife's career' - BBC News", "Mike Ashley's Frasers Group in Debenhams rescue talks - BBC News", "Coronavirus Italy: Man walks 450km after lockdown row with wife - BBC News", "Brexit: Can the PM's dash to Brussels save a deal? - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Weekend shopping returns but numbers down on 2019 - BBC News", "Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match - BBC Sport", "Beer and crisps used to help tackle climate change - BBC News", "Ex-judge Sir Peter Gross to head human rights law review - BBC News", "Civil partnership conversion for landmark gay couple - BBC News", "David Bowie coin launched towards space by Royal Mint - BBC News", "The Crown: Netflix has 'no plans' for fiction warning - BBC News", "Hayabusa-2: Japan asteroid sample lands safely on Earth - BBC News", "Brexit: Boris Johnson hails free trade deal with EU - BBC News", "Russian historian jailed for dismembering partner - BBC News", "Covid: Sharp rises in infection levels in England, says ONS - BBC News", "Covid-19: Sandringham Royal Family fans left 'disappointed' - BBC News", "Spain's King Felipe VI makes veiled dig at self-exiled father - BBC News", "UK white Christmas declared after overnight snow - BBC News", "Covid: Queen spends Christmas apart from family - BBC News", "Nashville explosion: Camper van blows up in 'intentional act' on Christmas morning - BBC News", "Withernsea: Whales stranded on beach die - BBC News", "Kent lorry chaos: More military support deployed for driver tests - BBC News", "Coronavirus doctor's diary: 'We turned 90, moved in together - then got the vaccine' - BBC News", "UK flooding: Bungay and Wainford homes evacuated and leisure centre shut - BBC News", "Covid: US parties wrangle in Congress after Trump shuns stimulus bill - BBC News", "Brexit: Selling it as a big win on both sides of the Channel - BBC News", "Norfolk flooding: 'Christmas miracle' as couple rescued in flash floods - BBC News", "Johnson gets the deal both sides wanted to achieve - BBC News", "Queen’s Christmas message 2020: ‘You are not alone’ - BBC News", "Covid: Heroic response praised in religious leaders' Christmas messages - BBC News", "Queen and Prince Philip to celebrate Christmas 'quietly' at Windsor - BBC News", "Mam Tor Christmas marriage proposal photographed by chance - BBC News", "Brexit deal: What is in it? - BBC News", "Brexit: How European leaders reacted to EU-UK trade deal - BBC News", "Covid-19: UK coronavirus deaths pass 70,000 - BBC News", "LadBaby bags third straight Christmas number one - BBC News", "Covid-19: US imposes tests on UK airline passengers - BBC News", "UK flooding: Billing Aquadrome park in Northampton evacuated - BBC News", "Bedfordshire flooding: More than 1,300 told to evacuate - BBC News", "Brexit: Firms warn 'clock is ticking' to keep goods moving - BBC News", "Brexit: EU diplomats briefed on Brexit trade deal - BBC News", "BBC receives 266 complaints over Vicar of Dibley - BBC News", "Kent lorry chaos: Thousands of lorry drivers spend Christmas in cabs - BBC News", "Queen's Christmas speech: 'You are not alone' - BBC News", "What Boris Johnson's mistake tells us about our future - BBC News", "Brexit deal 'will make UK safer', Priti Patel says - BBC News", "Puberty blockers: Parents' warning as ruling challenged - BBC News", "As it happened: Lorry numbers stranded at border continue to rise - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Hairdressers and restaurants in ROI to close on Christmas Eve - BBC News", "Covid-19: Can face masks make communal singing safe enough? - BBC News", "UK government 'likely to miss' broadband and 5G targets - BBC News", "Haulier ran Europe-wide drug ring from living room - BBC News", "Tesco puts buying caps on several products - BBC News", "Grace Millane murder: Jesse Kempson guilty of attacking two more women - BBC News", "Russian agent 'tricked into detailing Navalny assassination bid' - BBC News", "Royal Mail ends two-year dispute with union in 'landmark' deal - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Marquess of Bute charged with breaking travel laws - BBC News", "Ports chaos 'bad for trust and post-Brexit trade' - BBC News", "Essex lorry deaths: Two found guilty of killing 39 migrants - BBC News", "Covid-19: NI Executive meeting over GB-NI travel ban - BBC News", "Peter Cruddas: PM overrules watchdog with Tory donor peerage - BBC News", "Covid-19: UK sees over 80,000 excess deaths during pandemic - BBC News", "High death rate 'may be starting to fall' - BBC News", "Covid: How is Europe lifting lockdown restrictions? - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Scottish level four rules 'may be strengthened' - BBC News", "Covid-19: Tighter restrictions likely, Sir Patrick Vallance warns - BBC News", "Brexit: Johnson resists calls to extend transition into 2021 - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Impact of new variant on children investigated - BBC News", "Margaret Tebbit: Ex-minister's wife who survived IRA bomb dies aged 86 - BBC News", "Covid-19 pressure 'making Morriston Hospital unsafe' - BBC News", "Essex lorry deaths: Trial was halted after Priti Patel tweet - BBC News", "Covid-19: Christmas 'in jeopardy' after ban on UK travellers - BBC News", "Tashaun Aird: Family of murdered boy critical of school exclusion - BBC News", "Covid-19: Visitors from tier 4 and Wales 'must self-isolate' - BBC News", "Covid jab 'very likely' to protect against new variant - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Fears of level 1 businesses heading for lockdown - BBC News", "Covid-19: UK border latest, children's role and Biden's jab - BBC News", "Boy accidentally drowned in River Tees, inquest rules - BBC News", "'I was in the wrong' over Covid rules breach - Sturgeon - BBC News", "EU and UK in 'final push' for post-Brexit trade deal - BBC News", "Covid-19: French agree to ease virus travel ban - BBC News", "Covid: Wuhan scientist would 'welcome' visit probing lab leak theory - BBC News", "PSNI chief 'sorry' over policing at Black Lives Matter protests - BBC News", "Covid-19: Almost 3,000 lorries stuck in Kent as UK and France aim to restart freight - BBC News", "Covid vaccine: GPs in England to begin offering Pfizer jab - BBC News", "Boston death: Third teenager arrested on suspicion of murder - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Greenwich Council told 'keep schools open' - BBC News", "Gerard Houllier: Former Liverpool manager dies aged 73 - BBC Sport", "Cyberpunk 2077 makers apologise for game glitches - BBC News", "Suspected gas explosion causes Lincolnshire house collapse - BBC News", "Brexit: Are chances of a trade deal rising again? - BBC News", "Covid-19: Welsh Government update - BBC News", "The moment landmark hotel demolished in Virginia - BBC News", "Covid-19: London council tells schools to teach online - BBC News", "Brexit: UK and EU restart trade talks after leaders' call - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "People in Scotland told to 'cut down contacts' before Christmas - BBC News", "Covid: Man jailed for Scotland-Isle of Man water scooter crossing - BBC News", "US Election 2020 - BBC News", "Esther Dingley: Missing Briton was 'experienced hiker and loved life' - BBC News", "Brexit: Tentative progress made as EU hints at concessions - BBC News", "Britons told not to stockpile food ahead of January - BBC News", "All Windrush victims to get at least £10,000 - BBC News", "Gerard Houllier: Liverpool fans remember ex-manager who died, aged 73 - BBC News", "Covid-19: New Zealand and Australia agree on quarantine-free travel bubble - BBC News", "John le Carré: Tributes paid to 'a writer of immense quality' - BBC News", "Brexit trade talks: UK and EU to 'go the extra mile' in effort to agree deal - BBC News", "Boy and man arrested after teenager found dead in Lincolnshire - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: First care home resident receives vaccine - BBC News", "'New variant' of coronavirus identified in England - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Hancock warns 'it's not over yet' as London heads for tier 3 - BBC News", "Leeds man who 'begged' for MRI scan dies from cancer - BBC News", "US election: Pro-Trump rallies see scuffles in US cities - BBC News", "First case of coronavirus detected in wild animal - BBC News", "New York cathedral gunman shot dead by police - BBC News", "Covid PPE: Hospital gowns that cost £122m never used - BBC News", "Covid: Christmas coronavirus rules easing 'makes no sense' - BBC News", "Covid: Public must think carefully about Christmas risk, NHS bosses warn - BBC News", "Coronavirus: US starts huge vaccine delivery operation - BBC News", "Justin Bieber teams up with NHS choir for Christmas number one race - BBC News", "Exeter attack victim used silent code on 999 call - BBC News", "Ikea sorry after port disruption causes stock shortage - BBC News", "Sizewell C: Government in talks to fund £20bn nuclear plant - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Your tributes to those who have died - BBC News", "Jesy Nelson leaves Little Mix: 'The constant pressure is very hard' - BBC News", "Covid-19: London joins tier 3, a virus variant and an artist's NHS tribute - BBC News", "London theatres 'devastated' to close again under tier 3 restrictions - BBC News", "Covid: Health board sees 'alarming' rise in cases - BBC News", "Covid-19: London mayor calls for schools to close early - BBC News", "Australia storms: Dog rescued and beaches damaged as extreme weather hits coast - BBC News", "Stargazers watch the total eclipse in Argentina's Neuquen province - BBC News", "Human-made objects to outweigh living things - BBC News", "Police weapons scheme offers £2 per knuckle-duster - BBC News", "Covid: NHS faces 'difficult choices', says health minister - BBC News", "Greater Manchester Police 'failed to record 80,000 crimes in a year' - BBC News", "Joe Biden's son Hunter says he is under investigation over taxes - BBC News", "Covid: Christmas fears sees parents pull children from school - BBC News", "Tesco and Morrisons defy call to shut on Boxing Day - BBC News", "Paolo Rossi: Italy's 1982 World Cup hero dies aged 64 - BBC Sport", "Coronavirus updates: London, Essex and Kent see 'worrying' rise in cases, says Hancock - BBC News", "Paolo Rossi, Italy's 1982 World Cup hero, dies aged 64 - BBC News", "Elderly couple 'happily married' before dementia killing, report finds - BBC News", "Brexit: Trade talks 'unlikely' to go beyond Sunday, says Dominic Raab - BBC News", "Mahalia and Nines win big at MOBOs 2020 - BBC News", "Brexit: Trade deal now looking remote - BBC News", "Thirty-two men charged with sex abuse of eight girls - BBC News", "Court finds UK war crimes but will not take action - BBC News", "Vulnerable teen given tent to live in, watchdog report finds - BBC News", "TV Host Ellen DeGeneres tests positive for Covid-19 - BBC News", "Covid-19 tests for secondary school pupils in parts of London, Kent and Essex - BBC News", "Extinction: Conservation success set against 31 lost species - BBC News", "Translink: Belfast bus driver praised for care home visit detour - BBC News", "Kay Burley: Sky News presenter off air during Covid breach inquiry - BBC News", "As it happened: Brexit trade talks end without decision - BBC News", "Home sales rise but slowdown expected next year - BBC News", "Google fined £91m over ad-tracking cookies - BBC News", "Black hair code launched to tackle racial discrimination - BBC News", "Brexit: 'Large gaps' remain after trade talks with Ursula von der Leyen - BBC News", "Kay Burley: Sky News presenter off air for six months after Covid breach - BBC News", "Royal Mail delays blamed on 'exceptional' volumes of post - BBC News", "Covid-19: France moves to night-time curfew from 15 December - BBC News", "Asian honeybees 'defend hives from hornets with faeces' - BBC News", "Shropshire hospital 'blamed' mothers for babies' deaths - BBC News", "US Covid vaccine: Three key questions answered - BBC News", "Covid-19: Man gets vaccine days after wife's virus death - BBC News", "Covid Wales: Secondary schools 'move online' from Monday - BBC News", "Coronavirus: NHS Covid-19 app starts offering self-isolate payments - BBC News", "Covid: NHS long waits 100 times higher than before - BBC News", "Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson steps aside amid bribery probe - BBC News", "Brexit: 'Strong possibility' of no trade deal with EU - PM - BBC News", "Taylor Swift announces second surprise album of 2020 - BBC News", "Elon Musk's Starship prototype makes a big impact - BBC News", "US election: YouTube to ban videos alleging widespread voter fraud - BBC News", "Media and tech firms join forces to tackle harmful Covid vaccine myths - BBC News", "London councillor accidentally causes fire during virtual meeting - BBC News", "Covid-19: Canary Islands added to UK quarantine list - BBC News", "Covid-19 rules leave shops on a 'knife edge' - BBC News", "Brexit food supply fears grow: 'It's too late, baby' - BBC News", "Britons could be barred from EU entry on 1 January - BBC News", "Artemis: Nasa picks astronauts for new Moon missions - BBC News", "MSPs call for further changes to Hate Crime Bill - BBC News", "Covid patients in Wales' hospitals at highest levels yet - BBC News", "Avonmouth explosion: Four dead in Bristol water works blast - BBC News", "Covid: Nurses fear for vaccine delay over booking problem - BBC News", "Covid-19: Welsh Government update - BBC News", "Avonmouth explosion: Boy, 16, among four workers killed - BBC News", "Virus levels falling across most of England, says ONS - BBC News", "Lidl joins shops in repaying Covid rates relief - BBC News", "Dune and Matrix 4 streaming plan prompts urgent talks from AMC cinemas - BBC News", "Sir Ian McKellen backs bid to buy JRR Tolkien house - BBC News", "Call for probe into 'missing' £50bn of UK cash - BBC News", "Covid-19: UK 'confident' of having 800,000 vaccine doses by next week - BBC News", "Covid: Wedding cancelled as venue becomes vaccination centre - BBC News", "Plane makes emergency landing on US highway - BBC News", "Covid: First batch of vaccines arrives in the UK - BBC News", "Covid: Pub alcohol ban sees barrels of beer poured away - BBC News", "Christmas singles flood UK top 40 chart - BBC News", "'Tsunami of grief' warning over Covid deaths - BBC News", "Fauci apologises for saying UK 'rushed' vaccine - BBC News", "Primark predicts rising sales despite Covid hit - BBC News", "Coronavirus: NI businesses welcome relaxed rules for Christmas - BBC News", "Brexit: Have trade talks taken a turn for the worse? - BBC News", "As it happened: R number for UK Covid transmission falls slightly to between 0.8 and 1 - BBC News", "Brexit: Are the borders ready? - BBC News", "Lightwater Valley fined £350k over boy's rollercoaster fall - BBC News", "Emily Jones: Bolton child's killer cleared of murder - BBC News", "Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson arrested in bribery probe - BBC News", "Coronavirus vaccine: First doses of Pfizer jab arrive in NI - BBC News", "I'm A Celebrity brings in over £1m for Welsh economy - BBC News", "Covid-19: Care home vaccinations to start 'within two weeks' - BBC News", "Three die and two in hospital after Bothwell crash - BBC News", "Brexit: 'Prospect of breakthrough receding' in UK-EU talks - BBC News", "Government to cut £1bn from rail budget - BBC News", "Disruption after 'thundersnow' hits Scotland - BBC News", "Brexit talks: What comes next as negotiators hit pause button? - BBC News", "Esther Dingley: Search halted due to bad weather - BBC News", "Time Kid of the Year Gitanjali Rao aims to ‘solve world’s problems’ - BBC News", "Joe White: UK appoints entrepreneur as first tech envoy to US - BBC News", "Cyber-warning for festive shoppers - BBC News", "Madeleine McCann still a missing person case - Dame Cressida Dick - BBC News", "John O'Groats-Land's End 'record speed' driver cleared - BBC News", "Government to 'redefine treasure finds' in England and Wales - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Peter Corry challenges MLAs on theatre reopening plans - BBC News", "Germany to wipe Nazi traces from phonetic alphabet - BBC News", "Obama, Bush and Clinton pledge to film themselves getting Covid vaccine - BBC News", "Post-Brexit trade talks paused amid 'significant divergences' - BBC News", "British Airways' souvenir sale hits snag as demand soars - BBC News", "Shukri Yahye-Abdi: Schoolgirl's river death 'was an accident' - BBC News", "Coronavirus: UK got vaccine first because it's 'a better country', says Gavin Williamson - BBC News", "Covid: First people to be vaccinated in Wales on Tuesday - BBC News", "GCSE and A-level exam replacements in Wales must 'stand test of time' - BBC News", "Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea: Gunners end winless run in Premier League - BBC Sport", "Russian historian jailed for dismembering partner - BBC News", "Covid-19: Sandringham Royal Family fans left 'disappointed' - BBC News", "UK white Christmas declared after overnight snow - BBC News", "Covid: Boxing Day sales expected to plummet amid pandemic - BBC News", "Nashville explosion: Camper van blows up in 'intentional act' on Christmas morning - BBC News", "Bedfordshire flooding: Water levels pass 'peak' but warnings remain - BBC News", "Nashville explosion: Businesses and celebrities pledge $315,000 reward - BBC News", "Brexit: UK and EU can have 'special relationship', says Michael Gove - BBC News", "Queen’s Christmas message 2020: ‘You are not alone’ - BBC News", "Queen and Prince Philip to celebrate Christmas 'quietly' at Windsor - BBC News", "Brexit deal: What is in it? - BBC News", "George Blake: Soviet Cold War spy and former MI6 officer dies in Russia - BBC News", "Covid-19: UK coronavirus deaths pass 70,000 - BBC News", "LadBaby bags third straight Christmas number one - BBC News", "Covid-19: US imposes tests on UK airline passengers - BBC News", "Covid-19: Tougher Covid rules begin for millions in UK - BBC News", "Erdington murder probe after man 'deliberately' driven at by car - BBC News", "Chinese economy to overtake US 'by 2028' due to Covid - BBC News", "Bedfordshire flooding: More than 1,300 told to evacuate - BBC News", "Bryony Frost creates history on Frodon in King George VI Chase at Kempton - BBC Sport", "Covid: Festive charity dips cancelled due to pandemic - BBC News", "Mainland Scotland moves into level 4 lockdown - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "Aerial footage shows flooding in Bedfordshire - BBC News", "Storm Bella: Gusts of more than 100mph recorded in UK - BBC News", "Lewis Hamilton says Black Lives Matter gave him 'extra drive' in 2020 - BBC Sport", "Queen's Christmas message returns to top of TV ratings - BBC News", "737 Max: Air Canada flight in unscheduled landing after engine issue - BBC News", "Coronavirus: EU countries begin mass vaccination - BBC News", "Kent lorry chaos: Thousands of lorry drivers spend Christmas in cabs - BBC News", "Queen's Christmas speech: 'You are not alone' - BBC News", "Storm Bella: Weather warnings in force on Boxing Day - BBC News", "Brexit deal 'will make UK safer', Priti Patel says - BBC News", "Covid: Post-exposure antibody protection trialled - BBC News", "SolarWinds Orion: More US government agencies hacked - BBC News", "Covid: US Vice-President Mike Pence receives vaccine live on TV - BBC News", "Alex Rodda death: Murder accused 'embarrassed about sexuality' - BBC News", "Covid: Welsh Government briefing on Friday 18 December - BBC News", "Covid: Pandemic 'exposes' UK security planning gaps - BBC News", "As it happened: PM repeats 'little Christmas' plea as Covid infections rise - BBC News", "Electric cars will leave hole in tax revenues, says Treasury - BBC News", "Cyberpunk 2077: Sony pulls game from PlayStation while Xbox offers refunds - BBC News", "Japan snowstorm: 'I had to eat snow' - BBC News", "Coronavirus: UK R number back above one - BBC News", "Greater Manchester Police failings: Andy Burnham 'should resign' - BBC News", "Burnley's Pastor Mick - from dangerous drug dealer to lifesaver - BBC News", "RNLI sells two Ferraris to buy Pwllheli lifeboat station - BBC News", "Wildfire smoke may spread infectious disease - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf says coronavirus approach 'has failed' - BBC News", "Localised flooding as heavy rain hits parts of Wales - BBC News", "Chef 'comes of age' to win Masterchef: The Professionals title - BBC News", "Chickens culled after bird flu confirmed in Orkney - BBC News", "Dog theft: Organised crime driving ‘epidemic’ of dog snatching - BBC News", "Covid: Child abuse referrals up nearly 80%, says NSPCC - BBC News", "Covid-19: PM hopes to avoid third lockdown in England, and school staff 'broken' - BBC News", "Jacob Rees-Mogg accuses Unicef of 'playing politics' over UK food campaign - BBC News", "Christmas post delays blamed on 'high demand' - BBC News", "Property site listings exclude renters on benefits - BBC News", "'Just a few hours' left to agree Brexit trade deal, says Michel Barnier - BBC News", "Covid: Boris Johnson 'hoping to avoid' national lockdown - BBC News", "Covid patient urges people not to visit family at Christmas - BBC News", "Atlantic City to auction off demolition of former Trump casino - BBC News", "Hampshire 'toxic' police unit officers guilty of gross misconduct - BBC News", "Covid: Toughest rules extended in south of England - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Most councils are in level 3 - is yours one of them? - BBC News", "Japan: Snow traps 1,000 drivers in frozen traffic jam - BBC News", "Google sued again over anti-competitive search practices - BBC News", "Pre-Christmas lockdown restrictions hit retail sales - BBC News", "'Appalling' safety at Asda buyers' former company - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "Staggered return for England's secondary schools next term - BBC News", "Brexit: Trade talks in 'a serious situation' says Boris Johnson - BBC News", "Star Wars' Boba Fett actor Jeremy Bulloch dies aged 75 - BBC News", "Pressure on hospitals 'at a really dangerous point' - BBC News", "Covid: Warning crisis in hospitals will get 'worse' - BBC News", "Greater Manchester Police chief Ian Hopkins stands down amid force failures - BBC News", "Your pictures of Scotland 11 - 18 December - BBC News", "Covid: 'I worked on Priscilla - now I'm a bin man' - BBC News", "Meghan settles case over Archie photos with Splash UK agency - BBC News", "School staff 'broken' by England's late Covid test plan - BBC News", "Encrypted messaging puts children at risk, commissioner warns - BBC News", "Covid: Royal visit during pandemic questioned by minister - BBC News", "Manchester Arena bomber's brother Hashem Abedi admits involvement - BBC News", "Covid-19 vaccination: Needle phobia - it's the jab, not the vaccine, some fear - BBC News", "South Africa v England: Tourists' 'unconfirmed' coronavirus cases declared false - BBC Sport", "Honda pauses production after UK port woes - BBC News", "Covid-19 vaccine: 'Others deserve it before me' - BBC News", "Ella Kissi-Debrah death: Family 'didn't know about toxic air' - BBC News", "Venice floods as weather catches city off-guard - BBC News", "Brexit: UK and EU reach deal on Northern Ireland border checks - BBC News", "Safety data on Pfizer jab released by US - BBC News", "Oxford Covid vaccine 'safe and effective' study shows - BBC News", "Cold water swim 'obliterated' woman's short-term memory - BBC News", "PSG v Istanbul Basaksehir: Both teams walk off pitch as match abandoned - BBC Sport", "Brexit food supply fears grow: 'It's too late, baby' - BBC News", "Under-18s banned from lottery scratchcards in crackdown - BBC News", "Covid forces Davos forum to move to Singapore - BBC News", "Isle of Wight monolith: Designer claims responsibility for structure - BBC News", "'Brother against brother' in Trump country - BBC News", "School photo is viral internet meme, Adrian Smith finds - BBC News", "Brexit: Are the borders ready? - BBC News", "Shakespeare gets Covid vaccine: All's well that ends well - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Vaccine rollout could be 'decisive turning point' says health boss - BBC News", "Vaccine rumours debunked: Microchips, 'altered DNA' and more - BBC News", "Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales discover qualifying groups - BBC Sport", "Kay Burley: Sky News presenter apologises for Covid breach - BBC News", "'Covid killed my wife - so I'm taking part in a vaccine trial' - BBC News", "Steve Thompson in group of ex-rugby union internationals to sue for brain damage - BBC Sport", "Madeleine McCann: Public 'would reach same conclusion' on suspect - BBC News", "Paris 2024 Olympics: Breaking confirmed in Games programme - BBC Sport", "Uber sells self-driving cars to focus on profits - BBC News", "Louise Smith death: Shane Mays guilty of murdering teenager in woods - BBC News", "Brexit: Will Brussels dinner prove to be the last supper? - BBC News", "RB Leipzig 3-2 Man Utd: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side knocked out of Champions League - BBC Sport", "Covid: Christmas comes early as grocery sales 'hit record' in November - BBC News", "Queen seen with family for first time during Covid-19 pandemic - BBC News", "Covid: UK vaccination programme getting under way - BBC News", "'Mix-and-match' coronavirus vaccines to be tested - BBC News", "Coronavirus Italy: Man walks 450km after lockdown row with wife - BBC News", "Brexit: Can the PM's dash to Brussels save a deal? - BBC News", "Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match - BBC Sport", "Covid-19 vaccine: First person receives Pfizer jab in UK - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Your tributes to those who have died - BBC News", "Civil partnership conversion for landmark gay couple - BBC News", "As it happened: 'End is in sight' as UK Covid vaccinations under way, says Matt Hancock - BBC News", "Millwall fans applaud as players unite behind anti-racism banner before QPR match - BBC Sport", "Coronavirus: Londoners 'must stick to rules' amid tier 3 fears - BBC News", "Lloyd Austin: Biden picks ex-general as defence secretary - BBC News", "Scotland's toughest Covid restrictions to be eased - BBC News", "Post-Brexit trade talks paused amid 'significant divergences' - BBC News", "Facebook: Woman's social media search for kidney donor amid pandemic - BBC News", "Brexit talks: What comes next as negotiators hit pause button? - BBC News", "Chelsea 3-1 Leeds United: Blues go top after comeback win in front of fans - BBC Sport", "Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson bailed in bribery inquiry - BBC News", "British Airways' souvenir sale hits snag as demand soars - BBC News", "Daca: Judge orders Trump to restore undocumented immigrants scheme - BBC News", "Covid: Argentina passes tax on wealthy to pay for virus measures - BBC News", "Obama and Jordan basketball vests sell for record sums - BBC News", "World's biggest iceberg captured by RAF cameras - BBC News", "Bullying: Schoolmates 'told me to die' in online posts - BBC News", "Millwall 'dismayed and saddened' by fans' booing of players taking a knee - BBC Sport", "Covid in Scotland: First vaccine arrives in Scotland - BBC News", "Erlestoke Prison guard: Drug smuggler has jail term increased - BBC News", "Jamaica flight: Prisoner tests positive for Covid-19 - BBC News", "Covid: NHS rapid test use defended amid accuracy concerns - BBC News", "Avonmouth explosion: Boy, 16, among four workers killed - BBC News", "Hayabusa-2: Capsule with asteroid samples in 'perfect' shape - BBC News", "Sir Keir Starmer self isolates after staff member tests positive for virus - BBC News", "Brexit: Are the borders ready? - BBC News", "South Africa v England: ODI series to start on Sunday after negative coronavirus tests - BBC Sport", "Covid: Pub alcohol ban sees barrels of beer poured away - BBC News", "Millwall 0-1 Derby: Game overshadowed by fans booing players taking a knee before kick-off - BBC Sport", "Lightwater Valley fined £350k over boy's rollercoaster fall - BBC News", "Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson arrested in bribery probe - BBC News", "Bird flu: All captive birds in Britain to be kept indoors amid outbreak - BBC News", "Coronavirus vaccine: First doses of Pfizer jab arrive in NI - BBC News", "Illingworth explosion: Three people taken to hospital - BBC News", "Covid: Wedding cancelled as venue becomes vaccination centre - BBC News", "Covid: Second phase of mass testing starts in Lower Cynon Valley - BBC News", "Fort Bragg: Foul play suspected in two soldiers' deaths - BBC News", "As it happened: Brexit - UK and EU leaders agree to resume trade talks - BBC News", "Ursula Von Der Leyen: 'Significant differences remain' in Brexit trade deal - BBC News", "Covid-19: Care home vaccinations to start 'within two weeks' - BBC News", "Man charged with murdering two women in Kent in 1987 - BBC News", "Brexit stalemate: Boris Johnson and Ursula Von Der Leyen seek to break trade deal deadlock - BBC News", "Christmas singles flood UK top 40 chart - BBC News", "Severe flooding disrupts trains and trams in parts of Scotland - BBC News", "Italy: Police arrest 19 suspected people smugglers - BBC News", "Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea: Gunners end winless run in Premier League - BBC Sport", "Brexit: PM vows to focus on 'levelling up country' after securing deal - BBC News", "Covid: South Africa passes one million infections as cases surge - BBC News", "Covid-19: London Ambulance Service receives as many 999 calls as first wave - BBC News", "Climate change: Extreme weather causes huge losses in 2020 - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Health leaders warn NHS could be 'overwhelmed' - BBC News", "Drakeford: Wales has less influence on Johnson - BBC News", "Iran: Climbers die in blizzards and avalanche - BBC News", "Covid: Boxing Day sales expected to plummet amid pandemic - BBC News", "Brodie Lee: AEW and ex-WWE Wrestler Jon Huber dies age 41 - BBC News", "Tesco: Brexit impact on food prices 'very modest' - BBC News", "Nashville explosion: Businesses and celebrities pledge $315,000 reward - BBC News", "Andy Murray awarded wildcard for February's delayed Australian Open - BBC Sport", "George Blake: Soviet Cold War spy and former MI6 officer dies in Russia - BBC News", "Covid-19: US imposes tests on UK airline passengers - BBC News", "Covid-19: Tougher Covid rules begin for millions in UK - BBC News", "Seven killed in knife attack in China's Liaoning province - BBC News", "Black Lives Matter: My year as an accidental anti-racism activist - BBC News", "Chinese economy to overtake US 'by 2028' due to Covid - BBC News", "Teen critically injured in Stockport police vehicle crash - BBC News", "Covid: Cardiff health board plea for critical care help - BBC News", "Bryony Frost creates history on Frodon in King George VI Chase at Kempton - BBC Sport", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "Covid: Citizens Advice contacted by '12 people a minute' - BBC News", "Storm Bella: Gusts of more than 100mph recorded in UK - BBC News", "Covid-19: UK records 30,000 new cases and 316 deaths - BBC News", "UK's oldest postmistress Kay White retires after 80 years - BBC News", "Margaret Thatcher: Ex-PM described euro as a 'rush of blood to the head' - BBC News", "Liverpool 1-1 West Bromwich Albion: Semi Ajayi scores dramatic late equaliser - BBC Sport", "Coronavirus: EU countries begin mass vaccination - BBC News", "Irish state papers: IRA 'wanted to exclude Sinn Féin from talks' - BBC News", "Covid-19: Ireland intends to start vaccinations on Tuesday - BBC News", "Cobra bite Isle of Wight charity worker returns home - BBC News", "Covid-19: Welsh Government update - BBC News", "TV Host Ellen DeGeneres tests positive for Covid-19 - BBC News", "Dame Barbara Windsor urges Johnson to 'sort out' dementia care - BBC News", "Church treasurer jailed for £455,000 charity theft - BBC News", "UK banks can weather pandemic, says Bank of England - BBC News", "Barbara Windsor: How she inspired people with dementia - BBC News", "Two children die in house fire in St Neots - BBC News", "Covid-19: France moves to night-time curfew from 15 December - BBC News", "Covid: MPs will not get expected pay rise amid economic woe - BBC News", "Deschamps defamation case against Cantona ruled void - BBC News", "Brexit food supply fears grow: 'It's too late, baby' - BBC News", "Charity that helped Grenfell victims 'institutionally racist', review says - BBC News", "Dame Barbara Windsor: Carry On and EastEnders actress dies aged 83 - BBC News", "Brexit: PM and EU say trade deal unlikely by Sunday - BBC News", "Disney ramps up Star Wars and Marvel franchises - BBC News", "Covid: Secondary school pupils in London, Kent and Essex hotspots urged to get tested - BBC News", "Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas tops the UK charts after 26 years - BBC News", "Brexit: Malcolm Turnbull tells UK 'be careful what you wish for' over EU trade - BBC News", "Obituary: Dame Barbara Windsor - BBC News", "Covid-19: UK self-isolation time cut, and New Zealand's film industry boom - BBC News", "Covid testing of students finds few positive cases - BBC News", "Mike Lee: Lone US senator blocks women's and Latino museums - BBC News", "Covid-19: More than 50 schools urge Peter Weir to rethink early closing - BBC News", "'Offensive' Empire honours titles must go, says Labour's Kate Green - BBC News", "Translink: Belfast bus driver praised for care home visit detour - BBC News", "Tavistock puberty blocker study published after nine years - BBC News", "Shropshire hospital 'blamed' mothers for babies' deaths - BBC News", "US Covid vaccine: Three key questions answered - BBC News", "London councillor accidentally causes fire during virtual meeting - BBC News", "New Year fire survivor Bex Williams says charity saved her life - BBC News", "Biden and Harris named Time's Person of the Year - BBC News", "Canary Islands: Thousands of Britons face Christmas isolation - BBC News", "Covid: Record deaths in Germany and Russia - BBC News", "In pictures: Dame Barbara Windsor - BBC News", "Albanian protesters burn Christmas trees over police killing - BBC News", "Prince William and Kate make red carpet debut with royal children - BBC News", "Your pictures of Scotland 4 - 11 December - BBC News", "Brexit: What are the UK and EU doing to prepare for no deal? - BBC News", "Covid: Limit reached on government 'telling people what to do' - BBC News", "Osama Bin Laden's 'spokesman' Adel Abdul Bary returns to UK - BBC News", "Covid Wales: Aneurin Bevan health board halts non-urgent care - BBC News", "Kay Burley: Sky News presenter off air for six months after Covid breach - BBC News", "Covid: UK isolation period shortened to 10 days - BBC News", "Royal Mail delays blamed on 'exceptional' volumes of post - BBC News", "Austria court overturns primary school headscarf ban - BBC News", "Harrison Ford returns as Indiana Jones for fifth and final episode - BBC News", "Black workers at Lloyds Bank earn a fifth less than other colleagues - BBC News", "Dame Barbara Windsor: EastEnders' Mitchell brothers actors pay tribute - BBC News", "Plaid Cymru pledges independence vote if it wins Senedd election - BBC News", "Covid-19 tests for secondary school pupils in parts of London, Kent and Essex - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Russia and Oxford to test combining their vaccines - BBC News", "Climate change: Covid drives record emissions drop in 2020 - BBC News", "Pound falls on the prospect of a no-deal Brexit - BBC News", "Reynhard Sinaga: Serial rapist 'abused 206 men' - BBC News", "Covid: Genes hold clues to why some people get severely ill - BBC News", "Serial rapists receive longer minimum jail terms after appeal - BBC News", "Covid-19: Restrictions ease for some, while university finds few positive cases - BBC News", "Covid: London's coronavirus levels rising, ONS says - BBC News", "Brexit: 'Strong possibility' of no trade deal with EU - PM - BBC News", "Taylor Swift announces second surprise album of 2020 - BBC News", "Covid-19: Canary Islands added to UK quarantine list - BBC News", "Gabrielle Friel: Man guilty of weapons haul terrorism charge - BBC News", "Where does the Republican Party go after Trump? - BBC News", "Drug deaths: Surge in fatalities of female cocaine users - BBC News", "'Surprise and disappointment' at UK drug response - BBC News", "'Game changer' Covid tests for secondary schools in January - BBC News", "Mark Drakeford not ruling out tax rises in next Senedd term - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Greenwich Council told 'keep schools open' - BBC News", "High death rate 'may be starting to fall' - BBC News", "Jack Grealish: Aston Villa captain banned from driving - BBC News", "Electoral college affirms Joe Biden as president-elect - BBC News", "LGBT-owned kilt maker denounces kilt-clad Proud Boys - BBC News", "Brexit: UK and EU restart trade talks after leaders' call - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "Covid: Man jailed for Scotland-Isle of Man water scooter crossing - BBC News", "US Election 2020 - BBC News", "Covid-19: Ambulance queues 'at all NI emergency departments' - BBC News", "Dominic Cummings: PM's former aide got £45,000 pay rise - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Redbridge Council suggests schools teach online - BBC News", "Redundancies: Over 10,000 fewer on NI payrolls since March - BBC News", "All Windrush victims to get at least £10,000 - BBC News", "Unemployment: Wales sees highest rise across UK - BBC News", "Covid: New coronavirus strain present in Wales - BBC News", "New Covid strain: How worried should we be? - BBC News", "'New variant' of coronavirus identified in England - BBC News", "Prue Leith receives 'painless' Covid vaccination - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Greenwich Council backs down on school closures - BBC News", "Covid-19: Christmas row, schools testing plan and a Bake Off vaccination - BBC News", "Nine cases of new Covid strain reported in Scotland - BBC News", "First case of coronavirus detected in wild animal - BBC News", "Covid-19: A-level students to sit fewer exams in 2021 - BBC News", "'Unconscious bias training' to be scrapped by ministers - BBC News", "Scotland's drug deaths rise to new record - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Pre-Christmas review of restriction levels - BBC News", "Covid: Chaotic start for travellers' Covid testing system - BBC News", "Barclays fined £26m for poor treatment of customers - BBC News", "Blackpool baby death: Man charged with murdering daughter - BBC News", "EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech - BBC News", "Covid: 'Rash' Christmas rules 'will cost many lives' - BBC News", "Jack Grealish: CCTV shows motoring offences that lead to ban - BBC News", "Covid: Christmas safety advice 'set to be strengthened' - BBC News", "Covid-19: Schools row, record redundancies and Oxford vaccine story - BBC News", "Exeter attack victim used silent code on 999 call - BBC News", "Covid Christmas plans: UK nations to hold further talks on Wednesday - BBC News", "Hackney triple shooting: Man critical and two injured - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Tougher virus restrictions for three council areas - BBC News", "Beware Christmas parcel delivery scams, banks warn - BBC News", "Jesy Nelson leaves Little Mix: 'The constant pressure is very hard' - BBC News", "Ghislaine Maxwell: Jeffrey Epstein associate seeks $28.5m bail deal - BBC News", "London theatres 'devastated' to close again under tier 3 restrictions - BBC News", "Covid-19 isolation 'detrimental for children' - Ofsted - BBC News", "Ingrid Messenger death crash: Tony Packenham jailed - BBC News", "Stargazers watch the total eclipse in Argentina's Neuquen province - BBC News", "Covid: France rewards frontline immigrant workers with citizenship - BBC News", "Covid-19: Lorry drivers stuck at UK border for another night - BBC News", "Covid-19: Can face masks make communal singing safe enough? - BBC News", "Nigella Lawson reveals why she will not be cooking turkey this Christmas - BBC News", "Tesco puts buying caps on several products - BBC News", "Haulier ran Europe-wide drug ring from living room - BBC News", "Covid vaccine: Older people's commissioner warns of 'confusion' - BBC News", "Covid breach jet-skier freed from Isle of Man jail - BBC News", "UK has two cases of variant linked to South Africa - BBC News", "Covid-19: Truckers who tested negative board ferries for France - BBC News", "Covid: New dads share fatherhood experiences - BBC News", "Twitter to wipe Trump's followers before Biden handover - BBC News", "Ports chaos 'bad for trust and post-Brexit trade' - BBC News", "Peter Cruddas: PM overrules watchdog with Tory donor peerage - BBC News", "Stella Tennant: Model dies days after 50th birthday - BBC News", "Land transaction tax: 'Chaos' over changes for second homes - BBC News", "Covid: Baby girl becomes Scotland's youngest death - BBC News", "Covid-19: More areas of England could be moved to tier 4 restrictions - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Scottish level four rules 'may be strengthened' - BBC News", "Flooding: Firefighters receive 500 calls as heavy rain causes chaos - BBC News", "Covid: Shielders in Wales advised to stay home again - BBC News", "Deepfake queen to deliver Channel 4 Christmas message - BBC News", "As it happened: New variant from South Africa identified in UK - BBC News", "Covid-19: Six million more people to enter tier 4 on Boxing Day - BBC News", "Covid: Marston's to run Brains pubs, saving 1,300 jobs - BBC News", "France police shootings: Three officers killed by gunman who is later found dead - BBC News", "Brexit: EU-UK trade deal expected, as cabinet briefed - BBC News", "Whitbread: Premier Inn owner asks landlords for rent cut - BBC News", "Eileen Pollock: TV sitcom Bread's Lilo Lil actress dies at 73 - BBC News", "Cygnet Woodside in special measures over 'patient safety risks' - BBC News", "Helen's Law: Killers could still be freed despite new law - BBC News", "Covid-19: 'Living with 50 people has been a blessing' - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Vaccinate more people with one dose, urges Tony Blair - BBC News", "Octopuses filmed punching fish in the Red Sea - BBC News", "Covid-19: Charities send food to stranded truckers - BBC News", "Covid: Johnson and Starmer thank 'very best' at Christmas - BBC News", "'I was in the wrong' over Covid rules breach - Sturgeon - BBC News", "Diego Maradona: Autopsy reveals no drink or illegal drugs at time of Argentina legend's death - BBC Sport", "Kernowite: New mineral found on rock mined in Cornwall - BBC News", "Covid-19: Border opening, Sturgeon apology and Christmas kindness - BBC News", "Queen's art experts leave as Covid hits royal finances - BBC News", "EU and UK in 'final push' for post-Brexit trade deal - BBC News", "Brexit: UK cabinet to discuss deal, as trade talks continue - BBC News", "Covid-19: French agree to ease virus travel ban - BBC News", "Sports Personality of the Year: Contenders revealed for 2020 BBC award - BBC Sport", "National Theatre launches paid streaming service for filmed plays - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "Has Topshop boss Philip Green done anything wrong? - BBC News", "US Election 2020 - BBC News", "UK climate targets too low, economists say - BBC News", "Trier: Five die as car ploughs through Germany pedestrian zone - BBC News", "Covid-19: Tiers vote, vulnerable children and Christmas tree boom - BBC News", "Covid tiers: MPs back tougher system for England, despite Tory rebellion - BBC News", "Covid tier rules: Tory rebellion fails to defeat government on new system for England - BBC News", "Lastminute.com to pay £7m in holiday refunds - BBC News", "Grenfell Tower: Firm's ex-manager sorry for safety query reaction - BBC News", "Elliot Page: Juno star announces he is transgender - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Covid-19 related death toll in NI passes 1,000 - BBC News", "Queen and Prince Philip to celebrate Christmas 'quietly' at Windsor - BBC News", "Covid: Families with negative test can visit care homes in England - BBC News", "Covid: Alcohol ban for pubs 'an insult' to industry - BBC News", "UK house price growth 'fastest for almost six years' - BBC News", "Debenhams boss: 'Our stores aren't on a cliff edge' - BBC News", "Brazil's Amazon: Deforestation 'surges to 12-year high' - BBC News", "Debenhams hires liquidator in contingency plan - BBC News", "Covid-19: Man admits damaging Tesco covers during lockdown - BBC News", "Price of first class stamps to rise 9p to 85p - BBC News", "Esther Dingley: Partner says police 'looking at non-accident options' - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Ireland's shops reopen as restrictions eased - BBC News", "Facebook News will pay UK outlets for content in 2021 - BBC News", "Covid-19: Lung damage 'identified' in study - BBC News", "Debenhams faces uncertain future as JD Sports quits rescue talks - BBC News", "Burnley: ‘Children ripping bags open for food’ during pandemic - BBC News", "Londonderry: Van set on fire in 'reckless' pipe bomb explosion - BBC News", "Buckingham Palace: Catering assistant stole medals and photos - BBC News", "Indonesia: Thousands flee after volcano erupts - BBC News", "China's Chang'e-5 Moon mission probe touches down - BBC News", "Vulnerable children in lockdown 'national concern' - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Government publishes data behind stricter tiers - BBC News", "Covid: Daily Mail gave NHS masks linked to Chinese Uighur factory - BBC News", "Rita Ora 'sorry' for breaking lockdown rules to attend birthday party - BBC News", "Ofsted points to total school disruption in some areas - BBC News", "Covid vaccine: Wales 'ready' to start vaccination programme - BBC News", "Covid-19: Steve Aiken calls for executive unity on vaccine - BBC News", "Arcadia: Buyers to 'pick over carcass' of Topshop owner, says former boss - BBC News", "Covid: Dr Scott Atlas - Trump's controversial coronavirus adviser - resigns - BBC News", "Slack sold to business software giant for $27.7bn - BBC News", "Pat Finucane: No public inquiry into Belfast lawyer's murder - BBC News", "Brexit: Dairy giant Arla warns of price rise if no deal - BBC News", "Lewis Hamilton to miss Sakhir GP after testing positive for coronavirus - BBC Sport", "Wales Air Ambulance to fly around the clock - BBC News", "Why is my area in a higher tier? - BBC News", "Covid: What do pub-goers think of Wales' alcohol ban? - BBC News", "Topshop owner Arcadia goes into administration - BBC News", "Coronavirus: NHS Covid-19 app to gain self-isolation payments - BBC News", "Covid: Poor public health made pandemic worse - Sally Davies - BBC News", "What went wrong at Debenhams? - BBC News", "Doctor Who: Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole to leave companion roles - BBC News", "Mohsen Fakhrizadeh: Iran 'makes arrests' over scientist's killing - BBC News", "Honda pauses production after UK port woes - BBC News", "Grenfell inquiry halted for weeks after Covid case - BBC News", "Brexit: 'Large gaps' remain after trade talks with Ursula von der Leyen - BBC News", "Venice floods as weather catches city off-guard - BBC News", "Uber sells off flying taxi unit - BBC News", "Safety data on Pfizer jab released by US - BBC News", "Covid-19: Man gets vaccine days after wife's virus death - BBC News", "Oxford Covid vaccine 'safe and effective' study shows - BBC News", "PSG v Istanbul Basaksehir: Both teams walk off pitch as match abandoned - BBC Sport", "Human-made objects to outweigh living things - BBC News", "Currys PC World agrees to honour Black Friday prices of cancelled orders - BBC News", "As it happened: 'Gradual retreat' from Covid-19 life - Whitty - BBC News", "Court finds UK war crimes but will not take action - BBC News", "Cambridge University votes to safeguard free speech - BBC News", "Rich countries hoarding Covid vaccines, says People's Vaccine Alliance - BBC News", "As it happened: Brexit trade talks end without decision - BBC News", "Avonmouth explosion: Families pay tribute to four killed in blast - BBC News", "Supreme Court rejects bid to overturn Pennsylvania result - BBC News", "Zara Tindall: Queen's granddaughter expecting third child - BBC News", "Student mental health: 'I am living in a bubble of one' - BBC News", "Joe Biden's son Hunter says he is under investigation over taxes - BBC News", "Brexit: Boris Johnson to meet Ursula von der Leyen for trade deal talks - BBC News", "Climate change: Low-carbon revolution 'cheaper than thought' - BBC News", "Currys PC World asked to honour cancelled Black Friday sales - BBC News", "Paris St-Germain 5-1 Istanbul Basaksehir: Kylian Mbappe proud of teams walking off pitch - BBC Sport", "Fort Hood: Soldiers fired and suspended after Vanessa Guillen probe - BBC News", "Mahalia and Nines win big at MOBOs 2020 - BBC News", "Steve Thompson in group of ex-rugby union internationals to sue for brain damage - BBC Sport", "Kay Burley: Sky News presenter off air during Covid breach inquiry - BBC News", "As it happened: Brexit - PMQs and Gove statement - BBC News", "Edward Colston statue: Four charged with criminal damage - BBC News", "Covid-19: London tier warning and 2020's most-searched terms - BBC News", "Scotland's toughest Covid restrictions to be eased - BBC News", "Brexit: Will Brussels dinner prove to be the last supper? - BBC News", "Brexit: PM says deal 'still there to be done' ahead of crunch trip - BBC News", "Queen seen with family for first time during Covid-19 pandemic - BBC News", "Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani receiving same Covid drugs as president - BBC News", "'Mix-and-match' coronavirus vaccines to be tested - BBC News", "Covid-19 vaccine: First person receives Pfizer jab in UK - BBC News", "Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine docs hacked from European Medicines Agency - BBC News", "Lost key to Norman St Leonard's Tower returned 50 years on - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Your tributes to those who have died - BBC News", "Louise Smith death: Shane Mays jailed for murdering niece in woods - BBC News", "Artemis: Nasa picks astronauts for new Moon missions - BBC News", "Fraud risk warning: 'I was desperate for a job' - BBC News", "Epstein ex-associate Jean-Luc Brunel placed under formal investigation - BBC News", "School staff 'broken' by England's late Covid test plan - BBC News", "Covid: US Vice-President Mike Pence receives vaccine live on TV - BBC News", "Alex Rodda death: Murder accused 'embarrassed about sexuality' - BBC News", "737 Max: Boeing 'inappropriately coached' pilots in test after crashes - BBC News", "Vladimir Ivic: Watford sack head coach after four months - BBC Sport", "Met Police officer sues over 'sexual and racist' texts - BBC News", "Covid: Lockdown looms as Scotland tightens Christmas rules - BBC News", "Cyberpunk 2077: Sony pulls game from PlayStation while Xbox offers refunds - BBC News", "Brexit: No trade deal unless 'substantial shift' from EU, UK says - BBC News", "PDC World Championship: Deta Hedman loses on debut to Andy Boulton - BBC Sport", "Covid anxiety: Child 'asking if he's going to die' - BBC News", "Coronavirus: UK R number back above one - BBC News", "Flooding: Homes evacuated after South West downpours - BBC News", "Strictly Come Dancing: 7 memorable moments from this series - BBC News", "Coronavirus: What are Scotland's level 4 restrictions? - BBC News", "Employers back requirement for large firms to disclose ethnicity pay gaps - BBC News", "Covid: Ministers meet amid rising infection rates in England - BBC News", "Covid: Boris Johnson 'hoping to avoid' national lockdown - BBC News", "Covid patient urges people not to visit family at Christmas - BBC News", "'Just a few hours' left to agree Brexit trade deal, says Michel Barnier - BBC News", "Covid: NHS staff sickness has 'huge impact' on care - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Most councils are in level 3 - is yours one of them? - BBC News", "New Covid strain: How worried should we be? - BBC News", "Covid-19: Fake 'immunity booster' found on sale in London shops - BBC News", "Strictly Come Dancing: Bill Bailey crowned 2020 winner - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "As it happened: Tighter rules for Christmas outlined amid surge in cases - BBC News", "Covid: Boris Johnson 'to tighten rules' in London and south-east England - BBC News", "Brexit: UK-EU trade talks enter critical 48-hour period - BBC News", "'Creepy' drive-through grotto 'an absolute fiasco' - BBC News", "Pressure on hospitals 'at a really dangerous point' - BBC News", "Covid: Warning crisis in hospitals will get 'worse' - BBC News", "Your pictures of Scotland 11 - 18 December - BBC News", "Greater Manchester Police chief Ian Hopkins stands down amid force failures - BBC News", "Landslip warning and flooding follow heavy rain in Wales - BBC News", "Meghan settles case over Archie photos with Splash UK agency - BBC News", "Brexit: UK and EU make one last push for trade deal - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Freeman 'backtracks' over level four restrictions - BBC News", "South Africa v England: First ODI called off again after positive Covid tests - BBC Sport", "Peter Alliss: Legendary BBC golf commentator dies at 89 - BBC Sport", "Coronavirus: Vaccine rollout 'marathon not a sprint' - Powis - BBC News", "Chelsea 3-1 Leeds United: Blues go top after comeback win in front of fans - BBC Sport", "Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson bailed in bribery inquiry - BBC News", "Nottingham's Christmas market closes for the rest of the year - BBC News", "Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani admitted to hospital with Covid-19 - BBC News", "Millwall 'dismayed and saddened' by fans' booing of players taking a knee - BBC Sport", "Climate change: Snowy UK winters could become thing of the past - BBC News", "Roald Dahl family sorry for author's anti-Semitic remarks - BBC News", "Covid: NHS rapid test use defended amid accuracy concerns - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Weekend shopping returns but numbers down on 2019 - BBC News", "London Gateway: £100m cocaine stash hidden in banana pulp - BBC News", "Marcus Rashford-inspired 'donate-a-sheep' appeal launches - BBC News", "Cardiac arrest survivor backs defibrillator bill - BBC News", "Hayabusa-2: Capsule with asteroid samples in 'perfect' shape - BBC News", "Climate change: Lower Thames Crossing CO2 impact figures revealed - BBC News", "Sir Keir Starmer self isolates after staff member tests positive for virus - BBC News", "Brexit: Are the borders ready? - BBC News", "Derby v Millwall: Man arrested over 'racist' Facebook posts - BBC News", "Jeane Freeman 'backtracks' over level four restrictions - BBC News", "The Crown: Netflix has 'no plans' for fiction warning - BBC News", "US Election 2020 - BBC News", "South Africa v England: Tour party return two 'unconfirmed positive' Covid tests - BBC Sport", "Bird flu: All captive birds in Britain to be kept indoors amid outbreak - BBC News", "Hayabusa-2: Japan asteroid sample lands safely on Earth - BBC News", "What will happen to closed High Street shops? - BBC News", "Ursula Von Der Leyen: 'Significant differences remain' in Brexit trade deal - BBC News", "Man charged with murdering two women in Kent in 1987 - BBC News", "Brexit: Sheep farmers 'will get help' if UK-EU trade talks fail - BBC News", "Shana Grice murder: Parents lose stalker High Court bid - BBC News", "Coronavirus: More than 2% of Londoners now thought to have virus - BBC News", "Covid breach jet-skier freed from Isle of Man jail - BBC News", "The celebrity hairdresser with a secret of his own - BBC News", "Stella Tennant: Model dies days after 50th birthday - BBC News", "Airline fires pilot blamed for Taiwan's first Covid case in months - BBC News", "Customers furious as E.On takes payments too early - BBC News", "Deepfake queen to deliver Channel 4 Christmas message - BBC News", "Brexit: Firms warn 'clock is ticking' to keep goods moving - BBC News", "Brexit: EU-UK trade deal expected, as cabinet briefed - BBC News", "EU to allow post-Brexit UK farm produce exports - BBC News", "Kay Purcell of Emmerdale and Tracy Beaker Returns dies at 57 - BBC News", "Spain's King Felipe VI makes veiled dig at self-exiled father - BBC News", "Brexit: How European leaders reacted to EU-UK trade deal - BBC News", "Covid-19: South Africa travel ban and carols from the doorstep - BBC News", "Covid-19: Six million more people to enter tier 4 on Boxing Day - BBC News", "Brexit: Are the borders ready? - BBC News", "Covid-19: UK bans travel from South Africa over variant - BBC News", "UK and EU agree post-Brexit trade deal - BBC News", "BBC receives 266 complaints over Vicar of Dibley - BBC News", "Diego Maradona: Autopsy reveals no drink or illegal drugs at time of Argentina legend's death - BBC Sport", "Kent lorry chaos: More military support deployed for driver tests - BBC News", "Covid: US parties wrangle in Congress after Trump shuns stimulus bill - BBC News", "Johnson gets the deal both sides wanted to achieve - BBC News", "Are presidential pardons Trump's secret weapon? - BBC News", "Everton 0-2 Manchester United: Edinson Cavani stunner helps visitors into Carabao Cup semi-finals - BBC Sport", "Brexit: Boris Johnson set to unveil trade deal with EU - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Vaccinate more people with one dose, urges Tony Blair - BBC News", "Pete Evans: Facebook removes celebrity chef's page over conspiracies - BBC News", "Covid-19: Charities send food to stranded truckers - BBC News", "Covid: Johnson and Starmer thank 'very best' at Christmas - BBC News", "Queen's art experts leave as Covid hits royal finances - BBC News", "What Boris Johnson's mistake tells us about our future - BBC News", "Brexit: UK cabinet to discuss deal, as trade talks continue - BBC News", "Kent lorry chaos: Truckers warned of Christmas in their cabs - BBC News", "Brexit: Boris Johnson hails free trade deal with EU - BBC News", "Covid-19: Lorry drivers stuck at UK border for another night - BBC News", "Covid: Sharp rises in infection levels in England, says ONS - BBC News", "Alibaba being investigated by China over monopoly tactics - BBC News", "UK has two cases of variant linked to South Africa - BBC News", "Withernsea: Whales stranded on beach die - BBC News", "Five families, five Christmases: A festive season like no other around Europe - BBC News", "Norfolk flooding: 'Christmas miracle' as couple rescued in flash floods - BBC News", "UK terror plots: Durham teenager asks to remain anonymous - BBC News", "Brexit deal: What is in it? - BBC News", "European Commission announces ‘fair’ post-Brexit trade deal - BBC News", "UK flooding: Billing Aquadrome park in Northampton evacuated - BBC News", "Covid: Navy crew isolates after suspected outbreak - BBC News", "Chrissy Teigen 'sad she will never be pregnant again' - BBC News", "Flooding dampens Christmas spirit as homes and shops hit - BBC News", "Portugal outrage after Spanish hunters massacre 500 wild animals - BBC News", "Stella Tennant: Stella McCartney, Naomi Campbell and more pay tribute - BBC News", "Canary Islands: Holidaymakers react as quarantine deadline passes - BBC News", "Alfred Bourgeois: Second death row inmate executed in two days - BBC News", "Bristol Banksy house owners 'have not pulled out of sale' - BBC News", "Brexit: EU leaders close ranks as no-deal talk mounts - BBC News", "Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas tops the UK charts after 26 years - BBC News", "Met Police appeal over 'fake nude game show' - BBC News", "Where does the Republican Party go after Trump? - BBC News", "Brexit: Malcolm Turnbull tells UK 'be careful what you wish for' over EU trade - BBC News", "Canary Islands: Holidaymakers react as quarantine deadline passes - BBC News", "Canary Islands: Thousands of Britons face Christmas isolation - BBC News", "'Test and dine' proposed to support Birmingham restaurants - BBC News", "Prince William and Kate make red carpet debut with royal children - BBC News", "Your pictures of Scotland 4 - 11 December - BBC News", "Mike Lee: Lone US senator blocks women's and Latino museums - BBC News", "Covid-19: More than 50 schools urge Peter Weir to rethink early closing - BBC News", "Texas election case: A week in Trump and Biden's split-screen America - BBC News", "Blakeney Point little terns have best season in 26 years - BBC News", "Merlin's beard! Harry Potter first edition sells for £68k - BBC News", "Brexit: What are the UK and EU doing to prepare for no deal? - BBC News", "Covid vaccine: Thousands in Wales have had jab since Tuesday - BBC News", "Brexit: No-deal navy threat 'irresponsible', says Tobias Ellwood - BBC News", "'Offensive' Empire honours titles must go, says Labour's Kate Green - BBC News", "'Not enough' climate ambition shown by leaders - BBC News", "What is climate change? - BBC News", "Tavistock puberty blocker study published after nine years - BBC News", "Covid: More tier 3 areas to get mass testing from Monday - BBC News", "Covid: UK isolation period shortened to 10 days - BBC News", "Barbara Windsor: How she inspired people with dementia - BBC News", "Zodiac Killer: Code-breakers solve San Francisco killer's cipher - BBC News", "Reynhard Sinaga: Serial rapist 'abused 206 men' - BBC News", "Covid pandemic: South Korea sees record rise in daily cases - BBC News", "Klarna plans to tell credit agencies if repayments fail - BBC News", "M1 closed overnight after man dies in crash - BBC News", "Covid: Public must think carefully about Christmas risk, NHS bosses warn - BBC News", "First same-sex religious wedding in Northern Ireland - BBC News", "Monkeys could be banned as pets, says government - BBC News", "Covid: Genes hold clues to why some people get severely ill - BBC News", "Austria court overturns primary school headscarf ban - BBC News", "Aztec skull tower: Archaeologists unearth new sections in Mexico City - BBC News", "Covid: London's coronavirus levels rising, ONS says - BBC News", "Space tourism: Virgin space plane to fly above new base - BBC News", "Newborn baby found dead in Weston-super-Mare garden - BBC News", "Covid: MPs will not get expected pay rise amid economic woe - BBC News", "Brexit: UK-EU talks continue as Navy boats put on standby - BBC News", "Covid: Christmas five-day relaxation period 'a mistake' - BBC News", "Newham stabbing: Murder arrest after boy dies - BBC News", "Brexit: PM and EU say trade deal unlikely by Sunday - BBC News", "Trump Twitter ‘hack’: Police accept attacker's claim - BBC News", "Facebook to move all UK users onto US agreements - BBC News", "Heathrow wins court battle to build third runway - BBC News", "Post-Grenfell cladding inspections find other fire risks - BBC News", "Drayton Manor theme park damaged in fire - BBC News", "Covid-19: Patient waits 28 hours as hospitals struggle - BBC News", "Nine cases of new Covid strain reported in Scotland - BBC News", "Birkenhead ferry Covid-19 outbreak: Passengers stranded overnight - BBC News", "Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah: Air pollution a factor in girl's death, inquest finds - BBC News", "WhatsApp rumours fear over BAME Covid vaccine take up - BBC News", "Tom Cruise: Recording emerges of star 'shouting at film crew' over Covid - BBC News", "Brexit: 'Narrow path' in view for trade deal - EU chief - BBC News", "Liverpool 2-1 Tottenham: Roberto Firmino's late winner sends Reds clear of Spurs at top - BBC Sport", "Covid: Christmas safety advice 'set to be strengthened' - BBC News", "Jack Grealish: CCTV shows motoring offences that lead to ban - BBC News", "MI6 'may be committing crimes in UK' - BBC News", "Clothing and food price falls drive down UK inflation - BBC News", "Great Pyramid: Lost Egyptian artefact found in Aberdeen cigar box - BBC News", "Covid: Two household rule in Wales 'a single message' - BBC News", "Rail fare rise a ‘kick in the teeth’ for passengers - BBC News", "Allow pregnant women partner support 'at all times' - BBC News", "Prince Harry and Meghan sign Spotify podcast deal - BBC News", "Glastonbury 2021: Emily Eavis says 'we're doing everything we can' - BBC News", "Covid: Chaotic start for travellers' Covid testing system - BBC News", "Covid in Scotland: Tougher virus restrictions for three council areas - BBC News", "Julie Burchill's book about cancel culture cancelled over Twitter row - BBC News", "Cancer treatment gives terminally ill mother all clear - BBC News", "LGBT-owned kilt maker denounces kilt-clad Proud Boys - BBC News", "New Covid strain: How worried should we be? - BBC News", "Paris mayor mocks 'absurd' fine for hiring too many women - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "Boris Johnson answers last PMQs of the year - BBC News", "Prue Leith receives 'painless' Covid vaccination - BBC News", "PC Andrew Harper: Appeals against killers' sentences rejected - BBC News", "US Election 2020 - BBC News", "Covid vaccine: More than 130,000 vaccinated in UK in first week - BBC News", "Brexit: Hornby stops non-UK orders due to price confusion - BBC News", "Housing: Formula for locating new homes revised after Tory backlash - BBC News", "Covid: 11,000 positive tests delayed in Welsh figures - BBC News", "Covid-19: Ambulance queues 'at all NI emergency departments' - BBC News", "Coronavirus: Redbridge Council suggests schools teach online - BBC News", "MacKenzie Scott gives away $4.2bn in four months - BBC News", "Dominic Cummings: PM's former aide got £45,000 pay rise - BBC News", "As it happened: PM urges 'little Christmas' as Wales limits bubbles - BBC News", "Hyde Park bomb family awarded £715k damages - BBC News", "Covid: Tui cancels flights out of Luton Airport - BBC News", "Callum Smith v Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez: Mexican dominates British fighter - BBC Sport", "Vladimir Ivic: Watford sack head coach after four months - BBC Sport", "Covid in Sydney: New restrictions announced as outbreak grows - BBC News", "Rosalind Knight: Friday Night Dinner and Carry On actress dies aged 87 - BBC News", "Covid: Lockdown looms as Scotland tightens Christmas rules - BBC News", "Cornwall Eden Project closes after heavy rain causes floods - BBC News", "Marcus Rashford given Expert Panel Special Award at Sports Personality of the Year 2020 - BBC Sport", "Brexit: No trade deal unless 'substantial shift' from EU, UK says - BBC News", "Flooding: Homes evacuated after South West downpours - BBC News", "Boudicca revolt: Essex dig reveals 'evidence of Roman reprisals' - BBC News", "UK hit by travel bans as Christmas Covid lockdown starts - BBC News", "Grenfell Tower inquiry: 'Whistleblower' refusing to give evidence - BBC News", "Covid: Cases rise as Christmas rules come into force - BBC News", "Coronavirus: What are Scotland's level 4 restrictions? - BBC News", "Watch live: The Andrew Marr Show - BBC News", "Sir Keir Starmer promises to shift power from Westminster - BBC News", "Covid: Christmas will bring 'pain' but there is hope for the future - Welby - BBC News", "Covid: 'We organised our wedding in two hours to beat tier 4' - BBC News", "Coronavirus tier 4 restrictions: Aerial footage shows queues and empty streets - BBC News", "Covid-19: 'Serious disruption' feared as Dover halts traffic to France - BBC News", "Covid: Furlough companies list should be published, MPs urge - BBC News", "Covid: Border police patrols to double after travel ban - BBC News", "New Covid strain: How worried should we be? - BBC News", "Sports Personality of the Year 2020: Lewis Hamilton crowned winner - BBC Sport", "Joe Biden says 'no time to waste' as climate team unveiled - BBC News", "Strictly Come Dancing: Bill Bailey crowned 2020 winner - BBC News", "Mocked drive-through Santa's grotto now 'magical' - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "'Creepy' drive-through grotto 'an absolute fiasco' - BBC News", "Landslip warning and flooding follow heavy rain in Wales - BBC News", "Covid-19: St Pancras crowds 'totally irresponsible' - BBC News", "NHS workers: 'Vaccine is a game changer' - BBC News", "Sports Personality of the Year: Contenders revealed for 2020 BBC award - BBC Sport", "Covid: No Senedd vote allowed before pub alcohol ban - BBC News", "Supermarkets repay rates relief after backlash - BBC News", "Piers Corbyn guilty of lockdown protest restrictions breach - BBC News", "Baby girl born from record-setting 27-year-old embryo - BBC News", "Fans return to English Football League matches after nine-month absence - BBC Sport", "Brexit trade: 'Serious disruption' risk at Channel post-transition period - BBC News", "What went wrong at Debenhams? - BBC News", "Covid rules: What are the restrictions in your area? - BBC News", "US Election 2020 - BBC News", "Trier: Five die as car ploughs through Germany pedestrian zone - BBC News", "Rapid Covid test: Daughter and mum, 95, hug for first time since March - BBC News", "WW2 mine found in Firth of Clyde had 350kg of explosives - BBC News", "Covid tiers: MPs back tougher system for England, despite Tory rebellion - BBC News", "Burnley stabbing: Marks & Spencer worker and shopper hurt - BBC News", "Dua Lipa and other Spotify artists' pages hacked by Taylor Swift 'fan' - BBC News", "Elliot Page: Juno star announces he is transgender - BBC News", "Queen and Prince Philip to celebrate Christmas 'quietly' at Windsor - BBC News", "Two Covid tests for students in England before quick Christmas exit - BBC News", "Keeping pools closed 'a catastrophe for health and wellbeing' - BBC News", "Covid: Families with negative test can visit care homes in England - BBC News", "Giscard d'Estaing: France mourns ex-president, dead at 94 - BBC News", "Debenhams website overwhelmed as shoppers swoop on sales - BBC News", "Vaccine rumours debunked: Microchips, 'altered DNA' and more - BBC News", "Covid-19: Man admits damaging Tesco covers during lockdown - BBC News", "Dame Jenni Murray on why she's taking her clothes off on TV - BBC News", "Humans waging 'suicidal war' on nature - UN chief Antonio Guterres - BBC News", "Covid vaccine: Pfizer says '94% effective in over-65s' - BBC News", "Esther Dingley: Partner says police 'looking at non-accident options' - BBC News", "Gavin and Stacey Christmas Day show to air on BBC Radio Wales - BBC News", "As it happened: UK regulator approves Covid vaccine use - BBC News", "Covid-19: Vaccine breakthrough, care home visits and lockdown entrepreneurs - BBC News", "Covid: Some students not back until February next term - BBC News", "Christmas: Shops offer early festive discounts in battle for survival - BBC News", "Matt Hancock 'thrilled' with Covid vaccine approval news - BBC News", "Amazon's Panorama box lets firms check if staff follow coronavirus rules - BBC News", "Covid-19: Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine judged safe for use in UK - BBC News", "Student Covid testing begins for Christmas exodus - BBC News", "Covid-19: Shoppers return to stores under England's new tier system - BBC News", "Bonmarché collapses into administration - BBC News", "Manchester Arena Inquiry: Stewards 'not trained properly' - BBC News", "Manchester United 1-3 Paris St-Germain: Neymar scores twice for Parisians - BBC Sport", "Otters find 'fairytale' love in lockdown - BBC News", "Slack sold to business software giant for $27.7bn - BBC News", "Brexit: Dairy giant Arla warns of price rise if no deal - BBC News", "NHS Covid-19 and Zoom top Apple's iPhone 2020 app charts - BBC News", "Why is my area in a higher tier? - BBC News", "Daryl Bunn death: Man guilty of one-punch killing in Maldon - BBC News", "Covid: Lack of domestic abuse support 'will lead to deaths', charities warn - BBC News", "As it happened: Prime Minister's Questions - BBC News", "Flaw allowed iPhone hacking remotely through wi-fi - BBC News", "Enniskeen pipe bomb: Man is arrested after explosion - BBC News", "Covid-19: PM hails vaccine approval and grassroots sport returns - BBC News", "Small waters 'can help address biodiversity crisis' - BBC News"], "published_date": ["2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", "2020-12-21", 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["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], [], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], [], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"], ["https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews"]], "description": ["Wall Street slips after Europe markets fall over the UK's new Covid-19 variant.", "All cancelled rail or coach journeys over Christmas in England will be refunded, the government says.", "The Labour leader also urges the PM to give daily updates, amid cross party calls for Parliament's return.", "The TV, film and theatre actress played \"Horrible Grandma\" in the Channel 4 comedy.", "Grace Millane's killer can now be named after he was convicted of sex attacks on two more women.", "A new recording purports to reveal how Russian state agents poisoned Putin critic Alexei Navalny.", "England and Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford is given the Expert Panel Special Award at the BBC Sports Personality show.", "With a decision expected before Christmas, UK sources say it is increasingly likely there will be no deal.", "Prosecutors said the victims died in \"unbearable\" heat in a lorry container in October 2019.", "An executive meeting is under way to consider proposals from Robin Swann on travel between Britain and NI.", "There has now been 352 cases of Covid at the vehicle agency's contact centre in Swansea.", "Sir Patrick Vallance also predicts there will be a spike in cases after Christmas.", "Supreme Court says jailed banker's wife Zamira Hajiyeva can't appeal against Unexplained Wealth Order.", "Boris Johnson says his position is \"unchanged\", as time for the UK and EU to reach a deal runs short.", "Executive Director Patrick Ky said his organisation had \"left no stone unturned\" in its review.", "The number of daily infections in the UK reaches an all-time high, as new restrictions come into force.", "In a key policy speech, the Labour leader set out plans for the \"boldest devolution project in a generation\".", "London and large parts of the south of England face their first day of tougher coronavirus restrictions.", "France will stop lorries arriving from the UK for 48 hours amid concerns about a new coronavirus variant.", "Boris Johnson says he and President Macron hope to ease the flow of trade \"in the next few hours\".", "Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton is voted Sports Personality of the Year 2020.", "The event was described as \"shambolic\" and but organisers say improvements have been made.", "Some online retailers step back from NI deliveries as the new Irish Sea border begins to operate.", "Many have had their plans to visit loved ones dashed, as countries implement a UK travel ban.", "Areas of England outside the South East say the new variant of Covid-19 is likely to be circulating.", "Rosie Brown can only update her visa in the US, but is not allowed to fly there without it.", "Anas El-Rafai and his brother were with friends at a popular beauty spot known as Broken Scar.", "One woman is stuck in Holyhead as she tries to go to Ireland to spend Christmas with her children.", "The attacker tried to shoot Jewish worshippers - then killed two people outside a synagogue in Halle.", "Bodies representing police say trying to break up celebrations will put officers at risk of harm.", "The business trips must result in a deal which secures 50 jobs or leads to a £100m investment.", "NHS workers have been giving their reaction to the news the vaccine will be rolled out in the UK from next week.", "Another person was hurt when a \"very loud explosion\" was heard from a silo at the site in Bristol.", "Pubs, restaurants and other hospitality outlets on the island are expected to close until 4 January.", "Most tremors go unnoticed but larger events in the past have caused damage, forcing engineers to factor in the risk.", "The 73-year-old hails a \"tremendous result\" after he learns he will face no further punishment.", "One-month old Molly Gibson has broken the record set by her own sister, Emma, now three years old.", "A US intelligence official says Beijing is targeting people close to the incoming US president.", "Luton and Wycombe fans return to their home grounds for the first time since February as Football League clubs welcome back supporters following the easing of coronavirus restrictions.", "Odeon owner AMC is alarmed by Warner Bros' plan to stream films in US as soon as they hit cinemas.", "Lord Maginnis rejects request to take \"behaviour training\" after claims he used homophobic slurs.", "The UK's death figures only include people who died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus.", "Cloud computing is a growing industry, but can the technology bring down the costs of doing business for firms?", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "The move follows a proclamation aimed at Chinese nationals suspected of having ties to the military.", "Women in areas with low Covid rates may be able to attend maternity appointments with partners.", "The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are being kept in a central hub ahead of distribution.", "Christine Colburn embraces her mum for the first time in months after taking a rapid Covid test.", "No more restrictions will be imposed before Christmas, according to the first minister.", "After apparent criticism from the US expert, the UK defended the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.", "Amid a global pandemic and diplomatic tensions, Chinese students in the US are feeling anxious.", "Scientists are urging people and firms to change the way they use technology to reduce emissions.", "His comments drew a backlash from progressive Democrats who want to see police funds diverted.", "The UK's biggest supermarkets will return £1.7bn after facing criticism for taking state support.", "The UK says it would be \"very unusual\" if products of animal origin were blocked after EU raised concerns.", "For Christmas break, students will leave university within 24 hours of two negative Covid tests.", "We hear of little movement but Belgium's leader refers to the \"last minutes of a football match\".", "The former president of France, who has died aged 94, was a force for greater European integration.", "An investigation is under way into a fatal blast at a waste water treatment works in Avonmouth, Bristol.", "A charity wants unpaid carers to get the Covid-19 vaccine at the same time as health and social workers.", "Two records are reached on Wednesday, amid fears the pace will not slow leading up to Christmas.", "Budget airline Wizz Air is making Cardiff Airport its fourth UK base with flights to Europe.", "Talks continue, as a source tells the BBC that Brussels are \"bringing new elements into the negotiation\".", "Irish airline Ryanair's purchase is a boost for the Max, which was grounded after two deadly crashes.", "The group is alleged to have helped 600 migrants - mainly from Syria - cross the Channel in small boats.", "The Premier League and EFL agree a rescue package amounting to £250m to help ease the financial challenge faced by EFL clubs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.", "The country's education secretary confirms that the Christmas holiday dates will not change.", "Tributes have been paid to the actor, who played the villain Toecutter opposite Mel Gibson.", "The environment secretary says the ban could be in place by the end of 2021 in a move away from EU rules.", "Universities in England are staggering the return of students after Christmas over five weeks.", "IBM says organisations involved in moving coronavirus vaccines at chilled temperatures were targeted.", "The Met's position has not changed, Dame Cressida Dick says, despite German police's belief she is dead.", "Police say that the tank exploded on Thursday killing four and injuring a fifth.", "From Boxing Day until New Year's Day, 33 new DJs and presenters will take over the airwaves.", "It is key to deploy the vaccine \"as fast\" as possible, England's deputy chief medical officer says.", "There will be more generous grading in next year's GCSEs and A-levels in England to help those age groups.", "The health secretary says the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be rolled out in the UK \"from next week\".", "Machine learning is helping firms across many industries more quickly solve difficult challenges.", "The UK is the first country to approve the Pfizer vaccine - with 800,000 doses due to arrive soon.", "A large explosion has taken place at a waste treatment works in Avonmouth, Bristol.", "Universities open mass testing centres for students so they can travel home safely for Christmas.", "Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton want to promote confidence in Covid vaccine safety.", "Non-essential shops, gyms and hairdressers can open their doors as a national lockdown ends.", "An Indian village school teacher wins the Global Teacher Prize and shares the award with runners-up.", "The steel fabrication firm, with plants in Fife and Lewis, blamed the government for failing to secure any new contracts.", "Regional Ofsted bosses say schooling has been 'completely disrupted' by Covid-19 in some areas.", "The iPhone transformed mobile phones in just 10 years. Could green energy see a similar revolution?", "Manchester United's Champions League campaign is hanging in the balance as two goals from Neymar help Paris St-Germain win at Old Trafford.", "Alex and Buffy dropped everything to start a new life on the Isle of Rum, which they had only seen in pictures.", "The EU says vaccines are not a \"football competition\" after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson's comment.", "Prince Charles and Camilla visit a theatre and a club as London venues begin to reopen after lockdown.", "Daryl Bunn was attacked after a meeting about best man speeches at a friend's wedding, police say.", "These orders may have been used inappropriately when care services were under extreme pressure, the care watchdog says.", "People with vouchers will only be able to use them for half of their order, the company says.", "Police say that he was injured after a device partially exploded in Craigavon on Tuesday night.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Thursday evening.", "The company managing the port says lack of government support will make the transition \"more challenging\".", "A watchdog discloses the ruling despite government attempts to keep the matter secret.", "Pupils and staff have infection rates which mirror rates outside the school gates, a study found.", "It means more than two-thirds of the nation's population will be in tier three from Saturday.", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "Years after flammable cladding issues emerged, more flat owners are facing costly 24-hour patrols.", "NHS bosses express concern about \"prematurely\" easing restrictions in some areas.", "Public Health Wales warns IT maintenance has led to \"significant under-reporting\" of cases.", "Victor Gevers was acting ethically when he guessed the president's password, \"MAGA2020!\", police say.", "One patient at the Ulster Hospital waited more than 28 hours to be given a bed.", "The Bank of England says trying to predict economic progress is hampered by a lack of a Brexit deal.", "A recording emerges of the Mission: Impossible star apparently letting fly about social distancing.", "As infections rise, these people say they've decided to call off their festive plans.", "The news comes as many airlines cut staff and drop routes as passengers cut travel amid the pandemic.", "A capsule lands in Inner Mongolia with the first lunar rock to be brought to Earth in 44 years.", "Millions in southern England move into tier three, while only two areas move down a tier.", "Secondary school pupils could face a first week of term online as schools set up Covid testing.", "The PM and the EU Commission head speak again by phone, and acknowledge differences remain.", "Police say the investigation into the funeral of the IRA veteran is over and a file will be sent to the PPS.", "Health Minister Nadhim Zahawi says it is a \"really good start\" to the UK's programme.", "The PM's outgoing aide says \"existential\" threats such as nuclear safety are \"largely ignored\".", "Charles and Camilla also release an annual photo, showing the couple smiling in their garden.", "Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah was \"living on a knife edge\" before her fatal asthma attack, the inquest heard.", "The first minister apologises to bereaved families as Scotland again records the highest drug death rate in Europe.", "Roberto Firmino puts Liverpool clear at the top of the Premier League table with a last-gasp winner against Tottenham.", "The new fund will help pay for fire alarms to remove the need for 24-hour patrols in high-rise buildings.", "Sweden has been criticised for its more relaxed approach to handling the pandemic.", "Key moments in the story of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1998.", "Fares will rise more than expected next year, although the 2.6% increase will be delayed until March.", "Global internet firms could be banned from detecting images, amid planned changes to privacy laws.", "UK equality law is too focused on race, age, religion and disability, says Liz Truss.", "Mal Martin's family were told there was almost zero chance of survival after he contracted Covid-19.", "As Christmas looms, popular lines including Lego, dolls and puzzles are out of stock at some toy stores.", "The town scarred by Pan Am flight 103", "There are now nine former players preparing to take legal action against the game's authorities for alleged negligence.", "The company will award £100 each to 50,000 worldwide staff and plans to return UK furlough payments.", "The Budget had been set to happen in Autumn 2020 but was ditched due to the coronavirus pandemic.", "The president of the EU Commission says the \"next few days\" will be decisive for trade negotiations.", "He says the charity should be \"ashamed\" after launching a campaign to feed UK children.", "Atlantic City hopes to raise a million dollars from someone keen to send off the hotel with a bang.", "Ten US states accuse the tech firm of illegally trying to preserve its online advertising monopoly.", "The actor was best known for playing the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original trilogy.", "Holidaymakers in the Canary Islands react as new quarantine rules come into force.", "A public health expert says there is little evidence to suggest it helps cut transmission rates.", "On this week: Foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, Labour's Ed Miliband and Irish PM Micheál Martin", "A 25-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of murder following the death in east London.", "A no-deal exit from the European Union will be \"catastrophic for Wales\", Mark Drakeford says.", "Retailers tell shoppers they have enough supplies as uncertainty remains over the terms of Brexit.", "Consumers could be automatically switched to cheaper deals when their contracts end.", "Unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua floors Kubrat Pulev four times on his way to a knockout win.", "The first editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone initially sold for £10.99 in 1997.", "With no deal looking increasingly likely, how have both sides been getting ready?", "Customers have been venting their anger after congestion at ports led to stock shortages.", "The Grammy-winning artist was one of the greatest black country music stars with a string of hits.", "A senior Conservative says deploying gunboats to patrol UK waters after 31 December is \"undignified\".", "Police said the male occupant suffered minor injuries and was a \"little shaken\".", "A Brexit trade deal is still far from certain, but the ground may have shifted in its favour.", "UK minister Alok Sharma says world leaders are failing to show the necessary level of ambition.", "Gen Gustave Perna says he is confident of the safe distribution of the \"precious commodity\" across the US.", "Some 67 local authorities in England are taking part in the community testing schemes.", "Alex Westgate completed the flight in Leicestershire after he started training in March.", "Ursula von der Leyen says talks were \"constructive\", but Boris Johnson warns no deal is \"most likely\".", "A 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man are arrested on suspicion of murder after a teenager died.", "Negotiations will continue but Boris Johnson warns the UK must \"get ready to trade on WTO terms\".", "NHS bosses say they are worried about January, after the US saw a spike in cases after Thanksgiving.", "Police say the allegations against a former minister did not meet the \"evidential test\".", "The US has started distributing the vaccine to hundreds of locations across the country.", "Dominic Raab says that the EU has 'shifted the goalposts' which has forced the UK into the position it is in.", "\"Stop the Steal\" marchers gathered to back President Trump's push to reverse his election defeat.", "All the latest news and results for the US Election 2020 from the BBC.", "Boris Johnson and his EU counterpart are due to make a decision on the future of talks shortly.", "Both staff and older residents will begin receiving the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine from the start of this week.", "A woman believed to be the baby's mother has been found following an appeal, and taken to hospital.", "First Minister Mark Drakeford warns the NHS risks becoming the \"national coronavirus service\".", "A watch and cash are among items reported stolen from the late World Cup winner's home on Saturday.", "The warning from a public health expert comes as the UK reports a further 519 deaths.", "Peter Alliss, the legendary BBC golf commentator, dies at the age of 89.", "Prof Stephen Powis says the jab is the \"beginning of the end\", as hospitals start to take deliveries.", "Hashem Abedi, who was jailed for murdering 22 people, admits his involvement for the first time.", "A similar structure found in the US last month caused wild speculation online and apparent copycats.", "Rudy Giuliani has been leading the Trump campaign's legal challenges to the 2020 election results.", "They rising musicians are among 10 acts tipped for success on the annual BBC talent list.", "The end of the catalogue is “emotional but rational” as fewer people are reading it, the company says.", "England's tour of South Africa is abandoned after a number of positive coronavirus tests.", "Pollution likely contributed to the fatal asthma attack of Ella Kissi-Debrah, 9, an inquest hears.", "The UK will begin a mass vaccination on Tuesday, beginning with the elderly, health workers, and carers.", "Some viewers who posted off competition entries for various shows \"had no chance of winning\".", "Plaid Cymru is calling for an independent public inquiry into severe flooding earlier this year.", "Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen have spoken as they try to break the post-Brexit trade deal stalemate.", "The two sides are still stuck over the fundamental, political question - who really calls the shots.", "The BBC and the Met Office have looked at the country's changing climate in detail.", "The market in Nottingham closes for the rest of the year, following \"unprecedented high footfall\".", "Details and reaction to a briefing by Health Minister Vaughan Gething.", "The pop star should have been isolating at home after a trip to Egypt when she threw a party.", "The World Economic Forum says the pandemic makes it hard to guarantee participants would stay safe in Europe.", "Det Sgt Nick Bailey, who was contaminated with the nerve agent, left Wiltshire Police in October.", "By the 2040s most of southern England may no longer get sub-zero days, new Met Office data suggests.", "The Met Police faces legal action after undercover officers used four dead children's identities.", "Helen Bannister died in hospital following a serious assault on 1 December.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Monday morning.", "Adrian Smith discovered a photo of him taken when he was eight years old had a life of its own.", "Nicola Sturgeon says 11 councils in west and central Scotland will come out of the highest tier of restrictions.", "With a Brexit deal done, we look at the challenges to come at British borders.", "Derbyshire Police says \"comments of an abusive nature\" were reported during Saturday's game.", "The coronavirus vaccine will begin to be administered at hospitals across the UK on Tuesday.", "Scotland have been drawn to face Denmark and Austria in their qualifying group for the 2022 World Cup.", "The organiser of the illegal gathering in Nottingham is facing a fine of up to £10,000.", "The lateral flow tests will be trialled among visitors to 14 care homes in five local authority areas.", "England will face Poland while Wales meet Belgium as the qualifying draw for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is made.", "A surfer who survived a great white attack in Australia is said to be lucky to be alive.", "The family have apologised for \"prejudiced remarks\" made by the writer, who died 30 years ago.", "The one tonne find is \"a significant hit to the organised crime groups involved\", investigators say.", "The UK prime minister and the European Commission president are to meet in Brussels to discuss the sticking points.", "Breaking is confirmed as part of the Paris 2024 Olympic programme by the IOC, but parkour misses out.", "Military personnel could transport doses of virus vaccine to ensure supplies, a minister says.", "The carmaker's European boss tells the BBC its UK plants could become uncompetitive if no deal is struck.", "The co-chief executive of Europe's largest online fashion platform is cutting short his contract.", "Mr Ashley's Frasers Group eyes a bid for the chain but says there is \"no certainty\" it will happen.", "Italian media dub him \"Forrest Gump\", after a movie hero who ran across the US.", "It seems more than a nip and tuck will be required to break the deadlock in UK-EU trade talks.", "Christmas shoppers returned to stores in England this weekend, but footfall was down 25% on last year.", "Millwall and Queens Park Rangers players will stand arm-in-arm before Tuesday's Championship fixture in a \"show of solidarity for football's fight against discrimination\".", "Crisps firm Walkers will make fertiliser by mixing potato waste with CO2 from beer fermentation.", "Sir Peter Gross will look at whether 22-year-old legislation is working properly today.", "Chris and Henry Flanagan-Kane say they finally have equality, 15 years after civil partnership.", "The coin featuring the Starman singer was sent to an altitude of more than 35,000m.", "The streaming giant says it \"sees no need\" to warn viewers that some scenes are invented.", "Material from a space rock called Ryugu could provide an ''exciting key'' to the origins of the Solar System.", "The deal between the UK and EU ends months of arguments over business rules and fishing rights.", "Oleg Sokolov, an expert on Napoleon, was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison.", "London now has the highest percentage of people testing positive in the UK, ONS figures suggest.", "About 5,000 people usually spend their Christmas morning watching the Royal Family arrive at church - but not this year.", "Many had wondered if he would mention the former king's scandals in his Christmas speech.", "\"We've just had official confirmation that this Christmas is a white one!\" the Met Office tweets.", "The monarch will reflect on the hardships of the pandemic in her Christmas speech at 15:00 GMT.", "Three people are injured in the blast and possible human remains are later found near the site.", "A marine expert says the loss of 10 young males found on the East Yorkshire coast is \"catastrophic\".", "A further 800 personnel are to be sent to Kent on Christmas Day to help test drivers for Covid-19.", "The year 2020 was an eventful one for two dancing partners who began co-habiting at the age of 90, then had their Covid jabs.", "Police praise residents for \"compassion\" shown to officers while being told to leave their homes.", "The president wants changes to the federal spending bill, but Congress cannot agree on which ones.", "The post-Brexit trade deal will not be faultless but both sides are now hoping to sell it at home.", "A couple are rescued by fire crews from a car submerged by flash floods in Norfolk.", "The UK-EU trade agreement will be followed by claim and counter-claim over who gave most ground.", "The monarch makes her annual address in the Christmas Message to the Nation and Commonwealth.", "The Christmas messages reflect on the impact of the pandemic - and people's responses.", "The monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh usually spend Christmas with other royals at Sandringham.", "A marriage proposal is caught by a keen photographer who was walking in the Peak District.", "A post-Brexit agreement has been announced. Here are 10 key questions.", "The post-Brexit trade deal has been met with a mixture of relief, sadness and optimism in Europe.", "A further 570 deaths are reported on Christmas Day, as confirmed cases rise by 32,725.", "The charitable sausage roll singer is now on a par with The Beatles and the Spice Girls.", "The new rule will begin on 28 December amid concerns over the new variant of coronavirus.", "Occupants of about 500 caravans at Billing Aquadrome in Northampton are urged to seek shelter.", "Police warn of a \"really serious situation\" in Bedfordshire as they urge people to leave their homes.", "Businesses give a relieved welcome to the Brexit trade deal, but warn there is more work to be done.", "The BBC has seen the 1,246-page document, which includes about 800 pages of annexes and footnotes.", "The sitcom included a scene which referenced the Black Lives Matter movement.", "Hundreds of military personnel have been deployed to help clear the backlog of about 5,000 lorries.", "She says that while all many people want is \"a squeeze of the hand\", there is \"hope in the new dawn\".", "There is no precedent for the avalanche of new trade barriers that is coming after 1 January.", "The home secretary says border controls will be \"fairer\" but there are concerns over data access.", "NHS gender identity service seeks an appeal against puberty blockers ban and doctors call for change.", "Eurotunnel says it expects hundreds more lorries to arrive in Kent, as the UK and France thrash out a plan to restart trade and travel.", "No inter-county travel will be allowed after 26 December under new restrictions.", "Communal singing is against Covid guidelines in the UK but could a new scientific study change that?", "More must be done if the UK is to be future-proofed rather than playing catch-up, say MPs.", "Thomas Maher used an encrypted phone to arrange the movement of drugs and cash.", "The move by Britain's biggest supermarket comes amid shortage fears due to disruption at UK ports.", "Grace Millane's killer can now be named after he was convicted of sex attacks on two more women.", "A new recording purports to reveal how Russian state agents poisoned Putin critic Alexei Navalny.", "The postal service agrees a deal with unions to end a bitter dispute over pay and conditions.", "The 62-year-old Marquess of Bute is one of seven people charged with allegedly breaking travel rules.", "The food industry says port disruption makes it hard for foreign firms to trust UK exporters post-Brexit.", "Prosecutors said the victims died in \"unbearable\" heat in a lorry container in October 2019.", "An executive meeting is under way to consider proposals from Robin Swann on travel between Britain and NI.", "Boris Johnson says former party treasurer Peter Cruddas has a \"long track record\" of political service.", "The UK is continuing to see more deaths than expected for this time of year, ONS data shows.", "Total deaths in the UK have been 20% above normal in recent weeks, but that figure has now dropped.", "Europe is gradually easing lockdown measures ahead of the tourist season.", "Nicola Sturgeon warns that the current top level of restrictions may need to be tightened further.", "Sir Patrick Vallance also predicts there will be a spike in cases after Christmas.", "Boris Johnson says his position is \"unchanged\", as time for the UK and EU to reach a deal runs short.", "Experts urgently assess whether the mutation of coronavirus spreads more easily among the young.", "Lady Margaret Tebbit was paralysed after an IRA bombing at the Conservative Party conference in 1984.", "A consultant at Morriston says the standard of care suffers when the hospital becomes overwhelmed.", "Jurors were warned to ignore comments from politicians following Priti Patel's post on Twitter.", "Many have had their plans to visit loved ones dashed, as countries implement a UK travel ban.", "Tashaun Aird was stabbed to death in Hackney almost two years after he was excluded from school.", "Areas of England outside the South East say the new variant of Covid-19 is likely to be circulating.", "If it doesn't, the boss of BioNTech says its vaccine could be refined very quickly.", "Restrictions will jump from level one to level four in the south of Scotland, Highland and Moray on Boxing Day.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Tuesday morning.", "Anas El-Rafai and his brother were with friends at a popular beauty spot known as Broken Scar.", "Scotland's first minister says there are \"no excuses\" for removing her face covering at a wake.", "Talks are continuing in Brussels, with less than 10 days to go until the UK leaves EU trading rules.", "EU nationals and those transporting goods internationally can return - if they have a recent negative test.", "A top Chinese scientist addresses claims the coronavirus leaked from her lab in the city of Wuhan.", "Simon Byrne apologises after the policing of NI protests is found to be unfair and discriminatory.", "Politicians are in talks to resume freight, after France closed the border because of the new variant.", "Surgeries in more than 100 locations are receiving their first deliveries of the Pfizer jab.", "Roberts Buncis, 12, was found dead in Lincolnshire on Saturday, two days before his birthday.", "Education secretary threatens legal action after classes move online due to a rise in infections.", "Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier has died at the age of 73.", "Players are reporting performance issues and the game crashing on PS4 and Xbox One.", "Police said the male occupant suffered minor injuries and was a \"little shaken\".", "A Brexit trade deal is still far from certain, but the ground may have shifted in its favour.", "Details and reaction as Health Minister Vaughan Gething gives a live televised briefing.", "The former Holiday Inn offered views of Washington DC, but was brought down without a hitch in a controlled implosion.", "The leader of one council writes to head teachers and parents warning of \"extreme risk\" of rising cases.", "A final decision on a deal was expected on Sunday, but the two sides sent negotiators back to the table.", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "Nicola Sturgeon says Scots planning to meet up at Christmas should cut down on \"unnecessary contacts\" now.", "Dale McLaughlan travelled across the Irish Sea on a water scooter to see his girlfriend, a court hears.", "All the latest news and results for the US Election 2020 from the BBC.", "Esther Dingley's partner and family say she was content with life as they dismiss media speculation.", "EU sources say talks are constructive, with both sides keen to avoid blame for a no-deal Brexit.", "Retailers tell shoppers they have enough supplies as uncertainty remains over the terms of Brexit.", "People wrongly threatened because of immigration policy changes previously received a minimum of £250.", "Liverpool fans remember Gerard Houllier as the manager \"who brought the good times back\".", "Both countries have very few cases and will allow travellers to go back and forth without quarantine.", "Writers including Robert Harris and Ian Rankin remember an author \"who transcended his genre\".", "Ursula von der Leyen says talks were \"constructive\", but Boris Johnson warns no deal is \"most likely\".", "A 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man are arrested on suspicion of murder after a teenager died.", "Annie Innes, 90, from South Lanarkshire, is the first person to be be vaccinated in a care home.", "The new strain may be growing faster in some parts of the country, Health Secretary tells MPs.", "Health Secretary Matt Hancock warns people to be vigilant as London is set to move into tier three.", "Sherwin Hall made 13 hospital visits before he was given an MRI scan which revealed several tumours.", "\"Stop the Steal\" marchers gathered to back President Trump's push to reverse his election defeat.", "Experts are calling for greater surveillance of wildlife for the virus after the discovery in a wild mink.", "Witnesses say the man yelled \"Kill me\" as he opened fire near the Cathedral of St John the Divine.", "Medical safety gear worth millions of pounds has yet to be distributed months after it was bought.", "Front-line staff warn relaxing rules for the festive period is not a \"luxury\" the NHS can afford.", "NHS bosses say they are worried about January, after the US saw a spike in cases after Thanksgiving.", "The US has started distributing the vaccine to hundreds of locations across the country.", "The Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir join forces with Justin Bieber to go for Christmas number one.", "The code indicates to police that someone is in distress but unable to speak.", "Customers have been venting their anger after congestion at ports led to stock shortages.", "Officials will hold discussions with France's EDF about funding the Sizewell C project in Suffolk.", "A collection of your tributes to some of the thousands of people in the UK who have died with coronavirus.", "Jesy Nelson says being in the chart-topping girl group has \"taken a toll on my mental health\".", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Monday evening.", "Shows like Les Miserables, Six the Musical and Pantoland at the Palladium are among those affected.", "First Minister Mark Drakeford warns the NHS risks becoming the \"national coronavirus service\".", "Sadiq Khan wants all secondary schools and colleges to close early ahead of Christmas across London.", "Hazel disappeared under a sea of foam at Byron Bay as wild weather battered the coast.", "Tourists and scientists gathered at an observation site in Argentina to witness the total eclipse.", "The mass of human-made objects will for the first time likely exceed that of living things in 2020.", "Knives, firearms, blowpipes and other weapons can be traded in for amounts ranging up to £5,105.", "Outpatient and non-urgent cancer treatments may be postponed due the 'alarming' rise in Covid rates.", "Greater Manchester Police \"let down\" crime victims and closed cases prematurely, a report finds.", "US media say the inquiry relates to his business dealings with foreign countries including China.", "Some parents decide to keep their children at home in case they catch Covid before Christmas.", "The supermarkets will open but Asda gives staff the day off for working during the pandemic.", "Italy's 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi, who finished top scorer at the tournament and got the opening goal in the final, has died aged 64.", "Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the fastest rise has been in secondary-school aged children.", "The striker's hat-trick eliminated Brazil on the way to Italy's triumph in the competition in Spain.", "Hilda and Michael Hubbard had been happy together before his dementia took hold, a report says.", "The EU has set out the measures it would take if no trade deal is agreed with the UK.", "After three years away, the MOBOs return to celebrate the best of black music and culture.", "Failing to reach an agreement is not what the EU or Boris Johnson wants, but the signs are not good.", "The abuse is alleged to have happened in Kirklees, Bradford and Wakefield between 1999 and 2012.", "The International Criminal Court says Iraqi detainees were abused by UK soldiers between 2003 and 2009.", "A report reveals a litany of damaging and unlawful decisions made about children in care.", "Production on her popular programme, the Ellen DeGeneres Show, will be suspended until January.", "All 11 to 18-year-olds in the worst-hit areas told to get tested, whether they have symptoms or not.", "European bison take a step back from the brink, but there is bad news for other animals and plants.", "A driver helps a distraught passenger who fears she will miss 30-minute slot to see her mother.", "The TV journalist and Sky News political editor Beth Rigby are among four people taken off air.", "UK PM Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed a firm decision should be taken by Sunday.", "Demand from buyers is \"losing a bit of steam\" in some areas of the UK, surveyors report.", "France's data privacy watchdog said it was the largest fine it had ever issued.", "Campaigners have created a black hair code to try and end discrimination in schools and workplaces.", "Sunday becomes the new deadline for a decision on trade talks, after the PM and EU chief meet in Brussels.", "Sky News political editor Beth Rigby will also be absent for three months.", "Despite \"exhaustive planning\", some customers may experience delayed deliveries, the postal group says.", "A stay-at-home rule will still end on 15 December, but the new curfew will begin - and include New Year's Eve.", "The finding is thought to be the first to document the use of tools by Asian honeybees.", "A large number of women also died in labour, a review into a scandal-hit maternity unit finds.", "How will Americans receive the vaccine? Will it be free? And will enough people take it?", "Rae Whitehead, 79, died on 1 December after testing positive for Covid-19 at her care home.", "Mixed reaction as secondary schools and FE colleges in Wales are told to close on Friday.", "Users of the app in England and Wales can now apply for £500 if eligible.", "Nearly 163,000 people had been waiting over a year at the end of October, compared with 1,600 in February.", "Joe Anderson was arrested by police investigating the awarding of building contracts.", "Boris Johnson says negotiations with the EU will continue, but are \"not yet there at all\".", "A “sister album” to July's Folklore will be released at midnight, the singer announces on Twitter.", "The US entrepreneur's latest Starship rocket prototype impresses in flight, but crashes on landing.", "The world's largest streaming site said the ban would affect any posts uploaded from Wednesday", "A coalition of news and tech companies join forces to tackle harmful Covid vaccine misinformation.", "Tom Sleigh was trying to light a candle when his notepad went up in flames during an online meeting.", "UK tourists travelling from the islands will have to self-isolate for two weeks.", "Retailers are facing a \"make or break\" Christmas according to the Welsh Retail Consortium.", "The industry tells MPs it has not had enough time to prepare for the end of the Brexit transition period.", "EU pandemic rules and Brexit may restrict travellers from entering the European Union.", "Nasa has announced 18 astronauts who will travel to the Moon under the agency's Artemis programme.", "Holyrood's Justice Committee said it believes additional changes are needed to the controversial bill.", "The numbers of patients in Wales include record numbers still in hospital recovering from the virus.", "Another person was hurt when a \"very loud explosion\" was heard from a silo at the site in Bristol.", "All the vaccine slots were taken within five hours, with many front line nurses unable to secure one.", "Details of the first minister's briefing as tighter rules on pubs and restaurants take effect.", "The teenager and three men were killed in the blast at a water treatment works in Bristol.", "Infection levels are down among all age groups and all regions apart from one, data suggests.", "Retailers have so far committed to handing back £1.9bn after some faced criticism from MPs.", "Odeon owner AMC is alarmed by Warner Bros' plan to stream films in US as soon as they hit cinemas.", "Tolkien is believed to have written The Hobbit and The Lords of the Rings at the house in Oxford.", "The money has disappeared from circulation and is unaccounted for, say MPs and auditors.", "Alok Sharma says he expects the doses to arrive for the start of the UK's vaccination programme.", "The \"heartbreaking\" news came six months after lockdown postponed their first effort to tie the knot.", "A light aircraft is forced to make an emergency landing on an interstate in Minnesota, but no injuries are reported.", "The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are being kept in a central hub ahead of distribution.", "The new restrictions have been described as \"a devastating hammer blow\" to the hospitality industry.", "Festive songs account for more than half of this week's top 40, led by Mariah Carey.", "\"The only thing we could do was talk to her on FaceTime\", a woman who lost her daughter to Covid told the BBC.", "After apparent criticism from the US expert, the UK defended the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.", "The chain says recent lockdowns cost it £430m in sales, but trading since reopening has been strong.", "Many businesses can reopen from next Friday, but drink-only pubs must remain closed.", "UK sources said the talks had \"gone back 24 hours\", while the EU warns of difficulties.", "It is the second week running that the reproduction number of virus transmission has been below 1.", "With a Brexit deal done, we look at the challenges to come at British borders.", "A seven-year-old boy fell from the Twister ride at Lightwater Valley in May last year.", "Eltiona Skana admitted the manslaughter of Emily Jones on the grounds of diminished responsibility.", "Joe Anderson and four others are being investigated over the awarding of building contracts in the city.", "The first coronavirus vaccines will be administered in Northern Ireland on Tuesday morning.", "As many as 50 local businesses have enjoyed a timely boost from the production at Gwrych Castle.", "The medicines regulator says doses will have to be delivered to homes within 12 hours of unpacking.", "Two men and a woman died at the scene in Bothwell and two other men were taken to hospital.", "Talks continue, as a source tells the BBC that Brussels are \"bringing new elements into the negotiation\".", "The cut comes at a time when the industry is suffering from low passenger numbers due to the pandemic.", "Hundreds of residents reported hearing explosions in the early hours of Friday caused by the weather phenomenon.", "Is this really the end of the road - or is a trade deal just around the corner?", "Officers are treating it as a missing person inquiry and have circulated posters of Ms Dingley.", "Gitanjali Rao, 15, says she proves that you don't have to look like a \"typical scientist\".", "Joe White will also act as consul-general to San Francisco when he takes on the role later this year.", "Online shoppers are being warned of the risks of cyber-fraud during the festive season.", "The Met's position has not changed, Dame Cressida Dick says, despite German police's belief she is dead.", "Thomas Davies told a jury he had been exaggerating about how quickly he drove the 841-mile journey.", "Changes to the 1996 Treasure Act are aimed at protecting new finds in England and Wales.", "Peter Corry says artists and audiences are struggling due to the cancellation of performances.", "The Nazis removed Jewish names from the German phonetic alphabet - now a reform is coming.", "Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton want to promote confidence in Covid vaccine safety.", "Boris Johnson and European Commission chief Ursula Von Der Leyen will seek to break deadlock on Saturday.", "The airline's sale of surplus stock - crockery, blankets, slippers - sparked delight and dismay.", "There is \"no evidence whatsoever\" that Shukri Yahye-Abdi was pushed in a river, a coroner says.", "The EU says vaccines are not a \"football competition\" after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson's comment.", "Supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have already started to arrive in the UK.", "Pupils and teachers should get details of what assessments in Wales will look like by January.", "Arsenal beat Chelsea to end a seven-game winless run in the Premier League and ease the pressure on boss Mikel Arteta.", "Oleg Sokolov, an expert on Napoleon, was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison.", "About 5,000 people usually spend their Christmas morning watching the Royal Family arrive at church - but not this year.", "\"We've just had official confirmation that this Christmas is a white one!\" the Met Office tweets.", "Many city centres were left bare as coronavirus restrictions prevented shops from opening.", "Three people are injured in the blast and possible human remains are later found near the site.", "Some residents form makeshift defences in a bid to hold back the floodwater.", "The FBI says it has received 500 tips about the incident that injured three people on Christmas Day.", "The Cabinet Office minister says he has lost friends over Brexit and admits it turned UK politics \"ugly\".", "The monarch makes her annual address in the Christmas Message to the Nation and Commonwealth.", "The monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh usually spend Christmas with other royals at Sandringham.", "A post-Brexit agreement has been announced. Here are 10 key questions.", "Blake was one of the Cold War's most notorious double agents and betrayed dozens of MI6 personnel.", "A further 570 deaths are reported on Christmas Day, as confirmed cases rise by 32,725.", "The charitable sausage roll singer is now on a par with The Beatles and the Spice Girls.", "The new rule will begin on 28 December amid concerns over the new variant of coronavirus.", "More areas in England enter tier four, as lockdowns begin in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.", "A murder inquiry begins after the man suffered fatal head injuries in Erdington, Birmingham.", "A UK-based think tank says the pandemic has caused economic momentum to shift further in favour of Asia.", "Police warn of a \"really serious situation\" in Bedfordshire as they urge people to leave their homes.", "Bryony Frost becomes the first female jockey to win the King George VI Chase as she rides Frodon to victory at Kempton.", "Organisers have pulled the plug on people taking the plunge this year due to the pandemic.", "The highest level of restrictions are now in force for millions of people to curb the spread of a new strain of coronavirus.", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "Thousands of people have left their homes near the River Great Ouse amid \"severe\" flood warnings.", "A warning for snow and ice is in place for Northern Ireland and parts of England, Wales and Scotland.", "Lewis Hamilton tells the Today programme that the Black Lives Matter movement helped drive him on to his seventh world title.", "A total of 8.14 million watched her address, and it was also a good day for channel-hopping Bradley Walsh.", "The plane with three crew landed safely after rerouting on a flight from the US to Canada.", "Countries across the EU received their first shipments of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines.", "Hundreds of military personnel have been deployed to help clear the backlog of about 5,000 lorries.", "She says that while all many people want is \"a squeeze of the hand\", there is \"hope in the new dawn\".", "Homes are without power and 80mph gusts are forecast for south and west Wales.", "The home secretary says border controls will be \"fairer\" but there are concerns over data access.", "If it proves effective, the jab could protect vulnerable people who haven't or can't be vaccinated.", "The list of known victims is growing, as SolarWinds says about 18,000 customers may be affected.", "\"I didn't feel a thing,\" says Mr Pence after he receives his first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.", "Matthew Mason admits beating 15-year-old Alex Rodda to death with a spanner but denies murder.", "Updates and reaction from Friday's press conference with mental health minister Baroness Morgan.", "The response to Covid was \"inadequate\" and more could have been done to prepare, a report says.", "The prime minister says he hopes to avoid a third lockdown in England during a visit to Greater Manchester on 18 December.", "The Treasury says taxes must rise or services cut to compensate for the loss of fuel tax income.", "The unprecedented move comes as players say the game is riddled with bugs and glitches.", "Hundreds of drivers were stranded when heavy snow blanketed part of the Kanetsu expressway.", "Office for National Statistics figures suggest one in every 95 people in England has the virus.", "Andy Burnham is facing a call to stand down as Greater Manchester Police is put in special measures.", "Pastor Mick - who helps the poor on streets of Burnley - was once a violent dealer, covering up painful childhood memories.", "The two classic cars were donated to the charity by Richard Colton, who died in 2015.", "Smoke from wildfires could be a surprising new route for the spread of microbes, experts believe.", "Sweden has been criticised for its more relaxed approach to handling the pandemic.", "Amber and yellow rain warnings are in place and flood alerts are issued.", "The winner of this year's Masterchef: The Professionals series says \"it is the best feeling ever\".", "A six-mile control zone is set up after Scotland's first serious case of avian flu since 2016 is confirmed.", "Dog theft: Organised crime driving ‘epidemic’ of dog snatching.", "The NSPCC says calls to its helpline resulted in 923 referrals in Wales between April and November.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Friday evening.", "He says the charity should be \"ashamed\" after launching a campaign to feed UK children.", "Fears remain over Christmas deliveries as online shopping balloons amid Covid restrictions.", "Some property websites are hosting rental listings that may discriminate against people on benefits.", "Michel Barnier says it is now \"the moment of truth\", while Boris Johnson warns of \"difficult\" talks.", "No 10 sources said the PM chaired meetings on Friday amid \"growing concerns\" about Covid infection rates.", "From his hospital bed, 60-year-old Chris Lea says \"it is not worth losing an aunt, uncle or grandparent\".", "Atlantic City hopes to raise a million dollars from someone keen to send off the hotel with a bang.", "Investigators secretly recorded \"offensive\" conversations between members of the unit.", "It means more than two-thirds of the nation's population will be in tier three from Saturday.", "More people in Scotland are to face level three rules. So, is your council area entering the second strictest tier?", "Heavy snow has left drivers stranded on a highway in Japan, some of them since Wednesday night.", "US states accuse Google of unfairly abusing monopolies to dominate new tech like voice assistants.", "Sales fell by 3.8% last month, bringing to an end a six-month streak of rising trade.", "Packaging firm co-owned by Mohsin and Zuber Issa was prosecuted after a series of injuries", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "Secondary school pupils could face a first week of term online as schools set up Covid testing.", "The PM and the EU Commission head speak again by phone, and acknowledge differences remain.", "The actor was best known for playing the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original trilogy.", "Nearly 90% of hospital beds in England are full as hospitals try to cope with the demands of Covid.", "The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is the highest since the pandemic began in March.", "Ian Hopkins says he will step down from Greater Manchester Police with immediate effect.", "A selection of your pictures of Scotland sent in between 11 and 18 December.", "Pressure on industries hit by Covid restrictions is forcing many people to change careers.", "The Duchess of Sussex took legal action against a news agency that photographed her and her son.", "Last minute plans for mass testing in England's secondary schools to be run by teachers anger staff.", "Encryption could make it harder to police online grooming, England's children's commissioner warns.", "As the royal tour arrives in Wales, a minister says he would \"rather no one was having unnecessary visits\".", "Hashem Abedi, who was jailed for murdering 22 people, admits his involvement for the first time.", "Up to one in 10 of the population are anxious about injections - so what can they do?", "Two members of England's touring party who gave \"unconfirmed positive\" coronavirus tests will return to the UK after testing and analysis shows they are not infected.", "The Japanese carmaker temporarily stops production at its Swindon plant after UK ports congestion.", "Laura Nuttall, who has terminal brain cancer, says older people should be ahead of her in the queue.", "Pollution likely contributed to the fatal asthma attack of Ella Kissi-Debrah, 9, an inquest hears.", "Flood barriers were rolled out too late, causing heavy rain to flood the city.", "The UK will drop plans to override the Brexit divorce deal, removing a potential obstacle to a trade deal.", "American regulators are yet to approve the vaccine, despite the UK pushing ahead with mass rollout.", "The peer-reviewed work in the Lancet medical journal confirms the vaccine is 'safe and protects'.", "Sue Hodge lost seven hours and has no memory of going in the sea or even driving to Newquay.", "The Champions League match between Paris St-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir will resume on Wednesday after being abandoned on Tuesday.", "The industry tells MPs it has not had enough time to prepare for the end of the Brexit transition period.", "The ban from next October is part of \"a major review\" of laws to protect children and vulnerable people.", "The World Economic Forum says the pandemic makes it hard to guarantee participants would stay safe in Europe.", "Designer Tom Dunford says he put the pillar up for \"fun\" and plans to remove it in a few days.", "What's it like to be a Biden voter in a Trump heartland where many believe the election was rigged?", "Adrian Smith discovered a photo of him taken when he was eight years old had a life of its own.", "With a Brexit deal done, we look at the challenges to come at British borders.", "William Shakespeare was the second to receive the Covid-19 jab - and there was no shortage of puns.", "The coronavirus vaccine will begin to be administered at hospitals across the UK on Tuesday.", "We've looked at four false Covid vaccine claims that won’t go away.", "England will face Poland while Wales meet Belgium as the qualifying draw for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is made.", "The TV journalist has said sorry for an \"error of judgement\" while celebrating her 60th birthday.", "The death of Nigel Demaline's wife, Pauline, of Covid-19, prompted him to help test a new vaccine.", "A group of eight former rugby union players - including World Cup winner Steve Thompson - are claiming the sport has left them with brain damage.", "Prosecutor says if public \"knew the evidence we had\" they would think Madeleine McCann was killed.", "Breaking is confirmed as part of the Paris 2024 Olympic programme by the IOC, but parkour misses out.", "Driverless cars were once seen as core to the company's future but lately it's focused on rides and food.", "Shane Mays repeatedly punched Louise Smith in the face before defiling and burning her body.", "Boris Johnson's trip to Brussels must produce at least a statement of intent for a deal to be done.", "Manchester United's season suffers a huge blow as they are knocked out of the Champions League after being outclassed by RB Leipzig.", "Spending surged last month as eating out was restricted by England's national lockdown, figures suggest.", "The monarch gathers with family members at a distance to enjoy Christmas carols at Windsor Castle.", "About 70 hospital hubs in the UK are gearing up to give the Pfizer/BioNTech jab to over-80s and some health and care staff, after regulators approved the vaccine's use last week.", "Trials are being planned in the UK to see if combining Covid vaccines might give the best protection.", "Italian media dub him \"Forrest Gump\", after a movie hero who ran across the US.", "It seems more than a nip and tuck will be required to break the deadlock in UK-EU trade talks.", "Millwall and Queens Park Rangers players will stand arm-in-arm before Tuesday's Championship fixture in a \"show of solidarity for football's fight against discrimination\".", "Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, becomes the first person in the world to get the jab as part of a mass vaccination programme, calling it the \"best early birthday present\".", "A collection of your tributes to some of the thousands of people in the UK who have died with coronavirus.", "Chris and Henry Flanagan-Kane say they finally have equality, 15 years after civil partnership.", "Health Secretary Matt Hancock hails the start of the UK's mass Covid-19 immunisations programme.", "Millwall fans applaud as their team and Queens Park Rangers players held an anti-racism banner before Tuesday's Championship match.", "Rising Covid-19 cases, especially in outer boroughs, could see tighter restrictions imposed.", "Lloyd Austin, who oversaw US forces in the Middle East, would be the first African-American in the job.", "All 11 council areas currently under level four restrictions are to be downgraded to level three on Friday.", "Boris Johnson and European Commission chief Ursula Von Der Leyen will seek to break deadlock on Saturday.", "\"All I want for Christmas is a gift of life, that would be an absolute miracle,\" says Diana Isajeva.", "Is this really the end of the road - or is a trade deal just around the corner?", "Chelsea go top of the Premier League as they come from behind to beat Leeds United in front of 2,000 fans at Stamford Bridge.", "He was arrested with four other people in an investigation into the awarding of building contracts.", "The airline's sale of surplus stock - crockery, blankets, slippers - sparked delight and dismay.", "The Trump administration is told to resume a programme that protects immigrants from deportation.", "Dubbed the \"millionaire's tax\", the one-off levy will fund relief measures and health supplies.", "Sports shirts worn by the former president and the Chicago Bulls star were auctioned in Los Angeles.", "A reconnaissance flight in the South Atlantic obtains spectacular imagery of the giant iceberg A68a.", "One in five children aged 10-15 experience bullying online, according to new figures.", "Millwall say they are \"dismayed and saddened\" after some of their fans booed players taking a knee at the start of Saturday's game against Derby.", "It comes as a further 22 people who tested positive for coronavirus die in the past 24 hours.", "Hannah Gaves hid crack cocaine and cannabis in her underwear and smuggled it into a prison.", "The man is being held under quarantine in a hospital in the Jamaican capital, Kingston.", "The tests introduced in England's tier-three areas are a \"game-changer\", a senior NHS adviser says.", "The teenager and three men were killed in the blast at a water treatment works in Bristol.", "A team retrieves a capsule carrying the first significant quantities of rock from an asteroid.", "A member of the Labour leader's office has tested positive for coronavirus so he must stay at home.", "With a Brexit deal done, we look at the challenges to come at British borders.", "England's one-day international series against South Africa will begin on Sunday after the hosts' players tested negative for Covid-19.", "The new restrictions have been described as \"a devastating hammer blow\" to the hospitality industry.", "The start of Millwall's home game with Derby - which the Rams win 1-0 - is overshadowed by some fans booing the teams taking a knee.", "A seven-year-old boy fell from the Twister ride at Lightwater Valley in May last year.", "Joe Anderson and four others are being investigated over the awarding of building contracts in the city.", "The virus - said to be \"low risk\" to humans - has been identified at sites across Great Britain.", "The first coronavirus vaccines will be administered in Northern Ireland on Tuesday morning.", "A man and woman are seriously injured as a home in Illingworth, Halifax, is \"completely destroyed\".", "The \"heartbreaking\" news came six months after lockdown postponed their first effort to tie the knot.", "Lower Cynon Valley follows a pilot in Merthyr Tydfil with testing for up to 27,000 people from Saturday.", "The bodies of William Lavigne and Timothy Duma were discovered at the army base on Wednesday.", "UK PM Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen have spoken by phone.", "Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen have spoken as they try to break the post-Brexit trade deal stalemate.", "The medicines regulator says doses will have to be delivered to homes within 12 hours of unpacking.", "Police appeal for information about the deaths of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in Kent.", "EU and UK negotiators call in leaders in last ditch effort to secure a trade deal.", "Festive songs account for more than half of this week's top 40, led by Mariah Carey.", "The line between Huntly and Keith is closed due to a landslip and flooding affects rail and tram lines.", "The smugglers allegedly transported migrants from Asia to Italy and then on to northern Europe.", "Arsenal beat Chelsea to end a seven-game winless run in the Premier League and ease the pressure on boss Mikel Arteta.", "Boris Johnson promises \"big changes\" after Brexit, but fishermen's leaders accuse him of \"caving in\".", "The rise in cases comes after a new variant of coronavirus is identified in the country.", "Patient demand is equal \"and now arguably greater\" than at the first wave's peak, the service says.", "Hurricanes, floods and wildfires wreaked havoc, causing deaths and a huge financial impact.", "Doctors warn the NHS may not be able to cope with a surge in cases after restrictions were eased at Christmas.", "Relations between the four UK nations were closer under Theresa May, Wales' first minister says.", "At least 10 climbers are killed and seven others are missing in the Alborz mountains near Tehran.", "Many city centres were left bare as coronavirus restrictions prevented shops from opening.", "The wrestling world pays tribute to Jon Huber, who was known to fans as Brodie Lee or Luke Harper.", "The deal means any changes would \"hardly be felt\" by shoppers, says the supermarket's chairman.", "The FBI says it has received 500 tips about the incident that injured three people on Christmas Day.", "Andy Murray gets a wildcard for February's Australian Open, two years after what looked like his final appearance.", "Blake was one of the Cold War's most notorious double agents and betrayed dozens of MI6 personnel.", "The new rule will begin on 28 December amid concerns over the new variant of coronavirus.", "More areas in England enter tier four, as lockdowns begin in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.", "At least seven people are killed in a stabbing frenzy in the city of Kaiyuan, with a suspect in custody.", "Covid and Black Lives Matter take wedding photographer Tash Jones in an unexpected direction.", "A UK-based think tank says the pandemic has caused economic momentum to shift further in favour of Asia.", "Officers say they were heading to a report of a domestic disturbance when the boy, 15, was struck.", "Its position has since improved but the health board says it is \"extremely busy\" due to Covid-19.", "Bryony Frost becomes the first female jockey to win the King George VI Chase as she rides Frodon to victory at Kempton.", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "The charity says 75% of people seeking advice over benefits and jobs had never contacted it before.", "A warning for snow and ice is in place for Northern Ireland and parts of England, Wales and Scotland.", "Another 316 people have died within 28 days of a positive test, as hospitals come under pressure.", "Kay White started working at Claverley Post Office in Shropshire at the age of 14.", "Evidence of the former UK prime minister's Euroscepticism is revealed in newly released archives.", "Semi Ajayi scores a dramatic late equaliser against leaders Liverpool to earn struggling West Brom their first point since Sam Allardyce took charge.", "Countries across the EU received their first shipments of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines.", "Irish government papers from 1990 suggest some IRA bosses did not share the party's socialist views.", "The process will start a day earlier than planned, says the head of the country's health service.", "Ian Jones was treated in intensive care after being bitten by a cobra in an Indian village.", "Details and reaction as the first minister warns of post-Christmas restrictions if cases keep rising.", "Production on her popular programme, the Ellen DeGeneres Show, will be suspended until January.", "The ex-EastEnders star has Alzheimer's and says her \"heart goes out\" to those struggling to get care.", "Craig McCulloch spent most of the money on fast food, eBay purchases and rental cars, police say.", "Most risks to financial stability posed by Covid and a no-deal Brexit have been mitigated, the Bank says.", "Dame Barbara became a campaigner for those living with dementia, after her diagnosis in 2014.", "Fire crews described how they tried to find the children inside the burning house.", "A stay-at-home rule will still end on 15 December, but the new curfew will begin - and include New Year's Eve.", "The body that sets MPs' pay says a rise would be \"inconsistent\" with the wider economic picture.", "The French manager sued Cantona for suggesting his Euro 2016 squad selection was racially motivated.", "The industry tells MPs it has not had enough time to prepare for the end of the Brexit transition period.", "A review finds the London-based Westway Trust \"lost sight of the reason for its establishment\".", "She was best known for her role as Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders and parts in the Carry On films.", "Boris Johnson urges Brussels to make a \"big change\" as the deadline set by the two sides approaches.", "The expansion marks another industry shift away from cinema to streaming.", "Secondary schools in the worst-affected parts of London, Kent and Essex will be offered tests.", "\"We are keeping the Christmas spirit alive, despite how dismal the year’s been,\" says the star.", "Malcolm Turnbull tells BBC Question Time his country's arrangement with the EU has \"large barriers\".", "Bubbly, blonde Carry On pin-up who became the matriarch of the Queen Vic.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Friday evening.", "First results of mass Covid testing of students report \"low numbers\" of positive cases.", "The move to create two new Smithsonian museums was otherwise unanimously supported by the Senate.", "The west Belfast schools write a letter to Peter Weir warning of \"a tsunami of cases\" in the new year.", "Kate Green says the association of CBEs and other medals with the empire is \"hurtful to people\".", "A driver helps a distraught passenger who fears she will miss 30-minute slot to see her mother.", "The study by the Tavistock gender clinic shows all but one child was also later given cross-sex hormones.", "A large number of women also died in labour, a review into a scandal-hit maternity unit finds.", "How will Americans receive the vaccine? Will it be free? And will enough people take it?", "Tom Sleigh was trying to light a candle when his notepad went up in flames during an online meeting.", "Rebecca Williams was asleep when Blair Logan set his brother Cameron alight in their family home.", "The US president-elect and his running mate beat three other finalists, including Donald Trump.", "Tourists already on holiday say new quarantine rules risk ruining their festive plans in the UK.", "Germany is facing calls for a second lockdown before Christmas.", "Dame Barbara Windsor, who has died at the age of 83, had an acting career spanning decades in TV and film.", "Protesters are angry after a man was allegedly killed by police for breaking a coronavirus curfew.", "The family watches a pantomime organised to thank key workers for their efforts during the pandemic.", "A selection of your pictures of Scotland sent in between 4 and 11 December.", "With no deal looking increasingly likely, how have both sides been getting ready?", "Wales' top doctor says more coronavirus restrictions before Christmas are being considered.", "Adel Bary is set free after serving 21 years for involvement in the bombing of two US embassies.", "Aneurin Bevan University Health Board tells patients it is postponing all non-urgent appointments.", "Sky News political editor Beth Rigby will also be absent for three months.", "The change will apply to contacts of coronavirus cases and people quarantining after travel.", "Despite \"exhaustive planning\", some customers may experience delayed deliveries, the postal group says.", "The constitutional court rules that the law, brought in last year, breached rights on religious freedom.", "The film is to be the 78-year-old actor's fifth and final instalment in one of his most famous roles.", "The banking group says it will \"take action\" to resolve the discrepancy among its staff.", "Ross Kemp and Steve McFadden remember Dame Barbara Windsor and what she meant to them.", "It is the first time the party has promised such a vote if it forms a government.", "All 11 to 18-year-olds in the worst-hit areas told to get tested, whether they have symptoms or not.", "It is hoped that mixing two similar vaccines could lead to a better immune response in people.", "The world has seen the biggest annual fall in CO2 emissions since World War Two, say researchers.", "Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it is 'very, very likely' the UK will not secure terms with the EU.", "Reynhard Sinaga, described as Britain's most prolific rapist, is thought to have attacked 206 men.", "A study has identified genes that provide clues about why some people get seriously ill from Covid-19.", "But one victim says it is \"not enough\" as she still has to \"live with that fear I felt on that day\".", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Friday morning.", "But infections kept falling in most English regions as the second lockdown ended.", "Boris Johnson says negotiations with the EU will continue, but are \"not yet there at all\".", "A “sister album” to July's Folklore will be released at midnight, the singer announces on Twitter.", "UK tourists travelling from the islands will have to self-isolate for two weeks.", "Gabrielle Friel is found guilty of possessing weapons but he is cleared of planning a \"spree killing\".", "What places like Ohio reveal about President Donald Trump's legacy on the Republican Party.", "Drug-related fatalities reach record levels as deaths of women involving cocaine rise by 26.5%.", "A group of MPs accuses the UK government of the almost \"wholesale rejection\" of moves to tackle Scotland's drug crisis.", "Secondary-school pupils in England who have been in contact with a positive case will have daily tests.", "Mark Drakeford has not ruled out tax rises in the next Senedd term if Welsh Labour retains power.", "Education secretary threatens legal action after classes move online due to a rise in infections.", "Total deaths in the UK have been 20% above normal in recent weeks, but that figure has now dropped.", "The England and Aston Villa player has also been hit with an £80,000 fine.", "Electors across the US have cast their votes and while some met virtually, others received police escorts.", "The LGBT-owned business says it has pulled its now-infamous yellow kilts from shelves.", "A final decision on a deal was expected on Sunday, but the two sides sent negotiators back to the table.", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "Dale McLaughlan travelled across the Irish Sea on a water scooter to see his girlfriend, a court hears.", "All the latest news and results for the US Election 2020 from the BBC.", "There were long queues at Antrim Hospital but the situation has now improved.", "Labour says the increase earlier this year was an \"insult\" to millions whose pay is being frozen.", "Redbridge Council says it will back schools that close due to rising Covid-19 cases in the capital.", "More than 10,000 redundancies have been proposed by NI firms since the pandemic began.", "People wrongly threatened because of immigration policy changes previously received a minimum of £250.", "However the rate of unemployment is now 4.6% in Wales and 4.9% across the UK as a whole.", "There have been at least 10 confirmed cases of the new variant in Wales, the Welsh Government says.", "Scientists will keep a close eye on this variant to see if it is a better spreader than others.", "The new strain may be growing faster in some parts of the country, Health Secretary tells MPs.", "The 80-year-old Great British Bake Off judge has shared her experience of getting the new jab", "It comes as the government ordered the council to keep schools open until the end of term.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Tuesday evening.", "Nicola Sturgeon says people should not \"prematurely overreact\" to news of a new variant of Covid-19.", "Experts are calling for greater surveillance of wildlife for the virus after the discovery in a wild mink.", "NI's education minister insists exams will go ahead next year, as he outlines changes to the assembly.", "The government scraps anti-bias training for civil servants and wants it to end across public sector.", "The much-delayed figures show 1,264 people in Scotland died of drug misuse last year.", "All 32 local authority areas in the country will be assessed by politicians and public health officials.", "The Test to Release programme is supposed to cut quarantine times for people arriving in England.", "The City watchdog says that the bank acted unfairly towards people, including the bereaved.", "Four-month-old Willow Lee was found seriously injured on 3 December and died three days later.", "Facebook, Google and others face yearly checks and limits on what they can do with users' data.", "Officials from the four UK nations discuss the plans, as top medical journals call them a \"blunder\".", "The Aston Villa captain was given a nine month ban and fined following two motoring offences.", "However it is unlikely that agreed rules allowing up to three households to form a bubble will change.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Tuesday morning.", "The code indicates to police that someone is in distress but unable to speak.", "UK leaders earlier discussed travel over the festive period but no decisions were made.", "Three men were rushed to hospital with \"gunshot injuries\" after the shooting in Hackney.", "Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and East Lothian will all move up to level three of the country's tiered system.", "Criminals are looking to steal financial details by posing as well-known delivery companies.", "Jesy Nelson says being in the chart-topping girl group has \"taken a toll on my mental health\".", "Ms Maxwell denies charges that she helped the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein groom young girls.", "Shows like Les Miserables, Six the Musical and Pantoland at the Palladium are among those affected.", "Periods of repeated isolation have \"chipped away\" at pupils' progress pupil , says the head of Ofsted.", "Tony Packenham was driving at nearly 80mph when his Land Rover struck a car, killing a 13-year-old.", "Tourists and scientists gathered at an observation site in Argentina to witness the total eclipse.", "Immigrants naturalised for services during the pandemic include cleaners and shop workers.", "Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the government is using \"every tool we can\" to clear the backlog.", "Communal singing is against Covid guidelines in the UK but could a new scientific study change that?", "The celebrity cook says following traditions without her family will make her \"feel what's missing\".", "The move by Britain's biggest supermarket comes amid shortage fears due to disruption at UK ports.", "Thomas Maher used an encrypted phone to arrange the movement of drugs and cash.", "A commissioner calls for clarity from ministers on when over-80s will get the jab in Wales.", "Dale McLaughlan says he is \"happy to be going home\" after part of his sentence on the Isle of Man.", "Travel restrictions and quarantine rules have been introduced to limit the spread.", "Those with a negative test result can now leave the UK, but it could take days to clear the backlog.", "Three men talk of becoming fathers and being unable to go to many appointments because of Covid.", "The social media giant previously allowed President Trump to inherit Barack Obama's followers.", "The food industry says port disruption makes it hard for foreign firms to trust UK exporters post-Brexit.", "Boris Johnson says former party treasurer Peter Cruddas has a \"long track record\" of political service.", "One of Britain's best-known models of the past 30 years dies suddenly, days after her birthday.", "A solicitor says one client saved about £2,500 by completing ahead of the changes.", "The death of the child under the age of one was registered last week, official figures show.", "Ministers meet to discuss how to stem the spread of a new fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus.", "Nicola Sturgeon warns that the current top level of restrictions may need to be tightened further.", "Homes are flooded, roads closed and rail transport hit as heavy rain hits parts of Wales.", "A growth in cases, possibly linked to a new coronavirus variant, has prompted the change of advice.", "Channel 4 will use deepfake technology for its alternative to the traditional Christmas broadcast.", "Two cases of a \"highly concerning\" new virus strain are discovered in the UK, the health secretary says.", "The areas facing tougher restrictions have seen a \"significant number\" of the new fast-spreading variant.", "The Welsh brewery chain says the coronavirus pandemic has put the business under \"financial pressure\".", "Police were investigating domestic violence in a village, and the suspect has now been found dead.", "Officials continue to thrash out final details, after weeks of argument over fishing and business rules.", "Trading at Whitbread, which also owns the Beefeater chain, has been hit by pandemic restrictions.", "The 73-year-old starred as Freddie Boswell's brassy mistress in the hit 1980s TV sitcom.", "Mental health hospital Cygnet Woodside is being investigated by police over allegations of abuse.", "The mother of Helen McCourt, who the law is named after, says it could have \"gone further\".", "A community living in the same large house say their way of life has thrived in a year of lockdowns.", "The ex-PM says the UK could exit Covid restrictions earlier if stocks were not held back for a second jab.", "Scientists have filmed octopuses in the Red Sea lashing out at fish during a group hunt.", "Charities drive from Maidenhead and Coventry to take food and water to lorry drivers stuck in Kent.", "The PM and Labour leader both salute the armed forces and key workers in their festive messages.", "Scotland's first minister says there are \"no excuses\" for removing her face covering at a wake.", "Diego Maradona's autopsy reveals that the Argentina legend had no signs of alcohol or narcotics consumption at the time of his death.", "The dark green mineral has been called kernowite as the rock comes from a mine in Cornwall.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday morning.", "The two men in charge of the Queen's art collection leave after the pandemic hit royal finances.", "Talks are continuing in Brussels, with less than 10 days to go until the UK leaves EU trading rules.", "UK and EU negotiating teams are still in talks to finalise a post-Brexit trade deal.", "EU nationals and those transporting goods internationally can return - if they have a recent negative test.", "A shortlist of six contenders is announced for the 2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.", "The closed venue's pay-per-view platform hosts filmed plays starring the likes of Dame Helen Mirren.", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "Every generation has its business pantomime villain - what's the real story with Philip Green?", "All the latest news and results for the US Election 2020 from the BBC.", "The prime minister's recent climate plan won’t do enough to curb UK emissions, an analysis says.", "Officials say there is no sign the incident in Trier, Germany, was politically motivated.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Tuesday morning.", "The restrictions will start at 00:01 GMT, despite 55 Tory MPs voting against the government.", "MPs back new Covid rules which come into effect at midnight - despite a sizeable Tory rebellion.", "More than 9,000 customers have yet to be repaid for cancelled package holidays amid the Covid crisis.", "Philip Heath apologises for dismissing a legitimate fire test query email using strong language.", "The Oscar-nominated actor says he feels lucky \"to have arrived at this place in my life\".", "The health service is \"primed\" and \"ready\" to deliver a vaccine safely, the health minister announces.", "The monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh usually spend Christmas with other royals at Sandringham.", "More than a million tests will be sent to care homes in England to allow safe indoor visits.", "The boss of Wales' biggest brewery says a ban on alcohol sales is an 'insult'.", "Property price rises accelerated last month, the Nationwide says. but growth is set to slow next year.", "Debenhams boss Mark Gifford says the business will keep going well beyond the end of September.", "Destruction of the rainforest increased by 9.5% compared to the previous 12 months, new data shows.", "The department store chain appoints specialist firm Hilco Capital but says it is \"trading strongly\".", "Gwilym Owen must pay the supermarket £200 in compensation for damaging covers on \"non-essential\" goods.", "The price rise will take effect on 1 January when the cost of a second class stamp will rise 1p to 66p.", "Missing walker's partner says the \"prevailing opinion\" among police is she is not in the mountains.", "The Republic of Ireland opens all retail, hairdressers, museums and libraries after six-week closure.", "Starting in January, Facebook will pay UK publishers for some - but not all - of their content.", "Researchers are to investigate whether young people and those not in hospital could be affected.", "The move leaves the chain on the brink of collapse, with the possible loss of up to 12,000 jobs.", "The \"unprecedented need\" for help during the pandemic seen by a church in Burnley.", "Police say the device detonated in a residential area and \"could have injured or killed\".", "Adamo Canto, from Scarborough, took medals, signed photographs and other valuables.", "Authorities have warned people of \"poisonous gas\" after Indonesia's Ile Lewotolok volcano erupted.", "The robotic Chang'e-5 probe makes a picture-perfect soft landing on the lunar nearside.", "Ofsted's annual report warns of children out of sight and in danger during the pandemic.", "Some Conservative backbenchers have threaten to vote against the plan for England on Tuesday.", "A PPE delivery is believed to have come from a Chinese factory suspected of using a labour scheme.", "The singer says her actions were 'irresponsible' and she takes 'full responsibility' for the event.", "Regional Ofsted bosses say schooling has been 'completely disrupted' by Covid-19 in some areas.", "Speculation mounts the first Covid vaccines could be approved for use in days in Wales.", "UUP leader asks parties to work together as three further coronavirus-related deaths are confirmed.", "Breaking up the Arcadia empire is \"the only way\" forward, former chief executive Lord Rose says.", "Dr Atlas clashed with other scientists after questioning the need for masks and other measures.", "The workplace messaging app's sale comes as the pandemic has increased the focus on remote work.", "Government decides against public inquiry at this time into collusion in murder of Pat Finucane in Belfast.", "The dairy farmers' co-operative, which owns Cravdendale and Lurpak, imports about 15% of its products.", "World champion Lewis Hamilton will miss this weekend's Sakhir Grand Prix after testing positive for coronavirus.", "The UK's largest air ambulance service is now operating 24 hours a day for the first time.", "The government's new approach to determining tiers bundles together low- and high-rate local authorities.", "There was no shortage of opinions from customers seated between Covid safety screens at one pub.", "Although the fall of the retail group puts 13,000 jobs at risk, there will be no immediate redundancies.", "An update due as soon as next week will let users on low incomes get support if told to stay at home.", "The former chief medical officer says high rates of obesity, deprivation and overcrowding have cost lives.", "The pandemic pushed the retailer into liquidation, but its problems go back much further.", "The comedian and game show host will make his final appearance in the New Year's Day special.", "A parliamentary adviser says some individuals involved in Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's death are being held.", "The Japanese carmaker temporarily stops production at its Swindon plant after UK ports congestion.", "Hearings will be paused until at least 11 January after a member of staff tested positive.", "Sunday becomes the new deadline for a decision on trade talks, after the PM and EU chief meet in Brussels.", "Flood barriers were rolled out too late, causing heavy rain to flood the city.", "Elevate is the second business Uber has sold off this week as the company seeks profitability.", "American regulators are yet to approve the vaccine, despite the UK pushing ahead with mass rollout.", "Rae Whitehead, 79, died on 1 December after testing positive for Covid-19 at her care home.", "The peer-reviewed work in the Lancet medical journal confirms the vaccine is 'safe and protects'.", "The Champions League match between Paris St-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir will resume on Wednesday after being abandoned on Tuesday.", "The mass of human-made objects will for the first time likely exceed that of living things in 2020.", "Shoppers said they had earlier been told to pay full price to re-order items cancelled due to a fault.", "England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty says easing measures now would be \"the wrong thing to do\".", "The International Criminal Court says Iraqi detainees were abused by UK soldiers between 2003 and 2009.", "Cambridge University changes guidelines to protect free speech and allow controversial speakers.", "Poorer nations will miss out despite steps to ensure access is fair, campaigners warn.", "UK PM Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed a firm decision should be taken by Sunday.", "The three men and a teenage boy died in the explosion at the Wessex Water site last week.", "Republicans in Pennsylvania wanted to overturn certification of Joe Biden's victory in the state.", "The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are \"delighted\", a Buckingham Palace spokesman says.", "Students' mental health has declined amid the isolation of the Covid pandemic, a survey suggests.", "US media say the inquiry relates to his business dealings with foreign countries including China.", "Boris Johnson will meet Ursula von der Leyen for talks over dinner, as time runs out to reach a trade deal.", "The UK can make major cuts to carbon emissions more cheaply than previously thought.", "Shoppers say they are being charged full price to re-order products cancelled because of a fault.", "Paris St-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe says he was proud his team-mates and Istanbul Basaksehir players walked off the pitch on Tuesday.", "The US Army launched an investigation into the base after soldier Vanessa Guillen was killed there.", "After three years away, the MOBOs return to celebrate the best of black music and culture.", "A group of eight former rugby union players - including World Cup winner Steve Thompson - are claiming the sport has left them with brain damage.", "The TV journalist and Sky News political editor Beth Rigby are among four people taken off air.", "Cabinet office minister Michael Gove outlines deal for supermarkets \"grace period\" to ensure food supplies are not disrupted", "The bronze statue of the slave trader was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest in June.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday evening.", "All 11 council areas currently under level four restrictions are to be downgraded to level three on Friday.", "Boris Johnson's trip to Brussels must produce at least a statement of intent for a deal to be done.", "Boris Johnson says the UK must be able to follow its own rules, as he arrives in Brussels for talks.", "The monarch gathers with family members at a distance to enjoy Christmas carols at Windsor Castle.", "Rudy Giuliani revealed his treatment during a call to his radio show from his hospital room.", "Trials are being planned in the UK to see if combining Covid vaccines might give the best protection.", "Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, becomes the first person in the world to get the jab as part of a mass vaccination programme, calling it the \"best early birthday present\".", "The EMA, which is assessing two Covid-19 vaccines, launches a \"full investigation\" after the attack.", "The mystery sender, who said they \"borrowed\" the key in 1973 wrote: \"Sorry for the delay.\"", "A collection of your tributes to some of the thousands of people in the UK who have died with coronavirus.", "Shane Mays repeatedly punched Louise Smith in the face and defiled and burned her body.", "Nasa has announced 18 astronauts who will travel to the Moon under the agency's Artemis programme.", "One victim's tells of \"pushy\" fraudsters as a charity says mental health issues leave people exposed to scams.", "Modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel is accused of rape and sexual harassment by French authorities.", "Last minute plans for mass testing in England's secondary schools to be run by teachers anger staff.", "\"I didn't feel a thing,\" says Mr Pence after he receives his first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.", "Matthew Mason admits beating 15-year-old Alex Rodda to death with a spanner but denies murder.", "US Senate investigators find problems with tests conducted in the wake of two deadly crashes.", "Watford sack head coach Vladimir Ivic after just four months in charge.", "The ex-officer is suing her former colleague after he used racist and sexual language in his messages.", "Rules will only be relaxed for one day at Christmas and mainland Scotland will then be placed under tighter restrictions.", "The unprecedented move comes as players say the game is riddled with bugs and glitches.", "With a decision expected before Christmas, UK sources say it is increasingly likely there will be no deal.", "Deta Hedman is beaten on her debut at the PDC World Darts Championship, losing 3-1 to Andy Boulton in the first round.", "Nearly half of children surveyed say they are suffering from anxiety due to coronavirus.", "Office for National Statistics figures suggest one in every 95 people in England has the virus.", "Firefighters and rescue teams have been pumping water out of homes throughout the night.", "Bill Bailey, HRVY, Maisie Smith and Jamie Laing will compete for the glitterball trophy on Saturday.", "From Boxing Day mainland Scotland will be in the country's toughest tier of restrictions for at least three weeks", "A government report seen by the BBC suggests strong support for large firms having to publish the data.", "The PM is \"hoping to avoid\" another national lockdown as millions more enter England's toughest tier.", "No 10 sources said the PM chaired meetings on Friday amid \"growing concerns\" about Covid infection rates.", "From his hospital bed, 60-year-old Chris Lea says \"it is not worth losing an aunt, uncle or grandparent\".", "Michel Barnier says it is now \"the moment of truth\", while Boris Johnson warns of \"difficult\" talks.", "One in 10 staff at some Welsh health boards are off sick or isolating, the BBC has been told.", "More people in Scotland are to face level three rules. So, is your council area entering the second strictest tier?", "Scientists will keep a close eye on this variant to see if it is a better spreader than others.", "Tests carried out for the BBC show herbal remedy Coronil offers no protection from coronavirus.", "Bill Bailey, Maisie Smith, HRVY and Jamie Laing competed to lift the glitterball trophy.", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "The relaxation of Christmas rules is scrapped for much of south-east England and cut to just Christmas Day for the rest of England, Wales and Scotland.", "London and the South East are to be put in a new tier four of restrictions, cabinet sources tell the BBC.", "The EU says the \"moment of truth\" has arrived as disagreements with the UK over fishing rights continue.", "Some people said they queued for hours, to be confronted by sinister performers and a bored Santa.", "Nearly 90% of hospital beds in England are full as hospitals try to cope with the demands of Covid.", "The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is the highest since the pandemic began in March.", "A selection of your pictures of Scotland sent in between 11 and 18 December.", "Ian Hopkins says he will step down from Greater Manchester Police with immediate effect.", "A landslip at a coal tip is being investigated as flood alerts remain in place following heavy rain.", "The Duchess of Sussex took legal action against a news agency that photographed her and her son.", "The two sides are still stuck over the fundamental, political question - who really calls the shots.", "The health secretary had said some areas of Scotland could remain in level four of Covid restrictions after 11 December.", "England's one-day series opener in South Africa is again called off because of positive coronavirus tests, this time from members of hotel staff.", "Peter Alliss, the legendary BBC golf commentator, dies at the age of 89.", "Prof Stephen Powis says the jab is the \"beginning of the end\", as hospitals start to take deliveries.", "Chelsea go top of the Premier League as they come from behind to beat Leeds United in front of 2,000 fans at Stamford Bridge.", "He was arrested with four other people in an investigation into the awarding of building contracts.", "The market in Nottingham closes for the rest of the year, following \"unprecedented high footfall\".", "Rudy Giuliani has been leading the Trump campaign's legal challenges to the 2020 election results.", "Millwall say they are \"dismayed and saddened\" after some of their fans booed players taking a knee at the start of Saturday's game against Derby.", "By the 2040s most of southern England may no longer get sub-zero days, new Met Office data suggests.", "The family have apologised for \"prejudiced remarks\" made by the writer, who died 30 years ago.", "The tests introduced in England's tier-three areas are a \"game-changer\", a senior NHS adviser says.", "Christmas shoppers returned to stores in England this weekend, but footfall was down 25% on last year.", "The one tonne find is \"a significant hit to the organised crime groups involved\", investigators say.", "Farmers are asked to donate a sheep to help those struggling due to the pandemic.", "A Cushendall man, who was treated with a defibrillator, supports bill calling for UK-wide access.", "A team retrieves a capsule carrying the first significant quantities of rock from an asteroid.", "Campaigners accuse Boris Johnson of mocking his own promises on climate change and emissions.", "A member of the Labour leader's office has tested positive for coronavirus so he must stay at home.", "With a Brexit deal done, we look at the challenges to come at British borders.", "Derbyshire Police says \"comments of an abusive nature\" were reported during Saturday's game.", "The health secretary had said some areas of Scotland could remain in level four of Covid restrictions after 11 December.", "The streaming giant says it \"sees no need\" to warn viewers that some scenes are invented.", "All the latest news and results for the US Election 2020 from the BBC.", "England players are self-isolating after two unnamed members of the tour party in South Africa return \"unconfirmed positive tests\" for coronavirus.", "The virus - said to be \"low risk\" to humans - has been identified at sites across Great Britain.", "Material from a space rock called Ryugu could provide an ''exciting key'' to the origins of the Solar System.", "As retail chains fade, town centres may have to find other ways to attract custom.", "Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen have spoken as they try to break the post-Brexit trade deal stalemate.", "Police appeal for information about the deaths of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce in Kent.", "Welsh farmers are told financial support will be available if a trade deal with the EU cannot be agreed.", "Shana Grice reported her killer five times before her death but was fined for wasting police time.", "One in 85 people across England and one in 60 in Wales also has the virus, latest ONS data shows.", "Dale McLaughlan says he is \"happy to be going home\" after part of his sentence on the Isle of Man.", "John Harding was a hairdresser to the stars - but there was a reason he rarely answered the phone.", "One of Britain's best-known models of the past 30 years dies suddenly, days after her birthday.", "A contact of the pilot tested positive - the first local case in the island since April.", "About 1.5 million customers are hit as direct debits are taken on Christmas Eve owing to an IT error.", "Channel 4 will use deepfake technology for its alternative to the traditional Christmas broadcast.", "Businesses give a relieved welcome to the Brexit trade deal, but warn there is more work to be done.", "Officials continue to thrash out final details, after weeks of argument over fishing and business rules.", "While this is a \"critical step forward\", seed potatoes are not included because of EU regulatory fears.", "The actress also appeared in Coronation Street, So Awkward and Waterloo Road.", "Many had wondered if he would mention the former king's scandals in his Christmas speech.", "The post-Brexit trade deal has been met with a mixture of relief, sadness and optimism in Europe.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Thursday morning.", "The areas facing tougher restrictions have seen a \"significant number\" of the new fast-spreading variant.", "With a Brexit deal done, we look at the challenges to come at British borders.", "The rule reflects the \"increased risk\" from a variant linked to two cases in England, officials say.", "\"We have taken back control\" Boris Johnson says while EU chief negotiator calls it \"a day of relief, but tinged by some sadness\".", "The sitcom included a scene which referenced the Black Lives Matter movement.", "Diego Maradona's autopsy reveals that the Argentina legend had no signs of alcohol or narcotics consumption at the time of his death.", "A further 800 personnel are to be sent to Kent on Christmas Day to help test drivers for Covid-19.", "The president wants changes to the federal spending bill, but Congress cannot agree on which ones.", "The UK-EU trade agreement will be followed by claim and counter-claim over who gave most ground.", "The US President has even floated the idea of pardoning himself - but is that legal?", "Captain Harry Maguire said Manchester United \"have to start lifting trophies\" after they set up a Carabao Cup semi-final against rivals Manchester City with a late win at Everton.", "Officials on both sides are hammering out the final details ahead of an expected announcement.", "The ex-PM says the UK could exit Covid restrictions earlier if stocks were not held back for a second jab.", "Australian celebrity chef Pete Evans has been criticised for spreading misinformation to his followers.", "Charities drive from Maidenhead and Coventry to take food and water to lorry drivers stuck in Kent.", "The PM and Labour leader both salute the armed forces and key workers in their festive messages.", "The two men in charge of the Queen's art collection leave after the pandemic hit royal finances.", "There is no precedent for the avalanche of new trade barriers that is coming after 1 January.", "UK and EU negotiating teams are still in talks to finalise a post-Brexit trade deal.", "Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says it could take days to clear the backlog of lorries in Kent.", "The deal between the UK and EU ends months of arguments over business rules and fishing rights.", "Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the government is using \"every tool we can\" to clear the backlog.", "London now has the highest percentage of people testing positive in the UK, ONS figures suggest.", "The Chinese tech giant is face a probe by regulators into locking merchants into its platform.", "Travel restrictions and quarantine rules have been introduced to limit the spread.", "A marine expert says the loss of 10 young males found on the East Yorkshire coast is \"catastrophic\".", "Families in five countries explain how their plans have changed and how they're staying upbeat.", "A couple are rescued by fire crews from a car submerged by flash floods in Norfolk.", "The teenager, convicted of neo-Nazi terror offences, cannot currently be named because of his age.", "A post-Brexit agreement has been announced. Here are 10 key questions.", "The President of the European Commission announces the end of negotiations between the UK and EU.", "Occupants of about 500 caravans at Billing Aquadrome in Northampton are urged to seek shelter.", "HMS Northumberland had been on call to protect UK waters over Christmas but has returned to port.", "The US model lost the baby she was expecting with husband John Legend earlier this year.", "People are ripping ruined carpets from their homes and trying to salvage belongings.", "Officials seek a criminal probe after photos of 540 deer and boar corpses are shared on social media.", "Big-name fashion designers and models pay tribute to the late star, who has died aged 50.", "Holidaymakers in the Canary Islands react as new quarantine rules come into force.", "President Donald Trump has planned three more executions before he leaves office on 20 January.", "The family say the artwork - entitled \"Aachoo!!\" - should \"be protected and stay where it is\".", "A no-deal Brexit weighs on EU minds but Europe's leaders will not intervene in the current impasse.", "\"We are keeping the Christmas spirit alive, despite how dismal the year’s been,\" says the star.", "Two men were duped into being filmed carrying out naked challenges in hotel rooms, the Met says.", "What places like Ohio reveal about President Donald Trump's legacy on the Republican Party.", "Malcolm Turnbull tells BBC Question Time his country's arrangement with the EU has \"large barriers\".", "Holidaymakers in the Canary Islands react as new quarantine rules come into force.", "Tourists already on holiday say new quarantine rules risk ruining their festive plans in the UK.", "Many of Birmingham's hospitality businesses have been forced to close since the second lockdown.", "The family watches a pantomime organised to thank key workers for their efforts during the pandemic.", "A selection of your pictures of Scotland sent in between 4 and 11 December.", "The move to create two new Smithsonian museums was otherwise unanimously supported by the Senate.", "The west Belfast schools write a letter to Peter Weir warning of \"a tsunami of cases\" in the new year.", "It was yet another rough week for the president's efforts to reverse the results of November's election.", "Rangers believe the national lockdown contributed to little terns fledging more than 200 chicks.", "The first editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone initially sold for £10.99 in 1997.", "With no deal looking increasingly likely, how have both sides been getting ready?", "Front-line NHS staff, care workers and people over 80 are among the first to receive the jab.", "A senior Conservative says deploying gunboats to patrol UK waters after 31 December is \"undignified\".", "Kate Green says the association of CBEs and other medals with the empire is \"hurtful to people\".", "UK minister Alok Sharma says world leaders are failing to show the necessary level of ambition.", "Countries are to set out how they intend to cut their emissions, but what's brought us to this point?", "The study by the Tavistock gender clinic shows all but one child was also later given cross-sex hormones.", "Some 67 local authorities in England are taking part in the community testing schemes.", "The change will apply to contacts of coronavirus cases and people quarantining after travel.", "Dame Barbara became a campaigner for those living with dementia, after her diagnosis in 2014.", "A three-strong amateur team decodes one of several messages attributed to a US serial killer.", "Reynhard Sinaga, described as Britain's most prolific rapist, is thought to have attacked 206 men.", "The country has been praised as a model of how to deal with coronavirus but cases have surged.", "The Buy Now, Pay Later firm Klarna tells Money Box it plans to start reporting missed payments to credit referencing agencies.", "The southbound carriageway of the motorway has since reopened after the crash near Leicester.", "NHS bosses say they are worried about January, after the US saw a spike in cases after Thanksgiving.", "Chris McNaghten and Jon Swan wed in \"a dream come true\" religious ceremony in Larne, County Antrim.", "Many of the thousands of primates kept in homes in England are said to be living in misery.", "A study has identified genes that provide clues about why some people get seriously ill from Covid-19.", "The constitutional court rules that the law, brought in last year, breached rights on religious freedom.", "A further 119 skulls of men, women and children are found near a famous Aztec temple in Mexico City.", "But infections kept falling in most English regions as the second lockdown ended.", "Sir Richard Branson's tourist rocket plane will make a first flight above its new spaceport home.", "A woman believed to be the baby's mother has been found following an appeal, and taken to hospital.", "The body that sets MPs' pay says a rise would be \"inconsistent\" with the wider economic picture.", "Four Navy boats get ready to patrol UK fishing waters in event of no deal, as negotiations resume.", "The warning from a public health expert comes as the UK reports a further 519 deaths.", "A 25-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of murder following the death in east London.", "Boris Johnson urges Brussels to make a \"big change\" as the deadline set by the two sides approaches.", "Victor Gevers was acting ethically when he guessed the president's password, \"MAGA2020!\", police say.", "The move could allow the social media giant to avoid strict EU privacy laws being introduced.", "In a blow to campaigners, judges say ministers' decision to approve the runway was legitimate.", "Hundreds of tower blocks have been discovered with faulty fire prevention measures, the BBC finds.", "The blaze happened in a changing block in the Thomas Land area of the theme park.", "One patient at the Ulster Hospital waited more than 28 hours to be given a bed.", "Nicola Sturgeon says people should not \"prematurely overreact\" to news of a new variant of Covid-19.", "The vessel was not allowed to leave Birkenhead after six crew members tested positive for Covid-19.", "Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah was \"living on a knife edge\" before her fatal asthma attack, the inquest heard.", "Conspiracy theories are blamed for reluctance among ethnic minorities to take Covid vaccine.", "A recording emerges of the Mission: Impossible star apparently letting fly about social distancing.", "The president of the EU Commission says the \"next few days\" will be decisive for trade negotiations.", "Roberto Firmino puts Liverpool clear at the top of the Premier League table with a last-gasp winner against Tottenham.", "However it is unlikely that agreed rules allowing up to three households to form a bubble will change.", "The Aston Villa captain was given a nine month ban and fined following two motoring offences.", "A watchdog discloses the ruling despite government attempts to keep the matter secret.", "Lower prices for clothing and food push down the UK's inflation rate to 0.3% in November.", "The 5,000-year-old piece of wood, originally found in the Great Pyramid in 1872, is said to be \"hugely significant\".", "The first minister said people in Wales should 'do the least you need to do this Christmas'.", "Fares will rise more than expected next year, although the 2.6% increase will be delayed until March.", "Midwives question the timing of the NHS England guidance, saying safety is paramount.", "In a trailer, the couple promise \"different perspectives\" and interviews with \"amazing people\".", "But \"we're a long way from being able to say we're confident 2021 will go ahead,\" Emily Eavis says.", "The Test to Release programme is supposed to cut quarantine times for people arriving in England.", "Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and East Lothian will all move up to level three of the country's tiered system.", "Julie Burchill's publisher says the writer \"crossed a line with regard to race and religion\".", "Helen Hughes was the first woman in Wales given a pioneering cancer treatment on the NHS.", "The LGBT-owned business says it has pulled its now-infamous yellow kilts from shelves.", "Scientists will keep a close eye on this variant to see if it is a better spreader than others.", "City mayor Anne Hidalgo mocks the \"absurd\" penalty for breaking equal employment rules.", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "Boris Johnson tells MPs people should be \"extremely cautious\" when coronavirus restrictions are eased over Christmas", "The 80-year-old Great British Bake Off judge has shared her experience of getting the new jab", "Judges reject an application by the attorney general to increase his killers' \"lenient\" sentences.", "All the latest news and results for the US Election 2020 from the BBC.", "Health Minister Nadhim Zahawi says it is a \"really good start\" to the UK's programme.", "The model train maker says it's in a difficult position and has paused all international orders until January 2021.", "Urban developments in the Midlands and north of England will now be prioritised in government U-turn.", "Public Health Wales warns IT maintenance has led to \"significant under-reporting\" of cases.", "There were long queues at Antrim Hospital but the situation has now improved.", "Redbridge Council says it will back schools that close due to rising Covid-19 cases in the capital.", "The ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been focusing on women, people of colour and food banks.", "Labour says the increase earlier this year was an \"insult\" to millions whose pay is being frozen.", "The PM says \"a shorter Christmas is a safer Christmas\" at his press conference on 16 December.", "The ruling follows a civil case brought against John Downey, who was involved in the 1982 attack.", "The holiday firm says Luton is now in tier four, but flights will continue from Stansted and Gatwick.", "Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez dominates Callum Smith with a near-flawless display to inflict the first defeat of the British fighter's career.", "Watford sack head coach Vladimir Ivic after just four months in charge.", "Curbs on gatherings are announced as authorities urge people to stay at home.", "The TV, film and theatre actress played \"Horrible Grandma\" in the Channel 4 comedy.", "Rules will only be relaxed for one day at Christmas and mainland Scotland will then be placed under tighter restrictions.", "The botanical gardens shut after heavy rain caused landslips over the weekend.", "England and Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford is given the Expert Panel Special Award at the BBC Sports Personality show.", "With a decision expected before Christmas, UK sources say it is increasingly likely there will be no deal.", "Firefighters and rescue teams have been pumping water out of homes throughout the night.", "Archaeologists link the destruction of a \"high status\" village to the uprising in Roman Britain.", "A growing number of countries are stepping up restrictions on British travel after the government announced more restrictions.", "Claude Wehrle is one of at least two cladding firm workers holding out, a letter seen by the BBC reveals.", "The number of daily infections in the UK reaches an all-time high, as new restrictions come into force.", "From Boxing Day mainland Scotland will be in the country's toughest tier of restrictions for at least three weeks", "Today's guests include Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy.", "In a key policy speech, the Labour leader set out plans for the \"boldest devolution project in a generation\".", "The Archbishop of Canterbury urges people to plan for proper celebrations in the future.", "Chloe and Jamie Collins say it was \"a miracle\" they reorganised the wedding at such short notice.", "London and large parts of the south of England face their first day of tougher coronavirus restrictions.", "France will stop lorries arriving from the UK for 48 hours amid concerns about a new coronavirus variant.", "Staff could be continuing to work as companies claim grants, the government is told.", "More officers are deployed but there are no plans for checkpoints or road blocks.", "Scientists will keep a close eye on this variant to see if it is a better spreader than others.", "Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton is voted Sports Personality of the Year 2020.", "The US president-elect says the team will lead his \"ambitious plan\" to combat climate change.", "Bill Bailey, Maisie Smith, HRVY and Jamie Laing competed to lift the glitterball trophy.", "The event was described as \"shambolic\" and but organisers say improvements have been made.", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "Some people said they queued for hours, to be confronted by sinister performers and a bored Santa.", "A landslip at a coal tip is being investigated as flood alerts remain in place following heavy rain.", "Large crowds were filmed at the London station hours before tier-four restrictions came into force.", "NHS workers have been giving their reaction to the news the vaccine will be rolled out in the UK from next week.", "A shortlist of six contenders is announced for the 2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.", "Calls for a debate before Friday, when pubs across Wales must stop serving alcohol, are rejected.", "Morrisons follows Tesco's lead, with both supermarkets announcing plans to hand back a total £850m.", "The 73-year-old hails a \"tremendous result\" after he learns he will face no further punishment.", "One-month old Molly Gibson has broken the record set by her own sister, Emma, now three years old.", "Luton and Wycombe fans return to their home grounds for the first time since February as Football League clubs welcome back supporters following the easing of coronavirus restrictions.", "Ministers are \"taking limited responsibility\" for readiness ahead of the transition period ending, MPs say.", "The pandemic pushed the retailer into liquidation, but its problems go back much further.", "Use our search tool to find out about coronavirus rules and restrictions where you live.", "All the latest news and results for the US Election 2020 from the BBC.", "Officials say there is no sign the incident in Trier, Germany, was politically motivated.", "Christine Colburn embraces her mum for the first time in months after taking a rapid Covid test.", "Bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion after the German mine was found in the water near Wemyss Bay.", "The restrictions will start at 00:01 GMT, despite 55 Tory MPs voting against the government.", "Police praise passers-by who detained a man suspected of injuring two women at the Burnley branch.", "An apparent Taylor Swift fan defaced the artist pages for Lana Del Ray and Dua Lipa, among others.", "The Oscar-nominated actor says he feels lucky \"to have arrived at this place in my life\".", "The monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh usually spend Christmas with other royals at Sandringham.", "For Christmas break, students will leave university within 24 hours of two negative Covid tests.", "More than 200 council-run pools will stay closed despite the easing of lockdown restrictions.", "More than a million tests will be sent to care homes in England to allow safe indoor visits.", "The former president of France, who has died aged 94, was a force for greater European integration.", "The 242-year-old department has started a clearance sale after it said it would permanently close.", "We've looked at four false Covid vaccine claims that won’t go away.", "Gwilym Owen must pay the supermarket £200 in compensation for damaging covers on \"non-essential\" goods.", "The former Women's Hour presenter will appear on ITV's The Real Full Monty On Ice.", "Secretary General Antonio Guterres says our \"war\" on the natural world will come back to haunt us.", "The jab works equally well in people of all ages and ethnicities, further data suggests.", "Missing walker's partner says the \"prevailing opinion\" among police is she is not in the mountains.", "Although we won't be treated to another TV special, it promises to go some way to filling that void.", "But Boris Johnson warns it will take time for vaccines to roll out, after Pfizer/BioNTech jab is deemed safe on 2 December.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday morning.", "Universities in England are staggering the return of students after Christmas over five weeks.", "Shop prices are falling in the run-up to Christmas as retailers race to clear stock, a report says.", "The health secretary says the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be rolled out in the UK \"from next week\".", "AWS Panorama adds a range of employee monitoring powers to existing workplace camera systems.", "The UK is the first country to approve the Pfizer vaccine - with 800,000 doses due to arrive soon.", "Universities open mass testing centres for students so they can travel home safely for Christmas.", "Non-essential shops, gyms and hairdressers can open their doors as a national lockdown ends.", "More than 1,500 jobs are at risk following the collapse of the women's fashion chain.", "Stewards on duty on the night of the Manchester bombing were \"hardly briefed\", an inquiry hears.", "Manchester United's Champions League campaign is hanging in the balance as two goals from Neymar help Paris St-Germain win at Old Trafford.", "The pair were brought together in Scarborough after both losing their partners.", "The workplace messaging app's sale comes as the pandemic has increased the focus on remote work.", "The dairy farmers' co-operative, which owns Cravdendale and Lurpak, imports about 15% of its products.", "The contact-tracing app was downloaded more times than TikTok and WhatsApp via Apple's store.", "The government's new approach to determining tiers bundles together low- and high-rate local authorities.", "Daryl Bunn was attacked after a meeting about best man speeches at a friend's wedding, police say.", "Domestic abuse support groups say they have struggled with a surge since schools reopened.", "Boris Johnson says people should \"not get their hopes up too soon” about when they will be vaccinated", "The vulnerability has been fixed in an update since May this year.", "Police say that he was injured after a device partially exploded in Craigavon on Tuesday night.", "Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday evening.", "Experts call for urgent action to protect England's smallest freshwater sites, from ponds to streams."], "section": ["Business", "Business", "UK Politics", "UK", "Essex", "Europe", null, "UK Politics", "Essex", "Northern Ireland", "Wales", "UK", "UK", "UK Politics", "Business", "UK", "Scotland politics", null, 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"Scotland", null, "Scotland politics", "UK", "London", null, "Business", "UK Politics", "South Scotland", "Health", null, "US & Canada", "Entertainment & Arts", "Norfolk", "UK", "Norfolk", "Wales", "London", "Newsbeat", null, "Wales politics", "Business", "London", "US & Canada", null, "UK Politics", "Business", "UK", "US Election 2020", "Europe", "Devon", "Glasgow & West Scotland", "UK Politics", "Lancashire", "Technology", "US & Canada", "UK", "Family & Education", "England", "UK", "Europe", "Business", "Reality Check", "Wales", "Entertainment & Arts", "Science & Environment", "Health", "Tyne & Wear", "Wales", "UK", "UK", "Family & Education", "Business", null, "Technology", "Health", "Family & Education", "UK", "Business", "Manchester", null, "Cornwall", "Business", "Business", "Technology", "Health", "Essex", "Wales", "UK Politics", "Technology", "Northern Ireland", "UK", "Science & Environment"], "content": ["Shares in London dropped and the pound lost ground after several EU countries closed their borders to the UK, which has reported a new variant of coronavirus.\n\nLondon's FTSE 100 index fell as much as 3%, before recovering slightly and ending 1.7% lower, as travel firms and others saw big declines.\n\nThe main German market fell 2.8%, while in France the key bourse dropped 2.4%.\n\nUS markets were more mixed, amid relief over progress on a virus aid package.\n\nAfter falling in opening trade, the Dow ended the day up 0.1%, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.4%. The Nasdaq fell 0.1%.\n\nEarlier, the pound fell more than 1% against the euro and dropped 1.6% against the dollar.\n\nTravel curbs hit airline stocks, with British Airways' owner IAG sinking nearly 8% and EasyJet tumbling 7.2%. Aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce was also badly hit, falling more than 3%.\n\nThe rout was replicated on other European markets. Air France-KLM shares dropped 4%, while planemaker Airbus was down roughly 3%.\n\n\"Investors' rosy expectations for 2021 have suddenly vanished,\" said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at commodities broker Fujitomi Co.\n\nAs well as renewed concern about Covid-19 cases, UK investors were reacting to another missed deadline in trade talks with the EU.\n\nLondon and Brussels are trying to reach a trade deal before the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December.\n\nThe talks are set to continue on Monday between negotiators.\n\nThe stalled negotiations have been partly responsible for the pound fluctuating over recent weeks. Optimism that a deal would be struck had triggered a four-day winning streak for sterling, pushing it back up to just under $1.36 before it reversed course again.\n\nEarlier on Monday, the pound fell towards $1.32, with the dollar also being buoyed after a $900bn (£660bn) plan to help the US economy weather the coronavirus pandemic was agreed.\n\nHowever, the pound later regained some of those losses, rising above $1.33.\n\n\"The US got its stimulus package through, but it seems that was largely priced in and investors are more concerned with the new strain of Covid-19,\" said Craig Erlam, analyst at Oanda trading group.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Barnier: Negotiations have \"just a few hours\"\n\nEuropean nations have begun to impose travel bans on the UK after it reported a more-infectious and \"out of control\" coronavirus variant over the weekend.\n\nIreland, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium are all halting flights.\n\nOn Saturday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced a new tier four level of restrictions for London and South East England.\n\n\"The lockdown news and the stalemate on Brexit is keeping the market nervous,\" National Australia Bank's senior currency strategist Rodrigo Catril told Reuters.\n\nThe prime minister will chair a meeting of the government's emergency committee later after France closed its border with the UK for 48 hours.\n\nOne major sticking point in the Brexit talks is access to the UK's water for fishing. While the fishing industry accounts for just 0.1% of gross domestic product, (GDP) it is of high political significance.\n\nIf a trade agreement is not reached by the end of the month, British firms will revert to trading with the EU under rules established by the World Trade Organization (WTO).\n\nThis will mean imports and exports to the EU would be subject to WTO-negotiated tariffs, essentially a tax on goods.\n\nCurrency experts have warned that the pound could fall to $1.25 by the middle of next year if no trade agreement is agreed.", "Everyone who has had to cancel a rail or coach journey in England between 23 and 27 December will be able to get a refund, the government has announced.\n\nIt comes after the planned easing of Covid rules for Christmas was scrapped for large parts of south-east England.\n\nFor the rest of the UK, the relaxation of the rules now applies only to Christmas Day.\n\n\"Passengers will not be left out of pocket for complying with the new Christmas rules,\" the government said.\n\nThe policy was announced by the Department for Transport following Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement on Saturday of new Covid rules for Christmas.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps said: \"It is imperative that we all follow the new measures and play our part in tackling this virus, protecting others and safeguarding our NHS.\n\n\"If you booked a coach or rail journey between 23 and 27 December, you are entitled to a cash refund. This ensures no one is left out of pocket for doing the right thing - staying home in tier four, and elsewhere staying local and only meeting your Christmas bubble on Christmas day.\"\n\nThe government will provide cash refunds for domestic rail and coach tickets. This will apply to journeys in England booked on or after 24 November, when the now-scrapped Christmas travel window was announced.\n\nOperators will be able to issue refunds immediately and passengers are advised to check the website of their operator for how to claim.\n\nThe government urged people to \"be patient\", as rail and coach operators will be processing high numbers of refunds over the coming weeks.\n\n\"This is the right call for rail and coach passengers - they will be relieved that they will not be penalised financially for following the rules,\" said Anthony Smith, chief executive of independent watchdog Transport Focus.\n\n\"Operators now need to make sure that their websites are crystal clear on how passengers can claim refunds, travel vouchers or make fee-free changes, depending on when they were due to travel.\"", "Boris Johnson should consider recalling MPs to debate the Covid \"emergency\" facing the UK, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said.\n\nBut he added that it was more important for the prime minister to give the public daily updates on measures to limit the spread of infection.\n\nMPs from across the parties have urged the government to reopen Parliament so they can debate new Covid restrictions.\n\nThe government says MPs will return if a Brexit trade deal is agreed.\n\nBut it has ruled out recalling Parliament to debate the Covid situation - and tier 4 restrictions, which were introduced two days after Parliament had gone into Christmas recess, meaning a vote could not take place.\n\nA government spokesperson said: \"Whenever possible we have committed to allowing Parliament to vote on matters of national significance but we cannot hold up urgent regulations needed to control the virus and save lives.\"\n\nSir Keir has backed the recall of Parliament to ratify any Brexit deal.\n\nAsked at a press conference in London, where he was making a speech about Labour's devolution policies, if he would also back a recall to debate Covid, he said: \"I think there is a case to look at whether we should recall Parliament\".\n\nBut he said it was more important that the prime minister gives daily updates on the crisis, as \"people need to know the way forward\".\n\n\"We cannot be in any doubt the virus is now out of control\" he added.\n\n\"Make no mistake, this is now a real emergency.\n\nParliament closed for the Christmas break on Thursday, but events over the weekend have prompted MPs from across the parties to demand a return to Westminster.\n\nOn Saturday, Mr Johnson announced that areas in London, Kent, Essex and Bedfordshire would be put into a new set of tier four restrictions - meaning people can not mix indoors with anyone not from their household.\n\nHe also scrapped a planned relaxation of the rules over Christmas in the south-east of England, while restrictions were toughened up elsewhere in the UK.\n\nSome MPs want to debate the border situation, particularly in Kent, and others may want to call for an extension of the Brexit transition period; but wishes don't recall Parliament, ministers do.\n\nSpecifically, a minister of the Crown must request the Speaker to recall MPs.\n\nThe Speaker then considers whether this would be in the public interest (it's hard to imagine a situation where a minister would ask for a recall and the Speaker denied them).\n\nBut the gaping hole in this process is that there is no mechanism for anybody but the government to bring Parliament back from a recess early.\n\nConservative MP Mark Harper - chair of the Covid Recovery Group, which is made up of around 50 Tory backbenchers - said the changes in England should \"be put to a vote in the Commons at the earliest opportunity, even if that means a recall of the House\".\n\nA number of other Conservatives called for a recall including Steve Baker, Tim Loughton and John Redwood, although others have not backed the idea.\n\nWriting on the Conservative Home website, Conservative William Wragg said \"The plain fact is this: Parliament debated and voted on the original rules that were to be in place to govern Christmas, along with the revamped tier system. Parliament should do the same for these new rules and additional tier.\"\n\nThis would mean the changes carried \"greater legitimacy among the public\", he added.\n\nPeople at St Pancras station in London, waiting to board the last train to Paris on Sunday\n\nRecall demands have also been driven by France's decision to close its border with the UK for 48 hours over fears of the spread of a new coronavirus variant\n\nNo lorries or ferry passengers have been able to sail from the port of Dover, causing long queues.\n\nIt comes as EU and UK negotiators struggle to agree a post-Brexit trade deal, with 10 days to go before the UK leaves EU trading rules. The government has repeatedly said it will not extend Brexit trade negotiations beyond the current 31 December deadline.\n\nIn 2016 MPs were recalled to Parliament following the murder of Jo Cox, whose empty seat was marked with two roses\n\nLiberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and Plaid Cymru's leader at Westminster Liz Saville Roberts both said Parliament should be recalled following these developments - and that the Brexit talks should be extended beyond 31 December deadline.\n\nResponding to demands to recall Parliament, Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect - the union which represents parliamentary staff - expressed concern that his members' safety would be put at risk if large numbers of MPs returned to Parliament amid rising coronavirus cases.\n\nCommons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is understood to have been pushing for more use of remote working for MPs, to combat the spread of infection and keep staff safe.\n\nMr Rees-Mogg confirmed on Monday that, when Parliament returns, the government would introduce measures allowing all MPs to contribute to \"substantive\" Commons debates via video link.\n\nAt the moment, they are only allowed to take part in question times, statements and urgent questions from home, not debates on legislation.\n\nWriting to the Procedure Committee, Mr Rees-Mogg said the change to the rules had been taken with the \"aim of reducing physical attendance\" at Westminster, which is under tier four restrictions following the emergence of a new variant of the Covid virus.\n\nMany MPs have urged the government to allow online voting, but Mr Rees-Mogg said the system of proxy votes - with MPs present in the chamber voting on behalf ones that that can't be there - would continue in its current form.", "Actress Rosalind Knight - whose credits include early Carry on films and Channel 4's Friday Night Dinner - has died aged 87, her family has said.\n\nThe TV, film and theatre actress appeared in Carry On Teacher and Carry On Nurse in the 1950s.\n\nMore recently, she played the character known as \"Horrible Grandma\" in Channel 4 comedy show Friday Night Dinner.\n\nIn a statement, her family said the \"well-loved\" actress who had a \"glorious career\" died on Saturday.\n\nHer other screen credits include 1957's Blue Murder At St Trinian's, where she played a schoolgirl and a teacher in The Wildcats Of St Trinian's in 1980.\n\nShe also starred as retired prostitute Beryl in BBC sitcom Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, which ran from 1999 to 2001, with Kathy Burke and James Dreyfus.\n\nKnight's family said in their statement: \"She was known to so many generations, for so many different roles, and will be missed as much by the kids today who howl at Horrible Grandma in Friday Night Dinner as by those of us who are old enough to remember her in the very first Carry On films.\"\n\nHer daughters, theatre director Marianne Elliott and actress Susannah Elliott, said she would be remembered for her \"immense spirit and sense of fun, and her utter individuality\".", "Grace Millane's family described her as \"our sunshine\"\n\nThe man who murdered British backpacker Grace Millane in New Zealand has been convicted of sex attacks on two more women.\n\nJesse Kempson, 28, can now be named after a court order banning his identification was lifted.\n\nIn February, he was jailed for a minimum of 17 years for murdering Miss Millane in his hotel room in Auckland in December 2018.\n\nThe Millane family said they \"do not think about him or speak his name\".\n\nIn October, Kempson was convicted of eight charges relating to various attacks including using a knife against a woman between November 2016 and April 2017.\n\nThe woman said \"something inside of him snapped\" when he \"got angry\" and said he had held a knife \"to my throat\".\n\nIn November, Kempson was convicted by a separate judge sitting alone of raping another woman on their first and only date in April 2018.\n\nShe told the court: \"I was just frozen and I let him do what he needed to do so I could try and go to sleep or go home as soon as possible.\"\n\nJesse Kempson was seen buying a suitcase he used to conceal Miss Millane's body\n\nKempson, who had worked in various sales jobs, met both of the women through the dating app Tinder, as he had Miss Millane.\n\nThe 11-year jail term for these nine offences - all committed while he was living in Auckland - will be served concurrently with his sentence for Miss Millane's murder.\n\nOn Friday, Kempson's appeal against his conviction and sentence for Miss Millane's murder was dismissed\n\nNow those cases are complete, the Court of Appeal has been able to lift an order banning Kempson from being identified.\n\nKempson can now be identified after a court order was lifted\n\nConcern had grown for the welfare of Miss Millane, from Wickford in Essex, in December 2018 when she failed to respond to friends and family wishing her a happy 22nd birthday.\n\nWithin days of her disappearance, police had identified Kempson as the prime suspect and managed to track his movements by trawling through CCTV.\n\nMiss Millane's body was discovered in the mountainous Waitākere Ranges, having been stuffed into a suitcase by Kempson and buried.\n\nThe killing prompted New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to apologise to Ms Millane's parents David and Gillian, saying: \"Your daughter should have been safe here; she wasn't and I'm sorry for that.\"\n\nDuring the murder trial in Auckland in 2019, the 12-person jury was shown footage of Miss Millane and Kempson seemingly enjoying each others' company around the city on a date.\n\nThey were seen on CCTV returning to his hotel, CityLife, where Kempson later strangled Miss Millane in his room.\n\nWhen Miss Millane did not respond to birthday messages, her family issued an appeal on social media\n\nIn a statement, the Millane family said the suppression of Kempson's name had \"allowed people to remember Grace - a young, vibrant girl who set out to see the world, instead of the man who took her life\".\n\n\"To use his name shows we care and gives him the notoriety he seeks,\" they added.\n\n\"We instead choose to speak Grace's name.\"\n\nMiss Millane's murder prompted an outpouring of grief in New Zealand\n\nFor much of his three-week trial for the murder of Grace Millane, Jesse Kempson looked stony-faced, occasionally glancing down at the court papers in the dock and turning a page.\n\nAt times, when the evidence was particularly graphic, he would hold his head in his hands.\n\nWhen the verdict was delivered, Kempson stared straight ahead, before being sent out of the courtroom for a few minutes.\n\nHe returned, red-faced and rubbing his eyes as if he had been crying - a rare glimpse of emotion, perhaps.\n\nBut part of you could not help feel it was all a performance.\n\nIn his police interviews he had reeled off a litany of lies, about not just about his own actions but those of Miss Millane, until he was confronted with evidence to the contrary.\n\nThe jury's verdict was the rejection of his ultimate lie - one he had hoped to get away with.\n\nNew Zealand law expert Chris Gallavin said \"name suppression\" was more often used to protect victims or the families of defendants.\n\n\"In this circumstance, it's actually name suppression to protect the fair trial rights of the accused,\" he said.\n\nThe order remained in place because of the further accusations faced by Kempson, and was only lifted after his appeal was rejected.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "Mr Navalny is recovering after weeks in intensive care\n\nRussian opposition leader Alexei Navalny duped a Russian FSB state agent into revealing details of an attack on him with the nerve agent Novichok, the investigative group Bellingcat reports.\n\nMr Navalny reportedly impersonated a security official to call the agent.\n\nThe agent, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, told him the Novichok had been placed in a pair of Mr Navalny's underpants.\n\nMr Navalny, who is still recovering in Berlin, posted a recording of the long conversation on his YouTube channel.\n\nHe collapsed on board a Russian airliner in August in the attack, which nearly proved fatal.\n\nAs part of Mr Navalny's ruse to elicit more details of the assassination attempt, Bellingcat says the call to Mr Kudryavtsev was set up to indicate it was coming from a Federal Security Service (FSB) landline.\n\nIn the conversation, Mr Navalny posed as a senior official seeking details for a report on the FSB operation.\n\nMr Kudryavtsev told him the swift response of the airline pilot and the emergency medical team in Omsk, Siberia - where Mr Navalny was first treated - could have been the reason for the failure to kill him.\n\nMr Kudryavtsev said he had been sent to Omsk later to seize Mr Navalny's clothes and remove all traces of Novichok from them.\n\nThe BBC's Steven Rosenberg, in Moscow, says publication of the recording will be a huge embarrassment for the Kremlin, which continues to deny any link between the Russian state and poisoning of President Putin's most vocal critic.\n\nLast week Mr Putin told a huge TV audience that the Bellingcat investigation - carried out with other Western media partners - was a \"trick\" invented by US intelligence.\n\nBut he added that it was right for the FSB to be shadowing Mr Navalny.\n\nThe Bellingcat report last week named several FSB agents - chemical weapons specialists - who, it alleged, had been tailing him for years before the attempt on his life.\n\nMr Navalny has millions of followers on social media, where he denounces Mr Putin's United Russia party as deeply corrupt and full of \"crooks and thieves\". He says Mr Putin runs a \"feudal\" system of patronage \"sucking the blood out of Russia\".\n\nIn the summer, before the August poisoning, Mr Navalny campaigned to get several of his supporters elected to councils in Siberia.", "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nEngland and Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has been honoured for his work to raise awareness of child food poverty in the UK.\n\nHe was given the Expert Panel Special Award at the Sports Personality show.\n\nRashford successfully campaigned for the government to extend free school meals during the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\nIt resulted in about 1.3 million children in England being able to claim free school meals vouchers during the summer holidays.\n\nAnother policy change in November saw the government announce more than £400m to support poor children and their families in England, following further campaigning by Rashford.\n\nThe footballer has spoken of going without food as a child and the sacrifices his family had to make.\n\nHe became an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours and has continued to lobby for further help for poorer families.\n\nRashford has also launched a book club to help children enjoy the escapism of reading.\n• None Moments of triumph: Your personal stories and videos from 2020\n\nThe BBC Sports Personality show's judging panel unanimously agreed that Rashford's accomplishments off the pitch should be commended with a special award as the criteria for the main award shortlist is based around sporting achievements.\n\nOn Monday, a documentary - Marcus Rashford: Feeding Britain's Children - going behind the scenes of the footballer's free school meals campaign will air on BBC One.", "The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said it was \"the moment of truth\" for the talks\n\nThere will be no post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and EU unless there is a \"substantial shift\" from Brussels in the coming days, a government source has told the BBC.\n\nIt is understood there is likely to be a decision before Christmas on whether or not a deal can be reached.\n\nThe two sides have been in negotiations about how many years it will take to phase in new fisheries arrangements.\n\nThe EU's Michel Barnier said any deal must be \"balanced and reciprocal\".\n\nThe talks are expected to continue on Monday, a UK government source has said.\n\nWriting on Twitter on Sunday, Mr Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, said the talks were at a \"crucial moment\" and the two sides were working \"hard\" to try to narrow their differences.\n\n\"We respect the sovereignty of the UK and we expect the same. Both the EU and Britain must have the right to set their own laws and control their own waters. And we should both be able to act when our interests are at stake.\"\n\nWhitehall sources say it is increasingly likely the UK will end its post-Brexit transition period without a free trade agreement with the EU, meaning that on 1 January the two sides will rely on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules to govern exports and imports.\n\nThis could see tariffs introduced on goods being sold and bought - which may lead to increased prices for certain products.\n\nA government source told the BBC the EU was \"still struggling to get the flexibility needed from member states\" to make a deal possible.\n\n\"We need to get any deal right and based on terms which respect what the British people voted for.\n\n\"We're continuing to try every possible path to an agreement, but without a substantial shift from the [European] Commission we will be leaving on WTO terms on 31 December.\"\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said an agreement was in both sides' interests \"given all the problems that are going on on the continent as well as here\" with Covid, but the EU needed to give ground.\n\n\"I hope the EU moves on its unreasonable demands, that I don't think anybody could reasonably accept, and then we can get a trade deal,\" he told the BBC's Andrew Marr.\n\n\"But we are ready, whatever's necessary.\"\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to keep talking, but warned gaps had yet to be bridged.\n\nSenior MEPs in the European Parliament have said they will not be \"rushed\" into signing off a deal on their side and want to see the text of any agreement by Sunday if they are to approve it by the end of the year.\n\nA senior EU source told the BBC's Brussels correspondent Nick Beake: \"The Member States are the EU. And as a former member state, the UK knows well that the EU negotiator is there to protect the interest of Europeans.\n\n\"We believe it is in both sides' interest to reach a fair deal, which cannot be the case without a level playing field and sustainable arrangements for fisheries.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michel Barnier says negotiations have \"just a few hours\"\n\nThe two sides have been at odds over the length of time it will take to introduce new arrangements once the UK leaves the bloc's Common Fisheries Policy.\n\nThe UK, led by its chief negotiator, David Frost, has insisted its sovereign rights over its waters must be respected from day one and its fleets must be able to keep a much larger share of their own catch.\n\nThe EU is insisting on a much longer transition period, with guarantees on access and how catches are distributed.\n\nThe two sides are reported to have made progress in recent days on the issues of fair competition and what to do if the UK is deemed to get an unfair competitive advantage by moving away from EU rules and standards.\n\nIf a deal is reached between the two sides, it would need to be agreed by parliaments in the UK and the European Union's member states.\n\nUK MPs have now finished for the Christmas break, but Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Thursday that they could be called back to ratify a deal in the coming days, were one to be agreed.", "Gheorghe Nica and Eamonn Harrison were both found guilty of manslaughter\n\nTwo men have been found guilty of the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in a lorry trailer in Essex.\n\nThe migrants suffocated in the sealed container en route from Zeebrugge to Purfleet in October 2019.\n\nEamonn Harrison, 24, who dropped off the trailer at the Belgian port, and people-smuggler Gheorghe Nica, 43, were convicted by an Old Bailey jury.\n\nTwo others were convicted of being part of a wider people-smuggling conspiracy.\n\nThe 39 people who died in the back of a trailer as it crossed the North Sea between Zeebrugge and the UK\n\nThe trial examined three smuggling attempts by the gang - two that were successful on 11 and 18 October, and the final trip on 23 October.\n\nLorry driver Christopher Kennedy, 24, from County Armagh, collected the trailers from Purfleet on the earlier two runs, claiming he thought he was transporting cigarettes.\n\nBut the jury found Kennedy and Valentin Calota, 38, of Birmingham, guilty of conspiring to assist illegal immigration.\n\nDuring the trial, jurors were given a snapshot of the victims - who included a bricklayer, a university graduate and a nailbar technician - and their dreams of a better life.\n\nMany of their families borrowed heavily to fund their passage, relying on their potential future earnings once they got into the UK.\n\nDet Ch Insp Daniel Stoten, from Essex Police, said: \"If you look at the method, the way they transported human beings... we wouldn't transport animals in that way.\"\n\nAnother two men - Irish haulage boss Ronan Hughes, 41, of Tyholland, County Monaghan, Ireland, and 26-year-old lorry driver Maurice Robinson - had previously admitted manslaughter.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel described the deaths as a \"truly tragic incident\".\n\nChristopher Kennedy was found guilty of conspiring to assist illegal immigration\n\nProsecutors said in the fatal run, the container became a \"tomb\" as temperatures in the unit reached an \"unbearable\" 38.5C (101F).\n\nThe migrants, aged 15 to 44, were sealed inside for at least 12 hours.\n\nThey had used a metal pole to try to punch through the roof, but only managed to dent the interior.\n\nProsecutor Bill Emlyn Jones said: \"There was no way out, and no-one to hear them; no-one to help them.\"\n\nBoth Maurice Robinson (l) and Ronan Hughes (r) admitted 39 counts of manslaughter in connection with the case\n\nHarrison, of Newry, County Down, towed the trailer to Zeebrugge, from where it was transported to Purfleet.\n\nDuring the 10-week trial, he claimed he did not know there were people in the trailer and that he watched \"a wee bit of Netflix\" in bed as they were loaded on.\n\nHe also said he had no idea there were migrants in two other trailers that he had dropped off at the same port in the previous 12 days.\n\nRobinson, from County Armagh, collected the trailer when it arrived on UK shores just after midnight on 23 October.\n\nHis boss, Hughes, had messaged him: \"Give them air quickly don't let them out.\". Robinson gave a thumbs-up in reply.\n\nBut when Robinson stopped on a nearby industrial estate, he found that the migrants were all dead.\n\nThe bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October last year\n\nThere was a series of telephone conversations between him and Hughes and Nica, of Basildon, Essex, before Robinson eventually dialled 999.\n\nIn his evidence, Nica said Robinson told him: \"I have a problem here - dead bodies in the trailer.\"\n\nDet Ch Insp Stoten said that many of the police officers who attended \"were really young in service\" and it was possibly the first time some had ever seen a dead person.\n\nHe said he believed the \"absolutely horrendous scene\" would stay with those officers \"for the rest of their career and, quite probably, the rest of lives\".\n\nOn all three runs, Nica had arranged cars and a van to transport the migrants at the UK end.\n\nJurors were shown CCTV footage of him carrying a holdall of cash to Hughes's room at the Ibis hotel, Thurrock, early on 19 October.\n\nNica admitted to conspiring to assist illegal immigration in the first two runs, but he insisted that he believed the third run was all to do with smuggling cigarettes.\n\nThe mechanic told jurors he had been roped into people-smuggling, and said: \"I never wanted to be involved in this kind of job.\"\n\nThe day after the bodies were found, Nica travelled to Romania, claiming he was \"scared\" of a \"big, big investigation\", but prosecutors said the defendant's version of events was \"ridiculous\".\n\nDet Ch Insp Stoten said the gang stood to make between £10,000 and £12,000 per person transported, \"the lion's share of which would have gone to Ronan Hughes and Gheorghe Nica\".\n\nCCTV footage from Orsett Golf Club of a lorry on 11 October 2019\n\nThe jury had heard that on 14 October, between the two successful runs, Kennedy was found at the French end of the Channel Tunnel with 20 Vietnamese migrants in his trailer.\n\nAt least two of those people ended up dying in the fatal run.\n\nPolice believe the smugglers had \"doubled-up\" the load on 23 October because of the problem on 14 October, and that was what led to the deaths.\n\nThis gang had been smuggling people for months and months, the Old Bailey heard.\n\nOn the first of several successful runs on the same route, a couple, Marie Andrews and Stewart Cox, saw people getting out of a van on a country lane in Orsett, Essex, and dialled 999.\n\nPolice attended but did not seize CCTV footage from the nearby golf course, in which a lorry and other vehicles were seen on the lane.\n\nIf, perhaps, Essex Police had managed to get to that footage, follow it up and identify some of the vehicles before the fatal run 12 days later, then this gang might possibly have been disrupted before these 39 people died.\n\nAsked about that, the force said it could only allocate the resources available at the time.\n\nBut it says that now, if there are ever reports of people in the back of a lorry and the driver is present, the driver will be arrested.\n\nDinh Dinh Binh - from Hai Phong - was one of two 15-year-olds to die in the container\n\nAlexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 28, of Hobart Road, Tilbury, Essex, and Gazmir Nuzi, 43, of Barclay Road, Tottenham, north London, had earlier admitted assisting unlawful immigration linked to the case.\n\nMr Justice Sweeney adjourned sentencing of all the defendants to 7, 8 and 11 January.\n\nMs Patel said her \"thoughts remain with those affected by this tragedy\".\n\n\"Today's convictions only strengthen my resolve to do all I can to go after the people-smugglers who prey on the vulnerable and trade in human misery,\" she added.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "A NI Executive meeting is under way to consider a paper on whether to impose a travel ban from GB.\n\nEarlier, the deputy first minister said the executive must meet to agree a ban as \"we are facing a grave situation\".\n\nThe health minister took advice from the Attorney General and set out that in a paper to the executive.\n\nIt is understood Robin Swann has recommended issuing guidance advising against non-essential travel between NI and GB, and NI and the Irish Republic.\n\nThe minister has also advised that people arriving into Northern Ireland should self-isolate for 10 days.\n\nIt is understood Sinn Féin Finance Minister Conor Murphy has now written to Mr Swann expressing \"dismay and astonishment\" that he is not moving immediately to instigate a ban on travel between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.\n\nHe has called on Mr Swann to reconsider his approach.\n\nMr Swann's paper also makes the case for progressing work regarding any changes in the law needed to impose a ban - Mr Murphy has called on the minister to \"move urgently\" to complete this, in order to introduce a ban.\n\nMore than 40 countries, including the Republic of Ireland, have banned UK arrivals because of concerns about the spread of a new variant of coronavirus.\n\nEarlier the first minister said it is \"probable\" the variant is already in NI.\n\nArlene Foster said four cases in NI were being tested to determine if they are the new highly infectious variant.\n\nThe executive was already scheduled to meet on Tuesday morning to discuss the end of the EU exit transition period on 31 December.\n\nOn Sunday, the executive agreed so-called Christmas bubbles should be limited to one day.\n\nThe move followed action in England, Scotland and Wales on Saturday, cutting the previously agreed five days to just one..\n\nAnother seven coronavirus-related deaths were reported in Northern Ireland on Monday.\n\nThe Department of Health's death toll is 1,203. There were also a further 555 cases of Covid-19 diagnosed.\n\nThere are 446 people with Covid-19 in hospital. Thirty are in intensive care, with 24 on ventilators.\n\nA new six-week lockdown for Northern Ireland comes into force at 00:01 GMT on 26 December.\n\nMinisters met remotely on Sunday night to discuss the impact of the variant on Christmas rules.\n\nThe executive said there would be flexibility on which day between 23 and 27 December people come together, to accommodate those working on Christmas Day.\n\nThat meeting also discussed travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, but nothing was agreed.\n\nIrish Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said the ban on travel from Britain to the Republic of Ireland was initially for 48 hours, but added he did not want to give anyone \"false hope that there is likely to be any major change\".\n\nNo border controls would be set up on the Irish border, he added.\n\nEuropean nations have begun to impose travel bans on the UK after it reported a more-infectious and \"out of control\" coronavirus variant\n\nMr Ryan said his government would be making concerns about the lack of a GB-NI travel ban known, although it would be up to Stormont to decide what to do.\n\nOn Monday, the Irish government said there would be at least two consular flights departing on Tuesday evening to bring Irish residents home.\n\nBBC News NI has asked if this would include people in Northern Ireland who have an Irish passport.\n\nIn a statement, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said \"two specific and limited categories of people\" were included.\n\nThese are international travellers to Ireland who are transiting through Great Britain and Irish people \"currently on short trips to Great Britain\" or who have travelled to Great Britain for \"emergency medical treatment\".\n\nIn the Republic of Ireland, there were 727 new cases reported on Monday.\n\nThe number of deaths linked to the virus is unchanged at 2,158.\n\nAt Sunday's executive meeting, Sinn Féin had proposed prohibiting travel from Great Britain into Northern Ireland, and said this should be a priority.\n\nThe party wants the health minister to use powers from the 1967 Public Health Act to impose a ban on people entering from Great Britain.\n\nBut Mrs Foster said such a blanket ban was not a simple matter, would have \"downside consequences\" and that the executive would take legal advice from the attorney general on it.\n\nShe also said those living in the most infected areas are already prohibited from travelling, although she recognised some would try to \"game\" the regulations.\n\n\"There is a travel ban in place - it covers about 17m people in England, those people can't come to Northern Ireland,\" she told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.\n\nMrs Foster said the new bubble rules would be placed in law, but added that she did not expect police to be \"knocking on people's doors on Christmas Day or Boxing Day to check they are abiding by the law\".\n\nShe said the four possible cases of the new variant under examination had \"different sequencing\" from other cases.\n\nIf you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.\n\nOn Sunday, four of the five main Stormont parties asked for an urgent executive meeting.\n\nSinn Féin, the SDLP and Alliance sent a joint letter to the first and deputy first ministers asking to meet.\n\nIn the letter, the parties said they must satisfy themselves that the Christmas restrictions and the six-week lockdown from 26 December were sufficiently robust to safeguard public health.\n\nIt is understood health minister and UUP member Robin Swann sent a separate letter with similar concerns.", "The Swansea contact centre has seen more than 300 Covid cases since September\n\nA coronavirus outbreak has been declared at the UK vehicle licensing agency's contact centre in Swansea.\n\nPublic Health Wales says there have been 352 cases of Covid-19 at the DVLA centre at Swansea Vale in Llansamlet since September.\n\nSixty-two cases have been identified at the call centre since the beginning of December.\n\nStaff are being asked to get tested for the virus at the site over the next two days.\n\nHealth officials said it was \"inevitable\" to see spread in the workplace as cases of Covid in the community increased.\n\nBut the level of infections at the centre has prompted intervention.\n\nThe Swansea Bay University Health Board has set up a testing facility at the Sandringham Park site, and is continuing to work with the DVLA to manage the outbreak.\n\n\"We would like to encourage all staff at the contact centre to take up the offer of testing available on the site until Wednesday, 23 December,\" said Siôn Lingard from Public Health Wales.\n\n\"Finding cases early is key to reducing transmission and risks to those around you.\n\n\"But workers in any workplace may be at risk from infection in social or household settings.\"", "Further restrictions are likely to be needed in more areas of England to control a new variant of Covid-19, the UK's chief scientific adviser has said.\n\nSir Patrick Vallance said measures could \"need to be increased in some places, in due course, not reduced\".\n\nLondon and large swathes of south-east England were placed in the highest tier four restrictions over the weekend.\n\nSir Patrick predicted there would be spike in cases after an \"inevitable period of mixing\" over Christmas.\n\nIt comes as more than 40 countries including France, Spain, India and Hong Kong have banned UK flights because of concerns about the spread of the variant.\n\nSpeaking at a Downing Street briefing, Sir Patrick said he believed the variant would help cases \"spread more\".\n\nAsked why tougher measures were not in place across the country following the introduction of the tier four level, Sir Patrick added: \"The evidence on this virus is that it spreads easily. It's more transmissible. We absolutely need to make sure we have the right level of restrictions in place.\"\n\nBut he said there was no reason to think the new variant is more dangerous than the existing strain.\n\n\"The transmission is increased. We can't say exactly by how much, but it is clearly substantially increased, so it is more transmissible.\n\n\"Which is why we see it growing so fast and spreading to so many areas.\"\n\nThe government scrapped plans to relax rules at Christmas in the areas put under tier four rules. Some 17 million people in England and Wales affected are being told to stay at home, while non-essential shops and businesses have to close.\n\nBut in other regions of England - in tiers one to three - Christmas mixing is being allowed on 25 December.\n\nSir Patrick said the tier four rules were \"important\"\n\nSir Patrick Vallance said the variant of the virus had to be taken \"incredibly seriously\".\n\nHe said: \"It's really important to follow the rules carefully and make an assumption that you could be infectious.\n\n\"You could be the person spreading it to somebody else, and [you should] behave accordingly.\"\n\nHe added: \"The doubling time of this infection with a new variant is quite fast, it is more transmissible, it does require more action in order to keep it down and that's why tier four is important.\"\n\nThe latest figures released on Monday reveal that another 33,364 people in the UK have tested positive for coronavirus.\n\nThere were also a further 215 deaths within 28 days of testing positive, bringing the UK total to 67,616.\n\nFrance has also shut its border with the UK for 48 hours, causing delays to lorries carrying freight across the Channel, but Boris Johnson told the briefing both sides wanted to resolve \"these problems as fast as possible\".\n\nThe prime minister said he had an \"excellent\" call with French President Emmanuel Macron and \"both understand each other's positions\".\n\nHe added the delays only affected a very small percentage of food entering the UK and supermarket supply chains were \"strong and robust\".\n\nThere is no evidence to suggest this new variant is causing more serious disease or will hamper the effectiveness of the vaccine.\n\nBut there is now a high degree of confidence that it is leading to faster transmission.\n\nWith hospitals already under huge pressure - the number of patients will soon pass the spring peak on the current trajectory - it seems only a matter of time before more areas will be placed into tier 4, which is essentially a lockdown.\n\nQuestions are also being asked about schools. The prime minister could only say he wanted to keep them open \"if we possibly can\".\n\nThe race to vaccinate the most vulnerable, which will have a huge impact on reducing deaths and relieving pressure on the NHS, just got more pressing.\n\nAround 500,000 people have got their first dose in the past two weeks.\n\nBut there are 12 million over 65s. More vaccination centres and approval of the Oxford University vaccine, of which there are already millions of doses in the country ready to go, is essential.", "The Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by a woman who spent £16m in Harrods to overturn the UK's first Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO).\n\nZamira Hajiyeva, wife of a jailed banker, may now lose her £12m London home - and a separate golf course - if she can't explain her riches.\n\nThe court said her challenge to the UWO raised no arguable point of law.\n\nMrs Hajieyva's husband is in jail in Azerbaijan for embezzling millions of pounds from a state bank.\n\nOffshore companies connected to the family own Mrs Hajiyeva's home on an exclusive street in Knightsbridge, as well as the Mill Ride golf course in Berkshire. Together they were worth more than £22m when the legal battle began in February 2018.\n\nOver the course of a decade, Mrs Hajiyeva spent £16m in Harrods - spending that formed part of the NCA's investigation into the sources of her wealth.\n\nUnder a UWO, if a person cannot explain how they became legitimately rich, the courts can fast-track the seizure of their property, without investigators having even proven a crime.\n\nMrs Hajiyeva has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with an offence in the UK. Last year a court blocked her potential extradition to Azerbaijan, saying she would not get a fair trial.\n\nHer lawyers had petitioned the Supreme Court to consider her case, saying she had not been lawfully targeted by the NCA.\n\nThat application has now been rejected without the court hearing the case at all - meaning that all her rights of appeal are now exhausted.\n\nGraeme Biggar, head of the National Economic Crime Centre at the NCA, said: \"This is a significant result which is important in establishing Unexplained Wealth Orders as a powerful tool for financial investigations.\n\n\"There are no further routes for Mrs Hajiyeva to appeal against the order. She will now be required to provide the NCA with the information we are seeking in connection with these assets.\"\n\nThe NCA would have set a strict timetable for Mrs Hajiyeva to comply with that demand - but the Christmas period and the pandemic mean she may have until the end of the winter to provide full answers.\n\nUnexplained Wealth Orders, created in 2017, were trumpeted by the government as a major new tool in the fight against corrupt cash in the UK.\n\nOne of the targets - a man believed to be money laundering for a major drugs gang - gave up fighting the NCA and handed over his property empire.\n\nAnother family, part of Kazakhstan's ruling elite, won their case against the NCA.", "Boris Johnson has ruled out extending the deadline for reaching a post-Brexit trade deal into 2021, amid a deadlock in talks and a growing Covid crisis.\n\nSNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and London mayor Sadiq Khan want the UK to follow EU trading rules beyond 31 December to allow more time for an agreement.\n\nBut the prime minister said his stance was \"unchanged\" and the UK would \"cope with any difficulties\" encountered.\n\nUK-EU talks continue, with nine days left to reach and ratify any agreement.\n\nThe EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier is expected to update diplomats from the bloc's 27 member states later on Tuesday, although there is no sign of an imminent breakthrough.\n\nEU sources said sticking points remained over member states' access to UK fishing waters, competition rules and how any agreement would be enforced and disputes resolved.\n\nThe UK has continued following EU regulations since it left the bloc on 31 January, but it will exit its internal market and customs union when this \"transition\" period finishes at the end of the year.\n\nWithout a trade deal, both sides could place import taxes on each other's goods, potentially affecting prices.\n\nFishing rights are a major point of contention in UK-EU trade talks\n\nOn Monday, Ms Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister, said the spread of a new Covid variant - which has led to more than 40 countries banning people travelling from the UK - \"demands our 100% attention\".\n\nIt would be \"unconscionable\" to compound the UK's problems by not leaving more time to agree a trade deal, she added.\n\nAnd Labour's Mr Khan urged Mr Johnson to extend the deadline, saying the UK \"should be concentrating on... fighting the virus\".\n\nFishing rights are a major point of contention in UK-EU trade talks, with France in particular raising concerns about its fleets being denied access to UK waters.\n\nMr Johnson, who has promised a return of sovereignty over territorial waters, said on Monday he had had a \"great conversation\" with French President Emmanuel about restarting travel from the UK to France, following the Covid-related ban imposed by Paris.\n\nBut he added that they had \"vowed to stick off Brexit because that negotiation is being conducted via the European Commission, and that's quite proper\".\n\n\"And the position is unchanged,\" Mr Johnson said. \"There are problems. It's vital that everyone understands that the UK has got to be able to control its own laws completely, and also that we have got to be able to control our own fisheries.\"\n\nHe predicted the UK would \"prosper mightily\", whatever the outcome of the UK-EU talks, in Brussels.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has rejected calls to extend the transition period, saying \"further dithering\" would not help.\n\n\"I think that it would be far better for the government to get a deal over the line, either today, tomorrow or certainly next week,\" he said.\n\nMembers of the European Parliament met on Monday to discuss the situation, after warning time had run out for it to ratify a deal by 31 December.\n\nOne potential option, should the two sides reach agreement soon, would be for the European Parliament to approve it in principle by 31 December and complete formal ratification early next year.\n\nIf this happened, short-term measures could potentially be put in place to minimise disruption to cross-Channel trade before new legally binding rules come into force.", "The head of Europe's aviation safety agency, EASA, has told the BBC he is \"certain\" Boeing's 737 Max is now safe to fly.\n\nExecutive Director Patrick Ky said his organisation had \"left no stone unturned\" in its review of the aircraft and its analysis of design changes made by the manufacturer.\n\nThe plane was grounded in March 2019.\n\nThat was after it was involved in two catastrophic accidents, in which a total of 346 people died.\n\nIt has already been cleared to resume flights in the US and Brazil. EASA expects to give permission for it to return to service in Europe in mid-January.\n\nThe plane's first accident occurred in October 2018, when a Lion Air jet came down in the sea off Indonesia.\n\nThe second involved an Ethiopian Airlines version that crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, just four months later.\n\nBoth have been attributed to flawed flight control software, which became active at the wrong time and prompted the aircraft to go into a catastrophic dive.\n\nSince the Ethiopian crash, EASA has been carrying out a root-and-branch review of the 737 Max's design, independently from a similar process undertaken by the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).\n\nThe review, says Mr Ky, went well beyond the immediate causes of the two accidents and the modifications proposed by Boeing.\n\nThe Boeing 737 Max was grounded in March 2019 following two deadly crashes\n\n\"We went further and reviewed all the flight controls, all the machinery of the aircraft\", he explains.\n\nThe aim, he says, was to look at anything which could cause a critical failure.\n\nIn order to return to service, existing planes will now have to be equipped with new computer software, as well as undergoing changes to their wiring and cockpit instrumentation.\n\nPilots will need to undergo mandatory training, and each plane will have to undergo a test flight to ensure the changes have been carried out correctly.\n\nUS regulators have set out similar conditions.\n\nAs a result, Mr Ky insists, \"We are very confident that it is now a very safe aircraft.\"\n\nMost of the initial safety certification work on the 737 Max was carried out by the FAA, and simply endorsed by EASA under the terms of a long-standing international agreement.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Zipporah Kuria's father Joseph Waithaka was one of 157 people killed when a Boeing 737 Max crashed in March 2019\n\nBut with the FAA now facing intense criticism for allowing an apparently flawed aircraft into service, Mr Ky says in future, things will be done differently.\n\n\"What is certain is that there were lessons learned from this, which will trigger new actions from our side\", he explains.\n\nIn particular, where EASA is not the primary authority carrying out safety work, it will examine other people's decisions much more closely.\n\n\"We will perform our own safety assessment, which is going to be much more comprehensive than it used to be\", he says.\n\nBut have regulators lost credibility and public confidence since the disasters?\n\n\"I hope not\", says Mr Ky. \"I think we have made a lot of progress in assessing what went wrong and what can be made better\n\n\"I hope the public trusts in us when we say we think, we are certain, that the aircraft is safe to fly\".", "Oxford Street, in central London, was virtually deserted on Sunday\n\nCoronavirus cases in the UK have risen by 35,928 - nearly double the number recorded last Sunday, figures show.\n\nPublic Health England medical director Yvonne Doyle said the \"sharp\" rise in cases was of \"serious concern\".\n\nIt comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that a new variant of the virus was \"getting out of control\".\n\nChristmas plans have been scrapped or restricted for millions across the UK amid warnings the variant is up to 70% more transmissible than previous types.\n\nThe number of new UK infections on Sunday is an all-time high for recorded cases and nearly double the 18,447 cases reported a week ago.\n\nHowever, it is thought the infection rate was higher during the first peak in the spring, with testing capacity too limited at the time to detect the true number of daily cases.\n\nProf Doyle said most of the new cases in England were concentrated in London and the South East, although it was too early to say if this was linked to the new variant.\n\nThe government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) estimates the variant could increase the R number by between 0.4 and 0.9, minutes released on Sunday show.\n\nThe R number is how many other people one person will infect on average; an epidemic is growing if it rises above 1.\n\nA growing number of countries have banned travel from the UK as a result of this variant, including Ireland, France, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.\n\nEurotunnel is suspending access to its Folkestone terminal from 22:00 GMT for traffic and freight heading to Calais due to the 48-hour travel ban introduced by France.\n\nSpeaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, Mr Hancock said the news about the new variant \"has been an incredibly difficult end to frankly an awful year\".\n\nHe said: \"Of course we don't want to cancel Christmas... we don't want to take any of these measures, but it's our duty to take them when the evidence is clear.\"\n\nSusan Hopkins, from Public Health England, told Andrew Marr there was evidence that people with the new strain had \"higher viral loads\", which meant they were more infectious.\n\nSome 21 million people in England and Wales who entered new restrictions at midnight are being told to stay at home, while non-essential shops and businesses have to close.\n\nThose living under the newly-created tier four restrictions in England will now be unable to mix with other households indoors at Christmas, unless they are part of their existing support bubble.\n\nThe health secretary said it was not clear how long the tier four measures would be in place, but it could be for months, \"until we can get the vaccine going\".\n\nHe added that people in tier four should act as if they may have the virus.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Starmer: Boris Johnson \"has once again been caught behind the curve\"\n\nIn the rest of England, Scotland and Wales, relaxed indoor mixing rules will only apply on Christmas Day.\n\nCovid rules had been relaxed across the UK to allow up to three households to mix indoors for five days over the Christmas period.\n\nA ban on travel between Scotland and the rest of the UK will also apply over the festive period. Police Scotland said it would be doubling its patrols on the borders but it would not be introducing check points.\n\nMainland Scotland is being placed under the tightest restrictions from Boxing Day.\n\nWales has also entered a new shutdown, with the health minister saying the new variant was \"seeded\" in every part of the country.\n\nIn Northern Ireland, where the planned relaxation of rules for Christmas is going ahead unchanged, four of the five main parties have called for an urgent meeting to discuss the restrictions.\n\nNorthern Ireland is already due to enter a six-week lockdown on Boxing Day.\n\nNurse Rachel Adams said she was potentially missing the last Christmas with her parents\n\nPeople whose Christmas plans were affected as a result of the changes have told the BBC of their anguish at being unable to see loved ones.\n\nNurse Rachel Adams had been planning to see her parents, who are in their 70s. Her father has prostate cancer.\n\nShe lives with her husband and two daughters, aged 18 and 21, in Thame, Oxfordshire, which is in tier two, and her parents live five hours away in Northumberland, which is in tier three.\n\n\"I am absolutely heartbroken,\" she said.\n\n\"I am missing potentially the last Christmas with my parents.\"\n\nGaynor Cawood said she couldn't believe the short notice given to cancel plans\n\nGrandmother Gaynor Cawood, who lives near Loughborough in Leicestershire, was expecting to see her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren for Christmas.\n\nBut she lives in tier three and they live in London, which is now in tier four - meaning a ban on travel to other tiers.\n\n\"I can't believe the short notice the government have given us to cancel plans,\" she says.\n\n\"Not only am I now unable to get our Christmas presents to my son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren - how do you explain to a five-year-old that all the exciting plans we made will now not happen?\"\n\nBut not everyone will be obeying the restrictions over Christmas.\n\nAlex, a teacher from Huddersfield, which is in tier three, said: \"I will be continuing with my plans and meeting family on three days over Christmas.\"\n\nHe said he had recently recovered from Covid-19 and his family are being careful by taking tests and self-isolating.\n\n\"As a teacher I'm expected to work till the last day, mixing with 70 random households in an early years bubble, most of which I know do not follow the rules outside of school, or face legal action from [Education Secretary] Gavin Williamson.\n\n\"Therefore for three days, when I'm probably safest, as I know we are all OK, I'll continue as normal.\"\n\nThe PM's announcement on Saturday of new restrictions came just days after he defended plans to relax restrictions for five days during the festive period - despite calls by some in the medical profession to scrap the change.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party supported the latest restrictions, but he accused Boris Johnson of \"gross negligence\" in failing to act earlier.\n\nSir Keir told an online press conference that it was \"blatantly obvious last week\" that Mr Johnson's plans to relax the rules over Christmas was \"a risk too far\", adding that his claim that \"this is all down to a new form of the virus that has just emerged does not stand up to scrutiny\".\n\nLondon Mayor Sadiq Khan told BBC Breakfast the \"11th-hour announcement is a bitter blow\" for families and businesses, saying it is the \"chop-change, stop-start, that's led to so much anguish, despair, sadness and disappointment\".\n\nSimilar to England's second national lockdown - tier four applies to Kent, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Surrey (excluding Waverley), Gosport, Havant, Portsmouth, Rother and Hastings.\n\nIt also applies in London (all 32 boroughs and the City of London) and the east of England (Bedford, Central Bedford, Milton Keynes, Luton, Peterborough, Hertfordshire and Essex (excluding Colchester, Uttlesford and Tendring).\n\nThe measures will be reviewed on 30 December.\n\nHow will these latest restrictions affect your plans for Christmas? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n• None 'Our duty' to act over Christmas plans - Hancock", "Sir Keir Starmer said he was \"under no illusion about the scale of the task Labour faces\" in Scotland\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has committed his party to delivering the \"boldest devolution project in a generation\" in a policy speech.\n\nHe is to set up a constitutional commission to offer a \"positive alternative to the Scottish people\".\n\nSir Keir said leaders had a \"shared duty\" to \"rebuild together\" across the UK in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.\n\nBut First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has argued that independence is \"essential\" to rebuilding Scotland post-pandemic.\n\nThe SNP have dismissed the plans as \"constitutional tinkering\" while the Scottish Conservatives said Labour were offering nothing new to challenge the SNP's dominance of Scottish politics.\n\nSir Keir used his speech on Monday - delivered online due to physical distancing - to confirm the setting up of a UK-wide constitutional commission, advised by former prime minister Gordon Brown, to deliver a \"fresh and tangible offer\" to the Scottish people.\n\nHe said the pandemic had put \"rocket boosters\" under the case for decentralisation of power, saying his party must \"grasp the nettle and offer real devolution of power and resources\" if it is to have any hope of preserving the future of the union.\n\nHe said: \"It is Labour's duty to offer a positive alternative to the Scottish people. To show that you don't have to choose between a broken status quo and the uncertainty and divisiveness of separatism.\n\n\"The United Kingdom is much more than that, more than any individual. It has been before - and can be again - a great force for social justice, for security and for solidarity.\"\n\nThe independence campaign has regained momentum in the polls following defeat in 2014\n\nWith polls suggesting support for independence is on the rise, Sir Keir argued that the shared \"history, values and identity\" of the people of the UK mean there should be no place for internal borders.\n\nHe said Labour's offering must be \"every bit as bold and radical\" as the devolution delivered in the 1990s, saying the constitutional commission would target \"real and lasting political and economic devolution\" to local communities in all parts of the UK.\n\nSir Keir said this was about more than shifting powers from one parliament to another or transferring \"a few jobs out of London\", adding: \"There's a yearning across the United Kingdom for politics and power to be much closer to people.\"\n\nThe project is to start with a listening exercise, with the party looking to \"hear from as many people as possible across the UK\".\n\nThe UK leader said he was \"under no illusion about the scale of the task Labour faces\" ahead of May's Scottish Parliament election, with Scottish Labour having been in opposition at Holyrood since 2007.\n\nThe party has also struggled in other elections north of the border, being reduced to a single Westminster seat in 2019 and finishing fifth in that year's European Parliament elections.\n\nThe MP said Labour would argue \"passionately\" against a new independence referendum saying it was \"entirely the wrong priority\" to hold a new vote in the teeth of a recession and \"when there is such uncertainty about how Brexit and coronavirus will affect us\"\n\nHe attacked the SNP's record in power, saying: \"It's no wonder that Nicola Sturgeon wants to make May's election a referendum on another referendum, because on education, health and social justice the SNP have no story to tell.\"\n\nThe next Holyrood election is due in May 2021, with Labour currently the parliament's third party\n\nThe SNP's deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald dismissed Labour's plans, saying the system was \"broken\" and \"not working for Scotland\".\n\n\"No amount of constitutional tinkering of the kind proposed by Labour will protect Scotland from Brexit or the Tory power grab being imposed upon us against our will,\" she said.\n\nShe said that even Labour supporters doubted their ability to oust the Conservatives from Westminster for another decade at least.\n\nThe MP added: \"It's clear that only with the full powers of independence will we be able to properly protect our interests and secure our place in Europe - and that decision lies solely with the people of Scotland, not an out-of-touch Westminster system.\"\n\nThe Scottish Conservatives insisted they were the only party capable of taking on the SNP and championing the union.\n\nScottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: \"This isn't leadership from Labour on the union, this is the same old tired argument that they've made before and they're offering nothing to challenge the SNP.\n\n\"Scottish Labour won't work with unionist parties to stop the nationalists, and they won't stand up to Nicola Sturgeon's demand for another independence referendum as early as next year.\n\n\"Only the Scottish Conservatives have the strength to take on the SNP right across Scotland and the determination to stop their push for indyref2 again.\"\n\nThe Scottish Liberal Democrats, however, said they are willing to work with Labour on a \"third way\" forward.\n\nLeader Willie Rennie said: \"Liberal Democrats support a new federalist settlement that means we can find a better way to agree a common future across the United Kingdom.\"\n\nDevolution is pretty straightforward when national and devolved leaders agree. When they don't, it becomes a lot harder.\n\nNowhere has that been more obvious than in Scotland - and his speech was Sir Keir's first major foray into the independence debate.\n\nFor years, many believe Labour in Scotland has been in a constitutional no man's land; stuck between the pro-independence SNP and the strongly unionist Conservatives.\n\nLabour has flirted with different positions - and has taken a hammering at the polls as a result.\n\nToday's speech was intended to give more clarity on exactly where Sir Keir stands ahead of May's Holyrood election. He has adopted a similar position to the UK government on calls for another independence vote; not now, but not quite ruling it out forever.\n\nLabour is open to more powers for Holyrood, presents itself as the party which introduced devolution in the first place, and will oppose what it sees as attacks on devolution from the current UK government.", "Aerial footage filmed on the first day of new restrictions in England shows queues, full car parks and quiet streets.\n\nMillions of people had their Christmas plans disrupted after tier four was announced for London and parts of east and south-east England on Saturday.\n\nThe government changed the plans in an effort to stop the spread of a new coronavirus variant.", "The government and trade groups have warned of \"serious disruption\" after France blocked arrivals of UK passengers for 48 hours over concerns about the new coronavirus variant.\n\nFreight lorries cannot cross by sea or through the Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover has closed to outbound traffic.\n\nAbout 10,000 lorries a day travel between Dover and Calais during peak periods such as Christmas.\n\nUK ministers will discuss the move at a Cobra emergency committee on Monday.\n\nOn Sunday, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps urged the public and hauliers not to travel to ports in Kent, saying \"significant disruption\" was likely in the area.\n\nKent Police have mobilised Operation Stack - a system to park lorries on the M20 motorway in Kent at times of disruption - to deal with the build-up of traffic.\n\nRichard Burnett, head of the Road Haulage Association, told the BBC's Today programme that the ban could deter EU hauliers from coming to the UK over fears they will end up being stranded.\n\n\"The retailers have done a good job of stocking up on ambient products [for Christmas] - there will be plenty of stock,\" he added.\n\n\"But the fresh food supply, where it's short shelf life and there will be product on its way now, that's where the challenge comes from.\n\n\"The retailers will absolutely be assessing their inbound flows this morning and understanding whether or not those flows are on their way into the retail distribution centres around the country and I'm sure there will be further reassurance given today that those things are in control.\"\n\nKent Police said it had implemented the closure of the coast-bound carriageway of the motorway between Junctions 8 and 11 as a \"contingency measure\".\n\nThe Department for Transport has said that Manston Airport in Kent is being readied to take up to 4,000 lorries to ease congestion in the county.\n\nThe Port of Dover is closed to traffic leaving the UK \"until further notice\" due to border restrictions in France, port authorities said in a statement.\n\n\"Both accompanied freight and passenger customers are asked not to travel to the port,\" it said. \"We understand that the restrictions will be in place for 48 hours from midnight.\"\n\nFreight coming to Britain from France will be allowed, but there are fears lorry drivers will not travel to avoid being stuck in the UK.\n\nUnaccompanied freight, such as containers or lorry trailers on their own can still be transported, but outbound vans, lorries and trucks are banned. Hauliers are advised to find other routes into the continent.\n\nBorder restrictions could mean disruption to food supplies, as well as difficulties in meeting orders of British goods in continental Europe.\n\n\"Tonight's suspension of accompanied freight traffic from the UK to France has the potential to cause serious disruption to UK Christmas fresh food supplies - and exports of UK food and drink,\" Food and Drink Federation (FDF) chief executive Ian Wright warned on Sunday.\n\n\"The government must very urgently persuade the French government to exempt accompanied freight from its ban.\"\n\nFreight industry lobby group Logistics UK said it was concerned about the welfare of drivers going from the UK to France, and said they should have access to regular testing.\n\nIt appealed for calm from shoppers, and said it was \"maintaining close contact with UK government to ensure that supplies of fresh produce are available throughout Christmas and the new year\".\n\nThe British Retail Consortium (BRC) joined the FDF in appealing to the government to find a solution, but also added that there should be no immediate shortages.\n\n\"Retailers have stocked up on goods ahead of Christmas which should prevent immediate problems,\" the BRC said.\n\nThe government does not think the restrictions will affect the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines to the UK, according to BBC political correspondent Nick Eardley.\n\nScotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has called on the government to extend the Brexit transition period as it deals with the new coronavirus variant, saying it was a \"profoundly serious situation\" which \"demands our 100% attention\".\n\nThe current transition period is due to expire at the end of the year and the EU and UK are still negotiating a trade deal.\n\nWithout it both sides will have to collect expensive tariffs that the Office for Budget Responsibility says could harm the UK's economy.\n\nLabour's Rachel Reeves, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, called the development \"deeply worrying\".\n\n\"The country needs to hear credible plans and reassurance that essential supplies will be safeguarded, including our NHS, supermarkets and manufacturers with crucial supply chains,\" she said.\n\nThe block on freight traffic into France came as a number of European countries banned flights and other travel from the UK over fears about VUI - a mutation of the coronavirus that is spreading rapidly in the UK.\n\nFrance, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Belgium the Netherlands and Turkey are among those to have banned flights from the UK while other nations are considering the move.", "The quick approval of the vaccine was a real historic achievement, EMA CEO Emer Cooke said Image caption: The quick approval of the vaccine was a real historic achievement, EMA CEO Emer Cooke said\n\nThe European Medicines Agency (EMA) has given the green light for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to be rolled out within the EU. The Amsterdam-based regulator brought the decision forward by eight days under pressure from EU states, after the UK and the US approved the jab more quickly.\n\nThis is not a silver bullet, EMA Director Emer Cooke conceded, but she said recommending the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use across the EU was \"a step in the right direction... providing citizens have enough confidence to get vaccinated\".\n\nWith millions of people's health at stake, the EMA described the approval of a vaccine within 11 weeks rather than a year as an historic achievement.\n\nSome 43,000 people were involved in one of the largest trials ever conducted; the EMA's human medicines committee concluded the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks.\n\nWith regards to the effectiveness against mutated strains of the virus, EMA scientists say it is very likely the vaccine will retain protection against the new variant detected in England.\n\nThe decision paves the way for EU countries to start rolling out their mass vaccination programmes within days.", "Last updated on .From the section Sports Personality\n\nFormula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has been voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020.\n\nOne of F1's all-time great drivers, he equalled Michael Schumacher's record of seven world titles with his fourth consecutive championship in 2020.\n\nThe 35-year-old, from Stevenage, also surpassed Schumacher's total of 91 grand prix wins.\n\nIn a public vote, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson finished second while jockey Hollie Doyle was third.\n\nBoxer Tyson Fury, England cricketer Stuart Broad and snooker great Ronnie O'Sullivan were also shortlisted for the main award.\n\n\"I want to say congratulations to all the incredible nominees,\" said Hamilton. \"I'm so proud of what they have achieved and I want to say thank you to everyone that has voted for me.\n\n\"I wasn't expecting this knowing there's so many great contenders.\n\n\"I want to say Merry Christmas to everyone - it's been such an unusual year and I want to mention all the front line workers and all the children round the world, I want you to try and stay positive through this difficult time, I'm sending you all positivity. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.\"\n• None How the night unfolded in our live text\n• None Moments of triumph: Your personal stories and videos from 2020\n\nIt is the second time Hamilton has been crowned Sports Personality of the Year, having first won the award in 2014.\n\nHe is also a four-time runner-up, most recently in 2019.\n\nHamilton, who holds the record for most pole positions, won 11 of the 17 grands prix during the 2020 season, which started four months late because of the coronavirus pandemic. He achieved three further podium finishes.\n\nSpeaking to BBC Breakfast's Sally Nugent, Hamilton also paid tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore, who was honoured with the Helen Rollason Award for his incredible fundraising efforts during lockdown, Young Unsung Hero winner Tobias Weller, and Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford, who won a special award.\n\n\"There's so many great stories out there,\" said Hamilton. \"And so I truly wasn't expecting it.\n\n\"Your heart's always pumping in those last few seconds when they're announcing because you have absolutely no idea who was called in. But I am so, so, so grateful to the British public.\n\n\"This definitely goes a long way to giving me the best Christmas that I can have given the circumstances.\"\n\nHenderson's runner-up spot came after his Liverpool side were named top team while manager Jurgen Klopp won coach of the year.\n\nAfter picking up the trophy for finishing third, Doyle said: \"It felt unbelievable but felt like it wasn't for myself but for our industry as a whole, which I'm proud to be part of.\"\n\nThe Sports Personality of the Year 2020 was broadcast live from MediaCityUK, Salford, in front of a 1,000-strong virtual audience and millions of BBC One viewers.\n\nFootball pundit Alex Scott joined the presenting line-up alongside Gary Lineker, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan to look back on a truly unusual year of sport.\n• None Stream all the goals and highlights from Saturday's Premier League action now", "A Scrooge character who gave one youngster nightmares has been deemed to be an unsuitable sight for little children\n\nOrganisers of a drive-through Santa's grotto described as \"shambolic\" have blamed \"teething problems\" and insisted that improvements have been made.\n\nThe event in the grounds of Taverham Hall, near Norwich, opened on Friday.\n\nLater that day, the event's Facebook page contained complaints about traffic chaos and \"creepy\" performers.\n\nBut Ollie George, from organisers We Make Events, said the feedback was now \"much more positive\". Saturday grotto visitors found it \"magical\", he added.\n\nPeople commenting on social media on Friday said they queued for up to three hours in rush-hour traffic, having bought tickets for a time slot.\n\nMany turned away with tired, upset children, with one parent stating: \"Would've been quicker to get to the North Pole.\"\n\nThe \"festive magic\" that was originally promised is now on offer, organisers claim\n\nMr George said a Scrooge-like character had since been removed after being deemed \"too frightening for very young children\".\n\nLouise Purdy, who visited on Friday, previously said: \"The Scrooge guy called us all mutants, said Santa has crashed his sleigh and the presents are in the mud, and there was a man in chains by a tree just staring at the car.\"\n\nMr George also said the entry system had been altered to alleviate the traffic issues, although he pointed out that some customers had not arrived at their allotted time and this had caused congestion.\n\nLouise Purdy said she told her three-year-old son the inflatables were having a sleep\n\nHe said the organisers had \"taken on board the complaints and concerns that we have received\" and were still making improvements.\n\n\"We're asking everyone who didn't have a great experience to get in contact and we are in the process of refunding people who are eligible.\"\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "The issue is that, from January, commercial goods entering NI from GB will need a customs declaration\n\nSome online retailers are suspending delivery to Northern Ireland.\n\nThe move is to give them time to adapt their systems to the new Irish Sea border, which begins operating in January.\n\nZalando, a clothes retailer, stopped delivering on Friday. It said this was \"in preparation for new requirements from our carrier partner in the region.\"\n\nFashion brand Hugo Boss said delivery to NI would be temporarily unavailable\n\nIt said this was \"due to system upgrades\" and there would be no deliveries from 23 December until 7 February.\n\nThe issue facing companies is that, from January, commercial goods entering NI from GB will need a customs declaration.\n\nIn theory, that means every parcel will need its own declaration though the government is working with delivery firms to find a way to minimise the impact of these changes.\n\nOn Monday the furniture and homeware firm made.com told customers it would no longer be shipping to Northern Ireland.\n\nIt said it had been \"working hard\" to find a way to continue deliveries but had been unable find a solution.\n\nLast week, Amazon warned Northern Ireland customers they could face delays and unavailability of some products when the Irish Sea border starts operating.\n\nRetailers want time to adapt their systems to the new Irish Sea border which begins operating in January\n\nThe delivery firm, DPD Ireland, says it will be temporarily suspending its collection service from Great Britain into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland from 23 December.\n\nThe company said it would only affect a small part of their business and not parcels travelling from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.\n\nParcels to the EU will be routed directly \"avoiding congestion we are already seeing at Dover and Calais\".\n\nAnother firm, Parcel Motel, which uses a \"virtual address\" in County Antrim allowing shoppers in the Republic of Ireland to avoid added costs through international shipping restrictions, is also suspending that service.\n\nIn a statement it said: \"As of 31 December, our virtual address services in the UK will be temporarily suspended, until such time as a final Brexit decision has been implemented and our services have been adapted to meet the new requirements.\n\n\"As a result, all parcels crossing the new border between Britain and Ireland will be subject to customs formalities affecting the cost and transit time of your shipment.\"\n\nParcel Motel said it was working on a new offering to meet post-Brexit requirements and will consider the reintroduction of the service.\n\nOnline plant retailers face particular difficulties from the sea border as they face new certification requirements for their products as well as customs declarations.\n\nLast week Sienna Hosta, a specialist plant nursery in Surrey, told customers it would no longer sell to Northern Ireland by mail order.\n\nOn Twitter it said this was because: \"New rules would mean Northern Ireland is essentially treated as an EU country so would require the same plant health checks etc., which for large orders are possible but small orders make it too expensive. We wish this wasn't the case.\"\n\nThe UK and European Union had previously announced a formal agreement on how the new Irish Sea border would operate in January.\n\nSeparate negotiations to reach a post-Brexit trade deal are still taking place.\n\nA special deal for Northern Ireland, known as the protocol, formed part of the Withdrawal Agreement which took the UK out of the EU earlier this year.\n\nThe protocol will keep Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods even as the rest of the UK leaves it at the end of this month.\n\nThe two sides had been negotiating on how the protocol should be implemented.", "Nicola Smith with her husband Steve who died in July this year\n\nAfter a particularly tough year, Nicola Smith was planning to spend Christmas abroad with her daughter and granddaughter to create \"new memories\".\n\nHer husband, Steve, died in a motorbike accident in July - and the toy shop she owns had to shut for huge parts of 2020 due to the Covid-19 lockdowns.\n\nNicola, 60, from Morecambe, was due to fly to Canada on Monday to visit her daughter Philippa, and three-year-old granddaughter Martha.\n\nIt would have been the first time she had seen Philippa since she suffered her own trauma: Philippa's partner, Tom, died in a white-water-rafting accident last year.\n\nBut her hopes of seeing her family were dashed on Monday morning when Canada brought in a 72-hour ban on flights from the UK.\n\n\"I just wanted to go away where we could make new memories,\" said Nicola.\n\n\"I haven't seen Philippa since Tom drowned, and she's having such a hard time so far away from her family with a lockdown.\n\n\"She was trying to work from home with a three-year-old, with no family within thousands of miles.\n\n\"She was so looking forward to just having her mum there.\"\n\nNumerous countries have introduced travel bans amid concerns over the new coronavirus variant\n\nCanada is one of several countries to have banned arrivals from the UK because of concerns about the spread of a new variant of coronavirus.\n\nNicola said this year had been \"horrendous\", and when she woke up to the news of the travel ban she was in \"disbelief\".\n\nChristmas Day will be exactly five months after Steve's death, so she was looking forward to getting away to somewhere she hadn't spent the festive season before.\n\nNicola also hasn't seen her granddaughter since she was a baby - so the Christmas trip was going to be an extra special time for the family.\n\n\"I speak on Facebook Messenger to her but it's not the same,\" Nicola said. \"She doesn't really know who I am, but she's been getting excited for grandma coming.\"\n\nIt's not yet clear when the UK travel ban to Canada will be lifted - or whether Nicola will be able to rebook her flight.\n\n\"You come so far and then it's taken away again,\" she said. \"If there's a flight on Christmas Eve I'll go. But nobody knows what's going to happen\".\n\nNick Kennedy and his family were looking forward to hosting his parents in France this Christmas\n\nNicola is one of many people who have had their plans to go abroad for Christmas disrupted at the last minute.\n\nCanada, India, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Italy and Austria are some of the more than 40 countries that have blocked UK arrivals.\n\nBritish man Nick Kennedy, who lives in France, was looking forward to sharing Christmas with his parents who were due to travel there from Swindon on Tuesday.\n\n\"We don't get enough time together as a family, so we wanted to make the most of it.\" he said. \"We want our son to spend as much time as possible with his English grandparents.\n\n\"It's a big disappointment as a family. All I can hope for is that the borders reopen very, very quickly. We've got to wait until Tuesday to see if there's any possibility of movement before Christmas.\n\n\"Many people, including my family, don't believe the borders will be open.\"\n\nLes hasn't seen his family since August\n\nLes Banks Irvine was due to fly back to the UK from Monrovia in Liberia - where he works - to spend three weeks with his family this Christmas.\n\nBut when he turned up at the airport on Sunday he was told at the check in-desk: \"Sorry, because you're going to the UK, you can't go.\"\n\n\"I was hoping to be spending some time with my two children and three grandchildren in mid-Wales, but it now looks like I am stranded here in Monrovia,\" he said.\n\n\"I've been here for about nine months this year. I last saw my family at the end of August.\n\n\"I know its difficult times for everyone, but I do wish national air carriers would keep us informed.\"\n\nFlights from the UK are being suspended to countries across the world including Italy, Slovakia and India\n\nMaria Kovacsova, who is from Slovakia but lives in London, is due to fly home to see her family on Christmas Eve - but her trip is looking unlikely now.\n\n\"I have spent so much money on a private Covid test in order to go home,\" she said. \"I haven't seen my family for a year. My heart is broken.\n\n\"I was last at home a year ago. I couldn't go after that because the big lockdown started in March. I had to work as well.\n\n\"I'm going to do nothing for Christmas. You can't do anything basically, you can't see your friends or family.\n\n\"I live in shared accommodation with five people in Tooting. We are basically five strangers living together; five professionals in one house and we're not able to leave the house.\"\n\nGary Fearon and his partner Abigail Brown, who have lived in Spain since January, are facing the prospect of Christmas in a Northampton hotel.\n\nThe couple own a pet transport company and had arrived in the UK on Friday to deliver pets from Spain.\n\nThey were due to pick up other customers' pets from the UK and travel back with them to Spain on Tuesday. But their plans are now up in the air.\n\n\"We have no information as to when and how we will get to Spain,\" said Gary.\n\n\"Customers who are ready to fly to Spain are now having to decide what to do with their pets as we cannot guarantee when we can leave.\"\n\nThe couple are unable to stay with family as Gary's relatives live in Ireland and Abigail's family are in Covid high-risk groups.\n\n\"The hotel we're in at the minute doesn't know for definite if they're open on Christmas Day,\" said Gary. \"We have our own pets in Spain that are being minded by a neighbour.\n\n\"We've been lucky to get a hotel room. I feel sorry for the lorry drivers in Dover.\"", "The new rules apply to people travelling from Wales and tier-four areas\n\nPeople travelling from tier-four areas to other parts of England are being asked to \"assume\" they have the new coronavirus variant and self-isolate.\n\nHealth officials said anyone who has come from a tier-four area or Wales to parts of the West Midlands and North West should stay at home for 10 days.\n\nNo visitors are allowed to a house where someone is isolating, even on Christmas Day, the statement said.\n\nPeople who test negative are also being told to self-isolate.\n\nStatements were issued by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the West Midlands Conurbation Local Resilience Forum, the latter of which said it applied to people travelling to the region on or since 18 December.\n\nThey said the new advice followed the emergence of the new variant of coronavirus, which had seen a \"very rapid increase in cases in London and parts of the South East and East of England\".\n\n\"Although our region is not in tier four, rates are increasing and it is highly likely that the new variant is circulating,\" the West Midlands statement said.\n\nIt also told people to change Christmas plans as much as possible and only to meet with those in their bubble.\n\n\"Other people who live in the house do not need to self-isolate unless they get symptoms but no visitors should be allowed in that house at all, even on Christmas Day.\"\n\nDominic Harrison, director of public health for the Lancashire authority of Blackburn with Darwen, told BBC Lancashire that anyone who had travelled from a tier-four area since Wednesday should self-isolate for at least five days.\n\nThe guidance also calls on those who have symptoms to get tested and self-isolate for 10 days, without waiting for results.\n\nDr Jeanelle de Gruchy, the director of public health in Tameside, Greater Manchester, said the variant's spread was \"extremely worrying\".\n\nOther parts of England, including Doncaster and Telford, have issued similar guidance.\n\nWales entered lockdown on Sunday, with new restrictions covering the Christmas period. Hundreds of people are thought to have contracted the new variant, First Minister Mark Drakeford said.\n\nAnyone who has arrived from tier four or Wales since Friday is being asked to self-isolate immediately\n\nThe rate of coronavirus hospital admissions in the West Midlands has been among the highest in the country - and the last thing the region needs is a more transmissible strain on the rampage.\n\nPublic health bosses admit, though, it's already here. Today's message is about trying to mitigate the impact of that.\n\nThat message is basically that if you've come from a tier-four area in recent days, act like you've got the virus. And stay at home.\n\nHow far people will follow this is another matter. It's not a legal requirement, but it's been described to me as \"the strongest possible advice\".\n\nOf course Christmas plans are already in the balance for many. This is another blow, but one that it's felt is entirely necessary as this Covid winter really kicks in.\n\nChief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, said public health directors in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands \"need to make decisions\" as they have a \"role to make sure their local population is looked after\" and they're \"doing a fantastic job.\"\n\nHe also warned it was \"likely measures will need to be increased in some places in due course.\"\n\nMuch of the West Midlands and North West is in tier three, with Burnley in Lancashire having the highest rate of infection in the two areas, with 437.5 new cases per 100,000 people in the week up to 17 December.\n\nStoke-on-Trent has the highest rate of infection in the West Midlands, with 340.5 new infections.\n\nAnyone arriving in the Liverpool city region has been told to get a coronavirus test, which is available in all six local authority areas.\n\nA deserted Oxford street in London, which is currently subject to tier-four restrictions\n\nIf you live in a tier-four area, you must not leave or be outside of the place you are living unless you have a reasonable excuse.\n\nYou cannot meet other people indoors, including over the Christmas period, unless you live with them, or they are part of your support bubble.\n\nOutdoors, you can only meet one person from another household. These rules will not be relaxed for Christmas for tier four - you cannot form a Christmas bubble in tier four.\n\nFollow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Rosie Brown's two youngest children are stranded with her in the UK\n\nA family face Christmas separated by the Atlantic Ocean in what their lawyer says is a terrible bureaucratic bungle.\n\nRosie Brown and her two youngest children are stranded in the UK while her US-born husband and four other children are 4,000 miles away in Ohio.\n\nThey ended the lease on their Cardiff home expecting to move to the US.\n\nBut her permanent residency card to live there is out of date, and a new one cannot be sent because she needs to provide her fingerprints - in the US.\n\nThe Department of Homeland Security and the US Citizenship and Immigration Service said they could not discuss individual cases.\n\nJoshua Brown is in the US with the pair's four eldest children\n\nJoshua, 37, and Rosie, 35, married 16 years ago in Texas but returned to the UK six years ago for Joshua's postgraduate studies with their four children, and had two more in Wales.\n\nBut when Joshua's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year, the family decided to return to the US.\n\n\"Rosie applied for permanent residency when we got married, but it's just been pending, we've been waiting for her to be approved for her green card,\" Joshua said.\n\nAfter being told she would be allowed back into the US, Rosie booked a flight for herself and her two youngest children.\n\nBut she was told at the airport she was not allowed on the flight as her green card was out of date - but the only way to update it is to provide her fingerprints in the US.\n\n\"I just feel so heartbroken and defeated right now,\" Rosie said.\n\n\"I miss my children so much, and my husband.\"\n\nJoshua, who was waiting for her at the airport, had to drive home and tell the four eldest children their mother and sisters were not allowed to fly.\n\nJoshua's mother's breast cancer is now stage four and terminal, meaning the family longed to be together over Christmas.\n\n\"For her this has been especially terrible. She very much wanted us all to be together this Christmas, that was really important for her,\" Joshua said.\n\nThe family, expecting to be leaving for the US, ended the lease on their Cardiff house, packed up their belongings to be shipped to the US and gave away toys and books.\n\nRosie and the two girls were left with just a few bags, but four months later they are still in the UK.\n\n\"I keep hoping for a miracle,\" Rosie said.\n\n\"I can't think that I won't be with my children and my husband for Christmas.\n\n\"There are days when I burst into tears a lot, I'm sobbing, looking at Christmas decorations thinking I don't know how I'm going to get through today. I just miss the kids so much.\"\n\nShe says trying to be a mother to four children thousands of miles away is difficult, even with video conferencing.\n\n\"I've got daughters who are teenagers with complex emotions who are struggling,\" she said.\n\n\"I've missed birthdays, Thanksgiving, they've had Covid. As a mum you just want to be there for that.\n\n\"I want to wake up and my children be there. I want to watch Christmas films with them and sing Christmas carols.\n\nRosie described how she longs to clean up her children's messes again\n\n\"I want to clean up their messes, I want to wash their dishes. That would be the biggest Christmas present for them this year, to be together.\"\n\nThe family's friends in Cardiff and around the UK have donated to a campaign fund to help the Browns pay for a US lawyer to fight their case.\n\nLawyer Margaret Wong, who specialises in immigration cases, described the situation as \"terrible\".\n\n\"This is very cruel, but they are not the only family being denied entry,\" she said.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The coroner said Anas had acted selflessly and his actions should be commended\n\nA \"selfless\" teenage boy drowned trying to save his brother who had got into difficulties during a river swim, an inquest has heard.\n\nAnas El-Rafai, 15, died on 17 August trying to help his brother in the River Tees at Darlington.\n\nThe pair were among a group of friends who had gone to swim at a popular beauty spot known as Broken Scar.\n\nThe group had visited the river to take photographs and had apparently gone into the water to cool down, the hearing was told.\n\nAnas was swept away after managing to push his 13-year-old sibling, Jamal, to safety.\n\nMr Thompson said the tragedy \"reinforced the dangers of playing in rivers and in open water\".\n\nHe said \"People should take extreme care and need to understand the power of nature.\"\n\nFlowers were attached to railings at the site of the accident\n\nThe inquest was told recent heavy rain had left river levels high and that the undercurrent was strong and the water cold and fast-flowing.\n\nMr Thomson said Anas had acted \"selflessly\" and his actions should be commended.\n\nHe added: \"Anas had a few seconds to think and he simply acted - there was nothing more his friends or the emergency services could do.\"\n\nAnas's family fled the civil war in Syria in 2011, initially going to Lebanon, then moving to the UK in 2018.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Only freight traffic is being allowed to cross the Irish Sea from Wales\n\nPassengers have been left stranded attempting to get in and out of Wales after several countries banned most UK travel over a new coronavirus variant.\n\nBukola Sokunbi-Walton, from Galway, was travelling from London to spend Christmas with her children when her ferry from Holyhead was cancelled.\n\nMeanwhile, another man has been unable to return to mid Wales from the Liberian capital Monrovia.\n\nAfter it finished, the Welsh Government said: \"On the impact of the travel bans imposed by European partners, the first minister updated the meeting on the current situation at Welsh ports.\n\n\"While traffic management plans are not needed at this point, the first minister made clear that arrangements with the Irish Republic were very important in sustaining that position.\"\n\nMeanwhile, Toyota said it would close its engine factory in Deeside, Flintshire, two days earlier than planned for Christmas.\n\nIt will now shut on Tuesday with bosses anticipating parts shortages because of disruption caused at ports.\n\nEuropean Union member states are due to meet in Brussels to discuss a co-ordinated response to the new coronavirus variant in the UK.\n\nThe Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France and Canada, have all suspended flights from the UK.\n\nStena Line and Irish Ferries, which run routes from Wales to Ireland, have both banned passengers on Monday and Tuesday due to the Irish government's ban, with only freight and essential workers allowed to cross.\n\nMs Sokunbi-Walton said she only found out about the ban when she arrived at Holyhead ferry terminal on Monday morning and said she was \"utterly gutted\" that she cannot get home for at least two days.\n\nFerries have been running from Holyhead on Monday morning - but for freight and essential workers only\n\nShe said: \"I just expected to get on the ferry as usual and go home because I have three children at home waiting for me, but it's very upsetting and disappointing that I can't do that right now.\n\n\"They [the Irish government] should have given us ample time to prepare for that, at least given us information so that we would know what to do. If we had found out earlier we wouldn't have driven all the way [from London] - we would've waited for the 48 hours before coming here.\n\n\"It's very tiring. We don't have any accommodation here, we're sitting out in the car, it's cold… it's really a tough time.\"\n\nWhile Ms Sokunbi-Walton is trying to leave Wales, others are struggling to get back as a result of the new restrictions.\n\nLes Banks Irvine, who lives in Monrovia, Liberia, was trying to get back to mid Wales where his two children and three grandchildren live.\n\nBut he said he was told he could not board his flight to Belgium, as his connecting flight was taking him to the UK.\n\nLes Banks Irvine has been unable to return to Wales to see his family\n\nHe said: \"There's a great deal of not-knowing. I'm sure it is for everybody.\n\n\"I was hoping to be spending some time with my two children and three grandchildren in mid Wales, but it now looks like I am stranded here in Monrovia.\n\n\"I'm working for a company who bottle Coca-Cola. I've been here for about nine months this year. I last saw my family at the end of August.\"\n\nIrish Ferries, which has passenger routes between Holyhead and Dublin, and Pembroke Dock and Rosslare, said essential travel \"is permitted\", but travellers are \"advised to keep all necessary stops to a minimum and minimise contact with people as much as possible\".\n\nStena Line has imposed similar rules on its crossings between Holyhead and Dublin, as well as Fishguard to Rosslare.\n\nA spokesman said that the company had managed to contact almost all passengers since the travel restrictions were imposed, meaning very few had turned up at the ports.\n\n\"The ferries are still operating and freight isn't affected by the restrictions. We're in close contact with any affected passengers,\" he said.\n\nThe Irish government said: \"Arrangements are being put in place to facilitate the repatriation of Irish residents on short trips to Great Britain and planning to return in the coming days, as well as international travellers to Ireland who are transiting through Great Britain.\"", "Stephan Balliet (C) also fired at police during the attack in Halle\n\nA German court has jailed a far-right gunman for life for his deadly attack on a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle last year.\n\nStephan Balliet, 28, shot and killed a female passer-by and a man at a kebab shop after failing to break into the synagogue on 9 October 2019.\n\nOnly a heavy, bolted door kept him from firing at 52 Jewish worshippers marking the Yom Kippur festival inside.\n\nIt nearly became Germany's worst anti-Semitic atrocity since the Nazi era.\n\nBalliet expressed no remorse for the attack on the synagogue.\n\nDuring his five-month trial, Balliet denied the Holocaust in open court - a criminal offence in Germany. He laughed when the Holocaust was mentioned in court.\n\nHe said that \"attacking the synagogue was not a mistake, they are my enemies\". He espoused a racist, misogynist ideology.\n\nHe wore combat fatigues on the day of the attack and filmed the shooting, broadcasting it for 35 minutes on the internet. His home-made gun repeatedly jammed.\n\nPolice pictured at the kebab shop after the shootings\n\nThe cantor who was leading prayer in the synagogue saw the gunman on a surveillance TV and quickly moved the congregation out of the main hall.\n\nDuring the trial in Magdeburg, near Halle, American rabbi Jeremy Borovitz said \"we are not afraid, we stand together\".\n\nBased in Berlin, he was visiting Halle for Yom Kippur - Judaism's holiest day - and was among dozens of Jewish witnesses who gave testimony at the trial.\n\nJudges said Balliet was \"seriously culpable\", effectively barring him from early release. He was convicted of two counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Christina Feist describes being inside the synagogue as the Halle gunman attempted to attack it\n\nBalliet said his attack was inspired by Brenton Tarrant, the far-right gunman who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.\n\nIn August, a New Zealand court sentenced Tarrant to life without parole for the killings - the first such sentence in the country's history.\n\nIn court, Balliet apologised only for shooting a woman passing by, saying he \"didn't want to kill whites\".\n\nPsychiatrist Norbert Leygraf said of Balliet, in an evaluation, that he had symptoms of schizophrenia, paranoia and autism preventing him from having \"empathy with others\" while feeling \"superior to others\", AFP news agency reported.\n\nThe synagogue's thick wooden door was all that stood in the way of the gunman", "From Sunday people are being warned to \"stay-at-home\" with it being illegal to leave unless for essential reasons\n\nTrying to enforce lockdown laws over Christmas could put police at risk of harm and in \"difficult\" situations, the Welsh Police Federation has warned.\n\nWales entered the highest level of coronavirus restrictions on Sunday, with two households only allowed to meet on Christmas Day.\n\nHealth Minister Vaughan Gething has said he wants to see an \"enforcement-first approach\" to rule-breakers.\n\nBut the body representing police said officers were \"under immense pressure\".\n\nMark Jones, of the North Wales Police Federation, said passions would be high at Christmas and officers were trying to balance compassion and enforce laws, while putting themselves at risk of abuse and catching the virus themselves.\n\nCoronavirus laws on travel and meeting others had been due to be relaxed from 23 to 27 December, to allow people to celebrate the festive period with loved ones.\n\nBut after concern over a new variant of the virus, Wales was placed in a level four \"stay-at-home\" lockdown at midnight on Sunday, and festivities cut to just one day - Christmas Day.\n\nUnder the law, people will only be able to travel on 25 December to see one other household - plus a single person household - and must return on the same day.\n\nThose in breach of rules face being told to go home or be returned home by officers, and issued with a £60 fine, which rises to £120 for a second breach.\n\nOn Sunday, Mr Gething said there was \"growing unhappiness and anger\" towards people who were \"flagrant rule-breakers\" during recent months.\n\nUntil now, Welsh police forces had focussed on engaging and educating first time offenders, with fines only happening if people were found in breach of rules on multiple occasions.\n\nBut Mr Gething said the Welsh Government had spoken to councils and the police, and he wanted to now see an enforcement-first approach.\n\nHe told BBC Wales catching people who break the two household limit would be difficult unless they made a lot of noise or neighbours spied on them.\n\n\"Where it comes to house parties and more egregious breaches, yes I do expect enforcement to take place. I do expect people to get fined,\" he said.\n\n\"If you go into a house party with 20 different people you know damn well that you're breaking the rules.\"\n\nMr Jones, general secretary for the Police Federation in north Wales, said enforcing the rules would be \"difficult\" as there were no extra officers to deal with new laws under a time of \"immense pressure\".\n\nHe said officers were responding to serious crimes and increased pressures over the festive period - such as a rise in domestic violence - and many officers were already working on rest days and holidays to cover for sick colleagues.\n\nMr Jones said the majority of the public were supportive of the rules and co-operated with police, but a small minority were \"flouting\" the law, putting themselves and officers who had to intervene at risk.\n\n\"By virtue of the fact they are already disregarding the regulations they are invariably not very happy or compliant with police when being dealt with,\" he said, adding officers had been deliberately coughed on and spat at.\n\n\"These police officers are people, and they are having to get up close and personal and deal with these individuals.\"\n\nPolice in Wales have been called on to enforce sometimes \"unpopular\" Covid rules, say front-line officers\n\nHe added that the Christmas rules meant officers would be put \"in very difficult\" positions as they also wanted to see their loved ones and so understood people's desperation.\n\n\"Police don't create the law, they just have to enforce them, which puts them in a no-win situation,\" he said.\n\n\"Officers are human beings, they are doing their very best to walk that tightrope of enforcing the laws of the land, but also trying to balance human compassion and people's feelings, and strong views on the regulations.\n\n\"I speak to officers who are really, really worried about bringing this silent killer back into their homes, but they understand they have a duty as a police officer.\n\n\"Suddenly it's a police officer who will have no choice but to deal with those people in the most appropriate way, and that will inevitably involve them putting themselves at risk of being assaulted or being attacked.\"\n\nDyfed-Powys Police officers pulled over motorists on the A477 between Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire during Wales' firebreak lockdown\n\nChief Constable Pam Kelly, of Gwent Police, told BBC Radio Wales that officers would not be \"knocking on people's doors asking how many people are in a house\", but would be enforcing the laws.\n\nShe said: \"Police officers have had to be going in and out of people's houses throughout this entire pandemic, dealing with assaults, domestic abuse and of course investigating crime, and then they go home to their families.\n\n\"So let's reduce the pressure on all services by being really careful over Christmas, let's respect agencies, respect each other so that we reduce the spread of the virus over Christmas.\n\n\"If they don't, and they flout the law, of course we will have to enforce the law, but we'd rather not do that.\"\n\nDyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn said trying to keep an eye on people's movements would be \"difficult\" over the Christmas break.\n\nMr Llywelyn said police would not be going \"house to house to check\" how many people were celebrating together, and emergency and high-risk calls would be a priority over any calls concerning rules being broken.\n\nHe told BBC Wales police would be visible in communities and on roads, to provide reassurance, and would be able to stop cars, but this was like any other year, where officers would be focussing on preventing speeding and drink driving.\n\n\"The key message here is for people to take personal responsibility in relation to their movements... the guidance is there for a reason, it's to stop the spread of coronavirus,\" he said.\n\n\"Where we do get information that people are flouting the rules, maybe house parties are taking place, the police will be there to respond.\"\n\nA modern browser with Javascript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive.", "Quarantine rules are set to be eased for business travellers in England.\n\nThe rules will be relaxed for top bosses of foreign multinational firms visiting English branches and bosses at firms planning to invest.\n\nReturning executives will also be exempt from quarantine.\n\nIn each case, the business trips must result in a deal which creates or preserves 50 jobs or leads to a £100m investment or order, according to the Department for Transport.\n\nThe new rule will allow business people to travel to England from countries that are not on the UK's list of travel corridors without having to isolate for 14 days on arrival.\n\nThe move was announced in a tweet by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nTravellers will have to demonstrate in an exemption letter that they are delivering these business benefits to the UK.\n\nThis letter will be checked by police or Border Force.\n\nWhen in England, the government said, executives will be exempt from the normal quarantine rules only in the course of a \"specific business activity\" that will benefit the UK economy.\n\n\"And [they] will only be able to meet with others as required by that specific activity,\" it said.\n\nPerforming arts workers, TV production staff, journalists and recently signed sports professionals will also be exempt, the government said.\n\nCurrently, people arriving in the UK from most countries - including British nationals - must self-isolate for 14 days or face fines of up to £1,000. But that can increase to £10,000 for repeat offenders.\n\nExceptions are made for people coming from the Common Travel Area - the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man - or countries in travel corridors with England.\n\nThe government said that Public Health England did not expect the new rules for business travellers to increase the risk of coronavirus transmission in the UK.\n\nNevertheless, it said the measures would remain under review.", "\"This vaccine is more than good news, it's a game changer,\" Dr Mohammed Khaki tells Newsbeat.\n\nToday it was announced the Covid-19 vaccine could be rolled out as early as next week - with NHS staff among the first to get it.\n\nIt's after the UK approved the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.\n\nDr Khaki, who works as a GP and in A&E, says for doctors it'll hopefully mean the return to a normal situation.\n\n\"Hopefully we'll be able to see patients face-to-face and hold their hands again,\" he says.\n\nThe British regulator, the MHRA, says the jab offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19.\n\n\"It hopefully means we're able to move away from lockdowns, a world restricted by masks where conversation is difficult, where movement is difficult and working is stifled,\" Mohammed says.\n\nHe's looking forward to a world where we can travel and see friends again.\n\nFor many NHS workers, a vaccine will mean they can see vulnerable family members and friends again.\n\n\"I've been isolating from vulnerable family members since the beginning of March,\" Dr Sara Otung, who's been treating Covid patients in Cardiff, tells Newsbeat.\n\n\"The hope of getting a vaccine and getting that extra layer of protection is really exciting. Vaccines can save lives,\" the 27-year-old junior doctor says.\n\n\"It feels like a glimmer hope on what's been such a difficult year.\"\n\n\"I was ecstatic to hear the news a vaccine is now becoming possible and we're getting closer to it,\" Dr Daniel Olaiya tells Newsbeat.\n\nThe 28-year-old works at a busy hospital in London treating Covid patients.\n\nDr Daniel Olaiya says the rollout of the vaccine is \"monumental progress\"\n\n\"For clinical staff working in Covid areas, you can wear as much PPE as possible and be as careful as possible, but at the end of the day we are at risk.\n\n\"Having another barrier of protection, a weapon of armoury, is exactly what we need.\"\n\n\"We needed a glimmer of hope and it's come at the best time - Christmas, New Year and new beginnings.\"\n\nLucy works as nurse administering the flu jab to NHS colleagues.\n\nThe 23-year-old says she expects to be on the frontline giving fellow NHS workers the Covid-19 vaccine in the next few weeks.\n\nAround 50 hospitals are on standby and vaccination centres in venues such as conference centres are being set up now.\n\n\"If you're asymptomatic, you don't know if you've got the Covid virus ,so it's a really good way to stop the spread and protect those vulnerable around you.\"\n\nThis is the order people will get the vaccine in its first phase\n\nListen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ch Insp Mark Runacres of Avon and Somerset Police: \"Sadly... there have been four fatalities\"\n\nFour people have died and another has been injured in a large explosion at a waste water treatment works.\n\nFirefighters were called to Wessex Water's premises in Avonmouth, Bristol, at about 11:20 GMT.\n\nThree of the people who died worked for the firm, and the other was a contractor. The injured person's condition is not life-threatening.\n\nThe blast happened in a silo containing treated biosolids and was not terror related, police said.\n\nA witness reported hearing a \"very loud explosion\" that \"shook buildings\", and another said they saw about 10 ambulances driving to the scene.\n\nPolice declared a major incident and are investigating the circumstances of the blast.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nCh Insp Mark Runacres, from Avon and Somerset Police, said the explosion happened in a chemical tank at a water recycling centre.\n\n\"The fire service led the rescue operation but sadly, despite the best efforts of all those involved, there were four fatalities.\n\n\"This is a tragic incident and our thoughts and sympathies go out to them.\"\n\nThe families of those who died have been contacted.\n\nPolice and paramedics were sent to the scene\n\nLuke Gazzard from Avon Fire and Rescue Service said the four people died at the scene and there was no report of a fire.\n\nHe said emergency services had dealt with \"a very, very challenging incident\".\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet he was \"deeply saddened\" to learn of the loss of life in the explosion.\n\n\"Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. Thank you to the emergency services who attended the scene,\" he said.\n\nColin Skellett, chief executive of Wessex Water, said the company's \"thoughts are with the families, friends and colleagues of those involved\".\n\nHe said they were \"absolutely devastated that the tragic incident at our site earlier today has resulted in four fatalities\".\n\nThe company is working with the Health and Safety Executive as part of the investigation.\n\nThe silo holds treated biosolids before it is recycled as an organic soil conditioner, Ch Insp Runacres said.\n\nHe said a \"thorough investigation involving a number of agencies\" would be carried out.\n\n\"I can reassure people living in the nearby area that there is not believed to be any ongoing public safety concerns.\"\n\nBiosolids are \"treated sludge\", a by-product of the sewage treatment process.\n\nAccording to Wessex Water, the sludge is treated in anaerobic digesters, oxygen-free tanks, to produce agricultural fertiliser and renewable energy.\n\nPeople have been urged to avoid the area.\n\nAn emergency services helicopter landed near the site\n\nJawad Burhan, who took a photo appearing to show a tank that had exploded, said there was a \"helicopter looking for missing people\".\n\n\"I heard the sound, I'm working beside the building in another warehouse.\n\n\"After 10 minutes I saw the helicopter coming and the police.\"\n\nKieran Jenkins, who works nearby, said he was inside a warehouse when he heard a \"big bang\".\n\n\"The whole warehouse was shaking and we literally stood there in shock,\" he said.\n\n\"We thought everything was going to fall and we came out and all we could see was people running - it was a bit of a shock, really.\"\n\nBristol Waste, which runs the nearby Avonmouth recycling centre, tweeted it had closed the site temporarily.\n\nLorry driver Ronan Doyle said he was parked off Kings Weston Lane about to enter the recycling plant when he heard the explosion.\n\n\"There was a quieter 'whoosh' first, followed by a much louder and more intense noise,\" he said.\n\n\"It sounded like someone had driven into the lorry - the noise was so loud it didn't sound like anything I've ever heard before and it was followed by a loud bang.\n\n\"I continued into the recycling centre and we have just locked ourselves in purely because our way out is blocked.\"\n\nSean Nolan, who witnessed the aftermath of the explosion, said he initially thought the noise was from a crash.\n\n\"I heard what I thought may have been two trucks colliding by the way it shook the ground... it was big.\n\n\"It was quite short-lived, I'd say about two or three seconds. Sort of a boom and echo and then it just went quiet.\n\n\"That was it. There was no smoke, there was no after-effects of it.\"\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer gave his condolences on Twitter, writing: \"My thoughts are with all those who tragically lost their lives today in Avonmouth. My heart goes out to their friends and family.\"\n\nDarren Jones, MP for Bristol North West, said: \"My family and I are keeping those affected in our thoughts and prayers, following the tragic consequences of the explosion in Avonmouth.\"\n\nHe was \"pleased that the situation has been contained and that there is no further risk to local people\".\n\nBristol Mayor Marvin Rees said: \"This has already been such a challenging year, and this news of further loss of life is another terrible blow.\n\n\"As a city we will mourn for them.\"\n\nAre you in the area? Did you witness what happened? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Hospitality outlets will be forced to close from 00:01 on Friday\n\nPubs, bars and restaurants in Jersey are set to close from 00:01 GMT on Friday for up to a month in order to tackle a surge in Covid cases.\n\nThe \"hospitality circuit breaker\" announced on Wednesday comes amid fears health services could be overwhelmed.\n\nFood and hospitality outlets, except takeaways, will have to shut.\n\nAll shops can stay open, but indoor sport and fitness classes and gyms must close and the 2m (6.6ft) distancing law is to be brought back into force.\n\nChief Minister John Le Fondre said the recent rise in cases on the island presented \"a real and immediate risk to health services... and islanders' lives\".\n\nThe circuit-breaker measures are expected to remain in place until 4 January.\n\nOne pub owner said measures should have been introduced sooner to try to save jobs and Christmas trade for the hospitality industry.\n\nThere are currently 331 active cases on Jersey with the majority - 231 - symptomatic and eight cases being treated in hospital.\n\nOn Wednesday, 56 new Covid cases were identified, the biggest daily total of new infections recorded so far.\n\nSenator Le Fondre said Jersey's R number was currently between 1.4 and 1.9, which \"means each case is, on average, passing the infection on to more than one other person\".\n\n\"This is too much and we need to introduce more stringent restrictions to protect islanders.\"\n\nJersey \"now stands at an important crossroads in our pandemic response\", Senator Le Fondre said, adding: \"I know that collectively these measures represent a significant restriction...particularly at this time of year, when we want to be celebrating and spending time with loved ones and friends.\n\n\"But we need to prevent our health services from being overwhelmed, and ensure we are still able to celebrate during the festive period.\"\n\nSupport for affected businesses would be provided under the co-funded payroll scheme, according to the chief minister.\n\nSean Murphy, who runs the Lamplighter Pub in St Helier, said the move should have come \"a lot earlier to try save Christmas\".\n\nHe said having to close over Christmas and the new year would cost people their jobs and the industry thousands of pounds.\n\n\"Everybody in hospitality understands the reasoning of it because of Covid, but it's the timing of the closure,\" Mr Murphy said.\n\nWhen Jersey's politicians agreed in July to reopen the borders, there were no known active cases of the virus.\n\nAnd while the numbers increased in the following months, many felt the situation was under control - largely thanks to a system of rapid border testing.\n\nBut within days, the mood has changed significantly.\n\nThe number of cases has more than doubled since 25 November, with a series of parties and social events blamed.\n\nAmid growing concerns about the ability of the health service to cope, these restrictions were announced just 48 hours after a previous tightening of the rules, and the day after masks were made mandatory in shops and supermarkets.\n\nThe government insists it has acted decisively.\n\nBut many have criticised ministers' reaction, with one prominent backbencher arguing they have \"dithered since late October\".\n\nAnd while some will see the closure of hospitality as an over-reaction, with Christmas just three weeks away, others believe it is too little, too late.\n\nRules on households mixing over Christmas will be announced in the next few days.\n\nHealth Minister Deputy Richard Renouf warned the island would need to open its Nightingale hospital if cases continued to rise.\n\nJersey's General Hospital closed to all visitors at 17:00 on Wednesday, while high-risk islanders have been told to adopt \"extra measures\", including avoiding visits to other people's homes.\n\nDeputy Renouf also said officials were in \"close discussions\" with the UK following its approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Inverness Town Steeple, which rises from the city's centre, was damaged by an earthquake in 1816\n\nEarthquakes are rare in Scotland and when they do occur they usually pass unnoticed, but the potential for a large damaging quake is taken seriously.\n\nIn August 1816 an earthquake shook Scotland from the Pentland Firth coast in the north to Coldstream in the Borders.\n\nA man walking in the hills near Relugas in Moray told of hearing a sound like a \"rushing wind\".\n\nFurniture moved across floors in homes in Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire while elsewhere church bells rang out and dogs started howling.\n\nInverness bore the brunt of the quake. Chimney tops and pieces of masonry fell from buildings and the Town Steeple was twisted out of shape. Ferrymen at a crossing between North Kessock at Inverness and the Black Isle told of their boat being rocked up and down as if by waves.\n\nBut Scotland's largest known earthquake came 64 years later, in November 1880.\n\nThe 5.2 local magnitude (ML) quake in Argyll was felt along the west coast of Scotland and out east as far as Perthshire.\n\nLighthouse keepers in Lewis and Barra in the Western Isles and from Cape Wrath in Sutherland to the Mull of Galloway reported feeling it.\n\nAugust 1974 saw a 4.4ML earthquake which had its epicentre in Kintail in the north west Highlands.\n\nThe quake was the largest in a \"swarm\" of more than 20 seismic events that occurred for several months into the following year.\n\nThe Kessock Bridge at Inverness was designed to be \"quake-proof\"\n\nBritish Geological Survey (BGS), which records seismic activity across the world, detects up 300 quakes every year in the UK.\n\nOnly about three of these events are usually felt by people or are heard as a deep rumbling sound or a loud bang.\n\nIn August last year, people reported windows rattling and house beams creaking during a small earthquake on the Isle of Skye.\n\nOn Tuesday this week people in the west of Scotland were shaken by an earthquake in the early hours of the morning.\n\nThe earthquake, with a magnitude of 3.3, according to British Geological Survey (BGS), happened just before 02:00.\n\nBGS said its epicentre was at Achnamara west of Lochgilphead in Argyll and Bute.\n\nMore than 30 people reported the tremor, from as far away as Edinburgh and across Ireland.\n\nBGS said larger quakes with the potential to cause minor damage, such as those in the past, occur about every 38 years.\n\nIn the UK, the most recent of these was a 5.2 magnitude earthquake was in February 2008 which was felt across England and parts of Wales. A man suffered a broken pelvis when a chimney collapsed in South Yorkshire.\n\nAnd precautions are taken for these larger earthquakes.\n\nFor the first time in 10 years BGS has updated its seismic hazard maps for the UK.\n\nIt has been able to draw on larger data sets than have been previously available along with some new tools and methods to improve on its previous maps.\n\nThe maps show where seismic events of varying strength may happen, and with what probability. They are used by engineers to help them decide whether buildings and other structures need to be designed to be \"earthquake resistant\".\n\nIn Scotland, the Kessock road bridge and a nearby waste water pipe laid by Scottish Water have been designed to be \"quake-proof\".\n\nLoch Ness lies along part of the Great Glen Fault, an area linked to earthquakes in the Highlands\n\nBut why do earthquakes occur in Scotland?\n\nQuakes are associated with a geological feature called a fault, which is a fracture or an area of fractures between two huge blocks of rock. During an earthquake there is a sudden movement between these blocks, such as one slipping down or up against the other.\n\nIn Scotland, these faults can run for hundreds of miles.\n\nAccording to BGS, most Scottish earthquakes occur in western Scotland with events felt in places such as Islay in the Inner Hebrides and also Fort William and, in November last year, in Glen Coe.\n\nIn the Highlands, one of the most active areas, seismic activity is related to what are known as the Highland Boundary Fault Zone, Great Glen Fault Zone, Strathconon Fault, Kinlochhourn Fault and the Loch Maree Fault.\n\nThe Great Glen Fault is probably the best known of the fault zones. At least 300 miles (483 km) in length it cuts diagonally across the Highlands from Inverness to Fort William and has its origins in events that happened about 400 million years ago.\n\nIt is home to the world-famous Loch Ness, just down the road from Inverness and its now long repaired earthquake-hit town steeple.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Corbyn addressed supporters outside the court after the judgement was handed down\n\nPiers Corbyn has been found guilty of breaching coronavirus restrictions at an anti-lockdown gathering.\n\nThe 73-year-old brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was arrested when he refused to leave the event in Hyde Park, London, on 16 May.\n\nHe was given an absolute discharge after Westminster Magistrates' Court heard he had spent 12 hours in police custody after his arrest.\n\nAddressing supporters outside, Corbyn said it had been \"a tremendous result\".\n\nDistrict Judge Sam Goozee dismissed a second count of the same charge - linked to a protest on 30 May - after hearing police had issued a fixed penalty notice earlier that day.\n\nProsecutor David Povall had described Corbyn as a \"poster boy for disparate groups\" attending both events near Speakers Corner.\n\nHe told the court there was no reasonable excuse for \"breaching clear and emphatic regulations that were in force at the time\".\n\nCorbyn's defence had argued his arrest on 16 May was a \"disproportionate and unnecessary\" contravention of his right to peaceful protest.\n\nReturning his decision, judge Mr Goozee said Corbyn's actions would have been lawful if lockdown regulations had not been in force at the time.\n\nBut their enforcement had been necessary for public health, he said, concluding that police \"took a measured response\".\n\n\"You, however, didn't engage with police - police action in arresting you was necessary and proportionate,\" he said.\n\nAddressing around two dozen supporters outside the court after the verdict, Corbyn raised his fist in the air and said: \"We've had a tremendous result.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Not yet two months old, Molly Gibson has already set a record\n\nWhen Molly Gibson was born in October of this year, it was 27 years in the making.\n\nHer embryo was frozen in October 1992, and stayed that way until February 2020, when Tina and Ben Gibson of Tennessee adopted it.\n\nMolly is believed to have set a new record for the longest-frozen embryo to have resulted in a birth, breaking a record set by her older sister, Emma.\n\n\"We're over the moon,\" Ms Gibson said. \"I still get choked up.\"\n\n\"If you would have asked me five years ago if I would have not just one girl, but two, I would have said you were crazy,\" she said.\n\nThe family struggled with infertility for nearly five years before Ms Gibson's parents saw a story about embryo adoption on a local news station.\n\n\"That's the only reason that we share our story. If my parents hadn't seen this on the news then we wouldn't be here,\" Ms Gibson, 29, said. \"I feel like it should come full-circle.\"\n\nMs Gibson, an elementary school teacher and her husband, a 36-year-old cyber security analyst, connected with the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC), a Christian non-profit in Knoxville that stores frozen embryos that in vitro fertilisation patients decided not to use and chose to donate instead.\n\nFamilies like the Gibsons can then adopt one of the unused embryos and give birth to a child that is not genetically related to them. There are an estimated one million frozen human embryos stored in the US right now, according to the NEDC.\n\nMark Mellinger, the NEDC's marketing and development director, said that experience with infertility is common among families who seek embryo donations.\n\n\"I'd say probably 95% have encountered some sort of infertility\", he said. \"We feel honoured and privileged to do this work\", and help these couples grow their families.\n\nAfter their first embryo adoption, Ms Gibson gave birth to Emma in 2017, swapping sleepless nights praying for children with the sleepless nights of motherhood. \"It's the best kind of tired and it's the best kind of exhausted,\" she said.\n\nFounded 17 years ago, the NEDC has facilitated more than 1,000 embryo adoptions and births, and now conducts around 200 transfers each year. Similar to a traditional adoption process, couples can decide if they would like a \"closed\" embryo adoption or an \"open\" one - allowing for some form of contact with the donor family.\n\nThis contact ranges between a couple of emails each year to a cousin-like relationship, Mr Mellinger said.\n\nCouples are presented with 200-300 donor profiles, complete with the donor family's demographic history. The Gibsons had wanted a child for so long, the options were overwhelming.\n\n\"We did not care what this baby looked like, where it came from,\" Ms Gibson said. She sought advice from the NEDC where an employee told her to pick something \"silly\" and go from there.\n\n\"My husband and I are smaller people, and so we went through and narrowed it down by height and weight and looked for something similar to ours. That narrowed it down at ton,\" she said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. After years searching, I found my sister next door\n\nThe Gibson's children, Molly and Emma, are genetic siblings. Both embryos were donated and frozen together in 1992, when Tina Gibson was around a year old. According to the NEDC, Emma's 24-year-old embryo was the oldest in history to have been born, until Molly came along this year.\n\nEmma loves her new little sister, Ms Gibson said. \"She introduces her to anyone that sees her as 'my little sister Molly.'\" And Ms Gibson has loved seeing the similarities between her girls, including a tiny wrinkle between their eyebrows when they're mad or upset.\n\nAccording to the NEDC, the shelf-life for frozen embryos is infinite. The time-frame is limited, however, by the age of the technology - the first baby born from an embryo frozen after IVF was born in Australia in 1984.\n\n\"It's entirely possible that there will someday be a 30-year-old embryo that comes to birth,\" Mr Mellinger said.", "The US and China have clashed repeatedly in recent months, over trade, coronavirus and Hong Kong\n\nChinese agents have stepped up their efforts to influence President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration, a US intelligence official has said.\n\nWilliam Evanina, from the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said the Chinese were also focusing on people close to Mr Biden's team.\n\nMr Evanina said it was an influence campaign \"on steroids\".\n\nSeparately, a justice department official said more than 1,000 suspected Chinese agents had fled the US.\n\nIn Wednesday's virtual discussion at the Aspen Institute think tank, Mr Evanina, chief of the Director of National Intelligence's counter-intelligence branch, said China had been attempting to meddle in the US efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine and recent American elections.\n\nHe continued: \"We've also seen an uptick, which was planned and we predicted, that China would now re-vector their influence campaigns to the new [Biden] administration.\n\n\"And when I say that, that malign foreign influence, that diplomatic influence plus, or on steroids, we're starting to see that play across the country to not only the folks starting in the new administration, but those who are around those folks in the new administration.\n\nPresident Donald Trump accused President Xi Jinping's China of unleashing coronavirus on the United States\n\n\"So that's one area we're going to be very keen on making sure the new administration understands that influence, what it looks like, what it tastes like, what it feels like when you see it.\"\n\nBoth Mr Biden and President Donald Trump traded bitter accusations during the recent White House campaign of being influenced by Beijing.\n\nMr Trump focused on business dealings by his rival's son Hunter Biden in China, while the Democratic candidate highlighted Mr Trump's Chinese bank account.\n\nDuring the same think tank discussion on Wednesday, John Demers, chief of the justice department's national security division, said hundreds of Chinese researchers with ties to their country's military had been identified by FBI investigators over the summer.\n\nMr Demers said the inquiry began when US authorities arrested five or six Chinese researchers who had hidden their affiliation with the People's Liberation Army (PLA).\n\n\"Those five or six arrests were just the tip of the iceberg and honestly the size of the iceberg was one that I don't know that we or other folks realised how large it was,\" he said.\n\nHe told the discussion that after the FBI conducted dozens of interviews with other individuals, \"more than 1,000 PLA-affiliated Chinese researchers left the country\".\n\nMr Demers said \"only the Chinese have the resources and ability and will\" to conduct such alleged political and economic espionage and \"other malign activity\".\n\nHe told the discussion these researchers were in addition to a group to 1,000 Chinese students and researchers whose visas were revoked by the US back in September.\n\nThe US state department said back then it would only welcome Chinese students \"who do not further the Chinese Communist Party's goals of military dominance\".\n\nIn July, the state department also closed China's consulate in Houston, Texas, accusing Beijing of stealing intellectual property.\n\nBeijing hit back by accusing the US of racial discrimination, but Mr Demers denied on Wednesday that the American authorities were racially profiling Chinese students.\n\nSino-US relations have hit rock bottom after outgoing President Trump's disputes with Beijing over issues ranging from trade to Hong Kong to the pandemic.", "Last updated on .From the section Sport\n\nFans returned to English Football League grounds on Wednesday for the first time in more than nine months as coronavirus restrictions were eased.\n\nLuton and Wycombe, who had not played in front of fans at their home grounds since February, were permitted capacities of 1,000 for their matches.\n\nOther EFL teams playing on Wednesday were in tier three areas, which prohibits supporters at elite level.\n\nLuton and Wycombe were only permitted capacities of 1,000 but Charlton, Shrewsbury, Cambridge and Carlisle, who all staged test event matches earlier in the season, were all able to house 2,000.\n\nNo away fans were allowed and no supporter was able to attend if they live in a tier three area.\n\nArsenal will be the first Premier League club permitted to host home supporters, when they play Rapid Vienna in the Europa League on Thursday.\n\nThe first Premier League fixture to welcome fans since March will be West Ham's game at home to Manchester United on Saturday, before Chelsea host Leeds later that day.\n\nWith the exception of two pilot events at Warwick and Doncaster in September, horse racing has also been without crowds since March, but racegoers were able to return on Wednesday with Lingfield Park in Surrey, among the tracks able to welcome back spectators.\n\nSnooker remains without spectators as the UK Championship continues in Milton Keynes, but on Wednesday plans were announced for up to 1,000 fans to attend each session of the PDC World Darts Championship, which starts at London's Alexandra Palace on 15 December.", "Odeon owner AMC is in \"urgent talks\" with Warner Bros after the film maker said all releases would be available to stream instantly in the US.\n\nThe move will enable film fans to watch the forthcoming sci-fi epic Dune and the Matrix sequel on HBO Max at the same time as their cinema release.\n\nIt has escalated tensions between Hollywood and US movie theatres.\n\nBoth studios and chains are desperate to rebuild revenues after virus control measures closed cinemas.\n\nThe new releases will be available on the service, which is not yet available in the UK, for one month after release. HBO Max is set to launch in Europe in the second half of next year, according to its global boss Andy Forssell.\n\nThe releases are also expected to include Godzilla vs Kong, Mortal Kombat and The Suicide Squad.\n\nEarlier this year, assertive action by AMC successfully curbed a similar screening plan by rival Hollywood studio, Universal.\n\nCinemas are desperate for content to lure viewers back with new entertainment that can initially only be seen on their screens.\n\nTypically, new releases are shown exclusively at cinemas for months.\n\nAMC had agreed to allow one film, Wonder Woman 1984, to be shown simultaneously on HBO Max, the streaming service owned by its ultimate parent company AT&T.\n\nAMC boss Adam Aron, said: \"These coronavirus-impacted times are uncharted waters for all of us, which is why AMC signed on to an HBO Max exception to customary practices for one film only, Wonder Woman 1984, being released by Warner Brothers at Christmas when the pandemic appears that it will be at its height.\"\n\nKeanu Reeves will reprise his role as Neo in The Matrix 4\n\nIt accused Warner Bros of subsidising its HBO Max by its move: \"We will do all in our power to ensure that Warner does not do so at our expense. We will aggressively pursue economic terms that preserve our business.\n\n\"We have already commenced an immediate and urgent dialogue with the leadership of Warner on this subject.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. As ever more people sign up to streaming services, are fewer going to the movies?\n\nAnn Sarnoff, chair and chief executive of WarnerMedia Studios, said the pandemic called for \"creative solutions\".\n\n\"No one wants films back on the big screen more than we do,\" she said.\n\n\"We know new content is the lifeblood of theatrical exhibition, but we have to balance this with the reality that most theatres in the US will likely operate at reduced capacity throughout 2021.\"\n\nAMC banned all Universal films after the studio said it would release new movies at home and on the big screen on the same day.\n\nThe two firms eventually agreed that Universal films can go to digital services after just 17 days of viewing in cinemas.\n\nExplaining Warner Bros' decision, Ms Sarnoff said the \"unique one-year plan\" would give \"moviegoers who may not have access to theatres, or aren't quite ready to go back to the movies, the chance to see our amazing 2021 films\".\n\n\"We see it as a win-win for film lovers and exhibitors, and we're extremely grateful to our filmmaking partners for working with us on this innovative response to these circumstances.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Lord Maginnis is not going to take part in “behaviour training\" after using “homophobic and offensive\" language\n\nLord Maginnis of Drumglass should be suspended from the Lords for at least 18 months over bullying and harassment claims, a standards watchdog has said.\n\nThe independent Ulster Unionist broke the rules in his conduct towards four people and used \"homophobic and offensive\" language, it was found.\n\nThe Lords Conduct Committee ordered the ex-MP and soldier to take \"behaviour training\" or face a longer ban.\n\nBut he told the BBC he would refuse to do so.\n\nAsked if that would mean a greater punishment, he said: \"So be it.\"\n\nLord Maginnis denied bullying and harassment and called the committee's report \"ridiculous\", adding that he was the victim of a campaign against him, involving the LGBT rights charity Stonewall.\n\nBut Stonewall said he should \"step up and accept responsibility for his behaviour and apologise to those he has hurt\".\n\nDefending his stance, Lord Maginnis told BBC Radio Ulster: \"I've held responsible positions all my life,.\n\n\"At 83 years of age, I'm not going to be dictated to in this way.\"\n\nComplaints against Lord Maginnis were made by Parliamentary security officer Christian Bombolo, SNP MP Hannah Bardell and Labour MPs Luke Pollard and Toby Perkins.\n\nHe was accused of verbally abusing Mr Bombolo when asked to show his security pass in January, with Ms Bardell saying he became rude and aggressive when she intervened.\n\nMs Bardell later told the House of Commons it was \"one of the worst cases of abuse of security staff\" she had witnessed.\n\nAt the time, The Huffington Post website quoted Lord Maginnis as saying in response: \"Queers like Ms Bardell don't particularly annoy me.\"\n\nIt was also claimed that, in February, he sent an email about other parliamentarians containing a homophobic subject line.\n\nAnd he was accused of making homophobic remarks about Ms Bardell and Mr Pollard at a breakfast meeting hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Armed Forces in March.\n\nThe Lords Commissioner for Standards, Lucy Scott-Moncrief, who carried out an investigation into Lord Maginnis, previously recommended a ban of nine months.\n\nHe appealed against this, but the committee found he had shown \"very little insight into the impact of his behaviour on the complainants, and no remorse for the upset he had caused\".\n\nInstead, it added, he had \"portrayed himself as a victim of a conspiracy… and continued to refer to the complainants in a disobliging and sometimes offensive manner\".\n\nFollowing the publication of the report, Ms Bardell told BBC Scotland's Drivetime with John Beattie that she had received death threats after speaking in the Commons about Lord Maginnis's behaviour.\n\nShe added that it was \"total nonsense\" to suggest she was behind a \"conspiracy\" against the peer.\n\nMs Bardell also said she was \"disappointed\" by the recommendation of a ban for Lord Maginnis and that \"in any normal workplace anywhere in the UK, this would be a sackable offence\".\n\nLord Maginnis, who was the Ulster Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 1983 to 2001 having previously served in the Ulster Defence Regiment, became a life peer in 2001.\n\nThe House of Lords will decide on 7 December whether to bring the recommended ban into force.", "An exasperated sigh sums up the reaction from a number of European capitals to the vaccine victory proclamations of some British government ministers. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s sweeping assessment that the UK is a “better” country than many of its allies was seen as particularly bold.\n\nOne senior diplomat told me he was delighted Britons would soon be receiving the vaccine, but that “someone should remind Mr Williamson that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was created by a German company, founded by scientists of Turkish origin, in partnership with an American distributor, and is being manufactured in Belgium before being transported across France to reach the UK”.\n\nThe claim that Brexit allowed the UK to approve the vaccine faster than other Europe countries has been disproved, but it does reflect once again a different path the UK is taking.\n\nAll EU countries have the option to follow the UK example and let their domestic drug regulator issue emergency approval, but the bloc says it wants to wait for the European Medicines Agency to give the green light on all their behalf.\n\nBut if the Europe-wide delivery of a vaccine which promises to end the coronavirus misery for millions is pushed back, there will likely be more voices asking: “Why can’t we have what the Brits have already got?”.", "Cloud computing is a growing industry that allows businesses and individuals to store data that can be accessed from everywhere.\n\nCompanies that provide cloud storage services in Asia say the technology could bring down the cost of doing business for many firms.\n\nPuneet Pal Singh spoke to Ajit Melarkode, from cloud storage firm Rackspace, about the benefit and potential risks of opting for cloud storage.", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "The US says it has revoked the visas of more than 1,000 Chinese students and researchers who are deemed to be a security risk.\n\nThe move follows a proclamation by President Donald Trump in May aimed at Chinese nationals suspected of having ties to the military. He said some had stolen data and intellectual property.\n\nChina has accused the US of racial discrimination.\n\nNearly 370,000 students from China enrolled at US universities in 2018-19.\n\nA state department spokeswoman described those whose visas were revoked as \"high-risk graduate students and research scholars\".\n\nShe said they were a \"small subset\" of the total number of Chinese students.\n\n\"We continue to welcome legitimate students and scholars from China who do not further the Chinese Communist Party's goals of military dominance,\" the spokeswoman said.\n\nThe Chinese foreign ministry denounced the move at a daily media briefing in Beijing.\n\n\"This is outright political persecution and racial discrimination. It seriously violates the human rights of these Chinese students,\" spokesman Zhao Lijian said, adding that China reserved the right to \"further respond\".\n\nThe proclamation of 29 May accused China of engaging in a \"wide-ranging and heavily resourced campaign to acquire sensitive United States technologies and intellectual property\" and said it was using some students \"to operate as non-traditional collectors of intellectual property\".\n\nSome Chinese students in the US say they are facing increased hostility and suspicion on university campuses, and their reasons for studying being questioned.\n\nThough hardly unexpected, this move still comes as a bombshell for nearly 370,000 Chinese nationals studying in the US.\n\nMany of them have been anxious about US-China tensions, especially Washington's increased scrutiny of Chinese students in America over technology theft and economic espionage.\n\nUS Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell told me last month that, against Chinese nationals who concealed military ties and came to the US \"masquerading\" as students, \"we have to defend ourselves\". The US authorities have indicted several Chinese nationals for visa fraud and theft of trade secrets.\n\nBut many Chinese students see Washington's move as unreasonable, fearing that they are being used as a pawn in the escalating US-China competition.\n\nAccording to an online spreadsheet collecting self-reporting information from affected students, Washington's scope of visa revocation appears to go beyond Chinese graduate students in advanced scientific fields, also targeting undergraduate students and those studying economics and finance.\n\nEducation used to be low-hanging fruit for US-China co-operation but now it has turned into a new front in the bilateral conflict.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"My partner had to leave 20 minutes after I gave birth\"\n\nNew Covid guidance for hospitals could see more patients receiving face-to-face visits from loved ones.\n\nNHS Wales has given health boards and hospices flexibility to allow visits based on local levels of Covid-19.\n\nUntil now accompanying people to medical appointments and hospital visits have not been allowed, with a few exceptions.\n\nIt also allows for pregnant women in low Covid rate areas to take their partners to maternity appointments.\n\nThe Welsh Government said the new flexibility was \"due to the changing picture of coronavirus transmission across Wales, with significant variations in community transmission across different parts of the country and differences in the rate of nosocomial transmission\".\n\nRoom sizes, the ability to social distance and infection prevention and control will all be considered when considering visits to maternity wards.\n\nChief nursing officer for Wales, Jean White, said for women in very low areas of transmission \"it would almost be like it was before Covid\".\n\nAngharad Phillips from Cardiff was on a maternity ward waiting to give birth to her first child as the first lockdown in Wales was announced in March.\n\n\"I just remember lots of women breaking down and crying quite loudly and wailing,\" she said.\n\nThe mum of eight month old Eli Gwen considers herself lucky to have had partner Gareth present at the birth but said it was both emotionally and physically difficult when he had to leave 20 minutes after she came out of surgery.\n\n\"I had an epidural and so I was immobile and having to pick baby up, shuffle to the edge of the bed, pick her up for feeding and changing when I was struggling already myself,\" she said.\n\nThe 37-year-old, who discharged herself after three days on the ward, said leaving was also surreal.\n\n\"It was very much like a chemical warzone. I remember being escorted down off the ward and my partner waiting outside...we looked at each other through the glass,\" she said.\n\n\"I remember thinking this is really bizarre and emotional, I just wanted to run and hug him.\"\n\nShe said she was hugely relieved to learn there will be more flexibility for other families so they can \"go through that special moment together\".\n\nNew mother Angharad Phillips says she is hugely relieved there will be more flexibility for other families\n\nMs White said the most noticeable changes would be to maternity services.\n\n\"So for a very high risk (area) you may say the woman would only have support during childbirth and the very limited amount of contact with partner in the various stages,\" she said.\n\n\"In a very low area you would almost be like it was before Covid, you would have partner at most appointments and they would be able to stay longer...and allow more visiting and interaction.\"\n\nIn other health areas, Ms White said the biggest change was the introduction of essential support assistants.\n\n\"If you're coming into hospital for appointments or you're going to be an inpatient, you can have somebody with you, whether that's because you have difficulty understanding information if you need an interpreter, or if you actually need some psychological support for you to cope, you're able to nominate that person.\n\n\"It could be a family member.\"\n\nHealth Minister Vaughan Gething said he recognised that the restrictions on visiting has a huge impact on patients, their families and loved ones.\n\n\"It is important to remember that the virus has not gone away and the health, safety and wellbeing of patients, communities and NHS staff remain an absolute priority for both the Welsh Government and health care providers,\" he added.\n\nThe director of the Welsh NHS Confederation Darren Hughes said it was \"only right that we have the flexibility based on local circumstances in terms of visitors to hospitals where it is safe to do so\".\n\nEli Gwen's father had to leave the hospital shortly after she was born\n\nHe added: \"This change gives our members the opportunity to take sensible, evidence-based precautions where necessary and it will also be a boost to patients and families who are desperate to support their loved ones.\"\n\nNadia Higson, from the maternity charity AIMS, said any relaxation was going to be \"very welcome\".\n\n\"We've had a lot of calls and a lot of emails from people feeling extremely stressed about the fact that they are having to attend appointments on their own,\" she said.\n\n\"And the kind of situations [they discuss] are potentially going along and hearing bad news about their baby, potentially hearing that the sonographer can't hear the baby's heartbeat.\"\n\nShe added: \"The more that partners are able to be involved to be supporting the women, and be involved themselves in the pregnancy, that can only be good.\"\n\nAngharad Phillips, with baby Eli Gwen, missed her partner who had to leave 20 minutes after the birth", "The vaccine is made in Belgium and has to be stored at around -70C\n\nThe first consignment of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine has arrived in the UK.\n\nIt has been taken to a central hub at an undisclosed location, and will now be distributed to hospital vaccination centres around the UK.\n\nThe UK has ordered 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people.\n\nEngland's deputy chief medical officer said the first wave of vaccinations could prevent up to 99% of Covid-19 hospital admissions and deaths.\n\nSpeaking to BBC News, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam said that would be possible if everyone on the first priority list took the vaccine and it was highly effective.\n\nHe said it was key to distribute the vaccine \"as fast\" and at the \"highest volume\" as possible, but he acknowledged there would need to be some flexibility in the list.\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are made in Belgium and have travelled to the UK via the Eurotunnel.\n\nThe order in which people will get the jab is recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and decided by the government.\n\nElderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list, followed by over-80s and health and care staff.\n\nHowever, because hospitals already have the facilities to store the vaccine at the necessary -70C, the very first vaccinations are likely to take place there - for care home staff, NHS staff and patients - to lower the risk of wasting doses.\n\nProf Van-Tam told BBC News: \"If we can get through phase one [of the priority list] and it is a highly effective vaccine and there is very, very high up take, then we could in theory take out 99% of hospitalisations and deaths related to Covid 19.\n\n\"That is why the phase one list is what it is, that is the primary ambition.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will the new Pfizer vaccine work?\n\nThe UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday.\n\nDr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, has apologised for remarks that seemed to criticise the UK's vaccine approval process.\n\nHe initially told Fox News: \"The UK did not do it as carefully. If you go quickly and you do it superficially, people are not going to want to get vaccinated.\"\n\nBut the UK defended its process, and said the jab is safe and effective.\n\nAnd speaking later to the BBC, Dr Fauci said: \"There really has been a misunderstanding, and for that I'm sorry, and I apologise for that.\n\n\"I have a great deal of confidence in what the UK does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint.\n\n\"Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the UK. And that's just the reality. I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way.\"\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19.\n\nThe UK's 40 million doses will be distributed as quickly as they can be made by Pfizer in Belgium, with the first load rolled out next week and then \"several millions\" throughout December, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.\n\nBut the bulk of the roll-out across the UK will be next year.\n\nAnd it could take until April for all those deemed most at-risk to receive the new vaccine, according to NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens.\n\nThe arrival of the vaccines comes after the UK became the first country in Europe to surpass 60,000 coronavirus deaths\n\nOfficial figures show a further 414 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were recorded on Thursday, taking the total to 60,113.\n\nTwo other ways of measuring deaths - where Covid is mentioned on the death certificate, and the number of \"excess deaths\" for this time of year - give higher total figures.\n\nOnly the US, Brazil, India and Mexico have recorded more deaths than the UK, according to Johns Hopkins University.\n\nHowever, the UK has had more deaths per 100,000 people than any of those nations.\n\nIn terms of deaths per 100,000 people, the UK is the seventh-highest country globally, behind Belgium, San Marino, Peru, Andorra, Spain and Italy.", "Christine Colburn said embracing her mother, Audrey Cornell, was \"just like the old days\"\n\nA daughter has hugged her elderly mother at a care home for the first time in nine months.\n\nChristine Colburn had a rapid lateral flow Covid test, which produces results in 30 minutes, at the home in Bampton, Devon, so she could embrace her 95-year-old mother, Audrey Cornell.\n\nThe home is one of several across the South West taking part in a pilot scheme for rapid testing.\n\nMs Colburn said it felt \"amazing\" to hug her mother again.\n\n\"It's really exciting,\" she said. \"Just like the old days, just brilliant.\n\n\"It'll be even nicer when we can touch skin [without PPE] but this is pretty good.\"\n\nMs Cornell said it was \"grand\" to be able to hug her daughter again\n\nSince the pandemic started, Ms Colburn has only be able to call her mother on Skype or talk to her through a screen - travelling the one hour and 45 minute journey from her home in Dorchester.\n\nMs Cornell said it was \"grand\" to be able to hug her daughter again.\n\nThe manager of Castle Grove care home, Lucy Bull, said the pilot scheme has gone well but they \"do worry about getting enough tests and the added costs, especially for smaller homes\".\n\n\"I think it will be expensive because we'll have to up-skill our staff,\" she said. \"It's also quite hard to recruit care staff at the moment.\"\n\nThe lateral flow testing that Ms Colburn had involves a swab of the nose and throat to collect a sample, which is then inserted into a tube of liquid for a short time.\n\nDrops of liquid are added to the test strip and after about half an hour a result will be shown.\n\nMass testing with lateral flow tests began in Liverpool on 6 November.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "All non-essential retail has been closed since last Friday\n\nNon-essential retail and some parts of the hospitality sector in Northern Ireland can reopen next Friday, the Stormont executive has agreed.\n\nMinisters met on Thursday to decide what restrictions should remain after a two-week lockdown ends on 11 December.\n\nMany hospitality businesses, including restaurants, cafes and hotels, can resume trading then but must be closed at 23:00 GMT each day.\n\nPubs that do not serve food will have to remain shut.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. No further restrictions before Christmas - Foster\n\nFirst Minister Arlene Foster said the executive would not impose any further restrictions before Christmas.\n\nDeputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the decisions had received \"collective agreement\" across the executive and had the endorsement of the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nSpeaking on BBC Newsline to confirm the relaxations, Mrs Foster said: \"We're trying to make sure people have a good Christmas and can come together in a safe way.\"\n\nThose already in a support bubble with one household will still be allowed to join with two other households between 23 and 27 December.\n\nMinisters had already approved the UK-wide plan, which will allow three households to mix for five days over Christmas.\n\nMrs Foster also said guidance would be issued for several sectors so that they could operate safely, and said there was a need to provide more financial support to drink-only pubs.\n\nThe localised coronavirus restrictions financial support scheme would \"roll on\" to support those firms that cannot open, she added.\n\nRestaurants in Northern Ireland have been closed since 16 October\n\nMs O'Neill described the relaxations as \"measured\" and would allow people to move around \"a bit more freely\" but she acknowledged it all came with a risk.\n\n\"We're still in the middle of a pandemic and we need people to work with us,\" she told BBC Newsline.\n\nDr Tom Black, the Northern Ireland chair of the British Medical Association, said the easing of the restrictions appeared to be a \"pragmatic decision\".\n\n\"It is a calculated risk because... when you have a holiday period and people meet up the transmission of the virus increases,\" he told BBC News NI's The View programme.\n\n\"We will have in the health service in Northern Ireland a very busy time in the first three weeks in January - that seems inevitable.\n\n\"We will be sitting down to a banquet of consequences with increased admissions to hospital and more people in intensive care.\"\n\nColin Neill, the chief executive of Hospitality Ulster, which represents pubs and restaurants, said the decision to keep drink-only pubs closed was \"simply unfair and unjust\".\n\n\"This is nothing but terrible news for owners and staff in traditional pubs who have once again been unfairly singled out to bear the brunt of the Covid lockdown for the greater good,\" he said.\n\n\"Our traditional pubs have only been open for three weeks since March so they cannot be responsible for the spread of the virus.\"\n\nGlyn Roberts, the chief executive of the trade body Retail NI, said it was \"welcome news\" that the non-essential retail sector could reopen on 11 December.\n\n\"In saying that, these retailers will struggle to make up the losses from the two-week circuit breaker in the last few weeks of Christmas shopping,\" he said.\n\nOn Thursday, the Department of Health announced the deaths of 11 more people in Northern Ireland who had tested positive for coronavirus.\n\nAnother 456 people have tested positive for the virus.\n\nThe latest medical and scientific advice given to ministers indicates that the R-number - the average number of people that one infected person will pass the virus to - is about one.\n\nA vaccine will be available in Northern Ireland from next week, after the UK drugs regulator gave approval in record time.\n\nPrevious decisions about whether to extend some restrictions have led to heated exchanges between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which had voiced opposition to harsher measures, and the rest of the executive parties.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dr Fauci told the BBC: \"I have a great deal of confidence in what the UK does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint\"\n\nDr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, has apologised for remarks that seemed to criticise the UK's vaccine approval process.\n\n\"I have a great deal of confidence in what the UK does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint,\" Dr Fauci told the BBC on Thursday.\n\nThe UK on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer vaccine for the coronavirus.\n\nIt has defended the rapid approval and said the jab is safe and effective.\n\nDr Fauci on Wednesday had told Fox News that the UK did not review the vaccine \"as carefully\" as US health regulators, although he implied that the US would quickly also be in a position to approve a vaccine. \"We'll be there. We'll be there very soon,\" he added.\n\nHe later told CBS News that the UK had \"rushed\" the approval, but on Thursday he walked back the comments, and said there was \"no judgement on the way the UK did it\".\n\n\"Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the UK. And that's just the reality,\" Dr Fauci told the BBC. \"I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way.\"\n\nThe UK medicines regulator - MHRA - said it had \"rigorously assessed the data in the shortest time possible, without compromising the thoroughness of our review\" - adding that it reviewed preliminary data on the vaccine trials dating back to June and had been running a \"rolling review\" since October which helped speed the process.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will the new Pfizer vaccine work?\n\nThe regulator said that Covid vaccines were being developed \"in a coordinated in a way that allows some stages of this process to happen in parallel to condense the time needed\" adding that it did not mean that \"the expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness\" had been bypassed.\n\n\"Any vaccine must undergo robust clinical trials in line with international standards, with oversight provided by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency,\" it said.\n\n\"No vaccine would be authorised for supply in the UK unless the expected standards of safety, quality and efficacy are met,\" the MHRA added.\n\nOn Thursday, the UK's deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam told the BBC he was \"very confident\" in the MHRA.\n\nHe said there was more than \"100 years of medical experience\" between the UK regulator and the committee advising which groups of people are vaccinated first.\n\nDr Fauci's remarks came as the US surpassed 14 million Covid-19 infections in total, with a recorded 276,325 deaths.\n\nA woman waits for a Covid-19 test in California, as cases mount across the US\n\nAmerica's Food and Drug Administration does have a different approach to other regulators around the world - it often asks vaccine makers for their raw data, which it then spends time re-analysing.\n\nThe UK's medicines regulator in London, on the other hand, relies more heavily on the companies' own reports as does the European Medicines Agency, based in Amsterdam.\n\nPolitics may also explain why the FDA hasn't yet given the green light. Back in October, President Trump pressured health officials to approve the first vaccine candidates before election day on 3 November but they pushed back, fearing it might become a political football.\n\nThe FDA said it wanted to see two months' extra safety data from the final phase vaccine trials before pharmaceutical companies could apply for emergency approval.\n\nThat has inevitably left some arguing the US has got bogged down in a much more detailed review than might have been necessary.\n\nThe head of the European Medicines Agency also appeared to raise eyebrows yesterday at the truncated timetable in London.\n\nBut officials in the UK believe the US and EU are likely to approve the vaccine soon.\n\nThe UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine - enough to vaccinate 20 million people, and the first consignment of that vaccine has now arrived.\n\nIt has been taken to a central hub at an undisclosed location, and will now be distributed to hospital vaccination centres around the UK.\n\nEngland's deputy chief medical officer said the first wave of vaccinations could prevent up to 99% of Covid-19 hospital admissions and deaths.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dr June Raine from the MHRA: \"The safety of the public will always come first\"\n\nThe US FDA plans to meet on 10 December to discuss approval for the UK-approved vaccine, and will meet again on 17 December to discuss a second vaccine - Moderna.\n\nDr Fauci had described the US Food and Drug Administration's approval process, slower than the UK, as the \"gold standard\". On Thursday he clarified, saying the US does \"things a little differently\" than the UK.\n\n\"That's all,\" he said. \"Not better, not worse, just differently.\"\n\nAn independent UK expert on the use and effects of drugs in populations - Prof Stephen Evans of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the approvals processes carried out by the FDA and the MHRA were \"basically very similar\".\n\n\"The only major difference is that the FDA may reproduce all the tables submitted by a company by re-analysing the data,\" he said.\n\n\"It is very clear that the UK assessment of this has followed all the usual processes, but has been working incredibly long hours and seven days a week both with MHRA staff and with their academic advisors for quite a long time on initial and interim data before the final data were submitted.\"\n\nDr Fauci has led the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) for more than 30 years - covering five presidential transitions - and has become the most visible member of the White House's coronavirus task force.\n\nThe EU, meanwhile, is eyeing a 29 December meeting of the European Medicines Agency to determine if there is adequate safety data on the vaccine for it to be approved in Europe. This timeline puts the EU weeks behind both the UK and US. After the agency approves the vaccine, it will probably also need a sign-off from the EU Commission.", "The US-China relationship is now at one of it lowest points in years\n\nStranded abroad by the coronavirus pandemic and squeezed by political tensions, Chinese students in the United States are rethinking their attitudes to their host and home countries.\n\nEight years ago, Shizheng Tie, then aged 13, moved alone from China to rural Ohio for one sole purpose: education. She once had a budding American dream, but now she says she is facing hostility in that country.\n\n\"As a Chinese living in the US, I am very scared now,\" she says. Tie, now a senior student at Johns Hopkins University, describes America as \"anti-China\" and \"chaotic\".\n\nSome 360,000 Chinese students are currently enrolled in schools in the US. In the past months, they have experienced two historical events - a global pandemic and unprecedented tensions between the US and China, which have reshaped their views of the two nations.\n\nThe majority of Chinese students in the US are self-funded and hope their western education will lead to a good career.\n\nMeanwhile, Washington has warned that not all students from China are \"normal\", claiming some are Beijing's proxies who conduct economic espionage, orchestrate pro-China views and monitor other Chinese students on American campuses.\n\nThe Trump administration recently cancelled visas for 3,000 students they believe have ties to the Chinese military. One US senator even suggested that Chinese nationals should be banned from studying math and science in America.\n\nAmid the harsh rhetoric, many Chinese students fear that they are being turned into a political target for Washington.\n\nIn July, the US ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, Texas\n\nTie, majoring in environmental science, says she is pessimistic about her academic future in the US, given the growing scrutiny over Chinese students and scholars in science and technology.\n\n\"I used to think I'd pursue my PhD in the US and perhaps settle down here, but now I see myself returning to China after obtaining a master's degree,\" Tie says.\n\nYingyi Ma, associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University, says Chinese students in the US are now \"politicised and marginalised at an unprecedented level\", as Washington is sending \"very unfriendly signals\".\n\nThe strained bilateral relations have swayed public opinion, as a recent survey found that 73% of American adults have an unfavourable view of China - an historic high.\n\nProf Ma published a book called Ambitious and Anxious this January, focusing on Chinese students' experience in America.\n\n\"If I write the book now, I will only keep 'anxious' in the title,\" she says.\n\nAs the coronavirus continues to spread in the US, Tie prefers to return to China, where the outbreak appears to be largely under control.\n\nBut the country has ordered sharp cuts in international flights to prevent imported cases, leaving many Chinese students overseas, stranded thousands of miles away from their families.\n\nOn Chinese social media, some comments portrayed these students as spoiled brats, who had fled from the country's fiercely competitive education system and now may imperil its success in containing the virus.\n\n\"America wants to kick us out, while China doesn't allow us to return,\" Tie says.\n\nThis sentiment is commonly shared among Chinese students in the US.\n\nIris Li, a 20-year-old junior student from China at Emory University in Atlanta, describes the students as \"being kicked like a ball\" between the two countries.\n\n\"We are getting the short end of the stick from both sides,\" Li says.\n\nAfter worrying about the outbreak in their home country from afar, these young Chinese are now witnessing the coronavirus crisis in the US.\n\nThey were perplexed by the cultural differences regarding mask-wearing. They were unsettled by President Trump's use of the phrases \"kung flu\" and \"China virus\". Some have even experienced racial harassment firsthand.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Tracy Win Liu says she bought a gun after being faced with coronavirus-related racism\n\nRacial discrimination during the pandemic has \"burst their bubble,\" Prof Ma says.\n\nA new paper stated that anti-Chinese racism boosts support for Beijing's authoritarian rule among Chinese students in the US.\n\nJennifer Pan, co-author of the paper and assistant professor of Communications at Stanford University, says there is a general belief that Chinese students overseas are indoctrinated to wholeheartedly support the Chinese Communist Party.\n\n\"That's not the case,\" Prof Pan says, \"What does change their political views is racism.\"\n\nThe research found that college freshmen from China who read derogatory comments against Chinese people are more likely to support Beijing, while general criticism against the government's coronavirus handling did not produce the same effects.\n\nProf Pan says the findings suggest that Chinese students in the US, whose survey responses are \"mature, sophisticated and thoughtful for their age\", can rationally process criticism against China.\n\nDespite her frustration over China's travel restrictions, Tie says she has become more patriotic since living aboard.\n\n\"I had believed America to be a wonderland of dreams, equality and tolerance for all. I certainly don't believe it anymore,\" she wrote in her school newspaper in June, criticising America's \"Sinophobia\".\n\nIn February, she penned an online petition, protesting against her university hosting a panel with Hong Kong democracy activists.\n\nBut Tie says she's not a \"little pink\", a somewhat disparaging term for nationalistic Chinese youth active on the internet.\n\n\"I am patriotic in a rational way, not as a result of brainwashing,\" Tie says, adding that she views both Washington and Beijing critically, citing the lack of freedom of speech in China.\n\n\"Both countries let me down many times,\" Tie says, \"but China is my motherland, so I am more willing to endure that frustration.\"\n\nSimilar to Tie, Li plans to return to China after her study, with transformed understandings of her home and host countries.\n\nIn early July, Washington announced a policy barring foreign students from staying in the country, but the decision was rescinded after receiving waves of criticism.\n\n\"It made me feel hopeful about the US,\" Li says, \"This would not happen in China.\"\n\nThe sociology and religious studies student thinks the pandemic has laid bare the advantages and weaknesses of both political systems. While the Chinese government seems to act more effectively, the US allows dissent, and at times, it is able to correct its own mistakes.\n\nAmerican education has made her \"more anti-China,\" Li says with a laugh.\n\nHarvard and MIT sued over the reversed decision to strip international students of visas if all their courses were online\n\nShe recalls feeling \"very uncomfortable\" when she first arrived in America six years ago and saw her fellow students waving Taiwanese flags, which are seen in mainland China as a symbol for Taiwan independence.\n\nBut after getting to know the Taiwanese students, she realised that though their views may have been completely different, they could discuss issues respectfully, which is encouraged in American classrooms.\n\n\"Studying in the US is an important experience in my life,\" one that she says she'd never regret. \"But I am eager to help change China, where my work may be more meaningful.\"", "Streaming a television show in standard definition can shave a little off your carbon emissions, scientists at the UK's Royal Society says.\n\n4K video streaming - also know as Ultra HD - on a phone generates about eight times more in emissions than standard definition (SD), it says.\n\nAnd, on a small screen, the viewer might not even notice the difference.\n\nPlatforms and regulators should limit streaming resolution and default to SD, the authors urged.\n\nThe scientists' report says digital technology’s estimated contribution to global emissions ranges from 1.4% to 5.9% of the global total.\n\nAnother simple way to save energy is for people streaming music to turn off any accompanying video if they’re just listening, not watching, the authors say.\n\nThey estimate such small moves could save up to 5% of the emissions from a streaming service – a reduction comparable to what’s achieved by running YouTube’s servers on renewable energy.\n\nThe report also suggests owning and using devices for longer before trading them in, because the emissions created in making a new device are significant.\n\nSome of the numbers in the report are contested.\n\nBut it says that if you change your mobile phone every two years, the manufacturing represents about half of all the emissions it will generate through its lifetime.\n\nBut if individuals keep their phones for four years instead of two, that contribution is significantly reduced.\n\nFor the same reason, the report says buying a device second-hand - or sharing equipment - also reduce the share of so-called \"embodied emissions\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Puneet Pal Singh spoke to Ajit Melarkode, from the cloud storage firm Rackspace, about the benefit and potential risks of the technology.\n\nMoving computing from home or business desktops and on to the cloud can also help, because the cloud allows more efficient patterns of server use - so they don’t consume energy while idle.\n\nTech firms must also play a part, by providing transparent information about the energy consumption of their digital products and services, the report recommends.\n\n“There are many routes to net zero [carbon emissions], but digital technology has a central role to play,” said lead author Prof Andy Hopper from Cambridge University.\n\n“We must stay alert to digital demand outpacing the carbon emission reductions this transition promises.”\n\nAnother co-author of the report, Prof Corinne Le Querre from the University of East Anglia, told BBC News: “To be honest, digital tech is a small fraction of your emissions compared with, say flying even once a year – but every bit of CO2 saving is significant.\n\n\"What’s more, we’re trying to prompt people to harness the power of digital to help tackle climate change.\n\n\"The way we heat our homes, for instance, is a nonsense. We occupy part of house but heat the whole thing. We can cure that by using digital technology.\n\n“We have to make sure that the digital revolution supports the climate revolution – and we’re failing to do that at the moment.”\n\nCorrection 10 December 2020: A previous version of this story said HD video streaming generated eight times the emissions of standard definition streams. This should have read \"Ultra HD video streaming\".", "There have been renewed calls for defunding, after the death of George Floyd in May\n\nFormer President Barack Obama has cautioned young Democrat activists against using snappy slogans such as \"defund the police\" if they want to bring about genuine reforms in the US.\n\nDefund the Police became a widely-used phrase after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May.\n\nMr Obama said \"you lost a big audience the minute you say it\", making it \"a lot less likely\" to effect change.\n\nHis comments received a backlash from some key black progressive Democrats.\n\nMinnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted \"it's not a slogan but a policy demand... for equitable investments and budgets for communities across the country\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Ilhan Omar This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nCori Bush, a newly-elected congresswoman in Missouri, tweeted that the slogan was a \"mandate for keeping our people alive\", while Charles Booker, Kentucky's youngest black state lawmaker, tweeted: \"Instead of conceding this narrative, let's shape out own\".\n\nMr Obama made his comments while speaking to the Snapchat political show Good Luck America about the importance of word choice in marketing ideas.\n\n\"If you believe, as I do, that we should be able to reform the criminal justice system so that it's not biased and treats everybody fairly, I guess you can use a snappy slogan, like Defund the Police, but, you know, you lost a big audience the minute you say it,\" he said.\n\n\"If you instead say, 'Hey, you know what Let's reform the police department so that everybody's being treated fairly,' suddenly a whole bunch of folks who might not otherwise listen to you are listening to you.\"\n\nDefund the Police became part of the call for change during mass Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of Mr Floyd, and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky in March, at the hands of the police.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\n\"Defunding\" advocates want to see police departments' budgets slashed and funds diverted to social programmes to avoid unnecessary confrontation and heal the racial divide.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In June Panorama spoke to local people to piece together the moments leading up to George Floyd's death\n\nPresident-elect Joe Biden has previously said he does not support defunding the police, but wants to invest in community projects and social programmes to lessen the burden on the police.\n\nIn the same interview, Mr Obama said it was important to ensure that progressive members of the Democratic party have their voices heard, saying \"new blood is always good\".\n\nWith reference to New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, he said: \"She speaks to a broad section of young people who are interested in what she has to say, even if they don't agree with everything she says. You give her a platform.\"", "Asda has announced it will repay £340m of business rates relief it has received during the pandemic.\n\nIt follows similar moves by Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Aldi and means the grocers will collectively return more than £1.7bn.\n\nSupermarkets, whose sales have boomed in the crisis, have been criticised for taking government help while paying dividends to shareholders.\n\nAsda said its costs of dealing with Covid had outweighed any state support.\n\nBut its president and chief executive, Roger Burnley, said: \"As the hope of a vaccine and a more 'normal' life returning in 2021 grows, we have confidence that we are in a strong position to again do the right thing for the communities we serve.\"\n\nEarlier on Thursday, Sainsbury's said it would hand back £440m of rates relief it had received, followed by Aldi which pledged to repay £100m.\n\nIt was followed by discount retailer B&M, which said it would forgo £80m of rates relief.\n\nOn Wednesday, Tesco and Morrisons promised to repay £850m between them.\n\nBoth Sainsbury's and Aldi said the decision reflected the fact they had been allowed to stay open in lockdown while non-essential shops had to close.\n\nLabour said big supermarkets had \"done the decent thing\" but urged the government to pass on the £1.7bn handed back already to hard-hit businesses such as pubs and restaurants operating under the new tier system.\n\nThe Treasury said any funds returned would \"support the ongoing efforts to protect people's jobs and incomes\".\n\nAsda has recently been bought by the UK-based billionaire Issa brothers and private equity firm TDR Capital from Walmart of the US in a deal valuing the supermarket chain at £6.8bn.\n\nMr Burnley said: \"Almost half our customers are telling us they expect their financial position to worsen in the next 12 months and we recognise that there are other industries and businesses for whom the effects of Covid-19 will be much more long lasting and whose survival is essential to thousands of jobs.\"\n\nHe said Asda would discuss with the government and devolved authorities the best way to return the money \"to ensure the relief we have received can go towards helping those that need it most\".\n\nSainsbury's said that its sales had been \"stronger than originally expected\", despite it facing \"significant costs\" in the crisis.\n\n\"With regional restrictions likely to remain in place for some time, we believe it is now fair and right to forgo the business rates relief that we have been given on all Sainsbury's stores,\" boss Simon Roberts said.\n\n\"We are very mindful that non-essential retailers and many other businesses have been forced to close again in the second lockdown and we hope that this goes some way towards helping them.\"\n\nGiles Hurley, boss of Aldi UK, said returning the full value of its business rates was \"the right decision to help support the nation\".\n\nIn March, all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England were given a business rates holiday for 12 months to help them get through the crisis.\n\nBut MPs have criticised supermarkets for taking around £1.9bn in help while paying dividends to shareholders, calling it an \"absolute scandal\".\n\nThe UK's supermarkets have seen a sales boom during the pandemic, albeit with higher costs.\n\nThe big four grocers - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - are also receiving an estimated £1 in every £6 of all the business rates relief offered by the government.\n\nThey have come under political fire amid concerns that this help from the taxpayer could've been given to other parts of the retail or hospitality sectors that are still in survival mode - especially since some of the supermarket groups have also been paying dividends to shareholders.\n\nTesco went first and that piled the pressure on its main rivals to immediately follow suit.\n\nIt says it is simply doing the right thing but some suspect Tesco's move will also help smooth the way for a bumper £5bn special dividend pay-out following the sale of its Asian business.\n\nAnd for all of them, there may have been fears about being hit by a possible government windfall tax in the future.\n\nEarlier this month, Mr Roberts defended Sainsbury's decision to pay out £230m to investors at a time when the chain is also cutting 3,500 jobs and vowing to close 420 Argos stores as part of a restructuring plan.\n\nThe company pointed out it had taken no money from the government's furlough wage support scheme.\n\nHowever, it will hang on to a further £40m of business rates relief for its Argos stores, which as non-essential shops had to close in the lockdowns.\n\nTesco announced on Wednesday it would repay rates relief\n\nOn Wednesday, Tesco said it would repay £585m after it had been criticised over investor payouts.\n\nMorrisons also announced it had \"brought forward\" a decision on rates relief and would pay back £274m.\n\nKathleen Brooks, of financial analysts Minerva, told the BBC that supermarkets had faced \"a lot of political and media pressure to follow suit\".\n\nSome would also see it as a way to avoid having to \"answer to government\", as banks had to after being bailed out in the 2008 financial crisis.\n\nHowever, other grocers have said they will not repay the rates relief.\n\nMarks and Spencer, which reported a half year loss and has cancelled its dividend for 2020, said the government support had been \"much-needed\" during \"incredibly challenging circumstances\".\n\nWhile the retailer sells food, most of its clothing and homeware store space has had to close during the lockdowns.\n\nOn Wednesday, the Co-op said the amount it had spent on protecting staff and customers outweighed the savings from rates relief. But the retailer added it would consider its position on government support again at the end of the year.\n\nWaitrose-owner the John Lewis Partnership said the relief would help offset the \"significant\" sales lost while its John Lewis shops were closed, as well as money spent on staying secure from Covid.\n\n\"The outlook remains incredibly uncertain and government support remains crucial to help us navigate the crisis,\" it said.", "The UK has said it would be \"very unusual\" for the EU to seek to block post-Brexit food imports amid a growing dispute over the issue.\n\nThe EU has cast doubt on whether it would grant Britain a \"third-country listing\" for exports of products of animal origin, citing \"uncertainties\" over its biosecurity controls.\n\nSuch exports are worth £5bn to the UK.\n\nA government spokesman said the right to export was the foundation of any kind of agricultural relationship.\n\nUK firms exporting goods to mainland Europe will face extra checks when the country leaves the single market and customs union on 1 January at the end of the post-Brexit transition period.\n\nTalks over a free trade agreement, which it is hoped will eliminate nearly all tariffs and minimise other barriers to trade, are continuing.\n\nBut the two sides remain far apart over several key issues and the process risks being derailed by an acrimonious row over UK plans to pass legislation giving it the right to over-ride aspects of the withdrawal agreement.\n\nThe European Commission is due to decide in the coming months on whether to allow British exports of live animals, products of animal origin, such as meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, and animal by-products to continue.\n\nThe granting of a \"third country\" licence to the whole of the UK had been seen as something of a formality, given the EU's similar arrangements with other nations.\n\nThe two sides have already agreed that Northern Ireland will remain in the EU's sanitary and phyto-sanitary \"zone\".\n\nBut speaking after the latest round of talks concluded on Thursday, the EU's chief negotiator said \"more clarity\" was needed about Britain's own hygiene and disease control procedures before an \"assessment\" could take place.\n\nMichel Barnier said \"many uncertainties\" remained about how they would operate after 31 December.\n\nA Downing Street spokesman said: \"It would be very unusual for the EU to go down this route and deny the UK listing.\n\n\"The right to export is the absolute basis for a relationship between two countries that trade agricultural goods. It is a licence to export and entirely separate from the issue of food standards.\"\n\nThe EU accounted for about 60% of all UK food and drink exports in 2019, although this figure has fallen from more than 70% five years ago.", "Students in England will be urged to take two Covid tests three days apart, to cut the risk of spreading infection when they travel home for Christmas.\n\nThese are lateral flow tests with rapid results - with those testing negative expected to leave university within the following 24 hours, according to the latest guidelines seen by the BBC.\n\nThe pre-Christmas testing will start in many universities early next week.\n\nBut testing will remain voluntary - and not all universities will offer tests.\n\nThe National Union of Students said there should be capacity for all students who wanted a test to get one before Christmas.\n\nMore than a million students in England will leave their university addresses to spend the Christmas holidays in another part of the country - and plans for testing are intended to stop this migration from spreading coronavirus.\n\nIt is understood that most universities, but not all, are taking part in the government's plans for the mass testing of students using lateral flow tests, starting on 30 November.\n\nStudents will be encouraged to take two tests\n\nDurham University, which has piloted testing, says about 2,000 students have already booked tests ahead of the Christmas departures.\n\nThe government guidelines recommend a double test to increase accuracy, three days apart, in the form of swab tests administered by the students themselves, at centres being set up by universities.\n\nThe results will be sent by text or email - with students who are not infected expected to leave their term-time accommodation \"immediately\", which is defined as within 24 hours of the second negative test.\n\nGetting students to leave soon after they get results is intended to cut the risk of infections post-testing.\n\n\"The closer to your travel time the better,\" says Professor Jacqui Ramagge, who is leading on testing for Durham University. And at her university, the two tests will be seven days apart rather than three.\n\nMinisters are urging students to take Covid tests before travelling, as a way of protecting their families, but it is not compulsory and not all universities will offer the testing.\n\nThose who do not take tests, or only have one test, will still be able to leave at the same time - with an encouragement to \"travel home as safely as possible\" during the \"travel window\" of 3 to 9 December, which the government has identified as when it expects most students to leave university for Christmas.\n\nThis will be after the current lockdown ends on 2 December, and ahead of universities switching to online teaching for the end of term.\n\nStudents who test positive will be directed towards taking another type of test - a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test to confirm whether they are infected - and will have to stay and self-isolate while waiting for the result.\n\nBut those who test positive from this PCR test will be required to stay in their term-time accommodation for 10 days of self-isolation - which should still leave enough time to get back before Christmas.\n\nThe \"window\" for students to travel home begins from 3 December\n\nTeesside University is among those opening testing centres from 30 November - and is encouraging students to book for two lateral flow tests at its Middlesbrough campus.\n\nPro Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark Simpson said it would provide a \"quick and easy testing option to our students and enable them to make an informed decision about returning home for the upcoming Christmas break\".\n\nHe said it would help to address the \"considerable anxiety and a need for reassurance\" about the safety of travel ahead of the end of term.\n\nUniversities Minister Michelle Donelan said: \"Testing will offer further assurances that students can keep their families safe this winter, and I urge all students who can to take the tests on offer.\"", "The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, was said to be in good spirits when he updated EU ambassadors on Wednesday\n\nThese are unsettling days for those of us watching, waiting and occasionally nail-nibbling, constantly calling sources, perpetually checking social media, for hints that an EU-UK trade security deal is nigh - or off the table completely this year.\n\nNews could come at any moment.\n\nThe EU - infamously talented at the old goalpost-moving - has admitted that not only does the European Parliament not need to ratify an agreement for it to be provisionally applied as of 1 January, but that EU leaders don't even need to sign off on the treaty in person. An approved member of their government could do that instead, from the comfort of their own home.\n\nCould a deal come between Christmas and New Year, then, is the horrified question in EU capitals.\n\nBoris Johnson doesn't seem in a hurry to make up his mind, is the broad sentiment in Brussels. EU leaders don't view the prime minister as a details man.\n\nEU officials do not see Boris Johnson as in a rush to make big compromises\n\nThey don't think he's waiting to hear about the finer points of mackerel, herring or cod quotas before deciding what is politically more expedient for him. Declare a firm resolve and no deal and face the music from the opposition and many UK businesses? Or compromise to get a deal and be accused by ardent Brexit supporters of \"betraying the Leave vote\"?\n\nAs always, the EU is only too happy to point out that there's no win-win here. The prime minister can't have his Brexit cake and eat it.\n\nFor now, though, we're told there's little movement in talks, even though Belgium's prime minister noted the two sides \"are in the last minutes of a football match\".\n\nMichel Barnier the EU's chief negotiator, was reportedly in good spirits when he reported on the negotiations to representatives of the 27 EU countries on Wednesday morning. But he emphasised that the key outstanding issues remained very much the same:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. BBC Reality Check explains why the level playing field matters in Brexit talks\n\n\"This is the painful part,\" one EU diplomat told me, meaning that it's now time for difficult concessions. But frankly this has been the case for weeks. And as far as I and other observers can make out, both the EU and UK are still busy looking into the whites of each other's eyes, rather than holding their nose and jumping.\n\nEU diplomats insisted on Wednesday that the EU had gone pretty much as far as it could.\n\n\"Michel Barnier didn't ask us today for more flexibility in his negotiating mandate,\" one source told me. \"If he had, our answer would have been clear.\"\n\nNo EU possibility to compromise at all any more, I asked. \"Only millimetres,\" came the reply.\n\nOf course, the EU would say that. It wants the UK to make the big concessions. For a while now, EU countries - particularly those geographically closest to the UK, like France, Belgium and the Netherlands, have been nervous that Mr Barnier might concede \"too much\" in these negotiations.\n\nThere's little appetite in the EU of wanting to do \"whatever it takes\" to get a deal. At five minutes to midnight, or otherwise.\n\nAngela Merkel noted that some EU countries were becoming impatient. France's Emmanuel Macron insisted on Tuesday that France would not sign up to anything that wasn't in its long-term interest.\n\nBut, of course, the UK government says the same.\n\nWhy leave the EU if only to tie yourself a few months later to Brussels' regulatory apron strings? Why break free from EU rules, with the dream of becoming a nimbler, more competitive sovereign economy, if you're then constrained by an EU trade deal in how much the government can invest in UK industries?\n\nAnd there, it seems, we are still stuck - provoking anxiety in businesses both sides of the Channel.\n\nThe Dutch government is using a Brexit muppet to highlight the changes to cross-border trade from 1 January\n\nThe government and the European Commission insist companies were given plenty of warning. Whether a deal is agreed or not by the year's end, with the UK leaving the single market and customs union, big changes lie ahead.\n\nYet the details of the deal are important for business.\n\nAnd a no-deal situation would probably further complicate and/or delay a decision on other impactful issues, separate from these negotiations. Like UK financial services' access to the Single Market after Brexit, or the flow of data between the EU and UK.\n\nAs for people's holiday plans, there's pet travel permissions and EU and UK access to each other's healthcare systems still to sort out.\n\nEU countries are trying to pile pressure on a reluctant European Commission to be more open about contingency measures in case there's no deal - for example on transport, air traffic control and aviation safety. But Brussels doesn't want to give the UK the impression that it can benefit from a series of \"mini deals\" without signing up to a mutually agreed treaty.\n\nAfter months of these circular negotiations on the same sticking points, EU attention is now re-focusing on Brexit - with a sense of weary resignation and tension.\n\n\"It's still feasible that we'll get a deal this month,\" one contact told me. \"Or it could be next month. Or next year.\"\n\nIf that's the case, both sides admit, the road will be bumpy and costly from 1 January, at least in the short to medium term.", "Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, France's president from 1974 to 1981, has died at the age of 94.\n\nHe died of complications from coronavirus, surrounded by his family at his estate in central France.\n\nA centre-right, pro-Europe politician, Giscard d'Estaing also liberalised laws on divorce, abortion and contraception during his seven years in power.\n\nPresident Emmanuel Macron said his presidency had transformed France and his direction still guided its way.\n\n\"A servant of the state, a politician of progress and freedom, his death has plunged the French nation into mourning,\" he said in a statement.\n\nThe late president's family said his funeral would take place amid \"strict intimacy\".\n\nIn later life, Giscard d'Estaing liked to portray himself as the grand old man of French politics.\n\nAs one of France's youngest presidents - he was 48 when he came to power, he had a longer career in politics after he left high office than he had enjoyed on his way to the Élysée Palace.\n\nHe was seen by many as arrogant and aloof; his presidential popularity was short-lived and he was eventually squeezed out of office by a strengthening of opposition from both the left and the right.\n\nHe was also caught up in a scandal surrounding his support for a corrupt African dictator.\n\nValéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing was born on 2 February 1926 in Koblenz, in what was then French-occupied Germany.\n\nHis father was a civil servant who worked for the French occupying forces, while his mother was descended from King Louis XV of France via one of his mistresses.\n\nGiscard d'Estaing's education was disrupted by World War Two. He was just a teenager when he joined a French resistance group in occupied Paris before enlisting in a tank battalion in 1944, earning the Croix de Guerre in the last months of the war.\n\nHe worked for a while as a teacher in Montreal before graduating from the Ecole Nationale d'Administration and joining the tax and revenue service.\n\nIn 1955 he spent some time on the staff of prime minister Edgar Faure before winning the seat of Puy-de Dome in the National Assembly, the area from which his mother's family came.\n\nPolitical allies in 1969, Giscard d'Estaing (l) and Jacques Chirac would later become rivals for the presidency\n\nHe became secretary of state for finances in 1959, a post he held for almost four years until his party broke with the ruling Gaullists with whom they were in a coalition. However, Giscard d'Estaing refused to leave the government and founded the Independent Republicans, which allied itself to the majority Gaullists.\n\nHe was sacked from the cabinet in 1966 but, as chairman of the National Assembly committee that scrutinised the country's finances, he remained a powerful voice, latterly increasingly critical of the De Gaulle government.\n\nThrown out of his chairmanship by the Gaullists in 1968, he gained his revenge by supporting Georges Pompidou in the 1969 presidential elections, whereupon he was reappointed to the finance ministry.\n\nWhen Pompidou died suddenly in 1974, Giscard d'Estaing announced he would run for the Élysée Palace, presenting himself as a modern and moderate alternative to the austere conservatism of Gaullism.\n\nHe successfully gained the support of the centre while, at the same time, taking advantage of divisions among the Gaullists, some of whom - notably Jacques Chirac - announced their support for Giscard d'Estaing as the only hope of defeating the left.\n\nGiscard d'Estaing narrowly defeated the socialist François Mitterrand in the second round of voting with just 50.7% of the poll, becoming the third youngest president in French history.\n\nAfter years of Gaullist stagnation, he made his intentions plain: \"You want a deep political, a deep economic and a deep social change. You will not be disappointed,\" he said.\n\nAt home, he made several reforms early on in his term in office. The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18, while divorce and abortion laws were relaxed, in spite of fierce opposition from the Catholic Church.\n\nThe newly elected French president was committed to European unity\n\nHe also saw through laws on equal pay and opportunities for women, reduced the retirement age to 60 and allowed Paris to elect its own mayor.\n\nAlthough he voiced his opposition to the death penalty, he refused to commute three of the death sentences passed during his term, and the last use of the guillotine in France took place in 1977.\n\nA fan of technology, Giscard d'Estaing was a strong advocate of the French high-speed train network, the TGV, construction of which began in earnest in 1976.\n\nHe was also an enthusiastic supporter of the drive to increase France's dependence on nuclear power, following the oil crisis of 1973.\n\nGiscard d'Estaing was committed to the European ideal and developed a close relationship with Germany's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Together they turned their dream of a more integrated Europe into reality.\n\nHis main contribution was the formation of the European Council in 1974 - bringing together the heads of states of all member countries - which, in 1979, pushed forward a European monetary system.\n\nHowever, his domestic reforms worried his more conservative political allies, with Jacques Chirac resigning as prime minister in 1976. His successor, Raymond Barre, introduced a programme of austerity and unemployment began to rise.\n\nThe right won a majority in the 1978 coalition elections and Giscard d'Estaing responded by founding the Union for French Democracy (UDF).\n\nGiscard d'Estaing was heavily criticised for his support of Jean-Bedel Bokassa.\n\nGiscard d'Estaing's popularity began to wane. His standing was not enhanced after he was accused of accepting a gift of diamonds from the self-styled Emperor of the Central African Republic, Jean-Bedel Bokassa.\n\nBokassa's brutal dictatorial regime had received a great deal of support from the French government, with Giscard D'Estaing declaring in 1975 that he was a \"friend and family member\" of Bokassa.\n\nFrance played a major part in Bokassa's lavish coronation ceremony in 1977, which cost more than the annual gross domestic product of the impoverished country.\n\nIn 1979, the French satirical magazine, Le Canard enchaîné, alleged that Giscard d'Estaing had received the diamonds in 1973, when he was finance minister.\n\nHis initial explanation that he had sold them and given the proceeds to a number of charities was undermined when one of the alleged recipients, the Red Cross, denied having received any funds.\n\nGiscard d'Estaing lost the 1981 presidential election to Francois Mitterrand. He defeated Jacques Chirac in the first round of voting, but Chirac's failure to call on his supporters to support Giscard d'Estaing in the second round widened the gulf between the former allies.\n\nSubsequently, he based himself in his political heartland - the Auvergne region of central France - delivering regular pronouncements to newspapers and on television about the state of the nation.\n\nHis national standing sank so low that he became known as Monsieur Ex in Parisian political circles.\n\nHe lost the 1981 presidential election to his socialist rival Francois Mitterrand\n\nHis hopes of becoming prime minister under Mitterrand in 1986 were dashed and he refused to support either right-wing candidate in the 1988 presidential elections.\n\nBetween 1989 and 1993, he served as a member of the European Parliament and seemed destined to end his days in political obscurity.\n\nBut, in 2002, he returned to the limelight when he was chosen to head up the convention tasked with drawing up a constitution for the European Union\n\nHis selection for the job was the result of intensive lobbying by French President Jacques Chirac, who is said to have insisted on it at the EU's summit in the Belgian town of Laeken in December 2001.\n\nMany criticised the choice of a man in his late 70s for a job designed to bring the EU closer to the people, and especially the young.\n\nThere was also criticism over Giscard d'Estaing's reported demands for a salary in excess of €20,000 per month, plus expenses. He is said to have asked for a luxury suite of rooms in a Brussels hotel for a year and for a handpicked private staff.\n\nHowever, he denied that he was being greedy. \"It is simply that things should be comfortable,\" he told Le Monde newspaper.\n\nIn 2004, European heads of state signed a European Constitution that was based primarily on the work carried out by Giscard d'Estaing's convention.\n\nHis somewhat aloof nature did not endear him to ordinary people\n\nA year later, and to Giscard d'Estaing's profound embarrassment, the constitution was roundly rejected by the French people. He later complained that \"the rejection of the Constitutional treaty by voters in France was a mistake that should be corrected\".\n\nIn 2005, he and his brother purchased the castle of Estaing in the French district of Aveyron, which had previously been owned by Admiral d'Estaing. Giscard d'Estaing's family had no direct connection with the deceased naval officer and there was much criticism that he was attempting to buy his way into the nobility.\n\nIn 2009, he published a novel about a relationship between a fictional French president and the fictional Princess of Cardiff. It led to speculation that it was based on a relationship between Giscard d'Estaing and Diana, Princess of Wales, although he eventually poured cold water on those suggestions.\n\nEarlier this year, he was accused of groping a German reporter during a 2018 interview - charges he denied.\n\nValery Giscard d'Estaing was something of an enigma. Intellectually gifted, he lacked the common touch and never became popular with the French people.\n\nHis single-minded approach to greater European integration was not to everyone's taste and his aloof nature meant he often fell out with his allies.\n\nBitterly disappointed that Britain decided to leave the European Union in 2016, he described it as a \"backward step\". But the enthusiastic architect of European unity was, by now, in his nineties. He felt, he said, inclined to take the long view.\n\n\"We functioned without Britain during the first years of the European Union,\" he said, with a Gallic shrug. \"So we will rediscover a situation that we have already known.\"", "Four people have died following a large explosion at a waste water treatment works near Bristol.\n\nFirefighters were called to Wessex Water's premises in Avonmouth, Bristol, at about 11:20 GMT.\n\nThree of the people who died worked for the firm and the other was a contractor.\n\nCh Insp Mark Runacres of Avon and Somerset Police told reporters an investigation was under way into the \"tragic incident.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nUnpaid carers should have the Covid-19 vaccine at the same time as health and social care workers, a charity said.\n\nCarers Wales warned 680,000 carers in Wales would be \"really disappointed\" not to be among those prioritised for the approved Pfizer/BioNTech jab.\n\nIt wants Wales to follow Scotland in prioritising unpaid carers for the jab.\n\nThe Welsh Government said the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation (JCVI) would \"probably\" announce an acceleration of vaccines for carers.\n\nThe UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use on Wednesday.\n\nThe jab offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness and the Welsh Government hopes the first vaccines will be given within seven to 14 days.\n\nPriority groups include health and social care workers and over-80s while everyone aged over 50 will be offered the vaccine in the coming months.\n\nBeth Evans, policy manager for Carers Wales, said unpaid carers felt undervalued and under-recognised, despite having \"sacrificed so much\" to keep loved ones safe.\n\nShe said the charity's research showed unpaid carers saved the NHS and statutory services £33m every day in Wales.\n\n\"Within all Welsh Government policies and everything else, [it says] carers should be treated on an equal basis and actually respected,\" Ms Evans added.\n\n\"As an organisation, we're really disappointed that carers are not at the top of the first tranche of the Covid vaccines coming out.\"\n\nShe said receiving the vaccine would enable carers to take a break from their roles without the fear of transmitting the disease.\n\nWill unpaid carers such as Matthew Williams be among the first for the vaccine?\n\nMatthew and Lisa Williams are full-time carers in Swansea for their nine-year-old son Macsen who has a rare genetic disorder and suffers multiple daily seizures.\n\nMr Williams, 39, has a heart condition which he thinks might mean he meets the criteria for vaccination as a clinically vulnerable person.\n\nBut he fears his wife might not get it until the vaccine is rolled out to the wider population.\n\n\"We feel we're a group that's missing completely from the whole schedule of who will have this and when,\" he said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will the vaccine work and who gets it first?\n\n\"They're not giving the vaccine to children - understandably. But to keep Macsen safe, everyone around him needs to be vaccinated - us, carers, everyone in school - and that would enable him to go back to school and some kind of normal life.\n\n\"But we don't know if there are any plans for vaccinating home carers like us at the moment.\n\n\"We fear it'll be a case of 'computer says no, you don't fit the criteria'.\"\n\nMacsen attends Ysgol Crug Glas special school in Swansea, but has not been since February due to his vulnerability.\n\n\"Macs loves school but he's missed so much of it,\" said Mr Williams.\n\n\"Anything about carers always seems to relate to adult carers - they don't consider carers of children and how it impacts on us.\n\n\"What are their plans for parents of vulnerable children who won't themselves be vaccinated?\n\n\"We're not saying we should be the first priority - it's right that they look at older people and care homes first - but we don't think we should be last.\"\n\nDr Gill Richardson, chairwoman of the Welsh Government's Covid-19 vaccine programme board, said unpaid carers were extremely important not just to the people they care for, but society in general.\n\n\"This is something the JCVI is acutely aware of and probably they'll be making announcements about carers and about them being accelerated so they wouldn't have to wait for their particular age group to be called.\n\n\"So expect further announcements on that and others.\"", "The number of people in hospital with coronavirus has more than doubled since early November\n\nRecord-high Covid infections and hospitalisations have been reported in the US, with fears they will not slow in the run-up to Christmas.\n\nThe number of people in hospital passed 100,000 for the first time, a figure that has doubled since early November.\n\nNew cases rose by a record 195,695 on Wednesday, and the daily death toll of 2,733 was close to a new high.\n\nThe city of Los Angeles has reacted to an unprecedented surge there by ordering residents to stay at home.\n\nNationwide, infections have now surpassed 14 million, with more than 274,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.\n\nFigures have continued to soar in recent weeks, with around a million new infections reported every week in November. - equivalent to 99 every minute.\n\nIn response to surging numbers, US authorities have warned that the country's healthcare system faces an unprecedented strain this winter.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\n\"The reality is that December, January and February are going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation,\" said Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).\n\nCalifornia, Texas and Florida - the three most populous US states - are among the worst-affected areas of the country, and have each registered more than one million cases.\n\nCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday issued a stay-at-home order for much of his state, saying he was pulling an \"emergency brake\" as the virus surge threatens to overwhelm hospitals. Regions with less than 15% intensive care capacity - including Southern California and the Sacramento area - will be on lockdown for at least three weeks.\n\nIn the city of Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an emergency order for residents to stay home with immediate affect, following an unprecedented surge of infections. \"It's time to cancel everything. If it isn't essential, don't do it,\" Mr Garcetti said.\n\nA similar order is already in place in Los Angeles county - the current epicentre of America's outbreak - where some hospitals are already approaching full capacity. Authorities reported 5,987 cases on Tuesday, bringing the county's total to 414,185.\n\nUS officials have said they expect infection numbers to continue rising over the next few days because many people travelled over the Thanksgiving holiday, ignoring government advice.\"Travel volume was high over Thanksgiving,\" said Cindy Friedman, chief of the travellers' health branch at the CDC.\n\n\"Even if only a small percentage of those people were carrying the disease and passed it on to other people, that can translate into hundreds of thousands of additional infections.\"\n\nThe CDC has urged people to refrain from travel over Christmas.\n\nBut the public health body has also relaxed its guidelines for how long people should quarantine after coming into contact with an infected person - shortening it from 14 days to between seven and 10.\n\nAlthough the number of deaths is still rising, one set of brighter figures is that of deaths in relation to infections.\n\nThe CDC says the share of cases resulting in death fell from 6.7% in April to 1.9% in September, reflecting that health workers are now more successful in treating the disease.\n\nUS regulators will discuss approvals for two coronavirus vaccines this month\n\nUS regulators are expected to meet on 10 December to discuss emergency approval for a vaccine developed by Moderna. They will meet again on 17 December to address another one made by Pfizer, which was approved this week in the UK.\n\nFederal officials at the CDC have agreed that the nation's 21 million healthcare workers should be prioritised, as well the three million elderly Americans living in long-term care homes. But there is less consensus on how states should distribute it to other groups.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Five challenges of distributing a Covid-19 vaccine around the world.\n\nThere are also concerns regarding how many Americans are willing to get vaccinated. A recent Gallup poll found that 58% said they would be willing, although this is up from a low of 50% in September.\n\nMeanwhile, on Wednesday top Democratic lawmakers signalled support for a $908bn (£677bn) coronavirus relief framework - a major concession following months of deadlock with Republicans over policy disagreements.\n\nExact details of the framework have yet to be publicly disclosed, but it broadly includes funding for state and local governments, unemployment benefits, small businesses and other areas of the economy impacted by the outbreak.\n• None 'Stay home,' says US mayor at Mexico beach resort", "The airline carried 40 millions passengers in the last financial year 2019-20\n\nBudget airline Wizz Air UK is to create 40 jobs with a permanent base at Cardiff Airport.\n\nThe airline will service nine routes from the airport across Europe and seasonal flights to Egypt.\n\nIt comes as a major boost for the airport following the loss of Flybe, which collapsed in March.\n\nTransport Minister Ken Skates said: \"This is a positive step for the airport to emerge from the impact of Covid-19.\"\n\nCardiff Airport will become the airline's fourth base in the UK, following Luton, Gatwick and Doncaster Sheffield.\n\nThe move will also indirectly create 250 further jobs in the supply chain, the airline said.\n\nIt is to launch nine new routes to resorts such as Alicante, Faro and Tenerife as well as seasonal routes during the summer to Corfu and Palma de Mallorca as well as Lanzarote and Sharm El Sheikh during the winter.\n\nManaging Director Owain Jones said: \"This reflects Wizz Air's continued commitment to serving the UK market and generating economic growth, as we create local jobs, stimulate the tourism and hospitality industries and deliver on our promise of providing affordable, direct flights to exciting holiday destinations.\"\n\nThe budget airline said it will increase the annual capacity of Cardiff Airport by over 350,000 seats\n\nThe crisis in the global aviation industry caused by the coronavirus pandemic has seen job losses across Wales.\n\nSpencer Birns, Cardiff Airport's interim chief executive, said the new arrival was \"fantastic news for Wales\".\n\nHe added: \"We know many people living in Wales are craving a well-deserved holiday after such a challenging year and these new flights will give so many more opportunities for holidays to be planned now that will give us all something to look forward to for next year.\"\n\nRussell George MS, Welsh Conservative transport spokesman, welcomed the news as a \"shot in the arm\" for the sector.\n\n\"State-owned Cardiff Airport is by no means out of the woods yet, but this might be a step on a long road to recovery,\" he said.\n\nIt's been a turbulent year for Cardiff Airport, losing Flybe in March just as the Covid pandemic struck, making to difficult to find a replacement carrier.\n\nIts terminal was closed due to travel restrictions, which cost the Welsh government owned airport £2 million a month.\n\nBosses and ministers will hope this new carrier, delivering new routes and 40 new jobs is a sign of better days ahead.\n\nPassenger numbers have been largely decimated by the pandemic but Wizz Air UK means a boost of 350,000 seats for travellers a year.", "EU negotiator Michel Barnier has been in London since face-to-face talks resumed\n\nThe prospect of a breakthrough in post-Brexit trade negotiations between the UK and EU is \"receding\", according to a senior UK government source.\n\nThey told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg that the EU team were \"bringing new elements into the negotiation\" at the \"eleventh hour\".\n\nBut the source said a breakthrough was \"still possible in the next few days\".\n\nTalks were continuing into the night in London. Current trading rules expire on 31 December.\n\nBoth sides are urgently seeking compromises in key areas, including fishing rights and competition rules.\n\nAn EU source told the BBC's political editor that talks were \"extremely sluggish\" around the so-called level playing field for competition rules and standards.\n\nBut another source from Brussels said there were \"never any surprises or new demands from the EU side\".\n\nLaura Kuenssberg said both sides were suggesting to her that the real sticking point was over how those rules would be policed.\n\nThe UK and EU have been locked in talks since March to determine their future relations once the UK's Brexit transition period ends in less than four weeks' time.\n\nThe BBC's political editor said: \"The stumbling blocks certainly aren't new, but the sense on the UK side is that talks have gone backwards 24 hours\".\n\nShe added that there were \"still real problems to solve\".\n\nEarlier, Ireland's foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney told Irish broadcaster RTE that talks were \"at the very end\".\n\nSpeaking ahead of Brexit meetings in Paris with his French counterpart on Thursday, he said efforts were under way to close negotiations \"in the next few days\".\n\nBoris Johnson has said the UK remains \"absolutely committed\" to \"getting a deal if we can\".\n\nSpeaking on Wednesday, the prime minister said the EU side \"know what the UK bottom line is,\" as talks continued in what is seen as a crucial week.\n\nFace-to-face talks between negotiators have been ongoing since the weekend after a week-long pause.\n\nThe EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, is expected to return to Brussels on Friday to brief the bloc on the state of play, but Laura Kuenssberg said he may come straight back to join the four new negotiators who arrived on Thursday night.\n\nTo do business with each other from January, the UK and the EU agree there will have to be some shared rules.\n\nIt's called the level playing field, if you want to use the jargon, and you can read about it in all the detail you want here.\n\nBut again and again, the two sides have clashed over who should be in charge of the rules and, particularly, what happens if things go wrong.\n\nLate on Wednesday, there were signs that a deal was nearly concluded.\n\nBut after another day of talks on Thursday, just before 19:00 GMT, things seemed to take a turn for the worse.\n\nIt's true that both sides want a deal. It's also true that both sides can see the shape of a possible deal.\n\nBut when there is so much at stake, taking it for granted that it will happen is quite an assumption to make.\n\nRead more from Laura here.\n\nOn Thursday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told reporters: \"If the choice is a deal or no deal, then a deal is obviously in the national interest.\"\n\nHe said he was \"consulting across the Labour Party\" on whether the party's MPs should back a deal if it comes to a vote in the Commons, and would decide after examining the contents of the deal.\n\nHe denied Labour was split over the issue, after reports he was planning to ask his MPs to vote in favour but some shadow cabinet members want to abstain.\n\n\"We've pulled together incredibly over the last few months through difficult decisions, and we'll do so on this decision again,\" he added.\n\nThe government has not confirmed how it intends to ratify a deal in Parliament.\n\nBut the UK's chief negotiator Lord David Frost has said he assumed MPs would have to approve a law to implement \"at least some elements\" of a deal.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe negotiations are continuing ahead of a politically sensitive moment next week, when a controversial piece of Brexit legislation returns to the Commons.\n\nThe Internal Market Bill, which would allow ministers to override sections of the UK's withdrawal agreement, will come back before MPs next Monday.\n\nThe publication of the bill in September sent shockwaves through the talks, and led to the EU Commission beginning legal proceedings against the UK.\n\nBut on Thursday, Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said the government intends to reinsert contentious clauses taken out of the bill by the House of Lords.\n\nThe PM's spokesman added the bill was a \"legal safety net\" to protect the UK internal market, in case talks about detailed arrangements for the Irish border break down.\n\nOn Wednesday, MPs are also set to vote on a new taxation bill that will reportedly contain similar powers to override the withdrawal agreement over the issues of customs and VAT.\n\nEU leaders are due to meet next Thursday in Brussels for a scheduled summit.", "Irish airline Ryanair has placed an order for 75 more Boeing 737 Max aircraft as the plane is set to return to the skies after two fatal crashes.\n\nRyanair had already agreed to buy 135 jets. The extra planes take the list value of the order to $22bn (£16.3bn).\n\nThe US Federal Aviation Administration recently certified the Boeing 737 Max for a return to service after it had been grounded since March 2019.\n\nRyanair said it would take delivery of the planes early next year.\n\nThe European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is yet to give the Boeing 737 Max the go-ahead to return to service.\n\nEASA is in charge of re-certification for EU member states, as well as the UK.\n\nIf Boeing wanted to appoint a new chief salesman, it should just call in Ryanair's boss Michael O'Leary.\n\nThe 737 Max, he said, was a wonderful aircraft. A game-changer. More efficient than older planes. More environmentally friendly. Passengers would love it.\n\nExcept he didn't call it the 737 Max. He repeatedly referred to the \"737 8200\".\n\nA sly rebranding exercise? Not according to Mr O'Leary. The plane was brilliant, and whatever you called it, passengers would want to fly on it.\n\nBoeing's more world-weary Dave Calhoun also insisted there was no rebranding going on.\n\nAnd yet... his company was once heartily proud of the Max, and liked to flaunt the new name at every opportunity. Today, he was eager to downplay it as just another run-of-the-mill member of the 737 family.\n\nBoeing was forced to take the 737 Max out of service following two crashes within five months of each other, which together killed 346 people.\n\nIts clearance to fly again comes after Boeing implemented a series of modifications including updating flight control software, revising crew procedures and rerouting internal wiring.\n\nAt a news conference in Washington to announce the deal, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary described the 737 Max as \"a fabulous aircraft\".\n\nBoeing's chief executive, David Calhoun, said it was \"the beginning of the fulfilment of a more robust order book\".\n\nNeither side disclosed the exact price that Ryanair will pay for the planes, but the airline will benefit from what the firms described as a \"modest\" discount on the cost.\n\nMr Calhoun said Boeing did not expect to have to slash prices to bring back customers.\n\n\"We believe strongly in the recovery and therefore we will stay patient,\" Mr Calhoun said. \"We don't feel a need to discount our way into the marketplace.\"\n\nMick Ryan, a married father of two, died when a Boeing 737 Max crashed in Ethiopia last year\n\nNews of the deal was greeted with dismay by Naoise Ryan, of Cork in Ireland, whose husband Mick Ryan died when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 - a 737 Max - crashed in March 2019.\n\n\"Ryanair's purchase of the Max is an endorsement of Boeing's disregard of safety and human life. Like Boeing, they are prepared to gamble with people's lives in order to sell cheap flights on 'bargain-binned' planes,\" she said.\n\n\"It is horrific that Boeing can once again profit from this dangerous plane while still hiding documents and have not been held to account for the deaths of 346 people. Boeing's attitude and dismissiveness should give everyone pause before ever boarding a Max.\"\n• None Boeing's 737 Max wins approval to fly in the US", "Immigration Enforcement broke into a block of flats in north-west London to detain a 36-year-old British Syrian man\n\nA suspected people-smuggling gang accused of bringing hundreds of people to the UK in small boats has been broken up, the Home Office says.\n\nA 36-year-old British Syrian man was detained at his flat in north-west London on Thursday morning, bringing the total number of arrests to 14.\n\nThe group is alleged to have helped more than 600 people cross the Channel in May alone.\n\nAbout 80% of the people they are thought to have smuggled were Syrian.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel, who watched the raid being carried out, said she had \"repeatedly and unapologetically\" pointed out that smuggling people by illegal means put lives at risk.\n\n\"We have seen people die this year in the Channel,\" she said. \"It is absolutely right that we do everything, we use all the tools we have from a law enforcement perspective, to go after them.\"\n\nThe rest of the group were arrested in raids in London and Sheffield over several months.\n\nChannel crossings by migrants increased sharply from April, with more than 8,200 people making the journey in small boats so far in 2020, compared to 1,844 last year and 299 in 2018.\n\nMost claim asylum on arrival in the UK, but the overall numbers doing so have fallen in 2020 as the pandemic has meant other routes - by road and air - have been less accessible.\n\nCampaigners say asylum seekers - most of whom have fled places such as Iran, Iraq and Syria before making the Channel crossing - have no choice but to enter the UK illegally, as it is not possible to apply for asylum outside the country and there are no safe and legal routes.\n\nPriti Patel said French authorities were successfully preventing crossings in small boats\n\nThe home secretary praised the French authorities for taking stronger action to prevent boats from departing, saying that on one day when 20 people made it across, more than 200 had been stopped from leaving the beaches of Normandy.\n\nThese interventions have contributed to a 65% fall in the number of crossings on days when the sea is calm, the Home Office said. The number of crossings peaked at 1,868 for the month of September.\n\n\"They have actually been going into the waters to stop boats from listing and sinking to save lives and it's absolutely the right thing to do,\" Ms Patel said. \"These routes are dangerous. Lives have been put at risk.\"\n\nBoth the French and UK governments were committed to making this route \"unviable\", she said. \"We want to cut this route completely and we will stop at nothing to try and do that.\"\n\nShe said people should seek asylum in the first safe country they can get to, adding that \"European member states are safe countries\".\n\nAt the raid attended by the home secretary and the media, one 36-year-old man was arrested\n\nUnder a new agreement with France which began at the weekend, the UK is paying £28m towards doubling the number of police officers on beaches and on surveillance technology such as drones, radar and cameras.\n\nMs Patel said when the Brexit transition period ends in January, the UK government will negotiate agreements with individual EU countries such as France to return people who could have claimed asylum earlier in their journeys through Europe.\n\n\"We will start negotiating bilaterally, country by country, and we are already making that very, very clear to EU member states. Bilateral relations matter,\" she said.\n\nExisting agreements on returning asylum seekers will expire with the Brexit transition period and negotiations with the EU have so far failed to produce an agreement.", "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nThe Premier League and English Football League have agreed a £250m rescue package to help ease the financial challenge faced by EFL clubs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThe EFL will be assisted in getting a £200m loan for Championship clubs.\n\nA £50m grant has been agreed for League One and Two clubs.\n\nEFL chairman Rick Parry said it was a \"welcome, tangible commitment to the professional game at a time when it has needed it most\".\n\nHow will it work?\n\nThe Premier League will pay up to £15m to help the EFL secure a £200m loan which it will then lend to Championship clubs interest free.\n\nLoans are capped at £8.33m per club and must be repaid by June 2024.\n\nThe £50m rescue package for Leagues One and Two is split into two parts - £30m will be paid to the 48 clubs as a grant based on missed gate receipts from the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.\n• None League One clubs will receive a minimum payment of £375,000\n• None League Two clubs will receive a minimum payment of £250,000\n• None The remaining £15m will be distributed using a lost gate revenue share calculation\n\nA further £20m monitored grant will be provided and clubs can apply based on need. A joint Premier League and EFL panel will determine club eligibility.\n\nClubs receiving a monitored grant will be subject to restrictions with respect to transfer spend and player wages.\n\n\"Our over-arching aim throughout this process has been to ensure that all EFL clubs survive the financial impact of the pandemic,\" said Parry.\n\n\"I am pleased that we have now reached a resolution on behalf of our clubs and, as we have maintained throughout, this will provide much-needed support and clarity following months of uncertainty.\"\n\nPremier League chief executive Richard Masters said: \"The Premier League is a huge supporter of the football pyramid and is well aware of the important role clubs play in their communities. Our commitment is that no EFL club need go out of business due to Covid-19.\n\n\"We are very pleased to have reached this agreement and we stand together with the EFL in our commitment to protect all clubs in these unprecedented times.\"\n\nHow did we get here?\n\nSince March, football has been played behind closed doors until restrictions were lifted in some areas of England this week, meaning clubs have missed out on vital matchday revenue.\n\nIn October, EFL clubs rejected the Premier League's proposed £50m rescue package for League One and Two clubs, saying it \"falls some way short\" of the required amount.\n\nTop-flight clubs made the offer after deciding not to pursue Project Big Picture.\n\nBut in November, clubs \"agreed in principle\" for those in League One and Two to receive the package from the Premier League.\n\nThe agreement came two days after after a parliamentary committee heard that 10 EFL clubs were struggling to pay wages.\n\nThe EFL board approved the deal on Thursday before Premier League shareholders then gave their final approval to the agreement.\n\n\"I warmly welcome this deal between the Premier League and the EFL which provides up to £250m support to help clubs through Covid,\" said culture secretary Oliver Dowden.\n\n\"Fans are starting to return and we look forward to building on this as soon as it's safe.\n\n\"With a £250m support package for men's elite football and £300m government funding for women's football, the National League and other major spectator sports, we have fuel in the tank to get clubs and sports through this.\"\n\nJulian Knight MP, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said he welcomed the rescue package but criticised the delay in agreeing the deal, adding: \"This fiasco is evidence of a lack of accountability within football's governance structure.\"\n\nAmid an unprecedented financial crisis after nine months without gate receipts, this will come as a major relief to many cash-strapped clubs in Leagues One and Two, and to the government, which had been applying pressure on the Premier League to do more to support the rest of the game ever since it was allowed to resume last season.\n\nWith no money given to professional men's football in the government's recent £300m bailout, and several clubs facing ruin, the fear was that the league structure faced collapse if a deal was not agreed, so after the return of fans for the first time in nine months this week, this news represents another positive step.\n\nSome will note that given the billions of pounds the top-flight clubs generate from TV deals, it can easily afford a contribution of £65m, and could have done more to help their counterparts on whom they often rely for talent. Others will question how Championship clubs will be able to pay back the millions they are now able to borrow.\n\nBut at a time when Premier League clubs are also losing significant amounts as a result of Covid, persuading them to give away vast sums was never going to be simple. Many in the game have questioned why football clubs should be expected to help poorer businesses in a way not seen in other industries.\n\nOthers, however, will welcome a hugely significant agreement after months of unedifying deadlock between leagues and politicians that has done little for the reputation of the sport.\n\nA number of Premier League managers have complained about being restricted to using three substitutes, saying the number should be raised to five, in line with all major European leagues, Uefa club competitions and the EFL.\n\nLiverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said last week that on a recent manager's call, 15 top-flight bosses were in favour of a change, with only five against - enough to get it passed.\n\nHowever, with two votes having already gone against the proposal, the Premier League did not put the matter up for debate at Thursday's shareholders' meeting and no club put it forward, so the rule will remain as it is until at least the next meeting.\n• None Fast-living, expensive exploits and fallouts await in this hit new drama\n• None The former president on his cautious optimism for the future and more", "There will be no extension to Scotland's school Christmas holidays, the country's education secretary has confirmed.\n\nTalks had been held about potentially shutting all schools on 18 December and reopening them again on 11 January.\n\nBut there had been concern about the impact on teaching time and the difficulties it could cause parents.\n\nThe EIS, Scotland's largest teaching union, said the decision not to extend the holidays would anger many teachers.\n\nAnd it accused the government of \"once again showing a complete disregard for the concerns and welfare of teachers\".\n\nThe union had wanted schools to move to remote learning in the final week of term to ensure senior staff did not find themselves having to deal with Covid outbreaks during the holidays.\n\nThis would also have minimised the risk of staff, pupils and parents having Christmas ruined by infections, the union had argued.\n\nHoliday dates in Scotland vary between different council areas, with many schools due to finish on 22 or 23 December before returning between 5 and 7 January.\n\nA memo that was leaked to the Daily Record newspaper last week suggested that the government was considering a national extension to the holidays.\n\nIt would have seen schools either remaining closed or introducing remote learning for a temporary period.\n\nThe proposal was designed to limit the spread of Covid after families get together for Christmas.\n\nMr Swinney said the health advice he had been given suggested that pupils would be safer in school\n\nOpposition parties had accused the government of \"dithering\" over the decision, which they said was causing uncertainty for pupils, staff and parents.\n\nIn a letter to the Scottish Parliament's education committee on Thursday morning, Education Secretary John Swinney said: \"I have reached the decision not to make any changes to the planned Christmas and new year holiday dates\".\n\nMr Swinney said there had been a \"range of views\" when the proposal was discussed at the Education Recovery Group, which includes councils, teaching unions and other organisations.\n\nHe added: \"The public health advice that I received is to keep schools open as planned as the controlled school environment is more preferable to social mixing outside of school if schools are closed early.\n\n\"In addition, vulnerable children may be at greater risk if they are out of school for an extended period.\"\n\nMr Swinney also said he had taken into account the need to provide childcare for key workers, and the \"significant difficulties\" an extension to the holidays could cause for working parents.\n\nAnd he said the advice he had received continued to be that there is no evidence that schools and early learning settings are driving transmission of the virus, and that there is \"no clear rationale for disrupting children's education.\"\n\nMr Swinney is facing calls to cancel next year's Higher and Advanced Higher exams\n\nMr Swinney also confirmed that there would be a staggered return for university students after the holidays, and that students would not be returning in the \"congested period\" directly after Christmas and new year.\n\nHe said he was still in discussions on the precise nature of the return and that he would set out the details as soon as possible.\n\nMeanwhile, the Scottish Greens have repeated their call for the government to cancel Higher and Advanced Higher exams next year and replace them with a \"robust system of continuous assessment\".\n\nThe government has already cancelled next year's National 5s, with a final decision on whether or not to have Higher and Advanced Higher exams due to be made by the February break.\n\nThe party's co-leader Patrick Harvie said it was clear that the academic year was being severely disrupted, and highlighted the case of a pupil who has already had to self-isolate three times yet faces prelim exams early next year.\n\nHe added: \"It's long past time the first minister gave teachers and young people the clarity they need and accepted that Higher and Advanced Higher exams cannot go ahead in the coming year.\"\n\nFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament on Thursday that the government was considering \"very, very carefully\" whether the exams should go ahead, and appeared to suggest a decision could be made sooner than February.", "Hugh Keays-Byrne appeared in Mad Max and Fury Road - the 2015 re-boot\n\nTributes have been paid to Mad Max star Hugh Keays-Byrne, who has died aged 73.\n\nThe late actor played the villain Toecutter, opposite Mel Gibson, in the 1979 post-apocalyptic, dystopian action movie.\n\nBritish filmmaker Brian Trenchard-Smith confirmed on Facebook that he had died on Tuesday.\n\nCharlize Theron, who appeared with him in the fourth instalment and 2015 re-boot, Fury Road, said he would be \"deeply missed\".\n\n\"It's amazing you were able to play an evil warlord so well cause you were such a kind, beautiful soul,\" Theron posted online.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Charlize Theron This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nKeays-Byrne was born in India to British parents and moved to England as a child.\n\nA production of A Midsummer Night's Dream took him to Australia in 1973, where he settled.\n\nAfter appearing in the original Mad Max, which was made Down Under, director George Miller brought him back for Fury Road, where he played the antagonist Immortan Joe.\n\nIn a 2015 interview with The Independent, he said he had been \"pleasantly surprised\" to get the call again.\n\nAnd explained that while his original character, Toecutter, had been a member of an \"oppressed nomadic minority\", Immortan Joe was \"a renaissance man\".\n\n\"He's simply trying to bring order into an apocalyptic world\" said Keays-Byrne.\n\nTrenchard-Smith, who directed him in the 1975 action film, The Man From Hong Kong, called him \"a fine actor and a good friend\".\n\n\"Hugh had a generous heart, offering a helping hand to people in need, or a place to stay to a homeless teenager,\" he posted.\n\n\"He cared about social justice and preserving the environment long before these issues became fashionable.\"\n\nHe added: \"His life was governed by his sense of the oneness of humanity. We will miss his example and his friendship.\"\n\nThe stars of Mad Max: Fury Road turned out for its Hollywood Premiere in 2015\n\nKeays-Byrne also appeared in the 1974 biker movie Stone and the 1986 drama, For Love Alone.\n\nThe Guardian's movie critic Luke Buckmaster described him as an actor \"of visceral, wall-rattling force and underrated talent\".\n\n\"Every role he took was a revelation,\" he wrote.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Sending live animals abroad for slaughter and fattening will be banned in England and Wales under new plans.\n\nEnvironment Secretary George Eustice said the ban could be in force by the end of 2021 in a post-Brexit break from EU trade rules.\n\nThe RSPCA welcomed the move, saying it would be \"a landmark achievement for animal welfare\".\n\nBut the National Farmers Union is calling for improvements to export rules, rather than an outright ban.\n\nThe government is launching an eight-week consultation on the plan - which includes measures to cut the amount of time animals spend in trucks within the UK.\n\nA package of reforms is then expected to come to Parliament next summer.\n\nCurrent EU trading rules allow for animals to be transported abroad for slaughter.\n\nOne local authority in Kent tried to ban the exports in 2012 after a lorry full of lame sheep was found at the local port and the animals had to be put down.\n\nBut the High Court overturned the ban, saying it was a breach of EU free trade rules.\n\nOnly a few thousand of the millions of animals bred for meat in the UK end up being shipped to Europe for slaughter.\n\nBut the government said now the UK has left the EU - and will stop following its rules after the post-Brexit transition period ends on 31 December - a ban can be introduced.\n\nIts consultation will also look at further elements of animal welfare in transport, such as reducing maximum journey times, giving animals more space and headroom during transport, and stricter rules on transporting animals in extreme temperatures or by sea.\n\nAfter months of taking a battering on issues like food standards in future trade deals - chlorinated chicken and the like - here is a strong push from the government on animal welfare issues.\n\nAn outright ban of this kind on live animal exports is stronger than some animal welfare experts had expected the government to propose - although one MP who's campaigned on this issue for years (and was delighted) told me he didn't care how the practice ended, just that it did.\n\nAnnouncing the measure just weeks before the transition period ends sends a strong signal.\n\nThe government has long maintained that exporting live animals was a practice which could be ended as a result of Brexit - a good example of where leaving the EU would bring benefits.\n\nNo surprise then that it is keen to deliver on it fully.\n\nBut included in this consultation are some measures which will limit how far animals can travel within the UK, and it could well be that those measures prove a bumpier ride for the government.\n\nThe Conservative Party made the pledge to ban live animal exports in its election manifesto.\n\nThere had been fears a ban may not be possible under global trade rules, but ministers are confident its plans are inline with them.\n\nMr Eustice said the government had \"struck the right balance\" with its plan, saying it would \"remove the trade that most people are concerned about - predominantly the export of lambs for slaughter to continental Europe - but would enable high value breeding stock still to be traded, as they are usually transported in very good conditions\".\n\nThe move has the support of the RSPCA, which has campaigned on the issue for more than 50 years.\n\nThe charity's chief executive officer, Chris Sherwood, said: \"There is absolutely no reasonable justification to subject an animal to an unnecessarily stressful journey abroad simply for them to be fattened for slaughter.\n\n\"Ending live exports for slaughter and further fattening would be a landmark achievement for animal welfare.\"\n\nBut the NFU is instead calling for improvements to export regulations.\n\nThe union's livestock board chairman, Richard Findlay, said: \"The NFU has developed a solution to raise the standards for live exports for slaughter.\n\n\"We believe that an assurance scheme which goes beyond the current regulation would be best to ensure all animals travel in the best possible conditions and that they arrive at the approved and final destination in the best possible health.\"\n\nHe added: \"Significant regulatory changes could potentially have a massive impact on the UK food supply chain.\"\n\nHowever, the chief policy adviser for campaign group Compassion in World Farming, Peter Stevenson, urged farmers not to oppose the plans.\n\nInstead he called on the industry to \"recognise that this is an important part of moving forward to a high welfare future\".", "Students have been taking Covid tests this week ahead of leaving for Christmas\n\nStudents will have staggered starting dates for returning to universities in England after Christmas - with some not back until 7 February.\n\nThe government's plan will mean students taking hands-on courses such as medicine or performing arts returning from 4 to 18 January.\n\nOther subjects would be taught online at the start of term, with students back between 25 January and 7 February.\n\nStudents are being promised Covid tests when they return next term.\n\nIt means some students heading home in the next few days will not be in university again for nine weeks.\n\nThe National Union of Students said students would still have to pay rent on \"properties they are being told not to live in\".\n\nThe plan, to avoid a surge of students and the risk of spreading coronavirus, will see a staggered return for students over five weeks in the new year - with most courses starting online before a return to in-person teaching.\n\nThe first students returning will be for practical courses which are difficult to teach solely online - which will include medicine, nursing and dentistry; sciences which need to use laboratories; or music, dance and drama.\n\nCourses are going to be online at the start of next term for many students\n\nThose starting later will include subjects such as English literature, history and maths.\n\nStudents will be offered two lateral-flow Covid tests when they arrive back - similar to the process for their departure.\n\n\"This plan will enable a safer return for all students,\" Universities Minister Michelle Donelan said, who also announced a £20m student hardship fund.\n\nThe UCU lecturers' union, which has called for teaching to be online to avoid the spread of infection, said the plan for a delayed start to in-person teaching was a \"step forward\".\n\nVanessa Wilson, leader of the University Alliance group, welcomed the \"clarity\" about next term - and also the recognition that campus facilities would have to be kept open for students not going home at Christmas.\n\nEmma Hardy, Labour's shadow universities minister, said \"the delay in providing this guidance has caused huge, unnecessary stress for students and universities\".\n\nThe arrangements have been announced on the eve of students being able to return home for Christmas - with the \"travel window\" for students opening on Thursday.\n\nLouis will be part of the logistical challenge to get students home this week\n\nLouis Chambers, a first year studying geology at the University of Hull, will be among the students heading home this week.\n\nHIs parents are coming to take him back to Norfolk - and the university is running a system of one-hour slots for students to be collected, which he says will mean \"not so many leaving at once\".\n\n\"It will be a relief to get back home,\" he says, as he has been able to see his family only once this term, because of Covid restrictions.\n\nBut he thinks the Covid testing and \"travel window\" have been uncomplicated so far - and he has enjoyed his first term.\n\nAnd many students will already have left. Out of the six in Louis's flat, he says, three have already gone home.\n\nThe \"window\" for students to travel home begins on Thursday\n\nUniversity of Hull student services director Anji Gardiner has been organising the staggered departures through the Christmas \"travel window\".\n\nAs well as slots for those being collected by car - which run from 07:00 to 20:00 - there are coaches being laid on and a booking system for the limited capacity on trains, with the numbers travelling spread out across the week.\n\n\"We want to keep it safe - we didn't want a logjam of people trying to get home,\" Dr Gardiner says.\n\nThe mass Covid testing of students began in universities on Monday - with temporary testing centres set up in sports halls and in rooms on campus.\n\nBefore leaving for Christmas, students have been encouraged to have two tests three days apart - and to travel within 24 hours of receiving a second negative test result.\n\nThe \"travel window\", in which students are expected to move out of university, will run from 3 to 9 December.\n\nIn England, about 1.2 million students will be travelling from a university to a home address in another part of the country, including:\n\nUniversities UK welcomed the plans for more testing for students when they returned after Christmas.\n\n\"The high demand for tests from students shows they understand the important role testing can play in keeping themselves and their communities safe,\" said a spokesman.", "The international vaccine supply chain has been targeted by cyber-espionage, according to IBM.\n\nThe company says it tracked a campaign aimed at the delivery \"cold chain\" used to keep vaccines at the right temperature during transportation.\n\nThe attackers' identity is unclear - but IBM said the sophistication of their methods indicated a nation state.\n\nIt follows warnings from governments - including the UK's - of countries targeting aspects of vaccine research.\n\nIBM says it believes the campaign started in September 2020.\n\nIt says phishing emails were sent out across six countries, which targeted organisations linked to the Cold Chain Equipment Optimisation Platform (CCEOP) of Gavi, the international vaccine alliance.\n\nGavi's partners include the World Health Organization, Unicef, the World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They help distribute vaccines around the world to some of the poorest regions.\n\nFor example, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine - which was not the specific target of this campaign - will need to be kept at a temperature of about -70C as it is moved about.\n\nThe attackers impersonated a business executive from a legitimate Chinese company involved in CCEOP's supply cold chain to make it more likely the targets would engage with the email.\n\nThey then sent phishing emails to organisations that provided transportation, which contained malicious code and asked for people's log in credentials.\n\nThat could have allowed them to understand the infrastructure that governments intended to use to distribute vaccines.\n\n\"Advanced insight into the purchase and movement of a vaccine that can impact life and the global economy is likely a high-value and high-priority nation-state target,\" IBM says.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Five challenges of distributing a Covid-19 vaccine around the world.\n\nIBM says the campaign was uncovered by a security team it set up at the start of the pandemic to track down Covid-19 cyber-threats.\n\n\"The precision targeting and nature of the specific targeted organisations potentially point to nation-state activity,\" the US company said.\n\n\"Without a clear path to a [pay]out, cyber-criminals are unlikely to devote the time and resources required to execute such a calculated operation.\"\n\nIBM says it has notified those targeted as well as law-enforcement authorities.\n\nIn July, the UK warned Russian intelligence had targeted UK vaccine research, including at Oxford.\n\nThe US also warned of Chinese hacking, while, more recently, Microsoft said it had seen North Korean and Russian hackers targeting vaccine research.\n\nOfficials suggested the activity so far had been about intelligence gathering rather than disruption of any research.", "Madeleine McCann was three when she went missing in 2007\n\nScotland Yard is still treating Madeleine McCann as a missing person, the Met Commissioner has said, despite the belief of German prosecutors that she is dead.\n\nDame Cressida Dick said the force was working with German investigators but had not seen all of their evidence.\n\nMadeleine disappeared in 2007 aged three on holiday in Portugal.\n\nProsecutors previously said they have evidence a German child sex offender named as Christian B killed her.\n\nBut although Christian B, 43, was identified as a suspect in June, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said the evidence is not strong enough to charge him.\n\nSuspects' surnames are not usually revealed in Germany for privacy reasons.\n\nDame Cressida said that the Met's position had not changed since the summer, when the force said its investigation - Operation Grange - remained a missing person inquiry as there is no \"definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead\".\n\nShe said a small team of Met Police investigators continued to work \"very closely\" with police in Germany and Portugal.\n\n\"We will continue until the time that it is right, either because much more light has been thrown on this or somebody has been brought to justice,\" she said.\n\n\"Or if we feel we have exhausted all possible opportunities. We're not at any of those stages at the moment, and the team continues.\"\n\nDespite the close co-operation, she said she did not expect \"every single piece of material to be shared with us\".\n\n\"I'm sure they're sharing the relevant things at the relevant times with us,\" Dame Cressida said.\n\nMadeleine, from Rothley in Leicestershire, went missing from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on 3 May 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.\n\nOfficial records show Christian B has 17 previous convictions, including for rape and sexual abuse of children\n\nChristian B is currently serving a prison sentence for drug offences in Germany and lost an appeal last month against a further seven-year sentence for rape.\n\nHe attacked a 72-year-old American woman in 2005 in the same area from where Madeleine disappeared about 18 months later.\n\nPolice believe he was regularly living in this part of Portugal between 1997 and 2007, staying in a camper van at the time he is suspected of abducting Madeleine.", "Four people have died following an explosion at a waste water treatment works in Bristol, police have confirmed.\n\nFirefighters were called to Wessex Water's premises in Avonmouth, Bristol, at about 11:20 GMT.\n\nEmergency services are leading a rescue operation. The blast is thought to have involved a chemical tank, police said.\n\nChief Inspector Mark Runacres told a press conference at the scene three employees of Wessex Water and one contractor died in the incident.\n\n“Emergency services were called at approximately 11.20am to reports of a large explosion involving one of the chemical tanks at the site off Kings Weston Lane,” he said.\n\n“The fire service led the rescue operation but sadly, despite the best efforts of all those involved, we can confirm there have been four fatalities. This includes three employees of Wessex Water and one contractor.\n\n“Specially trained officers have this afternoon made contact with each of the families of those individuals and informed them of the sad news.\n\n“This is a tragic incident and our thoughts and sympathies go out to them.”", "Radio 1 has announced its guest presenters for the festive period.\n\nFrom Boxing Day until New Year's Day, 33 new faces will take over the airwaves in the station's second guest-presenter takeover.\n\nThe station put the call out for DJs and presenters in October.\n\n\"I can't wait to hear our latest batch of presenters on air over the festive period, and I look forward to seeing what 2021 has in store for them all,\" says Head of Radio 1 Aled Haydn Jones.\n\nMany of the selected presenters have taken an unconventional route to their first slot on Radio 1, including Will Kirk from Sheffield, whose day job is in marketing.\n\nWill Kirk was diagnosed with hearing loss when he was seven months old\n\nWill, 22, has severe-to-profound hearing loss in both ears and wears hearing aids - he will be Radio 1's first deaf or hard-of-hearing DJ.\n\n\"I got my first hearing aid at 11 months old. It's something I've always known, that's always been a part of me.\n\n\"I like to make a good joke because I can't change it so I might as well make people laugh about it.\"\n\nIn terms of music, there are \"a few hiccups\", Will admits, such as headphones.\n\nHe says there's lots of experimenting to try and get into the best position.\n\n\"Even now, the solutions I've got aren't perfect, but you have to keep trying to find new things and new ways of doing things.\"\n\nWill hopes to be able to inspire people by presenting on Radio 1.\n\n\"To come up and have DJing as a hobby when you are deaf just seems like a ridiculous combination - but just go for it.\"\n\nHe adds there's always ways to work around it.\n\n\"I'm sure anybody that's disabled will say you can find a way to get things done and don't let anything pull you down - including yourself. Don't pull yourself down about anything, just go out there and do it.\"\n\nJevanni Letford, from East London, qualified as a lawyer before moving into a career in radio and music - and is now the official tour DJ for KSI.\n\n\"It feels amazing and I am absolutely honoured. Having been DJing for over 10 years and putting in the work, this makes all of the journey to date feel worthwhile,\" the 31-year-old says.\n\nNels will become the first black broadcaster to present the Radio 1 Rock Show\n\nSeveral of the presenters began their journeys in student, local, community or hospital radio, including 24-year-old Nels Hylton, who has previously volunteered at the University of Portsmouth's Pure FM and at community station Transmission Roundhouse.\n\nHe will become the first black presenter to host Radio 1's Rock Show.\n\n\"It's really humbling to be selected as part of Radio 1's Christmas line-up, even more so to be the first black broadcaster to present the Radio 1 Rock Show. I can't wait to host the show and prove that rock music is for everybody,\" he said.\n\nThe first Christmas takeover took place in 2019, with three of the presenters securing roles on Radio 1.\n\nSian Eleri will become the new host of BBC Music Introducing on Radio 1 in January, and Joel Mitchell and Fee Mak will each take a turn at hosting Radio 1's Early Breakfast on Fridays in the new year.\n\nThe initiative has \"proven to be a fantastic springboard,\" Aled adds.", "Up to 99% of Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths could be avoided with the first wave of vaccinations, England's deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam has said.\n\nSpeaking to BBC News, he said that would be possible if everyone on the first priority list took the vaccine and it was highly effective.\n\nHe said it was key to go \"as fast\" and at the \"highest volume\" as possible.\n\nBut he acknowledged there would need to be some flexibility in the list.\n\nOn Wednesday the UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for use.\n\nThe BBC understands that some of the first delivery of the Pfizer vaccine is travelling via the Eurotunnel to the UK on Thursday.\n\nProf Van-Tam, who was taking viewers' questions on the BBC News channel and Radio 5 Live, said that due to technical issues around the vaccine - particularly the need to store it at very low temperatures - it would be difficult to take the vaccine to individual people's homes.\n\nThe order in which people will get the jab is recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and decided by the government.\n\nElderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list, followed by over-80s and health and care staff.\n\nBut because hospitals already have the facilities to store the vaccine at -70C, as required, the very first vaccinations are likely to take place there - for care home staff, NHS staff and patients - so none of the vaccine risks being wasted.\n\nProf Van-Tam told BBC News: \"If we can get through phase one [of the priority list] and it is a highly effective vaccine and there is very, very high up take, then we could in theory take out 99% of hospitalisations and deaths related to Covid 19.\n\n\"That is why the phase one list is what is, that is the primary ambition.\"\n\nProf Van-Tam said the government would need to make further decisions on how to continue with the second part of the programme, while reviewing how the vaccine performs in the coming months.\n\nMeanwhile, Prof Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of the JCVI, said patience was required over the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine.\n\nProf Harnden said the JCVI's \"clear remit was to decide on prioritisation groups\" but it always understood \"there were going to be vaccine product storage, transport and administration constraints\".\n\n\"We have advised in our statement that there is flexibility at an approach to this list according to what was actually feasible and logistical on the ground, so this is not wholly unexpected - but the clear list that we have drawn out is a list of priority in terms of vulnerability,\" he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.\n\nProf Harnden said he understood delays in delivering the vaccine to care homes would be disappointing for residents and their families.\n\nBut he added: \"I think just a very small degree of patience is required because I think we are at the forefront here in the UK.\n\n\"I think the very short-term practical difficulties of getting this out from a storage point of view should not let us all lose sight of the fact that these care home residents and their staff are our utmost priority - and it may well be possible to get the care home staff to be immunised within a local hospital setting,\" he said.\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19.\n\nThe UK has already ordered 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people.\n\nThese will be rolled out as quickly as they can be made by Pfizer in Belgium, with the first load next week and then \"several millions\" throughout December, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.\n\nBut the bulk of the roll-out across the UK will be next year.\n\nAnd it could take until April for all those most at-risk to receive the new vaccine, according to NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens.", "GCSE and A-level students missed time in school and continue to face disruption\n\nExtra measures to \"boost fairness and support students\" will be used for next summer's GCSE and A-level exams in England, ministers have announced.\n\nMore generous grading, advance notice of exam topics and additional papers are promised by the Department for Education to make up for the disruption faced by students during the pandemic.\n\nThose who cannot sit exams due to self-isolation rules will still get a grade.\n\nHeads said it was \"a reasonable package\" of measures for the situation.\n\nThe DfE says it has had \"extensive engagement\" with exams watchdog Ofqual, exam boards and senior leaders across the education sector.\n\nIn extreme cases, where a student misses all their papers, a teacher-assessed grade will be given.\n\nThose young people taking vocational and technical qualifications will also see adaptations to their exams to ensure fairness.\n\nEducation Secretary Gavin Williamson said exams were the best way of measuring performance, and that it was \"so important\" they took place next summer.\n\n\"But this isn't business as usual. I know students are facing unprecedented disruption to their learning.\n\n\"That's why exams will be different next year, taking exceptional steps to ensure they are as fair as possible.\"\n\nMr Williamson later told the BBC that students have had an \"incredibly difficult\" year and he speaks \"as a father\" as well as education secretary.\n\nHe told BBC Breakfast: \"I know as a father of a 16-year-old who is taking GCSEs this year, who's been in a situation where she's had to self-isolate and her friends have, that we have to take extra measures, have to take extra steps, to make sure there's as much fairness for them.\"\n\nHe also told Sky News he could \"absolutely\" give a cast-iron guarantee that exams will not be cancelled next year.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. COVID-19: The students at school in a pandemic\n\nA-level and GCSE students in England were this year given grades estimated by their teachers, in a government u-turn, after exams were cancelled because of the pandemic.\n\nIt followed uproar after about 40% of A-level results were downgraded from students' predicted grades by exams regulator Ofqual, which used an algorithm based on schools' prior marks.\n\nJulia: \"I have lots of worries about GCSEs\"\n\nJulia, a Year 11 GCSE student at Herne Bay High School in Kent, says the learning lost because of Covid-19 has caused a lot of anxiety.\n\n\"I have a lot of worries about GCSEs, because I really feel there's not much being done about the amount of time we missed.\n\n\"I'm especially worried about English and maths because those are a must-have for any sixth form. \"\n\nEdward, also in Year 11, agrees that the disruption for his year group should be recognised.\n\n\"It should be taken into account, everyone should have the same chance as everyone else as we are sitting the same exam.\"\n\nHe says knowing which topics will be coming up will help with revision.\n\n\"That would be extremely helpful so that I know what I should prioritise my time on.\"\n\nJessica Petherick says she feels \"almost forgotten about by the government\"\n\nJessica Petherick, a Year 13 A-level student from Essex, says she feels \"almost forgotten about by the government\".\n\nThe 17-year-old adds: \"It's taken them a long time to come up with a plan, and I feel uncertain about what's going to happen. I know there's a plan, but as everyone knows they've made plenty of u-turns.\"\n\nIn primary schools, Year 6 national tests, known as Sats, will go ahead \"to assist with pupils' transition to secondary schools\" and teacher assessment in English reading, writing and mathematics at Key Stage 1 will remain.\n\nBut the Key Stage 1 tests in reading and maths, and the grammar, punctuation, and spelling tests at Key Stage 1 and 2 will be cancelled for this academic year.\n\nGeoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the measures were \"a reasonable package\" to mitigate the damaging impact of the pandemic and made exams \"as fair as they can be in the circumstances\".\n\nMr Barton said advanced notice of exam topics and exam aids would \"help pupils know where to focus their energies in the time that remains\" before exams take place.\n\n\"It is not perfect - nothing can be given the fact that learning has been so disrupted by coronavirus and that pupils have been affected to vastly different extents.\n\n\"But various options have been discussed exhaustively, and, frankly, schools and colleges just need a decision - the uncertainty has gone on for much too long.\"\n\nIn Wales, A-levels and GCSE exams have been cancelled and Nationals in Scotland have also been cancelled, but Highers and Advanced Highers will be taken, two weeks later than usual.\n\nIn Northern Ireland, GCSEs and A-levels are going ahead, but will start a week later than usual.\n\nThe DfE also announced that school inspections by Ofsted inspectors, which were suspended in March, will not resume until after Easter.\n\nIn the meantime, Ofsted will conduct \"supportive monitoring inspections\" to schools and colleges currently judged to be \"inadequate\" and some that \"require improvement\".\n\nTest and exam results will not be included in school performance tables - instead the tables will be replaced by other information such as attendance information and student destinations.\n\nLabour's shadow education secretary, Kate Green, welcomed the government's announcement but said it had come \"very late\".\n\nShe told ITV's Good Morning Britain: \"We're nearly at the Christmas holidays and students have been very, very anxious ever since September, and teachers uncertain about what they should be preparing their students for.\"\n\nPaul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said the announcement brought some \"much needed relief to school leaders who have been operating in 'emergency mode' for most of this year\".\n\nBut Robin Bevan, headteacher of Southend High School for Boys and National Education Union president, said schools did not yet know how many topics their students would be told about in advance.\n\nHe said: \"Not knowing this until next year means that the students and teachers may now be 'misusing' their time, catching up on content that may be of educational value but isn't required for the exam. It's a form of curriculum bingo.\"", "The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said he was \"thrilled\" with the news and that the vaccine would be rolled out \"from next week\".", "Better Examinations' technology keeps an eye on exam-sitters via their webcams\n\nThe phones began ringing off the hook at Piero Tintori's company Better Examinations back in April.\n\nHis tech business allows tens of thousands of students to remotely sit exams at the same time, with each needing just a laptop, a webcam and an internet connection.\n\nThe firm's software uses machine learning (ML), an advanced form of artificial intelligence, to detect patterns in user behaviour that could indicate attempts to cheat. Its technology can also automatically mark multiple-choice answers and mathematics exams.\n\nIn addition, it checks each exam-sitter's identity using the webcam, to ensure that no-one else is sitting the test for them. The Better Examinations program also temporarily restricts access to the internet, or certain websites and applications on each person's computer.\n\n\"We had 60 organisations from all over the world contact us out of the blue, who wanted to run exams online in May and June,\" says Mr Tintori. \"Everything from universities, to professional organisations, to schools.\"\n\nPiero Tintori says he was even contacted directly by a number of governments\n\nWith the firm's headquarters in Dublin, plus offices in the US, Australia and Poland, it uses Amazon's cloud computing system Amazon Web Services, to allow everything to work online.\n\nMr Tintori says he was also contacted directly by five governments (whom he declines to name), who were keen for school exams to go ahead.\n\nBetter Examinations is just one example of the increased use of ML in response to this year's pandemic, with the technology being used to do work far more quickly than humans, such as marking exam papers.\n\nBut what exactly is ML? It is a method of data analysis, whereby computer algorithms are used to speedily process vast amounts of data, to make predictions, identify patterns and replicate actions that humans do in their day-to-day jobs.\n\nThe use of ML is expected to grow so much over the next four years that its estimated global economic value is expected to rise from $7.3bn (£5.7bn) this year, to $30.6bn in 2024, according to one study.\n\nMachine learning aims to allow computers to be able to make more human-like decisions\n\nGlobal law firm DWF, which helps the in-house legal teams of large corporations, is another business now increasingly using the technology.\n\nIt was approached by a large real estate company that had an \"impossible\" task. The client wanted 10,000 property lease documents, stored on paper and electronically, and in different locations, to be digitalised into a central database.\n\nThis firm also wanted to know the exact terms of each of the leases, to discover new commercial opportunities.\n\n\"Traditionally, you would get paralegals under supervision to plough through the documents. But from a cost point of view it doesn't work, and also it's inconsistent,\" says Mark Qualter, chief executive of DWF's managed services division.\n\nDWF designed an ML system to classify each lease document into categories, identify specific types of details, and then extract data from the document.\n\nDWF's Mark Qualter says that ML technology can be far quicker than using humans to do the same job\n\nThe banking sector is also embracing ML. UK building society Nationwide had asked US computer giant IBM to build an artificial intelligence \"chatbot\" called Arti for it, to help first-time buyers understand how to get a mortgage.\n\nBut when the UK went into its first lockdown in March, and mortgage holidays were announced, the lender was instead inundated with queries about them.\n\nIn just four days, Arti - powered by AI platform IBM Watson - was retrained to answer mortgage holiday questions. The virtual agent also dealt with other questions as Nationwide saw online banking registrations jump by 89%.\n\n\"In just over two months, Arti had responded to more than 10,000 queries, and a further 350 per day since, freeing up hundreds of hours for frontline teams to focus their time handling more complex requests from members,\" says Michael Conway, UK lead for artificial intelligence at IBM Services.\n\n\"Put simply, it allowed Nationwide to focus its resources on those who needed the most help, without ignoring the needs of everyone else.\"\n\nNationwide has seen registrations for online banking jump during the pandemic\n\nMeanwhile, another UK retail bank has been using ML algorithms to identify customers who are showing indications of financial difficulty, so that they can be contacted automatically, and then offered support before matters get out of hand.\n\nThis has been provided to the lender by BJSS, a multinational technology engineering consultancy headquartered in Leeds.\n\nSri Harsha Tharkabhushanam, head of data science for BJSS, says that previously of those in arrears, 30% had got to a severe position where \"there was very little the bank could do for them at that point\".\n\nBut after implementing the ML model, the automated prompts meant fewer people were getting into severe difficulties, with the figure falling to 10%.\n\nBusiness intelligence gathering using AI is also becoming a big deal.\n\nFor instance, a large European pharmaceutical firm, which wants to remain anonymous, wanted to make sure that if there was a new product launched, or start-up bought, by any of their competitors, it knew about it quickly.\n\nNew Tech Economy is a series exploring how technological innovation is set to shape the new emerging economic landscape.\n\nThe company employed Filament AI, a machine-learning software firm in London, to build it a bespoke ML system that could monitor 1,000 websites, 200 story feeds, and roughly 200,000 news articles a day round the clock.\n\nMichael Osborne, a professor of machine learning at Oxford University, says that companies across many industries are now \"desperately trying to get their hands on ML\", as many more things are now being quantified digitally, making it easier to analyse them to gain insights.\n\nMartha White, associate professor of computing science at the University of Alberta in Canada, agrees that the use of ML is growing fast.\n\n\"The combination of more data, and more powerful computers, and a focus on leveraging both has really propelled the field forward,\" she says.\n\n\"The prevalence will continue to grow for a few reasons. Firstly, there is still lots of low-hanging fruit, and the ability to monetise with the existing technology. Secondly, we are going to get better at improving our own decision making, using predictions from machine-learning systems.\"\n\nBut although ML is becoming increasingly popular, there are concerns it has been oversold as a \"magic wand\", and the public's distrust of it is only rising, warns Prof Osborne.\n\n\"ML is not this all-singing, all-dancing solution to our woes,\" he says. \"Instead it's something that delivers value only when working hand-in-hand with humans, and having humans tailor it to their specific needs.\n\n\"ML is powerful, but not a fully general-purpose technology. It needs a lot of careful tweaking to get it to work for any new application.\"", "The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination.\n\nBritain's medicines regulator, the MHRA, says the jab, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness, is safe to be rolled out.\n\nThe first doses are already on their way to the UK, with 800,000 due in the coming days, Pfizer said.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said the NHS will contact people about jabs.\n\nElderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list, followed by over-80s and health and care staff.\n\nBut because hospitals already have the facilities to store the vaccine at -70C, as required, the very first vaccinations are likely to take place there - for care home staff, NHS staff and patients - so none of the vaccine is wasted.\n\nA further 648 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test were recorded in the UK on Wednesday, with another 16,170 cases reported.\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson urged the public not to get \"carried away with over optimism or falling into the naive belief that our struggle is over\".\n\nHe told a Downing Street news conference that, while the \"searchlights of science\" had created a working vaccine, significant logistical challenges remained.\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech jab is the fastest vaccine to go from concept to reality, taking only 10 months to follow the same steps that normally span 10 years.\n\nThe UK has already ordered 40 million doses of the jab - enough to vaccinate 20 million people.\n\nThe doses will be rolled out as quickly as they can be made by Pfizer in Belgium, Mr Hancock said, with the first load next week and then \"several millions\" throughout December.\n\nScottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the first people in Scotland will be immunised on Tuesday.\n\nWelsh Health and Social Care Minister Vaughan Gething said the rollout of the Pfizer jab to care homes would be particularly difficult because of how it needs to be stored.\n\nMr Gething said that it was not possible to transport the Pfizer vaccine to more than 1,000 care homes across Wales.\n\nThe bulk of the rollout across the UK will be next year, Mr Hancock said, adding: \"2020 has been just awful and 2021 is going to be better.\"\n\nThere is a clear priority list for who gets the vaccine first - and care home residents and staff are top of it.\n\nBut operational complexities mean the reality will be somewhat different.\n\nWhen the vaccines arrives, it will be sent straight to major hospitals who have the ultra-cold facilities to store it.\n\nFrom there it can be moved just once - and when it is, it must be kept in batches of 1,000.\n\nThat means sending it out to care homes, where there may be only a few dozen residents in some places, would lead to a huge amount of vaccine being wasted.\n\nBecause of that, the NHS, which is in charge of distributing the vaccine, will run clinics from hospitals at first.\n\nThis will allow NHS and care home staff to get immunised first as well as, perhaps, some of the older age groups who come into hospital.\n\nIt looks like it will not be until much more of the Pfizer vaccine is available or the Oxford University one, which is easier to distribute, is approved that care home residents will be able to get it.\n\nWhile Mr Hancock said that the government does not yet know how many people need to be vaccinated before restrictions can start being lifted, he added: \"I'm confident now, with the news today, that from spring, from Easter onwards, things are going to be better. And we're going to have a summer next year that everybody can enjoy.\"\n\nMr Johnson added: \"It's the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again.\"\n\nDowning Street press secretary Allegra Stratton said Mr Johnson would not rule out receiving the vaccine jab live on television, though she said he would not want to take a jab meant for someone more vulnerable.\n\nThe free vaccine will not be compulsory and there will be three ways of vaccinating people across the UK:\n\nAround 50 hospitals are on stand-by and vaccination centres - in venues such as conference centres or sports stadiums - are being set up now.\n\nIt is thought the vaccination network could start delivering more than one million doses a week once enough doses are available.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Health Secretary Matt Hancock: \"This is a day to remember and, frankly, a year to forget\"\n\nNHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said the health service was preparing for \"the largest-scale vaccination campaign in our country's history\".\n\nBut experts said people still need to remain vigilant and follow rules to stop the virus spreading - including with social distancing, face masks and self-isolation.\n\n\"We can't lower our guard yet,\" said the government's chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty.\n\nThe order in which people will get the jab is recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations and decided by the government.\n\nMass immunisation of everyone over 50, as well as younger people with pre-existing health conditions, can happen as more stocks become available in 2021.\n\nPfizer confirmed that the first stocks of the vaccine will be for the NHS, which will give them out for free based on clinical need. People in the UK will not be able to bypass this and buy the vaccine privately to jump the queue.\n\nThe vaccine is given as two injections, 21 days apart, with the second dose being a booster. Immunity begins to kick in after the first dose but reaches its full effect seven days after the second dose.\n\nMost of the side effects are very mild, similar to the side effects after any other vaccine and usually last for a day or so, said Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed, the chairman of the Commission on Human Medicine expert working group.\n\nThe vaccine was 95% effective for all groups in the trials, including elderly people, he said.\n\nThe head of the MHRA, Dr June Raine, said that - despite the speed of approval - no corners have been cut.\n\nBatches of the vaccine will be tested in labs \"so that every single vaccine that goes out meets the same high standards of safety\", she said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dr June Raine from the MHRA: \"The safety of the public will always come first\"\n\nGiving the analogy of climbing a mountain, she said: \"If you're climbing a mountain, you prepare and prepare. We started that in June. By the time the interim results became available on 10 November we were at base camp.\n\n\"And then when we got the final analysis we were ready for that last sprint that takes us to today.\"\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech was the first vaccine to publish positive early results from final stages of testing.\n\nIt is a new type called an mRNA vaccine that uses a tiny fragment of genetic code from the pandemic virus to teach the body how to fight Covid-19 and build immunity.\n\nAn mRNA vaccine has never been approved for use in humans before, although people have received them in clinical trials.\n\nBecause the vaccine must be stored at around -70C, it will be transported in special boxes of up to 5,000 doses, packed in dry ice.\n\nOnce delivered, it can be kept for up to five days in a fridge. And once out of the fridge it needs to be used within six hours.\n\nOther coronavirus vaccines are also being developed:\n\nThe World Health Organization's Dr David Nabarro said the Pfizer vaccine would not replace the other measures \"for a number of months, even a year, so we'll have to keep doing physical distancing, mask wearing, hygiene and isolating ourselves when we're sick\".\n\nHe told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme \"the vaccine will only start to dent the size of the pandemic somewhat later in the year\".\n\nThe pace has been breathtaking.\n\nFrom an unknown virus at the start of the year to a vaccine approved by the regulator and ready to use in early December is an unprecedented timescale.\n\nAt the Downing Street briefing, the MHRA's chief executive said it was like climbing Everest, with preparations starting in June and a team working \"night and day\" assessing early data and reaching \"base camp\" by early November when Pfizer/BioNtech published the trial results.\n\nAt the same time, the MHRA was adamant that the process had been robust with safety considerations paramount. A rapid emergency approval process was used by the UK regulator.\n\nThe European Medicines Agency is taking longer to reach a view and there has been some sniping from European politicians arguing their processes are more reliable and authoritative.\n\nBut the MHRA is an internationally respected independent watchdog and for now those about to receive the first jabs will rely on its ruling.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "A large explosion has taken place at a waste treatment works in Avonmouth, Bristol.\n\nAvon Fire & Rescue have said there are 'multiple casualties' so far.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will I travel home in time for Christmas?\n\nThe mass Covid testing of students, so they can go home safely for the Christmas break, is starting at many universities across the UK.\n\nUniversities are opening temporary testing centres where hundreds of thousands of students will be checked for Covid this week before they leave.\n\nStudents have been asked to take two tests, three days apart.\n\nIf they test negative, many students will leave university in the \"travel window\" starting from 3 December.\n\nBut testing is voluntary and it will not be available in all universities.\n\nThe UCU lecturers' union has warned about the reliability of the testing plans and says there could be \"chaos\".\n\nInshaal says students in Bradford are concerned about bringing back the virus to elderly relatives\n\nCaleb Shaw, a journalism student at the University of the West of England in Bristol, is taking a test on Monday.\n\n\"I know I'm less likely to get seriously ill with it,\" he says, but he wants to get a test to protect his family.\n\n\"If I get a test then I can make sure I don't bring it home to them. It would be stupid to not take advantage of it,\" Caleb says.\n\nThe university is using its sports centre as a temporary testing site until 6 December with 90 staff and students helping with the testing process.\n\nInshaal Ahmad, a students' union sabbatical officer at the University of Bradford, says most students seem supportive of the testing.\n\nA student taking a swab sample at the University of St Andrews\n\nHe says many students at Bradford live in multi-generational households, including older relatives, and want to \"be on the safe side\" and not risk bringing the virus back from university.\n\nTesting at Bradford will continue until 6 December and as with other universities, booking slots for tests will also be a way of staggering the times when students can leave, within the \"travel window\" that ends on 9 December.\n\nThe mass testing is intended to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus as students travel away from their term-time addresses.\n\nSports halls and rooms on campus are being converted into testing centres, where students will take \"lateral flow\" swab tests, which will provide results within an hour, with the outcome sent by email or text.\n\nCaleb will be among the students taking the Covid test on Monday\n\nTwo tests are recommended to increase accuracy - and students will be expected to travel soon after a second negative result, with students in England and Wales encouraged to leave within 24 hours.\n\nIf students get a positive result, they will have to take another test to confirm - and if they have coronavirus they will have to stay and self-isolate.\n\nMost universities are providing testing - 130 \"expressed an interest\" in taking part in the scheme, according to the Department for Health and Social Care.\n\nBut the National Union of Students says there should be capacity for all students who want a test to get one before Christmas.\n\n\"We are not aware of how universities will decide which students are tested if testing is oversubscribed,\" says the NUS.\n\nThe UCU lecturers' union says the approach to testing has been rushed and confused and the last-minute arrangements will be a \"recipe for chaos\".\n\nThe union said it had \"grave concerns\" and \"testing so many people and following necessary safety measures would be an extremely challenging operation\".\n\nBut not all universities in Northern Ireland are planning to offer testing.\n\n\"Testing will help to break the line of transmission amongst students, especially when they are infected but are not aware of it,\" said Professor Steve West, vice chancellor at the University of the West of England.\n\nBradford's vice chancellor, Professor Shirley Congdon, told students the tests \"offer extra assurance to you, your families, friends and community\".", "Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton have volunteered to have their Covid-19 vaccinations be publicly televised.\n\nThe trio of two Democrats and one Republican said they would get the jab once it has been approved by regulators and recommended by US health officials.\n\nThe move is intended to boost public confidence in the safety and efficacy of coronavirus vaccines.\n\nPolls indicate large swathes of the US public are reluctant to get the jab.\n\nA Gallup poll - conducted in October before the results of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine trials were released - showed roughly six in 10 Americans would be willing to take the vaccine, up from a low of 50% in September.\n\nNo vaccination has yet been approved in the US, but government regulators will be examining Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines in the coming weeks.\n\n\"I promise you that when it's been made for people who are less at risk, I will be taking it,\" Mr Obama said in a SiriusXM radio interview on Wednesday.\n\n\"I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science, and what I don't trust is getting Covid.\"\n\nRepresentatives for Mr Bush and Mr Clinton told CNN that the former presidents - who have banded together in the past - pledged to take the vaccine \"as soon as available\" to them and urged all Americans to do the same.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Not everyone is a fan of injections\n\nPublic health experts have said mass inoculation against the virus could result in herd immunity, an essential step in curbing the spread of the disease.\n\nThe public vaccinations may play into a broader awareness campaign once a vaccine is formally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.\n\nIn the UK - where the Pfizer vaccine has already been approved - the press secretary to Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suggested he may take the vaccine live on TV to convince others to get it too.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nShoppers have returned to the High Street in England, after non-essential retailers opened their doors at the end of a four-week national lockdown.\n\nA three-tiered system of Covid-19 rules has now come into force in the nation, with gyms and businesses such as hairdressers also able to open.\n\nMore than 55 million people are in the strictest two tiers and cannot mix indoors with those in other households.\n\nThe government said it would \"safeguard the gains made during the past month\".\n\nAt a Downing Street briefing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he accepted that the tiered system was \"tough\", but insisted that regional restrictions and mass testing were the way to \"keep the virus under control\".\n\nHe said he hoped that places would be able \"to come down the tiers\" before Easter, while stressing that the tier restrictions would continue to be a \"very important\" part of battling coronavirus.\n\nThere were queues outside stores across England early on Wednesday as shoppers returned to High Street giants such as Primark.\n\nAnd people arrived promptly to take advantage of a stock clearance sale at Debenhams department store from 07:00 GMT.\n\nSome retailers are extending their trading hours to try to recoup the loss in sales over the lockdown.\n\nFootfall at UK shops was up by 64.5% compared to last week, but down by 24.1% on the same day last year, according to analyst Springboard.\n\nQueues were seen outside Primark in Birmingham early on Wednesday\n\nA swimmer takes to the water at London's Serpentine Swimming Club as outdoor swimming pools are also allowed to reopen\n\nJordan Roberts, 19, was among a dozen people queuing outside Selfridges in London's Oxford Street before the department store opened its doors - and shoppers were welcomed by store workers dressed as elves on roller skates.\n\nShe said she was there to do her Christmas shopping, adding: \"It feels more enjoyable being in a store and things run out of stock online.\"\n\nAnother London shopper, Tamara Rass, 44, said she hit the stores early as she expected they would be busy.\n\n\"For me, it's a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel and getting back to normality,\" she said.\n\n\"There are things in store that I can't get online and I like to treat my daughter once a month.\"\n\nElsewhere, there were also reports of \"steady\" footfall in England's town centres.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Helen Mole This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Peter Gordon This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nTransport for London said 760,000 journeys were made on the London Underground network on Wednesday from the start of service until 10:00 GMT - up 14% on last week, but only 31% of normal demand.\n\nThere were 970,000 bus journeys made. This was up 8% on last week and 57% of pre-pandemic levels.\n\nBritish Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said businesses were looking forward to welcoming back customers, with billions lost in sales during the lockdown, adding \"every purchase we make is a retailer helped, a job protected and a local community supported\".\n\nThe government has also announced that people living in care homes in England will be able to have visits from family and friends by Christmas, if the visitors test negative for coronavirus.\n\nAnd later on Wednesday about 10,000 fans will be allowed into six games in the English Football League for the first time, other than a few pilot games, since March.\n\nEngland's new tiered system was backed by MPs in a Commons vote just hours before it came into effect, despite 55 Tories voting against PM Boris Johnson's plan.\n\nThe latest restrictions are tougher than the previous tier system that was in place before the lockdown was introduced on 5 November.\n\nUnder the system every area of the country is in one of three tiers - medium (one), high (two) and very high (three) - with the vast majority of the population in the higher two tiers.\n\nIn tier two, people are not allowed to mix with anyone outside their household or support bubble indoors, although they can socialise in groups of up to six outdoors.\n\nAnd in tier three, people must also not mix with anyone outside their household or support bubble indoors, or at most outdoor venues.\n\nOn Wednesday, a further 16,170 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK, while a further 648 deaths were reported within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nHow are the new tiers affecting you? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch the moment Ranjitsinh Disale found out he'd been named the world's most exceptional teacher\n\nA teacher from a village school in India, praised for improving the education of girls, has won this year's Global Teacher Prize.\n\nBut Ranjitsinh Disale has already given away half of the $1m (£750,000) - sharing it with runners-up in the competition.\n\nA special Covid Hero prize was won by Jamie Frost, a UK teacher who ran a free maths tuition website.\n\nThe winners were announced by Stephen Fry in an online ceremony.\n\nMr Disale, who teaches in the Zilla Parishad Primary School, in the drought-prone village of Paritewadi, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, was named the world's most exceptional teacher, ahead of 12,000 other nominations.\n\n\"In this hard time, teachers are giving their best to make sure every student has access to their birthright of a good education,\" said Mr Disale, aged 32.\n\nThe prize was announced online by Stephen Fry\n\nTeachers \"always believe in giving and sharing\", he said, and as such was sharing half his prize money among the other teachers shortlisted in the top 10.\n\nMr Disale was praised by the competition's judges for his work to ensure disadvantaged girls went to school and achieved high results - rather than missing out on school and facing early marriage.\n\nHe also provides online science lessons for pupils in 83 countries and runs an international project building connections between young people in conflict zones.\n\nThe Indian teacher runs a project to bring people together across conflict zones\n\n\"The Covid pandemic has dealt a severe blow to education systems around the world… but it is the contribution of teachers during these difficult times that is making the difference,\" said Stefania Giannini, assistant director general of Unesco, a partner in the competition.\n\nSunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation that set up the teachers' competition, said \"by sharing the prize you teach the world the importance of giving\".\n\nMr Disale's decision to split the prize will mean over £40,000 each for runners-up from countries including Italy, Brazil, Vietnam, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea, the US and also Jamie Frost from the UK.\n\nJamie Frost's maths website helped pupils studying at home in the lockdown\n\nMr Frost, a teacher from Tiffin School in Kingston-upon-Thames, was commended for his work running the DrFrostMaths online learning platform, which helped families with children trying to study from home during the lockdowns.\n\nHe also won a special one-off Covid Hero prize worth about £34,000.\n\nThe maths teacher warned that the pandemic had widened educational inequalities.\n\n\"That is why I have spent every hour I could adapting my free online learning platform to help students across the globe shut out of their classrooms,\" said Mr Frost.\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson praised the \"creativity and ingenuity\" of Mr Frost and the winning teachers.\n\n\"Although I'm speaking to you in difficult and sometimes heartbreaking circumstances, it's right that we take time to recognise the enormous contribution and sacrifice of the world's teachers during this pandemic,\" said Mr Johnson.\n\nNext year there will also be a prize for students, run with the US educational technology firm, Chegg.", "Struggling engineering firm BiFab has been put into administration after failing to secure any new contracts.\n\nIt comes despite the firm, which has plants in Fife and Lewis, receiving £52m from the Scottish government.\n\nHowever, BiFab said it had been unable to compete with yards owned or subsidised by governments in and outside the EU.\n\nThe firm had been seen as the best hope for offshore wind manufacturing in Scotland.\n\nIn a statement, the firm said: \"BiFab can confirm that the board has agreed to place the company in administration following the Scottish government's decision to remove contract assurances.\n\n\"The company has worked tirelessly to bring jobs into Fife and Lewis with some success.\n\n\"However, the absence of supply chain protections in Scotland and the wider UK have consistently undermined our ability to compete with government-owned and government-supported yards outside and inside the European Union.\n\n\"We would urge the Scottish and UK governments to address these structural challenges as a matter of urgency in order to ensure that the benefits of offshore renewables are shared more widely with communities across the country.\"\n\nThe steel fabrication firm, which has yards in Methil and Burntisland in Fife, and Lewis, was rescued by the Scottish government in 2017 and was acquired by Canada-based JV Driver the following year, with the company believing the Scottish government would be the \"primary financiers\".\n\nHowever, a £2bn deal to manufacture eight wind turbine jackets at its yards in Methil as part of the Neart Na Gaoithe (NnG) project collapsed last month, and the UK and Scottish governments said they had no legal route to provide further financial support to the company.\n\nA joint statement by trade unions GMB Scotland and Unite said BiFab's administration exposed the \"myth of Scotland's renewables revolution as well as a decade of political hypocrisy and failure, in Scotland and the rest of the UK.\"\n\nGMB Scotland secretary Gary Smith and Unite Scotland secretary Pat Rafferty added that the workers and communities dependent on the yards had \"fought so hard for a future\".\n\n\"Shamefully the Scottish government has buried these hopes just in time for Christmas and they have worked together with UK government in doing so,\" they said.\n\n\"A decade on from the promise of a 'Saudi Arabia of renewables' and 28,000 full time jobs in offshore wind manufacturing, we've been left with industrial ruins in Fife and Lewis.\"\n\nEconomy Secretary Fiona Hyslop said the Scottish government had worked for more than three years to support BiFab and remained committed to securing a future for the yards and the workforce.\n\nShe acknowledged that it was \"extremely worrying\" for workers and said the government would continue to do everything possible to support them.\n\nShe added that as a minority shareholder, the Scottish government had been \"exhaustive\" in its considerations of support options and said there was no legal route for either the Scottish or UK governments to provide further financial support.\n\n\"In order to successfully secure and deliver new contracts, BiFab required working capital, the provision of appropriate assurance packages by the shareholders, and plans for investment at the sites,\" she said. \"Despite commitments made at the time of acquisition, this is something the majority shareholder JV Driver was not willing to provide to secure future work.\"\n\nAt First Minister's Questions, Nicola Sturgeon said she \"deeply regretted\" and was \"deeply disappointed\" by the developments.\n\n\"We were not able to legally provide the additional support BiFab was seeking,\" she said. \"Had the majority shareholder been prepared to invest, that may have been different.\"\n\nThe best that can be said of BiFab going bust is that few workers stand to lose their jobs, as the yards have spent three years getting little more than necessary maintenance.\n\nSo not many hurt? Well, this goes much deeper than immediate job losses, and beyond 400-plus jobs that could have come from the contract it won.\n\nThe yards are totemic: they have been a vital sign that Scotland could gain from manufacturing for the green energy revolution. Without factories to build turbines or towers, though they were promised, there's now little prospect for steel fabrication - one product Scots made well for the offshore oil industry. If there was a strategy, it failed, repeatedly.\n\nFor platforms and turbines to be located off the coast of Fife, Angus and Aberdeenshire, it's cheaper to build in Asia, the Middle East and Spain. Scottish yards lacked the government support and subsidy that their rivals get. But that's too easy an excuse. They also lack the scale and efficiency of competitors, which required investment - public, private or both.\n\nSo what's being done about that? We're due to get a new manufacturing strategy from the Scottish government, imminently. The UK government has been talking about industrial strategy, with its focus on the north of England. Both will have a lot of heavy lifting to do if they're to raise the Scottish and UK game in industrial competitiveness.\n\nLast week, BiFab said the Canadian owner had repeatedly offered to offload shares to the government at no cost. It said this would give the Scottish government - which owns a third of the company - more flexibility to back it.\n\nIt said ministers' statements about it had been inaccurate or untruthful and JV Driver had agreed to become involved on the understanding that ministers would provide most of the finance required to win new contracts.\n\nA joint working group has been set up with the UK government to explore how existing policy measures can be used to strengthen the renewables and clean energy supply chain in Scotland.\n\nOn Wednesday, MSPs voted to \"condemn\" the Scottish government's decision to withdraw financial guarantees and to call on them to \"act now to secure the future\" of the yards.\n\nThe motion, which was passed by 61-60, said the government was \"risking Scotland's reputation as a green investment hub\".\n\nSTUC general secretary Roz Foyer said the announcement was the latest stage in a \"sorry saga of government and corporate failure with the victims being workers and their families from Fife to the Islands\".\n\nScottish Greens energy spokesman Mark Ruskell said the news showed a \"major dereliction of the Scottish government's duties on jobs and a green recovery\" and made \"a mockery\" of their claims to have saved BiFab eight months ago.\n\nScottish Labour economy spokesman Alex Rowley said: \"This terrible news will come as a hammer blow to workers across Scotland and exposes the fraud that is the SNP's claims of a renewables revolution.\"\n\nScottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: \"The SNP government's incompetence has left an industrial wasteland. This was a golden opportunity to connect our battle against climate change with jobs in industrial communities across the country, but the government has wasted over £52m creating a couple of hundred temporary jobs.\"", "Education has been \"completely disrupted\" by the sheer scale of Covid absences in some schools in some areas, Ofsted regional bosses have warned.\n\nThe regional directors for North-West England and the West Midlands say the impact of rules around self-isolation has significantly impacted attendance.\n\nThey highlight areas where hundreds of pupils are absent and self-isolating at a time, some again and again.\n\nOfsted says some areas will have seen relatively little impact this term.\n\nThe latest official figures for overall attendance in England show 22% of pupils in secondary schools were absent last Thursday.\n\nThis was the same as the previous week, when figures also showed at least some pupils being sent home in 75% of schools.\n\nThe comments from these regional directors working with schools in hard-hit areas, come days before England's ministers are due to set out plans for public exams in the summer of 2021.\n\nJames McNeillie, who oversees West Midlands for Ofsted, meets regularly with groups of head teachers.\n\nHe said: \"I had one head teacher with schools in Dudley and Sandwell. Across three schools, there were 1,000 pupils self-isolating and 14 members of staff self-isolating.\n\n\"And he told me he had dealt with four Covid cases by 10 in the morning.\n\n\"That's the kind of messages we are getting about the impact on pupils and teachers.\"\n\nAndrew Cook, who overseas North-West England which has had some of the highest Covid rates in the country, said there were significant concerns about attendance in areas around Liverpool. Oldham and Greater Manchester.\n\n\"There are schools where 40% of staff are off - either self-isolating or having tested positive. The huge impact of self-isolation has a significant impact on attendance.\n\n\"Schools are struggling because the number of staff they have had to send home - that impacts their ability to keep schools open.\n\n\"Attendance was fairly stable at the beginning of term but its started to decline,\" he said.\n\nMr Cook added that there was one local authority where the whole of Year 11 (GCSE year) had only been in school for two weeks before half term because they were repeatedly having to isolate as a bubble.\n\nIt would be extremely difficult to keep lessons flowing in such a situation, he said.\n\nHe added that those pupils who were persistently absent - often those who were most vulnerable before the pandemic - were starting to stay away again.\n\nAnd that parental confidence in school safety was often being shaken when cases or suspected cases emerged.\n\nHe added: \"The impact on education is going to be significant. There will be some schools that have been hit hardest and with repeated episodes and that is going to completely disrupt their learning.\"\n\nBut he said schools had worked incredibly hard to provide learning online.\n\nLooking forward to the way public exams are to be held this year, both directors said it had to be fair.\n\nMr McNeillie said: \"Whatever it is that's decided by central government and Ofqual [the exams watchdog] - it has to be something that is fair for all.\"\n\nMr Cook agreed, adding that schools and head teachers were very focussed on exam groups and were trying to support them as much as possible.\n\nBoth directors paid tribute to teaching staff and heads, saying they had been doing an amazing job.\n\nData which I've seen exclusively suggests that even across the north of England some areas are recovering better than other.\n\nSo the proportion of schools with cases is lower in Blackpool at below 30%, than Oldham or Rochdale where it remained above 40% last week.\n\nOther places have suddenly been hit by the impact of the virus, with 16 schools in Kent reported closed recently. All of this makes it much harder to find a way of recognising lost learning for those facing exams.\n\nGeoff Barton, head of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: \"The health secretary yesterday said the national lockdown had helped to bring coronavirus back under control.\n\n\"It will not feel like that in many schools which continue to operate under very difficult circumstances because of the impact of the pandemic.\n\n\"We are particularly concerned about the final week of term when any positive cases will result in many children and staff having to self-isolate over Christmas in line with Covid protocols.\n\n\"We are pressing the government to allow schools to move to partial or full remote learning during that week if they feel this would help address the situation.\"\n\nBut a Department for Education spokesperson said it was a national priority to keep education settings open full-time.\n\nThis was supported by the Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, who has highlighted the damage caused by not being in education to children's learning, development and mental health, he said.\n\n\"Schools, colleges and early years settings across the country have worked extremely hard to remain open, implementing safety measures and scaling up remote education provision for those children who are self-isolating, with approximately 99% of schools open each week since the start of term.\"\n\nHowever, National Association of Head Teachers general secretary Paul Whiteman said pupils and teacher attendance figures was fluctuating massively and head teachers were doing their best to help pupils catch up whilst keeping their schools running.\n\nBut he said they were \"operating largely in the dark\" because the government was dragging its heals on crucial announcements.", "Can the smartphone revolution help us predict what impact new green technology will have?\n\nYou're probably reading this on your phone. If not, take it out your pocket and look at it.\n\nIt's a smartphone, isn't it? Think how often you use it and all the useful things it helps you do. Now, think back. How long since you bought your first smartphone?\n\nIt will be about 10 years, most likely a bit less. Not long. Yet they are now ubiquitous: virtually everyone, everywhere has one and uses it for hours every day.\n\nIt shows how quickly new technology can take off. The original iPhone was only introduced in 2007 and - bizarre as it now seems - it wasn't regarded as revolutionary back then.\n\nCheck out this Forbes magazine cover published nine months after the iPhone was released.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by @mikko This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAnd Forbes wasn't alone. The iPhone was just \"one more entrant into an already very busy space,\" according to the boss of the company that made Blackberrys. Remember them?\n\nNot only have smartphones crushed all other phone technologies, they have upended dozens of other industries too. They've killed the camera and powered the rise of social media and dating apps. They've decimated the traditional taxi industry.\n\nSo what has this got to do with energy?\n\nIt proves an important point about all successful new technologies: it is easy to see why they were so transformative in hindsight, much harder to predict how they will reshape our world in advance.\n\nWhich brings me to green technology - wind turbines, electric vehicles, solar panels and batteries, that kind of thing.\n\nIf you still think adopting these new technologies will be an expensive chore, think again.\n\nGreen tech is at a tipping point where it could take off explosively - just like the smartphone did. And, just like the smartphone, it could bring a revolution in how we do much more than just create energy.\n\nGreen technologies, such as solar, are at a tipping point\n\nSo why did the smartphone do so well?\n\nIts success was down to a unique convergence of technologies. For the first time, touchscreens, batteries, data networks, compact computer chips, micro-sensors and more were cheap, reliable and small enough to make a $600 (£460) smartphone possible.\n\nAnd as demand for smartphones picked up, manufacturers learned how to make those technologies even cheaper and better too.\n\nSomething similar is now happening with green tech.\n\nAfter years of development, it is becoming much cheaper and more effective. The world's best solar power schemes are now the \"cheapest source of electricity in history\", the International Energy Agency (IEA), which analyses energy markets, said this month.\n\n\"Renewable energy is likely to penetrate the energy system more quickly than any fuel ever seen in history,\" predicts Spencer Dale, the chief economist at the oil giant BP.\n\nAnd BP is putting its money where Mr Dale's mouth is. It's pledged to cut its oil and gas production by 40% in the next 10 years, and to plough money into developing its low-carbon business instead.\n\nMeanwhile, Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister, announced a £160m investment that he said would see offshore wind producing more than half of current UK electricity demand by 2030.\n\nThat's right. An investment of just £160m in offshore wind when the new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, in Somerset, is costing at least £22.5 billion.\n\nHow is it so cheap? Because the UK government won't be paying for the new wind turbines, the private sector will.\n\nIn the UK, offshore wind will soon be profitable without subsidy. Indeed, developers may soon have to pay for access to our continental shelf.\n\nThink what that means. You don't need governments offering inducements for companies to build new renewable power, they'll be paying us for the privilege of doing so.\n\nChina has said it will cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2060\n\nBut that is just the beginning. What happens when the world doubles down on cutting carbon?\n\nThe European Union has already signed up to a €1tn-plus green stimulus plan. China says it is on board too.\n\nAt the United Nations' General Assembly meeting in New York this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping made an unconditional commitment that China would cut its carbon emissions to net zero by 2060.\n\nJapan and South Korea both announced a 2050 net zero pledge this week, and if Joe Biden wins the American presidential election, he has similarly ambitious carbon cutting plans.\n\nBoth Biden and the EU have warned they will introduce carbon tariffs to penalise countries that haven't abated emissions selling high-carbon products in their markets.\n\nThat'll be a powerful encouragement for the rest of the world to follow suit. But even if they don't, we'd have America, China and Europe - half of world emissions and more than half of world GDP - doubling down on cutting carbon.\n\nThat means even more investment in wind, solar, batteries, electric cars, electrolysis, carbon capture and storage, and any other green technology you can think of.\n\nJust like with the smartphone, it becomes a virtuous cycle.\n\n\"What we've seen up to now is called a learning curve,\" explains Spencer Dale. \"The more you produce something, the better you get at producing it.\"\n\nAs the amount of solar and wind capacity in the world has doubled and doubled again, the costs have steadily fallen - something documented by the clean tech advocate Ramez Naam.\n\n\"And at the moment there doesn't seem to be any sign that those learning curves are flattening out,\" says Mr Dale.\n\nIf he's right, then costs will continue to fall, making renewables increasingly competitive, which in turn will lead to more investment and more renewable power. You get the idea.\n\nThe big challenge with renewables is what they call in the trade \"intermittency\" - the fact that you don't get any power when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow. It is a big problem. Nobody wants the power to go off.\n\nRethinkX, an American think tank specialising in blue-skies thinking on the future of industries, says we need to change our whole mindset about how we generate power.\n\nWe are used to worrying about the costs of overcapacity - producing more power than is needed. That's because the fuel used to generate power is expensive.\n\nNot so with renewables. Once you've built them, the power they generate from the wind and sun comes virtually free of charge.\n\nRethinkX says this will do to energy what the internet and smartphones have done to data. Thirty years ago there was an inherent physical cost to every newspaper printed or photo taken. Now that everything is digital, the only limit on how much we read or post on Instagram is the number of hours in our day.\n\nRethinkX argues that instead of simply replacing existing fossil fuel plants with wind and solar - and then worrying about the cost of plugging those big intermittency gaps - we should just build more and more and more wind and solar, perhaps several times the capacity of the existing electricity grid.\n\nRemember, the more we build, the cheaper it gets. So long as we spread them over a wide enough area we'll always get some power. And we can plug the few small gaps remaining with batteries or other power plants.\n\nAnd here's the thing. On sunny and windy days we'll have a huge surplus of electricity at pretty much no extra cost.\n\nWhat could you do with huge amounts of cheap power?\n\nYou'll certainly want to use it to make more wind turbines and solar panels. But what about electrolysing water to produce hydrogen that can heat homes, power trucks and ships, or make steel? You could power machines to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.\n\nOr how about a plant to make carbon-neutral aviation fuel from that hydrogen and carbon dioxide? Or a desalination plant to irrigate a desert? RethinkX even suggests the power could be used to mine for cryptocurrencies.\n\nThe point is this: the cost of energy is a key constraint in virtually everything we do. So new industries are likely rise up to make use of this plentiful power.\n\nObviously they'll have to pay something for this bounty and that'll mean the power that boils your kettle and charges your electric car will be cheaper too.\n\nOf course, we are a long way from this utopia. The chances are this vision of unlimited, virtually cost-free energy, may not come to pass - or at least not in the 10-year timeframe they predict.\n\nThe sheer physical challenge of building so much new infrastructure means it will take time to build up the supply chains and raw materials needed, and there may be limits to how much solar and wind some countries can harness.\n\nBut the central point remains: there are powerful forces driving down the cost of renewable technologies that upend the traditional narrative of decarbonisation.\n\nContrary to what we are normally told, switching to low-carbon energy doesn't have to be an onerous obligation that will impoverish us and make life less exciting.\n\nInstead, it could open up a world of new opportunities, new businesses and livelihoods. And what's more, this could all happen quite soon.\n\nSpencer Dale quotes the eminent German economist, Rudi Dornbusch who said: \"In economics, things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.\"\n\nAnd if you don't believe that, just think about all the changes your smartphone has helped bring about in the world.\n\nI've travelled all over the world for the BBC and seen evidence of environmental damage and climate change everywhere. It's the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced. Tackling it means changing how we do virtually everything. We are right to be anxious and afraid at the prospect, but I reckon we should also see this as a thrilling story of exploration, and I'm delighted to have been given the chance of a ringside seat as chief environment correspondent.", "Last updated on .From the section European Football\n\nManchester United's Champions League campaign is hanging in the balance as two goals from Neymar helped Paris St-Germain secure victory at Old Trafford.\n\nMarcus Rashford had cancelled out the Brazilian's early opener with his third goal in four games against the French outfit.\n\nBut Marquinos' excellent second-half finish put the visitors back in front and after United midfielder Fred had been sent off for a foul on Ander Herrera, Neymar tapped home his 38th Champions League goal.\n\nThe result leaves United level with PSG and RB Leipzig on nine points in Group H and knowing they need a draw away to the German side next Tuesday to progress to the last 16.\n• None 'Maybe I should have taken off Fred'\n• None Who needs what to reach Champions League knockout stage?\n\nIn the build-up to the game, PSG boss Thomas Tuchel admitted Rashford had become \"a little bit annoying\".\n\nThe sentiment was perfectly understandable given two seasons ago the England forward scored the injury-time penalty that knocked PSG out, even though they had won the first leg of their last-16 tie 2-0 at Old Trafford.\n\nRashford was also responsible for United's 87th-minute winner in the French capital on matchday one.\n\nSo it is fair to assume Tuchel's view only hardened when Rashford's shot - after Kaylor Navas had pushed away an Anthony Martial effort - completely wrong-footed the keeper and ended up in the bottom corner.\n\nThe goal equalised Neymar's well-taken sixth-minute effort and took Rashford's tally in this season's competition to six, level with the likes of Erling Haaland and former United team-mate Romelu Lukaku.\n\nHad Martial not blazed over when presented with an open goal when the second half was still in its infancy, or had he finished off the rebound when Edinson Cavani's delicate chip came back off the crossbar, rather than blast it into Marquinos, PSG might have had the life sucked out of them.\n\nAs it was, they were the ones building up a head of steam when Ander Herrera's off-target shot was turned into Marquinos' path and he put them back in front.\n\nUnited did push for an equaliser and substitute Paul Pogba came close when he volleyed over from the edge of the area but, with an extra man, PSG always had the edge and after Kylian Mbappe had fired wide, Neymar finished the hosts off.\n\nWith 38 goals he is now two behind Sergio Aguero, who is the second highest South American goalscorer in the competition.\n\nMajor question marks will hang over Solskjaer after this result.\n\nWhile the United boss can legitimately argue the caution that got Fred sent off was debatable - he screamed for a VAR check but they do not intervene on yellow card decisions - he can barely claim the Brazilian did not deserve to be sent off at some point in the game.\n\nThe biggest flashpoint came when he clashed with Leandro Paredes shortly before Rashford's equaliser.\n\nAs the pair faced off, Fred appeared to push his head towards Paredes, who went down clutching his face. Italian referee Daniele Orsati went to the screen to check what had happened but, to Tuchel's disbelief, only issued a yellow card.\n\nWhen the same pair came together again shortly afterwards, Orsati ruled Paredes was the aggressor and cautioned him, even though Fred ended up standing on his opponent.\n\nGiven an angry Neymar went to the referee for a long chat at half-time, after he was pulled away from Scott McTominay, it felt an obvious decision to replace Fred, particularly as Solskjaer had five substitutes at his disposal.\n\nInstead, Fred returned for the second period, leaving his manager to face the consequences, with PSG's official Twitter feed announcing 'finally' as the Brazilian made his way prematurely to the dressing rooms.\n• None The away side have won all four Uefa Champions League matches between Manchester United and Paris St-Germain. Excluding games played at neutral venues, it's the first fixture in the competition's history to see the first four meetings all won by the away side.\n• None Manchester United have now lost more of their eight home games in all competitions this season (4) than they did in 28 matches at Old Trafford last term (3).\n• None Manchester United have lost four of their past seven Champions League home games (W3), as many as in their previous 52 matches beforehand.\n• None PSG have won both of their past two away matches against English opposition in all competitions (both v Man Utd); they had only won one of their first 10 such visits before this (D4 L5).\n• None Both of Manchester United's last two Champions League red cards have come at home to PSG (Pogba the other in February 2019) - their only two such meetings with the French side.\n• None Man Utd's Fred was the 49th different Brazilian player to receive a Champions League red card; only France has had more different players sent off in the competition's history (55).\n• None At 05:45, Neymar's opener for PSG was the earliest Champions League goal conceded by Manchester United since September 2015, when Daniel Caligiuri scored against them after 03:53 for Wolfsburg.\n• None Since his Uefa Champions League debut in 2013, only Cristiano Ronaldo (79), Robert Lewandowski (60) and Lionel Messi (59) have more goals in the competition than PSG's Neymar (38). However, his double was the Brazilian's first goals in his six Champions League matches away to English clubs.\n• None Marcus Rashford has scored more goals in five Uefa Champions League games for Man Utd this season (6) than he managed in 18 appearances in the competition across his two previous seasons, 2017-18 and 2018-19 (5).\n• None Rashford is the first Man Utd player to score in all three of their home games in a single group stage in the Uefa Champions League since Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2004-05. Indeed, he is just the second Englishman to score six Champions League goals in a single group stage for any side, after Harry Kane in both 2017-18 and 2019-20 (six in both).\n\nManchester United travel to West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday (17:30 GMT). That game is set to be the first top-flight match to have fans since March.\n• None Goal! Manchester United 1, Paris Saint Germain 3. Neymar (Paris Saint Germain) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Rafinha.\n• None Substitution, Paris Saint Germain. Idrissa Gueye replaces Abdou Diallo because of an injury.\n• None Attempt missed. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint Germain) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Ander Herrera following a fast break.\n• None Attempt blocked. Harry Maguire (Manchester United) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Alex Telles with a cross.\n• None Attempt saved. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) header from the left side of the six yard box is saved in the top left corner.\n• None Offside, Paris Saint Germain. Mitchel Bakker tries a through ball, but Kylian Mbappé is caught offside. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None Fast-living, expensive exploits and fallouts await in this hit new drama\n• None The former president on his cautious optimism for the future and more", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The couple spoke to BBC Scotland's The Nine about moving to the island\n\nIt is a bold move to set up home in a new place but it takes real bravery to throw your belongings in a van and set out for life on a remote island you have never even visited.\n\nBristol couple Alex Mumford and Buffy Cracknell have dropped everything to start a new adventure living and working in a tiny community on the Isle of Rum, 30 miles off the Scottish mainland.\n\nBack in August the Isle of Rum Community Trust made a call for new residents and the pair were among hundreds who applied.\n\nThis week they finally made it to the place they had only ever googled.\n\nFour days after arriving on the island and mastering the log burner, the couple were still smiling\n\n\"Both of us have always enjoyed being in the middle of nowhere, and when we went away to New Zealand last year we knew it was something we wanted to do long-term and when this came up, we knew this would be something we could enjoy,\" Alex told BBC Scotland's The Nine.\n\n\"Life on Rum will be wet, but there will also be a lot of community life which is something we are really looking forward to,\" said Buffy.\n\n\"Nature, being able to go on long walks, see lots of wildlife and being able to go out the door and walk without having to get into the car.\n\n\"Because its a small community there will be a nice aspect of knowing everyone. In Bristol we didn't get to know people.\"\n\nAlex and Buffy's eco house is in a development of four properties which have all been filled with young families\n\nRum, one of the Small Isles in the Inner Hebrides, has a population of between 30 and 40, depending on the time of year and seasonal workers.\n\nJust two children attend its primary school.\n\nLife on the island is literally \"off-grid\" and small hydro-electric schemes provide power.\n\nFor many years it has been difficult for potential settlers to consider moving there without a job offer and a home to move into.\n\nThe community trust decided to change that by sourcing funding to build four new eco homes with high quality fibre broadband in the village of Kinloch, and then invited people to come and rent them.\n\nThe appeal asked for \"individuals or families keen to fit in to the island way of life\" and people with a trade, a skill or other business which would help diversify and grow the local economy.\n\nFamilies with children were particularly welcome, with the two school pupils keen to make new friends.\n\nMore than 4,000 inquiries came, and 440 serious applications were made.\n\nRum has a population of between 30 and 40 with more people in the summer months, but that has now been boosted with 14 new arrivals\n\nFrom the massive response, four couples were selected, three from England and one from Scotland, with six children between them.\n\nThe project, five years in the making, saw three of the new families move in this week and one more to arrive over the weekend.\n\nSteve Robertson, the island's development officer, said: \"We have six new kids, all under eight which is wonderful. They are all starting to find their feet and things are starting to slot into place.\n\n\"We desperately needed new people to help Rum become a outward-looking, dynamic island and it is great to have these little bright sparks running around.\n\n\"The new young families will play a crucial role in sharing the load in the future of the island.\n\n\"There are challenges - the ferry and the remoteness, but there are lots of positives to living on an island.\"\n\nAlex and Buffy tried to visit but, as they started their journey north, the second English lockdown was called. Their final decision to move was based on a lot of internet research.\n\nAlex said: \"During lockdown we were stuck in the Bristol flat thinking we should be doing more than that. And the opportunity to live somewhere like this, we found it and we just went for it.\n\n\"Life's too short to hold back. Take that step and go for it. If it doesn't work we'll do something else, we have each other. We have put the hard work in and we are coming to it wholeheartedly.\"\n\nJust the general view on way to the local store\n\nThe couple have been on the island for less than a week and tried to be as prepared as they could.\n\nThey arrived with 27 tins of beans and 12 tins of chopped tomatoes.\n\nAlex, a qualified childcare worker, is hoping to work in the school and get involved in a new nursery next year. Buffy will continue her work in content, websites and marketing.\n\nBoth are preparing to turn their hobbies - cooking, baking and knitting - into ways to generate income.\n\nAnd the long-term plan is to boost the school roll.\n\nAlex and Buffy have enjoyed exploring their new home\n\nAlex said: \"I think children - if we are going to have them - it's going to be in a place like this. We are looking at that long term. We hope this is a long-term move, I have flitted about places for too long.\"\n\nBuffy agrees: \"Now we are here the reality has set in - what we need to do. But we know we can do it. We are not prepared for the midges yet but we still have time.\"\n\nAnd she is still in awe at her new surroundings\n\n\"Literally right now there are two stags about 100m away from the window,\" she said.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Williamson: 'We are a much better country' for approving vaccine\n\nThe UK is getting a coronavirus vaccine first because it is a \"much better country\" than France, Belgium and the US, says the education secretary.\n\nSome UK ministers claim Brexit speeded the process up - but Gavin Williamson said it was down to having superior medical experts.\n\nOn Wednesday the UK's medical regulator was the first to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for use.\n\nThe EU said it was \"definitely not in the game of comparing regulators\".\n\nA source close to Mr Williamson said that his intention had been to \"praise the scientific brilliance of the regulator, but he is known to be enthusiastically patriotic and that enthusiasm clearly shone through in what was a broadly light-hearted conversation with the studio host\".\n\nThe Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's decision means the vaccine will start to be rolled out to the most vulnerable people from next week.\n\nPeople will need two doses, three weeks apart, so the vaccination project is expected to take several months to complete.\n\nSpeaking to LBC radio on Thursday, Mr Williamson said: \"I just reckon we've got the very best people in this country and we've obviously got the best medical regulator, much better than the French have, much better than the Belgians have, much better than the Americans have.\n\n\"That doesn't surprise me at all, because we're a much better country than every single one of them.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. BBC's Laura Foster explains the order in which the Covid vaccine will be given\n\nHe said the UK had a \"real competitive advantage, but do you know who it's down to? It's down to those brilliant, brilliant clinicians in the regulator who've made it happen so fast, so our thanks go out to them because by doing what they've done, they're going to have saved lives.\"\n\nBut European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said the MHRA's experts are \"very good\" but \"we are definitely not in the game of comparing regulators across countries, nor on commenting on claims as to who is better\".\n\n\"This is not a football competition, we are talking about the life and health of people,\" he said.\n\nConservative peer Lord Forsyth said it was \"disappointing to see some folk trying to make political capital out of the brilliant vaccine news\".\n\n\"Frankly it's just unseemly and we should just be united in our thanks to those responsible for this breakthrough and the hope it brings to every person on the planet,\" the former Scotland Secretary wrote in a tweet.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Michael Forsyth This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAnd some have expressed concern that the UK approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine too quickly.\n\nDr Anthony Fauci, who is leading the response to the pandemic in the US, told Fox News that the US Food and Drug Administration was being more careful. and suggested the UK's process had been \"rushed\".\n\n\"The way the FDA is, our FDA is doing it, is the correct way,\" Dr Fauci said. \"We really scrutinize the data very carefully to guarantee to the American public that this is a safe and efficacious vaccine.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dr Fauci told the BBC: \"I have a great deal of confidence in what the UK does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint\"\n\nBut he later rowed back on his claims, saying he had a \"great deal of confidence\" in the UK's scientific and regulatory standards and he had not meant to \"imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way\".\n\n\"Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the UK,\" he told the BBC. \"And that's just the reality.\"\n\nBoth the MHRA and the EU have rejected Health Secretary Matt Hancock's claim that Brexit allowed the UK to \"speed up\" doing \"all the same safety checks and the same processes\" as the EU.\n\nThe MHRA's chief executive, Dr June Raine, said on Wednesday that \"we have been able to authorise the supply of this vaccine using provisions under European law, which exist until 1 January\".", "The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall visited the Soho Theatre\n\nThe Prince of Wales has said he is \"praying\" more entertainment venues can reopen soon, after a theatre visit to watch an actress perform in a break from her day job in a supermarket.\n\nPrince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Soho Theatre to show their support for London's arts scene.\n\nSome venues in the capital are now reopening after the latest lockdown.\n\nThe royal couple saw Natasha Marshall perform part of her play Half Breed, still wearing her Morrisons uniform.\n\n\"I've got to go back later, so it was easier to keep it on, I'll be in such a rush,\" Marshall told the prince and the duchess.\n\n\"It's such a pleasure to meet you. The theatre has supported me so much I jumped at the chance to perform today.\"\n\nNatasha Marshall's play Half Breed had a run at the Soho Theatre in 2017\n\nPrince Charles replied: \"That's marvellous, such dedication. I really enjoyed the performance and I am praying all of you can open soon. I wish you every success.\"\n\nSoho Theatre is where Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge began her career, and is the setting for a series of new stand-up comedy specials on Amazon Prime.\n\nPrince Charles and Camilla also visited one of London's most famous music venues, the 100 Club, where acts like the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols and Oasis have performed over the years.\n\nSome gig venues and theatres are beginning to reopen for socially-distanced performances after London went into tier two following the lifting of England's lockdown on Wednesday.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"We're starting to come back!\" – actress Jenny Seagrove told BBC Breakfast she's excited to return to the stage\n\nOne of the first West End plays to open is Love Letters starring Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove, which begins at the Theatre Royal Haymarket later.\n\nThe two-hander had a short run in Windsor before the latest lockdown, when Seagrove said it felt \"so emotional\" to be back on stage.\n\n\"It's just so exciting because it means we're starting to come back,\" she told BBC Breakfast on Thursday.\n\n\"And not just actors and performers and directors, but the make-up girls, the hair girls, the costume people, the technicians - everybody who's just been sitting there for however many months. It feels like a lifetime.\"\n\nPrince Charles and Camilla added their signatures to the 100 Club dressing room's wall\n\nOther West End shows opening this week include a staged concert version of Les Miserables starring Michael Ball, Alfie Boe and Carrie Hope Fletcher; and A Christmas Carol with Brian Conley, Jacqueline Jossa and a 24-piece orchestra.\n\nThis weekend will also see the return of Six the Musical and the opening of Death Drop, which is described as a \"Dragatha Christie murder mystery\", starring drag artist Courtney Act.\n\n\"It's exciting. We have been rehearsing for the last couple of weeks,\" Act told the PA news agency.\n\n\"I know everybody has been locked at home but we have been being nasally penetrated twice a week and temperature checked every day in our little rehearsal bubble.\"\n\nVinegar Strokes and Courtney Act will star in Death Drop at the Garrick Theatre in London\n\nThe production has faced challenges like how to portray a murder on stage while maintaining social distancing.\n\nAct said: \"Murder from 1.5m is challenging. There is a slapping scene where we ask the audience to further suspend their disbelief.\"\n\nFurther planned openings next week include The Play That Goes Wrong, Everybody's Talking About Jamie and Pantoland at the Palladium.\n\nMany theatres in tier two areas are also opening their festive shows, but venues in tier three areas are not allowed to open. Tier three covers many big cities like Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Bristol and Leeds.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Daryl Bunn's family and fiancée have been left devastated by his death, police said\n\nA man who launched an unprovoked attack on a husband-to-be has been convicted of his manslaughter.\n\nDaryl Bunn, 27, was attacked in Maldon, Essex, after a meeting to discuss best man speeches at another friend's wedding.\n\nChelmsford Crown Court heard Sonny Hazell, 25, knocked him to the ground with a single punch, inflicting a traumatic brain injury.\n\nHazell was found guilty of the 29 June 2019 killing after a trial.\n\nMr Bunn had met his friend and fellow best man earlier that afternoon before meeting up with another group at two pubs.\n\nAs the men made their way home they \"became involved in an altercation\" outside a branch of Iceland, the force said.\n\nMr Bunn hit his head on the ground, causing a traumatic brain injury.\n\nHe was airlifted to hospital in Cambridge where he died eight days later.\n\nDet Ch Insp Lee Morton said: \"The case shows that any act of violence can lead to someone being seriously injured and even killed.\n\n\"Daryl Bunn's death was needless and completely avoidable, and his family and fiancée have been left devastated.\n\n\"They have been in court throughout the trial and heard how Daryl did nothing to instigate or provoke the incident that led to him losing his life.\"\n\nMr Bunn's family previously said they had been left \"totally heartbroken\".\n\n\"Everyone who knew him would say what a lovely, beautiful soul he had inside and out, with a heart of gold, and he will be truly missed,\" they said in a statement.\n\nHazell and Jordan Hooper, 24, of Princes Avenue, Southminster were cleared of a grievous bodily harm charge in relation to Mr Bunn's friend, who suffered a broken jaw.\n\nHazell, of Waterside Road, Southminster, near Maldon, is due to be sentenced on 8 January.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Doctors may have made \"do not resuscitate\" decisions on a blanket basis in the first wave of the pandemic, the care watchdog has warned.\n\nThe Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it saw a jump in complaints between March and September.\n\nDo not attempt resuscitation (DNAR) decisions may have been used inappropriately when care services were under extreme pressure, it found.\n\nBlanket use of DNARs was \"totally unacceptable\", an NHS spokeswoman said.\n\nDNAR orders refer to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), so do not cover any other type of treatment someone needs for their condition or care that helps people feel comfortable and pain-free.\n\nOnly 15% to 20% of those who undergo in hospital survive, with survival rates dropping to between 5% and 10% outside of a hospital setting.\n\nAlthough it can cause punctured lungs, fractured ribs and severe bruising, failing to fully appraise a patient or their loved ones of their options is a breach of their human rights, the CQC warned.\n\nThe watchdog's guidance states decisions on DNARs must never be dictated by blanket policies, must be free from discrimination, and not made on a clinician's \"subjective view of a person's quality of life\".\n\nBut despite reminding care providers of their obligations, the CQC said it received evidence from staff and patients' families that DNARs had been applied without consultation.\n\nThe number of complaints it received about the orders jumped to 40 between March and September, compared to just nine similar complaints in the previous six months.\n\nOne carer told the CQC an on-call doctor had informed care home staff that if a resident were to catch Covid-19, a DNAR would automatically be put in place.\n\nAnother witness said some care homes and learning disability services had been told by GPs to place blanket orders on everyone in their care.\n\nSome families of patients said they were not made aware such an order was in place until their relative was quite unwell.\n\nOthers said they had been told their loved one had agreed to a DNAR, but they had concerns over their understanding due to factors such as a lack of English or deafness.\n\nThe CQC also found examples of routine care not being provided in homes, such as an ambulance or doctor not being called, due to the existence of the do not resuscitate order.\n\nInappropriate DNARs may still be on people's files, the CQC said.\n\nRosie Benneyworth, chief inspector of primary medical services and integrated care at the CQC, said: \"It is unacceptable for clinical decisions - decisions which could dictate whether someone's loved one gets the right care when they need it most - to be applied in a blanket approach to any group of people.\"\n\nAn NHS spokeswoman said: \"The NHS has repeatedly instructed local clinicians that the blanket application of DNARs would be totally unacceptable and that access to treatment and care for people with learning disabilities and autism should always be made on an individual basis and in consultation with family and carers.\"\n\nThe CQC is undertaking further fieldwork across seven clinical commissioning groups to understand the extent to which DNARs may have been misused during the pandemic.\n\nIts final report is due to be published in February 2021.", "Shoppers at Topshop and other Arcadia brands will only be able to use gift cards for half of their order, the embattled company has said.\n\nArcadia collapsed into administration on Monday and shoppers have been unable to use gift cards online since.\n\nThe company and its administrators said the card shutdown was a temporary technical issue which would be resolved by early next week.\n\nBut they said the cards would only be valid for 50% of a purchase.\n\nThat means, for example, only £25 in card value could be redeemed on a £50 order, or someone wanting to use the whole of their £10 gift card would need to spend £20 in total.\n\nThe rule is now in place in stores, where gift cards can be used.\n\nAdministrators for the business are not obliged to accept gift cards but, with stores and websites still trading, many shoppers hoped and expected that they would still be able to use them.\n\nAbi Vedder says she will have to spend a lot\n\nAbi Vedder, 39, from London, received a gift of £100 to spend in Topshop vouchers when she left her job as a social worker two weeks ago.\n\n\"Social workers are not rich and it is infuriating that all my colleagues' money may be wasted, as I would now need to buy something worth £200 to claim the voucher, which I'm not sure I can,\" she said.\n\n\"I'm worried I won't be able to get anything to remember my job by now, because I left during this ridiculous year.\"\n\nA spokesman for Arcadia's administrators, Deloitte, said: \"The full value of a gift card can be put towards up to 50% of a purchase.\n\n\"Gift cards are currently being accepted in all stores and customers will be able to use them online from early next week. There is currently maintenance on the site impacting the use of gift cards. This should be fixed by early next week.\"\n\nThe company told shoppers: \"Gift cards have been temporarily switched off until further notice. I can confirm you are still able to use gift cards in store, you will only be able to apply 50% of the gift card to your purchase.\n\n\"Apologies for the inconvenience that has been caused.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Chloe Louise Davies✨ This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by char This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe Arcadia group runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas, and includes the Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, and Burton brands.\n\nThe administration will give Arcadia breathing space from creditors, such as landlords for its shops or clothing suppliers, while a buyer is sought for all or parts of the company.\n\nArcadia executives will still hold day-to-day control over the business.\n\nHowever, the jobs of the company's 13,000 employees are at risk.\n\nIf no buyer is found and the company folds, then gift cards are likely to be worthless as cardholders would be near the back of a queue of creditors with claims for a payout from any remaining assets that are sold.\n\nDebenhams, which said on Tuesday that it expected to close its doors after the failure to find a buyer for the business, said it was still accepting payment by gift card, but it had not sold any new ones for many months.\n\nEarlier this week, Currys PC World apologised after a website glitch wiped hundreds of pounds off gift cards and left Black Friday bargain hunters without their shopping.\n\nDo you have a gift card for an Arcadia brand? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "A resident from the Enniskeen estate described hearing a \"very large bang\" on Tuesday evening\n\nA man injured after a pipe bomb partially exploded in Craigavon has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, police have said.\n\nThe incident happened at about 21:30 GMT in the Enniskeen area on Tuesday.\n\nThe man suffered non-life threatening injuries to his chest and hands and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.\n\nA number of homes were evacuated, but residents have since been allowed to return.\n\nDet Insp Simpson said the alert was triggered after police received a report of an explosion at the rear of a house in the estate.\n\n\"Upon arrival officers found a man in the vicinity of where the explosion was reported to have occurred being treated by paramedics for injuries received after the device exploded,\" he said.\n\n\"The injured man, who has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and possession of an explosive device with intent to endanger life, currently remains in hospital receiving treatment for his injuries which are described as not life threatening.\"\n\nRemnants of a pipe bomb-type device have been taken away for forensic examination, the officer added.\n\nThe security alert is now over and police thanked local residents for their patience during the incident.\n\nAn Enniskeen estate resident described hearing a \"very large bang\" shortly before 21:30 on Tuesday, which he believed was a pipe bomb explosion.\n\nHe added that a while later, the police helicopter flew over the area.\n\nPolice at the scene of the incident\n\nUpper Bann MP Carla Lockhart told BBC News NI the people of Enniskeen had been subjected to attacks for quite some time and did not want them to continue.\n\nMs Lockhart described the explosion as \"a very worrying development\".\n\nThe Democratic Unionist Party politician praised St Saviour's Church for providing shelter to people whose homes were evacuated and called on anyone with information about the attack to contact police.\n\n\"Obviously information is key to answering all the questions as to what happened in Enniskeen,\" she said.\n\n\"Those who cause hurt and disruption in our communities must be brought to justice.\"\n\nLocal representatives said the Enniskeen estate was a \"close-knit community\"\n\nSDLP councillor Thomas Larkham said: \"This is the last thing that anyone in Enniskeen wants or needs.\n\n\"This is a close-knit community full of people trying to get on with their lives during a difficult time for us all.\"\n\nAlliance Party councillor Eóin Tennyson said: \"The patience of residents who have had to leave their homes as police work to make the area safe is greatly appreciated.\n\n\"Those behind this have nothing to offer only misery and destruction.\"\n\nMr Tennyson added: \"These kinds of devices have no place in our streets, there's no support in the community for this kind of activity.\n\n\"I would utterly condemn those responsible, they've been reckless in their behaviour and have shown total disregard for local residents.\"", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Thursday evening. We'll have another update for you on Friday morning.\n\nThe toughest coronavirus restrictions are to be extended across a wide area of east and south-east England from Saturday, bringing the total number of people under tier three in England to 38 million. Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Hertfordshire are among them, as are parts of Surrey, East Sussex, Cambridgeshire and Hampshire, while swathes of the nation already in tier three will remain there. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: \"We've come so far, we mustn't blow it now.\" But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was concerned the current tiered system wasn't \"strong enough to control the virus\". See all the places moving in to tier three here. Not sure which tier you're in? Our postcode checker can help.\n\nThere will be a gradual return into secondary schools after the Christmas break, for pupils in England and Wales , with many years doing online classes at first. In England, only students in Years 11 and 13, who face exams next summer, will be allowed to go back on the first day of term, along with the children of key workers and those deemed vulnerable. The government said it needed to allow schools to set up a Covid testing scheme.Wales anticipates a full return to the classroom by 18 January. Scotland and Northern Ireland have not announced any changes to the start of the January term yet.\n\nChancellor Rishi Sunak has extended the furlough scheme for one month until the end of April next year, saying it would provide \"certainty for millions of jobs and businesses\". It means the government will continue to pay up to 80% of the salary of UK employees for hours not worked, with a cap of £2,500 a month. See whether you might be eligible for furlough here.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel has said a fellow Conservative broke Covid rules by giving a speech at a dinner in London and could be fined. Tory MP Tobias Ellwood defended his attendance at the \"fully Covid compliant\" event as being \"well intentioned\", and apologised if he had \"muddled\" the government's message.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A Conservative MP who attended a business dinner was in “breach of the regulations” the home secretary says.\n\nIt's not just Santa who'll be supping on the sherry this Christmas, it seems. After years of being out of fashion, the Spanish aperitif has made a comeback, with sales up 17.6% in the 12 weeks to 5 December, says market research firm Nielsen. Analysts say the renewed interest began during the first coronavirus lockdown, when both young people and old started trying different tipples and even mixing their own cocktails.\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nAnd, as we all continue to grapple with how to spend Christmas, check the latest rules on bubbles and when you can get together.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "The government has turned down a request from the port of Dover for financial support, which could lead to delays after 1 January, its chief executive has told the BBC.\n\n\"Without this funding it's going to make the transition more challenging than it is today,\" said Doug Bannister.\n\nThe government said it had already made \"unprecedented\" new investments in port infrastructure.\n\nSeveral UK ports, including Dover, are facing congestion already.\n\nAnd in two weeks' time, new rules will govern trade and travel between the UK and the EU.\n\n\"The port is as prepared as we can be. We've been at this for four years now,\" said Mr Bannister.\n\nHe added that questions remained over how ready businesses were to trade under the new conditions.\n\n\"That is going to be the unknown... until we see it happening,\" he said.\n\nMr Bannister said the port is facing \"the greatest period of uncertainty\" it had seen\n\nAround 9,000 trucks pass through the port of Dover every day, transporting nearly 20% of all the goods sold in the UK.\n\nCongestion and delays around the UK's ports have already caused concern there could be serious disruption when Britain's trading relationship with the EU changes at the end of this year.\n\nHowever Mr Bannister said that January was typically a slow period which might allow new systems to bed in before cargo volumes started to pick up again.\n\n\"We are trying to move ourselves through the greatest period of uncertainty that this facility has seen,\" he said.\n\nOn Wednesday, the government turned down a request for £33m of funding to facilitate extra French passport checks on people travelling out of Dover.\n\nDover had requested the extra support as part of the Port Infrastructure Fund, which is designed to smooth the switch to the new rules.\n\nAfter 1 January, anyone travelling from the UK to France will face stricter checks and stamps in their passports.\n\n\"Being denied the funding for this programme - what that does mean is that we could see increased friction and increased hold ups while we get through the opening period of the transition,\" said Mr Bannister.\n\nHowever, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, responding to a question in the House of Commons, said: \"The funding in the port infrastructure fund was specifically available for projects that were due to be delivered by July next year, when full import controls will be in place. Dover was bidding for some infrastructure that would be complete by 2023.\"\n\nThe government has made \"an unprecedented\" £470m available for new infrastructure in and around the UK's ports, a spokesperson said.\n\nCurrent congestion around the port of Dover was due to the extra pressure of the Christmas trading period, firms stockpiling ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period, and overspill from problems in other ports including Felixstowe, Mr Bannister said.\n\nThe UK and the EU are still locked in talks over a trade deal to take effect at the end of this year.\n\nAlthough the UK left the EU in January, an 11-month-long transition period was agreed during which previous trade relations would continue.", "MI6 has its headquarters in Vauxhall, London\n\nMI6 agents and informants may be committing crimes in the UK, a watchdog has revealed.\n\nThe Investigatory Powers Tribunal disclosed the ruling despite government attempts to keep the matter secret.\n\nIt also said questions raised should be disclosed to campaigners, who have been asking for greater legal clarity over what the intelligence agencies can do.\n\nIt comes a day after the intelligence services watchdog raised its own questions about some MI6 activities.\n\nSince 1994, MI6 - the UK's foreign intelligence service - has been able to authorise people that it recruits to help the UK overseas to commit crimes as part of its targeting of threats to the UK.\n\nThat power has long-been dubbed the \"James Bond clause\" - but it does not explicitly permit criminal operations in the UK.\n\nUnprecedented legislation that clarifies how agencies recruiting undercover informants can authorise them to commit crimes is reaching its final stages in Parliament.\n\nThe disclosure of crimes potentially committed by people supplying MI6 with intelligence has come amid a long-running court battle over whether such secret undercover activity can ever be legal.\n\nWhile the legal battle has revealed details of how MI5, the domestic security service, authorises crimes by its informants, Wednesday's disclosure by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) is the first indication that MI6 may be doing the same.\n\nIn the ruling, the IPT rejected secret submissions from the government to keep the entire matter behind closed doors.\n\nThe disclosure came the day after the annual report of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, the watchdog that oversees the secret agencies, revealed that one of MI6's agents overseas may have gone rogue and committed serious crimes.\n\nThe report says that in 2019 the secret agency had recruited a potential agent overseas and had sought a standard authorisation from the foreign secretary for the individual to potentially commit crimes as part of their work for the UK.\n\nThe report does not state which foreign secretary it was.\n\n\"The Secret Intelligence Service [MI6] identified a risk that the agent may be involved in serious criminality overseas,\" said the report. \"SIS did not encourage, condone or approve any such criminality on the part of their agent.\n\n\"In their submission, SIS set out that they had secured the agent's cooperation on terms of full transparency about the activities in which the agent was involved.\n\n\"It included some clear 'red lines', setting out conduct that was not authorised and would result in the termination of SIS's relationship with the agent.\"\n\nSix months later, when the authorisation had to be reviewed, it appeared that MI6 had concluded the asset had probably crossed those red lines - but they did not tell the foreign secretary, who had to sign off the continuing operation.\n\n\"We concluded that the renewal did not provide a comprehensive overview of available information which we believe would have provided the Secretary of State with a fuller and more balanced picture,\" said the watchdog. \"SIS immediately responded to these concerns by updating the FCO.\"\n\nCampaigners behind the legal action say both revelations prove the public are being kept in the dark.\n\nBut ministers say legislation going through Parliament will provide clear safeguards for agents to commit crimes while undercover.", "Covid cases in schools reflect virus levels in the local community, a study of 100 schools across England suggests.\n\nIn tests on nearly 10,000 staff and pupils in November, 1.24% of pupils and 1.29% of staff tested positive for coronavirus in schools.\n\nThis is a combined analysis from Public Health England, Office for National Statistics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.\n\nThe researchers suggest school closures have only a temporary effect on cases.\n\nAnd they add driving down infections in wider society is the best way to keep schools open and safe.\n\nThe Schools Infection Survey will continue to track cases and transmission in schools over the coming months.\n\nThe first round of survey results are based on tests of more than 6,000 pupils and nearly 5,000 staff from 105 schools - 63 secondary and 42 primary - in areas of England where the virus was spreading quickly at the start of the school year.\n\nChildren and staff had to be in school to be given a nasal swab test, and so are unlikely to have had symptoms.\n\nThe survey found a higher percentage of staff and pupils testing positive for the virus in secondary schools than primary schools - around 1.47% compared to around 0.8%.\n\nRoughly 1.2% of the general population is estimated to have had the coronavirus during the same period, according to the ONS.\n\nDr Shamez Ladhani, the study's chief investigator and a consultant at Public Health England, said: \"While there is still more research to be done, these results appear to show that the rate of infection among students and staff attending school closely mirrors what's happening outside the school gates.\n\n\"That's why we all need to take responsibility for driving infections down if we want to keep schools open and safe for our children.\"\n\nThe researchers are trying to find out more about the role of schools in the spread of the virus - something that has been a challenge so far.\n\nThe key is to discover whether infections are more likely to be brought into school from outside, or are starting in school and moving into households in the community.\n\nData from PHE so far suggests infections in school year groups are being introduced from different sources rather than being spread between pupils in schools, but genetic analysis of virus strains is needed to confirm this, Dr Ladhani says.\n\nThis would give more detailed information on the order in which the virus had passed from person to person.\n\nAfter schools reopened in the autumn, Dr Ladhani said the rate of infections in all year groups had been rising every week, with older pupils seeing the biggest increases.\n\nHe explained that lockdowns have a greater impact on adult infection rates rather than children's, but there is often a delayed effect in children a week later than seen in adults. Closing schools would only have a \"temporary effect\", Dr Ladhani added.\n\nProf James Hargreaves, co-chief investigator of the study from LSHTM, said the more information collected within schools \"the better understanding we have of their role in transmission within the wider community and how to minimise SARS-CoV2 transmission\".\n\n\"We hope to answer questions to ensure children's education can continue in the safest way possible,\" he said.\n\nAs part of the study, pupils and staff will be tested for the virus and also for antibodies - signs they have had it in the past - throughout the school year.\n\nThe aim is to detect new cases, monitor absences from school and find out how well measures to control the virus work in schools.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The health secretary announces several more counties in southern and eastern England will face stronger restrictions\n\nMore than two-thirds of England's population will be living under the toughest Covid-19 rules from Saturday.\n\nBedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Hertfordshire will move to tier three, as will parts of Surrey, East Sussex, Cambridgeshire and Hampshire.\n\nAnd swathes of the nation already in tier three will remain there.\n\nAnnouncing the changes, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs: \"We've come so far, we mustn't blow it now.\"\n\nBristol and North Somerset will move from tier three to tier two, and Herefordshire will move from tier two into tier one.\n\nThe changes come into effect at 00:01 on Saturday.\n\nIt comes as the UK recorded a further 532 coronavirus deaths, taking the total number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus to 66,052.\n\nA further 35,383 cases were also recorded on Thursday, up from 25,161 on the previous day.\n\nThis figure includes 11,000 positive cases from Wales that were not previously recorded in official figures due to maintenance work on Public Health Wales' computer systems at the end of last week.\n\nThe announcement on tiers means that 68% of England's population - 38 million people - will be living under the toughest restrictions of tier three from the weekend. Some 30% of the population will be in tier two, while just 2% will be in tier one.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was concerned the tier system was \"just not strong enough to control the virus\".\n\n\"We've been seeing the numbers going in the wrong direction across the country in the last seven days in particular,\" he added.\n\nIn Greater Manchester, which was first placed in tier three on 23 October, mayor Andy Burnham said he was \"not surprised but very disappointed\" that the region was staying in tier three, having called for some parts to be downgraded.\n\nHe told BBC Radio 4's World at One that Greater Manchester has lower infection rates than Liverpool and London had \"when they were originally put into\" tier two.\n\n\"It feels like if... London and the South East has rising cases, everyone stays under restrictions,\" he said.\n\nAnnouncing the outcome of the first formal review of the new tier system in England, Mr Hancock told MPs \"no-one wants tougher restrictions any longer than necessary\".\n\nHowever, he said \"these are always the most difficult months for people's health\" and we \"must keep suppressing this virus\".\n\nCases have risen by 46% in the past week in the south-east of England, he told MPs, and were up by two-thirds in the east of England.\n\nMeanwhile, the government has announced the return to school in January will be staggered for secondary pupils in England, with some starting term online rather than in class.\n\nIt will allow schools to set up a Covid testing scheme - but exam-year pupils will start term as usual.\n\nThere will also be a staggered return for schools in Wales after the Christmas break.\n\nThe health secretary said from 00:01 Saturday 19 December:\n\nWith the majority of the country in the highest tier, many will be wondering how long it will be before the rules are relaxed.\n\nThe trajectories are quite different across the tier three areas.\n\nLarge parts of the North have seen cases fall and now have lower than average infection rates, although there are signs those decreases have stalled.\n\nOther areas, particularly large parts of the home counties, have relatively low rates that are rising.\n\nThen there are places - east London and the surrounding areas - that have high rates that are rising.\n\nThe fact that they are all facing the tightest restrictions is a sign of how cautious ministers are being.\n\nThat, of course, is because of the Christmas relaxation - and fear it could lead to a spike in cases.\n\nIf that happens, tier three could become the norm for months - maybe accompanied by a third lockdown.\n\nThat would leave the government and public pinning everything on the vaccine programme.\n\nEarlier this week, ministers said a good start had been made with 137,000 people vaccinated.\n\nBut there are more than 25 million in the priority groups - 12 million of them over the age of 65.\n\nIn theory, two million could be vaccinated every week, but that depends on multiple things going right.\n\nThis could become the status quo for many until the spring.\n\nAround 34 million people have already been living under tier three rules.\n\nLondon, most of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire were placed under the strictest curbs on social contacts on Wednesday.\n\nThey joined much of the Midlands, north-west England and north-east England.\n\nThe news Greater Manchester would remain in tier three provoked anger from some of the area's MPs, including Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers.\n\n\"The statement will be greeted with dismay in Greater Manchester where we have had severe restrictions for nine months, where in nine of the 10 boroughs rates are below the national average,\" he said.\n\nAnd the West Midlands' Conservative mayor Andy Street called for more government funding to support businesses in tier three areas.\n\nLeaders in areas moving from tier two to tier three also expressed their concerns.\n\nStephen McPartland, Conservative MP for Stevenage in Hertfordshire, tweeted that it was \"ridiculous\" the town is \"being dragged into\" tier three.\n\nHe said tiers \"should be imposed on a district basis instead of this unbalanced county-wide approach\".\n\nGerald Vernon-Jackson, the Liberal Democrat leader of Portsmouth City Council, said the decision to introduce the toughest measures there was \"bizarre\".\n\nHe said he was \"slightly surprised\" because he had been told that \"the problem\" was with the city's Queen Alexandra Hospital.\n\nHowever, the hospital also serves nearby local authorities, such as Fareham and Winchester City, which were not being moved up.\n\n\"The government has made a number of bizarre decisions, so it's no surprise they have made another one,\" he said.\n\nElsewhere in the UK, ministers in Northern Ireland have agreed a six-week lockdown from 26 December, in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus.\n\nIn Wales, non-essential shops will close from the end of trading on Christmas Eve, with an alert level four lockdown starting four days later.\n\nAnd in Scotland, the deputy first minister warned that tougher restrictions - including a potential lockdown - after the festive period cannot be ruled out.\n\nWhat are your plans for Christmas? How will you be affected by the rule changes? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "Ritu Saha and fellow residents in Bromley organised their own fire patrols but still had to pay £500,000 between them\n\nThree years after the Grenfell fire, many buildings with dangerous cladding still have 24-hour fire safety patrols - introduced originally as a temporary measure. Now, thousands more homeowners are being forced to pay for \"waking watches\" with no end in sight.\n\nIn November 2017, when people in high-vis jackets arrived at Ritu Saha's block in Bromley, south-east London, she was told not to worry: they'd be gone by January.\n\nThree years and about £500,000 of charges to flat owners in the block later, they are still there.\n\nMost of the cladding - the type that caused the Grenfell fire to spread so fast, killing 72 people - has been removed from Ritu's flat.\n\nBut entire walls would need to be demolished to clear it away entirely, Ritu says.\n\nThe contractors suggest the task is too difficult, and the remaining cladding may have to stay, along with other safety measures to prevent a deadly fire. The fire brigade says that could mean the waking watch has to stay.\n\n\"Will we have these fire wardens for the rest of our lives?\" Ritu asks. The patrols have already cost her, on average, more than £300 a month for the last three years, totalling £11,700.\n• None £14average hourly rate earned by fire warden - though some earn up to £30p/h\n\nA university administrator and one of the founders of the UK Cladding Action Group, she says she cannot bear the cost much longer - \"I will be ruined, basically, if that happens.\"\n\nCosts for the fire patrols vary hugely, with flat owners often saying they are imposed with little notice or consultation.\n\nGovernment research suggests the typical flat owner pays £137 a month, or £256 in London - about £11,000 to £15,000 per block each month. Fire wardens are mostly paid around £14 an hour - but some earn up to £30 an hour, the government says.\n\nAnd the number of affected buildings continues to rise: in London, 573 blocks now have the patrols, up from 286 in March.\n\nOne flat owner in east London tells the BBC the waking watch introduced at his block in July costs the equivalent of £1,300 per flat every month. At the moment, the bill is being paid by the housing association, but he says if the costs cannot be recovered from the original developer or through the building warranty, leaseholders will be charged.\n\nThe leasehold system in England and Wales means many flat owners do not own their property outright, but instead buy the right to use it for a fixed period of time - often between 99 and 125 years.\n\nTheir buildings are owned by a freeholder, who charges them a small annual rent, plus money for repairs - which can mean huge bills for issues such as cladding.\n\nAfter three years, contractors say some of the flammable material on this building may be to difficult to remove\n\n\"The buck keeps being passed between each body,\" the flat owner says. \"What are they trying to do to leaseholders? Are they really trying to bankrupt us?\"\n\nSome residents have organised their own waking watch to reduce the cost, with volunteers covering many of the shifts, sometimes in the face of opposition from insurers.\n\nRitu says she would rush home from work to start her 19:00 to midnight shift. A retired woman in her block would take some of the night shifts, staying up from midnight to 07:00 three nights a week to watch for signs of a blaze.\n\nA fire alarm can be fitted for the same average cost as just seven weeks of waking watch, government research suggests. But in practice it rarely works out that way: many leaseholders are required by the National Fire Chiefs Council to maintain patrols so they can help evacuate the building in the event of a fire.\n\nRitu now has eight highly sensitive smoke and heat detectors scattered around her one-and-a-half bedroom flat, frequently setting off false alarms.\n\nBut fitting the system - which cost leaseholders £120,000 - only allowed residents to reduce their waking watch from two people to one, still leaving them a £12,000 monthly bill between them.\n\nMatt Browne and Lizzie Bennett are among thousands of flat owners who discovered in the last year they lived in a dangerous block that would require 24-hour fire patrols when they tried to sell.\n\nTheir estate agent told them their building, in Birmingham city centre, had failed its external wall fire review, known as EWS1.\n\nBirmingham flat owners Lizzie Bennett and Matt Browne say the costs are \"unfathomable\"\n\nThe review process - demanded by lenders - was extended to many more buildings in January this year with a change of government guidance. Blocks that fail because of dangerous cladding, like Matt and Lizzie's, are valued at £0, cannot be mortgaged and are almost impossible to sell.\n\nSince then, their building's service charge has risen from £950 every six months to £4,629 to pay for a £17,000-a-month waking watch, a £150,000 alarm system (not yet installed) and a 300% increase in insurance bills.\n\n\"It's unfathomable, you can't really wrap your head around the idea that it costs this much to live in a one-bedroom flat,\" says Lizzie, a primary school teacher.\n\nShe has suffered anxiety and sleeplessness over the mounting costs, but says: \"It's been a constant battle of trying to keep it together because I can't show emotion at work, I have to be there for the children.\"\n\nLike many leaseholders, they hope their building wins some of the £1.6bn of government funding to remove dangerous cladding when applications close this month. But Matt says the Building Safety Fund is \"nowhere near big enough\" to meet demand.\n\nThe 26-year-old video producer has been exhausted by the process after six months. \"I know people have been fighting this for years already,\" he says. \"We are at a stage now where in the next year you will start seeing people go bankrupt and people will start losing their homes.\"\n\nIn 2019, solicitor Peter Tolson signed up to help run his block's management company in order to push forward some minor repairs.\n\nHe's seen the impact the charges have had on fellow residents - some have lost their jobs in the pandemic - since the flats in east London failed their EWS1 earlier this year.\n\n\"We had people literally banging on our doors, crying, banging the door down at this thought of paying a grand or two grand a month to pay for waking watch on top of insurance costs,\" he says.\n\nThey have since reduced the costs by arguing they did not need such extensive patrol coverage. But residents have nicknamed the waking watch \"the Wombles\" and don't regard them as a serious safety measure.\n\nResidents complain the wardens just sit around, Peter says. He questions the likelihood of them being in just in the right spot at the right time when a fire is visible behind a flat door with time still to evacuate.\n\nPeter Tolson said residents who lost their jobs in the pandemic have been in tears at the bills\n\nMeanwhile, each week more flat owners discover they are in the same situation. Olivia Hill, a PhD student, helped form the Sheffield Cladding Action Group after discovering her block had failed its assessment last month.\n\nShe says residents face an uncomfortable choice between protection from the dangers of fire and letting strangers into their building. \"I live on my own, I'm a young woman, it's easy to feel unsafe,\" Olivia says.\n\nHaving done all the due diligence when she purchased it last year, she was shocked to discover potentially deadly faults are still being discovered in buildings more than three years after Grenfell.\n\n\"It's been going on so long and potentially there's no end in sight,\" Olivia says. \"It could keep going on that long for us.\"\n\nThe Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said waking watches should only be used \"as an interim measure\", adding: \"They are not a substitute for the swift removal of unsafe cladding.\n\n\"Where leaseholders have concerns about waking watch costs they should speak to their building owner, who is responsible for putting safety measures in place. Leaseholders can also challenge excessive costs at the First Tier Tribunal.\"\n\nThe government on Thursday announced a £30m fund to help pay for the installation of common fire alarms in affected buildings, to end what it called the \"scandal\" of excessive waking watch costs.", "Regions in England will find out later whether they will be moved to a different tier of Covid restrictions.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock is due to announce the outcome of the latest review of the three-tier system, after government officials met on Wednesday.\n\nIn several areas of northern England, leaders say they have met the criteria to move from tier three to two, after a drop in infection rates.\n\nLeaders in Lancashire have been told it will stay, as expected, in tier three.\n\nMore than 34 million people - or 61% of England's population - are living under tier three rules, the highest level of restrictions, including large parts of the Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East and the North West.\n\nOn Wednesday, London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire moved to tier three amid a rise in infection rates.\n\nMr Hancock is expected to make a statement at 11:30 GMT.\n\nGreater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said \"the evidence would support\" parts of the region being moved from tier three to tier two, but he feels \"less and less hopeful\".\n\nHe previously said there had been \"steady decreases\" across all of the region's 10 boroughs and its average rate is around 150 cases per 100,000 - below the England-wide average of 194.\n\nIn an interview on BBC Breakfast, he said the relaxation of the rules between 23 and 27 December was \"a mistake\" and ministers could try to \"overcompensate with the decisions on the tiers\".\n\nHe added that requiring hospitality venues to close as part of tier three measures at this time of year creates \"a substantial risk of many more gatherings in the home.. and that is where most of the virus spreads\".\n\nMeanwhile, the leader of Preston City Council, Cllr Matthew Brown said he believed Lancashire will remain in tier three.\n\nHe said he remained \"gravely concerned\" about the impact of restrictions on the hospitality and culture sectors.\n\n\"However, while case numbers in Preston and throughout Lancashire remain high, especially in the over 60s, it is unlikely that we will be placed into tier two before Christmas,\" he said.\n\nIt is understandable those on the front line of the NHS would want tighter restrictions - they see the impact of severe Covid first hand.\n\nBut that is just one part of the equation.\n\nCouncils in areas where cases are falling are torn - they don't want to see their progress in containing the virus reversed.\n\nBut the impact on the economy disproportionately affects young people, who are more likely to work in hospitality, and that widens health inequalities.\n\nWhat will the government do? It seems very unlikely many areas will move down a tier.\n\nThere is certainly a big call to be made about Manchester, which is in tier three but has continued to see progress, after Liverpool was moved down into tier two following lockdown.\n\nIn the South East, there are areas around London that have rates below the national average, but they are rising.\n\nWill the government move them into tier three as a preventative measure, or wait and see if the tighter restrictions in London curbs the rising rates in this part of the country?\n\nWe are about to find out.\n\nChris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts in England, said there was \"a ring of areas around London - for example, in the home counties - where trusts are alarmed at the rise in infection rates and hospital admissions\".\n\nIn a statement, he said the government must \"urgently consider\" adding other areas to tier three, where infection rates are \"similarly worrying\".\n\nMr Hopson also said there was \"real concern in many trusts in the northern half of the country about leaving tier three prematurely\".\n\n\"It is good news that infection rates are dropping, in some cases significantly,\" he said.\n\n\"But we can't afford to let up. As soon as infection rates rise, excess death rates rise too.\"\n\nHe warned hospitals in the north of England still had \"very high levels\" of Covid-19 patients and \"even a small increase\" would \"put those hospitals under significant pressure\".\n\nAbout 99% of England's population are currently in tiers two and three, with only the Isle of Wight, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in tier one.\n\nThe placing of areas in each tier is reviewed every 14 days. Decisions are based on an examination of coronavirus cases across all age groups and specifically among the over-60s, who are more vulnerable to the virus.\n\nOfficials also look at whether infection rates are rising or falling in an area and the positivity rate - meaning the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken - as well as the pressure on the NHS.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nIt comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to keep Christmas celebrations \"short\" and \"small\" to reduce the risk of spreading Covid over the festive period.\n\nRestrictions will still be relaxed between 23 and 27 December, allowing three households to form a \"Christmas bubble\" and mix indoors and stay overnight.\n\nHowever, in Wales, the law will change to limit bubbles to two households.\n\nA joint statement by the governments of the UK, Scotland and Wales urged people to think very carefully before forming a bubble and \"strongly recommended\" people spend Christmas with their own household if possible.\n\nIn Northern Ireland, First Minister Arlene Foster said the public must take \"all and every precaution\" over the festive period and proposals for further restrictions would be brought forward on Thursday.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel told BBC Breakfast there would be no changes to the enforcement of measures over Christmas, but that the \"public are part of\" upholding the law and are \"working together\" with the police.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe UK recorded a further 25,161 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, along with 612 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nPublic Health Wales said that an extra 11,000 positive Covid tests are missing from its official figures, meaning cases in Wales in the last week could be twice as high as previously thought.\n\nMeanwhile, Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who is in charge of the UK's vaccination rollout, said more than 130,000 people were vaccinated in the first week of the programme.\n\nSir Ian McKellen, 81, said he felt \"euphoric\" as he became the latest celebrity to be photographed receiving the vaccine.\n\n\"Anyone who has lived as long as I have is alive because they have had previous vaccinations,\" said the veteran actor.", "A delay in reporting an extra 11,000 positive Covid tests in Wales has led to a big jump in case rates.\n\nPublic Health Wales (PHW) said planned IT maintenance meant there was a \"significant under-reporting\" but anyone who tested positive had been contacted in the usual way.\n\nThe delayed results came from Lighthouse Laboratories, which process about 70% of Wales' tests.\n\nThe Welsh Conservatives said the news was \"staggering\".\n\nThe 11,000 extra positive tests were taken between 9 and 15 December. PHW said the \"vast majority\" have been added to its dashboard, which records the figures, on Thursday.\n\nThe figures show an additional 4,221 cases have been added to the total for the week ending 11 December, an adjustment to what was reported on Wednesday.\n\nA total of 11,250 - including the usual daily cases - have been added, meaning the latest weekly case rates have increased as a result.\n\nWales, already at its highest case rate so far, saw a jump to 530.2 cases per 100,000 for the most recent seven days, to 12 December.\n\nThe case rate stood at 377.8 on Wednesday, although PHW warned this was an underestimation of what we should expect.\n\nThe new figures showed the case rate for Merthyr Tydfil - already the highest in the UK - is now 1,032.7 cases per 100,000 - with 623 positive tests in the past seven days.\n\nEight council areas in Wales are in the 10 hardest-hit areas in the UK for case rates in latest comparison.\n\nThere are 14 out of 22 council areas which have their highest case rates so far - including Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham.\n\nThree others would have reported their highest figures on Wednesday, had all the figures been available.\n\nPHW said its previous data collection system was \"on its last legs\".\n\n\"The system would collapse very frequently and it was proving to be unsustainable to run with its existing system,\" said PHW incident director Dr Giri Shankar.\n\n\"This was not an unplanned activity. We knew it was going to have an impact, therefore we constantly communicated before it actually happened and while it was happening and even after it had happened, to say that this is affecting the results.\"\n\nThe planned maintenance of the NHS Welsh Laboratory Information Management System (WLMS) \"has not affected individuals receiving their results\", PHW insisted.\n\nFirst Minister Mark Drakeford told BBC Radio Wales: \"The story is not about missing data or computer problems, it's about the seriousness of the situation.\n\n\"You were told in advance that this was going to happen. The data was never missing it was always there, waiting to be uploaded into the system.\"\n\nPlaid Cymru health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said: \"With positive cases in Wales rising to record levels it is crucial that the reporting of data is both timely and robust.\n\n\"The public need a complete and current picture of the situation to realise the gravity of what we are facing.\n\n\"We need urgent reassurance that the failings have been addressed.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Dutch prosecutors have found a hacker did successfully log in to Donald Trump's Twitter account by guessing his password - \"MAGA2020!\"\n\nBut they will not be punishing Victor Gevers, who was acting \"ethically\".\n\nMr Gevers shared what he said were screenshots of the inside of Mr Trump's account on 22 October, during the final stages of the US presidential election.\n\nBut at the time, the White House denied it had been hacked and Twitter said it had no evidence of it.\n\nIn reference to the latest development, Twitter said: \"We've seen no evidence to corroborate this claim, including from the article published in the Netherlands today. We proactively implemented account security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the United States, including federal branches of government.\"\n\nThe White House has not responded to a request for further comment.\n\nMr Gevers had previously shared this screenshot that appeared to show him editing Donald Trump's Twitter profile information\n\nMr Gevers said he was very happy with the outcome.\n\n\"This is not just about my work but all volunteers who look for vulnerabilities in the internet,\" he said.\n\nThe well respected cyber-security researcher said he had been conducting a semi-regular sweep of the Twitter accounts of high-profile US election candidates, on 16 October, when he had guessed President Trump's password.\n\nVictor Gevers has been discovering security flaws in software and websites for 22 years\n\nDutch police said: \"The hacker released the login himself.\n\n\"He later stated to police that he had investigated the strength of the password because there were major interests involved if this Twitter account could be taken over so shortly before the presidential election.\"\n\nThey had sent the US authorities their findings, they added.\n\nMr Gevers had told officers he had substantially more evidence of the \"hack\".\n\nIn theory, he would have been able to see all the president's data, including:\n\nThe president's account, which has 89 million followers, is now secure.\n\nBut Twitter has refused to answer direct questions from BBC News, including whether the account had extra security or logs that would have shown an unknown login.\n\nEarlier this year, Mr Gevers also claimed he and other security researchers had logged in to Mr Trump's Twitter account in 2016 using a password - \"yourefired\" - linked to another of his social-network accounts in a previous data breach.", "There were queues of ambulances outside Antrim Area Hospital on Tuesday night\n\nHospitals in Northern Ireland are continuing to face severe pressures after a night which saw queuing ambulances outside hospitals across NI.\n\nOn Wednesday morning there were 48 people in the emergency department at Antrim Area hospital.\n\nOn Tuesday night, doctors treated patients in ambulances with 17 vehicles outside the hospital at one point.\n\nAn emergency department consultant from the Ulster Hospital said one patient there had waited 28 hours for a bed.\n\nSpeaking on BBC's Evening Extra, Sean McGovern, said: \"That patient is still waiting, they're waiting within the emergency department.\n\n\"People are maybe waiting on a bed in a designated area within the emergency department, or waiting on a trolley.\"\n\nAt 11:25 GMT, there were 34 people waiting to be admitted to the Ulster Hospital, with 30 waiting more than 12 hours, according to a spokesperson for the South Eastern Trust.\n\nThe spokesperson said there were 59 patients at the hospital's emergency department, with one waiting outside in an ambulance.\n\nFive of the patients had been in the department for between four and 12 hours.\n\nThere have also been long waits at Antrim Hospital on Wednesday, with 48 people in the emergency department at 07:00 GMT.\n\nOf these, 43 were waiting to be admitted, with 29 of those people who have been waiting for more than 12 hours.\n\nHundreds of hospital staff from across NI are also isolating for Covid-related reasons\n\nIn a statement, the trust said it was \"not a situation that anyone wants to see\", adding that the hospital remained under \"severe pressure\".\n\n\"We sincerely apologise to the patients affected and their families. Staff are working very hard to try to manage the situation and maintain flow,\" the trust said.\n\nAt hospitals in Belfast, 39 were awaiting admission - 29 more than 12 hours.\n\nIn the Western Trust, 34 were awaiting admission - all 34 waiting more than 12 hours.\n\nIn the Southern Trust hospitals, 60 were waiting admission but no figure for length of wait is known.\n\nThe British Medical Association in Northern Ireland said the pressures on hospitals were \"extremely concerning\".\n\nA spokesperson said: \"I have spoken to many secondary care colleagues over the past few days who are very worried as to how hospitals are going to cope over the next few days and weeks, and the decisions they may have to take over how people are cared for.\"\n\nMedical Director with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Dr Nigel Ruddell said there had been 30 to 35 ambulances outside Emergency Departments across Northern Ireland on Tuesday night.\n\nHe said they were \"the most significant queues\" he had seen in the 12 years he had worked for the ambulance service.\n\n\"What we are seeing reflects the pressure of the normal increase in illness, particularly among the elderly and, of course, the pressures of Covid,\" he told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.\n\nDr Ruddell thanked the hospital and ambulance staff, and said it had taken a \"massive effort overnight\" to clear queues outside hospitals.\n\nSpeaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme on Wednesday, Wendy Magowan, the Northern Health Trust operations director, said \"whilst it has improved dramatically overnight we are still starting out this morning with a very low base rate\".\n\nThere are also hundreds of staff isolating for Covid-related reasons.\n\nSo far, 366 staff from the Southern Trust are isolating as are 681 from Belfast Trust, 324 from the Western Trust, 307 from the South Eastern Trust and 289 from the Northern Trust.\n\nHealth Minister Robin Swann is to bring new proposals about Covid restrictions to Thursday's executive meeting.\n\nThe meeting will see ministers look at options to manage the spread of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland.\n\nThere were 17 ambulances queued at Antrim Hospital at 17:00 GMT on Tuesday\n\nDeputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said Sinn Féin \"will support any proposals brought forward by the health minister to tackle the current situation.\"\n\nStronger guidance has been issued by London and the devolved governments about how people should celebrate Christmas this year.\n\nRelaxed rules between 23 December and 27 December are to stay in place.\n\nMrs Foster and Ms O'Neill spoke to leaders from the other governments earlier and more guidance from the executive is expected later in the week.\n\nThe big issue is not so much what they agree when it comes to restrictions, but the fact that compliance is not where it should be.\n\nThe health service has stepped forward and they're hoping that they're going to listen to the voices that we heard last night with ambulances queued outside the hospitals.\n\nHealth Minister Robin Swann is going to be bringing recommendations to the executive on Thursday for a decision around restrictions and the likelihood is that we will see, perhaps, an partial lockdown started after Christmas.\n\nWe could be looking at, maybe, 28 December.\n\nThe key concern is that we may be heading for a third wave at a point when our hospitals are saturated.\n\nIf you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.", "The future of the UK's economy is \"unusually uncertain\", the Bank of England has said, as it held interest rates at record lows.\n\nIt said new coronavirus vaccines boded well for long-term growth, but that a recent jump in cases would drag on the recovery.\n\nUncertainty over the future UK-EU trading relationship also clouded the outlook, it added.\n\nThe central bank held rates 0.1% and left its stimulus programme unchanged.\n\n\"The outlook for the economy remains unusually uncertain,\" the Bank said.\n\n\"It depends on the evolution of the pandemic and measures taken to protect public health, as well as the nature of, and transition to, the new trading arrangements between the European Union and the United Kingdom.\"\n\nThe Office for Budgetary Responsibility, the government's independent forecaster, predicts the UK economy will shrink by 11.3% this year - the biggest decline in 300 years. It expects unemployment to peak at 9.7%.\n\nThe Bank said the successful trialling of some Covid vaccines and plans to roll them out next year were likely to \"reduce the downside risks to the economic outlook\".\n\nHowever, it said recent global activity had been affected by the increase in Covid cases and re-imposition of tougher than expected restrictions.\n\n\"The successful rollout of vaccines should support the gradual removal of restrictions and rebound in activity,\" it said, \"although it is less clear how this prospect will affect the immediate economic behaviour of households and businesses.\"\n\nAt 0.3% in November, inflation remains a long way below the central bank's 2% target.\n\nHowever, it said it was ready to accept inflation above 2% if a no-deal Brexit caused sterling to fall sharply, pushing up prices of imports.\n\nThe Bank also said it planned to keep the pace of its purchases of British government bonds broadly unchanged in early 2021 as it tries to shore up the economy.\n\nBut it said it was ready to increase them again if the outlook soured.\n\nSamuel Tombs at Pantheon Macroeconomics said this was the \"clearest indication yet that it would ease monetary policy further, in the event of no-deal\".", "A recording has emerged of Tom Cruise apparently shouting at workers on the set of Mission: Impossible 7 and threatening to fire them if they broke Covid-19 guidelines.\n\nThe Sun published the expletive-laden audio in which Cruise said: \"If I see you doing it again, you're... gone.\"\n\nThe paper said Cruise had seen two crew members \"standing too close to one another in front of a computer screen\".\n\nVariety and Reuters quoted sources confirming the audio was genuine.\n\nFilming is currently taking place in the UK. The Sun did not say when the incident happened, but film-makers returned to the country in early December, according to Reuters.\n\nThe Mission: Impossible franchise is hugely successful at the box office, starring Cruise as Ethan Hunt. Cruise is also a producer on the series.\n\nThe seventh movie had to pause filming in Italy in February due to concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, and The Sun said the actor had \"personally tried to ensure there are no more delays\".\n\nIn the recording, Cruise can be heard shouting: \"They're back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. We are creating thousands of jobs.\n\n\"That's it. No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their... homes because our industry is shut down.\n\n\"We are not shutting this... movie down. Is it understood? If I see it again, you're... gone.\"\n\nCruise wore a mask during recent shooting of Mission: Impossible 7 in Rome\n\nHe is starring in the film with Hayley Atwell (pictured in Rome in October)\n\nVariety said the film is scheduled for release in November 2021. BBC News has asked for comment from Cruise's representatives and the Mission: Impossible studio and producers.\n\nThe audio quickly spread around the internet. Nick Murphy, who directed last year's A Christmas Carol for BBC TV and Save Me for Sky Atlantic, praised the star's actions, writing: \"Tom Cruise was right.\"\n\nUS radio host John Rocha also voiced his support, writing: \"I wish MORE people in charge would react like this to people who violate protocols or not wearing masks. If only more people saw the bigger picture that Tom is highlighting here.\"\n\nDennis Tseng from movie site Collider added: \"Tom Cruise ain't wrong. Now he just needs to come back to America and yell at every single anti-masker.\"\n\nAnd British actress Rebecca Front joked: \"The one thing missing from that #TomCruise audio is the distant sound of a lone drill and an anguished 1st AD [assistant director] shouting 'Can we PLEASE hold the work?!\"\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Mick and Debbie Thompson hope next Christmas will look more like life before the pandemic\n\nWith infections rising and worries about the festive period growing, some families have decided Christmas isn't worth the risk and are either cancelling their plans or making last-minute changes.\n\nMick Thompson is still annoyed about placing third with his wife, Debbie, in the family Zoom quiz at the weekend. Perhaps that's an understatement - \"quite distraught\" is how he puts it. But when the initial red mist cleared, the pair had to address another issue that came up during the call: the annual Boxing Day get-together.\n\nMick's family is one of hundreds across the country weighing up whether or not to go ahead with plans over Christmas, amid a growing number of coronavirus infections across the UK. The usual restrictions on social contact are being relaxed between 23 and 27 December, allowing up to three households to mix indoors over the five-day period.\n\nBut Mick and Debbie still decided to call off the Boxing Day buffet at their home in Chineham, Hampshire, this week. \"Everyone was saying 'I'll bring desserts' and 'I'll bring this' and 'I'll bring that',\" says Mick, 59, who owns a travel PR company. \"But over the last couple of days... there's been so much talk about this Christmas relaxation that I think for one year only, the sensible thing to do is just not to bother. We can do it any old time, you know?\"\n\nHe and Debbie broke the news to her sisters in a text message (a method he recommends, by the way, because \"you don't get the opportunity to get emotional on the phone\").\n\n\"What I'm worried about is that I could be asymptomatic, catching it from somebody else, and then spreading it afterwards. My conscience wouldn't let me do that,\" he says. \"They said that they understood and didn't want to put us under any pressure.\"\n\nMore than 200 miles away in Lancashire, Nicole Cobb, 30, had to have the same conversation with her family.\n\nShe, her partner and children usually spend the festive period flitting between her relatives' homes in Aberdeen. This year they had planned a gathering within the relaxed rules but, given that her job as a youth and family worker involves meeting so many people, she decided it was not worth the risk of unknowingly passing on the virus.\n\nShe made the \"difficult decision\" just before the second national lockdown was introduced in England last month.\n\nNicole says her elderly gran is one of her closest family members\n\n\"There is that thought that my gran's older and am I missing a special Christmas with her?\" she says, adding that she would love to also see her sister, who is having chemotherapy, and her new niece.\n\nAlthough she'll miss seeing her family, she is also looking forward to a \"much more relaxed\" Christmas at home. \"There's no pressure to run around this year,\" she laughs.\n\nInstead, the family will do a virtual quiz on Christmas Day and will meet up next year. \"If you've got the family around the table, it doesn't need to be 25 December, it can be any date that you pick. It's just about getting together as family, isn't it?\"\n\nJames Downs, 31, from Cambridge, says he would rather find alternative things to do on Christmas Day \"than face the idea of risking my loved ones\".\n\nHe works in mental health policy but also teaches dance and yoga, so also comes into contact with a lot of people. He had plans to go to to Cardiff to see his family, including his clinically vulnerable dad, but he's called them off.\n\n\"The idea of giving my dad the virus and him being very unwell is something I'm not prepared to risk for the sake of a few months, by which time he might have the vaccine,\" he explains.\n\nHe says anyone worried about having difficult conversations with family members should focus on \"the reasons why you might not want to meet this year - because you care about and love them\".\n\nJames had been looking forward to spending time with his mum over Christmas\n\nOn Wednesday, the four UK nations agreed that restrictions will still be relaxed between 23 and 27 December, but guidance would be strengthened.\n\nBoris Johnson warned \"a smaller Christmas is going to be a safer Christmas\", saying people should \"think hard\" before meeting friends and family.\n\nThree households will still be able to meet - apart from in Wales where a law change will allow just two households. And in Scotland people are being asked to meet on just one of the five days. An announcement on Northern Ireland is expected on Thursday.\n\nA YouGov survey this week suggested 57% of people think the plans to relax coronavirus rules over Christmas should be scrapped. Around 31% of the 3,856 adults who were asked said the easing should go ahead as planned, and 12% said they were unsure.\n\nDiva Fanning, 71, a retired midwife in Herefordshire, always looks forward to spending time over Christmas with her daughters, no matter how grown up they are.\n\nShe had been planning to host her daughters and their families on Boxing Day. But after a friend told her that a man in her local village had died from coronavirus following a get-together - and with infection rates rising - she decided to change course.\n\n\"I didn't want to say 'I'm not doing it' because I didn't want to sound like a killjoy, so I just said 'perhaps it's best',\" she says. In any case, she and her husband will still host one daughter who is in her bubble, and can see other family members outside.\n\n\"It wasn't a difficult conversation really. It came together on its own... everybody was thinking the same anyway,\" she says. \"We've all come to that agreement that it's silly, really, to take the risk.\"\n\nDiva Fanning's Boxing Day this year will be a bit quieter than usual\n\nBack in Chineham, Mick and Debbie will spend Christmas and Boxing Day at home with the dogs. The whole family plans to meet up in the spring, instead. \"I'm very disappointed, but I think it's the only sensible thing to do,\" he says.\n\nUntil then, another virtual quiz on Christmas Day will have to suffice - and he's got some swotting up to do. \"One of my sister-in-law's sons and his girlfriend put the quiz together and all the oldies sit round and compete, it's quite good fun,\" he says. \"We normally win.\"", "British Airways has cancelled services to more than 15 long-haul destinations next year.\n\nThe news comes as many airlines cut staff and drop routes as passengers cut travel amid the pandemic.\n\nRoutes to cities in North America such as Pittsburgh, Calgary and Charleston have gone, alongside flights to Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Osaka.\n\nThe Seychelles, a popular winter holiday destination, has also been removed.\n\nMuscat, Jeddah and Abu Dhabi routes are axed, and BA will also temporarily suspend flights to Sydney, Bangkok and San Jose during the summer of 2021.\n\nPassengers have contacted the BBC to say they have had trips cancelled in 2021 and are waiting for advice from BA on whether they will receive a refund or a flight voucher.\n\nBA said it was sorry and that customers on cancelled flights are entitled to a full refund.\n\nLike other airlines, the pandemic meant global travel restrictions had forced it to operate a reduced and dynamic schedule, it said.\n\nIt advised customers on affected flights to check the BA website for the latest flight information.\n\nBA has said previously that the pandemic has hit it harder than anything ever before, with losses that outstrip the financial crisis of 2008 and the September 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.\n\nLosses totalled almost £4bn in the first half of this year.\n\nThe airline controversially made about 10,000 staff redundant in the summer, as it fought to save money and limit burning through cash reserves as passenger numbers collapsed.\n\nPreviously, BA has said it does not expect international travel to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023.", "The capsule touched down on snow-covered grassland\n\nChina's Chang'e-5 mission has returned to Earth with the cargo of rock and \"soil\" it picked up off the Moon.\n\nA capsule carrying the materials landed in Inner Mongolia at 01:59 local time on Thursday (17:59 GMT, Wednesday).\n\nIt's more than 40 years since the American Apollo and Soviet Luna missions brought their samples home.\n\nThe new specimens should provide fresh insight on the geology and early history of Earth's satellite.\n\nFor China, the successful completion of the Chang'e-5 venture will also be seen as another demonstration of the nation's increasing capability in space.\n\nRecovery teams were quick to move in on the returned capsule. It was first spotted by helicopters using infrared cameras. Support staff following up in SUVs planted a Chinese flag in the snow-covered grassland next to the module.\n\nA high-speed re-entry (L) followed by a parachute journey to the ground (R)\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by ESA Operations This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe Chang'e-5 venture was launched at the end of November.\n\nA probe comprising several elements was sent into orbit around the Moon. These elements then separated, with one half going down to the lunar surface.\n\nThe lander system used a scoop and a drill to dig up samples. It's not clear how much, but possibly in the range of 2-4kg.\n\nAn ascent vehicle subsequently carried the materials back into lunar orbit where they were transferred to an Earth-return module. This was shepherded home by a fourth element and released just before it had to make the fiery descent through Earth's atmosphere.\n\nThe mission spent only two days on the Moon's surface gathering samples\n\nThe capsule's contents will be removed in a dedicated laboratory\n\nReturning from the Moon, the Chang'e-5 module would have been moving much faster than, say, a capsule coming back from the International Space Station.\n\nEngineers had chosen to scrub some of this extra energy by doing an initial \"skip\" in the atmosphere. This saw the module briefly dip into the gases that shroud our planet, before then plunging much deeper to try to reach Earth's surface.\n\nThe Chang'e-5 capsule was targeted to float down on parachute to Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia. This is the same location used to bring Chinese astronauts home.\n\nAgain, infrared cameras were on hand to follow the action by detecting the heat of the module.\n\nA total of just under 400kg of lunar surface materials were collected by American Apollo astronauts and the Soviets' robotic Luna landers.\n\nBut all these samples were very old - more than three billion years in age. Chang'e-5's rock and dust should be quite different.\n\nThe Chinese mission targeted a high volcanic region called Mons Rümker in the northwest of the nearside of the Moon.\n\nSamples from this terrain may be no more than 1.2 or 1.3 billion years old, and, as such, should provide additional information on how the Moon is constructed internally.\n\nThe samples will also allow scientists to more precisely calibrate the \"chronometer\" they use to age surfaces on the inner Solar System planets.\n\nThis is done by counting craters (the more craters, the older the surface), but it depends on having some definitive dating at a number of locations, and the Apollo and Soviet samples were key to this.\n\nChinese space officials have said the new samples will be shared with the UN and international partners. The Chinese public will also get to see some of the materials when they are put on display in a national museum.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch the moment the Chang'e-5 mission launches from Earth\n\nThe Moon is once again in vogue. America is planning on returning astronauts to the surface in the middle of this decade. A series of robotic spacecraft will land ahead of these human explorers to do reconnaissance.\n\nSome of these probes will be from national space agencies; some will be sent by commercial enterprises - including from the UK.\n\nTony Azzarelli, director and co-founder of the UK industry space body Access Space Alliance, said exciting times lay ahead, and highlighted the start-up Spacebit's quest to put a rover on the lunar surface next year.\n\n\"It'll be the first time that a legged robot will walk on another celestial world. Of course, all of these lunar missions are just a prelude to the return of humans to the Moon in the not-too-distant future,\" he told BBC News.\n\nJonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos", "A US congressman announced that he tested positive for coronavirus hours after giving an address to fellow lawmakers on the floor of the US House of Representatives in Washington.\n\nSouth Carolina Republican Joe Wilson spoke on Wednesday to praise President Donald Trump for his role in the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine rollout, which began this week.\n\n“The life-saving Covid-19 vaccine that he promised to deliver has arrived in record time. Hallelujah,” he said.\n\nHe later said in a statement that he would be quarantining over Christmas. \"Thankfully I feel fine and do not have any symptoms,\" he said. \"It is so important that we all do our part to help prevent the spread of this virus.\"\n\nUS Interior Secretary David Bernhardt - who oversees US national parks and federal lands - also tested positive on Wednesday. He was tested before a cabinet meeting with President Trump, and did not attend the meeting as a result of his infection.\n\nSecretary of State Mike Pompeo also skipped the meeting. He is currently isolating after he was exposed to someone who was infected.", "The return to secondary school in January will be staggered in England, with some pupils starting online rather than in class, says the government.\n\nIt will allow schools to set up a Covid testing scheme - but exam-year pupils will start term as usual.\n\nThe National Education Union said making the announcement right at the end of the school term showed \"panic\".\n\nEducation Secretary Gavin Williamson said testing would \"clamp down\" on the virus after the Christmas break.\n\n\"Armed forces personnel\" will support the planning for testing in schools, says the Department for Education.\n\nApart from those taking GCSEs, A-levels and vocational exams next year, secondary school pupils will study online for the first week back in January.\n\nThis is to allow schools to make preparations for mass Covid testing - which will offer school staff a test each week and a daily test for seven days for pupils in contact with a positive case.\n\nThose exam year pupils returning for face-to-face lessons will also be offered tests, with all testing to be on a voluntary basis and requiring parental consent.\n\nFace-to-face learning is expected to re-start for all by 11 January.\n\nA similar scheme has been announced for Wales, where schools went online on Monday. A full return to the classroom is expected by 18 January at the latest.\n\nBut school leaders have reacted angrily at having to set up and manage such a testing system with so little notice - with the National Association of Head Teachers calling it a \"shambles\".\n\n\"They have handed schools a confused and chaotic mess at the eleventh hour,\" said the union's leader Paul Whiteman.\n\nJules White, head of Tanbridge House School in Horsham, said: \"The government has spent £22bn on a mass testing programme for test and trace.\n\n\"Schools are being asked to deliver mass testing for staff and students during the Christmas period with no funding, an 'idiot's guide' handbook and barely any notice.\"\n\nThe government is insisting the change to the start of term is not an extension to the school holidays and primary schools will not be affected by the move.\n\nBut it comes after the Department for Education instructed all local authorities to keep schools open in the final days of term, despite several initially telling parents that schools would close early and head teachers calling for more flexibility for online study.\n\nTeaching unions have challenged the practicality of being expected to train and deploy an \"army of volunteers\" to run the testing.\n\nThe National Education Union has now written to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson saying the plans for a school testing system are \"inoperable\".\n\nIt said: \"Telling school leaders, on the last day of term [for many schools], that they must organise volunteers and parents, supported by their staff, to test pupils in the first week of term, whilst Year 11 and 13 pupils are on site for in-school teaching, is a ridiculous ask.\"\n\nTeachers were already \"exhausted by the unreasonable demands, backed by legal threats, that they have been subjected to this term\", said the union's letter.\n\nIt added that running such medical procedures was \"significantly outside the experience and job description\" of school staff, highlighting expert advice that tests carried out by non-specialists were less likely to be effective.\n\nPatrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union said: \"Yet again the government is announcing significant changes affecting schools with little or no time to prepare before the Christmas closure period.\"\n\nHe said it was not the responsibility of teachers or school leaders to undertake testing of pupils or employees.\n\n\"The government has to ensure that it puts into place all the necessary resources needed to deliver the practical and financial support to schools to ensure safety in schools,\" said Dr Roach.\n\nAssociation of School and College Leaders general secretary Geoff Barton said: \"We are very concerned about the feasibility of setting up a testing programme at the scale envisaged.\"\n\nHe added: \"The profession is very willing to work with the government over how to roll-out mass testing, but ministers must understand that chaotic, last-minute announcements do not constitute a collaborative approach.\"\n\nAs the plans for January have been announced, an official study suggests virus rates in schools reflect the levels in their local communities.\n\nVirus rates have been growing fast in some areas, including London and south-east England, in recent weeks, with many schools affected.\n\nThe analysis of tests on 10,000 staff and pupils from Public Health England, Office for National Statistics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found 1.24% of pupils and 1.29% of staff tested positive for coronavirus in schools.\n\nHowever, the impact of those cases will have been felt by many more, as close contacts were required to go home and self-isolate.\n\nThe governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not announced any changes to the start of the January term, but schools in Wales moved online last Monday.", "Talks to reach a post-Brexit trade deal are in a \"serious situation\", Boris Johnson said after a call with the EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen.\n\nHe warned that \"time was short\" and that a no deal scenario was \"very likely\" unless the EU position changed \"substantially\".\n\nMrs von der Leyen said it would be \"very challenging\" to bridge the \"big differences\", particularly on fish.\n\nHowever, she also welcomed \"substantial progress on many issues\".\n\nTalks in Brussels will continue on Friday, with two weeks to go before the UK leaves EU trading rules.\n\nIn a statement issued after the phone call, No 10 said: \"He [Mr Johnson] said that we were making every effort to accommodate reasonable EU requests on the level playing field, but even though the gap had narrowed some fundamental areas remained difficult.\n\n\"On fisheries he stressed that the UK could not accept a situation where it was the only sovereign country in the world not to be able to control access to its own waters for an extended period and to be faced with fisheries quotas which hugely disadvantaged its own industry.\n\n\"The EU's position in this area was simply not reasonable and if there was to be an agreement it needed to shift significantly.\"\n\nThe UK's chief negotiator David Frost echoed the prime minister's tone, tweeting: \"The situation in our talks with the EU is very serious tonight. Progress seems blocked and time is running out.\"\n\nEuropean Parliament leaders have set Sunday as a deadline for them to see the text of any deal agreed by the negotiating teams.\n\nThe senior MEPs said they would \"not be rushed\" into approving an agreement at their end, and would have to see the text by the end of the week if they were to sign it off by 31 December.\n\nThe call came after minister Michael Gove warned talks may go on until after Christmas. He said that while Christmas Day would be \"sacrosanct\", it was possible that Parliament could be recalled to approve a Brexit deal.\n\nParliament closed for the Christmas break on Thursday evening.\n\nMr Gove also said that although the European Parliament has said it would not have time to ratify a deal if it was not concluded by Sunday, they could \"apply provisional application of the treaty\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michael Gove said Brexit talks 'may go on after Christmas'\n\nHe told the Commons Brexit Committee the \"most likely outcome\" was that the current transition period would end on December 31 without a deal.\n\nAsked how likely a deal is, he replied \"I think, regrettably, the chances are more likely that we won't secure an agreement. So at the moment less than 50%.\"\n\nIt's long been predicted that competition rules and fishing would be the last areas where compromise is found.\n\nFor Boris Johnson's government, being tied to EU regulations in perpetuity defeats the purpose of Brexit and makes a mockery of \"taking back control\".\n\nFor the European Union, it will not allow its internal market to be undermined by offering the UK unfair access.\n\nUrsula von der Leyen has claimed the two sides have made a significant step by agreeing to a \"strong mechanism\" to ensure neither side lowers their environmental or social standards, but are yet to agree on how each could diverge from these levels in the future.\n\nA good number of EU diplomats were quietly confident it was a matter of when, not if, EU access to UK fishing waters could be sorted. But it's proving trickier than they thought.\n\nSources tell me that Michel Barnier explained to EU ambassadors at the start of this week that if fishing is resolved, then a wider deal would quickly fall into place.\n\nBut there's no sign of a meeting of minds on fish, with the EU warning openly it may prove to be impossible.\n\nBut let's remember this is the most intense of negotiations and that every public proclamation from London or Brussels will be chosen to strengthening their respective hands in what are the final days and hours of talks.\n\nAlthough there is only 14 days until the deadline, Mr Gove said he believed there was enough time for the necessary legislation to pass before 31 December \"to give businesses legal certainty\".\n\nBut a number of opposition MPs raised issues already facing businesses waiting to discover the outcome of talks.\n\nOne Welsh MP, Jonathan Edwards, said: \"I was contacted late last night by a businessman in my constituency who is reliant on imports from the continent and he can't find a haulage firm willing to carriage on his behalf due to the current delays at the ports.\n\n\"He's very concerned unless this issue was resolved his business would not survive into the new year.\"\n\nMr Gove said he would get in touch with the business concerned.", "The police say an investigation into potential breaches of restrictions at the funeral of senior IRA figure Bobby Storey is now completed.\n\nA file will be submitted to the Public Prosecution Service tomorrow.\n\nTwenty-four people were interviewed as part of the investigation, including Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill.\n\nIt began after almost 2,000 people attended the funeral in west Belfast in June at a time when numbers at gatherings were severely restricted.\n\nSinn Féin was criticised for the attendance of many of its senior members, including Ms O'Neill and party president Mary Lou McDonald.\n\nThe PSNI brought in the deputy chief constable of Cumbria, Mark Webster, to oversee and direct inquiries.\n\nIn a statement on Thursday he said: \"I was appointed to independently examine the sequence of events surrounding the funeral of Bobby Storey on 30 June this year and alleged breaches of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020.\n\n\"We have now interviewed 24 individuals suspected of having breached the regulations and a file will be submitted to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) on Friday 18 December 2020.\n\n\"I will not be making any further comment so as not to prejudice any future decision made by the PPS.\"\n\nUnionists had been critical at the pace of the investigation.\n\nThey have also raised questions about what was agreed between Sinn Féin and the PSNI ahead of the funeral.\n\nPolice largely stayed away and allowed Sinn Féin to steward proceedings.\n\nMs O'Neill later admitted the public health message had been undermined.\n\nSpeaking to BBC News NI last week, PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne defended how it was handled and said the investigation into potential breaches of health regulations was \"in its end stages\".\n\nSinn Féin's leader Mary-Lou McDonald (left) and deputy leader Michelle O'Neill (right) attended Mr Storey's funeral, along with former leader Gerry Adams (centre)\n\nEarlier, Mr Byrne said it was \"not appropriate\" to comment on what the police and Sinn Féin had discussed in advance of the funeral.\n\nSinn Féin president Ms McDonald had previously said it had been \"meticulously\" planned with the PSNI.\n\nThis story was amended on 27 January 2021 to remove the phrase 'IRA veteran'.", "More than 130,000 people have been vaccinated in the first week of the UK's vaccination programme.\n\nMinister Nadhim Zahawi, who is in charge of vaccine rollout, tweeted 137,897 people had been given their first doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech jab between 8 and 15 December.\n\nHe described it as a \"really good start\" for the programme.\n\nThe figure only captures the start of the community vaccination programme run by GPs which launched on Monday.\n\nAbout 200 of these local vaccination clinics are expected to be up and running by the end of the week.\n\nThey will be followed by another 1,000 in the coming weeks.\n\nThe government wants to offer everyone over 50 and younger adults with health conditions a vaccine - about 25 million people.\n\nBut the National Audit Office has warned \"complex logistical challenges\" remain.\n\nIt said thousands of extra staff would be needed to deliver vaccinations on the scale being talked about - the government has committed to offering all over 50s and younger adults with health conditions a vaccine.\n\nIt said hospitals and GP-run local clinics would not be able to do this on their own.\n\nBut it added the government had worked \"quickly and effectively\" to secure access to vaccines - contracts have been signed giving priority access to five different jabs.\n\nIt estimated the vaccination programme, including manufacturing, purchasing and delivering the jabs, could cost up to £12bn.\n\nDuring the first week, more than 70 hospitals took part in the vaccination programme - with another 10 starting this week.\n\nMr Zahawi said the figures were provisional and from next week there would be published data available.\n\n\"Transparency is vital as we deliver vaccines across the UK,\" Mr Zahawi added.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said: \"This is just the start and we will steadily expand our vaccination programme - ultimately helping everyone get back to normal life.\"\n\nThe over-80s have been invited for vaccination first, along with some health and care staff.\n\nBut the highest priority group, care-home residents, have only just started to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.\n\nIt has to be kept in in large batches in ultra-cold storage.\n\nAnd the NHS had been waiting for guidance on how it can be safely taken into care homes.", "Boris Johnson's outgoing aide Dominic Cummings has attacked a system which he says \"incentivises politicians to focus more on Twitter and gossip-column stories about their dogs\" while ignoring \"existential threats\".\n\nIn the Spectator, he also warned that parts of the UK's \"nuclear enterprise have rotted from years of neglect\".\n\nAnd he called for more focus on \"low-probability, high-impact events\".\n\nMr Cummings is leaving No 10 following a fractious internal power struggle.\n\nHis departure was announced last month and he has been working out his notice from home.\n\nOn Thursday, government figures revealed that his salary rose during 2020 from between £95,000-£99,999 to £140,000-£144,999, making him among the highest-earning special advisers in government.\n\nBy the conventional literary standards of Dominic Cummings, this is an unquestionably pithy contribution.\n\nHis blog posts traditionally demand a long train journey and a lot of scrolling to reach their destination.\n\nBut rather like his personally published reflections, this nugget in The Spectator combines a sweep of history with a few sharp political jabs.\n\nNo names mentioned, of course, but which prominent resident of Downing Street combines a love of dogs and social media?\n\nAh yes, the Prime Minister's fiancee Carrie Symonds, frequently pictured in the company of Dilyn, her Jack Russell cross.\n\nAnd who was seen as particularly influential in Mr Cummings' departure from No 10? You guessed it....\n\nDilyn the dog has his own instagram page\n\nIn a feature for the Spectator Magazine, contributors were asked to nominate their \"highlights of history\".\n\nMr Cummings chose a moment in 1983 when a Soviet Union officer, Stanislav Petrov, potentially averted nuclear war by ignoring his country's nuclear weapons alert system.\n\nThe satellite system suggested that the US had launched a nuclear-armed missile strike, but Mr Petrov decided it was a false alarm and chose not to inform his superiors, thereby preventing a retaliatory attack.\n\nPraising his reaction, Mr Cummings wrote: \"It was only because of his intensive training and quick wits that many millions of lives weren't lost.\"\n\nHe added that there have been many such near-misses since the 1960s and that \"protocols combined with flawed early warning systems remain a huge danger today\".\n\n\"In Britain parts of the nuclear enterprise have rotted from years of neglect, though thankfully the new cabinet secretary knows and cares and is acting to remedy this.\n\n\"As Covid has shown, far greater intellectual and material resources ought to be deployed on such apparently low-probability, high-impact events.\"\n\nEarlier this year Lord Sedwill stepped down as cabinet secretary - the top job in the civil service - to be replaced by Simon Case.", "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have shared an image from their Norfolk home on their official Christmas card.\n\nTaken at Anmer Hall - a Georgian house on the Queen's Sandringham Estate - the photograph shows the couple and Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis posing on some bales of straw.\n\nThe festive card is sent to friends, associates and their charities.\n\nThe Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall have also released the image on their card - taken in their garden.\n\nPrince Charles and Camilla posed for a photograph at their home in Birkhall, Aberdeenshire.\n\nThe photo of Charles and Camilla was taken by a member of staff in the autumn\n\nIt has become an annual tradition for the royals to reveal which of their favourite photographs they have chosen for the cards they send out each Christmas.\n\nLast year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Christmas card featured their baby son Archie for the first time.\n\nIn this year's photograph, Prince William and Kate sit with their children George, seven, Charlotte, five, and two-year-old Louis on a hay bale.\n\nIt was taken by Matt Porteous, who has received royal commissions in the past from Prince William and Kate, including for behind the scenes moments from Louis's christening.\n\nHe also captured the family playing in a garden that Kate had created for last year's Chelsea Flower Show.\n\nThe picture's release comes after the Cambridges took part in their first red carpet engagement as a family of five, as they went to the London Palladium theatre to watch a performance of Pantoland.\n\nLess than a week later, the pantomime run was forced to close as London entered tier three, the top level of coronavirus restrictions.\n\nEarlier this month the duke and duchess travelled around Great Britain on the royal train to thank key workers for their efforts during the pandemic.", "Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah lived 25 metres from the South Circular Road in south-east London\n\nA nine-year-old girl who died following an asthma attack has become the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death.\n\nElla Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, died in 2013.\n\nAt the conclusion of the two-week inquest, coroner Philip Barlow said Ella had been exposed to \"excessive\" levels of pollution.\n\nThe inquest heard that in the three years before her death, she had multiple seizures and was admitted to hospital 27 times.\n\nDelivering a narrative verdict, Mr Barlow said levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) near Ella's home exceeded World Health Organization and European Union guidelines.\n\nHe added: \"There was a recognised failure to reduce the levels of nitrogen dioxide, which possibly contributed to her death.\n\n\"There was also a lack of information given to Ella's mother that possibly contributed to her death.\"\n\nGiving his conclusion over almost an hour, the coroner said: \"I will conclude that Ella died of asthma, contributed to by exposure to excessive air pollution.\"\n\nRosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said she did not know how dangerous local levels of pollution were before her daughter's death\n\nElla's mother Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, said: \"We've got the justice for her which she so deserved.\n\n\"But also it's about other children still, as we walk around our city of high levels of air pollution.\"\n\nMs Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said she was \"shocked\" by how \"decisive and comprehensive\" the findings were.\n\nElla was first taken to hospital in 2010 after a coughing fit, Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah had told the inquest.\n\nAs a six-year-old, she had to be placed in a medically induced coma for three days to try to stabilise her condition.\n\nBy the summer of 2012, Ella was classified as disabled and her mother said she often had to carry her by piggyback to get her around.\n\nMs Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said: \"I think people need to understand when Ella was rushed into hospital, a lot of the time she was barely breathing.\n\n\"It was an emergency, cardiac arrest.\"\n\nElla died in the early hours of 15 February 2013, following a severe asthma attack.\n\nElla was classified as disabled due to her respiratory problems\n\nA 2018 report found unlawful levels of pollution, which were detected at a monitoring station one mile from Ella's home, contributed to her fatal asthma attack.\n\nThe report's author Prof Sir Stephen Holgate said Ella had been \"living on a knife edge\" in the months before her death.\n\nThe inquest heard Ella's family did not know of the risks posed by air pollution.\n\nThis is an historic verdict.\n\nTypically, experts refer to air pollution being \"associated\" with premature deaths because they can't be sure any one individual's death was caused or partly caused by dirty air.\n\nThis case pins Ella's untimely death partly on to the air she breathed.\n\nIt will heighten the debate about social equity in the UK.\n\nThe poorest tend to suffer the worst air, whilst - on a national basis - the richest tend to drive furthest.\n\nCampaigners now want emergency action - including expanding London's clean-air zone for vehicles out to the M25 and making Britain's streets better for walking and cycling.\n\nBut there are myriad sources of pollution. Gas boilers, construction equipment, paint and dust from brakes and tyres all contribute.\n\nUltimately, it won't be possible to completely clean the air in some of the UK's big cities.\n\nAhead of the conclusion of the inquest, Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote to Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah calling her \"a hero\".\n\nThe Hollywood actor and former governor of California, who has long been an advocate for better clean-air standards, thanked her for \"exposing air pollution for the killer it is\".\n\nProf Shaddick, who leads Exeter University's data science department, said he hoped the inquest ruling \"makes improving the air we breathe easier to achieve in the future\".\n\n\"It's just regrettable it's taken this case to achieve it,\" he added.\n\nSadiq Khan, who as mayor of London was named as an interested party in the inquest, called the result \"a landmark moment\".\n\nMr Khan said: \"Today must be a turning point so that other families do not have to suffer the same heartbreak as Ella's family.\n\n\"Ministers and the previous mayor have acted too slowly in the past, but they must now learn the lessons from the coroner's ruling.\"\n\nElla lived 25 metres from the South Circular Road, one of the capital's busiest roads\n\nSarah Woolnough, chief executive of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, called on the government to outline a public health plan to protect against \"toxic air\" immediately.\n\nShe said: \"Our hearts go out to Ella's family who have fought tirelessly for today's landmark outcome.\n\n\"Today's verdict sets the precedent for a seismic shift in the pace and extent to which the government, local authorities and clinicians must now work together to tackle the country's air pollution health crisis.\"\n\nResponding to the verdict, a government spokesman said: \"Our thoughts remain with Ella's family and friends.\n\n\"We are delivering a £3.8bn plan to clean up transport and tackle NO2 pollution and going further in protecting communities from air pollution.\"\n\nThe mayor of Lewisham, Damien Egan, said Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah's campaign for clean air had been \"hugely impactful\".\n\nHe added: \"Our hope is that today's ruling is the evidence needed to effect lasting change, to finally secure a national commitment to tackling air pollution in a meaningful way.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Scotland's drug death rate is three and a half times higher than England and Wales\n\nScotland's record on drug deaths is \"indefensible\" and the government must do more to save lives, the country's first minister has admitted.\n\nThe number of deaths rose to a record 1,264 in 2019 - double the number in 2014 and the worst rate in Europe.\n\nThe first minister said she was \"sorry for every family that has suffered grief\", saying they had been let down.\n\nAnd she said she would chair a meeting of the drugs taskforce in January over what \"immediate steps\" could be taken.\n\nOpposition parties said the government had cut rehabilitation services \"to the bone\" and repeated their calls for Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick to be sacked.\n\nMs Sturgeon said she wanted to work with Mr FitzPatrick \"to make sure we collectively accept this responsibility and take the actions required to fix the problem\".\n\nThe number of drug-related deaths in Scotland has set a new record six years in a row, and now stands far in advance of the figures recorded in any European country per head of population - and is three and a half times worse than in England and Wales.\n\nMs Sturgeon said the figures were \"completely unacceptable\" and \"indefensible\", and said her government had \"much to do to sort this out\".\n\nShe apologised to families who had been \"let down\", adding: \"This is difficult and complex, but that is not an excuse - these figures tell us that we need to do more and do it quickly\".\n\nShe said she would chair a meeting of the drug deaths taskforce in January, and would report back to MSPs later that month to set out what \"immediate steps\" could be taken.\n\nNicola Sturgeon said she was not going to try to \"defend the indefensible\"\n\nThe first minister was pressed by opposition leaders about the availability of rehab beds and the amount of money the government commits to drug and alcohol partnerships.\n\nScottish Conservative group leader Ruth Davidson said rehabilitation was \"not a panacea\", but that \"it can work and does save lives\".\n\nShe said services had been \"cut to the bone\" by the Scottish government, saying more funding must be committed to avoid a repeat of the \"horrendous\" figures in future.\n\nThere are currently 365 rehab beds available in facilities across Scotland, but Ms Sturgeon confirmed that about 100 were being taken up by patients from other countries.\n\nShe said the government was \"not satisfied\" that the number of rehab beds available was \"necessarily sufficient or that they are being used sufficiently\".\n\nAnd she said funding for drug and alcohol partnerships had gone up in all but two of the 13 years the SNP has been in power.\n\nShe said: \"This should not be comfortable. I am not going to stand here and defend the indefensible, these lives matter too much.\n\n\"We owe it to the lives which can still be saved that people like me do not engage in the usual political defensiveness, but redouble our efforts.\"\n\nMs Sturgeon has pledged to work with Mr FitzPatrick to solve the problem despite opposition calls for him to be replaced\n\nScottish Labour leader Richard Leonard reiterated calls for Ms Sturgeon to \"fire her minister for public health\" over the figures, saying Mr FitzPatrick's response had been \"woeful\".\n\nThis was echoed by Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie, who said \"real leadership\" was needed that that Mr FitzPatrick was not capable of \"driving change\".\n\nMr FitzPatrick told BBC Scotland on Tuesday that the high number of deaths \"stem from a long-standing and complex set of challenges\" and that there \"really is no shortcut to suddenly solve this\".\n\nHe also said one of the biggest challenges was the large number of people in the 35-54 age group who have been taking opioid drugs for many years, but who were not engaging with services to help them.\n\nAnd Mr FitzPatrick, who has been in the role since 2018, pledged to \"keep doing the job I am doing\".\n\nThe UK government, which has power over drug laws, has refused repeated requests from the Scottish government to allow so-called safe consumption rooms to be set up.\n\nIt has described consumption rooms as a \"distraction\" from efforts to tackle the problem, and says it is not convinced that they work.\n\nCritics also argue that the Scottish government could do more with the powers over health and justice that it does have, and point out that England's drug death rate is far lower despite the country also not having consumption rooms.", "Last updated on .From the section Premier League\n\nRoberto Firmino's last-minute header broke Tottenham's stubborn resistance at Anfield and sent Liverpool to the top of the Premier League table.\n\nAn entertaining encounter looked set to end in stalemate before - with the game entering stoppage time - Firmino soared to flash a header high past Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris from Andrew Robertson's corner.\n\nLiverpool flew at Spurs in the opening exchanges and went ahead when Mohamed Salah's shot took a big deflection off Eric Dier and looped over Lloris.\n\nSpurs had barely left their own half but struck with a counter punch seven minutes later when Son Heung-min raced clear to slip a composed finish past Alisson.\n\nSpurs actually had the better chances in the second half, with Steven Bergwijn firing wide then hitting a post when clean through and Harry Kane heading over from point-blank range.\n\nManager Jose Mourinho was left to regret those missed opportunities as a late Liverpool surge ended with Firmino's winner to send the defending champions three points clear at the top of the table and inflict Spurs' first Premier League loss since the opening weekend home defeat against Everton.\n\nThis was the night Anfield paid tribute to former manager Gerard Houllier who died aged 73 this week.\n\nThere were poignant moments with a minute's applause before kick-off and those fans gathered on The Kop sang the songs they used to sing to celebrate the Frenchman's success.\n\nLiverpool's players paid their own tribute with a display that started in blistering fashion as a succession of chances were created, then showed grit and resilience to fashion the three points as Spurs threatened after the break.\n\nLiverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was animated, even by his standards, raging at the officials on numerous occasions before celebrating wildly with his players and The Kop at the final whistle.\n\nAfter a lacklustre performance at Fulham, this was the perfect response as they returned to familiar territory at the top of the table.\n\nSpurs were left bitterly disappointed and deflated as they were sunk by a late goal at Anfield once again - their frustration made even more acute by the golden chances they missed to secure a statement victory and end a Liverpool unbeaten home sequence in the league that now stretches to 66 games.\n\nBergwijn squandered two opportunities to score with only Alisson to beat then Kane somehow directed a header down and over the top at The Kop end, holding his head in disbelief.\n\nWhen the dust settles, Mourinho will feel Spurs showed why they are currently one of the top two sides in the country as they survived that Liverpool assault to open up the opportunities to actually win.\n\nThe last time Mourinho managed a side at Anfield, a 3-1 defeat when he was in charge of Manchester United in December 2018 saw him sacked 24 hours later. Here at Spurs, he is in charge of a developing side that will certainly contest places at the top end of the table this season.\n\n'Jose told me that the better team lost' - what they said\n\nLiverpool boss Klopp: \"It was just a really good game against a counter-attacking monster, the possession we had we did incredibly well. The best way to defend Tottenham is to keep the ball all the time.\n\n\"Yes, they have scored a goal and had two chances. Apart from that, we controlled the game and it is a massively deserved three points. I am happy. For me, it [the Spurs goal] is offside. They watch it 20 times, but when I saw it, it is offside.\n\n\"I am so happy we scored that goal because it felt like 70% of the ball against a top side. Bobby [Firmino], what a header. I am over the moon for him. What a game he played, those movements, he opens up all the other gaps.\"\n\nOn exchange with Mourinho after the final whistle: \"Jose told me 'the better team lost'. I thought he was joking, but he wasn't.\"\n\nSpurs boss Mourinho: \"We were playing to win, we were not playing to get a point. A point would have been quite a fair result but we played to win and had the biggest chances to win it. The moment of the occasions and the reaction they had, they were in trouble.\n\n\"I feel it was a very undeserved result, but that's football. At half-time we move the pieces a little bit, but overall the game was always under control and I am very pleased with the performance.\n\n\"The changes were to find counter-attack situations which we did immediately, but with Gio's [Lo Celso] yellow card and the incredible pressure these guys on the touchline put on the officials, I was afraid of the yellow card and I had to take him off. I am not the one to speak to my colleagues about their behaviour on the touchline.\"\n• None Tottenham have won just one of their past 27 Premier League away games against Liverpool (D8 L18), last winning there in May 2011.\n• None Tottenham have only conceded more Premier League goals against Chelsea (102) than they have against Liverpool (97).\n• None This was Tottenham's first Premier League defeat in 12 Premier League games (W7 D4), since a 0-1 loss to Everton in September.\n• None Mourinho has never won away against Klopp in six attempts in all competitions (D2 L4), with Klopp being the manager he's faced the most away from home without ever tasting victory.\n• None Son has scored 11 goals in 13 Premier League appearances this season, equalling his goal tally from the entire 2019-20 campaign (11 in 30).\n• None Twenty of Tottenham's 25 Premier League goals this season have been scored by either Son (11) or Kane (9).\n• None Salah now has eight goals against Tottenham in all competitions - against no other side has he scored more in his club career in European football (level with Bournemouth and Watford).\n\nLiverpool visit Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday (12:30 GMT) while Tottenham host Leicester City on Sunday (14:15).\n• None Goal! Liverpool 2, Tottenham Hotspur 1. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) header from the centre of the box to the top left corner. Assisted by Andrew Robertson with a cross following a corner.\n• None Attempt saved. Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.\n• None Attempt blocked. Curtis Jones (Liverpool) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Sadio Mané.\n• None Attempt missed. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Toby Alderweireld. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None A mega mixtape of the very best indie floorfillers\n• None Former England cricketer on his desire to coach at the highest level", "The government has announced a new £30m fund to help pay for the installation of fire alarms in high-rise buildings with dangerous cladding.\n\nThe money will reduce the need for round-the-clock fire patrols known as 'waking watch'.\n\nThree years since the Grenfell Tower fire, hundreds of buildings across the UK still have 24-hour safety patrols.\n\nHousing Secretary Robert Jenrick said the money will \"help relieve financial pressure on residents\".\n\nWaking watches were introduced by the National Fire Chiefs Council as a temporary measure to keep residents safe but some buildings have had wardens in place for years costing leaseholders tens of thousands of pounds every month.\n\nRecent guidance from the Council advised building owners should move to install common fire alarm systems as quickly as possible to reduce or remove the need for the 24-hour warden patrols.\n\nMr Jenrick said \"rip-off waking watch costs\" were bringing misery to leaseholders in tower blocks with cladding problems and the new fund will \"make a real difference to worried leaseholders\" and \"ensure they are safe\".\n\nIt comes as residents told the BBC they were paying thousands of pounds for fire wardens to patrol their blocks.\n\nRitu Saha, who lives in Bromley, south-east London, said patrols had cost her more than £300 a month for the last three years, totalling £11,700, and she couldn't bear the cost much longer.\n\nCampaigners representing residents said the fund was \"a glimmer of light in the ongoing uncertainty and dark times that our residents face\".\n\nBut in a statement welcoming the announcement, the Manchester and Liverpool Cladiators said: \"After months of waiting for a full and fair solution, we hoped for more detail and more funding.\"\n\nThe group said it had calculated that the fund would cover up to 300 buildings, adding: \"Given there are up to 1,000 buildings in the country, where a Waking Watch is in place, we remain concerned that this new funding will help less than a third of the residents affected.\n\n\"Many will be left unable to benefit from this announcement. In effect, another safety lottery has been created.\"\n\nThe government says leaseholders have on average been paying £137 per month for the patrols, and will collectively save over £3m per month, when the fund will opens in January.\n\nImmediate emergency support will also be provided to Wicker Riverside Apartments in Sheffield.\n\nThirty five families, who were recently evacuated from the building because of fire safely faults, should be able to return to their homes before Christmas.\n\nA six-month extension to the deadline for building owners to complete their applications to the government's £1bn Building Safety Fund (BSF) has also been announced, with a new deadline for submissions of 30 June 2021.\n\nThe BSF was set up to pay for the removal of unsafe combustible cladding on buildings that are 18 metres or higher.\n\nMr Jenrick also said he will be writing to Trading Standards to ask them to use their powers to investigate evidence of disproportionate charges for waking watch.", "Sweden's king has said his country \"failed\" to save lives with its relatively relaxed approach to the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nKing Carl XVI Gustaf made the remarks as part of an annual TV review of the year with the royal family.\n\nSweden, which has never imposed a full lockdown, has seen nearly 350,000 cases and more than 7,800 deaths - a lot more than its Scandinavian neighbours.\n\nPrime Minister Stefan Lofven said he agreed with the king's remarks.\n\n\"Of course the fact that so many have died can't be considered as anything other than a failure,\" Mr Lofven told reporters.\n\nReferring to the government's strategy, Mr Lofven added that \"it's when we are through the pandemic that the real conclusions can be drawn\".\n\nIn the programme, the king says: \"I think we have failed. We have a large number who have died and that is terrible.\n\n\"The people of Sweden have suffered tremendously in difficult conditions. One thinks of all the family members who have happened to be unable to say goodbye to their deceased family members. I think it is a tough and traumatic experience not to be able to say a warm goodbye.\"\n\nWhen asked if he was afraid of being infected with Covid-19, the king - who is 74 - said: \"Lately, it has felt more obvious, it has crept closer and closer. That's not what you want.\"\n\nInstead of relying on legal sanctions, Sweden appeals to citizens' sense of responsibility and civic duty, and issues only recommendations. There are no sanctions if they are ignored.\n\nSweden has never imposed a nationwide lockdown or the wearing of masks, and bars and restaurants have remained open.\n\nHowever, earlier this week, schools across the Stockholm region were asked to switch to distance learning for 13 to 15-year-olds for the first time as soon as possible. The measure was announced in response to rising Covid-19 cases.\n\nThis came a week after a nationwide decision on 7 December to switch to remote learning for those over 16.\n\nAnd on Monday, new nationwide social-distancing recommendations for the Christmas period came into force, replacing similar region-specific guidelines.\n\nSwedes are advised to meet a maximum of eight people, gather outdoors if possible and avoid travelling by train or bus.\n\nA formal ban on public gatherings of more than eight people remains, affecting events such as concerts, sports matches and demonstrations.\n\nSweden's state epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, in November explained the strategy relied on a combination of legal and voluntary measures.\n\nHe told the BBC that this was, in the Swedish context, \"the combination that we really believe is the best one\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Tegnell: \"Not yet possible to say which country has right strategy\" (November 2020 interview)\n\nAccording to an official report released earlier this week, the strategy failed in its effort to protect the elderly in care homes - for which the government has admitted responsibility.\n\nOver 90% of Covid-related deaths have been among those aged 70 and over, and nearly half of all Covid deaths have been in care homes, the government says.\n\nMr Tegnell said his agency (Sweden's Public Health Agency) was not responsible for directing the elderly care system, and added all stakeholders needed to help to improve the situation to make sure the elderly did not get infected.\n\nHe said he thought Sweden had become better at protecting older people, and that no country had succeeded entirely in that area - even Germany was being hit hard right now, he told Swedish radio on Wednesday.\n\nSweden has had more deaths than the rest of the Nordic countries combined. This has led to criticism from the country's neighbours, Norway, Denmark and Finland, that its less strict approach is putting their own measures at risk.\n\nOn Tuesday, Prime Minister Lofven also said he felt many experts had underestimated the second wave.\n\n\"I think most in the profession did not see such a wave incoming. There was instead talk of different clusters,\" he said in an interview with daily Aftonbladet.", "A Libyan man accused of making the bomb which destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie has been taken into United States custody.\n\nThe explosion on board the Boeing 747 on 21 December 1988 left 270 people dead, making it the deadliest terrorist incident to have taken place on British soil.\n\nAnother Libyan, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, is the only man ever convicted in connection with the atrocity.\n\nHe was found guilty of the murders in 2001, but always protested his innocence. He died in 2012 after being allowed to return home when it emerged that he had terminal cancer.\n\nHere is a timeline of the key developments in the case.\n\nAbdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah were accused of carrying out the bombing\n\n21 December 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes 31,000 feet over Lockerbie, 38 minutes after take-off from London.\n\nThe 259 people on board the Boeing 747 are killed, along with 11 people on the ground.\n\n13 November 1991: US and British investigators indict Libyans Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah on 270 counts of murder, conspiracy to murder and violating Britain's 1982 Aviation Security Act.\n\nThe men were accused of being Libyan intelligence agents.\n\n15 April 1992: The UN Security Council imposes sanctions on air travel and arms sales over Libya's refusal to hand the suspects over for trial in a Scottish court.\n\nAugust 1998: Britain and the United States propose trying the suspects in the Netherlands under Scottish law.\n\n5 April 1999: The suspects are taken into Dutch custody after flying from Tripoli to an airbase near the Hague and are formally charged with the bombing. UN sanctions against Libya are suspended as agreed.\n\nThe Scottish court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands\n\n3 May 2000: The trial of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, 48, and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44, opens at Camp Zeist, a specially convened Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands. Both of the accused deny murder.\n\n31 January 2001: Megrahi is found guilty of murder after the historic trial under Scottish law in the Netherlands.\n\nThe judges recommend a minimum of 20 years \"in view of the horrendous nature of this crime\".\n\nMegrahi's co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, is found not guilty and told he is free to return home.\n\n14 March 2002: Megrahi loses his appeal against the conviction.\n\n15 March 2002: Megrahi spends his first night at a prison in Glasgow after being flown by helicopter to HMP Barlinnie.\n\n14 August 2003: Lawyers acting for families of the Lockerbie bombing victims say they have reached agreement with Libya on the payment of compensation.\n\nThe deal to set up a $2.7bn (£1.7bn) fund was struck with Libyan officials after negotiations in London.\n\n24 November 2003: Megrahi is told he must serve at least 27 years in jail.\n\nHis sentence was increased after a change in the law meant he had to again come before the Scottish courts so that the punishment period could be set.\n\n28 June 2007: The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which has been investigating the case since 2003, recommends Megrahi is granted a second appeal against his conviction.\n\n21 October 2008: Megrahi's lawyer reveals the 56-year-old former Libyan intelligence agent has been diagnosed with \"advanced stage\" prostate cancer.\n\n31 October 2008: The father of one of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing reiterates his call for Megrahi to be released.\n\nJim Swire, whose daughter was killed, criticised the slow appeal process faced by the man convicted of the attack and said the question of whether Megrahi should be released was one of \"common humanity\".\n\n14 November 2008: A court rules that Megrahi will remain in jail while he appeals against his conviction.\n\n25 July 2009: Megrahi asks to be released from jail on compassionate grounds due to his illness.\n\n18 August 2009: Judges accept an application by the Lockerbie bomber to drop his second appeal against conviction.\n\nThe permission of the High Court in Edinburgh was required before the proceedings could be formally abandoned.\n\nMegrahi was met on his return to Libya by Muammar Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam\n\n20 August 2009: The Scottish government releases Megrahi on compassionate grounds. He returns home to Libya aboard a jet belonging to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.\n\n24 August 2009: The Scottish Parliament is recalled to discuss the release of the Lockerbie bomber.\n\nJustice Secretary Kenny MacAskill faces questioning from MSPs over his decision but says he stands by his decision and will \"live with the consequences\".\n\n29 August 2011: Megrahi falls into a coma at his Tripoli home with CNN reporting he appeared to be \"at death's door\".\n\n20 October 2011: Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi is overthrown by an uprising in Libya, and is killed by rebels.\n\n20 May 2012: Abdelbaset al-Megrahi dies at his home in Tripoli, aged 60.\n\nEleven people were killed on the ground in Lockerbie\n\n20 December 2014: Scotland's top prosecutor, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, reaffirms his belief that Megrahi is guilty of the Lockerbie bombing and says no Crown Office investigator or prosecutor ever raised concerns about the evidence used to convict him.\n\nHe also pledges to continue tracking down Megrahi's accomplices.\n\n3 July 2015: Scottish judges rule that relatives of the Lockerbie bombing victims should not be allowed to pursue an appeal on Megrahi's behalf. Courts had previously ruled that only next of kin could proceed with a posthumous application.\n\n4 July 2017: The family of Lockerbie bomber Megrahi lodges a new bid to appeal against his conviction, five years after his death.\n\n11 March 2020: The Scottish Criminal Case Review Commissionrules that there can be a fresh appeal and refers the case to the High Court of Justiciary.\n\nThe commission says it considered six grounds of review and concluded that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred by reason of \"unreasonable verdict\" and \"non-disclosure\".\n\nThe family of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi attenpted to appeal against his conviction\n\n22 December 2020: On the 32nd anniversary of the atrocity, the US announces it has filed charges against a Libyan suspected of making the bomb.\n\nAttorney General William Barr says Abu Agila Mohammad Masud was accused of terrorism-related crimes.\n\n15 January 2021: Scottish judges reject the appeal from the family of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi as the Court of Criminal Appeal upholds the verdict of the original trial.\n\nThe court rejected the argument that the original trial had come to a verdict that no reasonable court could have reached.\n\n11 December 2022: It emerges that Abu Agila Mohammad Masud, the Libyan man accused of making the bomb which destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, is in United States custody.", "Rail fares will rise more than expected next year - although the new inflation-busting 2.6% increase is being delayed until 1 March.\n\nRegulated fares were expected to increase by 1.6% in January, as successive governments linked annual rises to July's RPI inflation rate.\n\nRail minister Chris Heaton-Harris said the rise reflected \"unprecedented taxpayer support\" for rail this year.\n\nBut unions said the rise was a \"kick in the teeth\" for passengers.\n\nAn average increase of 2.6% across all fares will still be the lowest since 2017, and it will only last nine months, until the end of 2021.\n\nHad the rise come in in January it would have equated to a 1.95% jump across the whole year.\n\nUntil 28 February season tickets holders can renew at existing prices and the cost of daily fares will stay the same.\n\nRail travel has been badly hit during the coronavirus crisis, and Mr Heaton-Harris said delaying the price rise from January \"ensures passengers who need to travel have a better deal this year\".\n\nRegulated fares make up about half of fares and include season tickets on most commuter routes. But operators are expected to match their rises for unregulated fares.\n\nIt means, for example, a Brighton-to-London annual season ticket going up by about £129 to £5,109, and a Manchester-to-Glasgow off-peak return rising by £2.30 to £90.60.\n\nThe rail minister said: \"By setting fares sensibly, and with the lowest actual increase for four years, we are ensuring that taxpayers are not overburdened for their unprecedented contribution, ensuring investment is focused on keeping vital services running and protecting frontline jobs.\"\n\nThe government took over rail franchise agreements from train operators in March, following the collapse in demand for travel caused by the virus crisis. This is expected to have cost about £10bn by mid-2021.\n\nThe rise will help recover some of the significantly increased costs met by taxpayers to keep services running during the pandemic, Mr Heaton-Harris said.\n\nJacqueline Starr, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators, acknowledged that \"passengers will be disappointed\" about the fares rise, adding that \"governments must ultimately decide the balance between how much farepayers and taxpayers pay to run the railway\".\n\nShe added that industry was committed to working with the government to make the fares and ticketing system easier to use.\n\nThe department has written to all operators telling them to begin immediate work on developing flexible season tickets, allowing people who travel two or three days a week to save money compared with buying daily tickets. Firms have been told these must be introduced across England by the end of next year.\n\nAnthony Smith, chief executive of consumer watchdog Transport Focus, said: \"This fare increase makes it even more important that, when travel restrictions start to be lifted, the industry is able to attract people back by offering fares that match how we know people hope to live, work and travel in future.\"\n\nUnion leaders condemned the rise, with Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association calling it a \"kick in the teeth for passengers\".\n\nHe continued: \"Ministers are well aware that millions have suffered this year with the uncertainty of employment, a changing picture on furlough provision, pay cuts, wages freezes and lost jobs. So, to reach for a hike in fares of this size is both extortionate and plain daft.\"\n\nMick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said ticket prices were being \"forced up to subsidise private profit. The time is right for a publicly-owned railway system that delivers reasonable fares for our people as the public and the economy tries to recover and shake off the Covid crisis next year.\"\n\nUpdate 8 January 2021: This story has been amended to remove an example of a season ticket price increase faced by one passenger. The example of a first class ticket was considered to be unrepresentative of the situation faced by the average commuter.", "Global internet firms could be banned from automatically detecting child abuse images on their systems from as early as next Monday, amid a row over privacy laws within the European Union.\n\nThe companies voluntarily assist police across the UK and Europe but face being forced to stop the work.\n\nTalks are ongoing to try and create an exemption for the tech giants.\n\nChild safety experts say if the row is unresolved the law will inadvertently make it easier for abusers.\n\nThe threat to the investigations has been triggered by attempts in the European Parliament to protect private online communications from monitoring by internet companies.\n\nHowever, the new rules could prevent those same companies using software to automatically scan for child sexual abuse material going through their systems.\n\nThe tools developed over a decade can identify:\n\nOn Thursday, talks in Brussels between the European Parliament, Commission officials and representatives of the member states will attempt to agree how to exempt the internet companies from the incoming privacy law.\n\nIf those talks fail, the law will ban the use of the most automated tools that sweep through million of communications, before passing leads and patterns on to law enforcement agencies.\n\nJohn Carr, secretary of the UK Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety and a globally-recognised expert in the field, warned that time was running out to ensure all of the detection work would continue.\n\n\"If Brussels does not change this law or put it on hold... sexual predators will have an easier time contacting children,\" said Mr Carr.\n\n\"There will be more videos of children being raped available for people to view or download.\n\n\"The latter not only does further harm to the children depicted in the videos, to the extent such material also encourages or sustains paedophile behaviour, it puts children as yet unharmed in danger in every country in the world.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: In June the BBC spoke to an internet safety campaigner and investigator who poses as a 14-year-old girl online\n\nExperts estimate that if the most controversial privacy measures become law, there could be a 70% drop in reports from internet companies to law enforcement agencies across the world.\n\nThe US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children received almost 17m reports from internet companies in 2019, including alerts about potential abusers and victims operating across Europe.\n\nThe UK's National Crime Agency has not commented on the stand-off in Brussels - but it is part of a global group of law enforcement organisations that has lobbied Europe because it believes there is a risk to investigations and protection work.\n\nThe outgoing US Attorney General William Barr is the latest to raise concerns, saying the plans in the EU risked undermining the global response to a global crime.\n\nAnd MEP David Lega, co-president of the European Parliament's child safety group, said the privacy measures demanded by campaigners could set back the fight against online abuse 10 years.\n\n\"The cooperation between the tech companies and the law-enforcement authorities has proven instrumental in rescuing children in the EU and globally from child sexual abuse,\" he said.\n\n\"By introducing [privacy] conditions, we will just give companies the perfect excuse to stop the voluntary use of these technologies.\"", "Liz Truss says \"right-thinking people\" must fight for \"fairness\"\n\nThe government is promising to focus more on people's social class and individual \"character\", as it overhauls its equality policy.\n\nEqualities minister Liz Truss said the discrimination debate should not focus solely on race, religion, sexual orientation and disability.\n\nDiscussion had too often been dominated by \"fashion\" and not \"facts\", she said.\n\nLabour accused Ms Truss of \"gratuitous provocation\" and ignoring the \"devastating impact\" of discrimination.\n\nThe government is launching an Equality Data Programme to gather information on people's backgrounds, social mobility and inequality between regions.\n\nSpeaking at the Centre for Policy Studies think tank, Ms Truss said: \"To make our society more equal, we need the equality debate to be led by facts, not by fashion.\n\n\"Time and time again, we see politicians making their own evidence-free judgements.\"\n\nShe also said discussion had \"been dominated by a small number of unrepresentative voices, and by those who believe people are defined by their protected characteristic and not by their individual character\".\n\nThe Equalities and Human Rights Commission lists protected characteristics - over which it is illegal to discriminate - as age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.\n\nMs Truss argued that data based solely on these characteristics is not fit for purpose when it comes to setting equality policy.\n\nThe equalities minister said: \"Underlying this [approach] is the soft bigotry of low expectations, where people from certain backgrounds are never expected or considered able enough to reach high standards.\n\n\"This diminishes individual humanity and dignity, because when you choose on the basis of protected characteristics, you end up excluding people.\"\n\nMs Truss added that it was \"appalling\" that pregnant women suffer discrimination at work\", that women may \"be encouraged to dress in a certain way to get ahead\", and that \"some employers overlook the capabilities of people with disabilities\".\n\nDebates on equality must be \"rooted\" in \"real concerns people face\", she said, adding: \"It is our duty to deliver, because if right-thinking people do not lead the fight for fairness, then it will be led by those whose ideas do not work.\"\n\nFor Labour, shadow equalities minister Marsha de Cordova said: \"This is gratuitous provocation from a government that consistently refuses to face up to its responsibilities and the widening inequality it has caused.\n\n\"When Liz Truss dismisses 'fashionable' causes, she actually dismisses the devastating impact of discrimination and unfairness in people's day-to-day lives.\"\n\nHalima Begum, chief executive of the Runnymede Trust, a racial equality think tank, said: \"Liz Truss's attempts to 'overhaul' the equalities work in the UK is nothing short of a whitewashing of British history and its relationship with race.\"\n\nShe also said: \"It is time that equalities ministers in this government are held accountable for their words.\"\n\nThe government announced on Wednesday that its report into racial inequality will be delayed until next year, citing problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nIt is looking at health, education and criminal justice, but also \"wider inequalities\" such as issues faced by working-class white boys.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Friends and family line the street in an emotional homecoming\n\nA man who was given \"almost zero\" chances of surviving after contracting Covid-19 has spoken of how his world has been \"turned upside down\".\n\nMal Martin, 58, was taken to Bridgend's Princess of Wales Hospital in March, a week after \"feeling unwell\" and placed on a ventilator for 61 days.\n\nHis wife and children even said their goodbyes before he was put into an induced coma.\n\nBut Mr Martin's recovery was described by doctors as a \"miracle\".\n\n\"Basically it's turned my world upside down but at the same time, I'm getting stronger,\" he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.\n\n\"I can only walk so far, I'm having lots of dizziness, I've got problems with my lungs, I've got major problems with my kidneys.\n\nOn Mal Martin's seventh day in hospital, his family were told to prepare for the worst\n\n\"My kidneys are only running at 12% at the moment and it's just been horrific really. I need to either go on dialysis for the rest of my life, or a kidney transplant.\n\n\"I've lost vision in my right eye which I'll never get back and I've had amputations on my hands - I've lost my thumb from on my one hand and I've lost a forefinger and a half a finger and my thumb is going to come off my right hand.\"\n\nMr Martin was taken to hospital just before the UK went into a national lockdown in March.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sue Martin spoke to the BBC about Mal in April\n\nMr Martin is diabetic, which is genetic, not life-style related. Four years ago he'd had a heart attack and had three stents fitted. He recovered well, did park runs regularly and never drank heavily or smoked. Doctors reassured his family that his diabetes was controlled and that he was fit and healthy.\n\nHe said he does not remember the first two weeks, describing them as \"a blank\", and after that he \"honestly felt it was over\", as did his doctors.\n\nHe added: \"My consultant said to me my wife and my children came in to say goodbye - he wasn't supposed to have said that to be fair - but he did it and that really sort of got to me at the time.\n\n\"Under the ventilation I was having a lot of hallucinations and things, and some scary moments and seeing masks all the time around me.\n\n\"I remember one of the nurses saying to me that she held my hand all night... and she wouldn't let go.\n\n\"I thought just how amazing the NHS has been and everybody involved really has been fantastic.\"\n\nThe coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 1.6 million deaths from more than 73 million confirmed cases around the world.\n\nThere is hope of an end in sight with vaccinations starting to be rolled out.\n\nBut Mr Martin, who has been recovering at home since July, said there were still people out there who were not taking the virus seriously.\n\nFrom his hospital bed, Mr Martin told his wife Sue \"I want to come home\"\n\n\"It's a horrible, horrible, horrible disease to have and I think if I could have any wish, it would be that it would all go away,\" he said.\n\n\"But I suppose the biggest wish is for people to understand I was healthy.\n\n\"It astounds me really that there's so many people losing their lives, there's so many people in the same position I'm in and in worse positions than I'm in and people are still not taking heed and not understanding.\n\n\"I think once somebody gets it in their family, then it really hits home and it's certainly hitting my family.\"", "Toy store owner Hellen Stirling-Baker says container delays have cost her £20,000 in sales so far - 40% of her annual turnover\n\nDelays at UK ports mean a number of toy orders will now miss Christmas, according to the British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA).\n\nThe industry body has called on the government to help \"save the festive season\" by easing port congestion.\n\nHellen Stirling-Baker, who runs a Sheffield shop, says she has lost £20,000 in sales because of container delays, or 40% of her annual turnover.\n\nOther shops say it is impossible to order some popular toys including Lego.\n\nMs Stirling-Baker has been told that her order of cotton Dinkum Dolls, made in China, won't arrive in England until 7 January. The British company that designs the dolls told her their container is held up in customs, but it's already experienced seven weeks of delays due to the pandemic, port congestion and other logistics issues.\n\nOther toy orders from Ms Stirling-Baker has made have arrived incomplete.\n\n\"I just received an order today which I placed three weeks ago, and only part [of it] has come. The rest is stuck in ports,\" she said. \"Demand has been really high but stock levels are low.\"\n\nWhile many UK importers are struggling with the congestion issues at Felixstowe and Southampton, the toy sector has been particularly hard hit, since the problems have coincided with the peak Christmas season.\n\nThe Leeds-based toy designer Boxer Gifts, which manufacturers its products in China, estimates a loss in sales of up to £1m this year due to stock delays.\n\nManaging director Thomas O'Brien says one of his containers is currently stuck in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge and there's no way it will get to the UK in time for Christmas.\n\n\"Some of the ships are bypassing the UK and tipping off at European ports, but others are just slowing down because they've got nowhere to unload,\" he said.\n\n\"Various games and stocking-filler toys such as Grow-a-Sloth are hugely popular, but we've had stock outages for months because shipments are delayed and that's costing us sales.\n\n\"More importantly it's reducing availability for consumers to find fun gifts. There's less about.\"\n\nToy designer Boxer Gifts says lost sales from shipping delays will mean less money for innovation next year.\n\nLike many importers, Mr O'Brien has also had to contend with a sharp rise in shipping costs, as shipping firms hike up freight rates in response to port congestion and a shortage of empty containers in Asia.\n\nHe says containers shipped from Qingdao, China to Felixstowe are costing him $10,000 (£7,492.03), rather than the normal rate of $2,500.\n\nBTHA has called on the government to help where it can.\n\n\"We would urge the government to help at this crucial time for business, to save the festive season and alleviate blockages now ahead of the UK's departure from the EU,\" said a spokesman.\n\nAdding to the calls for government to intervene at the ports are the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Food and Drink Federation (FDF). The two trade bodies have written to MPs to request an urgent inquiry into the ongoing disruption at UK ports and skyrocketing shipping rates.\n\nA spokesman for the Department for Transport (DfT) said: \"This is not a problem unique to the UK, with ports around the globe experiencing similar container capacity issues. The government is working closely with the freight industry to work through the challenges some of our ports are facing.\n\n\"Ports are employing more staff, as well as working with hauliers to improve container collection and with shipping lines to maximise efficient utilisation of port capacity. We will do everything we can to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.\"\n\nWhile many small toy shops are struggling, some larger toy retailers say they've managed to avoid problems at the ports by stockpiling early in the year. Many have also benefitted from booming toy sales as families spent more time at home during coronavirus lockdowns.\n\nToyTown, which has 30 outlets across the UK, says it has had a bumper year with especially high orders of puzzles and games.\n\n\"We took a decision to load up pre-Brexit - if companies run a 'just-in-time' model, they'll suffer,\" explains managing director Alan Simpson.\n\nHe says it is typical for some toy lines to run-out of stock before Christmas, but this year's port problems are \"limiting choice\" for retailers, and he's had to closely monitor his supply chain.\n\nCharlotte Khan and her husband Naveed run a toy store in Folkestone\n\nCharlotte Khan from children's boutique Moo Like a Monkey in Folkestone, Kent, says her business has had to be \"more resilient than ever this year\".\n\nAfter losing thousands of pounds due to shipping problems that have left her having to hold onto late-arriving stock for next year, she is planning to refocus on stockists much closer to home.\n\n\"I'm going to look much more locally for suppliers now, they're the ones who've kept us in more reliable stock,\" she said.\n\n\"Even though we've taken a hit on our Christmas turnover, we've dealt with worse this year, and at least we've been able to trade during our peak season. I'm grateful to still be in business.\"", "Today Lockerbie is a neat, handsome town which appears to be doing rather well. It stands beside the motorway linking Glasgow and Carlisle, and it is a market town for the surrounding farms. Home to 4,000 residents, it was never a remote, isolated village - but it never expected to be the centre of global terrorism and tragedy. It has changed a lot in three decades, with new factories and housing estates contributing to a slight population increase.\n\nI’m very proud to say that I live in Lockerbie, and that the town reacted the way it did\n\nWhere families were wiped out, lives cut short and homes destroyed, there are memorials - but there is also new life. In Sherwood Crescent - the epicentre of the devastation - houses have been rebuilt alongside a modest stone of remembrance. To the west of the town is Dryfesdale Cemetery, where a visitor centre tells the story of Pan Am 103 and the Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial stands in silent testimony to the 270 dead.\n\nThe other lasting memorial is the scholarship which every year gives two students from Lockerbie Academy the chance to study at Syracuse University. The university’s motto is “Look Back, Act Forward”. It could speak for the whole town and all those whose lives were touched by the murders. Marjory McQueen says the scholarship proves that good can come out of terrible tragedy. “I’m very proud to say that I live in Lockerbie, and that the town reacted the way it did,” she says. “I think, in a way, when something like this happens, it’s a terrible tragedy. It’s dreadful. But if you wait long enough, good comes out of it. “And anyone who comes to Lockerbie, I’m very pleased to say that they are met and are shown round. And Lockerbie will never, never forget their relatives, and how they died here.”\n\nVisitors to the town pay tribute to the victims of flight 103\n\nJosephine Donaldson is typical of the people in Lockerbie - proud of the way they came together, but reluctant to take credit for the part she played. Twice a year, she visits the memorial in a small act of remembrance for Nicole and Amy Elizabeth, two young women she never met but still refers to as “my girls”. “I always put the flowers on there for their birthday and the 21 December. I never told anyone, I never signed the card, I just put ‘JD’. “I just felt I had to do it. I had a son, and if that had happened in America and I never got him home, I would have hoped someone would have done the same.”", "Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union\n\nMore former rugby players have joined the legal process against the game's authorities for alleged negligence.\n\nFormer Wales Under-20 centre Adam Hughes, 30, is the youngest to claim he has suffered permanent brain damage.\n\nEx-England Under-21 back row Neil Spence is also one of those involved while four former England and Wales players remain anonymous.\n\nLegal action is being prepared against the Rugby Football Union (RFU), Wales Rugby Union (WRU) and World Rugby.\n\nIt means there are now nine players included in preparing the action - although the law firm representing the group says more than 100 players have come forward.\n\nThose additional players will now be tested for early onset dementia and their details added to the potential claim involving the existing nine when it is ready.\n\nA letter of claim, setting out their intention to sue, was delivered to the governing bodies on Thursday.\n\nIn response, the RFU, WRU and World Rugby have issued a joint statement to confirm they have received the letter, and are \"deeply saddened\" to hear personal accounts from the players.\n\nThey also say player welfare is taken \"extremely seriously\" and it \"continues to be our number one priority\".\n\nWorld Rugby chairman and former England captain Sir Bill Beaumont said in an open letter his \"thoughts are with\" those who are struggling and that the organisation will \"continue to welcome\" the views of former players.\n\nHe added the area of concussion is \"extremely complex\" but that as \"the science continues to evolve\" rugby will \"evolve with it\".\n\nEvery member of the group of nine, including England's World Cup-winning hooker Steve Thompson, has recently been diagnosed with early signs of dementia.\n\nThe former players say repeated blows to the head are to blame.\n\nSpence says he used to be \"the fun guy at the party\" but that his condition has \"taken my personality\".\n\n\"If I knew I was going to feel like this I wouldn't have signed up,\" Spence told BBC Sport.\n\n\"We knew we were signing up to broken arms, broken legs and knee replacements, but not being neurologically impaired and a degenerative disease.\n\n\"I still love the game, and what we are trying to get from this is ideally some change. The change should be potentially limiting some contact during the training.\"\n\nMeanwhile, 42-year-old Thompson played in every England match when they won the 2003 World Cup, but says: \"I can't remember any of those games. It's frightening.\"\n\nIt is the first legal move of its kind in world rugby and, if successful, could change the way the game is played.\n\nRylands Law, which is representing the group, says the risks of concussion injuries were \"known and foreseeable\", and list 24 alleged failures on the part of World Rugby, the RFU and the WRU.\n\n\"We know senior figures in the game have been discussing the issue of head injuries since the 1970s, and yet here we are, more than 40 years later, with so many players, and at such an early stage in their lives, finding themselves in this awful position,\" said Richard Boardman of Rylands Law.\n\n\"I sincerely hope World Rugby, RFU and WRU will now face up to their responsibilities.\"\n\n'The human body is the same the world over'\n\nMeanwhile NFL medical experts say they are in regular communication with rugby authorities about how to reduce concussion in the sport.\n\nNFL chief medical officer Dr Allen Sills says his sport is trying to \"share knowledge in a more rapid fashion\" with World Rugby and other contact sports.\n\nIn 2011, the NFL paid out £700m to former players who had suffered brain damage.\n\n\"We do share regularly with each others sporting groups across the world,\" Sills told the BBC.\n\n\"If there are silver linings with the Covid-19 situation, I would say that this has strengthened our communication further.\"\n\nSills says there are some differences with technique and training between American football and rugby union, but admits the internal damage can be similar because \"the human body is the same the world over\".\n\n\"We talk at least every couple of weeks with World Rugby, Australian Football, and a number of these other contact sports, and we're sharing the learnings that we have,\" he added.\n\n\"We share what we're finding in our research, we share what our rules changes are and we're learning from each other and I think we all share the same goal.\"\n\nWhat is CTE & how can it be diagnosed?\n\nEach player to have come forward so far has been diagnosed by neurologists at King's College London with early onset dementia and probable Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).\n\nCTE is the disease discovered by Dr Bennet Omalu in American football player Mike Webster, and the subject of the film Concussion starring Will Smith. In 2011, a group of former American football players started a class action against the NFL and won a settlement worth about $1bn (£700m).\n\nCTE can develop when the brain is subjected to numerous small blows or rapid movements - sometimes known as sub-concussions - and is associated with symptoms such as memory loss, depression and progressive dementia.\n• None A mega mixtape of the very best indie floorfillers\n• None Former England cricketer on his desire to coach at the highest level", "Serco, one of the UK companies which runs the coronavirus test-and-trace scheme, has said it will award bonuses totalling £5m to its staff.\n\nIt said 50,000 workers would be given £100 each to recognise \"the extraordinary efforts of our staff around the world during the pandemic\".\n\nSerco will also hand back £3m in furlough payments to the government and has returned £38m in deferred taxes.\n\nThe NHS Test and Trace programme has faced criticism over its effectiveness.\n\nSome call handlers tasked with tracking down people who have tested positive for Covid and getting in touch with their close contacts say they have spoken to hardly anyone.\n\nHowever, other contact tracers say that some members of the public are refusing to engage with the scheme.\n\nSerco's chief executive, Rupert Soames, said: \"In what will be remembered as one of the most challenging periods for businesses since the Second World War, Serco's people have proved themselves to be resilient, flexible and dedicated to ensuring the delivery of public services.\"\n\nThe outsourcing company reiterated its guidance on sales and profits for this year.\n\nRevenues are expected to rise 19% to £3.9bn, while underlying profit is set to grow by around 35% to between £160m and £165m.\n\nSerco said organic revenue growth, not including contributions from acquisitions, continued to accelerate during the second half of its financial year and is expected to reach 17%.\n\nIt said growth was driven by a number of factors, including providing \"Covid-19 related services\" in the UK as well as running the immigration removal centres at Gatwick on behalf of the Home Office.\n\nThe company said it has deferred making a decision on whether to pay a dividend to its shareholders as well as paying the cash element of its directors' bonuses.\n\nSerco was criticised for considering making the payment to investors. \"This is grim beyond belief,\" shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Rachel Reeves said in October. \"While Serco is raking in the profits, people are paying the price for its failure on contact tracing.\"\n\nIn Thursday's trading update, Serco said that following the \"second wave\" of Covid-19 infections the board believes \"this is not the right time to make a decision on the resumption of payments of dividends, and will reconsider the position again at the time of the publication of our final results for 2020\".\n\n\"Likewise, payment of the cash element of executive director bonuses earned in respect of 2019 performance, which was deferred when we announced the withdrawal of the final 2019 dividend, will be further deferred and also reconsidered at the time of our 2020 final results,\" it added.", "The next Budget will be held on 3 March 2021, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced.\n\nHe said it would \"set out the next phase of the plan to tackle the virus and protect jobs\".\n\nA budget had been expected to take place in Autumn, but this was scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nMr Sunak also announced that the furlough scheme, which subsidises the wages of workers hit by the virus, will be extended from March to April 2021.\n\nGovernments usually use the Budget to outline the state of the country's finances and propose tax changes.\n\nThis will be Mr Sunak's second budget since he became chancellor.\n\nThe budget will come at a difficult time for the UK economy as it faces the fallout from the pandemic.\n\nOfficial forecasts have predicted the biggest economic decline in 300 years with the UK's national income expected to shrink by 11.3% in 2020 and not return to pre-crisis levels until the end of 2022.\n\nGovernment borrowing will also rise to its highest level outside of wartime - and unemployment is predicted to increase to 2.6 million, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.\n\nSpeaking in Parliament earlier this year, Mr Sunak warned that \"our economic emergency has only just begun.\"\n\nHe said that, although the high levels of borrowing were justified in order to deal with the virus, \"the situation is clearly unsustainable over the medium term.\"\n\nThe Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank has warned that tax rises of more than £40bn a year are \"all but inevitable\" to stop debt from spinning out of control.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ursula von der Leyen: \"I cannot tell you whether there will be a deal or not\".\n\nA \"narrow path\" has opened up for the UK and EU to strike a post-Brexit trade deal, the president of the European Commission has said.\n\nUrsula von der Leyen said the \"next few days are going to be decisive\", with just two weeks left before the UK quits EU trading rules.\n\nShe said differences over enforcing a deal are \"largely being resolved,\" but talks over fishing remain \"difficult\".\n\nPM Boris Johnson told MPs there was \"every opportunity\" to reach a deal.\n\nOfficials from both sides are continuing talks in Brussels, as they race to strike a deal before the UK's post-Brexit transition period ends on 31 December.\n\nDespite weeks of intensive talks, they have remained stuck over fishing rights and how far the UK should be able to depart from EU rules.\n\nUpdating the European Parliament on an EU leaders' summit last week, Mrs von der Leyen said: \"As things stand, I cannot tell you whether there will be a deal or not.\n\n\"But there is a path to an agreement now - the path may be very narrow, but it is there.\"\n\nShe said that negotiators had agreed a \"strong mechanism\" to ensure neither side lowers their environmental or social standards, which was a \"big step forwards\".\n\nBut she added differences remained over how to \"future proof\" rules in this area, although disagreements over how to enforce a deal \"by now are largely being resolved\".\n\nOn Wednesday Mr Johnson's spokesman said: \"We have made some progress in some areas, but it still remains that there are some significant gaps.\"\n\nHe added that it is \"still the case\" the prime minister views no deal as \"the most likely outcome\".\n\nSpeaking after Mrs von der Leyen, Mr Johnson said: \"There's every opportunity, every hope I have, that our friends and partners across the Channel will see sense and do a deal.\n\n\"All that it takes is for them to understand that the UK has a natural right, like every other country, to be able to want to control its own laws and its own fishing grounds.\"\n\nHe told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions that \"whatever happens in the next few days,\" the UK will \"prosper mightily\" whether a deal is found or not.\n\nMrs von der Leyen also reported progress in another area which has proved contentious - agreed rules on how and when each side can give government subsidies to private firms.\n\nShe confirmed the two sides were now trying to agree \"common principles\" for when subsidies could be offered.\n\nAt an earlier stage in talks, the EU had insisted the UK should follow its current and future \"state aid\" rules in this area - a demand rejected by the UK.\n\nThe German politician added that there had been progress on \"guarantees of domestic enforcement\" of the rules, as well as allowing both sides to \"autonomously\" take action where disagreements arise.\n\nHowever, she was more downbeat on fishing, where the two sides are haggling over access to each other's waters for their fishermen after 1 January.\n\n\"In all honesty, it sometimes feels that we will not be able to resolve this question,\" she said, but added that continuing the talks was the \"only responsible\" course of action.\n\nShe added the EU respected British \"sovereignty\" over its waters, but needed \"predictability and stability\" for European fishing fleets.\n\nMeanwhile, it has been announced that both Houses of Parliament will begin their Christmas recess at the end of Thursday's sitting.\n\nBut No 10 said MPs and peers could be recalled to Westminster to vote on legislation to implement a deal before the end of the Brexit transition.\n\nOn Tuesday, Commons leader Jacob-Rees Mogg said Parliament would ideally need six days to pass any such law, but this period could be \"truncated\" if required.\n\nAny potential deal would also need to be voted on by the European Parliament and potentially EU national parliaments before it can fully come into force.\n\nEU leaders can in theory decide to provisionally apply any agreement and hold these votes after 31 December, but it would be unpopular among MEPs.", "Commons leader Jacob Rees Mogg has accused Unicef of \"playing politics\" after the charity launched a campaign to help feed children in the UK.\n\nThe Tory MP said the charity was meant to look after people in the poorest countries and should be \"ashamed\".\n\nIt comes after Unicef said it would pledge £25,000 to a south London charity to help supply breakfast boxes over the Christmas holidays.\n\nUnicef said every child deserves to \"thrive\" no matter where they are born.\n\nThe grant to the charity School Food Matters in Southwark aims to help vulnerable children and families during the coronavirus crisis.\n\nUnicef said the initiative was its first emergency response in the UK in its 70-year history.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"It is a real scandal that Unicef should be playing politics in this way.\"\n\nMr Rees-Mogg was responding to a question from Labour MP Zarah Sultana in the House of Commons.\n\n\"For the first time ever, Unicef, the UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian aid to children, is having to feed working-class kids in the UK,\" she said. \"But while children go hungry, a wealthy few enjoy obscene riches.\"\n\nShe asked if Mr Rees-Mogg would \"give government time to discuss the need to make him and his super-rich chums pay their fair share so that we can end the grotesque inequality that scars our society\".\n\nResponding, Mr Rees-Mogg said Unicef \"should be ashamed of itself\".\n\n\"I think it is a real scandal that Unicef should be playing politics in this way when it is meant to be looking after people in the poorest, the most deprived, countries of the world where people are starving, where there are famines and where there are civil wars, and they make cheap political points of this kind, giving, l think, £25,000 to one council,\" he said.\n\n\"It is a political stunt of the lowest order.\"\n\nHe said the number of children in absolute poverty across the country had gone down by 100,000 over the past decade, which he described as \"a record of success\".\n\nIn response, Anna Kettley, Unicef UK's director of programmes and advocacy, said: \"Unicef UK is responding to this unprecedented crisis and building on our 25 years' experience of working on children's rights in the UK with a one-off domestic response, launched in August, to provide support to vulnerable children and families around the country during this crisis period.\"\n\nShe said more than £700,000 was being granted to community groups around the country to help tackle food insecurity during the pandemic.\n\n\"Unicef will continue to spend our international funding helping the world's poorest children. We believe that every child is important and deserves to survive and thrive no matter where they are born,\" she added.", "The casino once formed a key part of Atlantic City's skyline\n\nA casino formerly owned by Donald Trump is set to be demolished, and you can push the button for the right price.\n\nThe Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City went bankrupt and shut in 2014. Now, the city is auctioning off the chance to dynamite it for charity.\n\nThe property was one of three Trump-branded casinos that once formed the centrepiece of the world-famous resort city nicknamed \"America's playground\".\n\nBut as revenues plummeted, Mr Trump cut his losses and his ties with the city.\n\nCity officials have called several times for the idle building to be torn down after chunks of the crumbling landmark repeatedly broke off and fell onto surrounding streets.\n\nA bidding process that began on Thursday will determine who gets the right to count down and hit the button that will raze the 39-floor casino.\n\nProceeds from the auction will fund the local chapter of the Boys & Girls Club of America, a youth development organisation.\n\n\"I want to raise at least a million dollars and I think we can accomplish that,\" said Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr, in a press conference.\n\nThe mayor said his office has already been \"bombarded\" with phone calls about the auction, from Arkansas to Canada.\n\nThe building was shut in 2014 and is now considered a safety hazard\n\nA noted hotspot of the \"Roaring Twenties'', Atlantic City resurfaced in the 1980s as the de facto casino capital of the US east coast.\n\nTouting it as a counterweight to Las Vegas, Donald Trump opened Trump Plaza at the centre of its famed boardwalk in 1984, then two more casinos, including the Trump Taj Mahal (which marketed itself as \"the eighth wonder of the world\").\n\nHowever, as gambling laws eased in neighbouring states, out-of-state gamblers stayed away and casino revenues dried up. Meanwhile, Mr Trump took on mountains of debt and endured negative press.\n\nHe distanced himself from the failing casinos and each one was sold off as his company filed for bankruptcy.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nAtlantic City's Mayor Small has been critical of Mr Trump's past, saying: \"He said he took advantage of the bankruptcy laws, took advantage of a lot of people, made a lot of money and then got out, so it's extremely important that we do something worthwhile with this [demolition]\".\n\nHowever, Mr Trump has held up his Atlantic City exploits as a success, once tweeting: \"Does anyone notice that Atlantic City lost its magic after I left years ago?\"\n\nThe demolition - originally set for January but postponed by inclement weather - will take place sometime in February.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Atlantic City down on its luck\n• None Why is gambling so addictive?", "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading the latest lawsuit against Google\n\nTen US states, led by Texas, are suing Google, accusing it of taking illegal steps to preserve its monopoly over the online advertising market.\n\nThe alleged moves include striking a deal with Facebook to manipulate online advertising auctions, the states said.\n\nThis is the latest legal complaint facing the tech giant, which is under pressure from regulators globally.\n\nGoogle rejected the claims, saying it would be \"strongly\" defending itself in court.\n\n\"We've invested in state-of-the-art ad tech services that help businesses and benefit consumers. Digital ad prices have fallen over the last decade. Ad tech fees are falling too. Google's ad tech fees are lower than the industry average,\" a company spokesperson said in response to Wednesday's lawsuit. \"These are the hallmarks of a highly competitive industry.\"\n\nThe lawsuit takes aim at Google's control of the online advertising market, which it says was cemented in 2008 with its purchase of DoubleClick, the main software that publishers use to sell online advertising.\n\nGoogle's advertising sales account for over 80% of its revenues.\n\nThe 10 states suing Google are Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, South Dakota, North Dakota, Utah and Idaho, all of which have Republican prosecutors.\n\nThe states claim Google used its new role to benefit other parts of its business, for example by forcing publishers to license its advertising servers. The lawsuit also says the firm took steps to secretly undercut innovations that were circumventing its fees.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Texas Attorney General This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe lawsuit also accuses Google of giving Facebook advantages in online advertising markets, in exchange for the firm dropping some of its plans to compete.\n\n\"Google repeatedly used its monopolistic power to control pricing, engage in market collusion to rig auctions in a tremendous violation of justice,\" said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a video announcing the lawsuit, posted on Twitter.\n\n\"Right now, when you visit the website of a news outlet you know and trust, like the Wall Street Journal or your favourite local paper, you'll see advertisements likely placed there by Google. But Google doesn't tell you - the public - that they manipulate the advertising auctions, and they continually illegally profit by taking money away from those web pages and putting it in their own pockets.\"\n\nHe added that the tech giant was a \"Goliath of a company\" using its power to manipulate the market, and that this was causing harm to every US citizen.\n\n\"It isn't fair that Google can harm the web pages you visit and read,\" said Mr Paxton.\n\n\"Let me put it this way - if the free market were a baseball game, Google positioned itself as the pitcher, the batter and the umpire.\"\n\nThe lawsuit adds to the scrutiny facing Google's operations, in which it serves as both a search engine serving up results, as well as a broker of online advertising sales.\n\nIn October, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a landmark anti-monopoly lawsuit against the firm, focusing on the billions of dollars Google pays each year to ensure its search engine is installed as the default option on browsers and devices like mobile phones.\n\nGoogle has maintained that it is operating in a competitive market, with new threats emerging from Amazon and others.\n\nBut it is not the only tech firm to find itself in regulators' crosshairs - in the UK and Europe in recent weeks, officials have announced plans for new rules aimed at regulating Big Tech.\n\nFacebook this month was hit by lawsuits from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and nearly all 50 US states, also over monopoly abuse.\n\nAnd over time, internet giants are increasingly being criticised for their impact on the global media industry and content publishers.\n\nMany news providers say they are struggling to survive and feel tech giants and social networks have thrived by reposting and aggregating news content.\n\nEarlier this month, Facebook announced that it would begin paying UK news publishers for some articles in January, following a similar move in the US.", "Actor Jeremy Bulloch, who played Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, has died aged 75.\n\nHe died in hospital on Thursday from health complications after living with Parkinson's disease for many years, his agent said.\n\n\"He had a long and happy career spanning more than 45 years,\" a statement said.\n\n\"He was devoted to his wife, three sons, and 10 grandchildren and they will miss him terribly.\"\n\nBulloch was best known for playing bounty hunter Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.\n\nThe character has since featured in the second season of Star Wars spin-off series, The Mandalorian.\n\nBorn in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, Bulloch's first major role was in the musical film Summer Holiday in 1963, aged 17. He starred alongside Sir Cliff Richard, who played Don, as Edwin, one of Don's friends.\n\nBulloch also appeared in James Bond film Octopussy in 1983, and the BBC TV series Doctor Who in the 1970s.\n\nStar Wars creator George Lucas said Bulloch \"brought the perfect combination of mystery and menace to his performance of Boba Fett\".\n\nHe added: \"Jeremy was a true gentleman who was very supportive of Star Wars and its fans, and I'm very grateful for his contributions to the saga and its legacy.\"\n\nMark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy, described Bulloch as the \"quintessential English gentleman\".\n\n\"A fine actor, delightful company and so kind to everyone lucky enough to meet or work with him,\" he wrote on Twitter.\n\n\"I will deeply miss him and am so grateful to have known him.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Mark Hamill This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nBilly Dee Williams, best-known as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise, wrote on Twitter: \"Today we lost the best bounty hunter in the galaxy.\"\n\nA post from the official Star Wars Twitter account said Bulloch's \"unforgettable performance\" as Boba Fett \"captivated audiences since he first appeared\".\n\n\"He will be remembered not only for his iconic portrayal of the legendary character, but also for his warmth and generous spirit which have become an enduring part of his rich legacy,\" the post said.\n\nDaniel Logan, who took over from Bulloch to play the role of Boba Fett in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, paid tribute to the actor on Instagram.\n\n\"RIP Legend I'll never forget all you've taught me. I'll love you forever,\" he wrote.\n\n\"Conventions won't be the same without you. May the force be with you always.\"\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by instadaniellogan This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe Boba Fett Fan Club, which was established in 1996, posted filmed interviews with Bullock on their website, and said he \"set the tone and stance\" in the Star Wars films, \"inspired by Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars less-is-more approach\".", "A smiling Steve in Gran Canaria before the government's travel corridor announcement\n\n\"We have paid the best part of £2,000, we thought it was worth the investment for a relaxing week in the sun but we're flying back stressed,\" says Steve Jennings, from Liverpool.\n\nThe retired chief executive was on holiday in Gran Canaria when he heard the news that the government had changed the quarantine rules for the Canary Islands.\n\nFrom Saturday morning, anyone returning to the UK from the islands has to self-isolate. Although the quarantine period is being cut to 10 days from next week, anyone who doesn't get back in the next few days could see their Christmas plans at risk.\n\nFor Steve, 61, the news left him anxious as he scrabbled to find out how he and his partner Lynn - who has hospital appointments booked next week - could avoid the quarantine.\n\n\"It leaves us totally confused and anxious,\" he said. \"It tends to ruin the end of the holiday.\"\n\nLike many, Steve is pinning his hopes on the government's new testing scheme which lets travellers to England cut their quarantine by half if they pay for a Covid test after five days.\n\nBut the scheme - called test-to-release - doesn't launch until Tuesday and the list of approved providers has not been published yet.\n\n\"The thing that brasses me off [is] you like to be proud of your government and civil service,\" he says. \"This [scheme] is due to be launched on Tuesday, here we are still with no details.\"\n\nFor other Brits in the Canaries, the pressure is on to make sure they're back in the UK with enough time to quarantine before Christmas, so their festive plans aren't ruined.\n\n\"I was extremely stressed on Thursday,\" says David Evans, 23, a DJ living and working in Fuerteventura.\n\n\"From when I got home from work at 6/7pm, I didn't do anything until 1am except talk to family members, talking to work, to my housemate, trying to work out what to do.\"\n\nDavid DJs in clubs and on the beach, and says he has around five gigs next week\n\nHe is due to fly back to Brighton next week and plans to get a test, ahead of hopefully seeing his parents and nan at Christmas. \"I already have some gigs lined up so can't come back any earlier,\" he says.\n\nDavid says he thinks the Canary Islands should be treated individually by the UK government when it comes to quarantine rules.\n\nThe government has said data suggests cases are rising in the Canaries, but David points out the number of cases in Fuerteventura is lower than in other islands.\n\n\"I'd like to see them separate the islands as Tenerife seems to be the problem,\" he says. \"They've done this with the Greek islands, why not the same for the Canaries?\"\n\nKeith Baldwin, from Liverpool, agrees and has emailed Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to ask why the islands aren't being treated separately.\n\n\"Tenerife is right off the scale with Covid. Lanzarote's a bit high. But Gran Canaria is right down,\" says Keith, who is in Gran Canaria.\n\n\"Work's not going to be happy [if I have to isolate]. I'm a support worker and we're short as it is.\"\n\nThe Foreign Office has not changed its travel advice for the Canary Islands, meaning many holidaymakers who were due to go on holiday may be unable to seek refunds or claim on their travel insurance policies as companies will not cancel bookings.\n\nOne such holidaymaker was Kathy Hemingway, from East Yorks, who was due to fly to Fuerteventura on Saturday.\n\nShe paid £170 to get Covid tests done on top of her holiday, which she can't get a refund for from Tui as the FCO have not changed the travel advice rules.\n\n\"We can move our booking,\" she adds. \"We have to pluck a date out of the air. We have no idea when it will be safe to travel.\"\n\nKathy had already changed her holiday destination twice, from Mexico to Lanzarote, then to Fuerteventura\n\nOther holidaymakers have highlighted how safe they feel in the Canaries. Everyone aged six and over must provide a negative test when arriving into Spain, and when checking in to tourist accommodation in the Canaries.\n\n\"I feel safer in Tenerife than I do back in Scotland,\" says Philip Knight, who has been on holiday with his partner Luke in Tenerife, but flew back two days early on Friday.\n\nPhilip says he fears the impact this will have on the local economy\n\n\"I, and every other holiday-maker had to get a Covid-19 test before coming here,\" he says. \"Everyone must wear a mask at all times (in the street etc), there are no exemptions unless a doctor provides a certificate. Everyone obeys this.\n\n\"There is a curfew at 11pm which is enforced strictly by the police and respected by the residents and tourists. Everyone must be in their property and remain there till 6am.\n\n\"The island is quiet with no crowds and only groups of four.\n\n\"The UK government has therefore made me return to the UK which has a higher rate of infection with less protection (i.e. no masks and no curfew),\" adds Philip, a partner in an Edinburgh law firm.\n\nLee Rowell-Burton, from Manchester, says he and his wife \"have had no personal contact with anyone\" since arriving in Fuerteventura to fix a problem at their apartment.\n\n\"We took a private PCR test on 7 December to get here, costing £120 each, which both came back negative.\n\n\"Now we have to either self-isolate or take another test, at our own expense, after five days. Another test? That's another £120 we don't have. I'm supposed to be back to work on Monday.\"\n\n\"It's so safe here,\" says Lee, in Fuerteventura\n\nHe adds: \"We are both extremely careful as we both have lost relatives to Covid-19 and are on one of the safest Canary Islands to visit, and only for five nights, yet still are having to self-isolate on our return? Ridiculous.\"\n\nThe news of the quarantine change came on Thursday, in a tweet by Mr Shapps who said data indicated weekly cases and positive tests were increasing.\n\nThe government has previously said that decisions about which places go on or off the list are based on a range of factors, not just case rates.\n\nThe Department for Transport said in a statement on Saturday the government had been \"consistently clear\" that it would take action rapidly if the public health risk became too high.\n\n\"Throughout the outbreak, all our decisions have been based on the best scientific evidence,\" it said. \"Any emerging evidence is continually monitored and considered in the government's policy making.\"\n\nWhen the test-to-release scheme opens on Tuesday, anyone already self-isolating after travelling to the UK is able to book in a test.", "Test centres in the Lower Cynon Valley in Rhondda Cynon Taf will run until 20 December\n\nContinuing mass testing in Wales could be a \"massive-scale of waste of resources\", a leading public health expert has said.\n\nFigures show less than 1.5% of people were testing positive as part of pilots in Merthyr Tydfil and the lower Cynon Valley.\n\nDr Angela Raffle said there was little evidence to suggest it helped cut transmission.\n\nFirst Minister Mark Drakeford said mass testing \"has a part to play\".\n\nDr Raffle, a senior lecturer in population sciences at Bristol University, said mass testing was \"incredibly resource intensive\".\n\n\"We simply don't know whether you'll find enough cases who would have transmitted a lot, and who don't [transmit Covid-19] simply because you found them,\" she said.\n\n\"And we don't know whether telling lots of people they're negative could actually undermine any potential benefit.\n\n\"It could be the most massive scale of waste of resources.\"\n\nDr Raffle said there were also concerns around the accuracy of the lateral flow tests, which are being used within mass testing schemes and produce results in as little as 20 minutes.\n\nNearly 1,000 people were tested in the first day the scheme was held in Merthyr Tydfil in November\n\nIn labs, lateral flow tests were found to be about 70% effective at detecting positive cases, but Dr Raffle said pilots, such as one in Liverpool, found them to be much lower.\n\n\"The UK government said, initially, that the test had been extensively evaluated,\" she told Politics Wales.\n\n\"What we know from Liverpool is that the test centres there only picked up half of the positives.\"\n\nHowever, executive director of public health at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Dr Kelechi Nnoaham, said the pilots in Wales had been a success so far\n\n\"We've been delighted at the amount of engagement we've had,\" he said.\n\n\"In our pilot we found about 70% sensitivity, which means that if you have 10 people who are actually infected, the test will pick up seven of them.\"\n\nDr Nnoaham added there was \"a risk around false negatives\" which affected the health board's messaging around the tests.\n\nIn Liverpool, the introduction of mass testing was cited by both Prime Minister Boris Johnson and UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock as being behind a sharp drop in case rates.\n\nMerthyr Tydfil has seen some of the highest rates of Covid-19 in the UK\n\nIn Merthyr Tydfil, the number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people has risen from 245.3, when mass testing was introduced, to 808.9.\n\nDr Raffle said if mass testing was \"really breaking the chain\" then, in theory, cases should start to fall.\n\nBut Dr Nnoaham said the increase in cases was reflective of rises across the whole of Wales and the impact of mass testing would not be evident \"for another few weeks\".\n\nMr Drakeford said: \"We are sure that mass testing has a part to play. We will evaluate what we have done in Merthyr, we will learn from what is going on in the Cynon Valley, we will see how best to use it.\n\n\"But the idea that it is not a useful tool in the armoury is one that simply doesn't bear examination.\n\n\"I hope that we will be able to take the positive learning from Merthyr. Merthyr has been a fantastic effort by the local council, by the local health board, by the local population.\n\nLisa Mytton, deputy leader of Merthyr Council, said mass testing was \"definitely working\" and would be extended by a week to 19 December.\n\nShe said any rise in Covid figures was concerning but the numbers were \"positive in some lights as it shows people have come to the testing and shown they were asymptomatic but were actually carrying the virus around\".\n\n\"It is still vitally important to keep the message going\" in regards to social distancing as \"this virus knows no regulations and it knows no boundaries,\" she added.\n\n\"We will learn a lot about how to do it elsewhere and to use those lateral flow devices in the most effective way.\"\n\nPlaid Cymru's spokesman on health, Rhun ap Iorwerth, said mass testing should be expanded across Wales.\n\nHe said Slovakia was the \"best example\", where he said they tested 97% of the population aged 10-65 years old and reduced infection rates by 60%.\n\n\"We would like to see Welsh Government looking at what the practicalities would be of running that kind of system in Wales,\" he said.\n\nAndrew RT Davies, Conservative spokesman on health in the Senedd, said mass testing was \"an important tool\" to suppress the virus, but not \"the only solution\".\n\n\"The battle with the testing regime is being won,\" he added.\n\n\"What we've got to do is complement it with the vaccine regime and make sure that the resources don't get put into the wrong places.\"", "This video can not be played.", "The teenager was found in Woodman Street, North Woolwich\n\nA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death in east London.\n\nThe teenager was found fatally injured in Woodman Street, near the Royal Docks in Newham, at 18:50 GMT on Friday.\n\nHe was treated by paramedics but was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin has been informed.\n\nThe Met said a 25-year-old man had been arrested at a property in Newham in the early hours of the morning. He remains in custody.\n\nThe force added that while an arrest had been made, \"the investigation is still in its early stages\".\n\nA 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder\n\nLawrence Adu said he was a friend of the boy's uncle and had known him \"all his life\".\n\n\"I just got home, I'm so shocked,\" Mr Adu, who is also the boy's neighbour, said.\n\n\"He's a nice young man, very handsome and always laughing.\"\n\nDet Supt Paul Whiteman described the death as \"a tragic loss of a young life\".\n\n\"Local officers will step up patrols in the area in the coming days to reassure the public and continue to target violent crime,\" he said.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Mark Drakeford: \"If they strike a deal they will be able to go back and build on it\"\n\nA no-deal exit from the European Union would be \"catastrophic for Wales\", First Minister Mark Drakeford has said.\n\nBoris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen have agreed to extend Brexit trade talks past Sunday's deadline.\n\n\"Any deal is better than no deal,\" said Mr Drakeford.\n\nForeign Secretary Dominic Raab said \"political will\" was needed for the UK and EU to agree a post-Brexit trade deal.\n\nParliament's Welsh Affairs Committee said this week that there was a \"significant risk\" neither Holyhead nor Fishguard ports would have facilities ready for new customs checks needed from 1 January.\n\nMr Drakeford told BBC Politics Wales: \"If they strike a deal they will be able to go back and build on it because they will find that the things that are not resolved will continue to be profoundly important to the United Kingdom and to the people who live here in Wales.\"\n\nThe former leader of the Vote Leave campaign in Wales, David Jones, has said the negotiators should \"by all means negotiate, if necessary, until the stroke of 11 o'clock on New Year's Eve\".\n\nWriting in the Sunday Telegraph, the Conservative MP for Clwyd West added: \"[Boris Johnson] must keep faith with the British people and resist any temptation to accept a sub-optimal deal that would cheat them of the sovereignty for which they voted.\n\n\"If the EU still refuses a deal that fully respects our hard-won independence, he should leave the table in the knowledge that he has the full support of his countrymen and women.\"\n\nMr Drakeford said the Welsh Government would \"stand up our emergency co-ordination centre in Wales over the next few days\".\n\n\"I signed off a rota on Friday where there will be a minister on duty day and night throughout the month of January,\" he added.\n\n\"We are working very hard on our responsibilities for traffic around the ports here in Wales.\n\n\"We will make sure that we have the best advice we can give businesses and others, but this is a disaster that is made in London, made by the Conservative Party.\"\n\nThe main sticking point in the talks is how close the UK should stick to EU economic rules in the future.\n\nThe EU is determined to prevent the UK from gaining what it sees as an unfair advantage of having tariff-free access to its markets - not paying taxes on goods being bought and sold - while setting its own standards on products, employment rights and business subsidies.\n\nFishing rights is another major area of disagreement, with the EU warning that without access to UK waters for EU fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nBut the UK argues that what goes on in its own waters, and its wider business rules, should be under its control as a sovereign country.\n\nMr Raab said that, at this stage of negotiations, \"what really matters is the political will\".\n\nHe told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme: \"The bar is quite high for us to be able to keep talking. We would need at a political level a commitment to move on those two key issues.\n\n\"Never say never because EU negotiations can often drag and drift. But actually we do need finality and therefore we need at the political level of Ursula von der Leyen that there is clarity the EU will move on those two key issues.\n\n\"If we get that then there are still talks to be processed.\"\n\nPlaid Cymru's Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts accused the prime minister of \"playing fast and loose with people's jobs, and seems insensible to the harm his brinkmanship is causing\".\n\nShe added: \"There is still time to offer some mature compromise ahead next week. Our farmers, manufacturers, our ports and others depend on him to show leadership.\"", "Households have been warned not to stockpile food and toilet roll ahead of 1 January when the UK stops trading under EU rules.\n\nOn Sunday, the UK and the EU agreed to extend a deadline aimed at reaching a deal on post-Brexit trade.\n\nThe British Retail Consortium (BRC) said ongoing uncertainty made it harder for firms to prepare for the New Year.\n\nBut it said shops had plenty of supplies and shoppers must not buy more food than usual.\n\n\"Retailers are doing everything they can to prepare for all eventualities on 1 January - increasing the stock of tins, toilet rolls and other longer life products so there will be sufficient supply of essential products,\" said BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson.\n\n\"While no amount of preparation by retailers can entirely prevent disruption there is no need for the public to buy more food than usual as the main impact will be on imported fresh produce, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, which cannot be stored for long periods by either retailers or consumers.\"\n\nSupermarkets are now used to dealing with anxious shoppers.\n\nSupermarkets had to impose limits on some goods during coronavirus lockdowns this year\n\nDuring the first lockdown earlier this year to stop the spread of the coronavirus, grocers introduced limits on goods such as toilet roll, dried pasta and UHT milk after panic buying by Britons.\n\nThere are fears shoppers might think disruption at ports after 31 December could lead to shortages in shops as the UK transitions to new trading rules with the EU.\n\nThe UK and the EU have agreed to carry on trade talks past Sunday's deadline.\n\nIn a joint statement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was \"responsible at this point to go the extra mile\".\n\nBut Mr Johnson told the BBC the two sides are \"still very far part on some key things\", and said the \"most likely\" course is an Australian-style trade deal with the EU.\n\nHe admitted that this type of deal \"it is not where we wanted to get to but if we have to end up with that solution the UK is more than prepared\".\n\nHowever, Ms Dickinson warned: \"Without a deal, the British public will face over £3bn in food tariffs and retailers would have no choice but to pass on some of these additional costs to their customers who would see higher prices filter though during 2021.\"\n\nOther business groups welcomed the extension to trade talks but also cautioned that it was imperative that the UK avoid a no deal Brexit with the EU.\n\n\"The news that talks will continue gives hope,\" said Tony Danker, director-general of the CBI business lobby group. \"A deal is both essential and possible.\"\n\nThis torture is better than no deal. The fact that talks are ongoing is a good thing. Business groups are unanimous in their view that if a deal is at all possible, it should be pursued with every last effort.\n\nHowever, the problem with this uncertainty is two-fold.\n\nFirst, political and business timetables are getting increasingly misaligned by the day. Businesses need to know whether tariffs are coming or not as it effects pricing of products and services for next year. How can firms place or take an order if they don't know what that price needs to be?\n\nSecond, there is a danger that businesses who watch this process being dragged out will take their eye off the ball while waiting for some rabbit to appear out of the hat.\n\nNo deal is very bad but a deal still leaves an awful lot of work to do in preparing for new procedures, for example customs, that will change in any event.\n\nBut the fact remains that while this may be torture, it could be worse. No deal would not put UK business out of its misery - it could put some sectors out of business.\n\nWhile Mr Danker said that \"ongoing delays are frustrating and cost businesses,\" he urged the government to \"make use of the time\".\n\n\"Government must move with even more determination to avoid the looming cliff edge of 1 January.\"\n\nBritish Chambers of Commerce director general Adam Marshall said it is a \"very frustrating time for business\".\n\nBut he added: \"If a few more hours or days makes the difference, keep going and get an agreement that delivers clarity and certainty to businesses and trade on both sides. Businesses will need time and support to adjust in a New Year like no other - whatever the eventual outcome.\"\n\nMike Hawes, head of the motor industry's trade body, the SMMT, said that although it was good the two sides will continue to talk, they must now \"finish the job\". A no-deal \"would be nothing less than catastrophic for the automotive sector, its workers and their families and represent a stunning failure of statecraft. Quite simply, it has to be ruled out,\" he said.\n\nAnd Make UK, the manufacturers' trade body, said that after more than four years of uncertainty \"UK manufacturers are now facing the most challenging start to the New Year, dealing with a pandemic and the risk of having no trading arrangement with our largest market\".\n\nNews that talks will continue pushed sterling higher against the euro and dollar, although trading on Sunday would have been limited. Against the dollar, the pound rose 1.1% to $1.3360, compared with Friday's close. Against the euro, it strengthened 1% to 90.58 pence.\n\nSterling fell to a one-month low last week on fears Britain would leave the EU without a deal.", "Consumers could be automatically switched to better value energy tariffs under a plan to make the system fairer.\n\nThe government says it wants to stop suppliers putting loyal customers on to the worst deals when their current contracts come to an end.\n\nIt will be part of a wider plan to create a greener energy system, due to be unveiled next week.\n\nBut one switching site warned the tariff proposals risked \"lulling people into a false sense of security\".\n\nAccording to some estimates, millions of households are currently stuck on their energy supplier's standard variable tariff, likely paying hundreds of pounds more than they should be.\n\nThe government says it wants to crack down on this so-called \"loyalty penalty\" through two possible routes it plans to test:\n\n\"We do not believe that energy companies should be able to roll over contracts indefinitely or punish long standing, loyal customers,\" a Whitehall source said.\n\n\"That's why we're going to make it even easier for people to switch to cheaper tariffs and drive down bills so they can keep more money in their back pocket.\"\n\nSwitching website comparethemarket.com said the plans could offer a \"radical shake-up\" of the energy system which \"could be hugely beneficial\" for many households.\n\nBut Peter Earl, head of energy at the site, said he was sceptical about an opt in/opt out system for switching tariffs with the same supplier.\n\n\"It might detract people from shopping around for a better deal with alternative and more competitive suppliers,\" he said.\n\n\"If these changes are not implemented properly they risk lulling people into a false sense of security that they are on the cheapest tariff, despite better offers being available elsewhere.\"\n\nThe government will also offer further protections for vulnerable energy customers, with the Warm Home Discount Scheme set to be extended to 2026 to cover an extra 750,000 households.\n\nIt means nearly three million households would be eligible for the discount which cuts the electricity bills of eligible pensioners and low-income households by £140.\n\nThe proposals are part of a new plan to make Britain's energy system greener as the country tries to become carbon neutral by 2050.\n\nIt is expected to see major investment in offshore wind, clean hydrogen, carbon capture and storage and advanced nuclear.\n\nA Whitehall source said this would support up to 220,000 high-skilled jobs in the UK's \"industrial heartlands\".", "Unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua mixed power and patience as he knocked out Kubrat Pulev to raise hopes that a historic fight against Tyson Fury could soon be a reality.\n\nThe Briton smashed home a hard right hand in round three that forced his mandatory challenger to face a count and then sent him to the canvas with an uppercut seconds later.\n\nJoshua, perhaps fatigued by the chaos, stepped off the gas and allowed Pulev to at least offer some mild threat, but a barrage of uppercuts in the ninth dropped the Bulgarian and a straight right hand wiped him out.\n\nMoments after this fine blend of poise and heavy punching, the 1,000 fans granted access to Wembley Arena roared at the prospect of the IBF, WBA and WBO champion facing WBC title-holder Fury next.\n\n\"Whoever has the belts I want to compete with. If that is Tyson Fury, let it be Tyson Fury,\" said Joshua, 31.\n\nFellow Briton Fury quickly went on social media and posted: \"I want the fight. I want the fight next. I will knock him out inside three rounds. I can't wait to knock him out.\"\n• None Joshua v Fury - what obstacles stand in the way?\n• None 'At last I can get him in the ring' - Joshua responds to Fury knockout taunt\n• None Joshua v Pulev: All the action as it happened\n• None Listen to BBC Radio 5 Live commentary highlights of the fight\n\nJoshua, in a white sleeveless hoodie for his ring walk, was smart from start to finish on a night when the widespread anticipation of a fight with Fury - in which all four world heavyweight titles could be contested for the first time - dominated the narrative.\n\nIn his past two outings, Joshua has stood up to immense pressure. A second defeat by Andy Ruiz Jr in December would have left his career in tatters. He was punch perfect on that night.\n\nA loss on Saturday would have made him the instant fall guy amid public demand for the Fury bout. Once again he was emphatic.\n\nHe found his range early on with flicked jabs as 39-year-old Pulev boxed cautiously and struggled to throw anything fast or crisp.\n\nWhen the challenger did throw a jab in the third, a counter right landed on his jaw and stunned him. Pulev briefly tried to smile and roar in the face of adversity but eventually turned his back while under attack and faced a count. In a frenzied spell, an uppercut then sent him to the canvas before the round was out.\n\nThe pair punched one another after the bell, exchanged glares before the fifth and, while Pulev gained at least a footing in the following rounds, he was never able to land anything that would allow him to dictate.\n\nSome will ask why Joshua was unable to end things more quickly, but after a year out of the ring, he controlled a fight against a man who had just one loss - to Wladimir Klitschko - on his record.\n\nHe could not miss with the right uppercut all night and the shot dropped the game Pulev in the ninth, before a jolting straight right to the chin left him unable to answer the count as the champion swaggered away, aware his night's work was over.\n\nIt is testament to Joshua that he continues to rise to such mental challenges.\n\nFury will move better than Pulev, punch with far greater variety, believe in himself more and set far more traps in the ring.\n\nHe will also inevitably bring a whole new level of mental warfare to any build-up should the fight happen.\n\nHope has never been higher that it will.\n\nNo sooner had Pulev regained his footing, Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn said efforts to make the Fury fight would start \"tomorrow\", adding: \"It's the only fight to be made in boxing. It is the biggest fight in British boxing history.\"\n\nFury's co-promoter Bob Arum - one of several key power brokers involved - said he would work from Monday to make the \"biggest fight since Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier in 1971\".\n\nThat such integral figures seem so positive, coupled with the fact an agreement over a financial split is said to already be in place, offers real hope the two could appear in what Fury's UK promoter Frank Warren repeatedly says will be the \"biggest UK sporting event since the 1966 World Cup final\".\n\nThere are many issues to resolve before a date is in place - complex television broadcast deals and a venue among them. The sight of 1,000 fans singing Sweet Caroline before Joshua's ring walk showed a return to packed out arenas - which will be a necessity for this event - is closer.\n\nIn the ring, the pair are both showing signs of improvement. Fury moved from elusive fighter to front-foot aggressor in beating Deontay Wilder last time out. Joshua - on Saturday and in beating Ruiz - has shown he too can do more than just wield knockout punches.\n\nThis was defence number one of his second reign as champion. A small cluster of men - Ali, Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson among them - have had the chance to take the heavyweight world champion journey a second time.\n\nFury is in the select bunch too. The plot lines are endless.\n\nIt is time to make the fight of a generation.\n\nBBC Radio 5 Live analyst Steve Bunce: Tyson Fury will be seeing that and saying if he fights like that against me I will walk right through him. Joshua kept flipping between styles and tactics.\n\nBritish heavyweight Dillian Whyte on BBC Radio 5 Live: Joshua did what he had to do, which was worry about winning today, not worry about what he will do tomorrow. He looked good. He boxed well, he moved well, he punched well. Obviously, Pulev was not much of a threat, but Joshua showed he is a champion.\n\nBBC Sport boxing correspondent Mike Costello on BBC Radio 5 Live: In the end a devastating performance. Destructive hitting from Anthony Joshua. Everything is set for now for Fury v Joshua - one of the greatest sporting occasions Britain has ever known.\n• None Missed all the action from the Manchester derby and Saturday's goals? Match of the Day is streaming now", "The first editions initially sold for £10.99 when printed in 1997\n\nA first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has fetched a magical £68,000 at auction.\n\nThe issue was among 500 hardback copies printed in 1997, before JK Rowling's fantasy saga soared to global success.\n\nAnother first edition, which nearly sold for 50p in a car boot sale, drew £50,000 in an online auction at Hansons Auctioneers in Staffordshire on Friday.\n\nA library copy featuring date stamps sold for £19,000, while a fourth sold for £17,500.\n\nThe issues were among the first 500 hardback copies printed, of which 300 were sent to schools and libraries. At the time those copies were selling for £10.99.\n\nCharlotte Rumsey initially put a copy found in her mother's box of unwanted things in a 50p box for a car boot sale in July.\n\nBut after watching Antiques Roadshow, she asked her mother, from Blackpool, to check the copy with Hansons Auctioneers.\n\nRupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe appeared in the films between 2001 and 2011\n\nOn finding out the book was a first edition, a \"delighted\" Ms Rumsey said she \"couldn't stop hopping about\".\n\nThe copy was one of the rarer 200 that went to shops and sold for £50,000.\n\nThe bride-to-be has previously said she plans to split the money between her wedding and her mother's new home.\n\nOne auctioned copy was stocked in a library in JK Rowling's adopted home of Edinburgh\n\nIn October, another first edition sold for a hammer price of £60,000.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The UK has been in a transition period with the EU since last January, during which rules and trade have stayed the same. But all of this will come to an end on 1 January 2021.\n\nWith just a few weeks left for the UK and the EU to negotiate a trade agreement, both sides are now talking about the prospect of a no-deal outcome. If there's no trade agreement in place, they will have to adjust quickly to doing things very differently.\n\nSo how are both sides preparing?\n\nFor the first six months from 1 January, the British government will bring in only minimal checks on goods coming in to the UK, but the EU will have full border checks on goods coming into the EU from the UK straight away.\n\nThe UK government has warned that a reasonable worst-case scenario could see queues of 7,000 trucks clogging up the roads around Dover and the Channel Tunnel.\n\nThe UK government has two contingency plans for this: Operation Brock and Operation Fennel.\n\nOperation Brock is a traffic management plan, which it is hoped will prevent more than 10,000 lorries a day from clogging up roads in Kent.\n\nUnder the scheme, drivers of very large lorries will need to get a special permit - a Kent Access Permit - before they enter the county, and permits will only be issued if they have completed the correct paperwork for exporting goods.\n\nOther traffic will be kept flowing around them, in what is known as a contraflow system. Highways England is trialling the moveable road barrier, which makes the contraflow system possible, on the M20 over four nights from 11 December.\n\nIf there are more than 2,000 lorries queued up, the government has made plans for several temporary lorry parks - it bought a 27-acre site in Ashford in Kent. There is also a plan called Operation Fennel in which as many as 7,000 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) could be diverted to the disused Manston airfield, near Ramsgate.\n\nThis is part of the government's plans for building facilities away from ports.\n\nIf further capacity is needed, a \"last resort\" would be to turn the 10-mile M26 motorway into a temporary lorry park.\n\nThe UK government has also set up the Border Operations Centre to co-ordinate the response to any further disruption.\n\nQueuing at ports is not the only problem for lorry drivers.\n\nIf no further steps are taken, UK lorry drivers would need to apply for documents called ECMT permits to be allowed to enter EU countries. The European Commission has warned that there are not enough of these permits available, which would mean not enough UK lorries being able to travel to the EU to pick up goods to bring back to the UK.\n\nThe European Commission said this could result in serious disruptions, \"potentially even threatening public order\".\n\nTo prevent this, it proposed allowing UK lorries and buses into the EU for six months without special permits, as long as EU drivers are also allowed into the UK.\n\nThe proposals would also allow regular bus services that pick up and drop off passengers on either side of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to continue to do so.\n\nThe UK has not been clear yet on whether it plans to continue to allow EU operators to enter the country.\n\nA similar proposal is on the table for aviation. In the event of no deal, the UK would no longer be a member of the European Common Aviation Area, which allows British airlines to fly to destinations in the EU, and vice versa.\n\nThe European Commission is proposing a six month regulation to allow flights to continue until a new agreement is in place, but it would require the UK government to offer the same to operators from EU countries. The UK has not yet responded to the proposal.\n\nThe UK government has told pharmaceutical companies to stockpile and plan alternative supply routes in case of border problems. It has also arranged extra freight capacity for pharmaceutical companies should they need it.\n\nIn a memo, seen by the BBC in June, pharmaceutical companies warned the government that some stockpiles of medicines have been \"used up entirely\" by the coronavirus pandemic and said these could not be replenished in time for the UK's exit from the EU.\n\nThe head of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry warned that not having any sort of deal would cause \"increased complexity, duplication and cost\" in the middle of a pandemic. The government insisted, however, that \"robust contingency plans are in place\".\n\nFor the coronavirus vaccine, the government says there are contingency plans for making sure the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine made in Belgium can be shipped to the UK if border problems arise. These include alternative sea routes and the use of freight or even military aircraft.\n\nThe European Commission has also proposed extending the deadline to reach an agreement on fishing until the end of December 2021.\n\nThis would allow European fishing vessels to continue fishing in British waters and vice-versa for another year, or until an agreement is reached.\n\nBut a Downing Street spokesman said the UK \"would never accept arrangements and access to UK fishing waters which are incompatible with our status as an independent coastal state\".\n\nThe Ministry of Defence has said it will make four patrol boats available to monitor UK waters and added that it would have \"robust enforcement measures in place\".\n\nAs things stand, if nothing is agreed then non-UK boats will not be allowed to fish in UK waters from January.\n\nBut without a deal, the UK fishing industry would find its extensive exports to EU countries being hit by tariffs (import taxes) and regulatory hurdles.\n\nThe French government has said it would hand out compensation to trawlers if they were not able to fish in UK waters.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Ikea has apologised to customers after facing stock shortages due to the current congestion at UK ports.\n\nAngry shoppers complained they faced delays to orders and could not get through on the retailer's helpline.\n\nPorts have been hit by surging demand for imports caused by countries reopening after lockdown, Brexit stockpiling and the Christmas rush.\n\nIkea said it made orders for its flat-pack furniture harder to fulfil at a time of \"unprecedented demand\".\n\nOn Twitter, one angry customer said: \"My order is over a week late and @IKEAUKSupport will not reply to anything or update me on the status of the delivery.\"\n\nAnother said: \"@IKEAUKSupport Still waiting for a response for something broken when I opened my delivery... Been trying to sort this for 16 days and no response at all.\"\n\nSales at the Swedish retailer have boomed in lockdown as people spend more on doing up their homes.\n\nBut a spokeswoman said its supply chain - including the ports where its products are received - had been hit by the effects of Covid-19 and product availability had been impacted.\n\n\"These continue to be extraordinary times and we apologise unreservedly for the inconvenience caused to our customers,\" she added.\n\n\"We fully understand their frustration and want to assure them that we are working intensively to resolve these challenges as soon as possible.\"\n\nImports ranging from building materials to toys and fresh food have been held up due to the issues at ports, causing headaches for businesses.\n\nCarmaker Honda even had to pause production last week due to a shortage of components.\n\nOn Saturday, the British Ports Association said the issues were now \"cascading\", with long queues of traffic outside lorry ports becoming increasingly common.\n\nIts boss Richard Ballantyne blamed a \"perfect storm\" of surging global container movements, the busy pre-Christmas period and people moving more goods before the UK's Brexit transition ends.\n\n\"This is putting pressure on the logistics and storage sectors both in the UK and abroad,\" he said.\n\nSome have warned price rises are likely due to the problems.\n\nRyan Clark, director of the Essex-based freight forwarder Westbound Logistics Services, told the BBC last week: \"The increase in freight is either creating more expensive prices for the consumer, or unsustainability for businesses that will be forced to close where the onward price cannot be increased.\"", "Charley Pride, the first African-American to enter the Country Music Hall of Fame, has died aged 86, his website has announced.\n\nPride, who rose to fame in the 1960s, passed away on Saturday from complications of Covid-19.\n\nWhile Pride was not the first black singer in country music, he became one of its biggest stars during a period of division in the US.\n\nHe won three Grammy Awards, followed by a lifetime achievement award in 2017.\n\nCountry star Dolly Parton, who described Pride as \"one of my dearest and oldest friends, said she was \"heartbroken\" at the news of his death.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Dolly Parton This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe son of a sharecropper on a cotton farm in Mississippi, Pride was born in 1934 and served in the army, played baseball and worked in a smelting plant before later turning to music.\n\nFifty-two of his songs reached the country Top 10, including the hits All I Have to Offer You (Is Me) and Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'.\n\nAnother - Crystal Chandeliers - is still popular in Northern Ireland thanks to concerts he staged there when touring was difficult due the conflict in the 1970s.\n\n\"We're not colour-blind yet, but we've advanced a few paces along the path and I like to think I've contributed something to that process,\" he wrote in his memoir.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nPride was awarded the Country Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in Nashville, Tennessee, on 11 November, in what would be his last public performance.\n\nFellow singers have paid tribute, with Reba McEntire writing: \"Charley Pride will always be a legend in Country music.\"\n\nBilly Ray Cyrus, meanwhile, calling Pride a \"gentleman... legend and true trail blazer\", adding: \"He took down walls and barriers meant to divide.\"", "Deploying Royal Navy gunboats to protect UK fishing waters under a no-deal Brexit would be \"undignified\", a former Conservative minister has said.\n\nTory MP Tobias Ellwood described the threat as \"irresponsible\" after the Ministry of Defence said four ships were ready for \"robust enforcement\" when the transition period ends.\n\nUK-EU trade talks are continuing ahead of a mutual deadline on Sunday.\n\nThe MoD said it was prepared for a \"range of scenarios\" after 31 December.\n\nNavy vessels are already deployed to enforce UK and European fishing laws for large parts of the year.\n\nA major sticking point in negotiations has been access to UK fishing waters, with the EU warning that without access to UK waters for its fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nA UK government source said talks were continuing overnight \"but as things stand the offer on the table from the EU remains unacceptable\".\n\nMr Ellwood, who chairs the Commons Defence Committee, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that headlines highlighting the threat to deploy the navy risked distracting from the ongoing talks and were \"absolutely irresponsible\".\n\n\"This isn't Elizabethan times anymore, this is global Britain - we need to be raising the bar much higher than this,\" he said.\n\n\"Being ready for the worst-case scenario and using this final 48 hours to actually get a deal, they are two very different things,\" he added.\n\nHe said the focus should be on what is \"already in the bag\" and that outstanding issues like access to fishing waters could be sorted once a trade deal is signed.\n\nFormer Tory party chairman Lord Patten accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of being on a \"runaway train of English exceptionalism\".\n\nHumza Yousaf, the Scottish government justice minister, told the BBC: \"This UK government gunboat diplomacy is not welcome in Scottish waters.\n\n\"We will protect our fisheries where necessary. Police Scotland and Marine Scotland have primacy to do that. But we won't do that by threatening our allies, our Nato allies in fact, by threatening to sink their vessels.\"\n\nBut Admiral Lord West, a former chief of naval staff, defended the threat of using the Royal Navy to protect UK waters from foreign fishing vessels if asked to do so in a no-deal Brexit scenario.\n\n\"It is absolutely appropriate for the navy to do as it is told by the government,\" he said, adding that additional powers would allow Naval officers to deal with \"stormy\" altercations with foreign fishermen.\n\nThe MoD has said it has conducted \"extensive planning and preparation\" to ensure it is ready for a range of scenarios at the end of the transition period, including having 14,000 personnel on standby to support the government over the winter with the EU transition.\n\nIt said four offshore patrol boats will be available to monitor UK waters and added that it would have \"robust enforcement measures in place to protect the UK's rights as an independent coastal state\".\n\nAn expansion of powers for the Royal Navy Police, enabling officers to potentially board foreign boats and arrest those breaking the law, is one proposal in the MoD's no-deal contingency planning, a spokesman confirmed.\n\nAccording to the MoD's website, three River Class patrol ships with a crew of 45 sailors already work \"at least 275 days a year at sea enforcing British and European fisheries law\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: No-deal Brexit now \"very, very likely\"\n\nThe Sunday deadline was set by Mr Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after the pair met in Brussels on Wednesday, after months of talks failed to achieve an agreement.\n\nMr Johnson said the EU needed to make a \"big change\" over the main sticking points on fishing rights and business competition rules, while Mrs von der Leyen said no deal was the most probable end to \"difficult\" talks.\n\nThe EU has rejected Mr Johnson's request to bypass the European Commission and speak directly to French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel about the unresolved issues.\n\nAccording to EU officials, he was told discussions could only take place through the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, who is meeting with his UK equivalent in Brussels.\n\nSpeaking on Friday, the PM said a no-deal Brexit was now \"very, very likely\" and that planning for that outcome was ramping up.\n\nMrs von der Leyen told reporters that the two sides were still \"apart on fundamental issues\".\n\nMeanwhile, tests of a motorway barrier system designed to deal with potential traffic disruption in Kent once the transition period ends on New Year's Eve have been carried out.\n\nThe EU has set out contingency measures to ensure UK and EU air and road connections still run after 31 December.", "A house has collapsed after a gas explosion is believed to have ripped through the property.\n\nThe explosion happened in Holly Drive in Bourne, Lincolnshire, at about 09:10 GMT causing severe damage.\n\nA male occupant suffered minor injuries and is a \"little shaken\", Lincolnshire Police said.\n\nA spokesperson said the scene had been assessed and it had been deemed that there was no need to evacuate any other properties.\n\nThe force said: \"Whilst a full investigation is to be conducted, we believe it is probably a gas explosion.\"\n\nPolice, fire and gas services were called to the scene\n\nNo other properties were evacuated\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: 'Whatever happens, the UK will do very, very well'\n\nWhen is a deadline not a deadline? When it's anything to do with Brexit, perhaps.\n\nBoth sides in this long, long process, have agreed to go on rather than pull the plug today.\n\nA joint statement emerged just before noon with a much more positive tone than anything that's come out of late, and did not feature the usual kind of warning of big gaps between the two sides.\n\nThe froideur from Thursday and Friday seems to be thawing a little. It's also worth noting no new time limit was put on the talks, although of course there is one hard deadline of 31 December, when the status quo runs out.\n\nIt's also worth noting that the prime minister was loath to show much sign of optimism when he appeared in front of a camera shortly after the joint statement emerged.\n\nStripping away the spin on both sides, there is little question that the prospects of a deal felt slim at the end of the week.\n\nThe prime minister moved repeatedly to start warning the public and business that leaving without an agreement felt increasingly likely, unless there was some shift in the EU position.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nRemember it's not that long ago that a deal had seemed within reach, before some countries started pushing for a more robust approach.\n\nIt seems now that in the last couple of days the negotiators have taken some small steps back towards that position with suggestions that Brussels has softened its position on how the two sides sort out disputes over common rules in the years to come.\n\nThere are whispers that they have pulled back from trying to include the \"ratchet clause\", a major UK gripe explained by my colleague Faisal Islam.\n\nThis was the problem described by Mr Johnson on Thursday using a rather bizarre metaphor about twins.\n\nHowever you describe it, it was clear the UK just wasn't willing to accept that the EU could take punitive action on its own, so the negotiators have been trying to sort out how to fix it together.\n\nIndeed one diplomatic source suggested that the \"ratchet clause\" approach had been abandoned some time ago, and the political narratives on both sides have been running behind what's been happening in the negotiating room.\n\nThe circle around the talks is extremely tight so it is very hard to know precisely what is going on. It is possible that both sides are dangling concessions.\n\nOne Cabinet minister on the call with the prime minister said even they weren't told about the details of where any movement has been going on.\n\nBut there is the sense now that the ground has shifted enough to make the chance of a deal worth pursuing.\n\nAs the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC this morning, there is always the possibility of \"creative contours in the drafting\".\n\nIn other words - the political imperatives to make this happen are so strong that even tricky issues at this late stage can still potentially be fudged.\n\nIt's far from certain that the talks will end in agreement, but the chances of resolution are once again on the rise.", "Mr Sharma said progress had been made, but it was not enough yet to avoid dangerous warming this century\n\nThe UK minister tasked with leading UN climate talks says world leaders are failing to show the necessary level of ambition.\n\nAlok Sharma was speaking at the conclusion of a virtual climate summit organised by the UK, UN and France.\n\nHe said \"real progress\" had been made and 45 countries had put forward new climate plans for 2030.\n\nBut these were not enough to prevent dangerous warming this century, Mr Sharma explained.\n\nTaking place on the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement, the summit heard the UN Secretary General warn that every country needed to declare a climate emergency.\n\nAround 70 heads of state and government took part in the meeting, which was organised by the UK, UN and France. They outlined new pledges and commitments to curb carbon.\n\nChina's contribution was eagerly awaited, not just because it is the world's biggest emitter, but because it has recently promised to reach net zero emissions by 2060.\n\nAchieving net zero means that emissions have been cut as much as possible and any remaining releases are balanced by removing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere,\n\nBut while President Xi Jinping outlined a range of new targets for 2030, many analysts felt these did not go far enough.\n\nIndia brought little in the way of new commitments but Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country was on track to achieve its goals under the Paris agreement and promised a major uptick in wind and solar energy.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Climate change: How 1.5C could change the world\n\nAccording to the UK, some 24 countries had outlined net zero commitments and 20 had now set out plans to adapt and become more resilient to rising temperatures and their impacts.\n\nBut despite these commitments, Mr Sharma said not enough had been achieved.\n\n\"Have we made any real progress at this summit? And the answer to that is: yes,\" he said.\n\n\"But they will also ask, have we done enough to put the world on track to limit warming to 1.5C, and protect people and nature from the effects of climate change? To make the Paris Agreement a reality.\n\n\"Friends, we must be honest with ourselves, the answer to that, is currently: no. As encouraging as all this ambition is. It is not enough.\"\n\nMr Sharma re-stated a commitment made last year to double the UK's international climate finance spend. This will bring it to at least £11.6bn over the next five years.\n\nEarlier on Saturday, UK Prime Minister Mr Johnson said advances in renewable energy technologies would \"save our planet and create millions of high-skilled jobs\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHe added: \"Together we can use scientific advances to protect our entire planet - our biosphere - against a challenge far worse, far more destructive even than the coronavirus. And by the promethean power of our invention, we can begin to defend the Earth against the disaster of global warming.\"\n\nMeanwhile, UN Secretary General António Guterres criticised rich countries for spending 50% more of their pandemic recovery cash on fossil fuels compared to low-carbon energy.\n\nMr Guterres said that 38 countries had already declared a climate emergency and he called on leaders worldwide to now do the same.\n\nOn Covid recovery spending, he said that this is money being borrowed from future generations.\n\n\"We cannot use these resources to lock in policies that burden future generations with a mountain of debt on a broken planet,\" he said.\n\nThe meeting is taking place after the pandemic caused the postponement of the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting, which had been due to take place in Glasgow this year.\n\nThe UK has announced an end to support for overseas fossil fuel projects, and has today deposited a new climate plan with the UN.\n\nIt's the first time that Britain has had to do this, as it was previously covered by the European Union's climate commitments.\n\nThe UK pointed to its new commitment on overseas fossil fuel projects as well as a new carbon cutting target of 68% by 2030, announced last week by the prime minister.\n\nThe EU presented a new 2030 target of a 55% cut in emissions, agreed after all-night negotiations this week. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: \"It is the go-ahead for scaling up climate action across our economy and society.\"\n\nChina's President Xi Jinping announced that the country would reduce its carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by over 65% compared with 2005 levels. China will also increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption by about 25%. And President Xi pledged to increase forest cover and boost wind and solar capacity.\n\nHurricane Iota was one of a record number of storms to wreak havoc on the Americas this year\n\nBut Manish Bapna, managing director of the World Resources Institute (WRI) said: \"The strengthened renewable energy, carbon intensity, and forest targets are steps in the right direction, but recent WRI analysis shows that China would benefit more economically and socially if it aims higher, including by peaking emissions as early as possible.\"\n\nAlthough President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Paris pact, the summit saw statements from the Republican governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, and the Democrat governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, who said the US was \"all-in\" on tackling climate change.\n\nPope Francis said the Vatican had committed to reaching net zero emissions, similar to carbon neutrality, before 2050. \"The time has come to change course. Let us not rob future generations of the hope for a better future,\" he said.\n\nA number of big emitters, including Australia, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Mexico, did not take part, as their climate actions were not deemed ambitious enough.\n\nSome observers believe this hard line on some countries is justified.\n\n\"From a kind of symbolic procedural point of view, it's good to have everybody on board,\" said Prof Heike Schroeder from the University of East Anglia.\n\n\"But from a proactive, creating some kind of sense of urgency approach, it also makes sense to say we only get to hear from you if you have something new to say.\"\n\nThe five years since the Paris agreement was adopted have been the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and emissions have continued to accrue in the atmosphere.\n\nBut many countries and businesses have started the process of decarbonisation in that time.\n\nThe progress they've made now needs to be acknowledged and encouraged, says former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres.\n\n\"That progress that's been seen in the real economy has to be reflected and incentivised further by those additional commitments,\" she said.\n\nOne area that yielded little progress at this meeting was the question of finance. Rich countries had promised to mobilise $100bn a year from 2020 under the Paris agreement - but the commitments on cash are not forthcoming.", "The US public will start receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine from Monday after it was authorised for emergency use.\n\nGen Gustave Perna, speaking for the US government's vaccination campaign Operation Warp Speed, told reporters that doses of the vaccine would be packed for transportation \"within the next 24 hours\".\n\nHe said it was the beginning of a mission to \"defeat the enemy\" of Covid-19.", "The rapid tests have already been used by universities before students head home for Christmas\n\nMass testing programmes like the one trialled in Liverpool are to be rolled out in 67 tier three areas of England, with the first starting on Monday.\n\nMore than 1.6 million of the rapid lateral flow tests will be delivered for community testing this month, the government said.\n\nThe programme will last six weeks.\n\nBut concerns have previously been raised about the lateral flow tests, with experts warning they can give false negative results.\n\nMore areas will be involved in the rollout of testing in the new year.\n\nThose involved in this first wave will receive government support for at least six weeks, the Department for Health and Social Care said.\n\nIt is hoped the testing initiative, along with existing measures, could help lead to an easing of restrictions in tier three areas.\n\nThe community testing is in addition to schemes run by local directors of public health. They have been able to request a set number of lateral flow tests to be used in their area, regardless of tier, since early November.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said the enhanced testing programmes follow the mass testing pilot in Liverpool and were a \"vital additional tool\" in finding asymptomatic cases. It is thought as many as one in three cases of coronavirus could be in people who have no symptoms.\n\nHowever, preliminary data released on Friday by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) suggested the rapid coronavirus tests rolled out in Liverpool missed about 51% of all Covid-19 cases.\n\nA separate mass testing scheme for secondary school-aged pupils in London, Essex and Kent was announced earlier this week.\n\nLiverpool has taken part in a mass testing programme\n\nEarlier this month, Dr Susan Hopkins, senior medical adviser to NHS Test and Trace, said the tests were a \"game changer\" and had helped find Covid-19 infections in people that would otherwise have been missed, because they had no symptoms.\n\nAn evaluation by Oxford University and Public Health England workers at Porton Down previously concluded the test has an overall sensitivity of 76.8%. It detects almost all cases where patients have a high viral load, however.\n\nAmong the 67 areas taking part in the testing programme is Oldham, Greater Manchester, where the increased access to testing will initially focus on schools and colleges, along with those in higher-risk supported living accommodation, and health and social care staff.\n\nIn Kirklees, West Yorkshire, high-risk workplaces will be among those focused on first. And in Lancashire, large manufacturing sites and workplaces with staff of more than 200 will be prioritised.\n\nLocal authorities in Kent - said to be seeing a \"worrying\" rise in cases - are also in the first wave of areas taking part in the testing.\n\nA full list of the areas involved in this first rollout can be found here.\n\nMr Hancock said: \"Community testing will be very important in helping the areas where levels of the virus are highest to drive down infection rates and, ultimately, will help areas ease tougher restrictions.\n\n\"This is just the start, and we are working quickly to roll out community testing more widely as soon as more local teams are ready. I urge all those living in areas where community testing is offered to come forward and get tested.\"", "Alex Westgate said he spent most of the flight coaching himself along\n\nA teenager has become one of the youngest people to fly a glider plane solo on his 14th birthday.\n\nAlex Westgate took to the air on his own on Wednesday at Husbands Bosworth airfield in Leicestershire.\n\nThe young pilot, who began training during the first lockdown, said he felt \"very calm\" behind the wheel and coached himself along.\n\n\"It really felt amazing flying the glider and being up in the air all by myself,\" he said.\n\n\"I was talking to myself a lot because I was the only one there and I wanted to get everything perfect and land safely.\"\n\nAlex, from Storrington, West Sussex, began learning to fly gliders in his spare time in March.\n\nHelpfully his father, Guy, is a commercial pilot and instructor in Leicestershire, so was able to carry out the training.\n\n\"One of the most amazing things has been watching him develop and blossom... over the last six months,\" said Mr Westgate.\n\n\"The training has given him an opportunity of taking responsibility, taking instructions, planning ahead and thinking in an emergency situation.\"\n\nGuy Westgate trained his son Alex to fly over the summer\n\nMr Westgate said luckily the second lockdown was lifted before Alex's birthday and airfields under tier three restrictions were able to open for individual flying and training.\n\n\"I don't know who was more nervous,\" added Mr Westgate.\n\n\"He is a typical teenager. I had to remind him to take his coat and do up his shoelaces that morning and now he is taking responsibility for [a glider].\n\n\"It's really odd to see your own son flying a glider solo at such a young age.\"\n\nIt is legal to fly solo from aged 14 but Pete Stratten, from the British Gliding Association, (BGA) said not everyone had the chance to do it on their 14th birthday.\n\n\"It's great they were able to do that training during the Covid lockdown, being from the same household,\" he added\n\nFollow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: 'Whatever happens, the UK will do very, very well'\n\nThe UK and EU have agreed to carry on post-Brexit trade talks after a call between leaders earlier on Sunday.\n\nIn a joint statement, Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was \"responsible at this point to go the extra mile\".\n\nThe pair discussed \"major unresolved topics\" during their call.\n\nThe two sides had said Sunday was the deadline for a decision on whether to continue with talks, with the UK set to leave EU rules at the end of the month.\n\nThe leaders agreed to tell negotiators to carry on talks in Brussels \"to see whether an agreement can even at this late stage be reached\".\n\nThey did not say how long these latest talks would continue, but the ultimate deadline is 31 December, and time must be allowed for the UK and European Parliaments to vote on any deal that emerges before then.\n\nMrs von der Leyen said Sunday's call with Mr Johnson had been \"constructive and useful\".\n\nBut Mr Johnson repeated his warning from earlier in the week that a no deal scenario was \"most likely\".\n\nThe UK and EU have been carrying out negotiations for a post-Brexit trade deal since March and are attempting to secure one before the so-called transition period end on 31 December - when the two sides would move to trading on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.\n\nWithout a trade deal, tariffs - charges on goods being bought and sold between the two sides - could be introduced and, in turn, prices on certain products may go up.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nReading out the joint statement, Mrs von der Leyen said: \"Despite the exhaustion after almost a year of negotiations, despite the fact that deadlines have been missed over and over, we think it is responsible at this point to go the extra mile.\"\n\nMr Johnson later said \"where there is life, there is hope\", and that the UK \"certainly won't be walking away from the talks\".\n\nBut he added: \"I've got to repeat the most likely thing now is of course that we have to get ready for WTO terms.\n\n\"As far as I can see, there are some serious and very difficult issues that currently separate the UK from EU and the best thing to do now for everybody… [is to] get ready to trade on WTO terms.\"\n\nLabour's Rachel Reeves welcomed the continuation of the talks and said the worst outcome would be to \"crash out with no deal whatsoever on 1 January\".\n\nShe added: \"I hope that they [the talks] will swiftly conclude, but I also hope on behalf of all British businesses and workers, and our security as well, that the government deliver the promise they made to the British people and come back with a deal.\"\n\nTalks will now continue in Brussels, with a focus expected on how close the UK should stick to EU economic rules in the future.\n\nThe EU is determined to prevent the UK from gaining what it sees as an unfair advantage of having tariff-free access to its markets - not paying taxes on goods being bought and sold - while setting its own standards on products, employment rights and business subsidies.\n\nThe EU is reported to have dropped the idea of a formal mechanism to ensure both sides keep up with each other's standards and is now prepared to accept UK divergence - provided there are safeguards to prevent unfair competition.\n\nFishing rights is another major area of disagreement, with the EU warning that without access to UK waters for EU fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nBut the UK argues that what goes on in its own waters, and its wider business rules, should be under its control as a sovereign country.\n\nBusiness lobby group the CBI said the continuation of talks \"gives us hope\", and that a deal was \"both essential and possible\" for the UK economy.\n\nWhen is a deadline not a deadline? When it's anything to do with Brexit, perhaps.\n\nBoth sides in this long, long process, have agreed to go on rather than pull the plug.\n\nThe circle around the talks is extremely tight so it is very hard to know precisely what is going on. It is possible that both sides are dangling concessions.\n\nBut there is the sense now that the ground has shifted enough to make the chance of a deal worth pursuing.\n\nThe political imperatives to make this happen are so strong that even tricky issues at this late stage can still potentially be fudged.\n\nIt's far from certain that the talks will end in agreement, but the chances of resolution are once again on the rise.\n\nRead more from Laura here.\n\nThe National Farmers' Union has warned there will be \"significant disruption\" to the sector if the UK fails to reach a trade deal with the EU.\n\nAnd the British Retail Consortium warned the public would face \"over £3bn in food tariffs [meaning] retailers would have no choice but to pass on some of these additional costs to their customers\".\n\nTaoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin said he believed a no-deal scenario \"would be very bad news for all of us\" and \"an appalling failure of statecraft\" on both sides.\n\nSpeaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr, he called for the teams \"with any bit of energy we have left [to] focus on negotiating a deal\".\n\nA number of Conservative MPs welcomed the continuation of talks, with former minister Damian Green, who backed Remain in the 2016 EU referendum, saying it was \"good news\" and that \"no deal would be terrible\".\n\nBut leading Tory Brexiteer Sir John Redwood tweeted: \"A long complex legal agreement that locks the UK back into many features of the EU that hinder us is not the Christmas present the UK needs.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Speaking to Andrew Marr, Micheál Martin stressed the importance of reaching a good Brexit deal", "The boy's body was found on common land\n\nA 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a teenager found dead in Lincolnshire.\n\nThe boy was discovered on a patch of common land behind Alcorn Green in Fishtoft, near Boston on Saturday.\n\nPolice said final identification was yet to take place, but it was believed he was of secondary school age.\n\nDet Supt Martyn Parker said: \"This is a devastating incident in which a young boy has lost his life.\"\n\nPolice have appealed for anyone with external facing CCTV covering the junction of Freiston Road and Woodthorpe Avenue between 20:00 GMT on Friday and 10:20 GMT on Saturday to get in touch.\n\nThey also have asked for footage covering the entire length of Wing Drive and Alcorn Green between the same times.\n\nDet Supt Parker added: \"This type of incident is not what we would expect to see within our communities.\n\n\"I want to reassure the public that we will do all in our power to meticulously investigate the circumstances of this young boy's death.\"\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This torture is better than no deal.\n\nThe fact that talks are ongoing is a good thing. Business groups are unanimous in their view that if a deal is at all possible, it should be pursued with every last effort.\n\nHowever, the problem with this uncertainty torture is two-fold.\n\nFirst, political and business timetables are getting increasingly misaligned by the day. Businesses need to know whether tariffs are coming or not as it effects pricing of products and services for next year. How can I place or take an order if I don’t know what that price needs to be?\n\nSecond, there is a danger that businesses who watch this process being dragged out will wait for some rabbit to appear out of the hat and take their focus away from preparing for a deal. No deal is very bad - a deal still leaves an awful lot of work to do in preparing for new procedures, for example customs, that will change whether we get a deal or not.\n\nBut the fact remains that while this may be torture, it could be worse.\n\nNo deal would not put UK business out of its misery – it could put some sectors out of business.", "People must think \"really carefully\" about the risk of more social contact over Christmas, NHS bosses have warned.\n\n\"I don't want to be the Grinch who stole Christmas,\" said Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers.\n\nBut he pointed out that the US saw \"record numbers\" of cases and deaths after the Thanksgiving holiday - and said the NHS was worried about January.\n\nThe government's Dominic Raab said people needed the five-day relaxation of Covid rules on \"an emotional level\".\n\nMeanwhile, the chances of the Oxford University vaccine being rolled out by the end of the year are \"pretty high\", the vaccine's architect Prof Sarah Gilbert has told the BBC.\n\nA further 18,447 cases were recorded across the UK on Sunday, along with another 144 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nThe number of deaths recorded tends to be lower over the weekend because of reporting delays.\n\nBetween 23 and 27 December, coronavirus restrictions are being relaxed across the UK, allowing three households to form a \"bubble\" and mix indoors and stay overnight.\n\nBut NHS Providers - which represents hospital trusts in England - has written to the PM urging him to \"personally lead a better public debate about the risks inherent in the guidance\" - although it stopped short of calling for a review of the rules over Christmas.\n\n\"There seems to be a sense at the moment that, 'hey because the government's put these rules down, there's no risk to people having more social contact over Christmas',\" Mr Hopson told BBC Breakfast.\n\n\"Of course, part of it is about sticking to the rules but any kind of extra social contact over Christmas - particularly with those who are vulnerable to the virus - actually is very risky.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How you and your family can celebrate Christmas and minimise the spread of coronavirus\n\n\"I don't want to be the Grinch who stole Christmas, I really don't, but I think everybody needs to think really, really carefully what are they going to do over Christmas,\" he said.\n\n\"It's not, 'is what we're going to be doing sticking within the rules?' It's 'how much risk are we going to cause to the people we interact with?'\"\n\nThe rise in infections in the US after the Thanksgiving holiday was also highlighted by NHS Providers.\n\nThe NHS is worried about the potential pressure on hospital beds, and its ability to treat all the patients it needs to in December, January and February, Mr Hopson said.\n\n\"At the same time you've got rising infections in places like London, Essex, parts of Kent, parts of Lincolnshire,\" he added.\n\nForeign Secretary Dominic Raab ruled out any possibility that the government would review the Christmas relaxation of rules.\n\nSpeaking to Sky News's Sophy Ridge programme on Sunday, he said: \"I think people do need that five-day window over Christmas to spend a bit of time with their loved ones and I think at a mental health level, an emotional level, people do need it.\"\n\nIt comes after public health expert Prof Linda Bauld said loosening Covid restrictions over Christmas was \"a mistake\".\n\nWales' health minister Vaughan Gething said the rules around Christmas could be changed - but it could affect trust in the government.\n\nNHS Providers also warned that relaxing Covid rules when they are reviewed in England could trigger a third wave of the virus during the busiest time of year for hospitals.\n\nEngland's three-tier system is due to be reviewed on Wednesday 16 December.\n\nIt urged the PM against moving any area to a lower tier and said areas should be moved into tier three - the highest level of restrictions - \"as soon as this is needed, without any delay\".\n\nEarlier this week, some health experts called for London to be placed in tier three \"now\" after official figures showed Outer London had a higher infection rate than some areas already in the top tier.\n\nThe government said it \"will not hesitate to take necessary actions to protect local communities\".\n\nDecisions on tiers are made by ministers, based on the latest available data and advice from public health experts, a spokesperson added.\n\n\"We have introduced strengthened local restrictions to protect the progress gained during national restrictions, reduce pressure on the NHS and ultimately save lives,\" they said.\n\n\"On top of our record NHS investment, this winter we are providing an extra £3bn to maintain independent sector and Nightingale hospital surge capacity and a further £450m to upgrade and expand A&Es.\"\n\nMeanwhile, Prof Sarah Gilbert, lead researcher on the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine, was upbeat when asked about the possibility of people receiving the Oxford jab by the end of the year.\n\nThe vaccine has not yet been approved by the UK's regulator, but a study this week showed it was safe and effective.\n\n\"I think the chances are pretty high,\" she told the BBC's Andrew Marr. \"But we do need multiple vaccines, all countries need multiple vaccines, the world needs multiple vaccines and we need vaccines made using different technologies, if that's possible.\"", "Police have dropped their investigation into a Conservative MP and former minister who was accused of rape.\n\nThe MP, who has not been named, was arrested on 1 August and later released on bail.\n\nThis followed the Metropolitan Police receiving allegations the previous day of sexual offences and assault relating to four separate incidents at addresses in London, including Westminster.\n\nBut the Met said the case had not met \"the evidential test\".\n\nA spokeswoman said \"no further action\" would be taken, following a \"thorough investigation\", adding: \"The complainant has been made aware of the decision.\"\n\nThe MP, in his 50s, did not return to the House of Commons after the parliamentary recess ended on 1 September.\n\nThe Conservative Party faced calls to suspend him, but Chief Whip Mark Spencer said it was for the police to investigate.\n• None MP accused of rape will not attend Commons", "The US has begun delivering the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine \"across all states\" with the aim of inoculating more than 100 million people by the end of March, officials say.\n\nThe first doses, packed in containers with dry ice to keep them refrigerated, were transported across the country on trucks and planes early on Sunday.\n\nUS Army Gen Gustave Perna, who is overseeing distribution, said the vaccine would be delivered to 145 locations on Monday, and a further 491 sites on Tuesday and Wednesday. The initial delivery will cover about three million people.\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19, received emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday following intense pressure from the Trump administration.", "Secretary of State Dominic Raab was challenged by Andrew Marr on a promise he made during the Vote Leave campaign in 2016 that free trade would never stop between the UK and the EU.\n\nOn Sunday he said that no deal would mean we don't get the advantages of a free trade agreement.\n\nHe said that if the UK is \"forced\" into a no-deal position, it will be because the EU has changed its mind on key issues.\n\nIt's \"absurd\" that the EU would allow German carmakers and French farmers to \"suffer\" because of this, he added.", "Thousands of Donald Trump supporters alleging electoral fraud converged on several US cities and towns on Saturday and there were isolated scuffles with counter-demonstrators.\n\nIn Washington DC, more than 20 people were arrested and four people were stabbed, police said.\n\nMr Trump lost the 3 November election to Joe Biden but is yet to concede.\n\nThe Electoral College, the system which elects US presidents, is due to endorse Mr Biden's victory on Monday.\n\nMr Biden won 306 votes to Mr Trump's 232 in the Electoral College, and gained over seven million more votes than his Republican rival in the popular vote.\n\nIn the nation's capital, police sought to keep the two sides apart, a strategy that included sealing off Black Lives Matter Plaza where counter-demonstrators had gathered.\n\nPro-Trump demonstrators, rallying under the banner of \"Stop the Steal\", were joined by members of the far-right Proud Boys, dressed in yellow and black, many wearing bullet-proof vests.\n\nMr Trump caused controversy by saying the group should \"stand back and stand by\" during a September presidential debate, though he later condemned \"all white supremacists\".\n\nAs night fell, Proud Boys and Antifa counter-demonstrators, mostly separated by police lines, yelled insults at each other. But sporadic violence broke out.\n\nThe stabbings took place near the downtown Harry's Bar, but it was not clear which group those injured belonged to, according to the Washington Post.\n\nEight people were taken to hospitals, including two police officers, according to CNN.\n\nMake America Great Again (MAGA) protesters, who support Mr Trump, were captured on video tearing down a Black Lives Matter sign from a church, pouring petrol on it and setting it alight.\n\nOn Sunday the Ashbury church pastor compared the actions to cross burnings.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Jack Jenkins This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n\"Seeing this act on video made me both indignant and determined to fight the evil that has reared its ugly head,\" Rev Ianther Mills said in a statement.\n\nCounter-demonstrators were kept at a distance from Trump supporters by Washington DC police\n\nFar-right Proud Boys made gestures symbolising white supremacy as they gathered near the Washington Monument\n\nRallies also took place in Olympia, the capital of Washington state, Atlanta and St Paul, Minnesota. Police in Olympia said one person had been shot and three arrested as rival groups clashed.\n\nThe Washington DC rally attracted several thousand Trump-supporters but it was smaller than a similar event on 14 November. Few participants wore masks despite Covid-19 restrictions.\n\nThere were speeches by Mr Trump's now pardoned former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, and Sebastian Gorka, another former White House official.\n\nMr Trump's pardoned former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, was among those making speeches\n\nMr Gorka urged the president not to give up his legal campaign - based on debunked allegations of electoral fraud - to reverse the election result.\n\nThe president's latest legal defeat came on Friday when the Supreme Court rejected an unprecedented attempt to throw out results in four battleground states which Mr Biden won. Mr Trump has now lost more than 50 cases linked to the election.\n\nCheers erupted as the presidential helicopter, Marine One, flew over the Washington rally carrying Mr Trump to the Army-Navy football game at West Point, New York.\n\nThe president had earlier tweeted his support.\n\nSorry, we're having trouble displaying this content. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nGeneral Flynn likened the protesters to soldiers and priests breaching the walls of Jericho, echoing the rally organisers' call for \"Jericho Marches\" to overturn the election result.\n\nThat refers to a story in the bible where an army peacefully conquer the city of Jericho, which God has promised them, after marching around its walls for six days. It is considered symbolic of a test of faith.", "The former president posts that he has been told to report to a grand jury, \"which almost always means an Arrest\".", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Raab: The conversation between Ursula von der Leyen and Boris Johnson is really important\n\n\"Political will\" is needed for the UK and EU to agree a post-Brexit trade deal, says Dominic Raab.\n\nThe foreign secretary said the situation was \"finely balanced\" after negotiations between the two sides carried on through the night.\n\nBut he said the EU would need to change its position for progress to be made.\n\nBoris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen have been speaking on the phone to decide if a deal can be done.\n\nThe PM is now holding a call with his cabinet to discuss the outcome, and a statement is expected shortly.\n\nEarlier this week, Mr Johnson and Mrs von der Leyen set a deadline of Sunday to decide whether to abandon negotiations or keep them going.\n\nBut both sides have warned they are unlikely to reach an agreement.\n\nTaoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin said he believed a no-deal scenario \"would be very bad news for all of us\" and \"an appalling failure of statecraft\" on both sides.\n\nThe main sticking point in the talks is how close the UK should stick to EU economic rules in the future.\n\nThe EU is determined to prevent the UK from gaining what it sees as an unfair advantage of having tariff-free access to its markets - not paying taxes on goods being bought and sold - while setting its own standards on products, employment rights and business subsidies.\n\nFishing rights is another major area of disagreement, with the EU warning that without access to UK waters for EU fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nBut the UK argues that what goes on in its own waters, and its wider business rules, should be under its control as a sovereign country.\n\nMr Raab said that at this stage of negotiations, \"what really matters is the political will\".\n\nHe told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme: \"The bar is quite high for us to be able to keep talking. We would need at a political level a commitment to move on those two key issues.\n\n\"Never say never because EU negotiations can often drag and drift. But actually we do need finality and therefore we need at the political level of Ursula von der Leyen that there is clarity the EU will move on those two key issues.\n\n\"If we get that then there are still talks to be processed.\"\n\nBut Labour's Ed Miliband accused the government of being \"ideological\" over its position in the talks, and warned leaving without a trade deal would be \"disastrous for the country\".\n\nHe told Andrew Marr: \"[The prime minister] has been cavalier with our national interests and is playing Russian roulette with jobs and livelihoods of people up and down the land.\"\n\nPhilip Rycroft, who was a civil service head at the UK Department for Exiting the European Union between 2017 and 2019, told BBC Breakfast things were \"looking a bit grim\" for a trade deal.\n\n\"Frankly, the energy seems to be draining out of this,\" he said. \"I think if we were heading for a deal you'd be seeing a lot more diplomatic activity - there would be signs of a lot more conversations going on.\"\n\nBut Irish PM Mr Martin told Andrew Marr the fact talks had gone overnight gave him \"hope\" there would be agreement.\n\nHe called for the teams \"with any bit of energy we have left [to] focus on negotiating a deal\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nMeanwhile, the National Farmers' Union have warned there will be \"significant disruption\" to the sector if the UK fails to reach a trade deal with the EU.\n\nThe EU is the largest trading partner for British farmers - but without a deal by the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December, farmers could lose free access to the bloc \"overnight\", the union said.\n\nElsewhere, Labour warned that staffing levels in the government's tax and customs agency had barely been scaled up since the Brexit vote, despite widespread customs changes expected even if the UK is able to secure a deal.\n\nThe party said its analysis suggested the number of UK customs officials had been boosted by just 16, despite a pledge from ministers in 2018 to recruit between 3,000 and 5,000 extra officials.", "There were concerns about administering the vaccine in care homes because it must be stored at ultra low temperatures\n\nCovid-19 vaccinations will begin in care homes on Monday, the Scottish government has said.\n\nStaff and older residents will be next to receive the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine after more than 5,000 NHS staff and vaccinators got the jab last week.\n\nThere had been fears that homes would not be able to receive the first batch of doses due to logistical challenges.\n\nIt comes as the Conservatives called for vaccination plans to be published for each health board in Scotland.\n\nHealth Secretary Jeane Freeman said older care home residents had been prioritised to receive the vaccine along with care staff.\n\nHowever she also warned that the pace of the vaccination programme remained dependent on the supply of the vaccine, which is manufactured in Belgium.\n\nThe first consignment of the vaccine arrived in the UK last week and was distributed to vaccination centres across the four nations.\n\nThey were initially stored in packs of 997 doses in specialist freezers because the Pfizer vaccine must be kept at a temperature of at least -70C.\n\nThe Scottish government said it had received confirmation the vaccine could be \"packed down\" by health boards into smaller sizes, which meant the programme could be rolled out to care homes.\n\nThe go-ahead was given by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.\n\nThe vaccine will be taken directly to care homes or to nearby vaccination centres in 195 five-dose vials, which Ms Freeman said would result in \"minimal wastage\".\n\nThese vials will need to be diluted before use.\n\nThey can also be transported in an unfrozen state for up to 12 hours and can be stored undiluted for up to five days, the Scottish health secretary said.\n\nMs Freeman said: \"We are providing the vaccine to people in care homes according to the order of priority set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and we will work through that order of priority as quickly as vaccine supply allows.\"\n\nShe said that ministers were hopeful that \"subject to further stringent approvals\", other vaccines, such as those being developed by AstraZeneca and Moderna, would be available soon.\n\nIt follows comments to BBC radio's Good Morning Scotland programme by Westminster Health Secretary Matt Hancock earlier this week that the speed of the vaccination programme over the coming weeks would be determined by how quickly the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine could be manufactured in Belgium.\n\nHe said: \"We've got a broad schedule and there'll be several millions for the UK as a whole and so several hundred thousand for Scotland over the remainder of this month.\n\n\"We've got that as a broad delivery schedule, but obviously the manufacturing process itself is complicated so we've got to get the stuff in the country.\"\n\nThe Scottish Conservatives have called for each individual health board in Scotland to publish its vaccination plans to prevent what they described as a \"postcode lottery\" from developing.\n\nThe party's health spokesman Donald Cameron, said: \"Opposition MSPs seeking to scrutinise plans and get answers for their constituents are struggling to get information from the SNP and health boards.\n\n\"The answers we do get are frequently sluggish and incomplete.\n\n\"The public needs to know every detail has been covered. Secrecy will not benefit anyone.\"\n\nThe Scottish government said talk of a lottery was \"irresponsible\" and said Jeane Freeman had offered to meet with opposition parties to discuss details of how the vaccine was being delivered.", "A member of the public found the body at a property in Victoria Quadrant\n\nA newborn baby has been found dead in a garden.\n\nThe body was discovered by a member of the public in a private garden of a property in Victoria Quadrant, Weston-super-Mare, at about 08:50 GMT.\n\nA woman police believe is the mother was found following an appeal - she has been taken to hospital where she is receiving \"expert medical attention\".\n\nPolice are treating the baby's death as unexplained. Det Ch Insp Mike Buck said it was \"very sad and distressing\".\n\nPart of Victoria Quadrant was sealed off\n\nHe added: \"During the course of our enquiries, information has been received which has helped us locate who we believe is the baby's mother.\n\n\"This woman has been taken immediately to hospital where she'll receive the expert medical attention and professional support she needs.\"\n\nFollow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Coronavirus cases in one part of Wales are increasing at an \"alarming rate\", a health board has said.\n\nAneurin Bevan health board said its hospitals were under \"significant\" pressure due to Covid patient numbers.\n\nIt had already announced it would be halting outpatient appointments and non-urgent planned surgery from Monday.\n\nThe stark warning comes as First Minister Mark Drakeford said Wales' NHS was in danger of becoming the \"national coronavirus service\".\n\nOn Saturday, the day the number of positive Covid-19 tests passed 100,000 in Wales, the family of Ted Edwards, 73, from Monmouthshire, said they were \"really concerned\" after he spent more than 19 hours in an ambulance outside the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran.\n\nThe Welsh Ambulance Service said it was \"facing high demand\" across the country \"with acute pressure\" around the hospital leading to \"some long delays with patients on our ambulances\".\n\nThe health board said: \"The number of Covid positive patients in our communities is increasing at an alarming rate and we need everyone to play their part to ensure our services are available for when our sickest patients need them.\"\n\nWeekly infection rates across the five south Wales counties the health board covers averaged about 550 cases for every 100,000 people.\n\nMeanwhile, Swansea Bay University Health Board tweeted that it now has nearly 240 Covid-19 patients in its hospitals, with a warning infection rates in its communities were \"exceptionally high\".\n\nSpeaking about the threat faced by the NHS, Mr Drakeford said unless \"we take all the action we can [not just] as a government, but as a population\", even more restrictions would be \"unavoidable\".\n\n\"The huge danger here is that we transform our National Health Service into a national coronavirus service.\n\n\"If the numbers continue to go up as they are, then we will end up diverting our staff resources away from all the things that we expect and need them to do, simply to take care of an ever-rising number of people who are so ill with this dreadful disease that they have to be looked after in hospital.\n\n\"We need our health service to be able to respond to all those other things that happen in people's lives in Wales.\n\n\"If the numbers continue to escalate in the way they are then, even more restrictions straight after Christmas seem to me to be unavoidable,\" he told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This map shows how cases per 100,000 people across the 22 council areas in Wales have changed by day over the last two months\n\nHe has previously said the coronavirus situation was \"very difficult\" but not out of control.\n\nLast month, a senior doctor said in an email, seen by BBC Wales, that she had \"huge concerns\" about patient safety ahead of the Grange hospital opening four months ahead of schedule.\n\nBut Mr Drakeford told BBC Politics Wales \"it was the right thing to open a hospital that was ready to open\".\n\n\"Imagine what it would be like in Aneurin Bevan [health board area] if we didn't have all the beds that are available today in the Grange hospital in addition to what is available,\" he added.\n\nMultiple ambulances were parked outside the Grange hospital on Sunday morning", "Paolo Rossi, who led Italy to their 1982 World Cup title, died on Thursday at the age of 64\n\nThe home of Italy's 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi was burgled during his funeral service on Saturday, local reports say.\n\nThe footballer's funeral was held in the north-eastern city of Vicenza after he died on Thursday at the age of 64.\n\nItaly's Ansa news agency said Rossi's wife, Federica Cappelletti, returned home from the ceremony to find their home in Tuscany had been broken into.\n\nA watch belonging to Rossi and cash were among the items reported stolen.\n\nThe break-in has been reported to the police and an investigation is under way.\n\nRossi and his family lived in a farmhouse in Poggio Cennina, a resort overlooking the Val d'Ambra southeast of Florence, where Rossi ran an organic farming company.\n\nItalian reports say Rossi's wife Federica Cappelletti discovered the burglary after returning home from the funeral\n\nHis death triggered an outpouring of grief in Italy, where he is widely regarded to be one the country's best attacking players of all time.\n\nHe scored 20 goals in 48 appearances for the Italian national side, including six during the team's World Cup triumph in 1982.\n\nAt club level he was a prolific scorer for Vicenza and Juventus, with whom he won two Serie A league titles.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nVicenza was where thousands of mourners gathered to say their last goodbyes to Rossi on Saturday.\n\nHis coffin was carried to the Santa Maria Annunciata cathedral by his teammates from the 1982 World Cup-winning side, including Marco Tardelli, Giancarlo Antognoni, Antonio Cabrini and Fulvio Collovati.\n\n\"I have not only lost a team mate, but also a friend and a brother,\" said Cabrini during the service.\n\n\"Together we fought, we won and we sometimes lost, always picking ourselves up even in the face of disappointment. We were part of a group, that group, our group. I didn't think he would leave so soon.\"\n\nFans of Rossi gathered outside the cathedral to pay their respects\n\nPlayers gathered for a minute of silence to commemorate the death of Rossi\n\nBefore the funeral, Rossi's coffin was placed at the Stadio Romeo Menti in Vicenza, where supporters could lay flowers and pay their respects.\n\nMeanwhile, football players wore black armbands in memory of Rossi for Saturday's fixtures in Italy.\n\nA minute's silence was observed before kick-offs, with Rossi's photo projected on large screens with the words \"Heroes never die\" and \"Ciao Paolo\".", "Professor of Public Health Linda Bauld said the UK loosening rules over Christmas is a mistake\n\nLoosening Covid restrictions across the UK over Christmas is a \"mistake,\" a public health expert has said.\n\nEdinburgh University's Prof Linda Bauld said there was concern about people travelling from \"high to low prevalence areas\" to see their loved ones.\n\nWales' Health Minister Vaughan Gething said changes would cause \"huge issues about trust\", but could happen if case rates stayed high.\n\nThe UK has recorded another 519 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nThe latest government figures also include 21,502 new positive cases in the UK, taking the total number in the past seven days to 124,988.\n\nUp to three households can stay together and form a \"Christmas bubble\" from 23 to 27 December, as agreed by all four UK nations.\n\nProf Bauld told BBC Breakfast that \"from a public health perspective, I have to be perfectly honest, I think this is a mistake and I think people, even though we're permitted to do this, I think people have to think very carefully whether they can see loved ones outside or do it in a very, very modest way\".\n\nShe added there was \"nothing to stop\" governments reversing the rules, \"but the problem is they've made that commitment to people across the UK, and that may affect trust in government if they roll back on that\".\n\nMr Gething said \"of course we could\" change the rules around Christmas, but \"much of what we have done during the course of the pandemic is because people have trusted the government - when we said things we kept our word\".\n\nHe said was concerned a change in rules now would have people \"completely ignoring the rules\", and was worried that may be the case even with the current five-day relaxation agreement in place.\n\n\"That's why we are anticipating an increase after Christmas, we expect there'll be an increase after New Year's Eve as well,\" he added.\n\nProf Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, earlier this week warned people to be \"very, very sensible\" and not go \"too far\" over Christmas, which he called a \"very risky period\".\n\nAccording the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) - which feeds into UK government decision-making - just because people can meet up, it does not mean they should.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This map shows how cases per 100,000 people across the 22 council areas in Wales have changed by day over the last two months\n\nMr Gething said he would not rule out another lockdown if cases continued to rise, echoing a warning made by First Minister Mark Drakeford on Friday.\n\nHe added: \"But the agreement around the Christmas period isn't just a political settlement. It really is because we understand that sort of shape to that period of time, we might see many people make up their own rules with the real potential of even greater harm.\n\n\"So it isn't as simple as saying 'this is just a political choice, and you could make it safer' because actually a lot of people invest lots of time, energy and effort in Christmas in travelling around the UK to see family when they don't do that in the rest of the year.\n\n\"Now we have to take account of the reality of the position as well and what would like to happen, how we want people to behave.\"\n\nA UK government spokesperson said this year won't be \"a 'normal' Christmas\", but people would want to be with loved ones.\n\n\"Meeting with friends and family over Christmas will be a personal judgement, and we must be mindful of the risks, particularly to vulnerable individuals,\" the spokesperson said.\n\n\"Everyone has a role to play by remembering hands, face, space and keeping indoor spaces well ventilated to limit the spread of the virus and protect our loved ones.\"", "Last updated on .From the section Golf\n\nPeter Alliss, the legendary BBC golf commentator, has died at the age of 89.\n\nAlliss, known as 'the voice of golf' to fans around the world, has been synonymous with the BBC's golf coverage for more than half a century.\n\nHaving first appeared on the BBC in 1961, he was made lead golf commentator in 1978 after retiring as a player.\n\n\"It is with great sadness we announce the passing of golfing and broadcast legend Peter Alliss,\" said Alliss' family.\n\nIn a statement, they described his death as \"unexpected but peaceful\".\n\nThey added: \"Peter was a devoted husband, father and grandfather and his family ask for privacy at this difficult time.\"\n\nAlliss provided the soundtrack to many of golf's most memorable moments, with November's Masters the last tournament he covered.\n\n\"Peter was the voice of golf. He was an absolute master of his craft with a unique ability to capture a moment with a magical turn of phrase that no one else could match,\" said Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport.\n\nAs a player, Alliss won 31 tournaments and he and his father Percy were the first father-son duo to compete in the Ryder Cup, when it was a contest between Great Britain and the United States.\n\nIn 2012, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement category.\n• None Alliss reflects on the tales behind Great Britain's Ryder Cup wins\n\n'One of the greatest broadcasters of his generation' - Alliss as commentator\n\nAfter retiring from playing golf - in a professional sense, at least - Alliss moved into the commentary booth, where his descriptive and dead-pan style became the soundtrack to the BBC's coverage of major golf events.\n\n\"His inimitable tone, humour and command of the microphone will be sorely missed. His often legendary commentaries will be long remembered,\" said the BBC.\n\nAlliss' first experience behind the microphone came at the 1961 Open Championship, remarkably, in the same tournament he was challenging Arnold Palmer on the course.\n\nBetween trying to stop the American great claiming victory, with Alliss eventually finishing seven shots adrift of Palmer, the Englishman also cut his teeth analysing his fellow competitors.\n\nIn 1978 he was appointed the BBC's chief golf commentator following the death of his co-host and great friend Henry Longhurst.\n\n\"I'm there as an old player, a lover of the game and a good weaver of stories,\" is how Alliss once described his television role.\n\nTo the majority of British golf fans - and many more across the world - his soothing voice became synonymous as the audio accompaniment to the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods winning the sport's biggest prizes.\n\nOnly a few weeks ago, Alliss described the moment when world number one Dustin Johnson won the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.\n\n\"After six decades behind the microphone, he was just a month ago at the incredible age of 89 doing what he loved - commentating for the BBC on the Masters,\" said Slater.\n\n\"He transcended his sport as one of the greatest broadcasters of his generation.\"\n• None \"What on earth are you doing? He's gone ga-ga. To attempt to hit the ball out of there is pure madness.\" - his iconic description of Frenchman Jean van de Velde taking off his shoes and socks and wading into the Barry Burn on the final hole of the 1999 Open at Carnoustie.\n• None \"It's like turning up to hear Pavarotti sing and finding out he has laryngitis.\" - reflecting on Tiger Woods shooting a third-round 81 at the 2002 Open.\n• None \"Looks a bit like Jurassic Park in there.\" - describing the rough on the 14th at Royal St George's, host of the 2003 Open.\n• None \"One of the good things about rain in Scotland is that most of it ends up as scotch.\" - on poor weather during a tournament in Scotland.\n• None \"That really is a settler. Better than Alka Seltzer.\" - after watching Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke sink an early final-round putt on his way to winning the 2011 Open.\n\nFollowing in his father's footsteps & teaching James Bond - Alliss as a player\n\nWith his father Percy established as one of England's leading professional players in the 1920s and 1930s, it was perhaps inevitable the golf genes were passed down to Alliss.\n\nAlliss was born in Berlin, where his father was the professional at the glamorous Wannsee club, and apparently weighed a European record 14lbs 11oz when he arrived in 1931.\n\nThose hereditary blessings helped him blossom into a fine ball striker himself, establishing Alliss as one of the brightest young players of the time.\n\nBetween 1954 and 1969, he won 21 professional tournaments - including three British PGA Championships - and was twice winner of the Harry Vardon Trophy, given to the leading European player of the year.\n\nThe biggest title evaded him, however. Alliss came within four shots of lifting the Claret Jug in 1954, one of five top-10 finishes he had at the Open Championship.\n\nPart of the reason he did not claim more of the biggest individual prizes seemed to be his infamously unreliable putting.\n\n\"I began to twitch on the short putts,\" he said after his decision to retire from the international game aged 38.\n\nYet, with the same self-deprecating humour he would bring to his commentary, Alliss made light of his deficiency.\n\nEach of his luxury cars - one of the things his princely golf earnings of £30,000 allowed him to indulge - was said to have been fitted with a personalised number plate: '3 Put'.\n\nHe won more than 30 tournaments at home and abroad including the Spanish, Italian and Portuguese Opens. But it is for his broadcasting skills that he will be most remembered.\n\nGolf gravitas was supplemented by sharp wit and whimsy that made his a uniquely charming voice. It brought him millions of fans on both sides of the Atlantic.\n\nAs golf grew ever more popular, he became one of Britain's most famous figures, hosting the highly successful Pro-Celebrity Golf programme on BBC television and his own chat show 'Around with Alliss', which attracted many of the biggest entertainment stars of the 1970s and '80s.\n\nHis influence on golf stretched far and wide. He had a course architecture business with Dave Thomas that included among its commissions The Belfry, which has hosted four Ryder Cups. Alliss also wrote several books on the game.\n\nHe was a traditionalist who enjoyed the peculiarities of golf club life and he remained a brilliant and buoyant raconteur until the very end. But above all, he was still interested and fascinated by the sport. He was determined to carry on commentating, looking forward to being there for the 150th Open at St Andrews in 2022.\n\n'Golf will never be the same' - Lineker & Cleese among those paying tribute\n\nFollowing the news on Sunday of Alliss' death, tributes poured in from former and current players, golf's governing bodies, celebrities, journalists and fans.\n\nDenmark's Thomas Bjorn, who captained Europe to Ryder Cup victory in 2019, said Alliss was a \"great man\".\n\nFive-time major winner Phil Mickelson, who in 2012 was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame with Alliss and Britain's first Masters champion, Sandy Lyle, paid an affectionate tribute.\n\nThe European Tour said it was \"deeply saddened\" at his death, describing him as \"truly one of golf's greats\".\n\n\"Peter made an indelible mark on everything he did in our game, but especially as a player and a broadcaster, and he leaves a remarkable legacy,\" said Keith Pelley, European Tour chief executive.\n\nMatch of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, who has also fronted the BBC's Masters and Open coverage in the past, and Monty Python actor John Cleese were among the first to mourn Alliss' passing.\n\nBBC director general Tim Davie said Alliss' commentary \"brought the game to life\" for millions of people.\n\n\"Nobody told the story of golf quite like Peter Alliss,\" he added.\n\n\"He captured golf's drama with insight, wisdom, and humanity. He was a legendary commentator.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Fifty hospitals in England have been chosen as hubs for administering the vaccine\n\nThe coronavirus vaccine is the \"beginning of the end\" of the epidemic in the UK, Prof Stephen Powis has said, as vaccinations begin on Tuesday.\n\nBut the NHS England medical director warned the distribution of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would be a \"marathon not a sprint\".\n\nIt will take \"many months\" to vaccinate everybody who needs it, he said.\n\nFrontline health staff, those over 80, and care home workers will be first to get the Covid-19 vaccine.\n\nIn England, 50 hospitals have been initially chosen to serve as hubs for administering the vaccine.\n\nScotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will also begin their vaccination programmes from hospitals on Tuesday.\n\nProf Powis was speaking outside Croydon University Hospital in south London, which became one of the first hospitals in the UK to take delivery of the vaccine on Sunday.\n\nVaccines were delivered to Croydon University Hospital on Sunday\n\nIt comes as a further 231 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported in the latest UK government figures, and a further 17,272 cases.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock described the start of the vaccination scheme as \"a historic moment\".\n\n\"I urge everybody to play their part to suppress this virus and follow the local restrictions to protect the NHS while they carry out this crucial work,\" he said.\n\nRefrigerated containers holding the vaccine doses have been arriving in the UK from Belgium, and are being prepared to be moved from secure locations to the hospitals.\n\nProf Powis said despite \"huge complexities\", the first doses would arrive at hospitals on Monday, to be ready to administer from Tuesday.\n\n\"As a doctor this is a really exciting moment,\" he said.\n\n\"NHS staff around the country at vaccination hubs have been working tirelessly to make sure that we are prepared to commence vaccination on Tuesday.\"\n\nHe added: \"The NHS has a strong record of delivering large scale vaccination programmes - from the flu jab, HPV vaccine and lifesaving MMR jabs.\"\n\nAbout 800,000 doses of the vaccine are expected to be available in the UK from next week.\n\nSo far the government has ordered a total of 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people, with two shots each, 21 days apart.\n\nWith limited quantities initially available, elderly people who are already attending hospital as an outpatient, as well as those who are being discharged home after a hospital stay, will be among the first to receive the jab.\n\nOthers over the age of 80 will be invited to attend the hospital to receive a jab, and care home providers will be able to book their staff into vaccination clinics.\n\nAny appointments not used for these groups will be used for healthcare workers who are at highest risk of serious illness from the virus.\n\nDr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said people could have \"real confidence\" in the vaccine, adding: \"The highest standards of scrutiny, of safety and of effectiveness and quality have been met, international standards.\"\n\nShe also said the MHRA would also be \"following up all the safety issues after rollout incredibly carefully. Our job doesn't end when rollout starts.\"\n\nSpeaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Dr Raine vowed the vaccine will reach everyone in the UK who needs it - whatever the outcome of post-Brexit trade talks, saying officials were \"fully prepared\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will the new Pfizer vaccine work?\n\nBecause the Pfizer vaccine needs to stored and moved carefully each container is being inspected to ensure the vaccine vials have reached the UK in perfect condition.\n\nTracking data covering every box's journey from Belgium is being downloaded to check that the vials have been kept well below freezing.\n\nThe boxes each contain five packs of 975 doses, and will be split into smaller packs to be distributed around the country and defrosted.\n\nThe vaccine is made in Belgium and has to be stored at around -70C\n\nAlthough care home residents and staff are top of the priority list agreed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), they may not get the vaccine first \"for operational reasons\".\n\nProf Anthony Harnden - deputy chair of the JCVI - told the BBC on Friday said the committee would \"closely monitor\" delivery and stressed he still expected care home residents \"to be prioritised\".\n\nMr Hancock said the government was doing everything it could to overcome \"significant challenges\" to ensure care home residents were vaccinated as soon as possible.\n\nSpeaking to the Sunday Telegraph, the health secretary said fast-track approval of the Covid jab meant restrictions might be relaxed before the end of March next year.\n\nAs well as the challenge of delivering the vaccine, health experts are also conscious that the public needs to be educated and persuaded to support the vaccination programme.\n\nA host of famous faces including chat show host Sir Michael Parkinson and the singer Lulu, have told the Sunday Mirror that they will take the coronavirus vaccine without hesitation.\n\nIt follows concerns that online misinformation about vaccines could turn some people against being vaccinated.\n\nThe Mail on Sunday reports that the Queen is expected to receive the vaccine \"within weeks\" before revealing she has had it to boost public take-up of the jab.\n\nThe paper quotes senior sources who say the 94-year-old monarch and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, will not get \"preferential treatment\" and will \"wait in line\" during the first wave of jabs reserved for the over-80s and care home residents.", "Top row (left to right): Alison Howe, Martyn Hett, Lisa Lees, Courtney Boyle, Eilidh MacLeod, Elaine McIver, Georgina Callander, Jane Tweddle - Middle row (left to right): John Atkinson, Kelly Brewster, Liam Curry, Chloe Rutherford, Marcin Klis, Angelika Klis, Megan Hurley, Michelle Kiss - Bottom row (left to right): Nell Jones, Olivia Campbell-Hardy, Philip Tron, Saffie-Rose Roussos, Sorrell Leczkowski, Wendy Fawell\n\nThe brother of the Manchester Arena bomber has admitted his involvement in planning the attack for the first time.\n\nHashem Abedi, 23, was jailed for murdering the 22 people who were killed in the bombing at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.\n\nDuring his trial, he denied helping his brother Salman, 22, plan the attack that also left hundreds more injured.\n\nBut a public inquiry into the bombing heard Hashem Abedi had made the admission in prison in October.\n\nDuring an interview with inquiry lawyers, he admitted he had \"played a full part and a knowing part in the planning and preparation for the arena attack\", in which his brother also died, the inquiry heard.\n\nFigen Murray, whose son Martyn, 29, was killed in the bombing, said \"it would have been more bearable for all of us if he told the truth\" during the trial.\n\n\"We wanted to put that chapter behind us but focus our energies on the inquiry, which continues to be a gruelling and long process,\" she added.\n\nAbedi's admission was confirmed to the inquiry by Det Ch Supt Simon Barraclough, from Greater Manchester Police, who was the senior investigating officer on the case.\n\nPaul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, said to him: \"You are aware, on 22 October this year, in prison serving his sentence, Hashem Abedi was interviewed by members of the inquiry legal team?\"\n\nMr Barraclough told the inquiry he knew of the admission during the interview and agreed it was a \"fair summary\" to say 23-year-old Abedi admitted he had played \"a full part and a knowing part\".\n\nThe detective added that there was \"no doubt in my mind\" that the prosecution of Abedi was \"entirely well founded\".\n\nMr Greaney said: \"So the point you are making is that it didn't need him to tell you that you had got it right?\"\n\nMr Barraclough responded: \"I think we had got there with the trial.\"\n\nNo further details of the prison interview were provided.\n\nThe court heard how the brothers spent months ordering, stockpiling and transporting the materials required for the attack.\n\nThey joined their parents in Libya the month before the blast, but Salman Abedi returned to the UK on 18 May.\n\nHe bought the final components needed for the bomb before carrying out the attack as fans left the arena on the evening of 22 May 2017.\n\nSalman Abedi in the foyer of the Manchester Arena, seconds before he blew himself up\n\nAbedi was arrested shortly afterwards and extradited to Britain.\n\nHe did not give evidence during his trial, providing only a statement in which he denied 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and plotting to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.\n\nAbedi originally claimed he did not hold extremist views and had been \"shocked\" by what his brother had done.\n\n\"Had I any idea of it I would have reported it to my mother initially and then to other family members to prevent it from happening,\" he said in his statement.\n\nBut Abedi, formerly of Fallowfield, Manchester, was convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey and jailed for life in August with a minimum term of 55 years.\n\nTwenty-two people were killed and hundreds more injured in the explosion\n\nA forensic link to Ismail Abedi, the elder brother of Salman and Hashem Abedi, was found in a car that was used to store explosives prior to the attack, the inquiry also heard.\n\nThe Nissan Micra was bought by Salman and Hashem Abedi about 40 hours before they flew to Libya with their parents in April 2017.\n\nWhen Salman Abedi arrived back in the UK on 18 May 2017, he went straight to the car and returned the following morning to collect explosives from the vehicle, the inquiry heard.\n\nIt was previously revealed that Ramadan Abedi, father of Salman and Hashem Abedi, is wanted for questioning after his fingerprints were found inside the Micra.\n\nDuring evidence by Mr Barraclough, the link to Ismail Abedi emerged.\n\nMr Barraclough agreed when questioned by Nicholas de la Poer QC, counsel to the inquiry, that \"the fingerprints and/or DNA of Ismail Abedi and Ramadan Abedi, brother and father respectively, [had been] discovered\".\n\nThe BBC recently sought to question Ismail Abedi about his refusal to assist the inquiry, which has heard he is citing a claimed privilege against self-incrimination.\n\nThe Manchester Arena inquiry, which is being chaired by Sir John Saunders, started in September and is expected to last until the spring.\n\nIt aims to explore the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the attack and whether it could have been prevented.\n\nThe inquiry is being held at Manchester Magistrates' Court, less than a mile away from where the bombing happened.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The National Trust, which owns the beach, said it was investigating the shiny pillar\n\nA monolith has mysteriously appeared in Britain - just days after similar ones were spotted in the US and Romania.\n\nThe unusual mirrored structure was discovered on the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England.\n\nResident Alexia Fishwick said she \"was dumbstruck\" when she came across it during a beach walk on Sunday and described it as \"really quite magical\".\n\nA monolith found in Utah last month created wild speculation on social media and apparent copycats.\n\nMany observers have presumed they were art installations left by sculptors.\n\nThe metal edifice in Utah was found planted in the ground before it disappeared just days later.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The unusual object in the desert in the US state of Utah was found by a helicopter crew while conducting a count of big horn sheep in the area\n\nTwo other shining metal towers later appeared in Romania and southern California.\n\nMs Fishwick said: \"I'd read about the one in Utah and then Romania, so I knew the significance. Many people took no notice of it.\"\n\nShe said people first thought she had photoshopped the images when she put them online.\n\nLee Peckham, a lawyer living on the island, said: \"I saw it and wondered what it was and thought it a rather strange thing to see on the beach. I wondered who put it there and why.\"\n\nDJ Rob da Bank, another island resident, was also among those who took a stroll to see the sight for themselves.\n\nHe mused: \"I'm not sure if it's aliens, a Coldplay PR stunt or a local mirror dealer drumming up trade, but it got us all down the beach anyway.\"\n\nThe National Trust, which owns the site, said it had no immediate plans to remove the monolith, which it said was erected without permission.\n\nA spokesman said: \"We were unaware of the monolith's presence until this morning, but we've now visited Compton Beach and it seems secure on a wooden plinth and is made from mirrored sections of plastic or perspex material.\n\n\"We need to monitor over the next few days to ensure the beach remains safe and does not become overcrowded.\"\n\nAlexia Fishwick described the monolith as \"incredibly graceful\"\n\nAn anonymous collective called The Most Famous Artist has taken credit for the monoliths in Utah and California.\n\nIt posted an image of the Utah monolith on Instagram, with a 45,000 US dollar (£34,000) price tag.\n\nHowever, when asked about the Isle of Wight structure, it said: \"The monolith is out of my control at this point. Godspeed to all the aliens working hard around the globe to propagate the myth.\"\n\nNews of the monolith on the island has caused a stir on social media with some posting in jest - that the monolith - which already has its own Instagram page - could be a portal to another dimension.\n\nIn 2001: A Space Odyssey - the 1968 film directed by Stanley Kubrick - imposing black monoliths created by an unseen alien species appear in the movie, based on the writings of novelist Arthur C Clarke.\n\nMost observers reflecting on their trip to the mysterious monolith suspected it was left by an artist rather than an alien species.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Rob da Bank This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by crewer62 This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nFollow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The witness chose to keep her face mask on after Mr Giuliani made the request\n\nPresident Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has tested positive for Covid-19 and is being treated in hospital.\n\nMr Giuliani, who has led the Trump campaign's legal challenges to the election results, is the latest person close to the president to be infected.\n\nSince November, he has been on a cross-country tour in an effort to convince state governments to overturn the vote.\n\nLike other Trump officials, he has been criticised for shunning face masks.\n\nMr Trump, who was ill with the virus in October, announced the diagnosis in a tweet, writing: \"Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!\"\n\nMr Giuliani, 76, was admitted to the Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC on Sunday.\n\nThe news came after Mr Giuliani had visited Arizona, Georgia and Michigan all in the past week - where he spoke to government officials while not wearing masks.\n\nFollowing news of Mr Giuliani's diagnosis, the Arizona legislature announced sudden plans to shut down for one week. Several Republican lawmakers there had spent over 10 hours with the former New York mayor last week discussing election results.\n\nFollowing Mr Giuliani's visit to Phoenix, Arizona, the state's Republican party tweeted a photo of him with other mask-less state lawmakers.\n\nIn a tweet, Mr Giuliani thanked well-wishers for their messages, and said he was \"recovering quickly\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Rudy W. Giuliani This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nHis son, Andrew Giuliani, who works at the White House and tested positive for the virus last month, tweeted that his father was \"resting, getting great care and feeling well\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Andrew H. Giuliani This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nIt is not clear if Mr Giuliani is experiencing symptoms or when he caught the virus.\n\nNearly 14.6 million people have been infected with Covid-19 in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University, and 281,234 people have died - the highest figures of any country in the world.\n\nOn Sunday, Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force co-ordinator, criticised the Trump administration for flouting guidelines and peddling \"myths\" about the pandemic.\n\n\"I hear community members parroting back those situations, parroting back that masks don't work, parroting back that we should work towards herd immunity,\" Dr Birx told NBC.\n\n\"This is the worst event that this country will face,\" she said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"Grow up, mask up\": Tensions in US Covid hotspot of North Dakota\n\nSince the 3 November election, Mr Giuliani has travelled the country as part of unsuccessful efforts to overturn Mr Trump's election defeat. During many of his events, he was seen without a face mask and ignoring social distancing.\n\nLast Wednesday, he appeared at a hearing on alleged election fraud in Michigan where he asked a witness beside him if she would be comfortable removing her face mask.\n\n\"I don't want you to do this if you feel uncomfortable, but would you be comfortable taking your mask off, so we can hear you more clearly?\" said Mr Giuliani, who was not wearing a face mask. The witness chose to keep her mask on after asking the panel if she could be heard.\n\nOn Thursday Mr Giuliani travelled to Georgia where he repeated unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud at a Senate committee hearing about election security.\n\nDozens of people in Mr Trump's orbit are said to have tested positive for Covid-19 since October.\n\nBoris Epshteyn, another Trump adviser, tested positive shortly after appearing alongside Rudy Giuliani at a news conference on 25 November.\n\nOthers include the president's chief of staff Mark Meadows and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, along with his wife Melania and sons Donald Jnr and Baron.\n\nMr Trump's own diagnosis and hospital stay upended his campaign for a second term in office, less than a month before he faced Joe Biden in the presidential election.\n\nMr Trump has refused to concede, insisting without evidence that the election was stolen or rigged. Attorney General William Barr said last week that his department had not seen any evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the result.\n\nMr Biden will be sworn in as president on 20 January.", "Griff, Girl In Red and Greentea Peng are among the rising music stars being tipped for success\n\nThe longlist for the BBC's Sound of 2021 has been revealed, with a strong showing for DIY pop artists and UK rap.\n\nNorway's Girl In Red is the most prominent name on the list, with seven million fans playing her lo-fi tales of teenage angst on Spotify every month.\n\nNow in its 19th year, the list looks at the best rising talent in music. Former winners include Adele and Celeste.\n\nThis year's longlist was compiled by a panel of 161 industry experts, including former nominees Billie Eilish and Stormzy. The winner will be announced in January on BBC News and BBC Radio 1.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch clips from all the artists on the BBC's Sound Of 2021 list.\n\nThe 10 acts in the running are:\n\nThe Covid-19 pandemic has made launching a music career trickier than ever - and to date, only four of the acts on the Sound of 2021 longlist have played a headline gig.\n\nSome, like Wigan indie band The Lathums, had built a sizeable live following before the lockdown. The quartet were due to tour with Paul Weller this summer. Instead, they ended up livestreaming a concert from the circus ring at Blackpool Tower, with two clowns as special guests.\n\nPa Salieu is one of the most talked-about up-and-coming British rappers\n\nCoventry-based rapper Pa Salieu played his first ever full show to a camera in an otherwise-deserted studio earlier this year, but says the lockdown also gave him space to make his debut album without distractions from the outside world.\n\nThe 23-year-old is one of several artists on the longlist whose music defies categorisation, combining dancehall, drill and the hand-drum sounds of his Gambian heritage on the recent mixtape Send Them To Coventry. The Guardian called the collection \"too fresh to ignore\", while NME simply dubbed him the \"UK's next star\".\n\nEast London's Bree Runway has a similar disregard for convention, drawing on elements of trap, R&B and hardcore metal on songs like ATM and Little Nokia.\n\nThe rapper and singer describes her music as \"genre fluid and destructive\" and has recently collaborated with kindred spirit Missy Elliot.\n\nHailing from Grantham in Lincolnshire, Holly Humberstone is one of seven artists on the longlist who got their break by uploading songs to BBC Introducing.\n\nPraised by Variety magazine for her \"Olympic-level pop ability\", the 20-year-old's dark, moody ballads will appeal to fans of Lorde and Maggie Rogers.\n\nMulti-instrumentalist Alfie Templeman is another BBC Introducing graduate, and his easy-going indie pop feels destined for daytime radio.\n\nThe 17-year-old started making music by banging pots and pans in his family kitchen in Bedfordshire, inspired by a televised Rush concert. After mastering the saucepans, he taught himself another 10 instruments, including guitar, violin, harmonica and bass.\n\nGirl In Red,meanwhile has built up a huge fanbase with songs that reflect on boredom, depression and making sense of her sexuality.\n\nAfter scoring a viral hit with her first ever song, I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend, the singer, whose real name is Marie Ulven, was called \"a teenage queer icon for queer teenagers\". But she is looking forward to a day when her sexuality won't be a talking point.\n\n\"We need queer art to make it normal,\" she told the New York Times. \"We need protagonists who are just, like, living their best life and gay - that's just part of their character.\"\n\nOther nominees included hotly-tipped MC Dutchavelli, the younger brother of rapper Stefflon Don; and soul poet Berwyn, whose evisceratingly candid ballads draw on his experiences of homelessness and neglect.\n\nTo be eligible, musicians must not have been the lead artist on a UK top 10 album, or more than one top 10 single, by 30 October 2020. Artists who have appeared on TV talent shows within the last three years are also ineligible.\n\nThe top five will be revealed in the New Year on BBC Radio 1 and BBC News, with one artist announced each day from Sunday 3 January until the winner is unveiled on Thursday 7 January.\n\nLast year's winner Celeste had plans for her debut album delayed by the pandemic, but has slowly built up her profile through buzzworthy singles like Stop This Flame and Little Runaway.\n\nShe was also chosen to record the song for this year's John Lewis Christmas advert - becoming the first singer ever to record an original song for the retailer's festive campaign. Her debut album, Not Your Muse, will now come out in February.\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by Celeste This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.\n\nRead profiles of last year's top five acts:\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "The 2021 edition will be the catalogue's final\n\nFurniture giant Ikea has announced it will stop printing its traditional catalogue, one of the world's biggest annual publications, after 70 years.\n\nThe company said \"fewer people\" were reading the printed catalogue as customers moved to digital alternatives to shop and look for inspirations.\n\nThe publication reached a peak in 2016 when around 200 million copies were distributed in more than 50 markets.\n\nThe last edition to be printed is the 2021 version with 40 million copies.\n\nThe catalogue's first edition was put together by Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad himself in 1951. It featured the MK wing chair, had 285,000 copies and was distributed in southern Sweden, where the company was created.\n\nIn a statement, Ikea said the catalogue had become an \"iconic and beloved publication\" and an \"important success factor for Ikea to reach and inspire\" customers.\n\n\"Turning the page with our beloved catalogue is emotional but rational,\" said Konrad Gruss, managing director at Inter Ikea Systems, a division of brand owner Inter Ikea Group.\n\n\"For both customers and co-workers, the Ikea Catalogue is a publication that brings a lot of emotions, memories and joy. For 70 years it has been one of our most unique and iconic products.\"\n\nThe company has already increased digital investments, Mr Gruss said, as media consumption and customer behaviours change. Ikea said online sales had increased by 45% worldwide last year.\n\nHowever, the company - which has 445 stores - announced in October it planned to open dozens of new stores, including in the UK.\n\nThe first catalogue was printed in 1951\n\nIn 2012, the catalogue sparked controversy when images of women were missing in a version distributed in Saudi Arabia. The company then attributed the gaffe to the fact its Saudi operation was run by a franchisee.\n\nThe company is working on a smaller print publication about inspiration for home furnishing to be available in stores next year, Reuters news agency reports.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. From 2018: Five things to know about Ingvar Kamprad, founder of Ikea\n• None How Ikea's Billy took over the world", "Last updated on .From the section Cricket\n\nEngland's tour of South Africa has been abandoned after a number of a positive coronavirus tests.\n\nA South Africa player and two members of hotel staff tested positive, while England say two members of their party returned \"unconfirmed positive tests\".\n\nA three-match Twenty20 series was completed, but a three-match one-day series has been postponed.\n\nA statement said the tour was called off to \"ensure the mental and physical health and welfare of players\".\n• None What next for England and cricket's bio-bubbles?\n• None TMS podcast: The tour is cancelled – so what next?\n\nEngland are still waiting for ratification of their positive tests, with the two people affected set to be tested again on Monday.\n\nThe results will not come before Tuesday at the earliest and the tourists will not leave South Africa before they have been received.\n\nThe England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) said they will look to reschedule the ODIs, which form part of the International Cricket Council Super League.\n\nECB chief executive Tom Harrison said: \"We have always maintained that the welfare of our players and management is paramount.\n\n\"We were concerned about the potential impact that recent developments might have on the wellbeing of the touring party, and so after consultation with Cricket South Africa, we have jointly made the decision to postpone the remaining matches in this series, in the best interest of the players' welfare.\"\n\nActing CSA chief executive Kugandrie Govender said: \"The concern over the mental health impact of recent events on all involved is not one that we as CSA or the ECB take lightly, and the decision to postpone the tour is the most responsible and reasonable course of action for us.\"\n\nAshley Giles, managing director of England men's cricket, is with the team in South Africa and says extra steps will be taken before future assignments abroad.\n\nAsked if players would be asked if they wished to travel, Giles said: \"Absolutely. On the back of this an important part of it will be mental health screening.\n\n\"These are very difficult environments, those layers of bio-security just add a different level of anxiety.\n\n\"These guys have been living in bubbles for long periods of time and their mental health and wellbeing is the absolute priority for us.\n\n\"If we consistently say that's the most important thing for us, when we're tested we can't move away from that.\"\n\nEngland also released a statement rejecting any suggestion that their use of nets at Newlands in Cape Town was a factor in the outbreak, saying their decision to practise in the nets came as a result of \"unacceptable\" facilities.\n\nEngland used the nets on Thursday, the day before Friday's first ODI, which was called off after a South Africa player tested positive for coronavirus.\n\nThe nets are next to a building site at the Kelvin Road End of the ground and were not designated for use during the series.\n\n\"On arrival at Newlands on 3 December, we advised the venue the three nets provided on the main pitch were not of a standard for conducive practice,\" read an England statement.\n\n\"We requested with Cricket South Africa we would like to use the practice nets and that we would create a security cordon to ensure the players and coaches could enter the facility safely, as done previously on 28 November.\n\n\"This was confirmed by England's security team, the team operations manager and the team doctor. We were satisfied with this outcome and we were able to practise in the net facility safely.\"\n\nFrom positive tests to abandoned tour - how it all unfolded\n\nAs of Monday morning, the two unnamed members of the England party who tested positive for Covid-19 were self-isolating in their rooms at their hotel in Cape Town.\n\nWhereas there was a time on Sunday when all players and staff were in isolation, those with negative tests were allowed to use the open spaces of the hotel's grounds on Monday.\n\nThe hotel forms part of the 'bubble' in which the series was being held, with players only leaving to train and play.\n\nAll three matches in the T20 series were unaffected, despite two South Africa players testing positive for coronavirus and another two being placed in isolation.\n\nHowever, Friday's first one-day international was postponed when it emerged an unnamed South Africa player had returned a positive test, with Sunday's game called off after the hotel staff tested positive.\n\nLater on Sunday, England announced two members of their touring party had given positive tests.\n\nAt the time, England said a decision on the rest of the matches in the series would be taken after the positive tests had been independently ratified.\n\nHowever, Monday's game was cancelled on Sunday, and the tour was abandoned on Monday.\n\nThis was England's first overseas trip since their tour of Sri Lanka was cut short in March because of the spread of the pandemic.\n\nEngland were able to fulfil their entire home summer schedule by playing matches in a bio-secure environment at grounds in Manchester and Southampton.\n\nThey are due to tour Sri Lanka and India in the new year, with the squad for Sri Lanka departing the UK on 2 January.", "Ella Kissi-Debrah lived 25 metres from the South Circular Road in south-east London\n\nThe mother of a nine-year-old girl who died following an asthma attack says she \"would have moved\" if she had known how dangerous local air pollution was.\n\nElla Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, died in 2013.\n\nA 2018 report found unlawful levels of pollution likely contributed to a fatal asthma attack.\n\nAt a new inquest into Ella's death Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah said her daughter was \"the centre of our world\".\n\nMs Kissi-Debrah said \"moving would have been the first thing\" the family would have done if they had known the risks air pollution posed to Ella.\n\nShe told the inquest she knew about car fumes but had never heard of nitrogen oxides (NOx) - one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution.As they did not know of the risks posed by air pollution Ms Kissi-Debrah said she never spoke to doctors about moving.\n\nMs Kissi-Debrah branded air pollution \"a public health emergency\", and called for more education about its dangers.\n\nElla was classified as disabled due to her respiratory problems\n\nElla was first taken to hospital in 2010 after a coughing fit and subsequently admitted to hospital 27 times.\n\nMs Kissi-Debrah said that by the summer of 2012, Ella was classified as disabled. She often had to carry Ella by piggyback to get her around.\n\nElla was seen by consultants at six different hospitals in the years before her death.\n\nOn the day before Ella died Ms Kissi-Debrah described her daughter \"screaming\" as she left her with paramedics.\n\n\"When I saw her in the ambulance I knew she was going to have a seizure, she was so bad,\" Ms Kissi-Debrah said.\n\nDescribing the efforts of doctors to resuscitate Ella on the night of her death, she said: \"They tried and they tried and they tried.\"\n\nRosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah said she did not know how dangerous local levels of pollution were before her daughter's death\n\nAn inquest in 2014, which focused on Ella's medical care, concluded her death was caused by acute respiratory failure and severe asthma.But a 2018 report said it was likely unlawful levels of pollution, which were detected at a monitoring station one mile from Ella's home, contributed to her fatal asthma attack.\n\nElla may become the first person in the UK for whom air pollution is listed as the cause of death.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Restaurants and most shops in Portugal were ordered to close early today on what is the eve of a national holiday as the government attempts to curb the spread of the virus over the second long weekend in two weeks.\n\nTraders were obliged to close by 15:00 and the government gave employees the day off in addition to tomorrow's holiday - as it did a week ago, on the eve of the 1 December national holiday.\n\nA domestic travel ban has been in place since 23:00 Friday, and runs to 05:00 Wednesday, with people barred from leaving their municipality of residence except for work or emergencies.\n\nRemote working is mandatory - where feasible - in areas deemed to be at high, very high, or extremely high risk of transmission of the virus - affecting the vast majority of Portugal's population.\n\nIn most of these areas - those deemed at very high or extremely high risk, which include Lisbon and Porto - there is also a 13:00 curfew tomorrow. The restrictions are in place under the state of emergency that parliament on Friday voted to renew until 23 December.\n\nPortugal yesterday reported 3,834 new confirmed coronavirus cases - well down from the 19 November peak of 6,994 - and 87 deaths associated with Covid. Since the start of the epidemic, the country has reported 322,474 confirmed cases and 4,963 Covid-19 deaths.", "ITV breached broadcasting rules with several of its viewer competitions, media watchdog Ofcom has ruled.\n\nSome viewers who participated in competitions using a postal entry had \"no chance of being selected to win\", Ofcom said.\n\nCompetitions on shows like Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning, Loose Women and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway were all involved.\n\nMore than 41,000 entries between 2016 and 2019 were affected.\n\nCompetitions on La Vuelta and X Factor: The Band were also found to be in breach of the broadcasting code.\n\nITV said it has put in place plans to improve its postal entry procedures and it intended to donate a sum of money to charity as a \"mark of its sincere regret\".\n\nAn Ofcom spokeswoman said: \"Our investigation found that people who entered these competitions by post were excluded from the draw, with no chance of winning.\n\n\"ITV failed to follow proper procedures and this led to a clear breach of our rules, which require all broadcast competitions to be conducted fairly.\"\n\nThe broadcaster said the problem was a result of \"human error by ITV staff\" putting information on to a spreadsheet.\n\nCompetitions on ITV usually invite viewers to enter by phone, text message, the channel's website or by post.\n\nViewers are charged £2 to enter its competitions via text message, phone or online. Postal entries are usually free, although some require the purchase of a postage stamp.\n\nThis Morning was one of the shows investigated\n\nITV reviewed every broadcast competition it had conducted since 2014 after it discovered there had been an issue. This included competitions broadcast on sister networks like ITV2 and ITV4.\n\nThe broadcaster then referred itself to Ofcom, prompting the regulator to investigate.\n\nITV said it \"deeply regretted\" the errors and that the number of affected competitions represented fewer than 1% since 2014.\n\nOfcom said it recognised \"the proactive way in which ITV dealt with the issue by notifying Ofcom and immediately setting about to determine the extent and cause of the problem\".\n\nBut it said the broadcaster \"failed to take reasonable care through its processes to ensure the competitions were conducted in such ways as to provide fair and consistent treatment of all eligible entries\".\n\nIt's not the first time the broadcaster has found itself in hot water over its competitions.\n\nITV came in for criticism in 2007 after it was revealed that premium rate competitions and phone votes on series such as Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway were rigged.\n\nOfcom subsequently ordered ITV to pay £5.7m, a record sanction imposed on a broadcaster by the watchdog at the time.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nRenewed calls have been made for an independent public inquiry into severe flooding in the south Wales valleys.\n\nStorms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge in early 2020 led to record rainfall and river flows across Wales and the most widespread flooding seen since 1979.\n\nA debate over holding an inquiry will take place in the Senedd after nearly 6,000 people signed a petition.\n\nThe Welsh Government said it had taken \"significant steps\" to learn from this year's flooding.\n\nPlaid Cymru also wants more money spent on flood prevention and a single body being responsible for flooding.\n\nRhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) was one of the worst-hit areas, where almost 1,500 homes and businesses were affected, with people forced to leave their homes.\n\nPlaid has also said compensation should be available for flood victims.\n\nThe calls come in a report by the party into the flooding across the county.\n\nLeanne Wood, Member of the Senedd (MS) for Rhondda, said: \"Having a multi-agency approach, each with their own different take on what happened and their own agenda, has created a scenario whereby lines of responsibility are blurred.\n\n\"A public inquiry would untangle this confusion and get to the heart of what happened and what needs to happen to stand the best chance of preventing it from happening again.\n\nStreets in RCT were left under water during February's storms\n\n\"This is much needed in the Rhondda, as we have seen successive floods this year and they have mainly been in places with no real history of flooding.\"\n\nChris Bryant, Rhondda's Labour MP, criticised the renewed calls and said lawyers would be the \"only people who will make money out of an inquiry\".\n\nHe added: \"I'm focused on delivering hundreds of floodgates and more robust flood prevention measures now and getting the money RCT needs - and was promised - from Westminster to pay for the repair bill.\"\n\nPlaid previously criticised a Labour Party report written by Pontypridd MP Alex Davies-Jones and MS Mick Antoniw, which called for flood emergency drills to be carried out to check areas are protected.\n\nMs Wood said the failure to support an independent public inquiry into the floods was a \"glaring omission\" from the report.\n\nA Welsh Government spokeswoman said: \"We recognise the devastating impact of the flooding earlier this year on residents' well-being as well as the effect on their homes and businesses and have taken significant steps to learn the lessons from this year's floods.\"", "Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen have spoken as they try to break the post-Brexit trade deal stalemate.\n\nUrsula Von Der Leyen says 'significant differences remain' in the Brexit trade deal.\n\nThese sticking points include fishing rights, rules on state subsidies for business and arrangements for policing any deal.", "Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen when they met earlier this year\n\nThe two sides in this complicated and drawn out process have agreed that it is worth trying one last time to find a way through their profound differences.\n\nBut the statements from the prime minister and the EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen, signal clearly that a trade deal is out of reach right now - spelling out that if no-one budges in the next few days, it's simply not going to happen.\n\nA feature of Brexit negotiations has often been the last minute stand off, the political emergency, before suddenly, lo and behold, a deal emerges from the wreckage.\n\nBy Monday night, that tradition may have been proven again.\n\nYet it seems there is a lot more to be done than ironing out a few last minute glitches.\n\nThe UK believes that after months of talks, the EU - pushed by some member states - has hardened its stance on the same old stumbling blocks.\n\nAnd that's pushed a deal that was in reach just a few days ago, further away.\n\nFor both sides, not reaching a deal would be a political failure.\n\nThe prime minister has warned that it might not come to pass and has tried to assure the public about what would happen if it can't be done.\n\nBut the UK and the EU have both said on repeated occasions that a deal is what they want - eager to avoid the disruption of leaving the transition period at the end of this year without arrangements in place.\n\nAnd their negotiating teams have worked for months on the mechanics of how the conundrums over our departure from the trading bloc could be resolved.\n\nBut the two sides are still stuck over the fundamental, political question - who really calls the shots.\n\nIt was Theresa May who coined the phrase, \"no deal is better than a bad deal\".\n\nIn the next 48 hours, Boris Johnson and the European Union have to decide if they want to test if she was right.", "What will climate change look like near me?\n\nHow high might temperatures climb and how much rain might fall in your area and how? The BBC and the Met Office have looked at the UK's changing climate in detail to find out.\n\nTemperatures in the UK exceeded 40C for the first time on record earlier this summer, and extreme weather events are likely to become even more frequent.\n\nThe Met Office climate projections cover different levels of global warming. When, or if, these levels are reached will depend on the concentration of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.\n\nThe data is measured in 12km-square (7.5-mile-square) grids across the UK. The results for your postcode represent an average for the grids closest to you and the mid-point of a range of future possibilities, which come from the Met Office’s most recent major climate modelling data.\n\nHow could the climate change near you?\n\nDon't feel under the weather because you can't play with our interactive. Upgrade your browser or enable JavaScript to have a go!\n\n. Button active, text has been loaded below The hottest summer day in the 30 years from 1991 to 2019 near you was {{beginHighlight}}{{current_hottest_day}}C{{endHighlight}}. If global average temperatures increase 2C above pre-industrial levels, the hottest summer day could be about {{beginHighlight}}{{medium_hottest_day}}C{{endHighlight}}. If global temperatures rise by 4C, it could be about {{beginHighlight}}{{high_hottest_day}}C{{endHighlight}}. The warmest winter day in the 30 years from 1991 to 2019 near you was {{beginHighlight}}{{current_hottest_day}}C{{endHighlight}}. If global average temperatures increase 2C above pre-industrial levels, the warmest winter day could be about {{beginHighlight}}{{medium_hottest_day}}C{{endHighlight}}. If global temperatures rise by 4C, it could be about {{beginHighlight}}{{high_hottest_day}}C{{endHighlight}}. The hottest day recorded in the UK came in July 2022, with 40.3C measured in at Coningsby in Lincolnshire. Human activity has increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and caused rising temperatures worldwide since the growth of industrialisation in the 19th Century. If global average temperatures rise by 2C above pre-industrial levels, days at least as hot the 2019 record could be more frequent and widespread. And with a 4C rise, parts of the UK could see temperatures above 42C. Urgent cuts in emissions are needed to keep the rise in global average temperatures in check. The Glasgow Climate Pact, reached at the COP26 summit in 2021, agreed countries will meet this year to pledge further cuts to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). This is to try to keep temperature rises within 1.5C - which scientists say is required to prevent a \"climate catastrophe\". Current pledges, if met, will only limit global warming to about 2.4C. In the the 30 summers from 1991 to 2019, there were {{beginHighlight}} {{current_summer_days}} days{{endHighlight}} above 25C per month on average. If global temperatures rise by 2C, there could be {{beginHighlight}}{{medium_summer_days}} days{{endHighlight}}. With a 4C rise, there could be {{beginHighlight}}{{high_summer_days}} days{{endHighlight}}. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) defines any day with a maximum temperature above 25C as a \"summer day\". In the 30 summers from 1991 to 2019, even the warmest places in the UK, located in the South, had no more than seven days a month above 25C on average. If global average temperatures rise by 2C, southern parts of the country could see more than 11 days per summer month go beyond 25C. If the rise is 4C, those places could have 20 or more summer days per month, and higher likelihood of hot spells triggering public-health warnings. The cooler, northern parts of the UK, which may not see many days above 25C even with a 4C rise, can nonetheless expect average daytime temperatures in summer to increase by at least 2.5C. Enter your postcode above to reveal how hot it could get near you The average daytime temperature in the UK in summer currently ranges from about 14C in northern Scotland to 22C in southern England.\n\n\n\nBut summers have been getting warmer, with four of the 10 hottest summers up to 2019 recorded in the past two decades. Even if countries cut emissions and the world warms by 2C, the whole UK could see higher summer temperatures.\n\n\n\nIn some northern locations, the increase could be small. In southern areas, average summer temperatures could reach 24C. If emissions continue to increase and average global temperatures rise by 4C, summers will be even hotter.\n\n\n\nNearly a third of the UK could see average summer temperatures above 25C. The Met Office climate projections for the UK indicate significant temperature rises in the decades ahead for both winter and summer, with the greatest increases in the already warmer South. Extreme weather could become more frequent and intense. Not every summer will be hotter than the last – but temperature records are expected to be regularly broken, while heatwaves are likely to be longer and happen more often. . Button active, text has been loaded below In the 30 years from 1991 to 2019, there were {{beginHighlight}} {{current_rainy_days}} rainy days{{endHighlight}} on average per month in summer. If global average temperatures rise by 2C, this could be {{beginHighlight}}{{medium_rainy_days}} days{{endHighlight}} per month. At a 4C rise it could be about {{beginHighlight}}{{high_rainy_days}} days{{endHighlight}}. In the 30 years from 1991 to 2019, there were {{beginHighlight}}{{current_rainy_days}} rainy days{{endHighlight}} on average per month in winter. At both 2C and 4C rises, the number of rainy days per month could be roughly the same. As the world warms, fewer rainy days in summer are expected. Currently, over a quarter of the UK has 20 or more days without rain each summer month. This could grow to more than half the country if we reach 4C global warming. Winter rains could remain as likely as they are now. The number of days will vary from year-to-year, but rainy days in a warmer future could be wetter than today with total rainfall expected to rise. . Button active, text has been loaded below In warmer winters the heaviest rains are likely to get more intense. If global average temperatures rise by 4C above pre-industrial levels, half the country could expect at least 20% more rainfall on the wettest winter days. Summer rains may also become heavier in many places, although total rainfall is expected to decline. Of course, not all of the heaviest rains will necessarily fall in these two seasons. The current wettest day on record was 3 October 2020, when enough rain fell across all four nations to fill Loch Ness. Scroll up and enter your postcode above to see how rainy it could get near you Currently, the wettest areas of the UK dominate the west coast, with nearly all of Wales and western Scotland receiving most rain in winter months. So how much will change in future winters? With a 2C rise, very little compared to what we've seen recently. \n\n\n\nBut winters over the past 30 years have been rainier on average than previously, and the pattern of wetter winters could continue. The exact amount of change in rainfall at 2C global warming will vary across the country. Most places could have slightly wetter winters than in the 20th Century. If global average temperatures were to rise by 4C, more than half the country could see at least 10% more rain over the winter months. The UK climate projections suggest increases in winter rainfall in most parts of the country, as well as drier summers. Not every winter will necessarily be rainier than the one before, and not every summer will be dry, but both trends could have big impacts.\n\nAs the world warms, the UK is likely to have hotter, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters, according to the Met Office.\n\nExtreme weather events such as heatwaves and heavy downpours could become more frequent and more intense. Many scientists are concerned.\n\n\"I think it’s really frightening,” says Dr Lizzie Kendon, a senior Met Office scientist. “It's just a wake-up call really as to what we’re talking about here.”\n\nWe are already seeing the impacts of climate change, but the level of global warming we reach and by when will depend primarily on the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.\n\nTo some, warming weather may not seem like such a big deal. But even the smallest incremental changes in climate can have far-reaching effects.\n\nTemperatures above 30C for two or more days can trigger a public-health warning. In the 1990s, this happened about once every four years for locations in the South. By the 2070s, projections suggest it could be as frequently as four times per year - 16 times more often, if we do not curb our emissions.\n\nThe Met Office projects rainy winters, which keep the soil wet into spring, and dry summers of infrequent rainfall will become the norm.\n\nSummer rain is likely to become less frequent but could be heavier. Without regular rainfall, the ground has a harder time absorbing water when it finally does come, leading to a greater risk of flash flooding.\n\nFloods will likely become a staple of warming winters as well.\n\nSteady rain, which is currently a feature of winter months, will probably continue, and total rainfall is expected to increase.\n\nWhen the ground is already saturated, waterways tend to rise. Bridges and sewers designed for historical rainfall levels may come increasingly under pressure.\n\nWarming temperatures could also mean cold spells become less frequent.\n\nAnd snowy UK winters could become thing of the past as climate change affects the UK, according to Met Office analysis shared with BBC Panorama.\n\nTemperatures below freezing during the day and areas with considerable amounts of snow on the ground may be limited to parts of Scotland by the end of the century if emissions continue to rise.", "The market is a popular annual tradition in the city\n\nA Christmas market which sparked concerns over the spread of coronavirus has closed - one day after it opened.\n\nNottingham's Winter Wonderland opened on Saturday despite objections from residents in the city, which is under tier three restrictions.\n\nOn Sunday, the city council said it had made a joint decision with the organisers not to reopen this year.\n\nThe market was set to run from 10:00 to 21:00 GMT every day until Christmas Eve.\n\nCrowds forced it to close at 18:00 on Saturday.\n\nSimilar annual events in cities including Birmingham and Manchester were cancelled this year due to the pandemic.\n\nConcerns have been raised over the levels of social distancing observed at the Christmas market in Nottingham\n\nJo Cox-Brown, from Night Time Economy Solutions, said she had been in the city centre to support Small Business Saturday and witnessed crowds where people were close together and not wearing masks.\n\nShe said she worried the market could cause a spike in local coronavirus cases.\n\n\"It wasn't being well-managed it wasn't being very well-controlled,\" she said.\n\n\"People were defecating in doorways because there's no toilets open.\"\n\nMs Cox-Brown said many people who had been in touch were \"really angry\" the event went ahead and felt organisers were \"putting their Christmas at risk\".\n\nSimon Bonsai said he was \"hugely disappointed\" to see the market closed\n\nTrader Simon Bonsai said he was \"hugely disappointed\" by the closure after a brisk day of trading on Saturday, but said the decision was \"obvious\".\n\n\"It was so busy last night, there were too many people about,\" he said.\n\nIn a joint statement, Mellors Group and the city council said it implemented a \"wide range of measures\" to ensure compliance with tier three restrictions.\n\n\"However, numbers were too large to implement these effectively,\" they said.\n\n\"We're sorry it has not worked out.\"\n\nMellors previously said there had been \"pent-up demand\" for city-centre shopping after the second nationwide lockdown, which ended on Wednesday.\n\nFollow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.", "Choices made by the public will influence how many people die of Covid over the Christmas period, according to Health Minister Vaughan Gething.\n\nHe confirmed ministers were considering whether any new restrictions would be needed after relaxation for a five-day window allowing family get-togethers over the holidays.\n\n“We’re in very odd position of a much more contested environment, and rising harm being seen,” said Mr Gething, referring to new Covid infections.\n\n“We know that this is much more about the choices we’re making about who we see, how long we see them for.\n\n“We’re actively considering each day whether the measures we have are the right ones in place or not.\n\n\"We’re committed to review the regulations in the next week and a half or so and we will then have to consider what we do... we’re actively considering what we are going to need to do, what we may need to do after the Christmas period.\n\n“So, if we’re going to be able to get through not just to the end of the year but into the next year with the minimum amount of harm, it’s not just the choices we make in government, it’s the choices each of us make about how we’re living our lives that will determine how many of us are here in the New Year and beyond.”", "Pop star Rita Ora has apologised for a second breach of the UK's Covid-19 restrictions, after failing to self-isolate following a trip to Egypt.\n\nThe 30-year-old flew to Egypt for a private performance on 21 November. On her return the following day, she should have isolated for two weeks.\n\nInstead, she threw a birthday party in London, which was itself in violation of lockdown rules.\n\nThe star apologised for the party last week, and offered to pay a fine.\n\nDetails of her trip to Egypt subsequently emerged in the Mail On Sunday.\n\nThe newspaper said the singer, whose hits include I Will Never Let You Down, Your Song and Let You Love Me, had played an exclusive set at Cairo's W Hotel for a six-figure sum.\n\nAn unverified source also told the Mail that Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi was among those in attendance, although the claim has been disputed.\n\nIn response, Ora said she \"deserved criticism\" for her actions, and would donate her fee from the concert to charity.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How do I quarantine after returning from abroad?\n\nIn a statement, she said: \"I recently flew to Egypt to perform at a corporate event for a private company, where my travel party followed protocol and presented negative Covid tests upon entry, as required by Egyptian authorities.\n\n\"Upon my return to Britain, I should have followed government advice and isolated myself for the required period. As you know, I didn't follow government advice and for that I apologised earlier this week. I apologise again, unreservedly.\"\n\nAfter reassuring fans she had tested negative for Covid-19, she continued: \"While I realise the apologetic words of a pop star might not carry much weight, especially one who has broken the rules like I have, I do realise that some might seek to follow my example. My message to them is simple: Please don't.\n\n\"The guilt and shame I've carried this week for my mistake aren't worth it. Instead, continue to listen to the government advice and the voices of the heroes of the NHS and take the required precautions. I will take the criticisms coming my way because I deserve them.\"\n\nShe added that she hoped \"to one day make it up to the public who have given me so much support over the years and, in particular, make it up to the heroes of the NHS\".\n\nRita Ora pictured at the MTV Europe Music Awards earlier this year\n\nMeanwhile, Kensington and Chelsea Council has denied that Ora paid a £10,000 fine over the party she held in Notting Hill's Casa Cruz restaurant, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.\n\nUp to 30 people were at the event, according to reports, although the pop star herself described it as a \"small gathering\".\n\nSome press outlets claimed she had handed over a five-figure sum, but on Friday 4 December, a council spokesperson said no such fine had been paid.\n\nThey added that the council was investigating the premises for a potential breach of licensing and Covid regulations, and that it was not in their power to investigate an individual.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Singapore is a long way from the snow-capped peaks of the Swiss Alps\n\nThe World Economic Forum, which usually hosts a glitzy annual meeting for political and business leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, has moved next year's event to Singapore.\n\nThe forum says it's making the change to safeguard health and safety.\n\n\"In light of the current situation with regards to Covid-19 cases, it was decided that Singapore was best placed to hold the meeting,\" it said.\n\nSingapore has largely been seen as managing the crisis successfully.\n\nIts health ministry says there are currently 28 people being treated in hospital for the coronavirus, but none are in intensive care, and there are no cases in the community. Singapore's death toll for Covid-19 stands at 29.\n\nBut the country remains under \"phase two\" restrictions, which means gatherings are capped at five people and working from home is still the default for most companies.\n\nSingapore's Trade Minister Chan Chun Sing said the Forum's decision to hold the meeting in the country was \"an affirmation of Singapore's ability to provide a safe, neutral and conducive venue for global leaders to meet\".\n\nSafety measures could include tests on arrival and contact tracing of attendees, the government said.\n\nBreakfast panels are a staple of the Davos summit\n\nThe in-person World Economic Forum annual meeting is planned to take place in Singapore from 13-16 May, before returning to Switzerland in 2022.\n\nIt will be only the second time the event has been held outside Davos in its history. In 2002, the forum was organised in New York to show solidarity with the US after the 9/11 terror attacks.\n\nKlaus Schwab, who founded the forum in the 1970s, said a global leadership summit would be crucial to address the global recovery from the pandemic.\n\n\"Public-private co-operation is needed more than ever to rebuild trust and address the fault lines that emerged in 2020,\" he said.", "Det Sgt Nick Bailey was contaminated at the home of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018\n\nA police officer who was poisoned in the Salisbury Novichok attack is \"fighting for part of his pension\", his wife has said.\n\nDet Sgt Nick Bailey, who was contaminated with the nerve agent at the home of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, left Wiltshire Police in October.\n\nHis wife Sarah responded to comments by Wiltshire Police Federation's chairman about support her husband had received.\n\nWiltshire Police said it would be \"inappropriate\" to comment.\n\nIn the latest issue of the Police Federation of England and Wales magazine, Wiltshire chairman Mark Andrews wrote about how the force had supported officers affected by the Novichok attack in March 2018.\n\n\"We... helped Nick to get the compensation package he deserved and supported him with insurance and his legal claim for injury at work,\" he said.\n\n\"Support will continue for as long as he needs it.\"\n\nIn a tweet responding to the article, Mrs Bailey said her husband \"retired 7 weeks ago and he's still fighting for part of his pension\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Sarah Bailey This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nResonding to Mrs Bailey's tweet, Mr Andrews said the federation had \"supported Nick and his family since this terrible incident and our door is always open to help him in the future\".\n\n\"What happened to Nick is unprecedented and I hope will never happen to any other police officer or any other British citizen again,\" he said.\n\n\"I can only hope that one day the offenders will be brought to justice and Nick will be able to rest knowing that.\"\n\nA spokesman for Wiltshire Police said the force had worked with Mr Bailey and his family \"to provide continuing support to help them deal with the impact of this terrible incident and assist him to try and return to active police duties\".\n\n\"It was with great sadness that regrettably this was not possible and Nick left the force with our very best wishes for the future,\" he added.\n\n\"It would be wholly inappropriate for us to further comment publicly on private matters relating to a former police officer.\"\n\nMr Bailey returned to duty last year but left Wiltshire Police in October, saying the aftermath \"took so much from me\" and he could \"no longer do the job\".\n\nHe and two colleagues were sent to Mr Skripal's home after the former Russian spy and his daughter, who was staying with him, were found seriously ill on a bench in Salisbury.\n\nMr Bailey was contaminated when he touched the door handle of Mr Skripal's home in the city.\n\nThe Skripals survived the attack, and in the months two Russian nationals were accused of travelling to the UK to try to murder Mr Skripal with Novichok.\n\nThe pair - known by their aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - were caught on CCTV in Salisbury the day before the attack.\n\nThe Skripals survived the attack after spending several weeks in hospital\n\nFollow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The end of sledging and snowball fights in the UK?\n\nSnowy winters could become a thing of the past as climate change affects the UK, Met Office analysis suggests.\n\nIt is one of a series of projections about how UK's climate could change, shared with BBC Panorama.\n\nIt suggests by the 2040s most of southern England could no longer see sub-zero days. By the 2060s only high ground and northern Scotland are still likely to experience such cold days.\n\nThe projections are based on global emissions accelerating.\n\nIt could mean the end of sledging, snowmen and snowball fights, says Dr Lizzie Kendon, a senior Met Office scientist who worked on the climate projections.\n\n\"We're saying by the end of the century much of the lying snow will have disappeared entirely except over the highest ground,\" she told Panorama.\n\nIf the world reduces emissions significantly the changes will be less dramatic, the Met Office says.\n\nThe average coldest day in the UK over the past three decades was -4.3 Celsius.\n\nIf emissions continue to accelerate, leading to a global temperature rise of 4C, then the average coldest day in the UK would remain above 0 Celsius across most of the country throughout winter.\n\nEven if global emissions are reduced dramatically and world temperatures rise by 2C, the average coldest day in the UK is likely be 0 Celsius.\n\nThe Met Office says these temperatures are subject to variation and some years may see days colder than the average. Its projections explore how the UK's climate might change.\n\n\"The overarching picture is warmer, wetter winters; hotter, drier summers,\" Dr Kendon says.\n\n\"But within that, we get this shift towards more extreme events, so more frequent and intense extremes, so heavier rainfall when it occurs.\"\n\nThe Met Office says we are already seeing dramatic changes in the UK climate.\n\nPicture postcard: Snow covered houses in Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset in 2019\n\n\"The rate and nature of the climate change that we're seeing is unprecedented,\" says Dr Mark McCarthy of the Met Office's National Climate Information Centre.\n\nMost of the country has already seen average temperatures rise by 1C since the Industrial Revolution and we should expect more of the same, he warns.\n\nThat may not sound like much, but even these small changes in our climate can have a huge impact on the weather and on many plants and animals.\n\nThe Met Office says there could be significant temperature rises in the decades ahead for both winter and summer.\n\nIt says the biggest increases will be in the already warmer southern parts of the UK. At the same time extreme weather is expected to become more frequent and more intense.\n\nHeatwaves are likely to become more common and last longer, with record temperatures being exceeded regularly.\n\nThe average hottest day could reach a sweltering 40C the data suggests\n\nNot every summer will be hotter than the last, the Met Office says, but the long-term trend is steadily upwards, particularly if emissions remain unabated.\n\nThat high-emissions scenario shows peak summer temperatures could rise by between 3.7 C and 6.8 C by the 2070s, compared with the period 1981 to 2000.\n\nIf the world succeeds in reducing emissions, these temperature rises will be considerably smaller.\n\nThe level of detail in the models mean it is possible to see how the climate might change in neighbourhoods across the country.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Wingfields' home in South Yorkshire has only just recovered after floods in 2019.\n\nHayes in west London, for example, is likely to see some of the most dramatic temperature rises of all, the new data suggests.\n\nThe average hottest day in Hayes was 32C around 20 years ago. If emissions continue to accelerate, the new Met Office data suggests the average hottest day could reach a sweltering 40C by around 2070.\n\nIf global emissions reduce, this temperature rise will not be so severe.\n\n\"I mean, I think it's really frightening. That's a big change, and we're talking about in the course of our lifetime. It's just a wake-up call really as to what we're talking about here,\" says Dr Kendon.\n\nSummers might not just be hotter, they could be drier too, the Met Office predicts. Summer rain could become less frequent, but when it does rain it is likely to be more intense.\n\nThe combination of longer dry periods with sudden heavy downpours could increase the risk of flooding because dry ground doesn't absorb water as well as damp ground.\n\nRainfall is expected to increase in many parts of the country in winter too, the Met Office says.\n\nThe projections suggest western parts of the UK may get even wetter under a high-emissions scenario.\n\nOf course, some years will always buck the trend by being wetter or cooler than others - and there will be significant regional variations.\n\nThis pattern of wetter winters and more intense summer downpours across much of the country risks putting infrastructure under greater strain.\n\nRoads, railways, reservoirs, sewers, bridges and other infrastructure is all designed for the sort of rainfall we have had in the past and much of it may need to be upgraded or even rebuilt to cope with the storms and floods to come.\n\nLast week, the UK government announced ambitious new targets for tackling climate change.\n\nThe new goal is to cut the UK's greenhouse gas emission by 68% by the end of the decade, based on 1990 levels.\n\nBoris Johnson hopes the new targets will set an example to other nations, which will join a virtual climate pledges summit on 12 December.\n\nThis virtual event will occur in place of annual UN climate talks, which were set to have taken place in Glasgow this year, but were postponed because of Covid-19.\n\nYou can see more on Panorama: Britain's Wild Weather on BBC One at 19:00 GMT.", "Kevin Crossland pictured with his grandmother in 1961, the year he was born\n\nDavid Crossland's whole family died beside him on a holiday flight to Yugoslavia in September 1966. His wife Daphne, and their young children Kevin and Lynne were killed when their plane crashed in woods as it was approaching the airport in Ljubljana. David, who was sitting across the aisle from his wife and children, crawled to safety from the burning wreckage.\n\nIn the decades that followed, David suffered from long-term leg injuries and survivor guilt, but managed to build a new life. He remarried and had another son and daughter. He met his second wife, Liisa, when she was helping to nurse him as he recovered in hospital in London.\n\nDavid died of cancer in 2001. He never knew that at that time an undercover police officer was using the name Kevin Crossland - the five-year-old son David had lost in the plane crash.\n\nLiisa Crossland remembers her husband once telling her that he had heard from his police acquaintances that some officers would adopt the identities of dead children. It was a practice used by the assassin in the 1970s Fredrick Forsyth thriller, The Day of the Jackal, later a film.\n\nLiisa says she has felt enormous anger for the two years since the family was first informed about the use of Kevin's name by police.\n\n\"How can someone stoop so low? My husband is not here to fight for the truth. But on behalf of him and my family, I want to get to the bottom of the way Kevin's identity was used,\" she said.\n\nLiisa and David's son, Mark - whose middle name is Kevin in memory of the brother he never knew - describes it as \"the most irresponsible thing the officer could have done. I really don't know how my dad would have dealt with this if he had still been alive. We are looking for a proper apology from someone who actually means it.\"\n\nThe Crosslands are one of four families who have begun legal action against the Metropolitan Police over the use of their dead children's identities by undercover officers between the 1980s and early 2000s.\n\nThe other children whose identities were used were:\n\nThe practice of taking dead children's identities has been exposed as a tactic used by police officers from two units, the Special Demonstration Squad and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, who infiltrated protest groups and political movements over a 40-year period from 1968.\n\nThey would use the children's birth certificates to apply for passports and driving licences to allow them to build a back story or \"legend\".\n\nThe families of Kevin, Rod, Neil and Michael are claiming for misuse of private information, negligence and personal injury - and are calling on the Met to apologise and admit liability.\n\nIn a statement the Met said it was investigating the claims and was \"unable to comment further at this time\".\n\nThis photo of Kevin was taken not long before he was killed\n\nIt comes at the end of a year which has seen the much-delayed public inquiry into undercover policing finally get under way. It's examining the role of police spies over a 40-year period from the late 1960s.\n\nDuring opening statements last month, Heather Williams QC, representing the families of Kevin, Rod, Neil and Michael, as well as other families, denounced the use of dead children's identities by officers as an \"abhorrent practice\".\n\n\"It has caused our clients' memories of their loved ones to be forever tarnished. The intensity of their original grief has been brought back with full force,\" she said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Faith Mason‘s son, Neil, died in 1969. An undercover officer used his identity\n\nA \"tradecraft manual\" for the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) is among a cache of documents released to the inquiry. It reads: \"By tradition the aspiring SDS officer's first major task was to spend hours and hours at St Catherine's House leafing through death registers in search of a name he could call his own.\"\n\nAnd it goes on: \"The SDS officer would assume squatters' rights over the unfortunate's identity for the next four years.\"\n\nIn some cases officers are believed to have visited the graves of children whose names they were using. They also researched their families, described in the manual as establishing their respiratory status and \"if they were still breathing, where they were living\".\n\nThe officers who used the identities of Kevin, Rod, Neil and Michael infiltrated groups including the Animal Liberation Front, Class War and the Revolutionary Communist Party. Their true identities, like most of their colleagues', remain secret, as do even the cover names of more than 50 other police. More than 40 officers are said to have taken the names of dead children.\n\nThe officer who used Kevin's identity did not appear to have been authorised to do this, according to a statement from the inquiry in 2018.\n\nHe had been given permission to use his second undercover name, James Straven, but not the identity of a dead child.\n\nThe inquiry has heard that he was known as James Straven when he had relationships with two female activists. This is another practice used by a number of officers which is under scrutiny by the public inquiry, which had its initial hearings last month and will resume next year.\n\nLiisa says she is grateful for the difficult work done by the police generally, but her family is now in torment as a result of the undercover tactics.\n\n\"Kevin's memory belongs to us. He was laid to rest. Why was his identity stolen?\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Mother-of-two Helen Bannister died in hospital following a serious assault\n\nA murder investigation has begun following the death of a 48-year-old woman who was seriously assaulted.\n\nMother-of-two Helen Bannister would be \"dearly missed by her heartbroken family\", police said.\n\nSouth Wales Police attended an address in Mayhill, Swansea, on 1 December, when Ms Bannister was taken to hospital.\n\nMs Bannister's family have requested privacy and continue to be supported by specialist officers.\n\nA 37-year-old man had previously been remanded by a court after being charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent.\n\nSouth Wales Police has urged the public to take care over any comments made on social media.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Monday morning. We'll have another update for you at 18:00 GMT.\n\nHundreds of thousands of doses of coronavirus vaccine are being distributed around the UK in time to begin the immunisation programme on Tuesday. Hospitals in all four nations will serve as hubs, but NHS England's medical director warned the process would be a \"marathon, not a sprint\". So far the government has ordered a total of 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people with two shots each, 21 days apart - read more on how the system of prioritisation will work. The government is working to ease safety concerns, but we've spoken to some people confronting a different fear right now - needles.\n\nRapid coronavirus testing is being made available in care homes in parts of Scotland to allow relatives to visit their loved ones. Fourteen care homes in five areas are taking part in the trial, but concern about the accuracy of the lateral flow tests has prompted some homes in England to stop using them. A pilot scheme in Liverpool showed they missed half of all cases. Scotland's Health Minister Jeane Freeman said it was \"a positive step\", but other infection control measures, like wearing PPE, also remained vital to protect care home residents.\n\nShoppers were back in England's high streets and shopping malls this weekend, but numbers were well below pre-pandemic levels. Hard-pressed retailers are pinning their hopes on the run-up to Christmas after a torrid year, but, on average, shopper numbers were a quarter below 2019 levels, according to the market researcher Springboard. Across the UK as a whole, footfall was down by 30%, it said. BBC business correspondent Katie Prescott says overall, retail sales are above pre-pandemic levels, but that masks big shifts in what we're buying and from where. Meanwhile, one Christmas market found itself with the opposite problem on Saturday - too many visitors.\n\nRegent Street in central London has been pedestrianised to encourage shoppers, but footfall was still well down\n\nPresident Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has been admitted to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19. The 76-year-old former New York mayor has led the legal challenges to the election result - travelling the country without a face mask and often ignoring social distancing. He tweeted that he was \"recovering quickly\", while Mr Trump tweeted: \"Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!\" On Sunday, Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force co-ordinator, criticised the administration for flouting guidelines and peddling \"myths\" about the pandemic.\n\nDozens of people in President Trump's orbit are said to have tested positive for Covid-19 since October\n\nBBC correspondent Ashley John-Baptiste grew up in south London and has been back to catch up with old school friend Xavier Leopold, who found a positive - artistic - way of looking after his mental health during a very difficult year. Painting has also allowed Xavier to make a difference to a cause that's important to him, and he recently held his first exhibition. Watch the film - the first in a new series called Our Lives, telling stories from parts of the UK that sometimes fall under the radar.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. BBC correspondents are revisiting places they grew up, to see how the pandemic has affected people\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, as many parents have struggled with childcare issues during the pandemic, a number of tech firms have been offering solutions. Enter the Zoom nannies...\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "Adrian Smith was shocked to find that a photo of him as an eight-year-old had become an internet meme.\n\nHe stumbled upon the picture on Instagram, but it had come from a Tumblr blog in which his image was being used as the stepson of a fictional \"teenage stepdad\".\n\nHe said he was amused by it, but admitted that as a child he would have found it \"confusing and sad\".\n\nMr Smith's discovery has now gone more viral than the original meme.\n\nHe has been in touch with its original creator, and said he was happy that the image has not been used in a \"mean spirit\".\n\n\"Teenage Stepdad\" offered to kill the character off, but Mr Smith is happy for him to carry on with it if he wishes, he said.\n\nThe character which went with the photo was not a part of him, Mr Smith said.\n\n\"I had options - I could ignore it, I could get mad about it, or I could embrace it and make it part of my story now, and have it out there as an example of the chaotic randomness that happens with stuff on the internet that we put there,\" he said.\n\nMr Smith, who lives in North Carolina, had contributed the photograph to a Tumblr blog in about 2007 where people were sharing school photos with laser backgrounds. It was taken in 1992.\n\nHe said he remembered being very proud of the picture, having managed to find a top that matched the background, for which he had paid an additional $2.\n\n\"I'd like to say it's me pre-glasses, pre-braces, and 100% raw power as an eight-year-old,\" he said.\n\n\"My grin in the picture is one of smug satisfaction.\"\n\nMr Smith is himself a parent of two very young children - and said it would be a while before they understood what a meme was. But he did not wish to put them off sharing their lives online.\n\n\"The lesson is that what you put in the internet might last forever and have a life of its own, but also the internet doesn't define you, it doesn't have to be you,\" he said.\n\n\"Figure out who you are first, and if the stuff out there is part of how you want to define yourself then use it for that, if it's not, then don't.\"\n\nHis alter-ego has had a lively few years, sported some interesting hairstyles and made some questionable decisions, like the time he took up smoking. But Mr Smith thinks the fictional boy would also approve of his own career as an entomologist who \"puts videos about bugs on YouTube\".\n• None Viral dad on the trials of working from home", "Glasgow is one of the areas which are subject to the highest level of restrictions\n\nThe 11 Scottish council areas which are subject to the highest tier of Covid-19 restrictions will exit level four on Friday, Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.\n\nThe first minister said a decision on the levels that each region will be placed in will be taken on Tuesday.\n\nHealth Secretary Jeane Freeman had said on Sunday that \"all options are on the table\" for the areas, before revising her comments later in the day.\n\nMs Sturgeon confirmed the councils \"will all come out of level four\".\n\nShe said it was likely that most of the areas would drop into level three, with the government taking a \"cautious\" approach to alert levels.\n\nThe 11 council areas in west and central Scotland', including Glasgow, were placed in the top tier of restrictions on 20 November in a \"short and sharp\" effort to contain the spread of the virus.\n\nThis was described as a three-week measure which would come to an end on 11 December.\n\nHowever, some doubt appeared to be cast on this when the health minster was interviewed on the BBC's Sunday Politics programme.\n\nAsked whether some of the level four areas \"will remain so after the end of next week\", and whether they could still be in the top tier at Christmas, Ms Freeman replied that \"all options are on the table\".\n\nShe later clarified that the 11 councils would come out of level four on Friday, and that her comments were intended to be about \"what level below four they'll go into\".\n\nSpeaking at her daily coronavirus briefing on Monday, Ms Sturgeon reiterated: \"We've always said that those authorities would move out of that level on Friday and that remains the case.\"\n\nThe first minister said she would not pre-empt the review, as the levels for each council are due to be signed off by her cabinet on Tuesday morning.\n\nHowever, she said she would continue to take a \"cautious\" approach.\n\nShe added: \"The one thing that we are being firm about is that the level four areas will all come out of level four.\n\n\"Whether they go to level three, which I think is probably likely, or whether any of them might go to a lower level, that's something we will look at over the course of the day.\"\n\nThe council areas currently subject to level four restrictions are: East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian.\n\nThe rest of the country is in levels one to three of the five-tier system. Ms Sturgeon said the government would also be looking at whether any other areas should either move up or down a level.\n\nMeanwhile, the first Covid-19 vaccines are to be administered in Scotland on Tuesday.\n\nMs Sturgeon said this was \"extremely positive news\" - but that it was \"important we not drop our guard.\"\n\nShe said: \"Now we can see the prospect of the return to a more normal way of life, that should give us all the more incentive to stay safe and keep each other safe.\"\n\nThe first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine - which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness - arrived in Scotland over the weekend, and have now been delivered to local health boards.\n\nStaff who will administer the vaccine will be the first to receive it, with the more elderly and vulnerable groups of the population next in line.\n\nMs Sturgeon said: \"Vaccination is a major logistical exercise and it will take us time to work through the programme. The recent news doesn't remove the need for caution during this winter period.\"", "For months, the government has been urging businesses to get ready for a new era in trading with the EU. But it was only on Boxing Day that details of all the new rules were actually published.\n\nBusiness groups are relieved that the threat of a no-deal Brexit, which would have meant tariffs (or taxes) on goods crossing the border with the EU, has been removed. But companies that trade with the EU are still facing a lot of new bureaucracy.\n\nAnd the disruption in mid-December, caused by border closures related to the new variant of Covid-19, was a reminder of how dependent the UK economy is on trade across the English Channel.\n\nFrom 1 January 2021, goods entering the EU from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) face large amounts of new paperwork and checks, including:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHauliers will also need to make sure they have the right transportation paperwork before they drive to the border.\n\nThere is particular focus on the \"short straits\" route between Dover and Calais, and the nearby Channel Tunnel, which taken together handle about four million lorries a year.\n\n\"This is the biggest imposition of red tape that businesses have had to deal with in 50 years,\" says William Bain from the British Retail Consortium.\n\nFull controls on British exports to the EU began on 1 January. The first day of the new regime appears to have gone relatively smoothly.\n\nBut it's feared that later in the year, the new controls could cause disruption, even though new border infrastructure has been built at ports such as Calais, to help process vehicles more efficiently.\n\nThere are some mitigating measures though.\n\nIn response to the Covid crisis, the government is delaying full controls on goods entering Great Britain from the EU for a further six months.\n\nThere will be checks from 1 January on controlled substances such as alcohol and tobacco, and traders deemed to be a risk will also be asked to fill in customs declarations.\n\nBut most checks on goods coming in from the EU will be delayed until 1 July, a deadline that could in theory be extended.\n\n\"I think we will want to monitor it,\" the chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs, Jim Harra, told MPs in November. \"Hopefully we will not still be in a situation where Covid-19 is consuming as much of people's attention.\"\n\nOther measures to tackle potential disruption include diverting trade to other ports around the country and opening lorry parks in Kent, to avoid gridlock on the roads.\n\nSome of these contingencies were put into action early, to deal with the Covid border closures in December.\n\nOperation Brock, for example, involved changing the layout of a section of the M20, using a concrete barrier to allow lorries heading for mainland Europe to queue safely on the motorway.\n\nThousands of lorries were also diverted to temporary parking at a disused airport at Manston.\n\nFrom 1 January drivers of lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes will need to acquire a Kent Access Permit before they enter the county. They will have to show that they have all the paperwork they need to ferry goods to Europe.\n\nBut that doesn't deal with the challenge of the thousands of vans that cross the Channel every week.\n\n\"What has been serially misunderstood by various parts of government is the scale of the complexity for people on the ground dealing with the paperwork,\" says Duncan Buchanan, the Policy Director of the Road Haulage Association.\n\nThat could mean that instead of queues on motorways, many traders won't be able to leave their depots.\n\n\"Either they won't be able to get vets to sign off on their meat exports, or they won't be able to get their permit because they don't have the right bits of paper,\" says Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Storage Federation.\n\n\"We might see a quite significant holding off of trading - people just not moving stuff in the first few weeks.\"\n\nEighty-five per cent of the volume of trade between the EU and Great Britain is carried by EU hauliers, who are often paid not by the hour, but by the kilometre. If they think there will be too many delays, many may simply not come.\n\nThe government says the readiness of traders to deal with the new system remains its biggest concern.\n\nLorries parked on the M20 in Kent\n\n\"The sheer scale of the overall operation means there are literally many millions of moving parts,\" permanent secretary of the cabinet office Alex Chisholm told MPs. \"Inevitably there are going to be some difficulties for some individual people as they adjust to the new regime.\"\n\nThe government has also announced a new Border Operations Centre as part of plans \"for the UK to have the world's most effective border by 2025\".\n\nQuestions have been asked about how changes at the border might affect food supply. The short answer is no-one can say for sure, but nearly 30% of all the food consumed in the UK is imported from the EU.\n\nThe good news is that there is a deal, which makes a big difference. But the challenge is particularly acute because the UK grows relatively small amounts of fruit and vegetables in January and February and is most dependent on supplies from southern Europe at this time of year.\n\nSo, if there are delays, they could cause some shortages on the shelves.\n\n\"Some gaps are possible but we're not going to run out of food - that's not going to happen\" says Ian Wright.\n\nWhen it comes to non-perishable items, there had been some stockpiling in preparation for either outcome, but extra supplies won't last forever.\n\n\"The crunch point is probably not going to be in the first few days or weeks of January,\" William Bain argues. \"Towards the end of the month, when new orders start being placed and delivered, we will start to see the processes in Kent and the other ports really tested.\"\n\nAnd it's not only about food.\n\nOther retailers, which are used to moving their stock freely around the EU customs union, have had to create separate supply chains for the UK. That is costing them more money, and their new systems have yet to be tested properly.\n\nIt's not just about trade across the English Channel.\n\nTrade across the Irish Sea between Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland will be subject to the same pressures, while Northern Ireland will be a special case under the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.\n\nNorthern Ireland will remain in the EU single market for goods, and unlike the rest of the UK it will continue to enjoy frictionless trade with the EU with no checks of any kind at the land border with the Republic.\n\nBut there is a price to pay for that - new bureaucracy within the UK between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.\n\nThe EU, for example, has strict rules on products of animal origin: meat, milk, fish and eggs.\n\nThese products must enter the single market (and, from 1 January, Northern Ireland) through a border control post where paperwork is checked, and a proportion of goods physically inspected.\n\nThere will be a grace period of three months for supermarkets and their suppliers, but some smaller traders may have to get used to the new rules straight away.\n\nAll shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will also need a safety and security declaration, and a customs declaration from a new IT system which none of the traders have used before.\n\nThe government has set up a Trader Support Service to help.\n\nThe details of the new trading arrangements for Northern Ireland were announced separately in early December, and provided some clarity. They include an agreement which means the vast majority of goods being shipped from GB to NI will not be at risk of having tariffs imposed.\n\nBut there are plenty of unresolved issues.\n\nTraders are seeking answers about how to send parcels from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, and some online retailers have already suspended deliveries.\n\nThe trade from British to Northern Irish ports often involves multiple small shipments on a single lorry - all of which will need the right paperwork.\n\n\"We need clear rules for everyone in the supply chain,\" says Duncan Buchanan, \"and when you scratch the surface it is just not ready.\"\n\nIt is expected that many checks will be carried out on a 'light touch' basis to begin with.\n\nBut anyone trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is going to have to get used to a new way of working very quickly.", "A man has been arrested over \"abusive\" Facebook posts made during a football match where players were booed for taking the knee.\n\nPolice said \"a number of comments of an abusive nature\" were reported as Derby County faced Milwall on Saturday.\n\nMilwall said it was \"dismayed and saddened\" after its fans were heard jeering players before kick-off.\n\nDerbyshire Police said a 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences.\n\nThe booing of players before the match - the first time Millwall fans had been allowed at matches since attendance was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic - drew condemnation from figures across the football world.\n\nDerby boss Wayne Rooney said it was \"disappointing and upsetting\", while Millwall boss Gary Rowett said the incident overshadowed the long-awaited return of fans to stadiums.\n\nFollow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens: This could be a \"decisive turning point\" in Covid-19 fight\n\nThe first vaccinations will mark a \"decisive turning point in the battle against coronavirus\", NHS England's chief executive has said on the eve of the jab being rolled out.\n\nPeople in the UK will begin to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Tuesday.\n\nNHS England boss Sir Simon Stevens said vaccinations would continue \"at least until next spring\" and warned people to be \"very careful\" in the meantime.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock tweeted all parts of the UK had vaccine doses.\n\nOn Monday, the government announced a further 14,718 people had tested positive for the virus, while a further 189 people had died within 28 days of a positive test - taking the total by that measure to 61,434.\n\nFront-line health staff, those aged over 80, and care home workers will be first in line for the vaccine.\n\nIn England, 50 hospitals have been initially chosen to serve as hubs for administering it.\n\nScotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will also begin their vaccination programmes from hospitals on Tuesday.\n\nSpeaking at the Royal Free Hospital in London ahead of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, Sir Simon said: \"Tomorrow is the beginning of the biggest vaccination campaign in our history, building on successes from previous campaigns against conditions [and] diseases like polio, meningitis, and tuberculosis.\n\n\"Hospitals, and then GPs and pharmacists, as more vaccine becomes available, are going to be vaccinating at least until next spring.\"\n\nRefrigerated containers holding the vaccine doses, which need to be kept at -70C, have been arriving in the UK from Belgium, where it is made, and are being prepared to be moved from secure locations to the hospitals.\n\nThe UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab. It is enough to vaccinate 20 million people because two doses are needed.\n\nThere are 800,000 doses in the first tranche, meaning 400,000 people will be vaccinated initially.\n\nAlthough care home residents were placed at the top of the priority list agreed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), they are not getting the very first vaccinations.\n\nThe government has explained this is because the chosen hospital hubs already have the facilities to store the vaccine at the required temperature. But Mr Hancock said the government was doing everything it could to overcome \"significant challenges\" to ensure care home residents were vaccinated as soon as possible.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The health secretary said care homes could get vaccines “by the end of next week”\n\nChris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said people aged over 80 should not be worried if they are not called for the vaccine this month as the vast majority will have to wait until the new year to receive the jab.\n\nWhen asked about potential disruption to supply if there is a no-deal Brexit, Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said the vaccine was a \"top priority product\" and the government would consider using the armed forces to ensure supply \"if we need to\".\n\nThe Ministry of Defence said 60 military planners are working with the government's vaccine task force, with a further 56 personnel helping to construct vaccination centres.\n\nEarlier, Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething warned that potential delays at ports from Brexit changes could disrupt medical supplies.\n\nBut for medication like the Covid vaccine, which could become ineffective if it was delayed, \"the UK government have made arrangements to fly those into different parts of the UK,\" he said.\n\nDo you have an appointment to be vaccinated? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Last updated on .From the section Scotland\n\nScotland are \"certainly not going to take anything for granted\", says Steve Clarke after his side was drawn to face Denmark and Austria in their World Cup qualifying group.\n\nThe Scots emerged from pot three and also take on familiar foes Israel, Faroe Islands and Moldova in group F.\n\nThe Scots received a favourable draw, avoiding seven of the top Fifa ranked sides in pot one.\n\n\"Denmark and Austria deserve to be in pot one and pot two,\" said Clarke.\n\n\"Their recent record is good. Both strong teams, good players. We can expect a really tough time in the four matches against both countries. Israel we know inside out, it'll be nice to play them again.\n\n\"The trips to Faroe Islands and Moldova, being Scottish we have to be aware because we know that we're pretty good at getting tripped up in games that we're expected to win. We're certainly not going to take anything for granted.\"\n• None World Cup 2022 qualifying: The draw as it happened\n\nThe campaign to qualify for Qatar begins in March, with the tournament commencing in November 2022.\n\nScotland have not qualified for a World Cup campaign since France '98, but go into the forthcoming campaign high in confidence after ending the wait for an appearance at a major tournament by qualifying for Euro 2020 next summer.\n\nDenmark, the group's top seeds, have not played Scotland in a competitive match since the World Cup in 1986, a match the Danes won 1-0 in Mexico. In contrast, Clarke's players have faced Israel five times in the past two years, including a penalty shootout victory to set up a Euro 2020 play-off final with Serbia.\n\n\"The supporters can get carried away, they're allowed to get carried away, they're allowed to be optimistic,\" Clarke told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.\n\n\"And the fact that they're optimistic means that we must have done some good things in recent matches.\n\n\"But inside the camp, the players, myself and my staff, we know Denmark, Austria and Israel are going to give us a really tough time in qualifying.\"\n\nA total of 55 European countries will be whittled down to 13 who go to Qatar.\n\nThe 55 are split split into 10 qualification groups - five of six teams and five of five. Only the group winners are guaranteed to progress, but three further spots are up for grabs.\n\nThe 10 runners-up join the two best Nations League winners who have not finished in the top two of their World Cup group. Those 12 teams are drawn into three play-off paths to determine the final three sides.\n\nScotland's hopes of a Nations League lifeline were extinguished by successive defeats by Slovakia and Israel last month, which allowed Czech Republic to clinch top spot.", "Police said they found between 100 and 150 people inside the property in Lace Street\n\nA house party with up to 150 guests has been broken up by police in Nottingham.\n\nThe 20-year-old organiser of the illegal gathering, in Lace Street, is facing a fine of up to £10,000 after officers arrived at about 00:30 GMT.\n\nSeveral guests were given £200 penalties for breaking Covid-19 rules and a 19-year-old man was charged with obstructing a police officer.\n\nNottingham is currently subject to tier three restrictions, which bans different households mixing indoors.\n\nThe 19-year-old was also fined £200 and bailed to appear at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on 26 January.\n\nMeanwhile, the party host has been reported for summons and could be given the maximum fine under Covid-19 regulations.\n\nA student who lives nearby, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was woken at about 01:00 by voices and shouting.\n\nShe said: \"I saw loads and loads of people. People were pouring out of the house and more police arrived.\n\n\"I was really, really angry because me and all my friends have been abiding by the rules, not seeing people we would want to see and there are people doing that.\"\n\nInsp Amy English, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: \"It is deeply disappointing that so many people decided to disobey the rules on this occasion and increase the risk of transmission of this deadly virus.\n\n\"The very last thing we want to be doing as police officers is to be punishing people for gathering together and having fun but there really are no excuses for this kind of behaviour where people are blatantly ignoring rules in such large numbers.\"\n\nFollow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Visitors to 14 care homes will be offered faster Covid tests in a trial across five local authority areas.\n\nIt will take place in homes in North Ayrshire, Fife, Argyll and Bute, Inverclyde and Aberdeenshire.\n\nTesting kits will then be sent out to all care homes in Scotland from 14 December.\n\nThe lateral flow tests do not need to go to labs and can give results in under an hour. Visitors who test negative will still have to wear PPE.\n\nIf there is a positive result the visitor will be advised to leave the home, self-isolate and book a PCR test at a coronavirus testing centre.\n\nA separate pilot in Liverpool showed the rapid tests missed half of all cases, raising questions about whether they are worthwhile.\n\nHealth Minister Jeane Freeman has called the move a positive step for care homes, residents and their families and friends.\n\nShe said: \"This will provide another important layer of protection against Covid, alongside the essential PPE and infection prevention and control measures already in place.\n\n\"I'm very pleased to say we will be able to significantly accelerate the delivery of testing kits to all care homes from 14 December, following the necessary trial phase to ensure we have the right guidance and training in place.\"\n\nThe vaccination programme will begin on Tuesday\n\nShe added: \"This will require a significant amount of work from care homes, and we will continue to work closely with Health and Social Care Partnerships, Scottish Care, CCPS and Cosla as test kits are rolled out to ensure they have the support they need to deliver testing for designated visitors.\n\n\"However, it's important to remember that testing does not replace the other vital layers of protection we have against Covid, and all of these - reducing contacts, keeping our distance, wearing face coverings, and vaccines when they come - work most effectively to stop the virus when they are used together.\"\n\nNot all care homes are expected to be able to offer the tests to visitors by Christmas, so the government has confirmed PCR tests will be available for visitors at coronavirus testing centres.\n\nLateral flow tests are not as sensitive as traditional PCR testing but do not need to be analysed in a laboratory so they can produce same-day results.\n\nDesignated visitors will be able to take the test to indicate whether they have the virus ahead of seeing friends, relatives and loved ones in care homes.\n\nOn Saturday, Ms Freeman announced that the new Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had arrived in Scotland and that vaccinations would begin on Tuesday.\n\nThe first groups to receive them will include the elderly, care home residents and staff, and frontline health and social care workers.\n\nThe UK government has already ordered 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people, with two shots each.\n\nAbout 800,000 doses of the vaccine are expected to be available in the UK next week, with about 65,500 being made available for Scotland.\n\nHalf of the initial supplies of the vaccine that arrive in Scotland in December will be held back for the second dose.\n\nThe Scottish government has bought 23 ultra-low temperature freezers to store the vaccine.\n\nThey will be based at all major acute hospitals across the country and on Scotland's islands.\n\nThere had been fears that homes would not be able to receive the first batch of doses due to logistical challenges caused by the vaccine having to be stored at -70C.\n\nBut Ms Freeman said on Thursday that confirmation on how the vaccine could be transported and stored meant it would now be possible to deliver them to care homes.", "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nThe qualifiers take place between March and November 2021 England will face Robert Lewandowski's Poland in qualification for the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022. They will also play Hungary, Albania, Andorra and San Marino in Group I. Wales will meet Belgium, who they knocked out of Euro 2016, in Group E. Northern Ireland have been drawn with Italy, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Lithuania in Group C. The Republic of Ireland will come up against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in Group A, as well as Serbia, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. The qualifiers will take place between March and November 2021, with play-offs scheduled for March 2022. Who the home nations will play See the complete draw here England have faced Poland in qualifying for the 1974, 1990, 1994, 2006 and 2014 World Cups. The two sides also met in the finals in Mexico in 1986. Poland have arguably the best striker in world football right now in Lewandowski, who has scored 70 goals in 61 appearances for Bayern Munich since the start of last season. England last met Poland in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, when the Three Lions won 2-0 \"There is a great history with that fixture,\" said England manager Gareth Southgate. \"There was a spell when we seemed to draw them all the time.\" The group also sees England take on three sides they have beaten every time they have played them - Albania (four wins), Andorra (four) and San Marino (six). \"Poland are obviously a very good side,\" Southgate added. \"Hungary just got promoted into the Nations League top division - so those two in particular will be games that will be tough. \"The rest, whenever I have played for England or managed them, are complicated games to navigate.\" England's meeting with San Marino will stir memories of a World Cup qualifier between the two in 1993 when the Three Lions conceded after just 8.3 seconds - but they went on to win 7-1. Ryan Giggs' Wales side may have been drawn against the word's top-ranked side, but the famous triumph over the Belgians at the European Championship four years ago will still be fresh in their minds. The Welsh came back from a goal down to win 3-1 and reach the semi-finals of a major tournament for the first time. Scotland beat Serbia on penalties in their qualifying play-off final last month to reach Euro 2020 Scotland, who will play at next year's delayed Euro 2020, have been drawn in arguably the easiest group of the four home nations as they seek to qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 1998. They have never lost to the Faroe Islands or Moldova and have a good record against the group's toughest opponents Denmark, triumphing in 10 of their 16 previous meetings. Northern Ireland's group sees them renew hostilities with Switzerland, who controversially beat them in a play-off for the 2018 tournament. Italy, whose last World Cup triumph came in the 2006 tournament, are 10th in the latest Fifa rankings, with the Swiss occupying 16th spot. Thirty-two teams will take part in the World Cup in Qatar, of which 13 will be from Europe. The 10 group winners in qualifying will secure their place at the tournament while the 10 group runners-up will go through to the play-offs, along with the two best Nations League group winners who do not finish in the top two of their World Cup qualifying group. The 12 play-off teams will be drawn into three separate play-off paths, each of which will comprise semi-finals and final, with the three winners heading to Qatar. When are the World Cup qualifying group matches? And when are the World Cup finals themselves? Because of Qatar's intense summer heat, this World Cup will be held from 21 November to 18 December 2022, making it the first not to be held in May, June, or July. It is set to be played in a reduced timeframe of 28 days. Thirty-two teams will compete in eight venues in five host cities to succeed reigning champions France.\n• None Missed out on the weekend's Premier League action? All the goals and highlights are streaming now", "The surfer said he had been enjoying a \"normal day's surfing\" when he was attacked by a great white shark\n\nA surfer in Australia who was attacked by a great white shark has described the experience as like being \"hit by a truck\".\n\nThe 29-year-old was surfing in waters around Kangaroo Island off the Adelaide coast, when he was attacked on Sunday.\n\nHe suffered serious injuries and was said to be lucky to be alive.\n\nAfter the attack at remote D'Estrees Bay, he managed to swim back to shore, before walking another 300 metres (328 yards) to get help.\n\nDescribing his ordeal in a handwritten letter, he said he believed he would make a full recovery.\n\nHe had, he said, been sitting on his board when he felt a hit on his left side: \"It was like being hit by a truck.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. 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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n\"It bit me around my back, buttock and elbow, and took a chunk out of my board,\" he said in the letter.\n\nHe \"got a glimpse of the shark as it let go and disappeared\", after which he paddled back to the beach still holding his board.\n\nThe surfer sustained serious lacerations to his back, backside and legs, and minor lacerations to his arm during the attack.\n\nOne paramedic who treated him said the extent of the man's injuries had been \"catastrophic\" and that it was \"quite remarkable\" he had been able to swim to shore and then walk to seek help.\n\nHe was \"very lucky that he was able to do that\", Michael Rushby told local newspaper The Advertiser, noting shark attacks locally remained rare.\n\nD'Estrees Bay beach has now been closed, and members of the public have been asked to avoid the area.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Drones used to spot sharks on Australian beaches", "Roald Dahl's family has apologised for anti-Semitic comments made by the best-selling author, who died in 1990.\n\nA statement condemning Dahl's controversial comments, made in two interviews in 1983 and 1990, was published on his official website.\n\nIn a discreet part of the website, his family and the Roald Dahl Story Company \"deeply apologise for the lasting and understandable hurt caused\".\n\nIt said his \"prejudiced remarks stand.. in marked contrast to the man we knew\".\n\nThe statement, which is undated, was spotted by the Sunday Times.\n\n\"The Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company deeply apologise for the lasting and understandable hurt caused by some of Roald Dahl's statements.\n\n\"Those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl's stories, which have positively impacted young people for generations.\n\n\"We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his absolute worst, Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting impact of words.\"\n\nA spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said it was \"disappointing\" Roald Dahl's family \"waited 30 years to make an apology\".\n\n\"It is a shame that the estate has seen fit merely to apologise for Dahl's anti-Semitism rather than to use its substantial means to do anything about it,\" the spokesperson said.\n\n\"The apology should have come much sooner and been published less obscurely, but the fact that it has come at all - after so long - is an encouraging sign that Dahl's racism has been acknowledged even by those who profit from his creative works.\"\n\nAnne Hathaway stars as the Grand High Witch in a new film version of Roald Dahl's The Witches\n\nRoald Dahl, who was born in Wales to Norwegian immigrant parents, remains one of the most popular children's authors in the world - with novels including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The BFG all adapted for the big screen.\n\nIn an interview with the New Statesman in 1983, he said he believed that there was \"a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity\".\n\nSeven years later, in a piece in the Independent, the author acknowledged he had \"become anti-Semitic\".\n\nThe remarks, for which the writer refused to apologise, have continued to cause upset among the Jewish community.\n\nIn 2018, the Royal Mint chose not to issue a commemorative coin on the 100th anniversary of his birth because of his anti-Semitic views.\n\nAt the time, Wes Streeting, Labour MP, applauded the decision by the Royal Mint, citing the author's \"classic, undeniable, blatant anti-Semitism\".\n\nWith the enduring popularity of his novels, Roald Dahl's estate continues to be highly lucrative, posting annual pre-tax profits of £12.7m in 2018 - largely thanks to film and television deals.\n\nIn October this year, a new film version of The Witches was released starring Anne Hathaway, and in March Netflix announced a forthcoming adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.\n\nThe Roald Dahl Story Company later added: \"Apologising for the words of a much-loved grandparent is a challenging thing to do, but made more difficult when the words are so hurtful to an entire community.\n\n\"We loved Roald, but we passionately disagree with his anti-Semitic comments. This is why we chose to apologise on our website.\"", "Cocaine with an estimated value of £100m has been found in a banana pulp shipment, the Home Office has said.\n\nThe drugs, which weighed more than a tonne, were discovered during routine inspections at London Gateway, Thurrock in Essex, on 12 November.\n\nThey originated in Colombia and were headed for Antwerp in Belgium, according to customs officials.\n\nThe National Crime Agency (NCA) said the find was \"a significant hit to the organised crime groups involved\".\n\nThe parcels were discovered hidden in a shipping container docked at the port\n\nIt follows the discovery by UK Border Force officers of 1,155kg (2,550lb) of cocaine at the port in September.\n\nNCA branch commander Jacque Beer said: \"While the UK wasn't the end destination for either shipment, it is likely that at least a proportion would have ended up being sold on our streets.\n\n\"These were substantial seizures and will represent a significant hit to the organised crime groups involved, meaning less profit for them to reinvest.\"\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "We've had the same big three sticking points between the two sides for months now.\n\nMany trade negotiators were wondering what the point was of sending negotiators back into the room when they are so well rehearsed in each other's arguments.\n\nWhat is needed to break the deadlock right now is the political will from both sides - and that need to come from the bosses.\n\nIt will be European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen who will sit with Boris Johnson - because EU countries have tasked the Commission with negotiating on their behalf.\n\nBut she does not have a free hand here - because the Commission is the conduit for the interests of the member states.\n\nWhen it's come to Brexit, they have kept a sense of unity you do not see normally. But now that we're getting to five to midnight, that unity is beginning to fray at the edges.", "Last updated on .From the section Olympics\n\nBreaking - a competitive form of breakdancing - has been confirmed as part of the final line-up for the Paris 2024 Olympics.\n\nIt will join surfing, skateboarding and climbing, which will be retained after debuts at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.\n\nHowever, parkour will not be part of the 2024 event after missing out.\n\nThe street sport typically involves running, jumping and climbing over obstacles.\n\n\"It's going to be great for breaking as it gives us more recognition as a sport,\" British breakdancer Karam Singh told BBC Sport.\n\n\"And for the Olympics, it will attract young people who may not follow some of the traditional sports.\"\n\nSquash campaigned unsuccessfully for inclusion in the Paris Games, as did billiard sports and chess.\n\nBreaking blends artistry and athleticism with key elements including top rocks - typically a competitor's introductory dance moves -footwork, power moves and freezes.\n\nPower moves are explosive displays such as spins, while freezes are when a performer sticks a pose.\n\nCompetitors - known as b-boys and b-girls - are not only judged on technical skill but also creativity and style, with strength, speed, rhythm and agility all considered.\n\nLast year, the Paris 2024 organising committee had proposed breaking, surfing, skateboarding and climbing for inclusion and were waiting for a final review by the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).\n\nThe IOC has insisted that new events would only be included if they used existing Paris 2024 venues, and priority would be given to those with youth appeal or that would help achieve gender equality.\n\nGames organisers said they wanted to include sports in the programme which were popular with new and younger audiences.\n\nUnder new IOC rules first introduced for the Tokyo Games, Olympic host cities can hand-pick sports and propose them for inclusion in those Games if they are popular in that country and add to the Games' appeal.\n\nCost-cutting measures will see athlete numbers drop from 11,238 at Rio 2016 to under 10,500 by 2024, which will be achieved despite the addition of new disciplines and the removal of only baseball/softball and karate.\n• None Missed out on the weekend's Premier League action? All the goals and highlights are streaming now", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Fifty hospitals in England have been chosen as hubs for administering the vaccine\n\nThe armed forces could help transport further stocks of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from Belgium to the UK, with vaccinations due to begin on Tuesday.\n\nAsked if a no-deal Brexit could delay supplies, James Cleverly said it was a \"top priority\" and the government would look to ensure supplies were available \"in whatever circumstance\".\n\nMilitary personnel are already helping to construct vaccination centres.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock tweeted all parts of the UK had vaccine doses.\n\nFront-line health staff, those over 80, and care home workers will be first in line for the vaccine.\n\nIn England, 50 hospitals have been initially chosen to serve as hubs for administering it.\n\nScotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will also begin their vaccination programmes from hospitals on Tuesday.\n\nOn Monday, the government announced a further 14,718 people had tested positive for the virus, while a further 189 people had died within 28 days of a positive test - taking the total by that measure to 61,434.\n\nThe Ministry of Defence said 60 military planners are working with the government's vaccine task force, with a further 56 personnel helping to construct vaccination centres.\n\nArmed Forces minister James Heappey said around 13,500 military personnel were on \"high readiness\" - with more than 2,000 deployed so far to help with testing and the government's Covid response.\n\nRefrigerated containers holding the vaccine doses, which need to be kept at -70C, have been arriving in the UK from Belgium, where it is made, and are being prepared to be moved from secure locations to the hospitals.\n\nAsked whether the armed forces would be used to help transport the vaccine to the UK, Mr Cleverly told BBC Breakfast: \"Potentially - we are looking at non-commercial flight options.\"\n\nIn response to concerns a no-deal Brexit could cause delays in getting the vaccine into the UK, he said: \"This is such an important product, it's probably perhaps the most important product, so we will look to ensure that those supplies are available in the UK in whatever circumstance.\"\n\nAsked to confirm if this meant the armed forces would be used if needed, he said: \"If we need to.\"\n\nIt comes as talks between the UK and the EU continue in a bid to reach a post-Brexit trade deal.\n\nDowning Street did not deny that RAF flights could be used to bring supplies of the vaccine over from other European countries if there were problems at ports caused by a no-deal Brexit.\n\nThe prime minister's official spokesman would not comment on specific plans for \"security reasons\".\n\nBut he said \"the military will have a role to play in what's been an enormous logistical challenge and I'm sure they will continue to do so as we move forward\".\n\nVaccines were delivered to Croydon University Hospital on Sunday\n\nAbout 800,000 doses of the vaccine are expected to be available in the UK from next week.\n\nSo far the government has ordered a total of 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people, with two shots each, 21 days apart.\n\nWith limited quantities initially available, elderly people who are already attending hospital as an outpatient, as well as those who are being discharged after a hospital stay, will be among the first to receive the jab.\n\nOthers over the age of 80 will be invited to attend the hospital to receive a jab, and care home providers will be able to book their staff into vaccination clinics.\n\nAny appointments not used for these groups will be used for healthcare workers who are at highest risk of serious illness from the virus.\n\nChris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers - which represents hospitals and other NHS trusts in England - said people over 80 should not be concerned if they did not receive a letter calling them to be vaccinated this month, as the \"vast majority\" of people would have to wait until next year.\n\nThe Mail on Sunday reported that the Queen, who is 94, is expected to receive the vaccine \"within weeks\" - and then reveal she has had it to boost public take-up of the jab.\n\nThe paper quoted senior sources who said the monarch and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, will not get \"preferential treatment\" but will wait their turn in the priorities list.\n\nAsked whether the Queen would receive the vaccination this week, the prime minister's official spokesman said it was a matter for Buckingham Palace.\n\nHowever, he added: \"It is obviously a statement of fact that the Queen and Prince Philip are over 80 and are in a priority group.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will the new Pfizer vaccine work?\n\nAlthough care home residents and staff were placed at the top of the priority list agreed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), they are not getting the very first vaccinations.\n\nThe government has explained this is because the chosen hospital hubs already have the facilities to store the vaccine at the required temperature of -70C. But Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government was doing everything it could to overcome \"significant challenges\" to ensure care home residents were vaccinated as soon as possible.\n\nDo you have an appointment to be vaccinated? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Johan van Zyl said Brexit and Covid were a \"double whammy\" for Toyota\n\nThe boss of Toyota's European business has warned that a no-deal Brexit could make its UK plants uncompetitive.\n\nDr Johan van Zyl said such an outcome would create a \"very negative investment environment\" in Britain and be \"very, very negative\" for his business.\n\nHe told the BBC the combination of Brexit and the Covid crisis was a \"double whammy\" for the carmaker.\n\nToyota has two plants in the UK, which employ about 3,000 people in total.\n\nBut Mr van Zyl said no decisions on the future of its UK plants - a car factory at Burnaston in Derbyshire and an engine facility at Deeside in North Wales - could be taken until the outcome of trade talks was known.\n\nLike other manufacturers, Toyota has been badly affected by the Covid outbreak. Both its UK plants were forced to suspend production during the spring lockdown, while showrooms were also forced to close.\n\nNow the company is forecasting a strong recovery for its European business. But according to Dr van Zyl, its UK recovery could be made more difficult by Brexit.\n\n\"We have Brexit, and we have Covid, and this is a double whammy which is happening to us\", he said during an online media event.\n\n\"When it comes to the recovery… it's going to be more difficult if Brexit of course is negative, or a hard Brexit\".\n\nThe company has, he said, already taken steps to mitigate the impact of a no-deal scenario - but there is a limit to what it can do.\n\n\"What we could put in place, we have done - in terms of adjusting our systems, looking at customs procedures which will be required, looking at increasing stock levels.\n\n\"Up to a point we can do it. But you can't do a huge amount of that - it's only a limited few days.\n\n\"So it can be very, very negative for our business if we have a no-deal scenario. Very negative. And even if there is a deal, we need to know the content of the deal. We need to get those details to really be able to establish what is the real impact. We haven't seen those yet\".\n\nIt is not yet clear what the future holds for Toyota's UK plants. The company recently invested £240m in equipping the Burnaston factory to build its latest vehicle platforms.\n\nDr van Zyl insists that: \"We have confidence in our colleagues in the UK. They're doing an excellent job so far\".\n\nBut the longer-term outlook may be bleaker, in an industry where product cycles tend to last around seven years.\n\n\"We have always said that if, for instance Brexit, is very negative, it will be a very negative investment environment, so we need first to see the outcome before we can judge what we are really going to do\", he says.\n\nTariffs on cross channel trade, he explains, could make a big difference.\n\n\"If 90% of what you produce in the UK is exported to the EU, and you've got to do it at a duty, then you're not competitive. You will not be able to compete with plants in Europe. So it is a very difficult situation\n\n\"But let's see what the outcome of the negotiations is, then we can really decide what we're going to do.\"", "A chief executive of Europe's largest online fashion site has announced plans to step down from his role, saying his wife's \"professional ambitions should take priority\".\n\nRubin Ritter has been co-chief executive of Zalando since 2010.\n\nThe company, which began as a Berlin-based start-up 12 years ago, now has 36 million customers and recorded revenue of €6.5bn (£5.8bn) last year.\n\nHe will step down in May, cutting short a contract that runs to late-2023.\n\n\"My wife and I have agreed that for the coming years, her professional ambitions should take priority,\" Mr Ritter said in a statement.\n\n\"I want to devote more time to my growing family. After more than 11 amazing years where Zalando has been my priority, I feel that it is time to give my life a new direction.\"\n\nThe company declined to name Mr Ritter's wife or her occupation. But it said the couple had one child and were expecting another in early 2021.\n\nMr Ritter, 38, earned €6.8m in 2019 and €20.2m in 2018, making him one of Germany's highest paid executives.\n\nZalando's other two bosses, Robert Gentz and David Schneider, will continue to lead the company, the firm said.\n\nMr Ritter has been spearheading efforts to improve equality at Zalando, which sells fashion and beauty products in 17 countries.\n\nCurrently no women sit on its management board and its gender pay gap is 22% in favour of men, slightly wider than the national average in Germany.\n\nHowever, in November Mr Ritter said the retailer was progressing towards its goal of achieving balanced representation in its top tiers of management by 2023.\n\n\"While transformation takes time, and we are still at the beginning of our journey, our progress indicates that we are moving in the right direction,\" Mr Ritter said.\n\nThe executive has been in charge of strategy and communications on the three-way management team, but he was also finance chief until last year.\n\nCommenting on Mr Ritter's decision, Mr Gentz said: \"When we started to ship the first shoes to our customers from the basement of our office, we did not know where the journey would lead us.\n\n\"It is impossible to overstate Rubin's impact on Zalando's success.\"\n\nZalando's customers are spread across 17 countries. The online platform sells accessories and beauty products alongside fashion.\n\nHave you taken a step back from your own career to help your partner progress at work? Email your story to: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n• None Boohoo dropped by Next, Asos and Zalando", "Mike Ashley has bought other struggling businesses including House of Fraser and Evans Cycles\n\nMike Ashley's Frasers Group has confirmed it is working on a possible last minute rescue of Debenhams.\n\nThe department store chain is currently set to shut all its stores by the end of next March, putting 12,000 jobs at risk, after administrators failed to find a buyer for the business.\n\nMr Ashley has bought other struggling High Street businesses and used to be a major shareholder in Debenhams.\n\nBut Frasers said there was \"no certainty\" it could save the chain.\n\nOne of the biggest issues, it said, was the collapse into administration last week of another High Street giant, Arcadia, which is the biggest concession holder in Debenhams department stores.\n\nLiquidators moved in to Debenhams' stores on Wednesday to start clearing stock after a potential rescue deal with JD Sports fell through.\n\nMike Ashley, who founded Sports Direct and also owns House of Fraser, had already made an offer for Debenhams after it was initially put up for sale in April.\n\nBut this approach, thought to be in the region of £125m, was rejected as too low, leaving JD Sports as the last remaining bidder.\n\nIt is understood Mr Ashley was only interested in taking on about 30 stores out of 124.\n\nIn a statement issued on Monday, Frasers Group said that while it \"hopes that a rescue package can be put in place and jobs saved, time is short and the position is further complicated by the recent administration of the Arcadia Group\".\n\n\"There is no certainty that any transaction will take place, particularly if discussions cannot be concluded swiftly.\"\n\nMr Ashley has made no secret of his desire to acquire Debenhams in the past.\n\nHe built up a 29% stake in the chain, but saw his £150m holding wiped out last year when the company fell into administration and then ended up in the hands of its lenders, a consortium led by hedge fund Silverpoint.\n\nFor Mike Ashley this is the final throw of the dice in his efforts to own Debenhams.\n\nThe big question now is how much will he up his offer and will it be credible enough for the administrators and ultimately Debenhams' lenders?\n\nHe's up against what sum the administrators think they can recover from liquidating the chain. Harsh as it may sound, in these situations, the priority is to secure as much value for creditors as possible as opposed to saving jobs and stores.\n\nMike Ashley should never be underestimated, but his is by no means a done deal. If he can clinch an 11th-hour agreement then Debenhams lives on, but ultimately the chain is likely to have far fewer stores.\n\nStockbroker Shore Capital said the latest bid could be Mike Ashley's \"last play\" on the retailer.\n\nIn a note, it said any potential rescue deal would centre on the chain's \"current and future stock position\" and that it was unclear how many Debenhams stores would survive given many were located near to House of Fraser shops.\n\n\"Frasers is known to be a hard negotiator and will probably walk away rather than over pay,\" it added.\n\nBefore Debenhams went into liquidation, the business had called in administrators twice in two years, most recently in April.\n\nThe 242-year-old retailer has struggled for years with falling profits and rising debts as more shopping moved online. But its position became untenable in the pandemic as non-essential retailers were forced to close for prolonged periods.\n\nThe firm had already trimmed its store portfolio and cut about 6,500 jobs since May as it struggled to stay afloat.", "An Italian man stepped outside to cool off after quarrelling with his wife - and ended up walking 450km (280 miles).\n\nItalians have nicknamed him \"Forrest Gump\" on social media, after the slow-witted hero of a 1994 movie, played by Tom Hanks, who runs thousands of miles across the United States.\n\nPolice stopped the Italian's epic walk at 2am in Fano on the Adriatic coast, a week after he left Como in the north.\n\nThe man, 48, got a €400 (£362; $485) police fine for breaching the curfew.\n\nThe story was first reported by the Bologna-based newspaper Il Resto del Carlino but quickly went viral in Italian media.\n\nSome comments on social media presented the man as heroic and criticised the fine. One said he should have been rewarded - not fined - and given a new pair of shoes. Another praised him for walking off to cool his anger, rather than resorting to violence.\n\nThe man told police \"I came here on foot, I didn't use any transport\". He said \"along the way I met people who offered me food and drink\". \"I'm OK, just a bit tired,\" he said, having averaged 60km daily.\n\nPolice found him wandering aimlessly and cold at night on a coastal highway.\n\nAfter checking his ID in their database they found that his wife had reported him missing, so they contacted her and she travelled to Fano to collect him.\n\nThe Italian reports did not say how she reacted upon learning that he had picked up a €400 fine.\n\nWATCH: How Italians struggled with lockdown in April:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The mental health toll as Italians struggle to cope with Europe's strictest and longest-running lockdown", "There is nothing surprising about the prime minister going to Brussels in the closing throes of a negotiation that's lasted many months.\n\nThat's a standard piece of political choreography - essentially, the bosses get to sign it off, and get their \"grip and grin\" moment.\n\nThe big headlines of drama, before the last-minute victory.\n\nIt was only the personal chemistry/diplomatic charm/tough muscle-flexing of the politician at the top of the tree (delete as applicable) that got his almost impossible deal over the final line.\n\nThe saga may well follow that well-worn script in the end.\n\nIt is still possible that by the end of the week, Boris Johnson will head to Brussels and return the conquering hero to his supporters, proving the naysayers who told him a deal couldn't be done wrong, again.\n\nMaking his many detractors gnash their teeth, he would prove the politician who seems to court disaster, but whose toast always lands butter side up in the end.\n\nBut as I write tonight, it just doesn't feel that way.\n\nFirst off, Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have spent a significant amount of time talking in the last few days.\n\nYes, it's been virtual. And yes, the chemistry in the room does matter, of course.\n\nBut the two principals here have had two very lengthy private individual exchanges that don't seem to have resulted in any willingness on either side to compromise, or new instructions to their negotiators to budge.\n\nWhat is it that they will suddenly be able to realise or discover in the meeting - perhaps on Wednesday or Friday this week - that they haven't yet?\n\nBoris Johnson rang Ursula von der Leyen for the second time in a week on Monday.\n\nNext, as their official statement makes plain, their conversations have not been about a few pesky details that need to be ironed out.\n\nThey have made plain that the official negotiations have basically been exhausted and there are still big gaps.\n\nTrue, there is only a tiny circle of people who know exactly what is going on.\n\nBut the messages coming out from the centre are that much more than a nip and tuck is required to get this done.\n\nThey haven't asked their negotiators to have another go. They've asked them to sit down and make a list of all the things that are wrong.\n\nIn tone, it's very different to previous such moments, when the leaders were required to put the icing on a cake that was very nearly baked.\n\nAnd lastly, the expectations regarding an agreement have really shifted since this time last week. Even former strong Remainers now in the cabinet totally accept the notion of no agreement being reached.\n\nOne of them told me: \"If it fails, it wouldn't be fair to point the finger at London as the villain of the piece. The uniform approach of the EU suddenly looks very ropey, and they have been left exposed.\"\n\nAnother said \"everyone is just so fed up\" of \"EU game playing\".\n\nInside the government, it doesn't seem there would be an effort to stop the prime minister if he decides to walk away.\n\nOn the EU side, hopes aren't high about what can be achieved by the two leaders when they meet.\n\nOne source said: \"It feels like Saint Nick didn't bring you what you wanted, and we keep hoping every day he may after all.\"\n\nNow, before you scream, the two sides both still want a deal of course. And it makes sense to the EU and the UK to find an agreement.\n\nNot to do so would affect the economy, security, Northern Ireland, and so much more.\n\nAnd for the vast majority of those involved, to fail in this endeavour would be a historic political accident.\n\nBut sentiment is drifting away from a happy conclusion.\n\nIt's not obvious that a face-to-face meeting between two very different politicians will turn that back.\n• None What does Australia have to do with Brexit?", "Shoppers flocked to High Streets and shopping malls across England this weekend, but in numbers well below pre-pandemic levels.\n\nIt was the first weekend since stores in England reopened on Wednesday.\n\nMany business owners are pinning their hopes on a curtailed pre-Christmas trading period, having endured two national lockdowns already this year.\n\nBut on average, shopper numbers were a quarter below 2019 levels, according to market research firm Springboard.\n\nIt says across the UK as a whole, footfall was down by 30% compared to the same December weekend last year.\n\nIt comes on the back of a dreadful week for the retail industry with Topshop-owner Arcadia falling into administration and Debenhams saying it would be closing its 124 stores by March after it failed to find a buyer.\n\nCentral London remains far emptier than usual because of the coronavirus pandemic, despite some crowds flocking to specially pedestrianised shopping areas in Regent Street on Saturday.\n\nOn Sunday, shopper numbers in the capital were half what they would normally be weeks out from Christmas, Springboard reported.\n\nBoutique-owner Rowena Howie says her central London store had far fewer shoppers than a normal December weekend\n\nRowena Howie, who runs a womenswear boutique called Revival Retro in central London, said there were far fewer shoppers in her store than she would normally expect in the lead up to Christmas.\n\n\"We definitely wouldn't have been as busy in the shop as we might have been in a normal year, particularly in the first weekend of December,\" she said.\n\nAlthough Ms Howie - who took part in a campaign promoting small businesses on Saturday - said strong online sales meant she was able to record a good day's trading, the first since before Covid-19.\n\n\"We're in Fitzrovia, having a bricks and mortar store, our takings have been really impacted,\" she said.\n\nAnna Blackburn, managing director of jewellery chain Beaverbrooks, said footfall had increased by about 10% in its 70 High Street stores this weekend.\n\n\"There has been a trend of reducing footfall for sometime, but an increase in the average transaction size. People coming to the High Street are definitely spending more money,\" she told the BBC's Today programme.\n\nMs Blackburn said there had also been a spike in wedding and engagement ring sales. \"It's been a tough year, people want to treat their loved ones.\"\n\nShoppers appear more eager to visit retail parks than malls and High Streets. On Saturday, footfall numbers for England's retail parks were slightly higher than they were this time last year, but on Sunday they fell back and were 10% below last year's figure.\n\nShoppers queue up outside Primark in Coventry this weekend.\n\nWe are still a nation of shoppers. Overall, retail sales are above pre-pandemic levels, according to the ONS.\n\nBut that number masks a mixed picture of what we're buying and how we are buying it.\n\nClothing sales for example are down by 25%. And there has been a dramatic shift to online, accelerating a growing trend.\n\nIt's this dramatic change that has been so devastating for the High Street.\n\nSome of the pictures from this weekend might seem to show a bounce back.\n\nBut the figures show that the numbers of people out and about are well down on last December. That comes on top of lengthy closures for non-essential shops.\n\nThe Centre for Retail Research predicts more than 20,000 shops will close compared to 16,000 last year - and that job losses will rise to 235,000 people compared to 143,000 last year.\n\nThe cost of running a shop is just too much for many. One independent retailer in central London told me she couldn't see herself still in bricks and mortar next year.\n\nDespite a 12-month break from business rates offered by the government, the rent, coupled with falling shopper numbers, is just too much to bear.\n\nIn one encouraging sign for retailers and small business owners, shoppers seem far more comfortable returning to public shopping areas after the second national lockdown than they did after the first.\n\nFootfall across England was 60% higher this weekend than on 20-21 June, the first weekend shops were allowed to reopen after the country's first lockdown, which began in March.\n\n\"Part of this is timing - the proximity to Christmas means there is huge pent up demand amongst consumers to shop in store to purchase gifts,\" said Diane Wehrle, Springboard's marketing director.\n\n\"However, it is also an indicator of 'lockdown fatigue', whereby after many months of being restricted to their homes, consumers are keen to visit retail stores again, particularly to experience the excitement of Christmas.\n\n\"They have become accustomed to the 'new normal' that involves wearing face masks in stores and queuing in order to adhere to social distancing rules which we were not all comfortable with in June.\"", "Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match Last updated on .From the section Millwall\n\nMillwall players were booed when they took a knee before Saturday's match against Derby Millwall players will not take a knee before Tuesday's Championship fixture against QPR but will stand arm-in-arm in a \"show of solidarity for football's fight against discrimination\". It comes after some Millwall fans booed the players taking a knee before Saturday's defeat by Derby at The Den. Players of both teams will collectively hold up an anti-racism banner. Millwall's regular shirt sponsor will be replaced with the logo of anti-discrimination body Kick It Out. In a statement, Millwall said: \"Millwall believe that this gesture, which the club hopes to repeat with other visiting teams in the coming weeks and months, will help to unify people throughout society in the battle to root out all forms of discrimination. \"Millwall have a zero-tolerance policy against racial and all other forms of discrimination and want to again make clear to anybody who holds such views that you are not welcome at this football club. Millwall's stance, as always, is that anybody found guilty of racial abuse is banned for life.\" The decision came after a meeting on Monday between both clubs, Kick It Out, Show Racism The Red Card, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), the Football Association (FA) and the English Football League (EFL). In a statement, the EFL welcomed the decision of both clubs to \"continue to raise awareness of inequality and discrimination facing society\". \"Discrimination in any form is unacceptable and not welcome within our game or our communities - not today or any day,\" the statement said. \"Players often receive widespread criticism and negativity for merely doing their jobs but here they are leading the way, trying to effect positive change and they should be applauded for taking a stand, showing solidarity and setting an example for others to follow.\" Taking the knee is showing solidarity, not a political statement - Southgate Some QPR players will take the knee before Tuesday's game at The Den, despite having stopped the gesture earlier this season after director of football Les Ferdinand said its impact had \"been diluted\". Players, officials and staff at Premier League and EFL games have been taking a knee pre-match since football restarted in June in order to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement for racial equality. The Den was able to host 2,000 home fans for the first time this season after the second national lockdown was lifted but the return of spectators was overshadowed by the booing, with which Millwall said they were \"dismayed and saddened\". The Millwall Supporters' Club said the booing was not motivated by racism, but instead in opposition to the political views held by the Black Lives Matter organisation. The FA has confirmed it is investigating the incident at Millwall, and a similar one at Colchester United's League Two game against Grimsby Town. If it finds that the actions were discriminatory, the clubs could face fines. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club, former England defender Micah Richards said booing is \"not acceptable\". \"Millwall fans, from their point of view, this whole movement is becoming political. They're saying they don't think the players at their club should want to kneel because of what Black Lives Matter represents in their mind,\" he said. \"If they're booing that, it's not acceptable, but it's free speech and that is their opinion, but I think people are taking Black Lives Matter in a different context and changing the actual narrative of what it's all about. \"When the players are taking the knee they are not saying black lives matter and they are any better than white lives, they are trying to say it's a stand for equality and unity and that is why they are taking the knee.\" Sources described this evening's meeting as \"difficult but productive\". It is understood the PFA was critical of the EFL's perceived lack of involvement, a feeling many at the club share, having told it beforehand of what they feared was likely to happen at The Den on Saturday. There are many unanswered questions for football and Millwall in particular and evidently solutions will not be easy. However, the sense of desperation hanging round the club on Monday has now been replaced by a mixture of trepidation and optimism. No-one at the club can be entirely sure of what will happen when the QPR players take a knee as planned before kick-off but the noises among fans on social media who backed the booing on Saturday is that these measures should be supported. Millwall can only hope this is what happens. Because if what happened on Saturday is repeated, even insiders know the damage to the club will be catastrophic.\n• None Missed out on the weekend's Premier League action? All the goals and highlights are streaming now", "The much-loved combination of beer and crisps is being harnessed for the first time to tackle climate change.\n\nCrisps firm Walkers has adopted a technique it says will slash CO2 emissions from its manufacturing process by 70%.\n\nThe technology will use CO2 captured from beer fermentation in a brewery, which is then mixed with potato waste and turned into fertiliser.\n\nIt will then be spread on UK fields to feed the following year's potato crop.\n\nCreating fertiliser normally produces high CO2 emissions, but the technology adopted by Walkers makes fertiliser without generating CO2.\n\nIt stops the emission of brewery CO2 into the atmosphere – and it saves on the CO2 normally generated by fertiliser manufacture.\n\nThis ingenious double whammy was developed with a grant from the UK government by a 14-employee start-up called CCm.\n\nThe fertiliser was trialled on potato seed beds this year, and next year Walkers will install CCm equipment at its Leicester factory to prepare for its 2022 crop.\n\nA decision has not yet been made on which brewery Walkers will work with on this.\n\nThe new technology adds to carbon-saving techniques already under way.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sir David Attenborough has been a staunch defender of the planet and its biodiversity\n\nThe firm has installed an anaerobic digester, which feeds potato waste to bacteria to produce useful methane.\n\nThe methane is burned to make electricity for the crisp-frying process – so this saves on burning fossil fuel gas.\n\nThe new system will go a step further by taking away potato “cake” left after digestion - and stirring the brewery CO2 into it to make an enriched fertiliser which will help put carbon back into the soil as well as encouraging plant growth.\n\nIt’s an example of scientists finding ways to use CO2 emissions which otherwise would increase the over-heating of the planet.\n\nThe CCm Technologies falls into the industrial category of Carbon Capture and Usage (CCU).\n\nRelated inventions are already being harnessed in novel ways to create fuels, polymers, fertilisers, proteins, foams and building blocks.\n\nCCU is currently at a tiny scale, though - partly because the technologies are new, and partly because production of waste CO2 from society vastly outweighs demand for it.\n\nCCU is a sister technology to the better-established Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) which catches emissions from chimneys, compresses them and pumps them into underground rocks where they can’t heat the climate.\n\nThe prime minister is keen on CCS, which can be used on a large scale.\n\nFertiliser plants like this one using CO2 in Swindon can help solve the problem of climate change\n\nKaty Armstrong, manager of the Carbon Utilisation Centre at Sheffield University, previously told BBC News: “We need products for the way we live - and everything we do has an impact.\n\n\"We need to manufacture our products without increasing CO2 emissions, and if we can use waste CO2 to help make them, so much the better.”\n\nMany of the young carbon usage firms are actually carbon-negative: that means they take in more CO2 than they put out.\n\nThese firms are pioneers in what’s known as the circular economy, in which wastes are turned into raw materials.\n\nThe EU is trying to prompt all industries to adopt this principle, because firms will need to emit zero emissions by 2050.\n\nWalkers brand owner, PepsiCo, is looking to extend the CCm project by feeding oats and corn with the “circular” fertiliser.\n\nDavid Wilkinson from PepsiCo’s said: “This innovation could provide learnings for the whole of the food system, enabling the agriculture sector to play its part in combating climate change.\n\n“This is just the beginning of an ambitious journey, we’re incredibly excited to trial the fertiliser on a bigger scale and discover its full potential.”\n\nCCm says it produces CO2-based fertiliser at roughly the same price as the conventional product.\n\nCO2 from the production of conventional fertilisers has been a large factor in keeping emissions from agriculture static as most other emissions across society have been falling.\n\nPeter Hammond from CCm told BBC News: “There has been an increase in public awareness that we should get something done about the climate – and lot of baby steps have come together to make something significant.\n\n“The key challenge for us as a business wasn’t getting down the cost – it was marketing the fertiliser. This link with PepsiCo takes care of that for us.”\n\nPepsiCo has a mixed record on the environment.\n\nIt has long been among the leaders in tackling carbon emissions, and it recently committed to eliminating all virgin plastic from its bottles sold in nine European states by 2022.\n\nBut a recent survey from by the Break Free From Plastic Campaign ranked it second highest (after Coke) in the amount of plastic pollution it creates.\n\nSome environmentalists consider Pepsi to be among the symbols of the throwaway culture, with its plastic waste found in 43 countries.", "Former Court of Appeal judge Sir Peter Gross has been appointed to lead an independent review of the Human Rights Act.\n\nThe government wants to examine whether the 1998 act - which allows UK nationals to rely on the European Convention of Human Rights in domestic courts - is working effectively.\n\nA panel of eight is expected to report its findings by next summer.\n\nJustice Secretary Robert Buckland insisted that \"human rights are deeply rooted in our constitution and the UK has a proud tradition of upholding and promoting them at home and abroad.\"\n\nWhile previous Conservative governments had promised to replace the existing act entirely with a new Bill of Rights, the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto said it would only be \"updated\".\n\nThe government insists it remains committed to the European Convention - which includes articles on fair trials, freedom of expression, free elections and privacy - but wants to look at its application in the UK.\n\nIt says the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has evolved over time and it is right to look at how UK courts respond.\n\nThe panel, led by Sir Peter, is expected to evaluate whether UK judges are being drawn into policy matters, traditionally decided by politicians.\n\nMinisters see the review as part of a wider constitutional reappraisal, examining the relationship between the judiciary, the executive and Parliament.\n\nMr Buckland recently described prisoner votes - mandated by the court in Strasbourg but opposed by the government - as a \"difficult case\" relating to the Human Rights Act.\n\nAnd writing in the Telegraph, he said the Human Rights Act allowed courts to rewrite laws passed in Parliament to ensure they comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. He said this had \"not always been limited to minor, uncontroversial technical changes\".\n\nHe said it \"is surely worth asking whether...such important and controversial decisions should be returned to Parliament\".\n\nA separate panel is already looking at whether there is a need to reform the process of judicial review - where a judge decides the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body, in response to a challenge over the way the decision was made.\n\nCampaigners say the government is already trying to place limitations on the Human Rights Act through other proposed legislation.\n\nThe civil liberties campaigning group Liberty said it was concerned the review would focus on \"limiting our ability\" to challenge governments \"when they make bad decisions\".\n\nFor Labour, shadow justice secretary David Lammy said: \"It is bonkers that the government is prioritising launching an attack on human rights in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.\"\n\nHe added: \"There is no need for a review into the rights and freedoms that underpin our democracy and all of us enjoy.\"\n\nThe European Convention predates the European Union and is separate to it.", "Chris and Henry Flanagan-Kane are one of 1,300 same-sex couples in Northern Ireland who can now convert their civil partnerships into marriages\n\nChris and Henry Flanagan-Kane were the first gay men in the UK to get a civil partnership back in 2005.\n\nBut they were left in a legal limbo when the laws were changed to allow same-sex couples to get married in NI.\n\nThose already in civil partnerships were denied the retrospective right to marriage, sparking a long legal battle.\n\nAs of Monday, more than 1,300 same-sex couples in Northern Ireland can convert their civil partnerships into marriages.\n\nThe Flanagan-Kanes were among the first going through the process.\n\nFinance Minister Conor Murphy said 17 couples were expected to convert their civil partnerships to marriages on Monday, with a total of 32 planned for this week.\n\nMr Murphy said that as \"a gesture of support\", he had waived the conversion fee for those couples and for all couples who wish to convert their civil partnership to a marriage for a year.\n\nLooking forward to their ceremony, Chris said it was worth the court case to finally have their love recognised as equal.\n\n\"Love is love,\" he said. \"If you fall in love, you want to get married and want the same rights as our heterosexual brothers and sisters.\n\n\"But in Northern Ireland we were denied the right to have equal marriage.\"\n\nChris and Henry Flanagan-Kane with their son Aodhan\n\nIn 2005, they initially thought they would only be able to get a blessing as a recognition they were a couple.\n\nBut a chance phone call revealed they could actually be the first to use the new rights to a same-sex civil partnership.\n\n\"We come from a strong family unit and we always grew up believing that when you met somebody and you fall in love you go and get married,\" said Chris.\n\n\"Unfortunately we couldn't, but the next best thing then was to get a civil partnership so we waited for that.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'This is just a day of equality' - civil partnerships can now be converted to marriages in NI\n\nAnother important thing for the Flanagan-Kanes was to become parents together - but adoption for same-sex couples in Northern Ireland was banned until 2013.\n\nWhen the ban was lifted and they successfully adopted their two children - Aodhan, eight, and Evelyn, two - Chris said they found there was still \"discrimination\" around civil partnerships.\n\nHe said: \"When we were filling in primary school forms and ticking a civil partnership box, you were kind of setting yourself up for discrimination before anyone had even met you.\n\n\"We were going in somewhere with a big flashing sign saying 'I'm gay' - so other people with opinions on that or who were prejudiced against that, they were forming them already before they had even met you.\n\n\"So that was a big thing for us as well, about getting full, equal marriage rights.\"\n\nThat experience meant the new parents increasingly felt they needed to be married as opposed to being in a civil partnership.\n\nChris said they did not want their children to grow up feeling their family was not worth as much as other families.\n\n\"It was for the kids and for the future,\" he said.\n\n\"We don't want our kids growing up thinking we're not equal to everyone else in the world, that we're lesser people or we're doing something wrong.\n\n\"We'll have been in a civil partnership 15 years next month, we've got two kids - you know what, we're doing better than some heterosexual couples and we've lasted a lot longer too.\"\n\nThey teamed up with a lesbian couple in the same predicament, crowdfunded legal fees and took the NI Office to court over the decision not to allow conversions.\n\nChris and Henry Flanagan-Kane at their civil partnership ceremony in 2005\n\nNew regulations to allow conversions from 7 December were introduced to Parliament in October by Northern Ireland minister Robin Walker.\n\nSo on Monday, the Flanagan-Kanes will be able to hold their marriage ceremony at Belfast City Hall, which will be retrospectively applied back to 2005.\n\nThat means they can celebrate their 15th anniversary on 19 December as an officially married couple.\n\n\"It's been a long, long slog,\" he said.\n\n\"It's been through a lot of people fighting behind the scenes to try and get these rights.\n\n\"We're not asking for anything special - we're just looking for the same human rights as everyone else.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Space Oddity singer's image headed for the stars\n\nThe Royal Mint has - quite literally - launched a commemorative coin celebrating the career of David Bowie.\n\nThe Mint, based in Llantrisant, sent the coin to an altitude of 35,656m (116,982ft) as it revealed the third edition of its Music Legends series.\n\nThe Starman, Life on Mars? and Space Oddity singer follows Queen and Elton John in being honoured with a coin.\n\nOne of the most influential musicians of his era, Bowie died of cancer in 2016 aged 69.\n\nThe coin reached an altitude of 35,656m (116,982ft)\n\nThe one ounce silver proof coin journeyed for 45 minutes before safely descending and is being offered as a competition prize.\n\nThere are a number of versions, ranging in price from £13 for a £5 coin to £72,195 for a £1,000 denomination coin.\n\nThe coins range in price from £13 to £72,195\n\nThe Mint said the design had been inspired by an image of Bowie from his time spent living and recording in Berlin. It features the iconic lightning bolt motif from Aladdin Sane, and captures Bowie's career journey.\n\nThanks to \"the latest innovative technology and manufacturing techniques\", the Mint said the lightning bolt that features on a number of the special edition coins appears to be laced with stardust to create a glitter effect.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\n\"In recognition of Bowie's first hit single Space Oddity, we felt it was fitting to send his coin into space and celebrate the Starman in his own pioneering fashion,\" said Clare Maclennan, from the Mint.\n\n\"David Bowie's music has inspired and influenced generations of musicians and we hope this commemorative coin will be cherished by fans around the world.\"", "The relationship between Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, is covered in series four\n\nNetflix says it will not warn viewers of The Crown some scenes are fiction.\n\nResponding to calls for a warning from Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, the streaming giant said the series has always been billed as a drama.\n\n\"As a result we have no plans, and see no need, to add a disclaimer,\" it said.\n\nMr Dowden earlier said younger viewers \"may mistake fiction for fact\" when watching the fourth series, which shows the breakdown of the marriage between the Prince and Princess of Wales.\n\nThe Crown's creator Peter Morgan has called the show \"an act of creative imagination\" with a \"constant push-pull\" between research and drama.\n\nIts latest series has attracted criticism from some quarters for its depiction of royal events - in particular the breakdown of the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana.\n\nThe culture secretary said last week Netflix should make clear the show was fiction.\n\n\"I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact,\" Oliver Dowden told the Mail on Sunday.\n\nHe said Netflix's \"beautifully produced work of fiction... should be very clear at the beginning it is just that\".\n\nBut the streaming giant said in a statement, first reported by the Mail: \"We have always presented The Crown as a drama - and we have every confidence our members understand it's a work of fiction that's broadly based on historical events.\n\n\"As a result we have no plans - and see no need - to add a disclaimer.\"\n\nEarl Spencer, brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, previously told ITV's Lorraine Kelly he was worried some viewers would take the storylines \"as gospel\".\n\n\"I think it would help The Crown an enormous amount if, at the beginning of each episode, it stated that: 'This isn't true but it is based around some real events',\" he said.\n\nEmma Corrin successfully transforms her character into the glamorous Princess Diana overshadowing Prince Charles, played by Josh O'Connor\n\nFormer Buckingham Palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter has accused the show of \"stretching dramatic licence to the extreme\".\n\n\"It's a hatchet job on Prince Charles and a bit of a hatchet job on Diana,\" Mr Arbiter told the BBC.\n\nMeanwhile, ex-royal correspondent Jennie Bond told the BBC Newscast podcast she feared some viewers might treat the show \"as a documentary\".", "A space capsule containing the first significant quantities of rock from an asteroid has arrived safely on Earth after being launched from Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2.\n\nThe container with material from a space rock called Ryugu parachuted down near Woomera in South Australia, amidst excitement and applause.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces new deal between UK and EU\n\nThe EU and UK have reached a post-Brexit trade deal, ending months of disagreements over fishing rights and future business rules.\n\nAt a Downing Street press conference, Boris Johnson said: \"We have taken back control of our laws and our destiny.\"\n\nThe text of the agreement has yet to be released, but the PM claimed it was a \"good deal for the whole of Europe\".\n\nThe UK is set to exit EU trading rules next Thursday - a year after officially leaving the 27 nation bloc.\n\nIt will mean big changes for business, with the UK and EU forming two separate markets, and the end of free movement.\n\nBut the trade deal will come as a major relief to many British businesses, already reeling from the impact of coronavirus, who feared disruption at the borders and the imposition of tariffs, or taxes on imports.\n\nAs the deal was announced, Mr Johnson - who had repeatedly said the UK would \"prosper mightily\" without a deal - tweeted a picture of himself smiling with both thumbs lifted in the air.\n\nIn a press conference in Brussels, European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen said: \"This was a long and winding road but we have got a good deal to show for it.\"\n\nShe said the deal was \"fair\" and \"balanced\" and it was now \"time to turn the page and look to the future\". The UK \"remains a trusted partner,\" she added.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nAt his press conference, Boris Johnson said the £668bn a year agreement would \"protect jobs across this country\" and \"enable UK goods to be sold without tariffs, without quotas in the EU market\".\n\nHe acknowledged he had been forced to give ground on his demands on fishing.\n\n\"The EU began with I think wanting a transition period of 14 years, we wanted three years, we've ended up at five years,\" he said.\n\nAnd he said the UK had not got all it wanted on financial services, a vital part of the UK economy, but he insisted the deal was \"nonetheless going to enable our dynamic City of London to get on and prosper as never before\".\n\nMost of the UK - except from Northern Ireland - will no longer participate in the Erasmus student exchange scheme, which Mr Johnson said was because it is \"extremely expensive\" - but a British option called the Turing Scheme will provide an alternative, he added.\n\nStudents in NI will still be able to take part thanks to an arrangement with the Irish government.\n\nThe UK's chief trade negotiator Lord Frost said the full text of the free trade agreement would be published soon.\n\nThe UK Parliament will be recalled on 30 December to vote on the deal - it will also need to be ratified by the European Parliament.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer - who campaigned against Brexit - said his party would vote for the deal in the Commons, ensuring it will pass.\n\nHe said it was \"a thin agreement\" that \"does not provide adequate protections\" for jobs, manufacturing, financial services or workplace rights and \"is not the deal the government promised\".\n\nBut with no time left to renegotiate, the only choice was between \"this deal or no deal,\" he added.\n\nNo deal would have \"terrible consequences for this country and the Labour Party cannot allow that to happen\", said the Labour leader, and that was why he had decided to back it.\n\nWales First Minister Mark Drakeford said a deal was better than no deal but criticised the timing just a week before the UK exits the EU single market and customs union.\n\nScotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: \"Brexit is happening against Scotland's will - and there is no deal that will ever make up for what Brexit takes away from us.\n\n\"It's time to chart our own future as an independent, European nation.\"\n\nTaoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin said he would study the text of the deal but added: \"From what we have heard today, I believe that it represents a good compromise and a balanced outcome.\"\n\nBrexit Party leader Nigel Farage - who played a leading role in the campaign to get the UK out of the EU in the 2016 referendum - told the BBC the deal was \"far from perfect\" and that for fisheries in particular it was a \"rotten deal\" - but added: \"It's a lot better off than we were five years ago.\"\n\nOne fishing industry representative said the UK had made \"significant concessions on fish\", and \"there will be a lot of disappointed and frustrated fishermen tonight\".\n\n\"There will certainly be those that see this as selling out \", said Barrie Deas, the head of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations.\n\nNegotiations in Brussels went down to the wire over what EU fishing boats are allowed to catch in UK waters. Fishing makes up just 0.12% of the UK's economy.\n\nIt is a massive achievement for both sides that they have done such a huge trade deal on the timetable that was said to be impossible at the start.\n\nWhatever your personal view, there's a sense of vindication in the camp of those who campaigned to leave the EU - they got a free trade deal with zero quotas and zero tariffs (although there may be some before you scream) but the UK will not be under European law.\n\nIt's no coincidence that David Frost's number two, Oliver Lewis, wrote the Vote Leave manifesto. No 10 believes the PM, who was propelled to his position by the Vote Leave tribe, has been able to keep his central Brexit promises.\n\nLook out for the \"rebalancing clause\" when the deal finally emerges - the mechanism where either side can request a change to the deal, or seek to punish the other side if they believe they are breaking the agreement.\n\nIn short, the UK side believes it means they have been able to achieve two clear objectives: the deal applies to both sides, it's reciprocal, but there is the possibility of exit if things go wrong, without collapsing the whole shebang.\n\nBut it's Christmas Eve, so I suspect you agree that's enough for now. The vote in Parliament is set for the 30th. The result is not in doubt, but the theory that's been agreed tonight, will only be tested in years to come.\n\nRead more from Laura on Twitter and her latest blog here.\n\nThe government's economic watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, had warned that leaving without a deal would have shrunk the national income by 2% next year and led to major job losses.\n\nThere were also concerns it would lead to higher prices in the shops for many imported goods.\n\nThere are still big question marks about what the deal will mean for the rest of British business.\n\nFirms that trade with the 27 member states have carried on as normal for the past year during the so-called transition period that kicked in when Britain left the EU.\n\nThey will still face extra paperwork when the country leaves the EU single market and customs union next week.\n\nBut the threat of tariffs - import taxes - between the UK and its biggest trading partner will be removed.\n\nHow will Brexit affect you? Do you have any questions about the trade deal? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Anastasia Yeschchenko was described as a brilliant student\n\nA Russian historian who admitted shooting and dismembering his student partner in St Petersburg has been jailed for 12 and a half years.\n\nOleg Sokolov, 63, an expert on the Napoleonic wars, pleaded guilty to the murder of Anastasia Yeshchenko, 24.\n\nHe was found drunk in a river in November 2019 with Ms Yeshchenko's severed arms in his backpack.\n\nWomen's rights activists say the case shows indifference towards harassment and domestic violence in Russia.\n\nAn online petition with more than 7,500 signatures accused St Petersburg State University of ignoring previous complaints from students against Sokolov.\n\nHe has now been dismissed from the university and from another academic post in France.\n\nIn court Sokolov admitted shooting Ms Yeshchenko four times with a sawn-off shotgun, before chopping up her body with a saw and kitchen knife. A stun pistol was also found in the backpack.\n\nPolice later found other body parts further downstream and in Sokolov's flat.\n\nHe is said to have planned to get rid of the body before publicly taking his own life while dressed as Napoleon.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Oleg Sokolov broke down in court and confessed to the killing\n\nMs Yeshchenko had moved to St Petersburg to study from Krasnodar region in southern Russia, and was a postgraduate student at the time of her death.\n\n\"She was quiet, sweet and always the ideal student,\" an acquaintance told Russia's RIA news agency in November 2019.\n\nRussian media reported that her mother is a police lieutenant colonel and her father a school PE teacher. A brother once played as a goalkeeper for the national junior football team.\n\nA lawyer for the Yeshchenko family, Alexandra Baksheeva, said \"no jail term would bring [her] back\" but that they accepted the court's decision.\n\nSokolov had been living with Ms Yeshchenko for at least three years. He organised Napoleonic re-enactments - in which he played the part of Napoleon and she also took part.\n\nHe wrote dozens of historical research papers, some of them co-authored with Ms Yeshchenko.\n\nAccording to students quoted by AFP, Sokolov enjoyed speaking French and did impressions of Napoleon. They said he called Ms Yeshchenko \"Josephine\", after Napoleon's consort, and asked to be addressed as \"Sire\".\n\nIn court Sokolov alleged that Ms Yeshchenko had attacked him with a knife during a blazing row. It was then that he shot her.\n\nRussian media say he also blamed persecution by an academic rival for his actions.", "Levels of coronavirus are continuing to rise with one in 85 people in England infected, according to the Office for National Statistics.\n\nFigures for the week to 18 December estimate nearly 650,000 people have the virus, up from 570,000 the week before.\n\nLondon now has the highest percentage of people testing positive - more than 2%.\n\nIn Wales, the virus is infecting one in 60 people - a sharp increase. Infection levels are also up in Northern Ireland.\n\nIn Scotland, the percentage of people testing positive has decreased, equating to one in 140 people there with the virus, the ONS suggests.\n\nIt comes as a total of 521,594 people have been vaccinated against coronavirus in England over the two weeks since roll-out started, with thousands more across the UK nations. People aged 80 and over received 70% of these doses.\n\nIn Scotland 56,676 people have received the vaccine, in Wales the figure is 22,595 and in Northern Ireland it is 16,068.\n\nAccording to the ONS figures, there are sharp rises in levels of positive tests in the capital, the east of England, and the South East, where a new variant of the virus is spreading at a dangerous rate, according to government ministers.\n\nAbout two-thirds of people testing positive in these areas could have the new variant - but this is only an estimate, the ONS says.\n\nMeanwhile, case rates in London have doubled in one week, figures from Public Health England show, to 602 per 100,000 people.\n\nDr Yvonne Doyle, medical director at PHE, said: \"This will not be a normal Christmas for any of us.\n\n\"By continuing to reduce your contacts you can help to slow the spread of Covid-19. Remember that about one in three people may never experience any symptoms so could infect others without realising it.\"\n\nThere are two variants causing concern at the moment - the first, which emerged in Kent, is thought to be driving a rapid growth in cases and hospital admissions in the south and east of England in recent weeks.\n\nScientists advising government are worried the rest of the UK could experience the same thing, as the number of patients in hospital with Covid approaches levels of the spring peak.\n\nThis has led to strict rules being imposed on six million more people in England from 26 December when 40% of the country will be living under tier 4 restrictions.\n\nScientists say the new variant spreads more easily than other forms of the virus although they don't believe it causes more serious disease.\n\nThe second variant, which originated in South Africa and is causing a spike in cases there, was detected in two cases in the UK on Tuesday, prompting a ban on travel from the country.\n\nThe R, or reproduction number of the virus, is now between 1.1 and 1.3 for the UK, with regions in the south and east of England even higher, signalling that the epidemic is growing fast.\n\nThe ONS figures are based on tests of people in thousands of households across the UK whether they have symptoms or not, giving an accurate estimate of how many people are infected with the virus.\n\nProf Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University, says the figure of one in 85 people with the virus in England is \"worryingly high\".\n\nBut there is some good news - infection rates in the north of England have been falling in recent weeks.\n\n\"I hope that the new virus variant and any extra mixing of people over Christmas does not reverse the positive trends in those parts of the country,\" Prof McConway says.\n\nDaily UK government figures show there were 39,036 confirmed new cases on Thursday, slightly down from yesterday's record of 39,237. The total number of cases reported in the last week is nearly 50% higher than the week before.\n\nOn the same day, the deaths of another 574 people were reported within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19.\n\nIt is almost inevitable that this figure will rise in the coming weeks as small numbers of those infected become seriously ill with the disease.\n\nThe latest figures show 21,286 people in hospital with Covid-19 as of Tuesday. The first wave peak was 21,683 people in hospital on 12 April.", "The Queen will not be making her annual trip to Sandringham this Christmas\n\nFor the past 32 years the Queen and other members of the Royal Family have spent Christmas at her estate in Sandringham, Norfolk. But this year, because of the coronavirus, the Queen has chosen instead to celebrate \"quietly\" at Windsor Palace. What will this mean for the Christmas regulars who gather at Sandringham?\n\nThis snap of the Royals in 2017 provided Karen Anvil with an income to carry out home renovations and help her daughter\n\nKaren Anvil and her daughter Rachel are regular Christmas Day visitors to church in Sandringham.\n\nMs Anvil shot to fame three years ago after her mobile telephone snap of the 'Fab Four' - The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Sussex - was bought by agencies and used worldwide. She describes the money she made from it as being \"like a lottery win\".\n\nKaren Anvil, with her daughter Rachel, captured images of the Royal Family used around the world\n\nHer good fortune was repeated in 2018 when she took and sold a photo of a pregnant Meghan.\n\n\"I would have liked to have gone this year but would probably have just got pictures of them in their face masks,\" says Ms Anvil.\n\nBut she admits seeing the Royal Family at Sandringham this year would have brought some much needed \"normality\" to her life.\n\nMs Anvil works as a nursing auxiliary at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where her daughter is also employed.\n\nShe says they might volunteer to work Christmas Day instead.\n\nSuper Royalist Mary Relph has spoken regularly with the Queen over the decades\n\nMary Relph, from Shouldham in Norfolk, is one of those Royal fans who gets her Christmas Day started by joining the throngs hoping to catch a glimpse, a wave or a chat with the Queen and members of her family.\n\nShe is known to the Queen by her first name, which, for someone who is not an aristocrat, politician or celebrity, is no mean feat.\n\nMrs Relph has been turning out each year to greet Her Majesty on Christmas morning since 1988.\n\n\"Ooh it's one of the biggest events Norfolk ever has, isn't it?\" she says.\n\nShe is disappointed by the cancellation of this year's gathering, but thinks the Queen has set an example to others by not going to Sandringham.\n\n\"I wasn't expecting them to come, not really, not after all the trouble with the [Covid-19] virus,\" says Mrs Relph.\n\n\"I think she's wise. I think we sort of knew with events she wouldn't come.\"\n\nFor her Sandringham visits, Mrs Relph is usually accompanied either by a friend from Dereham or with a Glaswegian friend she made one year amongst the crowd.\n\nShe says she normally gets her own \"spot\" from which she can watch and speak to members of the Royal Family.\n\n\"I'm one of the chosen few, I think, because I've been going for so many years,\" she says. \"I don't have to stand and queue at the gates like I used to. It's wonderful.\n\n\"We spoke to Kate last year and we always ask her about the children and what they're doing.\"\n\nPrincess Beatrice and Eugenie usually spend Christmas with the Queen\n\nPeter Gray, 61, and his wife Stella, 60, live on the Sandringham estate in the hamlet of Babingley.\n\nTurning out to watch the Royals has been part of their Christmas morning routine for the past eight years.\n\n\"It just makes our Christmas,\" says Mrs Gray. \"It's a good start to the day. We're up there by 07:00 GMT, take a flask, mince pies, sometimes brandy!\"\n\nHer husband Peter is a keen photographer and loves snapping the Royal Family.\n\nHe says his relatives in Australia wait for him to post his photos online.\n\n\"The rest of the family are going to be disappointed not to get my Royal photos this year,\" says Mr Gray.\n\n\"We get there and start queuing, start talking to people from all around the world. It's not just about seeing the royals, it's about the people from China, Canada, Australia and the US too.\n\n\"We stand by the same place each year to ensure a good spot, by the gate, as they come through. They don't normally talk to you heading into church but they do afterwards.\"\n\nPeter Gray captured the Duchess of Cornwall at a previous service\n\nPrince Philip and Prince Andrew among the crowds at Sandringham\n\nMrs Gray says she has been a royal fan \"forever\".\n\n\"I've spoken to Camilla, she's come up and said 'Merry Christmas'. Prince William has come up and said 'hello', too,\" she says.\n\n\"Prince Andrew has come up and been err, 'what are you all doing here? You should be at home'. He's quite abrupt!\n\n\"I don't think he understands why we're all out there in the freezing cold wanting to look round and see him, but we enjoy it.\"\n\nShe says things will be \"different\" this year, and a \"bit strange\".\n\n\"I suppose there are people for whom the day is their whole lives,\" she says. \"It's certainly a big part of our Christmas Day. But we're realists and it is what it is.\n\nUp to 5,000 people turn out to greet the Royal Family every Christmas Day at Sandringham\n\nAlso wondering how he will fill his Christmas morning is hair salon owner Tom Tokelove, 31, who lives in Dersingham, Norfolk, with his husband Ashley.\n\nThe couple and their three poodles have spent the past four Christmases \"freezing\" outside St Mary Magdalene Church.\n\n\"Why? It's such a magical morning,\" says Tom Tokelove. \"Everybody is happy.\n\n\"Even if you're not a massive royalist, it brings everyone together and it's just some way of keeping some sort of tradition.\"\n\nThe couple start the day with a glass of champagne before walking the 20 minutes to the estate.\n\n\"Last year we left at seven in the morning just to make sure we got there in the front of the queue,\" he says.\n\n\"We really, really wanted to see Kate and Wills. Kate said 'good morning' to myself as she glided by, looking very elegant with the children, too.\n\n\"And Charles waved and said 'Merry Christmas'.\"\n\nTom Tokelove caught the Royals including Prince George walking from church to Sandringham House last Christmas\n\nThe Tokeloves usually only stop to watch the Royal Family head into church.\n\nBut last year they stayed on and joined in with the carols as the service was broadcast to those outside.\n\n\"It will be a much different dog walk this year - obviously there'll be no Royals about to celebrate with,\" says Mr Tokelove.\n\n\"[We'll] probably drink much more champagne in the morning and have a more relaxed day.\"\n\nAshley and Tom Tokelove (right) say they will miss their annual walk to Sandringham\n\nThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are among those who turn out to greet the public\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "King Felipe VI delivered the traditional annual speech from Zarzuela Palace in Madrid\n\nSpain's King Felipe VI made a veiled allusion to his self-exiled father's scandals in his Christmas address, saying \"ethics are above family ties\".\n\nIt was a small interlude in a speech centring on the coronavirus pandemic, where the king thanked health workers.\n\nThe former king, Juan Carlos, fled to Abu Dhabi in August as corruption allegations mounted.\n\nJuan Carlos has denied wrongdoing but his departure heightened debate about the future of the country's monarchy.\n\nThere has been much speculation as to whether Felipe VI would reference the controversy in the annual speech.\n\nAccording to El Pais newspaper, many felt it would be impossible to ignore in an end-of-year address, though no-one was sure how he would go about acknowledging the \"elephant in the room\".\n\nThough he did not specifically mention his father, many felt the connection was clear.\n\n\"In 2014, during my induction into parliament, I referred to the moral and ethical principles that citizens expect of us. Principles that apply to us all without exception, and that prevail over all considerations, whatever their nature may be, personal or familial,\" said the monarch.\n\nHe recognised that many families were dealing with grief and spending the holidays apart. And he spoke of a \"great national effort\" was needed to overcome the difficulties Covid-19 had caused.\n\nHe ruled for close to 40 years, before handing power to his son in 2014.\n\nThis decision came after a corruption investigation involving his daughter's husband and a controversial elephant-hunting holiday in the middle of Spain's financial crisis.\n\nIn June this year, Spain's Supreme Court launched a further investigation into Juan Carlos's alleged involvement in a high-speed rail contract in Saudi Arabia, after the ex-king lost his immunity from prosecution following his abdication.\n\nThen in August, the ex-king made the shock announcement that he was leaving Spain.\n\nHe has denied all allegations against him and said he would be available for interviews with prosecutors.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. King Juan Carlos, 76, has had health problems in recent years", "Parts of the UK have woken up to snowy scenes, with a \"white Christmas\" officially declared by the Met Office.\n\nSnowfall was spotted from Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to East Riding of Yorkshire and Northumberland.\n\nMost of the country will have clear and dry weather for Christmas Day but eastern parts of England have seen a light scattering of snow.\n\nIt came as more than 1,300 people were urged to leave their homes amid flooding in Bedfordshire.\n\n\"We've just had official confirmation that this Christmas is a white one!\" the Met Office tweeted just before 06:00 GMT.\n\nA family took the sledge for a spin near Hexham in Northumberland\n\nMany woke up to a frost covering their cars, streets and gardens on Christmas morning.\n\nAn early morning dusting of snow spotted in County Durham\n\nIt doesn't have to be deep and crisp and even to count as a white Christmas. Pictures from Richmond in North Yorkshire and Skidby in the East Riding of Yorkshire\n\nIn some places, a scattering of snow had settled overnight.\n\nAndy Brunning took a selfie with the \"sprinkling of snow\" in Ely, Cambridgeshire\n\nThe Met Office said most areas would see a dry and cold day, but there was a chance of more snow showers across eastern parts of England.\n\nSnow dusted cars in Hessle in East Yorkshire on Christmas morning\n\nElsewhere in the UK, people have been dealing with the fallout from heavy rain that led to flooding.\n\nHomes have been evacuated and a leisure centre shut after flooding in Suffolk.\n\nPolice in Northamptonshire said the emergency services evacuated more than 1,000 people from the Billing Aquadrome holiday park on Thursday night and water had reached up to 5ft deep in some places.\n\nSouth Wales Fire and Rescue Service dealt with 500 calls in a matter of hours between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.\n\nA couple were rescued from a submerged car on Christmas Eve near Norwich in what onlookers called a \"Christmas miracle\", while heavy rainfall in Cambridgeshire left some roads impassable.\n\nOn Boxing Day, Storm Bella is forecast to bring further downpours and winds of up to 70mph in some coastal locations.\n\nAn amber warning for wind has been issued for parts of southern Wales and across southern England from 22:00 GMT on 26 December.\n\nA yellow warning for wind will also apply for the whole of England and Wales from 15:00 GMT on Boxing Day.\n\nThere will also be a yellow warning for rain in place for Wales, parts of the south-west and north-west of England, and north-west Scotland.\n\nHave you woken up to a white Christmas? Get in touch with your photos at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nOr use this form to get in touch:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your comment or send it via email to HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any comment you send in.", "Royal Christmases are usually spent at Sandringham, but the Queen will stay at Windsor Castle this year\n\nThe Queen will reflect on the hardships of the pandemic in her Christmas speech later, as she and the Duke of Edinburgh spend the day apart from their family.\n\nThey will celebrate Christmas at Windsor Castle and not Sandringham, as is their usual tradition.\n\nThe Royal Family usually spends the day together, but will not visit each other this year because of restrictions.\n\nThe Queen will also forgo her usual church service and worship privately to avoid crowds, it is understood.\n\nHer Christmas Day speech will be broadcast at 15:00 GMT.\n\nThe Queen, 94, and Prince Philip, 99, have been living at Windsor Castle during the pandemic with a small household staff.\n\nIt is thought to be the first time the couple have not spent Christmas at their Sandringham home since the mid-1980s.\n\nA quiet Christmas at home with no visits by the family.\n\nThat's Christmas 2020 and the Royal Family are following the restrictions like people across the country.\n\nIn their case, of course, the \"homes\" are rather grand.\n\nThe Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are at Windsor Castle with a small number of staff.\n\nOther members of the Royal Family are at their homes: the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall in Gloucestershire: the Cambridges in Norfolk.\n\nFor the Queen, there won't be the normal Christmas morning excursion to church, though she is expected to share a moment of Christmas worship in the private chapel inside the castle.\n\nNo details about her Christmas speech have been made public in advance, but the focus of the broadcast will inevitably be the pandemic.\n\nOn Christmas Day, the Royal Family tweeted a video of St George's Chapel choir singing.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by The Royal Family This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post by The Royal Family\n\nThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge acknowledged those going through a particularly difficult time this year because of the pandemic, tweeting pictures of people working through the festive season.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post 2 by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge\n\nMeanwhile, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall sent their Christmas wishes on social media, telling followers, \"Here's to a better new year.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 3 by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post 3 by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall\n\nThe Queen's address will mark the end of a year that saw her go for seven months - March to October - without carrying out public engagements outside of a royal residence.\n\nDuring that time, her son, the Prince of Wales, 72, contracted coronavirus and displayed mild symptoms.\n\nPalace sources also told the BBC that the Duke of Cambridge tested positive in April - though Kensington Palace refused to comment officially.\n\nThe Queen spoke animatedly to Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall at a socially-distanced carol concert this month\n\nThe royals have spent some time together during the pandemic.\n\nThe Queen and several other senior royals attended a socially-distanced Christmas carol concert at Windsor Castle this month.\n\nShe was also joined by family members at a scaled-back Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in London's Whitehall in November.\n\nThe Christmas broadcast will be the Queen's third televised address this year, which is unusual for the monarch.\n\nIn April, as the first wave of the pandemic saw people across the country told to stay at home, she vowed that the the UK \"will succeed\" in its fight against the virus.\n\nIn a rallying message, she lamented the \"painful sense of separation from their loved ones\" that social distancing was causing people - but said it was \"the right thing to do\".\n\nIn April, the Queen said: \"We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again\"\n\nThe following month, in a poignant address to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, she said people's response to the virus had filled empty streets with \"love\".\n\nIn last year's Christmas speech, she described 2019 - which saw intense political debate over Brexit and a number of personal events affecting the Royal Family - as \"quite bumpy\".\n\nShe said the path is never \"smooth\" but \"small steps\" can heal divisions.\n\nThis year's message will be broadcast on the BBC and ITV.\n\nShortly afterwards, Channel 4 will air its alternative Christmas message - which will be delivered by a deepfake of the Queen.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch the aftermath of the explosion in Nashville\n\nA parked camper van exploded in the US city of Nashville, Tennessee, early on Christmas morning, injuring three people and knocking out communications systems across the state.\n\nPossible human remains were later found near the blast site, US media report.\n\nPolice believe the powerful blast was caused deliberately.\n\nOfficers responding to reports of gunshots just before 06:00 (12:00 GMT) found a camper van broadcasting a warning message to leave the area.\n\nThe van exploded a few minutes later.\n\nA police officer was knocked off their feet by the force of the blast, officials said.\n\nPolice have now released this image of the van - described by Nashville police as a recreational vehicle (RV) - arriving at the scene early on Friday.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Metro Nashville PD This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe van blew up outside a building belonging to the telecoms giant AT&T, which also occupies an office tower nearby.\n\nBuildings suffered structural damage, windows were blown out, and trees were felled. Videos posted on social media showed water from damaged pipes running down walls as alarms howled in the background.\n\nPolice emergency systems were knocked out across much of Tennessee. Flights out of Nashville International Airport were briefly halted as a result of damage done by the blast but have now resumed.\n\nNo motive has yet been established, nor do police know who was behind the incident.\n\nA number of people have been taken to the central police precinct for questioning, a spokesman told the Associated Press.\n\nIt was not clear whether anyone was inside the vehicle at the time of the explosion, police said.\n\nThe FBI is leading the investigation. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also involved.\n\nThe blast was caused by a parked camper van, police say\n\nResident Buck McCoy said he had been woken up by the blast. He posted a video on Facebook, showing some of the damage done, with alarms howling in the background.\n\n\"All my windows, every single one of them got blown into the next room. If I had been standing there, it would have been horrible,\" Mr McCoy told AP. \"It felt like a bomb. It was that big.\"\n\nThe explosion hit an area of Nashville known for its restaurants and nightlife.\n\n\"To this point, we do believe that the explosion was an intentional act,\" police spokesman Don Aaron told reporters.\n\nCCTV footage posted on YouTube appeared to show the moments before the explosion, when a warning was broadcast, saying, \"If you can hear this message, evacuate now\". A loud bang follows and flames and smoke fill the screen.\n\n\"It looks like a bomb went off,\" Nashville Mayor John Cooper said, urging people to stay away from the area.\n\n\"This morning's attack on our community was intended to create chaos and fear in this season of peace and hope, but the spirit of our city cannot be broken,\" he said.\n\nThe explosion hit an area known for its restaurants and nightlife\n\nIn a tweet Tennessee Governor Bill Lee pledged to supply \"all of the resources needed\" to investigate what happened and who was behind it.\n\nPresident Donald Trump has been briefed on the matter.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Up to 10 sperm whales have been stranded on the East Yorkshire coast\n\nTen sperm whales found washed up on the North Sea coast have died.\n\nThe pod was first spotted on a beach between Tunstall and Withernsea, near Hull, at about 08:30 GMT.\n\nMembers of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said poor weather conditions and the size of the whales meant it was impossible to save them.\n\nA spokesperson said the young whales were \"in very poor nutritional condition\" and had most likely suffered a \"navigation error\".\n\nThey rarely survive long once stranded, the group said.\n\nThe BDMLR has been involved in the rescue of marine wildlife since its formation in 1988\n\nAccording to the BDMLR the size of the sperm whales - which can reach 65ft (20m) in length and weigh up to 80 tonnes - meant there were no safe methods for lifting and moving them.\n\nA member of the public called 999 to report the stranding, and the coastguard was despatched to the scene.\n\nCh Supt Darren Downs, of Humberside Police, urged people to stay away from the area \"to allow teams from HM Coastguard to manage what is an extremely distressing scene\".\n\nHe warned that gathering in groups posed a risk of spreading Covid-19.\n\nMarine expert Robin Petch said younger males can end up \"confused in shallower water off the east coast\"\n\nRobin Petch, a marine expert and Sea Watch Foundation ambassador, said: \"Sperm whales are a species that shouldn't come into this part of the North Sea, but a few come down that way.\n\n\"They are a deep-water animal that feed on squid and dive in the deep waters of the continental shelf. Often younger males can end up confused in the shallower water off the east coast.\n\n\"Once they are ashore, chances of survival are very slim, none of the rescue equipment can deal with whales that big.\n\n\"The loss of a large group, probably of young males, is catastrophic,\" Mr Petch added.\n\nThe whales on the beach are sperm whales, according to the BDMLR\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.", "The additional numbers will come from the UK's high readiness Standby Battalions\n\nAn additional 800 military personnel are to be sent to Kent on Christmas Day to help clear a backlog of lorries waiting to cross to France.\n\nAbout 4,000 lorries are still waiting to cross the English Channel after the French closed their border with the UK.\n\nDrivers must test negative for Covid-19 before boarding a train or ferry.\n\nThe extra support will take the number of military personnel delivering testing to drivers in Kent to about 1,100.\n\nFrench firefighters have been supporting the testing effort, while the Polish defence minister said in a tweet that a team of territorial army soldiers would be sent to Kent.\n\nA group of Polish medics was deployed to the UK on Thursday to help test drivers. the Polish news website TVN24 has reported.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps said that of the 2,367 drivers tested by 12:00 GMT on Christmas Eve, three have tested positive.\n\nFerries will continue to operate from Dover over Christmas, but Mr Shapps said it could take several days to clear the backlog.\n\nThe military will organise welfare facilities and the distribution of food and water.\n\n\"Our aim is to get foreign hauliers home with their families as quickly as we can,\" Mr Shapps said.\n\n\"I know it's been hard for many drivers cooped up in their cabs at this precious time of year, but I assure them that we are doing our utmost to get them home,\" he added.\n\nVolunteers have delivered thousands of meals and food parcels to drivers parked up at Manston Airport and along the M20 as many spend Christmas Day in their vehicles.\n\nThe Department for Transport says: \"Free food, water and hot drinks are being provided to all.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Dept for Transport This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post by Dept for Transport\n\nSussex Police said dozens of lorry drivers who had been caught in disruption at Newhaven had arrived back in mainland Europe.\n\nFollow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk.\n• None Lorry drivers warned of Christmas in their cabs\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The UK's Covid vaccination programme has begun, with the over-80s and some health and care staff first in line. Two dancing partners who only became a co-habiting couple at the age of 90 were among the first in the queue in Bradford, where Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary got to hear about them.\n\nAs with so many great romances, it all started for Lily Abbot and Trevor Hirst on the dance floor. They first met through Bradford's sequence dancing circuit 30 years ago, became good friends and would travel to events around the country together - Lily partnered by her husband, Wilf, Trevor with his wife, Rita.\n\nTrevor gave up after Rita died six years ago. But eventually friends persuaded him to give it another try. And whenever he turned up at the church hall, Lily would be there. She'd lost Wilf in 2006 after 55 years of marriage.\n\n\"I'd get her up to dance,\" says Trevor, \"and all the rest is history.\"\n\nAt the start of 2020, the year they both turned 90 - Lily, who is six days older than Trevor, calls him her \"toy boy\" - they were still living separately. \"Some of our friends said, 'Why don't you two get married?'\" she says.\n\n\"I said: 'We don't want to get married, we've both been married, we don't need to be married, we're all right.'\" Trevor has four grown-up children, Lily has two. Both are grandparents and Trevor is a great-grandparent.\n\nThen Covid arrived. \"We didn't realise the seriousness of it at first but it's been horrendous,\" says Lily. One day early on in lockdown, she and Trevor went out for a walk together and Lily fell and cracked a rib.\n\n\"Trevor said he'd come and live here because both my children and his wanted us to do that - I was frightened by my fall and he came here and I said, 'You might as well stay, rather than go home at night,'\" says Lily. Now they are \"living over the brush\", as Lily puts it. \"It's just worked out great and we are so compatible.\"\n\nThe race to develop a vaccine has been won, though there are still plenty of runners and riders racing around the track. Now the race to vaccinate the population is firmly under way.\n\nIn Bradford we have set up four vaccine hubs across the city, one at Bradford Royal Infirmary and three in primary care.\n\nLily and Trevor were two of our first happy customers.\n\nWe know that we will need to vaccinate around 70% of the population to reach herd immunity to stop the chain of viral transmission. That will take many months and so the initial priority is to protect the most vulnerable.\n\nProf John Wright, a doctor and epidemiologist, is head of the Bradford Institute for Health Research, and a veteran of cholera, HIV and Ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. He is writing this diary for BBC News and recording from the hospital wards for BBC Radio.\n\nAge is by far the biggest predictor of severity of disease and death, so the vaccine strategy is focused on the over-80-year-olds to start with, moving then to over-70s and so on. Care home and healthcare staff are also important as they are much more likely to catch the infection and then spread it to their residents or patients.\n\nIn the hospital we have been getting our weekly delivery of one tray or \"pizza box\" of 195 Pfizer vaccine vials every week. The national guidance recommended five doses per vial, allowing us to vaccinate 975 people every week. However, this is precious stuff, and it is quite possible to squeeze a sixth dose from the vials, increasing our coverage to 1,170 people every week. From next week we will ramp up to two trays and 2,340 vaccines per week.\n\nEvery day our carefully choreographed vaccine hub receives the over-80s, care home workers and frontline staff. There are always some no shows, so hanging around at the end of the day for any leftover vaccine is a good strategy for staff in the hospital.\n\nQueuing for her Covid vaccination brought back memories for Lily, who has lived in Bradford all her life.\n\nShe was born in Undercliffe and her parents worked in the mills. \"Bradford was wonderful in those days, the mills and the shops,\" she says. \"We didn't have a lot but it was good.\" Hers was a large extended family - she had nine sisters and a brother.\n\n\"I see some similarities with the Asian families now as they have a similar thing with many relatives together,\" she says.\n\nAfter leaving school at 14 she took a job as a machinist. It was at work that she met Wilf, a tailor's cutter.\n\nLily remembers Bradford's 1962 smallpox outbreak, which led to more than 200,000 people in the city being vaccinated against the disease. \"It was awful at the time but the vaccine cleared it up,\" she says.\n\n\"Having the vaccine now reminds me of that. I think people who won't go and get the vaccine are foolish, it's not fair if they don't get it but it's a personal choice.\"\n\nTrevor, who worked as a wool sorter in Bradford's mills, remembers getting his smallpox vaccine, too. But he preferred the 2020 experience.\n\n\"This time round we queued with some of the others from our dancing groups and that was much more fun - we were all so excited, as it means we will be soon together again,\" he says.\n\nLily is also crossing her fingers that the vaccine will allow them all to get together and dance. \"We are hoping that dancing will start up again, we will all be learners, having to learn again!\" she says.\n\nSadly, that may not be possible for a while, even if all the dancers in the groups get vaccinated quickly.\n\nWhen someone is infected with SARS-CoV-2 they develop antibodies of one type (IgG) in their blood, and antibodies of a different type (IgA) in the mucosal membranes of their nose and throat.\n\nVaccines administered into the arm tend to be very good at protecting us from illness, thanks to the antibodies in the blood, but may not stop transmission of the virus - for this you also need the antibodies in the nose and throat. So even after their second injection, we can't be sure that Lily and Trevor will not catch and pass on the virus to others.\n\nWith the flu vaccine there is also a tendency for immunity in older people not to last a long time, and it's likely the same will be true with this vaccine. Furthermore, some of the dancers may be among the 5% of recipients not protected by the vaccine (though we hope it will reduce symptoms).\n\nI am confident that Lily and Trevor will get back on their dancing feet as herd immunity eclipses the virus and eases it out from our daily lives.\n\nAfter that, I am quietly hoping to see them on Strictly.", "Police advised people to avoid the Bungay area after flooding was reported\n\nHomes have been evacuated and a leisure centre shut after flooding in Suffolk.\n\nSome people were asked to leave properties in Bungay and Wainford late on Christmas Eve.\n\nPolice said Staithe Road, in Bungay was closed on Christmas Day, while the town's leisure centre has also been affected by flooding.\n\nOfficers praised residents in the affected areas for the \"compassion\" shown to officers while they were being told to leave their homes.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Lowestoft Police This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nIn a tweet on Christmas Eve, it said: \"Firefighters, police and council staff are currently in Bungay and Wainford managing flooding caused by heavy rainfall. Some properties evacuated and residents being supported.\"\n\nIt said the incident has since been \"scaled down\".\n\nSuffolk was hit by heavy rain on Christmas Eve, which was followed by snow in some parts of the county on Christmas Day.\n\nThe Met Office said snow flakes had fallen in Wattisham on Christmas morning.\n\nThe Environment Agency tweeted pictures of flooding around Rattlesden River, near Stowmarket, on Christmas Eve to highlight the impact of the heavy rain.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by EnvAgencyAnglia This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nFlood warnings remain in place for six parts of the county.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the House to vote on the stimulus measures on Monday\n\nDemocrats and Republicans have blocked each other's attempts to amend a vital $900bn (£665bn) stimulus package after President Donald Trump sent it back to Congress demanding changes.\n\nThe coronavirus economic relief, which comes with a $1.4tn federal budget attached, was agreed by both sides.\n\nBut Mr Trump said one-off payments to Americans should increase from $600 to $2,000, and foreign aid should be cut.\n\nWithout the bill in force, many Americans face an uncertain Christmas.\n\nUnemployment benefits are due to expire on Saturday if the bill is not enacted, and a moratorium on evictions may not be extended.\n\nLegislators could pass a stopgap bill by Monday to prevent a partial government shutdown looming a day later, but this would not include coronavirus aid and Mr Trump would still have to sign it.\n\nMeeting on Thursday in response to Mr Trump's intervention, Democrats in the House of Representatives blocked Republican attempts to cut foreign aid from the federal spending bill, while Republicans refused to allow the increase in coronavirus payments to $2,000.\n\nHouse Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said in a letter to colleagues: \"House Democrats appear to be suffering from selective hearing.\"\n\nWhile the haggling continues on Capitol Hill, the president is spending Christmas at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida. A White House memo said he was working \"tirelessly\" with \"many meetings and calls\", though he was spotted at his golf course on Thursday morning.\n\nHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said the lower chamber would meet again next Monday to vote on the stimulus payments for Americans.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nOn the same day, the House is also expected to vote on an unrelated, $740bn defence spending bill, which Mr Trump vetoed on Wednesday instead of signing into law. Lawmakers plan to override the president's veto and enact the legislation anyway, but to do so they need two-thirds of votes in both the House and Senate.\n\nMr Trump is objecting to provisions in the defence bill that limit troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Europe and remove Confederate leaders' names from military bases.\n\nThe $900bn coronavirus aid relief bill - with the larger budget bill rolled in - overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives and Senate on Monday but a day later Mr Trump issued an implied veto threat, describing the package in a video statement as a \"disgrace\" full of \"wasteful\" items.\n\nHe baulked at the annual aid money for other countries in the federal budget, arguing that those funds should instead go to struggling Americans.\n\nMr Trump's decision to bat the measure back to Capitol Hill stunned lawmakers since he has largely stayed out of negotiations for a coronavirus aid bill that had stalled since last July.\n\nHis top economic adviser, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, had proposed the $600 payments early this month, and many have questioned why the president waited until now to object.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"I'm not sure how we're going to survive\"\n\nThe one-off payments of $600 and the federal jobless benefits are half the sum provided by the last major coronavirus aid bill in March, which contained $2.4tn in economic relief.\n\nMr Trump's call for more generous one-off payments to Americans has found him in rare agreement with some liberal Democrats who are usually his sworn political foes.\n\nCongresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: \"Glad to see the President is willing to support our legislation.\"\n\nBut many of the president's fellow Republicans are said to be dismayed that Democrats will now depict them as Scrooges for rejecting higher spending.\n\nOn a conference call Wednesday, House Republicans said Mr Trump had thrown them under a bus, according to the Associated Press news agency.\n\nMany of them now face the dilemma of choosing between the president and party.\n\nThough conservatives are protesting over the spiralling trillion-dollar US deficit, they and the president enacted tax cuts in 2017 that added to America's overdraft.\n\nThe congressional gridlock comes amid runoff votes in Georgia for two Senate seats that will determine the balance of power in Washington next year.\n\nRepublican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are fighting for their political lives in the 5 January special election. Both had backed the aid bill spurned by Mr Trump.\n\nIf Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock can flip these two seats, their party will control all of Congress and the White House once President-elect Joe Biden takes office later next month.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\n\"The clock is no longer ticking.\"\n\nThese were pretty much the first words out of the mouth of the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, as he announced the just sealed EU-UK trade and security agreement on Thursday.\n\nNo more looming \"no-deal\" threats; no more almost painful uncertainty about future relations across the Channel. This was a historic moment.\n\nA fair and balanced deal for both sides, said the European Commission.\n\nBut you'd have to have been half-asleep (or halfway through a bottle of eggnog, cava or pint of Glühwein) to miss the stark difference in tone between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's triumphalist announcement on Thursday afternoon and the sombre statement by the European Commission.\n\nFor Mr Johnson, 1 January heralds some kind of rebirth for the UK outside the EU.\n\nFor Brussels, this whole negotiating process has been - as summed up today by Finland's Europe minister - a damage limitation exercise.\n\nThe 2016 Brexit vote, leading to the loss of such a key member state, was a huge slap in the face for the EU.\n\nIts aim since then has been to sign a deal with the UK that protects EU business and security interests - but not so advantageous as to tempt other member states to leave the bloc.\n\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron commented on Thursday that the EU was right to have remained \"steadfast and united\" since the Brexit vote. He said they could all now proudly look to the future instead.\n\nAnti-Brexit signs at the gates of Downing Street in London\n\nBut this is by no means the end of the EU-UK conversation.\n\nThe treaty must still be ratified. And it's not only the UK parliament that wants a peek.\n\nSpare a thought for the 27 ambassadors who represent EU member states in Brussels. They're being dragged to a meeting on Christmas morning with Mr Barnier to discuss the details of the deal.\n\nThe text must be approved by EU capitals before the year's end. Each country has a veto, though they're not expected to use it. Mr Barnier and team kept them on board and in the loop every step of the way, throughout the negotiations.\n\nThe same goes for the European Parliament. It's expected to ratify the deal early next year.\n\nUntil that moment, the agreement will be adopted provisionally, as allowed under EU law.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces new deal between UK and EU\n\nThe new year is when we start to find out what Brexit really means. We don't really know what it feels like yet, what impact it will have on all our lives.\n\nThe transition period kept EU-UK relations pretty much the same in practical terms but that all ends on 31 December.\n\nA far cry from the \"friction-free\" trade deal once promised by former Prime Minister Theresa May, this is the \"hardest\" of Brexits - not the costly chaos of no deal at all - but nonetheless it means out of the EU's customs union and single market. There will be considerable non-tariff barriers from 2021.\n\nRemember, the UK is a service-based economy, yet this agreement hardly deals with services at all.\n\nUK financial services must wait, possibly for months yet, for the EU to decide unilaterally what access they can have to the single market.\n\nThe UK also impatiently awaits a ruling from the EU on data adequacy - how free the flow of data can be between the two sides.\n\nDespite the relief expressed by a number of EU leaders on Thursday that this trade deal was finally agreed, the bloc begins its new relationship with the UK in quite a defensive, wary frame of mind.\n\nEU leaders have not forgotten the controversial clauses the UK government introduced into its Internal Market Bill this autumn, contravening the Brexit Divorce Deal, signed with them less than a year before.\n\nIt was because of that, the EU said it pushed so hard for tough retaliation mechanisms in this trade deal - in case the UK doesn't keep to its part of the bargain (and vice versa, of course).\n\nBrussels' assumption is that the UK will be keen to diverge and yank away from the EU's gravitational pull as soon as it sees fit.\n\nIt was quite a remarkable achievement of both negotiating teams that they managed to marry the two sides' very different priorities. For the government: to be able to say it had protected national sovereignty after Brexit, avoiding signing up to a new Brussels rule book in exchange for a trade deal.\n\nThe EU's main focus was protecting the single market from what they feared could be unfair competition from UK businesses, aggressively undercutting their European rivals.\n\nOven-ready and cooked to perfection? Rushed to completion in a record-breaking nine months, this deal clearly won't be faultless.\n\nAll those devils in the 1,800 pages of detail, some allowing different interpretations on issues by both sides, will become apparent in the coming days and months.\n\nBut frankly, neither the UK nor the EU would have completed the agreement if they hadn't felt they could sell it to their domestic audiences as a big win.\n\nAnd that is what they are now busy doing. On both sides of the Channel.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The rescue of the car-trapped couple from \"freezing\" flood water was \"touch and go\" say eyewitnesses\n\nA couple have been rescued from a submerged car in what onlookers called a \"Christmas miracle\".\n\nFootage showed fire crews removing a man and a woman from the vehicle at about 10:44 GMT on Christmas Eve near Norwich.\n\nNorfolk Police said they were investigating, and the couple were taken to hospital by ambulance.\n\nThe county saw almost two inches of rain (50mm) causing major flash floods across south Norfolk.\n\nAlex and Matt Emmerson witnessed the drama unfold in the flooded lane next to their house\n\nEyewitnesses Matt and Alex Emmerson, aged 42 and 44, noticed the car from their bathroom window about 15 minutes before the emergency services arrived.\n\nThey had assumed the vehicle was empty until crews began their rescue.\n\n\"Whoever this poor couple were, they were in there for a long time - close to two hours. The water must have been freezing,\" said Mr Emmerson.\n\nThe East of England Ambulance Service said both patients were transported to hospital for \"further assessment and treatment.\"\n\nMrs Emmerson said flooding near their home in Green Lane, Thorpe End, was a regular occurrence during heavy rain.\n\n\"I just assumed that there would be nobody in there,\" she added. \"Because normally people leap out and wade to safety before it gets to that point.\"\n\nHer husband - who called the rescue a \"Christmas miracle\" - said a firefighter went straight into the water and smashed a car window to gain access \"despite the water coming up to his chin\".\n\nThe couple said permanent signs, rather than temporary ones, were needed to warn drivers about the regular risk of flooding.\n\nOne of the submerged car's occupants was believed to be aged 70\n\nTwo cars were found submerged under the bridge at Thorpe End, Norwich; one was empty\n\nNorfolk Fire and Rescue Service said it had received more than 300 calls about flooding since Wednesday afternoon, as some areas received a month of rainfall in 24 hours.\n\nTim Edwards of Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service said a major incident had been declared and advised people to stay away from flooded areas.\n\n\"It's very difficult to know exact depths. Do not enter flooded water at any point,\" he said.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "1,645 days after the UK voted to leave the EU, 328 days after we actually departed, the shape of our relationship with our nearest neighbours has been drawn and agreed - only days before the status quo will disappear.\n\nThe deal that will determine how we do business with our biggest trading partner.\n\nThe deal that both sides desperately wanted to achieve.\n\nBut the deal that was not, even though political logic suggested it, inevitable.\n\nCertainly the prime minister always said he would be willing to walk away, claiming repeatedly that the UK would \"prosper mightily\" if there was no agreement in the end.\n\nIt is true that he and his allies sometimes scoffed at the nature of the widespread warnings about the potential damage abandoning the status quo without a deal could wreak.\n\nIt is also true that some of the positions the EU was putting forward even in the closing weeks of the talks were seen as intolerable by the UK side, which was even in some moments surprised by what appeared to be a hardening of attitudes late in the day.\n\nBut it is also true that the prime minister, the vast majority of ministers and MPs were concerned about the risk of taking a step into the unknown.\n\nThey wanted to avoid the disruption of leaving a relationship that has lasted four decades without a ready replacement.\n\nTo rip off the tentacles spread into almost every feature of how the country is run overnight could have caused major pain.\n\nEven with a deal, changes are on the way that may not feel smooth. But a sudden no-deal departure from the EU's rules could have been a disruptive at best, disastrous at worst, for some very concerned industries, adding to the country's difficulties during a pandemic that has caused so much pain.\n\nThe 1,500 or so pages of the deal (if you're stuck for Christmas reading, there'll be plenty to keep you busy!) have not yet been published, far less has there been time to comb through the actual detail.\n\nIn the coming days, without doubt, there will be a rhetorical bidding war over which side has given more ground, \"lost\" or \"won\".\n\nThere will have been compromises on both sides. But both the UK and the EU have put pragmatism over firm principle, and agreed an historic accord that will affect so many aspects of how we live.\n\nBoris Johnson has so often been accused of failing to keep the promises that he has made. The details of the deal may well contain more evidence that some of his vows on Brexit will be broken.\n\nBut he has managed to keep perhaps his biggest commitment after taking us out of the European Union - securing a deal - a huge political and personal relief, perhaps, for the man whose name and reputation will be forever linked with the UK's decision to leave the EU.", "The Queen has broadcast her annual address in the Christmas Message to the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.\n\nShe acknowledged the “difficult and unpredictable times” of the past year, saying “there is hope in the new dawn.”\n\nShe also paid thanks to the efforts of health workers and community volunteers in the UK and around the world.", "The leaders of the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales have reflected on the \"darkness\" of Covid-19 - as well as selfless and heroic responses to the pandemic.\n\nArchbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby referred to a \"year of anxiety\" in his Christmas message.\n\nAt Midnight Mass at Westminster Cathedral, Cardinal Vincent Nichols talked of a \"quiet heroism\".\n\nDespite enhanced rules, communal acts of worship are being allowed in the UK.\n\nHowever, some churches have chosen to live-stream their Christmas Day services without a congregation.\n\nMidnight Mass at Westminster Cathedral is normally one of the highlights of the liturgical calendar but this year, the service was held online only and started at 22:00 GMT.\n\nIn his sermon, Cardinal Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, said: \"In the darkness of this pandemic so many of our comfortable assumptions are being shaken.\n\n\"Here we are, celebrating Christmas, yet deprived of the greetings, hugs, kisses and handshakes that normally fill this day.\"\n\nHe said the pandemic had tested family bonds, and that some people in care homes and hospitals who longed to see loved ones \"fade away from sheer loneliness\".\n\nThe Archbishop of Canterbury during the Christmas Day service at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent\n\nBut Cardinal Nichols maintained that countless acts of kindness had \"penetrated the darkness\".\n\n\"Have we not seen these months of difficulty marked by countless acts of random kindness, quiet heroism, selfless service, remarkable community efforts, all directed towards those most in need?\"\n\nThe Archbishop of Canterbury delivered his Christmas message at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, saying this year has changed a cough and a fever into a \"genuine threat\".\n\nBut he asked Christians to resist the temptation to view the virus as the pivot of their lives, a kind of \"before and after\".\n\nMeanwhile, Pope Francis used his Christmas Day address to call on world leaders to ensure unfettered access to coronavirus vaccines for everyone, warning against putting up \"walls\" to treatments.\n\n\"In the face of a challenge that knows no borders, we cannot erect walls. All of us are in the same boat,\" the Pope said during his online address.", "The Queen and other members of the royal family usually attend a Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham\n\nThe Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will spend Christmas at Windsor Castle and not Sandringham as is their usual tradition, Buckingham Palace has said.\n\nA spokeswoman said after considering \"all the appropriate advice\" the royal couple had opted to celebrate \"quietly\" at their Berkshire residence.\n\nThey usually spend Christmas with other royals at the Queen's Norfolk estate.\n\nThe Queen, 94, and the duke, 99, have been living at Windsor during the pandemic with a small household staff.\n\nIt is thought to be the first time the couple have not spent Christmas at their Sandringham home since the mid 1980s.\n\n\"Like everyone they hope things will get back to normal in 2021,\" a palace spokesman said.\n\nThe announcement follows earlier speculation about where the Queen and the duke would spend the festive period, in light of Christmas coronavirus guidance that people should form \"bubbles\" of three households over a five-day period.\n\nThe Queen and other members of the Royal Family usually attend a Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham, where large crowds gather to greet them.\n\nLast year, Prince George and Princess Charlotte went to the service for the first time.\n\nThe Queen will not be attending church on Christmas Day to avoid large crowds of well-wishers gathering, it is understood.\n\nThe Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will spend 25 December at Highgrove, their estate in Gloucestershire, but are expected to see the Queen and Prince Philip at Windsor over the festive period. The duchess will also visit her family.\n\nLast month, the Queen and Prince Philip, who has retired from public duties, marked their 73rd wedding anniversary by releasing a photograph showing them opening a card from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's children.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The couple have been together for two-and-a-half years, after meeting at the school where they both teach\n\nA marriage proposal at a Peak District beauty spot was captured by chance when a keen-eyed photographer spotted the special moment.\n\nNaomi Watson had walked up Mam Tor to take photos on Christmas Eve, while Jake Albon had gone there to propose to his girlfriend Chantal Percival.\n\nNaomi quickly started snapping when she saw Jake get down on one knee.\n\nThe couple, from Derby, only realised the photos existed when Naomi posted on Facebook in a bid to identify them.\n\nJake Albon proposed to his girlfriend Chantal Percival, a fellow teacher, at the top of Mam Tor\n\nJake, 28, said it was \"unreal\" to discover the photos, after one of his friends tagged him in the Facebook post to say congratulations.\n\n\"It's so nice that someone managed to capture it. It's a great way to end such a strange year,\" he said.\n\n\"We've spent more time than ever together this year, at work and at home, and it's been incredible having Chan with me along the way. I really don't know what I would have done without her.\"\n\nJake Albon said he did not know what he would have done without his girlfriend Chantal Percival this year\n\nThe couple have been together for two and a half years. They met through work as they are both teachers at the same school.\n\nChantal, 35, said the proposal was a \"complete surprise\".\n\n\"It was freezing cold and Jake took me to Mam Tor because I like walking,\" she said.\n\n\"Despite being with Jake the whole time throughout the lockdowns and difficult year we have had, I still said yes and I am very happy that I did.\"\n\nNaomi Watson started photographing the couple when she saw Jake get down on one knee\n\nJake managed to capture the proposal on video by pretending he was taking a selfie with his mobile phone.\n\n\"He managed to trick me by saying it was a photo, then I realised he had done the video,\" said Chantal.\n\nThe couple plan to get married in 2022, and hope that the coronavirus pandemic will be over by then.\n\nFollow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.", "A post-Brexit agreement on trade and other issues has been agreed, just a week before the transition period between the UK and the EU comes to an end.\n\nIt avoids the disruption of a no-deal Brexit in the middle of the Covid pandemic, and marks a new era after more than 40 years of UK membership of the European Union.\n\nWe've now seen a copy of the text - more than 1,000 pages of dense legal text which outline how the relationship will operate in the future. Here are 10 initial questions and answers:\n\nOne of the most difficult issues in the negotiations: how many fish will EU boats be able to catch in UK waters in future, and how long will any transition period last before new measures come into full force? Officials involved in the negotiations say the UK initially wanted an 80% cut in the value of the fish caught by EU boats in UK waters, while the EU initially proposed an 18% cut. Who has given more ground?\n\nAnswer: The value of the fish caught by the EU in UK waters will be cut by 25% - which is a lot less than the UK initially asked for. The cut will be phased in over a transition period lasting five-and-a-half years - which is a lot shorter than the EU initially asked for. Once the transition period is over, the UK will fully control access to its waters, and could make much deeper cuts. If it decides to exclude EU fishing boats they can be compensated for their losses, either through tariffs on UK fishing products (or other goods) exported to the EU, or by preventing UK boats from fishing in EU waters.\n\nFishing was one of the most difficult areas of the negotiations\n\nWhat will the rules on fair competition look like, to ensure that businesses on one side don't gain an unfair advantage over their competitors on the other? The definition of what constitutes reasonable levels of state aid, or government subsidies for business, will be important.\n\nAnswer: There are level playing field measures which commit both the UK and the EU to maintain common standards on workers' rights, as well as many social and environmental regulations. This was a key EU demand. They don't have to be identical in the future, so the UK does not have to follow EU law, but they do have to be seen to protect fair competition.\n\nThe UK has also agreed to stick to common principles on how state aid regimes work, and to an independent competition agency which will assess them. But it can choose to develop a system which only makes decisions once evidence of unfair competition is presented. That is different from the EU system which assesses the likely impact of subsidies before they are handed out.\n\nThis will be the subject of years of negotiations to come. How will the deal actually be enforced if either side breaks any of the terms and conditions? If the UK chooses to move away more radically from EU rules in the future, how quickly can the EU respond? Will it have the ability to impose tariffs (or taxes on UK exports) in one area (for example on cars) in response to a breach of the agreement in another (fish, for example)?\n\nAnswer: If either side moves away from common standards that exist on 31 December 2020, and if that has a negative impact on the other side, a dispute mechanism can be triggered which could mean tariffs (taxes on goods) being imposed. It is based around a \"rebalancing\" clause which gives both the EU and the UK the right to take steps if there are significant divergences. This clause is much stricter than measures found in other recent EU trade deals, and was a key demand on the European side. It is a mechanism we may hear a lot more about in the coming years.\n\nThe overall policing of the trade agreement also means that tariffs can be targeted at a specific sector as a result of a dispute in another. There will be a binding arbitration system involving officials from both sides. It means that even though this is a tariff-free agreement, the threat that tariffs can be introduced as a result of future disputes will be a constant factor in UK-EU relations.\n\nThe EU's highest court will remain the ultimate arbiter of European law. But the UK government has said the direct jurisdiction of the ECJ in Britain will come to an end. So, will the European court play any role in overseeing the future relationship agreement?\n\nAnswer: The EU has dropped its demand that the ECJ should play a direct role in policing the governance of the agreement in future. That was a clear British red line. One place where the ECJ will still play a role is Northern Ireland, which has a special status under the terms of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. It will remain subject to EU single market and customs union rules, which means the European Court will remain the highest legal authority for some disputes in one part of the UK.\n\nWhat will the rules be for British people who want to travel to the EU from 1 January 2021? We already know some of the details but will there be any additional agreements on things like social security or vehicle insurance? And will there be any detail on any arrangement to replace the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)?\n\nAnswer: UK nationals will need a visa if they want to stay in the EU more than 90 days in a 180-day period. They will still be able to use their EHICs which will remain valid until they expire. The UK government says they will be replaced by a new UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), but there are no further details yet on how to obtain it.\n\nIts advice is to take out travel insurance with healthcare cover before going on holiday - especially if you have a pre-existing medical condition.\n\nEU pet passports will no longer be valid, but people will still be able to travel with pets, following a different and a more complicated process.\n\nThe two sides agreed to co-operate on international mobile roaming, but there is nothing in the agreement that would stop UK travellers being charged for using their phone in the EU and vice versa.\n\nThe government also says British citizens will not need an International Driver's Permit to drive in the EU (unless they still have a paper licence or a licence from the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey or Gibraltar). But they will need to carry a green card to prove they have the right vehicle insurance.\n\nThe trade agreement is primarily about the rules for goods crossing borders. It will say far less about the trade in services. Is there going to be a separate statement from the EU which will recognise UK rules governing financial services as roughly \"equivalent\" to EU rules? That would make it much easier for UK firms which export services to continue doing business in the EU market.\n\nAnswer: There is, as expected, not a lot in this agreement for service companies to cheer about. The UK will still be hoping that the EU issues \"equivalence\" decisions on financial services in the near future, but service companies in general have not got as much help in this deal as the British government had been pushing for.\n\nThe European Commission says a series of \"further clarifications\" will be needed from the UK, including more information on how it will diverge from EU rules after 31 December, before any decisions on equivalence can be made.\n\nThere is an agreement to continue talking about financial services regulation in the future, but some companies may have to apply to specific EU countries to be allowed to operate there. The guaranteed access that UK companies had to the EU single market is over.\n\nThis is a really important issue. What will the data protection rules be for UK companies which deal with data from the EU? Again, the UK is hoping the EU will issue separately what's known as a data adequacy decision recognising UK rules as equivalent to its own. But the detail will need to be scrutinised carefully.\n\nAnswer: Both sides say they want data to flow across borders as smoothly as possible, but the agreement also stresses that individuals have a right to the protection of personal data and privacy and that \"high standards in this regard contribute to trust in the digital economy and to the development of trade\".\n\nThat's why an EU decision to recognise formally that UK data rules are roughly the same as its own is so important - and we're still waiting for that. In the meantime the EU has agreed to a \"specified period\" of four months, extendable by a further two months, in which data can be exchanged in the same way it is now, as long as the UK makes no changes to its rules on data protection.\n\nWe know there will be more bureaucracy and delays at borders in the future, for companies trading between the UK and the EU. But will the two sides agree any measures to make things a little easier? There's something called \"mutual recognition of conformity assessment\" which would mean checks on products standards would not need to be nearly as intrusive as they otherwise might be.\n\nAnswer: There's no agreement on conformity assessment, even though the UK government had hoped there would be. It's just one reminder of how many new barriers to trade there are going to be. In future, if you want to sell your product in both the UK and the EU, you may have to get it checked twice to get it certified.\n\nOn other border issues, there is also no agreement on recognising each other's sanitary and safety standards for exporting food of animal origin, which means there will have to be pretty intrusive and costly checks for products going into the EU single market.\n\nThere will however be some measures which cut technical barriers to trade, and the mutual recognition of trusted trader schemes which will make it easier for large companies to operate across borders.\n\nA lot of people, from accountants to chefs, work in different EU countries and didn't have to worry about crossing borders multiple times while the UK was part of the EU. But will UK professional qualifications be recognised across the EU in the future, and what restrictions will there be?\n\nAnswer: The short answer is no - they won't be recognised automatically. That will make it harder for UK citizens supplying any kind of service to work in the EU. They will often have to apply to individual countries to try to get their qualifications accepted, with no guarantee of success. There is a framework in the deal for the UK and EU to agree on mutually recognising individual qualifications but that's weaker than what professionals have now.\n\nIt's not just about trade. The UK will lose automatic and immediate access to a variety of EU databases which the police use every day - covering things such as criminal records, fingerprints and wanted persons. So what kind of access will they have, and how will security co-operation work in the future?\n\nAnswer: The UK loses access to some very key databases but will have continued access to others, including the system which cross-checks fingerprints across the continent. But overall, security co-operation will no longer be based on \"real time\" access. And in some cases, such as access to data on which flights people take, that data will only be made available under much stricter conditions.\n\nAn agreement has been reached on extradition, and the UK's role in Europol, the cross-border security agency, allows it to sit in on meetings but not have a direct say in decisions. Both of these are positive, and on a par with the best other countries have achieved.\n\nDisagreements over data will be dealt with by a new committee, not by the European Court of Justice - again, a red line for the UK. But taken together, the speed with which the UK gets important data, and the influence it has on decisions, has been reduced.\n\nThere are many other questions to answer - this agreement will form the basis for UK-EU relations for years if not decades to come. And the two sides will have to continue to talk about how to implement it most effectively.\n\nThe team will continue to read through the text of the agreement and will add more to this story if necessary.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nA post-Brexit trade deal has been agreed between the EU and the UK, prompting relief, sadness and optimism for the future.\n\nEuropean leaders have been reacting to the announcement. Here's what some of them have said.\n\n\"It was a long and winding road. But we have got a good deal to show for it. It is fair, it is a balanced deal, and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides.\n\n\"To all Europeans, I say: It's time to leave Brexit behind. Our future is made in Europe.\"\n\n\"The clock is no longer ticking.\n\n\"Today is a day of relief, but tinged by some sadness as we compare what came before with what lies ahead.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'Today is a day of relief', says EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier\n\n\"The federal government will now carefully check the text of the agreement. But we're not starting at zero. The European Commission has closely included the member states throughout the entire negotiating process.\n\n\"We will thus be able to quickly judge if Germany can support today's outcome. I am very optimistic that we will have a good result.\n\n\"With the deal we create the basis for a new chapter of our relationship. The UK will continue to be an important partner for Germany and the EU outside of the European Union.\"\n\n\"There is no such thing as a 'good Brexit' for Ireland.\n\n\"But we have worked hard to minimise the negative consequences.\n\n\"I believe the agreement reached today is the least bad version of Brexit possible, given current circumstances.\"\n\nMr Martin said the deal was a \"good compromise\"\n\n\"The unity and strength of Europe paid off.\n\n\"The agreement with the United Kingdom is essential to protect our citizens, our fishermen, our producers. We will make sure that this is the case.\"\n\n\"Good news: deal between the EU and the UK has been agreed.\n\n\"Interests and rights of European businesses and citizens guaranteed. The UK will be a central partner and ally for the EU and Italy.\"\n\n\"We welcome the agreement between the EU and the UK. Congratulations to Michel Barnier, Ursula von der Leyen and their teams.\n\n\"The Member States and the EU Council will examine it in the next few days.\n\n\"Spain and the UK will continue dialogue to reach an agreement on Gibraltar.\"\n\nMr Sánchez (L) and Mr Macron (R) both welcomed the Brexit deal\n\n\"I welcome that an agreement could be reached by the negotiators on the EU's future relationship with the UK.\n\n\"We warmly welcome the agreement reached with the United Kingdom on the relationship with the EU from 1 January.\n\n\"UK will remain, in addition to our neighbour and ally, an important partner.\"\n\n\"Excellent news that an agreement on a new EU-UK partnership has been reached after tough negotiations.\n\n\"This is of great importance to us all. We will now study it carefully.\n\nMr Rutte (L) said he would examine the Brexit deal \"carefully\"\n\n\"I welcome the agreement that Michel Barnier and Ursula von der Leyen have negotiated with the UK. It offers perspective to maintain our strong relationship with the UK after Brexit.\n\n\"In the end, there is only one thing that matters to me: ensuring the best possible protection for Belgium's economic interests. We must protect our Belgian companies from unfair British competition.\n\n\"Initial reports seem to indicate that this agreement will give us this crucial guarantee.\"\n\n\"This agreement will protect the interests of Romanian companies and citizens - Romania's key objectives during these negotiations.\n\n\"Very few believe but Christmas can make miracles happen.\n\n\"Good news from both sides of the Channel. Big thanks go to Ursula von der Leyen and Michel Barnier.\n\n\"They secured a deal on our future relations between EU and UK. We will now look at it with great confidence so it can work from January.\"\n\n\"Very happy that the negotiations have finally led to a result. A deal between EU and UK is an important foundation for our future relationship.\"\n\nMr Löfven (R) said he was pleased with the outcome of the negotiations\n\n\"We welcome the agreement on the future relationship between the EU and the UK after intensive negotiations a week before the end of the transitional period, and we hope to continue a strong partnership with the UK.\"\n\n\"After long negotiations, the EU and the UK reached an agreement on the future partnership. Congratulations. This happened at the last minute, since the transition period ends at the end of this year.\n\n\"The agreement is mutually beneficial and issues of crucial importance to the EU, such as level playing field, have been taken into account. Nevertheless, this is damage control, since the new relationship lacks the benefits of the single market.\n\n\"This was the will of the UK.\"\n\n\"Finally a historic and unprecedented deal in the interest of all is reached.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Guy Verhofstadt This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n\"I hope future UK politicians will build on this partnership so we can regain the close relationship the EU and the UK deserve.\n\n\"It will be a first step in the return of the UK into the European family.\"", "More than 70,000 people in the UK have now died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test, official figures show.\n\nA further 570 deaths in the UK were reported on Christmas Day, taking the total by that measure to 70,195.\n\nAccording to Johns Hopkins University, only the US, Brazil, India, Mexico and Italy have recorded more deaths from coronavirus.\n\nThe number of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England and Scotland increased by 32,725 on Friday.\n\nIt came as the number of tests conducted over the last seven days rose by more than 25% compared to the previous week.\n\nThe government explained that the amount of data available will vary over the Christmas holiday period, with any unreported deaths and cases recorded on the following days.\n\n\"As a result, any changes to published data should be interpreted with caution during this period, as they may be a result of changes to reporting schedules,\" it said.\n\nAccording to Office for National Statistics data there have been than 81,361 excess deaths, those over and above what would usually be expected for the time of year, up to 11 December.\n\nLevels of infection are continuing to rise in England, the ONS has said, with figures for the week to 18 December estimating nearly 650,000 people have the virus, up from 570,000 the week before.\n\nThe rising number of deaths came as the UK marked a different Christmas with people under the toughest restrictions in England prevented from meeting other households indoors, while elsewhere planned relaxations of restrictions were cut to just one day on 25 December.\n\nIn England, six million more people are due to enter the highest level of restrictions on Boxing Day while other areas will move up into higher tiers after Downing Street warned the old system was not enough to control a new variant of the virus.\n\nAnd from Monday, all airline passengers arriving in the US from the UK will be required to test negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours of departure, amid concerns over the new variant.\n\nSo far, the UK has approved the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, with more than 500,000 people having been given the first dose, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Wednesday the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine had now submitted full data to the medicines regulator for approval.", "On a roll: LadBaby is again joined by his wife Roxanne and their children on his latest festive hit\n\nLadBaby has become only the third act in UK chart history, after The Beatles and the Spice Girls, to score three straight Christmas number one singles.\n\nThe charitable sausage roll singer fended off competition from a Mariah Carey classic, and a protest song about Prime Minister Boris Johnson.\n\nSir Paul McCartney, meanwhile, topped the festive album chart, on Friday.\n\n\"I can't believe we've done it once, never mind three times,\" LadBaby told BBC Radio 1 presenter Katie Thistleton.\n\nHis latest offering, Don't Stop Me Eatin', which is raising money for The Trussell Trust food bank charity, was a pastry take on Journey's Don't Stop Believin'.\n\nIt followed his previous successful efforts, 2018's We Built This City... On Sausage Rolls; and I Love Sausage Rolls, from last year.\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by LadBaby This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.\n\n\"We know the British public love a sausage roll,\" the hat-trick hero continued.\n\n\"And I think after the year we've all had we just wanted to come back and make everyone smile.\"\n\nHis new song, which was helped along by the release of a surprise alternative version with Ronan Keating earlier this week, became the fastest selling UK single in more than three years, since Artists For Grenfell's Bridge Over Troubled Water.\n\nIt also dislodged Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You at the summit.\n\nAll I Want for Christmas Is Two: You got it Mariah\n\nThe diva's ubiquitous hit had reigned supreme for the past fortnight, remarkably for the first time since its release 26 years ago.\n\nLadBaby now finds himself in exalted company, alongside The Beatles, who dominated the Christmas number one spots between 1963-65, with I Want To Hold Your Hand, I Feel Fine, and the double A-side Daytripper / We Can Work It Out.\n\nAs well as the Spice Girls, who had three in a row from 1996-98, with 2 Become 1, Too Much, and Goodbye.\n\nYouTube comedian LadBaby, whose real name is Mark Hoyle, described 2020 as \"our most important year yet\" to help people, due to the impact of coronavirus.\n\nHe spoke to BBC News last week about why he and his band - aka wife Roxanne and their children - changed their minds after previously saying they wouldn't go for a third. \"We'd run out of songs with rock 'n' roll in the title, because that's been our go-to - you find a song with rock 'n' roll in the title and it's a good change [to sausage roll],\" he said.\n\n\"We wanted to choose a song that people love and can sing to,\" he continued. \"The best way is to look at karaoke songs, and Don't Stop Believin' always features highly on most karaoke lists.\n\n\"We felt like after the year everyone's had, it's a sentiment everyone needs - don't stop believing things are going to get better. It felt very fitting, so we had to weave some sausage roll magic into the lyrics.\"\n\nElsewhere in the singles chart, an expletive-laden song about PM Boris Johnson, by an Essex synth-pop outfit (whose name we can't really mention here without losing our jobs) also made the festive top five; and was at one-point the UK's second most-downloaded song of the week.\n\nJustin Bieber's cover of Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree [number eight] and Liam Gallagher's All You're Dreaming Of [24], which raised money for Action for Children, also proved popular this year.\n\nMcCartney III, the \"fun\" lockdown album by former Beatle Sir Paul, gave him his first number one LP in 31 years - since 1989's Flowers In The Dirt.\n\n\"I just want to say happy Christmas, happy New Year, and a big thank you to everyone who helped get my record to number one in the album charts,\" the rock 'n' roll knight of the realm told the Official Charts Company.\n\nTaylor Swift's surprise new album, Evermore, was close behind him in second.\n\nSir Paul McCartney recorded his Christmas number one album in isolation while spending lockdown with his daughter Mary, who took these photographs\n\nAlso on Christmas Day, it was announced by music licensing company PPL that The Pogues' widely-debated track, Fairytale Of New York was officially the UK's most-played Christmas track of the 21st Century.\n\nLast month, Radio 1 decided to stop playing the original version of the song in full, because its audience may be offended by some of the lyrics.\n\nAll I Want For Christmas Is You had to settle for second place once again in that poll of the past 20 years, while Wham!'s Last Christmas finished third overall - just as it did in this week's singles chart too.\n\nYou can listen to Radio 1's Christmas No.1 show, and Radio 2's 40 Most-Played Christmas Songs of the 21st Century now on BBC Sounds.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "All airline passengers arriving in the US from the UK are to be required to test negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours of departure amid concerns about a new coronavirus variant.\n\nFrom 28 December travellers will need to provide written documentation of their test result to airlines.\n\nOther countries have shut their borders to UK flights because of the variant.\n\nBut its rapid spread has also led to stricter rules in the UK, including a ban on overseas trips for many Britons.\n\nAnd US airlines have drastically scaled back flying to the UK and Europe, after the entry of most foreign nationals was suspended at the start of the pandemic.\n\nHealth officials say there is no evidence the new variant is more deadly, or would react differently to vaccines, but it is proving to be up to 70% more transmissible.\n\nThe decision by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to require testing came after New York City introduced quarantine rules for international travellers in response to the variant.\n\nThe CDC said passengers must test negative via either a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) or an antigen test.\n\nSince Thursday, passengers travelling with Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic on UK flights to the US have already been required to provide a negative test taken within 72 hours before departure.\n\nUnited Airlines will introduce similar requirements for passengers travelling from the UK to the US from 28 December.\n\nAs the new variant has spread quickly in London and south-east England, rules have been tightened across the UK, meaning more than 85% of the population - 48 million people - will be in the top two tiers after 26 December.\n\nThe UK reported 39,036 Covid cases on Thursday and another 574 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.", "Heavy rain has left standing water up to 5ft (1.5m) in places\n\nMore than 1,000 people are being evacuated from a flooded holiday park.\n\nOccupants of 500 caravans have been forced to leave the Billing Aquadrome park in Northampton, where heavy rain left water up to 5ft (1.5m) deep.\n\nPolice, who were helped by firefighters and lowland search and rescue teams, said some of those stranded were suffering from hypothermia.\n\nAt least two leisure centres in Northampton are set to be turned into emergency accommodation.\n\nMembers of the Northamptonshire Search and Rescue have helping in the operation\n\nResidents have been told to find accommodation with friends and family where possible, and assured that they would not be breaching Covid-19 regulations in such \"exceptional circumstances\".\n\nHowever Ch Supt Mick Stamper, of Northamptonshire Police, urged people to avoid homes where others are shielding or self-isolating.\n\n\"This is an exceptionally challenging situation and emergency services, working with partners and volunteers working flat out to resolve the situation and safeguard those affected on site,\" he said.\n\nTemperatures in the area are due to drop below freezing in the early hours of Friday, and police said waters are set to keep rising for another four to five hours.\n\nBilling Aquadrome describes itself as a \"place you can come to relax and recharge whenever you like, and for as long as you like (during our 11-month season)\".\n\nIn November 2012 the park was evacuated also due to flooding.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have been affected by the flooding, email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Flood warnings have been issued in Bedfordshire as water levels rise\n\nPeople in more than 1,300 properties have been urged to leave their homes as flood levels rise in Bedfordshire.\n\nPolice warned of a \"really serious situation\" and have contacted people living along the River Great Ouse.\n\nFire crews used boats to rescue people throughout Christmas Day. Nine people and three dogs were among those led to safety in the village of Harrold.\n\nSupt Steve Ashdown said: \"River levels are extremely high and we are expecting this to have a significant impact.\"\n\nA severe flood warning has been issued for areas along the River Great Ouse by the Environment Agency.\n\nRescue teams have been working to help residents in Harrold to evacuate from their homes\n\nAt Bromham, near Bedford, the river was reported to be flowing at its highest recorded level.\n\n\"The fact this is happening on Christmas Day makes the situation even worse, especially after the disruption so many of us have had to our plans already and I really do sympathise with people,\" Supt Ashdown, of Bedfordshire Police, said.\n\n\"But this is a really serious situation and we need people to take action in order to keep themselves safe.\"\n\nEmergency assistance centres have been set up at Bedford International Athletic Stadium and Bromham Village Hall for those with nowhere else to go.\n\nBedford Borough Council said it had set up Covid-safe emergency assistance centres at the Bedford International Athletic Stadium and Bromham Village Hall\n\nBedford Mayor Dave Hodgson said the floods were set to be the worst seen in Bedfordshire for several years.\n\n\"The Environment Agency is expecting this to be the highest level of flooding seen in Bedford borough in a number of years and, working with partners, we are strongly encouraging people who are at risk of flooding and have been contacted to leave if they can do so safely,\" he said.\n\nIn a tweet, he praised council staff and emergency services who are \"working hard to protect residents\".\n\nThe council said people who had been contacted and asked to evacuate were \"permitted to go to other people's homes\".\n\nBedfordshire is currently under \"tier four - stay at home\" Covid restrictions which bans household mixing.\n\nBedfordshire Police said the flooding situation \"over-rides the current Covid-19 regulations\".\n\nBefore leaving their homes, people were being urged to turn off gas, water and electricity and move any valuables upstairs.\n\nThe county was hit by heavy rainfall on Christmas Eve that saw many roads left under water.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nHave you been affected by the flooding in Bedfordshire? If it is safe to do so please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Businesses have given a relieved welcome to the Brexit trade deal, but warned there was more work to be done.\n\nIn a statement, Number 10 said: \"The deal is fantastic news for businesses in every part of the UK.\"\n\nBut Jonathan Geldart, director general of the Institute of Directors, said \"the clock is still very much ticking\" for firms and called for guidance.\n\nThe CBI called for urgent confirmation of grace periods to give firms time to adapt to new rules from 1 January.\n\n\"We need to ensure we keep goods moving across borders,\" said Tony Danker, CBI director-general.\n\nHe said the deal \"will come as a huge relief to British business at a time when resilience is at an all-time low\".\n\n\"But coming so late in the day, it is vital that both sides take instant steps to keep trade moving and services flowing while firms adjust.\"\n\nMr Geldart echoed the CBI's concerns and said digesting the practical changes required and adapting \"in the middle of a pandemic and the festive season, while border disruptions continue, is a huge ask\" for firms.\n\nAfter a last-minute titanic struggle over the economic minnow that is fish, a deal has finally been landed.\n\nThe relief of avoiding no-deal is the perfect Christmas present for UK business. Having avoided what they considered the calamity of no-deal, minds will now turn to the detail in nearly 2,000 pages of text.\n\nAnd those who do business with the EU will not have long to peruse it. Even though a deal has been done, UK traders face a new raft of paperwork and cost. More than 200 million additional customs forms will need completing at a cost of more than £7bn a year.\n\nHaulage companies warn that many businesses are not ready for this new normal. That is perhaps understandable when you consider they have had several previous false alarms when they've stockpiled for no reason. They've been dealing with the worst health and economic disaster in living memory and have had precious little detail on exactly what they are facing until the very last minute.\n\nThe elephant not in the room and barely mentioned in the deal is services. There is no automatic access to a market worth £100bn to UK firms last year. A huge sigh of relief, yes - but any celebrations may be brief.\n\nHelen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, urged the EU and UK governments to work to implement the new arrangement as soon as possible.\n\n\"They must ensure there are no tariffs from Day One and find new ways to reduce the checks and red tape that we'll see from 1 January,\" she said.\n\n\"Businesses are undoubtedly relieved to hear that a deal has been agreed and will be hoping that it will now be ratified by respective parliaments across Europe,' said Richard Burge, chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.\n\n\"However, in on-the-ground terms for business, there are likely to still be questions unanswered and operational detail missing.\"\n\nBusiness group Logistics UK was optimistic about the deal.\n\n\"It removes the risk of tariffs being placed on almost every item imported from the EU, which would have raised prices and slowed the rate of economic growth,\" said Elizabeth de Jong, the group's policy director.\n\nBut TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady was scathing. \"This deal is better than nothing, but not by much. It won't protect jobs and puts hard-won workers' rights on the line.\"\n\nShe called on the prime minister to \"make good on his promise to level up Britain\", saying: \"He needs to act fast. There can be no more pointing the finger at the EU.\"\n\nConcerns were raised over the fact that financial services did not form part of the trade deal.\n\n\"The agreement should be less criticised for what it contains than what it does not contain - namely the future of financial services,\" said Daniel Pinto, chief executive of Stanhope Capital Group.\n\nHe said the City now needed to take its future in its own hands. \"Post-Brexit, it should lure international companies and revamp its regulatory framework to make it much more flexible.\"\n\nNicolas Mackel, chief executive of Luxembourg for Finance, said the deal was positive news for financial services.\n\n\"While financial services has never been covered by the trade negotiations, this vital breakthrough bodes well for the conversations happening around equivalences and delegation,\" he said.\n\n\"Until now, the souring negotiating mood on the future relationship was putting these important financial footbridges across the Channel under great pressure and there was a risk of collapse.\"", "EU ambassadors have received a Christmas Day briefing on the post-Brexit trade deal reached with the UK.\n\nEU chief negotiator Michel Barnier updated them on the agreement, reached after months of fraught talks on fishing rights and business rules.\n\nMPs will vote on the deal in Parliament on 30 December, with the UK set to exit existing trading rules on 31 December.\n\nThe 1,246-page document, which includes about 800 pages of annexes and footnotes, has been seen by the BBC.\n\nA 34-page summary of the deal has been published on the UK government's website, but not the complete text.\n\nLabour said it was a \"thin agreement\" but they would back it as the only alternative to no deal, meaning it should win approval.\n\nThe European Parliament needs to ratify the deal but it is unlikely to do so until the new year, meaning its application will formally be provisional until then.\n\nEuropean ambassadors during the briefing of European Union member states in Brussels on 25 December\n\nSebastian Fischer, a spokesman for the German presidency of the Council of the EU, joked ahead of the EU diplomats' meeting that he was looking forward to it \"because nothing is more fun than to celebrate Christmas among socially distanced colleagues\".\n\nMeanwhile, French Europe minister Clement Beaune said it was a \"good agreement\", adding that the EU had not accepted a deal \"at all costs\".\n\nIn a Christmas video message, posted on Twitter on Thursday evening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson brandished a draft copy of the document.\n\nBoris Johnson held up a draft of the Brexit deal in a video published by No 10\n\nHe said: \"Tonight, on Christmas Eve, I have a small present for anyone who may be looking for something to read in that sleepy post-Christmas lunch moment, and here it is, tidings, glad tidings of great joy because this is a deal.\n\n\"A deal to give certainty to business, travellers, and all investors in our country from January 1. A deal with our friends and partners in the EU.\"\n\nEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the agreement as \"fair\" and \"balanced\", saying it was now \"time to turn the page and look to the future\". The UK \"remains a trusted partner,\" she added.\n\nStruck four and a half years after the UK voted to leave the EU, the deal will define the future relationship for decades.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nAccording to the text of the deal, those issued with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) before the end of 2020 can use it before its expiry date, after which, the UK will issue a new card - called the UK Global Health Insurance Card.\n\nSimilar to the EHIC - which entitles people to state-provided medical treatment if they fall ill or have an accident in any EU country, or in Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein - the new card will cover chronic or existing illnesses and routine maternity care as well as emergencies.\n\nThe agreement says any specialised treatment, such as dialysis or cancer treatment, \"must be subject to a prior agreement between the insured person and the unit providing the treatment\" to ensure the treatment is available.\n\nMeanwhile, goods will continue to be traded free of tariffs and quotas and there will be independent arbitration to resolve future disputes.\n\nIt will mean big changes for business, with the UK and EU forming two separate markets, and the end of free movement.\n\nBut it will have come as a major relief to many British businesses, already reeling from the impact of coronavirus, who feared disruption at the borders and the imposition of tariffs, or taxes on imports.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer - who campaigned against Brexit - said the deal did not provide adequate protections for jobs, manufacturing, financial services or workplace rights and was \"not the deal the government promised\".\n\nBut with no time left to renegotiate, the only choice was between \"this deal or no deal,\" he added.\n\nEd Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said his party needed to see the full text, but would not support a \"bad deal\".\n\nMichel Barnier leaves the EU Commission for a meeting of the Permanent Representatives Committee in Brussels, Belgium, on 25 December\n\nParliament will sit on 30 December to vote on the trade deal.\n\nDr Joelle Grogan, senior lecturer in law at Middlesex University London, told BBC News: \"To put this in real context, if I spend the next five days before Parliament is recalled on Wednesday spending 10 hours a day just reading that document, I will have a maximum of two minutes and 30 seconds to fully understand, analyse and comment on it.\"\n\n\"The clock is no longer ticking.\"\n\nThese were pretty much the first words out of the mouth of the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, as he announced the just sealed EU-UK trade and security agreement on Thursday.\n\nNo more looming \"no-deal\" threats; no more almost painful uncertainty about future relations across the Channel. This was a historic moment.\n\nA fair and balanced deal for both sides, said the European Commission.\n\nBut you'd have to have been half-asleep (or halfway through a bottle of eggnog, cava or pint of Glühwein) to miss the stark difference in tone between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's triumphalist announcement on Thursday afternoon and the sombre statement by the European Commission.\n\nAt a press conference on Thursday, Mr Johnson said the agreement would \"protect jobs across this country\".\n\nHe said the UK had not got all it wanted on financial services, a vital part of the UK economy, but insisted the deal was \"nonetheless going to enable our dynamic City of London to get on and prosper as never before\".\n\nThe prime minister also acknowledged he had been forced to give ground on his demands on fishing.\n\nFishing makes up 0.12% of the UK's economy but the negotiations went down to the wire over what EU boats were allowed to catch in UK waters.\n\nIn future, 25% of EU boats' fishing rights in UK waters will be transferred to the UK fishing fleet, over a period of five-and-a-half years.\n\nBarrie Deas, the head of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, said \"significant concessions\" meant there would be \"a lot of disappointed and frustrated fishermen\".\n\nScotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said fishing got a \"bad deal\", adding: \"Brexit is happening against Scotland's will... It's time to chart our own future as an independent, European nation.\"\n\nWales First Minister Mark Drakeford said a deal was better than no deal but said it was \"thin\" and not what Wales was promised.\n\nThe deal also means that, except for Northern Ireland, the UK will no longer participate in the Erasmus student exchange scheme. Mr Johnson said it was being replaced with the Turing Scheme, which will include universities outside the EU.\n\nIn another development following the deal announcement, the UK Mission to the EU said people with a driving licence issued in the UK would not need to use an International Drivers Licence in the EU.", "The BBC has received 266 complaints about a scene in The Vicar Of Dibley, referencing the Black Lives Matter movement.\n\nIn last week's Christmas episode, Dawn French's character, Reverend Geraldine Granger, took the knee and delivered a sermon about racism.\n\nThe corporation has previously defended the sitcom scene.\n\nIt said in a statement it \"was in keeping with the character and the theme of the show\".\n\nFrench's character is shown being filmed by parishioner and farmer Owen Newitt as she tells the audience she has been preoccupied with the \"horror show\" of the death of George Floyd, who died while in US police custody.\n\nMr Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed in May while being arrested by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sparking anti-racism protests around the world.\n\nIn the scene, the vicar noted that Dibley, the fictional Oxfordshire village, is \"not the most diverse community\", and encouraged its residents to get behind the anti-racism campaign, which gained pace around the real world following Mr Floyd's death.\n\nSome viewers of the episode criticised it on social media.\n\n\"A lovely calm day, full of humanity, compassion and support all round...\" responded French, at the time on Twitter.\n\nThe comic actor later clarified in the comments that she was being \"a tad ironic\".\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Drivers are being tested before being allowed to make the crossing to France\n\nThousands of lorry drivers waiting to cross the English Channel to France are spending Christmas Day in their cabs in Kent.\n\nHundreds of military personnel have been deployed to help clear the backlog of about 5,000 lorries, which are waiting at Manston Airport.\n\nDrivers are allowed to travel on the condition they test negative for Covid-19 before boarding a train or ferry.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps said more than 10,000 tests had been done.\n\nHe said out of those lorry drivers who had been tested, 24 were positive for coronavirus.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nFrance closed its border after the UK warned of a fast-spreading variant of coronavirus but ended its ban on Wednesday, providing people tested negative before travelling.\n\nMore than 700 hauliers have been cleared for departure since France reopened its border.\n\nBut about 5,000 remain unable to get home and are waiting at Manston Airport, on a closed section of the M20, and in Dover.\n\nFreight traffic has started moving through the Port of Dover\n\nFrench firefighters have been supporting the testing effort, and a group of Polish medics was deployed to the UK on Thursday to help test drivers. the Polish news website TVN24 has reported.\n\nSome lorry drivers have already spent nearly a week stranded following the closure of the border on Sunday.\n\nMr Shapps said: \"We need to get the situation in Kent, caused by the French government's sudden imposition of Covid restrictions, resolved as soon as possible.\n\n\"I know it's been hard for many drivers cooped up in their cabs at this precious time of year, but I assure them that we are doing our utmost to get them home.\"\n\nThe UK's border with France was closed on Sunday and reopened on Wednesday\n\nThe government said catering vans were providing hot food and drinks to stranded hauliers at Manston, with Kent Council and volunteer groups providing refreshments to those stuck on the M20.\n\nHM Coastguard said its teams in the Dover area had so far delivered 3,000 hot meals, 600 pizzas, 2,985 packed lunches and 17 pallets of water to those waiting.\n\nSoutheastern Railway and Network Rail arranged for food to be delivered to lorry drivers stuck in Operation Stack on the M20.\n\nSeven trains carrying crates of food for the hauliers have left London in the past 48 hours, with the Salvation Army distributing the items.\n\nThere are more than 250 toilets at Manston, with a further 32 portable toilets added to existing facilities already along the M20.\n\nA Port of Dover spokesman said ferry services had run throughout Christmas Eve night and would continue on Christmas Day to help ease congestion.\n\nDuncan Buchanan, from the Road Haulage Association, said: \"The most reassuring thing is that food is getting through at Manston, and I have to say a big thank you to everyone who volunteered to help.\"\n\nAre you a lorry driver waiting to cross the English Channel to France? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nOr use this form to get in touch:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your comment or send it via email to HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any comment you send in.\n\nFollow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe Queen has used her Christmas Day message to reassure anyone struggling without friends and family this year that they \"are not alone\".\n\nShe said what many people want \"for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand\" - but \"even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn\".\n\nThe 94-year-old praised acts of kindness, saying the pandemic \"brought us closer\" despite causing hardship.\n\nThe Queen, like so many, is spending the day apart from her family.\n\n\"Remarkably, a year that has necessarily kept people apart has, in many ways, brought us closer,\" the monarch said in the broadcast, adding that the Royal Family has been \"inspired\" by people volunteering in their communities.\n\n\"In the United Kingdom and around the world, people have risen magnificently to the challenges of the year, and I am so proud and moved by this quiet, indomitable spirit.\"\n\nShe lamented that \"people of all faiths have been unable to gather as they would wish for their festivals\", but said \"we need life to go on\".\n\nThe Queen highlighted Diwali celebrations last month in Windsor - where she is spending Christmas with the Duke of Edinburgh for the first time in decades - as an example of \"joyous moments of hope and unity despite social distancing\".\n\n\"Of course for many, this time of year will be tinged with sadness - some mourning the loss of those dear to them and others missing friends and family members distanced for safety, when all they really want for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand,\" she added.\n\n\"If you are among them, you are not alone, and let me assure you of my thoughts and prayers.\"\n\nShe gave particular thanks to young people, to frontline workers, and to \"good Samaritans [who] have emerged across society, showing care and respect for all\".\n\nThe Queen made a private pilgrimage to the grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey last month\n\n\"We continue to be inspired by the kindness of strangers and draw comfort that even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn,\" she said.\n\nReferring to the centenary of the Unknown Warrior's burial in Westminster Abbey, she said: \"The Unknown Warrior was not exceptional, that's the point. He represents millions like him who, throughout our history, have put the lives of others above their own and will be doing so today.\n\n\"For me, this is a source of enduring hope in difficult and unpredictable times.\"\n\nThis year's message was recorded in mid-December with a pared-back film crew and in accordance with government guidance.\n\nShe did not utter the words \"pandemic\", \"coronavirus\" or \"Covid-19\" but they were the dominant theme of this year's Christmas speech broadcast by the Queen.\n\nHer words conveyed three particular messages. She spoke of the gratitude owed to all those who'd \"risen magnificently to the challenges of the year\", in particular to young people, frontline workers and the \"amazing achievements of modern science.\"\n\nShe found hope in the actions of so many \"Good Samaritans\" who'd emerged across society to offer care.\n\nThere was hope too from the example of the \"Unknown Warrior\" buried at Westminster Abbey a century ago. He symbolised selfless duty: a source of \"enduring hope\" the Queen said.\n\nAnd finally there was reassurance for all those who are mourning or missing friends or family. This was the most touching part of the broadcast. These were people who just wanted \"a hug or a squeeze of the hand\" the Queen said.\n\nThat is not language she often uses in public.\n\nShe added: \"Let the light of Christmas, the spirit of selflessness, love and above all, hope, guide us in the times ahead.\"\n\nThe Queen and Prince Philip, 99, have been living at Windsor Castle during the pandemic with a small household staff.\n\nIt is thought to be the first year the couple have not spent Christmas at their Sandringham home since the mid-1980s.\n\nThe Royal Family usually spends Christmas Day together, but will not visit each other this year because of coronavirus restrictions.\n\nThe Queen also worshipped privately rather than attending a church service, as she usually does - in order, it is understood, to avoid crowds of well-wishers congregating.\n\nOn Christmas Day, the Royal Family tweeted a video of St George's Chapel choir singing.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by The Royal Family This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post by The Royal Family\n\nThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge acknowledged those going through a particularly difficult time this year because of the pandemic, tweeting pictures of people working through the festive season.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post 2 by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge\n\nMeanwhile, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall sent their Christmas wishes on social media, telling followers, \"Here's to a better new year.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 3 by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post 3 by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall\n\nThe Queen's address marks the end of a year that saw her go for seven months - March to October - without carrying out public engagements outside of a royal residence.\n\nDuring that time, her eldest child, Prince Charles, 72, contracted coronavirus and displayed mild symptoms.\n\nPalace sources also told the BBC that the Prince William tested positive in April - though Kensington Palace refused to comment officially.\n\nThe royals have spent some time together during the pandemic.\n\nThe Queen and several other senior royals attended a socially-distanced Christmas carol concert at Windsor Castle this month.\n\nShe was also joined by family members at a scaled-back Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in London's Whitehall in November.\n\nThe Christmas broadcast was the Queen's third televised address this year, which is unusual for the monarch.\n\nIn April, as the first wave of the pandemic saw people across the country told to stay at home, she vowed that the the UK \"will succeed\" in its fight against the virus.\n\nIn a rallying message, she lamented the \"painful sense of separation from their loved ones\" that social distancing was causing people - but said it was \"the right thing to do\".\n\nIn April, the Queen said: \"We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again\"\n\nThe following month, in a poignant address to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, she said people's response to the virus had filled empty streets with \"love\".\n\nIn last year's Christmas speech, she described 2019 - which saw intense political debate over Brexit and a number of personal events affecting the Royal Family - as \"quite bumpy\".\n\nShe said the path is never \"smooth\" but \"small steps\" can heal divisions.\n\nChannel 4's alternative Christmas message will be delivered by a deepfake of the Queen this year.", "This is a political victory for the prime minister with up front control \"taken back\" in a deal struck in a very short time.\n\nIn economic terms, it prevents the equivalent of a low level tariff trade war with our biggest trading partner breaking out, in the middle of an historic recession and health crisis.\n\nThe UK has stayed in a free trade zone stretching from Iceland to Russia, as Vote Leave promised ahead of the referendum.\n\nBut his manifest error in declaring there are \"no non-tariff barriers\" for trade with the EU had business leaders falling off their chairs.\n\nThis is patently not the case. The government has entire websites informing the public and businesses of tens of millions of new customs declarations, export health checks, regulatory checks, rules of origin checks, conformity assessments.\n\nBut while we wait for 2,000 pages of legal detail, that quote might help both explain a lot about the last four years, and map out some rocky moments ahead.\n\nIt is possible that the prime minister has a different definition of what the phrase means. He seemed, when questioned to confuse them with technical standards for plugs.\n\nBut any government confusion about this is about to meet a brick wall of reality from January. Industries are having to replicate regulatory processes for the UK market that previously existed only for the EU, doubling the cost.\n\nThe deal mitigates the impact of some of this. But there is no precedent for the avalanche of new trade barriers that is coming. As retailers have said \"it is the biggest imposition of red tape in 50 years\".\n\nMore than that, not only will those barriers now exist between the UK and EU, but some will also now occur within the UK between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as the news about seed potatoes shows.\n\nThe government indeed is currently trying to advertise to thousands of business that these changes need to be prepared for, and urgently so. Failure to do so, still risks problematic congestion on key freight routes.\n\nBut it also shows up the strategy of negotiators. Typically they carve up into defensive asks, where you manage your trade partners' access to your markets, and demand offensive asks about your access to their markets.\n\nThe UK had few offensive asks. This was not a typical trade deal. For the UK, this was a means through which to establish regulatory independence, not to further share it and therefore increase trade, by reducing barriers.\n\nDetails really matter here. A key question will be whether the most important exports qualify for tariff free status. The government claims a win here.\n\nThe car companies are the ones best placed to judge that. The EU was playing hardball on this issue, even against the wishes of its own carmakers. Certainly, it has rejected the UK wish to count Japanese and Turkish parts as effectively \"made in Britain\".\n\nAccepting that means that there will be new trade barriers with the EU, though thankfully not actual tariffs. The challenge really is about whether the new freedoms the prime minister has won, can help more than make up for more trade friction with what is currently our main market.\n\nIt means significant change, winners and losers. It means the government needs a proper strategic economic plan. This deal makes that process easier at an already challenging time. But it does not eliminate the economic challenge from this political win.", "The post-Brexit deal will make the UK safer, Home Secretary Priti Patel says, despite concerns from police chiefs about a lack of access to data.\n\nShe said the UK would be \"more secure through firmer and fairer border controls\" after 31 December.\n\nThe deal allows cooperation on security and policing, but Brussels said the UK will no longer have \"direct, real-time access\" to sensitive information.\n\nThis includes a major database on people and items such as stolen guns.\n\nThe UK-EU trade deal - a 1,246-page document which has been seen by the BBC but not published by the government - will be voted on in Parliament on 30 December, with the UK set to exit existing trade rules the next day.\n\nIn the run-up to the UK's separation from the European Union, police chiefs raised concerns about losing access to databases and the European Arrest Warrant.\n\nMs Patel said the UK would continue to be \"one of the safest countries in the world\" and she was \"immensely proud\" of the package agreed with the EU.\n\nShe said: \"It means both sides have effective tools to tackle serious crime and terrorism, protecting the public and bringing criminals to justice.\n\n\"But we will also seize this historic opportunity to make the UK safer and more secure through firmer and fairer border controls.\"\n\nThe Home Office said the post-Brexit agreement included streamlined extradition arrangements, fast and effective exchange of national DNA, fingerprint and vehicle registration data and continued transfers of Passenger Name Record data.\n\nFrom July 2021, the UK will receive advance data on goods arriving from the EU into Great Britain, something which was not previously possible under EU rules.\n\nBut the UK will lose access to the EU's Schengen Information System II (SIS II) database of alerts about people and items such as stolen firearms and vehicles.\n\nThe EU has said it is legally impossible to offer SIS access to the UK.\n\nEarlier this month Steve Rodhouse, director general of operations for the National Crime Agency, warned that losing access to the database would mean alerts relating to around 400,000 investigations in European countries would disappear from the UK's national computer on 31 December.\n\n\"Investigations could take longer, and it could mean that serious criminals are not held to account as quickly,\" he said.\n\nBBC home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani said that while the agreement did appear to protect continued security and policing cooperation it \"downgrades what British police can achieve - and how quickly\".\n\n\"As expected, the UK will have to unplug its connection to an enormous real-time database that shares alerts on wanted or missing people,\" he said.\n\nIn November, National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) lead for Brexit, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Martin told peers that while contingency plans were being made the loss of access to SIS was \"still a capability gap and it will have a massive impact on us\".\n\nHe said his team had checked the system 603 million times last year.\n\nFollowing the announcement of the deal, the NPCC said while it welcomed a deal between the UK and EU it was working with the government to \"fully understand the detail of the security agreement and how it will be implemented, and ensure we are prepared for any changes to the way we currently operate\".\n\nBBC Reality Check correspondent Chris Morris said while the UK has reached an agreement on extradition and will be able to sit in on meetings of Europol - the cross-border security agency - \"on a par with the best other countries have achieved\", the speed at which the UK gets important data and the influence it has on decisions has been reduced.", "Theo, a trans boy, tried to take his life last year while waiting for an NHS referral\n\nThe NHS gender identity service is seeking leave to appeal against a High Court ruling that restricts children under 16 from accessing \"puberty-blocking\" drugs.\n\nThe NHS service says the move harms young people with gender dysphoria.\n\nGender dysphoria is when a mismatch between a person's sex assigned at birth and their gender identity causes them distress.\n\nAccessing puberty blockers is currently one of the first steps in treatment for young people wishing to transition.\n\nEarlier this month, three High Court judges ruled that children under 16 with gender dysphoria are \"unlikely to be able to give informed consent to undergo treatment with puberty-blocking drugs\".\n\nDame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Lord Justice Lewis and Mrs Justice Lieven, said: \"It is highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers.\n\n\"It is doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers,\" she added.\n\nAs a result, trans children under the age of 16 will now need a clinician to apply to the High Court to be able to access puberty blockers, and all current referrals and appointments have been paused.\n\nThe BBC understands that clinicians may also seek guidance from the High Court for all trans young people under 18.\n\nThe Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which runs England and Wales' only children's gender identity service, is now seeking leave to appeal the High Court decision, along with University College Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust.\n\nSome trans young people have been giving their reaction to the ruling, with one calling it \"honestly terrifying\".\n\nTheo, a 14-year-old trans boy who suffers from extreme gender dysphoria, came out as trans when he was 11. He is still waiting to see a gender specialist, and last year he tried to take his own life.\n\nHe wanted to \"disappear\", he said, after being left to go through female puberty while stuck on a \"never-ending\" NHS waiting list.\n\n\"I felt like I wanted to be dead rather than waiting. I spend a lot of time wishing I could be a normal boy and there is no help for me.\n\n\"I have support around me, but my gender dysphoria feels like I'm not me in my own body,\" he says.\n\n\"It can make me really depressed. I hate seeing my body, so I can barely have a shower or a bath.\"\n\nTheo's mum, Loreto, says that even when Theo was lying in intensive care \"connected to pumps and with tubes through his nose\", she could not secure him any gender identity support from the NHS.\n\n\"I still have a child who can't go outside. I have to constantly check how he's dealing with life, and tell him to focus on the positives.\"\n\nThe NHS Gender Identity Development Service is based at the Tavistock and Portman Trust\n\nDr Adrian Harrop, a GP from Liverpool who has defended the right of children to begin transitioning, says trans young people have now had \"the rug pulled from underneath them\".\n\n\"It makes me terribly worried that there is now nothing there for those children, and nothing that can be done to help them.\n\nBut one claimant in the High Court case, the mother of a 15-year-old girl who is awaiting treatment, said before the outcome that \"It is distressing to have to wait and to try and convince someone that your identity warrants medical intervention.\n\n\"However, I think the downside of getting it wrong, the outcomes of getting it wrong, are also catastrophic.\"\n\nThe NHS Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) website states: \"This judgment and the revised NHS England service specifications for GIDS raise a lot of questions and may be the cause of anxiety and distress for our patients and their families/guardians.\n\n\"We also appreciate that this comes at a time when our waiting times have never been longer, and amidst a pandemic.\"\n\nWhile the NHS gender identity service says that access to any medication will not be \"automatically withdrawn\" as a result of the ruling, they confirmed that no new referrals are being accepted.\n\nA spokesperson for the NHS Trusts involved told the BBC this is a \"temporary pause\".\n\nEmma (left) supports her trans daughter Emily (right) at LGBT Pride events\n\nEmily, a 12-year-old trans girl from Liverpool, was first referred to the Tavistock by her GP in May 2017.\n\nAfter being assessed over 12 appointments, across two years, involving Emily and her parents, she had just been recommended for puberty blockers by the service.\n\nEmily's mother, Emma, fears her daughter \"will not make it through\" male puberty. \"Emily is running out of time. We will have to figure something out, and fast,\" she says.\n\n\"She's already so uncomfortable in the body she's got, and if it becomes more male, she won't be able to tolerate it.\"\n\nIn October 2020, Emily's NHS psychotherapist wrote: \"I am satisfied that Emily, with the ongoing support and guidance of her parents, has a good understanding about the potential side-effects of this treatment.\"\n\nBut Keira Bell, who at 20 had a double mastectomy, has begun de-transitioning and now reflects \"It was heartbreaking to realise I'd gone down the wrong path.\"\n\nClarification and update 23 December: We have made some changes to this article which include amending its opening line to make clear that the NHS gender identity service has not appealed against the High Court ruling but is seeking leave to do so. We have also added a paragraph which provides further background information on GenderGP and included links to the BBC Action Line.\n\nCorrection 8th July 2021: This article has been amended following a complaint to the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit.\n\nIf you are in the UK, you can call the Samaritans on 116123\n\nFor information and support on mental health and suicide, you can access the BBC Action Line", "Is the mutant Covid variant already in the US?\n\nPublic health experts in the US have been weighing in on the UK's discovery of a new mutant variant of Covid-19, with many saying that there is a solid likelihood that the virus is already present in the US. Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US disease researcher, told ABC News this morning that it is \"certainly possible\" that the mutant strain is already present in the US. \"I mean, when you have this amount of spread within a place like the UK that you really need to assume that it's here already,\" he said. \"It may not - and certainly it's not the dominant strain, but I would not be surprised at all if it was already here.\" The former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the regulator tasked with approving vaccines and medicines, said the new strain “is already in the US.” “I don’t think a travel ban [on the UK], at this point, is going to prevent this mutated strain from coming into the United States,” Scott Gottlieb told CNBC.", "Restaurants and gastro pubs to close at 15:00 GMT on Christmas Eve\n\nRestaurants, hairdressers and gastro pubs in the Republic of Ireland will close on Christmas Eve when new restrictions are introduced.\n\nPeople in Ireland may travel beyond their own county until the end of Stephen's Day, the Irish Cabinet has announced.\n\nThere will be no new inter-county travel allowed after 26 December.\n\nHousehold visits will be reduced to one other household from 27 December.\n\nHowever, three households will still be allowed to mix on Christmas Day.\n\nTravel restrictions from Britain will remain until 31 December under the new rules, and the number of wedding guests in Ireland will be reduced to six, from 2 January, RTÉ reports.\n\nThe new restrictions will be reviewed on 12 January, however Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Leo Varadkar has warned those businesses affected that they should operate on the assumption they will be closed until the end of February or early March, when a critical mass of the population should be vaccinated.\n\nThe Irish Foreign Ministry has set up a GB emergency travel helpline for Irish people who are finding it difficult to get home for Christmas.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Irish Foreign Ministry This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nTaoiseach (Irish PM) Micheál Martin said coronavirus in Ireland may be increasing at a rate of 10% per day, but added that the most vulnerable Irish citizens will begin receiving the vaccine next week.\n\nMr Martin said he is certain the Irish vaccination programme will allow the virus to be managed in the new year.\n\n\"The way to show love and respect for others is to comply with guidelines,\" he added.\n\nIrish schools will remain open under the new measures\n\nMr Martin said the measures equated to Level 5 on Ireland's Covid-19 response plan with a few adjustments, including non-essential retail remaining open, with guidance that shops do not run January sales.\n\nHe said gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools could remain open for individual exercise.\n\nSchools will also stay open but no sports matches can take place apart from those at elite level.\n\nHis deputy prime minister, Mr Varadkar added: \"One of the real concerns that we have is that unlike the second wave, the virus seems to be affecting older people in quite high numbers and that is causing us enormous concern.\n\n\"Because what is very likely to happen over the next couple of days is that younger people who have been out socialising, perhaps carrying the virus, will then mix with older people over Christmas and that is a recipe for disaster.\"\n\nMinister for Transport, Eamon Ryan earlier said there will be a series of \"staggered dates\" regarding changes to restrictions over the holiday period.\n\nMr Ryan said the cabinet sub-committee had been briefed by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) on Monday evening on the latest situation with coronavirus.\n\nMeanwhile in the Republic of Ireland on Monday, there were no new coronavirus-linked deaths reported.\n\nThere have been a total of 2,158 coronavirus-related deaths in Ireland and a total of 80,267 confirmed cases since the outbreak began.", "Communal signing isn't allowed in the UK under coronavirus guidelines but researchers are hoping to find the evidence needed to bring it back.\n\nUniversity College London has been analysing how wearing a face mask could make communal singing safe enough.", "There are still places throughout the UK without adequate coverage\n\nThe UK will fail to achieve a target of offering gigabit-capable broadband to 85% of the UK by 2025, MPs have warned.\n\nInitially, the government had aimed for nationwide coverage within five years.\n\nBut targets were scaled back when it emerged that only 25% of the promised £5bn funding would be available.\n\nThe Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee said the cuts, paired with a \"lack of effective planning\" meant the UK could end up playing catch-up to other countries.\n\nThe report said there was \"no genuine belief\" from within the sector that the government's current goals were possible within its current timeframe.\n\n“The government’s decision to abandon its 2025 gigabit-capable broadband target within weeks of ministers reassuring us of their commitment to it was a belated recognition that it was unrealistic and unachievable, underlining concerns we’d heard from industry,\" said committee chairman Julian Knight.\n\nOn the same day as the committee's scathing report, the government also laid out the next steps in its plan.\n\nIt said homes and businesses that did not yet have access to gigabit-capable broadband would be prioritised in the ongoing roll-out.\n\nLloyd Felton, of County Broadband, said this would be crucial in making sure the UK's broadband was fit for future generations.\n\n“Continued growth in the rollout of full-fibre broadband is much-needed, as a recent Ofcom report revealed only 18% of the UK can access full-fibre services.\n\n\"It is vital that we take the opportunities to invest in full-fibre infrastructure now, to ensure Britain’s broadband is accessible to all UK properties,\" he added.\n\nThe committee also echoed concerns from within the telecoms industry that the government would fall short of its 5G coverage target, leaving some areas without connectivity.\n\nThe government had previously announced its target for majority 5G coverage in the UK by 2027 as part of its £5bn plan.\n\nHowever, the DCMS said the plans in their current state failed to address problems with coverage in hard-to-reach rural areas.\n\nAbout 9% of the UK has little or no access to 4G networks from any provider.\n\n“The government’s target to deliver to the majority of the population, rather than the majority of the country, risks repeating the same errors that led to mobile ‘not-spots’,\" said Mr Knight.\n\n\"If investors cherry-pick areas of high population, it leaves people in remote rural areas without a hope.\"\n\nMr Knight added that current plans risked \"embedding digital inequality rather than solving it\".\n\nHonest Mobile founder Andy Aitken urged the government to put addressing the UK's current coverage issues ahead of its 5G plans.\n\n\"Even people in central London - where coverage is best - still find themselves in not-spots and without a connection during rush hour,\" said Mr Aitken.\n\nHe added: \"Lockdown has only highlighted the importance of giving high-quality internet access to everyone wherever they live in the UK.\"\n\nFollowing a ruling in July, the UK's mobile providers are banned from using Huawei 5G equipment after 31 December.\n\nThey must also remove all the Chinese firm's 5G kit from their networks by 2027.\n\nThe legislation is expected to result in a delay of at least two years to 5G roll-out, with additional costs of up to £2bn.", "Posh cars on the driveway of his suburban house gave clues to Maher's lifestyle\n\nA UK-based haulier shipped drugs for gangs across Europe from his Warrington living room in lockdown.\n\nThomas Maher, originally from Ireland, has been sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to more than 14 years in jail after pleading guilty to drugs and money-laundering charges.\n\nHe made thousands of pounds a week, using an encrypted Encrochat phone to fix the movement of drugs and money.\n\nHe is the first major crime boss jailed using messages obtained when French police cracked the Encrochat network.\n\nThe phones were considered mandatory for high-end organised crime, and more than a thousand suspects have been arrested on the strength of the evidence their messages contain.\n\nMaher, 39, used the Encrochat handles \"Satirical\" and \"Snacker\" as he did deals with organised crime networks in the UK, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and Bulgaria.\n\nThe National Crime Agency says he was \"hugely influential\" among Europe's drug cartels.\n\nSentencing him, Judge Aubrey QC said Maher was \"a high-ranking facilitator... a go-between for criminal networks needing to transport their drugs between Holland and Ireland\".\n\nPassing a sentence of 14 years and eight months, the judge told Maher: \"You were an extremely important cog in the wheel of a sophisticated network.\"\n\nMaher would arrange for lorries to move massive loads of drugs hidden alongside legitimate cargoes such as fruit or wine in one direction and then to bring cash in the other direction.\n\nThe NCA kept Maher under surveillance after French police passed on details of his activities\n\nPolice found out about his operation after he was arrested in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants while they were being transported to the UK in October 2019. He had previously owned the trailer in which they were found.\n\nThe NCA put him under surveillance in an attempt to identify the scale of his criminal activities.\n\nHowever, the cracking of the Encrochat network by French intelligence and the Gendarmerie provided the National Crime Agency with thousands of his encrypted messages.\n\nThey were able to watch, almost in real time, as he did deals with crime bosses around Europe.\n\nMartin Clark, from the NCA, said he posed as an \"honest haulier\", but was in fact \"very much a professional facilitator and he's done it all remotely sitting in his living room\".\n\n\"He's never personally been anywhere near any of it.\"\n\nIn fact, the NCA said he had been scrupulous about social distancing during the pandemic while communicating via Encrochat with dozens of criminals.\n\nThe evidence the agency has uncovered shines a new light on the way in which a smuggling network operates.\n\nMaher would be contacted by clients wanting to move hundreds of kilos of drugs.\n\nThe messages were written in criminal slang. He would discuss deals involving shipments of \"tops\" (top shelf drugs such as cocaine), or \"Colo\" (the purest form from Colombia).\n\nHeroin, which he deemed a more downmarket drug, was known as \"bottoms\".\n\nShipments might come from \"The Flat\" (The Netherlands) and the lorry returned with \"paper\" (cash).\n\nOfficers working on Encrochat cases are having to develop skills in understanding the slang suspects are using in their messages. In this message Thomas Maher (Satirical) is telling an alleged co-conspirator that they're not doing too badly despite the lockdown.\n\nHelpfully for police he sets out the network of drug transportation routes he is currently operating:\n\n\"Taxi ways are working out OK at the minute with this fella from flat to ours and Belgium to ours am other that's two - and plus a driver with [redacted] for Poly's sun to flat and we still have [redacted] turk to flat and and his men [redacted] to here where I am. Once we get this travel ban lifted m8 we be on the pigs bk that alone is a lot of taxi plus we have the receiver here from Asia so m8 we have a lot more than others... that's why I'm not stressing yet\n\nThe police translation reads: \"Our HGV drug courier business is working out OK at the moment. Someone is bringing shipments from Holland and Belgium to the UK. There's a driver for ecstasy from Spain to Holland, and we still have Turkey to Holland, and [redacted] is bringing shipments to the UK. Once the travel ban is lifted we will be doing rather well. That alone is a lot of shipments plus we have someone bringing drugs in from Asia. So, we have a lot more than other gangs... that's why I'm not stressing yet.\n\nHowever, like many users of the Encrochat network, Maher believed his messages could not be read, so he didn't bother trying to communicate in code.\n\nCrucial evidence was obtained from pictures on his phone. His drivers would photograph the shipments to prove they had been picked up.\n\nThey would sometimes use a \"token\" during the handover.\n\nThis involved showing a particular Euro bank note, with digits previously agreed as evidence of identity.\n\nWhen Maher was moving drugs he would earn around £3,500 each time. For money, transported for laundering in consignments of 300,000 euros at a time, he would \"skim\" 1% of the total as his payment\n\nHe was \"always showing £50 notes in the pub\", Martin Clark said, and people were suspicious that he was a criminal.\n\nMaher lived in a \"fairly modest\" Cheshire home, but police surveillance spotted luxury cars including a Range Rover, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes GLS and Corvette parked on the drive.\n\nWhen they raided his house they found evidence he had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on Rolex and Hublot watches.\n\nHe had taken holidays in Dubai, Mexico and New York where he liked to buy pricey modern art, including a map of the world created from bullets.", "Tesco has introduced purchasing limits on some products including eggs, rice, soap and toilet roll.\n\nThe move is to make sure everyone has access to the products, it said in an email to customers.\n\nCustomers are allowed to buy up to three of each item.\n\nThe move comes as almost 3,000 lorries remain stranded in Kent after restrictions on travel and freight between the UK and France were introduced.\n\nThe supermarket giant also encouraged customers to shop alone to ensure social distancing in stores.\n\nTesco said it has \"good stock levels\" and customers should \"shop as you normally would\".\n\nTesco introduced limits on some products in September in a bid to prevent a repeat of the panic-buying that led to shortages in March.\n\nFrance shut its UK border for 48 hours on Sunday amid fears of a new coronavirus variant.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps has since announcedthat some travel can resume, although lorry drivers are still advised not to travel to Kent after days of disruption.\n\nDozens of other countries have banned UK arrivals, including India, Iran and Canada.\n\nAny solution would probably include testing for lorry drivers, BBC Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield said.\n\nFrench authorities say some journeys will be allowed for residents and nationals with a recent negative test. Hauliers are expected to be updated later on Tuesday.\n\nMeanwhile, the EU Commission has urged other countries to drop their travel bans.\n\nIn a recommendation to all member states, it said flight and train bans should be discontinued to avoid supply chain disruption.\n\nPeople should be allowed to travel to their country of residence, provided they take a Covid-19 test or self-isolate, it said.\n\nBut the commission added that non-essential travel should still be discouraged.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nOn Monday, Tesco and Sainsbury's warned that some fresh items could run short if no way is found to get freight moving again.\n\nMuch of the UK's fresh vegetable stock comes from continental Europe in the winter, including tomatoes and cabbages.\n\nTesco anticipated that produce such as lettuces and citrus fruit could be hit.\n\nSainsbury's told the BBC that it did not currently have any product caps in place, and said it had \"good availability\".\n\nAndrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, pointed out that retailers have stocked up on goods ahead of Christmas, which should prevent immediate problems.\n\nHowever, he said that if testing is required to reopen borders \"we need to ensure it is quick to avoid adding friction to the supply chain.\n\n\"We have stressed to government there is no alternative to reopening the channel ports, given that it is a key supply route for fresh produce at this time of year.\"\n\nThe Channel is a vital trade route, with about 10,000 lorries a day travelling between Dover and Calais at Christmas, often bringing in the freshest produce.", "Grace Millane's family described her as \"our sunshine\"\n\nThe man who murdered British backpacker Grace Millane in New Zealand has been convicted of sex attacks on two more women.\n\nJesse Kempson, 28, can now be named after a court order banning his identification was lifted.\n\nIn February, he was jailed for a minimum of 17 years for murdering Miss Millane in his hotel room in Auckland in December 2018.\n\nThe Millane family said they \"do not think about him or speak his name\".\n\nIn October, Kempson was convicted of eight charges relating to various attacks including using a knife against a woman between November 2016 and April 2017.\n\nThe woman said \"something inside of him snapped\" when he \"got angry\" and said he had held a knife \"to my throat\".\n\nIn November, Kempson was convicted by a separate judge sitting alone of raping another woman on their first and only date in April 2018.\n\nShe told the court: \"I was just frozen and I let him do what he needed to do so I could try and go to sleep or go home as soon as possible.\"\n\nJesse Kempson was seen buying a suitcase he used to conceal Miss Millane's body\n\nKempson, who had worked in various sales jobs, met both of the women through the dating app Tinder, as he had Miss Millane.\n\nThe 11-year jail term for these nine offences - all committed while he was living in Auckland - will be served concurrently with his sentence for Miss Millane's murder.\n\nOn Friday, Kempson's appeal against his conviction and sentence for Miss Millane's murder was dismissed\n\nNow those cases are complete, the Court of Appeal has been able to lift an order banning Kempson from being identified.\n\nKempson can now be identified after a court order was lifted\n\nConcern had grown for the welfare of Miss Millane, from Wickford in Essex, in December 2018 when she failed to respond to friends and family wishing her a happy 22nd birthday.\n\nWithin days of her disappearance, police had identified Kempson as the prime suspect and managed to track his movements by trawling through CCTV.\n\nMiss Millane's body was discovered in the mountainous Waitākere Ranges, having been stuffed into a suitcase by Kempson and buried.\n\nThe killing prompted New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to apologise to Ms Millane's parents David and Gillian, saying: \"Your daughter should have been safe here; she wasn't and I'm sorry for that.\"\n\nDuring the murder trial in Auckland in 2019, the 12-person jury was shown footage of Miss Millane and Kempson seemingly enjoying each others' company around the city on a date.\n\nThey were seen on CCTV returning to his hotel, CityLife, where Kempson later strangled Miss Millane in his room.\n\nWhen Miss Millane did not respond to birthday messages, her family issued an appeal on social media\n\nIn a statement, the Millane family said the suppression of Kempson's name had \"allowed people to remember Grace - a young, vibrant girl who set out to see the world, instead of the man who took her life\".\n\n\"To use his name shows we care and gives him the notoriety he seeks,\" they added.\n\n\"We instead choose to speak Grace's name.\"\n\nMiss Millane's murder prompted an outpouring of grief in New Zealand\n\nFor much of his three-week trial for the murder of Grace Millane, Jesse Kempson looked stony-faced, occasionally glancing down at the court papers in the dock and turning a page.\n\nAt times, when the evidence was particularly graphic, he would hold his head in his hands.\n\nWhen the verdict was delivered, Kempson stared straight ahead, before being sent out of the courtroom for a few minutes.\n\nHe returned, red-faced and rubbing his eyes as if he had been crying - a rare glimpse of emotion, perhaps.\n\nBut part of you could not help feel it was all a performance.\n\nIn his police interviews he had reeled off a litany of lies, about not just about his own actions but those of Miss Millane, until he was confronted with evidence to the contrary.\n\nThe jury's verdict was the rejection of his ultimate lie - one he had hoped to get away with.\n\nNew Zealand law expert Chris Gallavin said \"name suppression\" was more often used to protect victims or the families of defendants.\n\n\"In this circumstance, it's actually name suppression to protect the fair trial rights of the accused,\" he said.\n\nThe order remained in place because of the further accusations faced by Kempson, and was only lifted after his appeal was rejected.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "Mr Navalny is recovering after weeks in intensive care\n\nRussian opposition leader Alexei Navalny duped a Russian FSB state agent into revealing details of an attack on him with the nerve agent Novichok, the investigative group Bellingcat reports.\n\nMr Navalny reportedly impersonated a security official to call the agent.\n\nThe agent, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, told him the Novichok had been placed in a pair of Mr Navalny's underpants.\n\nMr Navalny, who is still recovering in Berlin, posted a recording of the long conversation on his YouTube channel.\n\nHe collapsed on board a Russian airliner in August in the attack, which nearly proved fatal.\n\nAs part of Mr Navalny's ruse to elicit more details of the assassination attempt, Bellingcat says the call to Mr Kudryavtsev was set up to indicate it was coming from a Federal Security Service (FSB) landline.\n\nIn the conversation, Mr Navalny posed as a senior official seeking details for a report on the FSB operation.\n\nMr Kudryavtsev told him the swift response of the airline pilot and the emergency medical team in Omsk, Siberia - where Mr Navalny was first treated - could have been the reason for the failure to kill him.\n\nMr Kudryavtsev said he had been sent to Omsk later to seize Mr Navalny's clothes and remove all traces of Novichok from them.\n\nThe BBC's Steven Rosenberg, in Moscow, says publication of the recording will be a huge embarrassment for the Kremlin, which continues to deny any link between the Russian state and poisoning of President Putin's most vocal critic.\n\nLast week Mr Putin told a huge TV audience that the Bellingcat investigation - carried out with other Western media partners - was a \"trick\" invented by US intelligence.\n\nBut he added that it was right for the FSB to be shadowing Mr Navalny.\n\nThe Bellingcat report last week named several FSB agents - chemical weapons specialists - who, it alleged, had been tailing him for years before the attempt on his life.\n\nMr Navalny has millions of followers on social media, where he denounces Mr Putin's United Russia party as deeply corrupt and full of \"crooks and thieves\". He says Mr Putin runs a \"feudal\" system of patronage \"sucking the blood out of Russia\".\n\nIn the summer, before the August poisoning, Mr Navalny campaigned to get several of his supporters elected to councils in Siberia.", "Royal Mail has agreed what unions have called a \"landmark\" deal to settle a long-running dispute over pay and conditions.\n\nUnion members will vote on a 2.7% pay increase for this year, a 1% increase next year and a shorter working week.\n\nThe Communication Workers Union called it an \"excellent\" deal, marking the end of an \"adversarial\" two-year dispute.\n\nUnder the agreement, Royal Mail will be able to prioritise investment in its fast-growing parcels division.\n\nIt will also allow Royal Mail to modernise the business with investment in more automation. This will include replacing the handwritten signing-in sheets at sorting sites with swipe-and-scan technology.\n\nRoyal Mail's interim executive chairman Keith Williams said: \"We have a window of opportunity to focus Royal Mail on what our customers want today - an ever-growing need for more parcels, whilst providing a sustainable letters service.\n\n\"This agreement provides a framework to do just that, but the proof will be in the pudding. We have been far too slow to adapt in the past and now need to deliver change much more quickly.\"\n\nThe restructuring plan was proposed by Royal Mail's former chief executive, Rico Black. Union resistance to the overhaul contributed to Mr Black's resignation in May.\n\n\"This agreement marks the end of our two year dispute with Royal Mail Group and brings closure to one of the most adversarial periods of our history,\" CWU said.\n\nThe union added that the circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have \"massively advanced the change anticipated in our previous agreements in parcel growth\".\n\nRoyal Mail's revenue in the eight months to November was £380m higher, thanks to growth in parcel demand.\n\nOn Monday, Royal Mail suspended mail services to mainland Europe. Deliveries to Ireland are unaffected it said.\n\nParcels it already has will be \"held securely\" until it can transport them it said.", "The group travelled to Bute in contravention of Covid rules\n\nThe Marquess of Bute has been charged with allegedly breaking coronavirus laws after reportedly travelling to Scotland from London.\n\nPolice Scotland launched an investigation following reports on Monday that he and six others travelled to the Isle of Bute.\n\nThe marquess has a home in London as well as his ancestral home of Mount Stuart on Bute.\n\nScotland's cross border travel curbs have been in place since November.\n\nAlso known as John Colum Bute, the 62-year-old marquess is a former F1 driver who raced under the name Johnny Dumfries.\n\nA Police Scotland spokeswoman said the force received reports of a group of people travelling to the Isle of Bute in contravention of the coronavirus legislation.\n\nShe added: \"Inquiries were carried out and three men, aged 32, 62 and 69 years, and four women, aged 21, 29, 60 and 90, have been charged and will be subject of a report to the procurator fiscal.\"\n\nThe Bute family has been contacted for comment.", "No lorries are leaving the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel for France\n\nChaos at ports caused by EU border closures has set back the UK's efforts to reassure foreign customers post-Brexit, the food industry has said.\n\nFood and Drink Federation boss Ian Wright said UK exporters wanted to make sure foreign firms could rely on their supply chains after 1 January.\n\nBut the current crisis had harmed their cause, he told MPs.\n\n\"We've just proved... that you can't trust British products,\" he said. \"And that's really unhelpful.\"\n\nMr Wright was giving evidence to an emergency hearing of the Commons business committee, called to examine the impact of the border delays on UK business and security of supply.\n\nFrance shut its UK border for 48 hours on Sunday amid fears of a new coronavirus variant in the UK. More than 50 countries have now banned UK arrivals.\n\nAt the same time, UK-EU talks on a post-Brexit trade deal are continuing, with nine days left to reach and ratify any agreement.\n\nMr Wright said the current scenes at Dover, where the number of lorries stranded and unable to cross to France has continued to rise, could be \"replicated at any point\".\n\n\"I think we will see this happen particularly if we get a no-deal Brexit,\" he added.\n\nMr Wright said there were thought to be 4,000 trucks on their way to Dover at various points. He warned that the number could grow by the end of the day to possibly as high as 6,000 or 7,000.\n\nHe also criticised the government's handling of the announcement at the weekend and urged it to compensate those who had lost out.\n\nThe committee also heard that there were concerns over the welfare of lorry and van drivers caught up in the disruption, as the facilities provided for them are considered inadequate.\n\n\"We have no confidence, we have never had any confidence drivers will be looked after,\" said Duncan Buchanan of the Road Haulage Association.\n\n\"This is a very serious problem - whether you have moved trucks from one place to another, it is irrelevant.\"\n\nMr Buchanan said it was the start of supply chain disruption \"of the like we have probably never experienced\".\n\n\"Many of the retailers are saying that we are up until Christmas, we will be fine until Christmas at least, but we must recover very fast to keep the shops fully stocked after Christmas. It's a big worry,\" he added.\n\nAndrew Opie, of the British Retail Consortium, agreed, saying that if lorries were not moving within 24 hours, there could be problems with the availability of fresh food products from 27 December.", "Gheorghe Nica and Eamonn Harrison were both found guilty of manslaughter\n\nTwo men have been found guilty of the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in a lorry trailer in Essex.\n\nThe migrants suffocated in the sealed container en route from Zeebrugge to Purfleet in October 2019.\n\nEamonn Harrison, 24, who dropped off the trailer at the Belgian port, and people-smuggler Gheorghe Nica, 43, were convicted by an Old Bailey jury.\n\nTwo others were convicted of being part of a wider people-smuggling conspiracy.\n\nThe 39 people who died in the back of a trailer as it crossed the North Sea between Zeebrugge and the UK\n\nThe trial examined three smuggling attempts by the gang - two that were successful on 11 and 18 October, and the final trip on 23 October.\n\nLorry driver Christopher Kennedy, 24, from County Armagh, collected the trailers from Purfleet on the earlier two runs, claiming he thought he was transporting cigarettes.\n\nBut the jury found Kennedy and Valentin Calota, 38, of Birmingham, guilty of conspiring to assist illegal immigration.\n\nDuring the trial, jurors were given a snapshot of the victims - who included a bricklayer, a university graduate and a nailbar technician - and their dreams of a better life.\n\nMany of their families borrowed heavily to fund their passage, relying on their potential future earnings once they got into the UK.\n\nDet Ch Insp Daniel Stoten, from Essex Police, said: \"If you look at the method, the way they transported human beings... we wouldn't transport animals in that way.\"\n\nAnother two men - Irish haulage boss Ronan Hughes, 41, of Tyholland, County Monaghan, Ireland, and 26-year-old lorry driver Maurice Robinson - had previously admitted manslaughter.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel described the deaths as a \"truly tragic incident\".\n\nChristopher Kennedy was found guilty of conspiring to assist illegal immigration\n\nProsecutors said in the fatal run, the container became a \"tomb\" as temperatures in the unit reached an \"unbearable\" 38.5C (101F).\n\nThe migrants, aged 15 to 44, were sealed inside for at least 12 hours.\n\nThey had used a metal pole to try to punch through the roof, but only managed to dent the interior.\n\nProsecutor Bill Emlyn Jones said: \"There was no way out, and no-one to hear them; no-one to help them.\"\n\nBoth Maurice Robinson (l) and Ronan Hughes (r) admitted 39 counts of manslaughter in connection with the case\n\nHarrison, of Newry, County Down, towed the trailer to Zeebrugge, from where it was transported to Purfleet.\n\nDuring the 10-week trial, he claimed he did not know there were people in the trailer and that he watched \"a wee bit of Netflix\" in bed as they were loaded on.\n\nHe also said he had no idea there were migrants in two other trailers that he had dropped off at the same port in the previous 12 days.\n\nRobinson, from County Armagh, collected the trailer when it arrived on UK shores just after midnight on 23 October.\n\nHis boss, Hughes, had messaged him: \"Give them air quickly don't let them out.\". Robinson gave a thumbs-up in reply.\n\nBut when Robinson stopped on a nearby industrial estate, he found that the migrants were all dead.\n\nThe bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October last year\n\nThere was a series of telephone conversations between him and Hughes and Nica, of Basildon, Essex, before Robinson eventually dialled 999.\n\nIn his evidence, Nica said Robinson told him: \"I have a problem here - dead bodies in the trailer.\"\n\nDet Ch Insp Stoten said that many of the police officers who attended \"were really young in service\" and it was possibly the first time some had ever seen a dead person.\n\nHe said he believed the \"absolutely horrendous scene\" would stay with those officers \"for the rest of their career and, quite probably, the rest of lives\".\n\nOn all three runs, Nica had arranged cars and a van to transport the migrants at the UK end.\n\nJurors were shown CCTV footage of him carrying a holdall of cash to Hughes's room at the Ibis hotel, Thurrock, early on 19 October.\n\nNica admitted to conspiring to assist illegal immigration in the first two runs, but he insisted that he believed the third run was all to do with smuggling cigarettes.\n\nThe mechanic told jurors he had been roped into people-smuggling, and said: \"I never wanted to be involved in this kind of job.\"\n\nThe day after the bodies were found, Nica travelled to Romania, claiming he was \"scared\" of a \"big, big investigation\", but prosecutors said the defendant's version of events was \"ridiculous\".\n\nDet Ch Insp Stoten said the gang stood to make between £10,000 and £12,000 per person transported, \"the lion's share of which would have gone to Ronan Hughes and Gheorghe Nica\".\n\nCCTV footage from Orsett Golf Club of a lorry on 11 October 2019\n\nThe jury had heard that on 14 October, between the two successful runs, Kennedy was found at the French end of the Channel Tunnel with 20 Vietnamese migrants in his trailer.\n\nAt least two of those people ended up dying in the fatal run.\n\nPolice believe the smugglers had \"doubled-up\" the load on 23 October because of the problem on 14 October, and that was what led to the deaths.\n\nThis gang had been smuggling people for months and months, the Old Bailey heard.\n\nOn the first of several successful runs on the same route, a couple, Marie Andrews and Stewart Cox, saw people getting out of a van on a country lane in Orsett, Essex, and dialled 999.\n\nPolice attended but did not seize CCTV footage from the nearby golf course, in which a lorry and other vehicles were seen on the lane.\n\nIf, perhaps, Essex Police had managed to get to that footage, follow it up and identify some of the vehicles before the fatal run 12 days later, then this gang might possibly have been disrupted before these 39 people died.\n\nAsked about that, the force said it could only allocate the resources available at the time.\n\nBut it says that now, if there are ever reports of people in the back of a lorry and the driver is present, the driver will be arrested.\n\nDinh Dinh Binh - from Hai Phong - was one of two 15-year-olds to die in the container\n\nAlexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 28, of Hobart Road, Tilbury, Essex, and Gazmir Nuzi, 43, of Barclay Road, Tottenham, north London, had earlier admitted assisting unlawful immigration linked to the case.\n\nMr Justice Sweeney adjourned sentencing of all the defendants to 7, 8 and 11 January.\n\nMs Patel said her \"thoughts remain with those affected by this tragedy\".\n\n\"Today's convictions only strengthen my resolve to do all I can to go after the people-smugglers who prey on the vulnerable and trade in human misery,\" she added.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "A NI Executive meeting is under way to consider a paper on whether to impose a travel ban from GB.\n\nEarlier, the deputy first minister said the executive must meet to agree a ban as \"we are facing a grave situation\".\n\nThe health minister took advice from the Attorney General and set out that in a paper to the executive.\n\nIt is understood Robin Swann has recommended issuing guidance advising against non-essential travel between NI and GB, and NI and the Irish Republic.\n\nThe minister has also advised that people arriving into Northern Ireland should self-isolate for 10 days.\n\nIt is understood Sinn Féin Finance Minister Conor Murphy has now written to Mr Swann expressing \"dismay and astonishment\" that he is not moving immediately to instigate a ban on travel between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.\n\nHe has called on Mr Swann to reconsider his approach.\n\nMr Swann's paper also makes the case for progressing work regarding any changes in the law needed to impose a ban - Mr Murphy has called on the minister to \"move urgently\" to complete this, in order to introduce a ban.\n\nMore than 40 countries, including the Republic of Ireland, have banned UK arrivals because of concerns about the spread of a new variant of coronavirus.\n\nEarlier the first minister said it is \"probable\" the variant is already in NI.\n\nArlene Foster said four cases in NI were being tested to determine if they are the new highly infectious variant.\n\nThe executive was already scheduled to meet on Tuesday morning to discuss the end of the EU exit transition period on 31 December.\n\nOn Sunday, the executive agreed so-called Christmas bubbles should be limited to one day.\n\nThe move followed action in England, Scotland and Wales on Saturday, cutting the previously agreed five days to just one..\n\nAnother seven coronavirus-related deaths were reported in Northern Ireland on Monday.\n\nThe Department of Health's death toll is 1,203. There were also a further 555 cases of Covid-19 diagnosed.\n\nThere are 446 people with Covid-19 in hospital. Thirty are in intensive care, with 24 on ventilators.\n\nA new six-week lockdown for Northern Ireland comes into force at 00:01 GMT on 26 December.\n\nMinisters met remotely on Sunday night to discuss the impact of the variant on Christmas rules.\n\nThe executive said there would be flexibility on which day between 23 and 27 December people come together, to accommodate those working on Christmas Day.\n\nThat meeting also discussed travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, but nothing was agreed.\n\nIrish Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said the ban on travel from Britain to the Republic of Ireland was initially for 48 hours, but added he did not want to give anyone \"false hope that there is likely to be any major change\".\n\nNo border controls would be set up on the Irish border, he added.\n\nEuropean nations have begun to impose travel bans on the UK after it reported a more-infectious and \"out of control\" coronavirus variant\n\nMr Ryan said his government would be making concerns about the lack of a GB-NI travel ban known, although it would be up to Stormont to decide what to do.\n\nOn Monday, the Irish government said there would be at least two consular flights departing on Tuesday evening to bring Irish residents home.\n\nBBC News NI has asked if this would include people in Northern Ireland who have an Irish passport.\n\nIn a statement, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said \"two specific and limited categories of people\" were included.\n\nThese are international travellers to Ireland who are transiting through Great Britain and Irish people \"currently on short trips to Great Britain\" or who have travelled to Great Britain for \"emergency medical treatment\".\n\nIn the Republic of Ireland, there were 727 new cases reported on Monday.\n\nThe number of deaths linked to the virus is unchanged at 2,158.\n\nAt Sunday's executive meeting, Sinn Féin had proposed prohibiting travel from Great Britain into Northern Ireland, and said this should be a priority.\n\nThe party wants the health minister to use powers from the 1967 Public Health Act to impose a ban on people entering from Great Britain.\n\nBut Mrs Foster said such a blanket ban was not a simple matter, would have \"downside consequences\" and that the executive would take legal advice from the attorney general on it.\n\nShe also said those living in the most infected areas are already prohibited from travelling, although she recognised some would try to \"game\" the regulations.\n\n\"There is a travel ban in place - it covers about 17m people in England, those people can't come to Northern Ireland,\" she told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.\n\nMrs Foster said the new bubble rules would be placed in law, but added that she did not expect police to be \"knocking on people's doors on Christmas Day or Boxing Day to check they are abiding by the law\".\n\nShe said the four possible cases of the new variant under examination had \"different sequencing\" from other cases.\n\nIf you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.\n\nOn Sunday, four of the five main Stormont parties asked for an urgent executive meeting.\n\nSinn Féin, the SDLP and Alliance sent a joint letter to the first and deputy first ministers asking to meet.\n\nIn the letter, the parties said they must satisfy themselves that the Christmas restrictions and the six-week lockdown from 26 December were sufficiently robust to safeguard public health.\n\nIt is understood health minister and UUP member Robin Swann sent a separate letter with similar concerns.", "Peter Cruddas won a libel case against the Sunday Times in 2013\n\nBoris Johnson has nominated businessman Peter Cruddas for a peerage, despite his rejection by the honours watchdog.\n\nThe Lords Appointments Commission did not support ennobling the businessman, who quit as Tory co-treasurer in 2012 following cash-for-access allegations.\n\nMr Cruddas later won a libel case against a newspaper over its claims.\n\nMr Johnson rejected the commission's recommendation, becoming the first PM to ignore its advice on a nomination since it was set up in 2000.\n\nLabour accused Mr Johnson - who received £50,000 from Mr Cruddas for his campaign to become Conservative leader in 2019 - of \"cronyism\".\n\nFormer Archbishop of York John Sentamu and ex-MI5 boss Sir Andrew Parker are also among those given peerages in the political honours list.\n\nMr Cruddas, who has donated more than £3m to the Conservatives since 2007, resigned as party co-treasurer in 2012 after a newspaper story suggested he was offering access to then Prime Minister David Cameron for a donation of £250,000 a year.\n\nBut the following year he won £180,000 in damages in a libel victory against the Sunday Times, which had published the claims. The damages were later reduced to £50,000 on appeal.\n\nIn a letter to the Lords appointment commission, Mr Johnson said its rejection of Mr Cruddas's nomination for a peerage related \"to historic concerns in respect of allegations\" made during his time as co-treasurer.\n\nBut he added that these had been found to be \"untrue and libellous\" and that an internal Conservative Party investigation had discovered \"no intentional wrongdoing\" on Mr Cruddas's part.\n\nMr Johnson also said the committee had found \"no suggestion of any matters of concern\" before or since the 2012 allegations.\n\nFormer Archbishop of York John Sentamu is among those honoured\n\nMr Cruddas, the founder of financial services company CMC Markets and a prominent Brexit supporter, had a \"long track record of committed political service\" and was one of the UK's \"most successful business figures\", the prime minister argued.\n\nThe commission provides advice but appointments to the Lords are ultimately a decision for the prime minister.\n\nLabour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: \"After months of revelations about the cronyism at the heart of this government, it's somehow appropriate the prime minister has chosen to end the year with a peerage to Peter Cruddas.\"\n\nShe added that there was \"one rule for the Conservatives and their chums, another for the rest of the country\".\n\nFormer environment minister Sir Richard Benyon; former MEPs Dame Jacqueline Foster, Syed Kamall and Daniel Hannan; Cerebral Palsy Scotland chief executive Stephanie Fraser; and Dean Godson, director of the Policy Exchange think tank, have also been nominated for Conservative seats in the Lords.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer chose Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake; former MPs Vernon Coaker and Jennifer Chapman, who chaired his Labour leadership campaign; former MEP Wajid Khan; and Gillian Merron, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and a former Labour MP.\n\nAs well as Mr Sentamu and Sir Andrew, the nominations for crossbench - non-party - peerages are former judge Sir Terence Etherton and Sir Simon McDonald, former permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office.\n\nThe Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, criticised the number of new peers, which will bring the total membership of the House of Lords to more than 830, accusing Mr Johnson of a \"massive U-turn\" on his predecessor Theresa May's policy of reducing it in size.\n\nIt added \"insult to injury\" that the appointments had been announced while Parliament was in recess, he said.\n\n\"It may also now be the time to review the role and the powers of the House of Lords Appointments Commission,\" Lord Fowler added.", "The number of excess deaths - those above expected levels - since the start of the pandemic has passed 81,000.\n\nData from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows the UK saw nearly 14,000 deaths in the week of 11 December.\n\nThis was 13% above the expected levels for this time of year, down from 15% the week before.\n\nOf these deaths, 3,062 involved Covid-19, also slightly lower than the preceding week.\n\nExcess deaths are the difference between the total number of deaths registered (the height of the shaded area in the chart below) and the average over the previous five years for the same weeks (shown by the dashed line).\n\nThis average level rises each week in a normal winter as cold weather, flu and other factors lead to more deaths.\n\nIn recent weeks, the total number of deaths in the UK has been largely steady.\n\nThe rises seen throughout October and early November stalled, largely due to the falls in coronavirus infections, hospitalisations and deaths seen during November and early December.\n\nAs a result, the gap between the total number of deaths seen and the expected levels has narrowed.\n\nBut the gap has not disappeared and in the week of 11 December, the total excess deaths seen since the pandemic started in March passed 81,300.\n\nNearly 524,000 deaths have been registered in total compared to just over 442,000 seen in the same weeks, on average, in the last five years.\n\nThis total is larger than that recorded in the daily figures because it includes people whose Covid-19 was not confirmed by a positive test and people who died because of the strain the pandemic has put on the NHS and society.\n• None High death rate 'may be starting to fall'", "The higher numbers of deaths seen in the UK recent weeks may be starting to fall, figures suggest.\n\nIn the week ending 4 December there were 13,956 deaths - 15% above the five-year average.\n\nBut that is down on the previous week when deaths were 20% higher.\n\nJust over 3,100 of the deaths involved Covid - down by 200 on the week before. It brings the total excess deaths seen since the pandemic started close to 80,000.\n\nThese are a measure of all deaths above what would normally be expected.\n\nIt is a different way of measuring the death toll from the pandemic from the daily figures, which look at the numbers of people dying 28 days after a positive Covid test.\n\nPeople dying from Covid in this period are likely to have caught the infection in the first half of November after cases peaked.\n\nSince then cases continued to drop, before starting to climb again over the last week or so, particularly in the south east, which prompted the government to move London and some surrounding areas into tier three.\n\nThat suggests the next few weeks could see Covid deaths going down and then up again in the coming weeks.", "The pace of Europe's Covid-19 vaccination campaign has picked up and in many countries infection rates have been falling.\n\nLockdowns are gradually being eased as the summer tourist season gets under way, and there are plans for an EU-wide digital vaccination certificate to be in place by 1 July.\n\nNationwide curfew ended on 20 June, 10 days earlier than planned. Face masks are no longer required outdoors.\n\nRestaurants, cafes and bars can serve customers indoors, with 50% capacity and up to six people per table.\n\nStanding concerts will resume on 30 June and nightclubs on 9 July (with 75% capacity). People attending will need a health pass which shows either full vaccination, a negative test within the previous 72 hours, or else a previous coronavirus infection.\n\nMedical grade masks are compulsory in shops and on public transport.\n\nFrom 30 June, working from home will no longer be compulsory.\n\nOn 21 June, Italy's curfew was scrapped and the whole country, except for the northwest region of Valle d'Aosta, became \"white zone\" - the country's lowest-risk category.\n\nAmong the measures still in place are social distancing (1m) and the wearing of masks indoors (and in crowded outdoor places), and a ban on house parties and large gathering.\n\nNightclubs and discos are also closed.\n\nAll indoor businesses, with the exception of nightclubs, are open.\n\nThe government introduced a \"corona pass\" in April, the first to do so in Europe.\n\nThis shows - either on a phone or on paper - that you have been vaccinated, previously infected or that you have had a negative test within 72 hours.\n\nPeople need to show it for entry to cinemas, museums, hairdressers or indoor dining.\n\nThe Greek government is welcoming tourists from many countries, if they are fully vaccinated or can provide a negative coronavirus test.\n\nFace coverings must be worn in all public places and there is a curfew from 01:30-05:00, but bars, restaurants, museums and archaeological sites are all open.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Greek island of Milos is aiming to become \"Covid-free\" so it can welcome back tourists\n\nCinemas, theatres, museums and restaurants are open at 50% capacity. From 26 June, this increases to 75%.\n\nNightclubs and discos will also be allowed to reopen, with a limit of 150 people.\n\nFace coverings must be worn in enclosed spaces and 1.5m social distancing observed.\n\nShops, bars, restaurants and museums are open, although face coverings remain compulsory in most public places.\n\nNightclubs can now reopen in parts of Spain with low infection rates.\n\nIn Barcelona, they are restricted to 50% of capacity and can stay open until 03:30 - dancers have to wear masks.\n\nSpain began welcoming vaccinated tourists from 7 June. Most European travellers still have to present a negative Covid test on arrival.\n\nBrussels: Outdoor dining resumed in Belgium on 8 May\n\nShops, cinemas, gyms, cafes and restaurants are open, with restrictions. Households can invite up to four people inside.\n\nFrom 1 July, working from home will no longer be mandatory, if the situation continues to improve.\n\nCultural performances, shows and sports competitions can also go ahead, with limited numbers, and more people will be allowed at weddings and other ceremonies and parties.\n\nPortugal has lifted many of its restrictions but face coverings must still be worn in indoor public spaces and some outdoor settings.\n\nBars and nightclubs remain closed, and it's illegal to drink alcohol outdoors in public places, except for pavement cafés and restaurants.\n\nAlcohol cannot be sold after 21:00 unless it is with a meal.\n\nRestaurants, cafes and cultural venues have to close at 01:00 and have capacity limits.\n\nA weekend travel ban is in force in the Lisbon area, starting at 15:00 on Friday, with residents only allowed to leave for essential journeys.\n\nIn Lisbon and in Albufeira (Algarve), cafes, restaurants and non-essential shops have to close by 15:30 at the weekend and 22:30 on weekdays.\n\nPortugal's summer season looks uncertain, yet its Covid figures have improved\n\nRestaurants, cafes, museums and historic buildings have reopened with capacity limits.\n\nFrom 26 June, a number of restrictions are being lifted.\n\nAlcohol can be sold after 22:00, and nightclubs can open, with an entry pass system.\n\nEvents held in public venues such as cinemas, conference centres and concert halls will be allowed, subject to social distancing.\n\nMasks will no longer be compulsory except on public transport, airports and in secondary schools.\n\nOutdoor services in restaurants and bars returned in June. Theme parks, funfairs, cinemas and theatres, gyms and swimming pools, have reopened as well.\n\nFrom 5 July, restaurants and bars will be able to serve customers indoors. Weddings and other indoor events for up to 50 people will be permitted and the numbers at outdoor organised events will increase.\n\nSince June, pubs have been able to stay open until 22:30 and more people are now allowed at sports events, outdoor concerts, cinemas and markets.\n\nOn 1 July, limits on private gatherings will be raised, and the recommendation to interact with a small circle of people removed.\n\nFurther easing is planned on 15 July and in September.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Covid in Scotland: Advice moving to 'stay local, stay at home'\n\nThe top level of Covid-19 restrictions in Scotland may need to be strengthened further to contain the new strain of the virus, Nicola Sturgeon has warned.\n\nThe whole Scottish mainland is to move into level four from Boxing Day due to concerns about the new Covid variant.\n\nThe first minister said this was \"essential\" to protect the NHS and contain the faster-spreading virus.\n\nAnd she said consideration must be given to whether the current level four rules were sufficient to do the job.\n\nThe government is to narrow the definition of \"essential retail\" - forcing homeware shops and garden centres to close - while guidance urging people to stay at home as much as possible may be put down in law.\n\nMs Sturgeon told MSPs that the current rate of new cases in Scotland was currently \"significantly lower\" than in other parts of the UK, but said the new variant of Covid-19 necessitated \"real action\" and \"significant countermeasures\".\n\nThe move to level four will see blanket travel restrictions in place between every council area in Scotland, with people barred from leaving their local area other than for essential reasons.\n\nHospitality venues will have to close, as will \"non-essential\" shops - with this definition being expanded to include even more premises.\n\nSchools are to stay closed until 11 January, and most pupils will learn from home until at least 18 January - a situation Ms Sturgeon said would remain \"under review\".\n\nThe government is also examining whether the current level four measures will be enough to contain the new strain of the virus, which studies suggest can spread up to 70% faster than previous variants.\n\nMs Sturgeon said a decision on whether this was necessary would be taken as more evidence about the new variant became available.\n\nShe said: \"The current level four restrictions are not as stringent as the March lockdown, and up to now that has been a good thing.\n\n\"However it seems we may be facing a virus that spreads much faster now than in March, so we must consider whether the current level four restrictions are sufficient to suppress it in the weeks ahead.\"\n\nThe first minister said failing to take strong action quickly would see \"another period of exponential growth\" of the virus in the new year.\n\nShe said: \"This is preventative action, because we see a train coming rapidly down the track at us and we're trying to get out of its way.\"\n\nScottish Conservative group leader Ruth Davidson said \"most people understand\" the need for tighter curbs, but said \"in return they are demanding as much clarity from government as conceivably possible\".\n\nShe said people were tired of \"supposedly time-limited firebreaks stretching into months\", asking whether parents should start \"preparing now for a long haul of blended learning at home\".\n\nMs Sturgeon hinted that tighter measures might be introduced in a bid to see schools open again full time, saying that \"continues to be a priority\" for the government.\n\nShe said the intention was to reopen schools fully on 18 January \"if it is at all possible\", adding: \"If that means the rest of us living under more severe restrictions we will not shy away from that.\"\n\nScottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie also asked about schools, calling for \"widespread routine testing\" for teachers and expanded use of remote learning.\n\nMeanwhile Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said the government had \"abandoned\" the levels system for a blanket lockdown, saying that \"three weeks does not sound like three weeks, but considerably longer\".\n\nHe said if the new strain of the virus was 70% more transmissible, the government should commit to a 70% increase in business support and virus testing and a similar acceleration of the vaccination programme.\n\nMs Sturgeon said she would seek to get back to the local levels system \"as quickly as possible\", adding that the vaccine was being rolled out as quickly as possible and there were no \"simple equations\" around boosting support.\n\nLib Dem leader Willie Rennie voiced concerns about NHS boards cancelling \"ever greater numbers\" of non-urgent procedures, with the first minister saying the return of elective treatment relied on suppressing the virus as far as possible.", "Further restrictions are likely to be needed in more areas of England to control a new variant of Covid-19, the UK's chief scientific adviser has said.\n\nSir Patrick Vallance said measures could \"need to be increased in some places, in due course, not reduced\".\n\nLondon and large swathes of south-east England were placed in the highest tier four restrictions over the weekend.\n\nSir Patrick predicted there would be spike in cases after an \"inevitable period of mixing\" over Christmas.\n\nIt comes as more than 40 countries including France, Spain, India and Hong Kong have banned UK flights because of concerns about the spread of the variant.\n\nSpeaking at a Downing Street briefing, Sir Patrick said he believed the variant would help cases \"spread more\".\n\nAsked why tougher measures were not in place across the country following the introduction of the tier four level, Sir Patrick added: \"The evidence on this virus is that it spreads easily. It's more transmissible. We absolutely need to make sure we have the right level of restrictions in place.\"\n\nBut he said there was no reason to think the new variant is more dangerous than the existing strain.\n\n\"The transmission is increased. We can't say exactly by how much, but it is clearly substantially increased, so it is more transmissible.\n\n\"Which is why we see it growing so fast and spreading to so many areas.\"\n\nThe government scrapped plans to relax rules at Christmas in the areas put under tier four rules. Some 17 million people in England and Wales affected are being told to stay at home, while non-essential shops and businesses have to close.\n\nBut in other regions of England - in tiers one to three - Christmas mixing is being allowed on 25 December.\n\nSir Patrick said the tier four rules were \"important\"\n\nSir Patrick Vallance said the variant of the virus had to be taken \"incredibly seriously\".\n\nHe said: \"It's really important to follow the rules carefully and make an assumption that you could be infectious.\n\n\"You could be the person spreading it to somebody else, and [you should] behave accordingly.\"\n\nHe added: \"The doubling time of this infection with a new variant is quite fast, it is more transmissible, it does require more action in order to keep it down and that's why tier four is important.\"\n\nThe latest figures released on Monday reveal that another 33,364 people in the UK have tested positive for coronavirus.\n\nThere were also a further 215 deaths within 28 days of testing positive, bringing the UK total to 67,616.\n\nFrance has also shut its border with the UK for 48 hours, causing delays to lorries carrying freight across the Channel, but Boris Johnson told the briefing both sides wanted to resolve \"these problems as fast as possible\".\n\nThe prime minister said he had an \"excellent\" call with French President Emmanuel Macron and \"both understand each other's positions\".\n\nHe added the delays only affected a very small percentage of food entering the UK and supermarket supply chains were \"strong and robust\".\n\nThere is no evidence to suggest this new variant is causing more serious disease or will hamper the effectiveness of the vaccine.\n\nBut there is now a high degree of confidence that it is leading to faster transmission.\n\nWith hospitals already under huge pressure - the number of patients will soon pass the spring peak on the current trajectory - it seems only a matter of time before more areas will be placed into tier 4, which is essentially a lockdown.\n\nQuestions are also being asked about schools. The prime minister could only say he wanted to keep them open \"if we possibly can\".\n\nThe race to vaccinate the most vulnerable, which will have a huge impact on reducing deaths and relieving pressure on the NHS, just got more pressing.\n\nAround 500,000 people have got their first dose in the past two weeks.\n\nBut there are 12 million over 65s. More vaccination centres and approval of the Oxford University vaccine, of which there are already millions of doses in the country ready to go, is essential.", "Boris Johnson has ruled out extending the deadline for reaching a post-Brexit trade deal into 2021, amid a deadlock in talks and a growing Covid crisis.\n\nSNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and London mayor Sadiq Khan want the UK to follow EU trading rules beyond 31 December to allow more time for an agreement.\n\nBut the prime minister said his stance was \"unchanged\" and the UK would \"cope with any difficulties\" encountered.\n\nUK-EU talks continue, with nine days left to reach and ratify any agreement.\n\nThe EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier is expected to update diplomats from the bloc's 27 member states later on Tuesday, although there is no sign of an imminent breakthrough.\n\nEU sources said sticking points remained over member states' access to UK fishing waters, competition rules and how any agreement would be enforced and disputes resolved.\n\nThe UK has continued following EU regulations since it left the bloc on 31 January, but it will exit its internal market and customs union when this \"transition\" period finishes at the end of the year.\n\nWithout a trade deal, both sides could place import taxes on each other's goods, potentially affecting prices.\n\nFishing rights are a major point of contention in UK-EU trade talks\n\nOn Monday, Ms Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister, said the spread of a new Covid variant - which has led to more than 40 countries banning people travelling from the UK - \"demands our 100% attention\".\n\nIt would be \"unconscionable\" to compound the UK's problems by not leaving more time to agree a trade deal, she added.\n\nAnd Labour's Mr Khan urged Mr Johnson to extend the deadline, saying the UK \"should be concentrating on... fighting the virus\".\n\nFishing rights are a major point of contention in UK-EU trade talks, with France in particular raising concerns about its fleets being denied access to UK waters.\n\nMr Johnson, who has promised a return of sovereignty over territorial waters, said on Monday he had had a \"great conversation\" with French President Emmanuel about restarting travel from the UK to France, following the Covid-related ban imposed by Paris.\n\nBut he added that they had \"vowed to stick off Brexit because that negotiation is being conducted via the European Commission, and that's quite proper\".\n\n\"And the position is unchanged,\" Mr Johnson said. \"There are problems. It's vital that everyone understands that the UK has got to be able to control its own laws completely, and also that we have got to be able to control our own fisheries.\"\n\nHe predicted the UK would \"prosper mightily\", whatever the outcome of the UK-EU talks, in Brussels.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has rejected calls to extend the transition period, saying \"further dithering\" would not help.\n\n\"I think that it would be far better for the government to get a deal over the line, either today, tomorrow or certainly next week,\" he said.\n\nMembers of the European Parliament met on Monday to discuss the situation, after warning time had run out for it to ratify a deal by 31 December.\n\nOne potential option, should the two sides reach agreement soon, would be for the European Parliament to approve it in principle by 31 December and complete formal ratification early next year.\n\nIf this happened, short-term measures could potentially be put in place to minimise disruption to cross-Channel trade before new legally binding rules come into force.", "Scientists are urgently investigating hints the new variant of coronavirus spreads more easily in children.\n\nIf proven, this could account for \"a significant proportion\" of the increase in transmission, they say.\n\nThe claim comes from members of the government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats advisory group (Nervtag).\n\nOn Monday, Boris Johnson said he wanted to open schools in January \"if we possibly can\".\n\nThere are no suggestions the new form of the virus is a greater threat to children's health.\n\nChildren almost universally shrug off the virus, but the variant could alter the role they, and schools, play in spreading the virus.\n\nEarlier strains of coronavirus found it harder to infect children than adults.\n\nOne explanation is children have fewer of the doorways (the ACE2 receptor) the virus uses to enter our body's cells.\n\nA recent study of infections in schools in England found that levels of the virus in school-age children reflected levels in the local community, suggesting that closing schools would only have a temporary effect.\n\nProf Wendy Barclay, from Nervtag and Imperial College London, said the mutations to the virus appeared to be making it easier to walk through the doorways that were there.\n\nShe said this could be putting children on a \"more level playing field\" with adults as the virus was \"less inhibited\" in children.\n\nProf Barclay said: \"Therefore children are equally susceptible, perhaps, to this virus as adults, and therefore given their mixing patterns, you would expect to see more children being infected.\"\n\nWork to understand the new variant is taking place at lightning speed and there is still much uncertainty.\n\nIt is now thought the new variant spreads 50% to 70% faster than other forms of the virus.\n\nEarly analysis of how and where it is spreading have also given \"hints that it has a higher propensity to infect children\", according to Prof Neil Ferguson from the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, who also sits on Nervtag.\n\nHe stressed the link was still being investigated and was not yet proven.\n\n\"If it were true, then this might explain a significant proportion, maybe even the majority, of the transmission increase seen,\" he added.\n\nBut Prof Julian Hiscox, chair in infection and global health, from the University of Liverpool, told the BBC there wasn't any evidence \"at the moment\" that the new variant is able to infect children more efficiently.\n\nHe said this would be looked at closely by scientists over Christmas.\n\nScientists involved in COG-UK, the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium, which detected the rapid increase in the variant, said they were not aware of any increased incidence in children.\n\nThe data are continuing to be analysed, but it is thought the variant continued spreading even during the lockdown in November.\n\nThe R number - the average number of people each infected person passes the virus onto - for this variant during the tight restrictions has been estimated at 1.2, which meant cases were increasing.\n\nAt the same time the R number was 0.8 for the other forms of the virus during lockdown and they were in decline.\n\nProf Ferguson said he expected the number of infections to fall as schools closed and people hunkered down for Christmas.\n\nHe added: \"The real question then is - how much are we able to relax measures in the new year, and still retain control?\"\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson said: \"We want, if we possibly can, to get schools back in a staggered way at the beginning of January, in the way that we have set out.\n\n\"But obviously the common sensical thing to do is to follow the path of the epidemic and, as we showed last Saturday, to keep things under constant review.\"", "Lady Margaret Tebbit, a former nurse and wife of ex-Conservative minister Norman Tebbit, has died, aged 86.\n\nShe was paralysed by the IRA's October 1984 bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton, during the Conservative Party conference.\n\nLady Tebbit is understood to have died at the couple's home in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in the early hours of Saturday morning.\n\nShe had been suffering from Lewy Body Dementia.\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson described Lady Tebbit as \"a brave woman who showed enormous fortitude in her suffering after the 1984 Brighton bombing\".\n\n\"My thoughts are with Norman and their family at this difficult time,\" he added in a Twitter message.\n\nThe Irish Republican Army (IRA) was a paramilitary organisation fighting for Northern Ireland to be a part of the Republic of Ireland, rather than the United Kingdom.\n\nThe target of the IRA's Brighton bomb was Margaret Thatcher, who was prime minister at the time.\n\nShe survived the blast but five people were killed and many more injured, including the then Trade Secretary Lord Tebbit and his wife.\n\nThe couple were lying in bed when their ceiling collapsed, leaving Lady Tebbit with spinal injuries.\n\nThe explosion ripped through several floors of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.\n\nIn 1995, Lady Tebbit appeared on Desert Island Discs and spoke about the bombing.\n\nShe said: \"I don't blame people, I don't completely forget or forgive, but one has to completely look forward.\"\n\nLord Tebbit, 89, previously said there was \"no possibility of any forgiveness\" for the people behind the bombing. He added: \"One can hope that there's a particularly hot corner of hell reserved for them and they can repent in their own time there.\"\n\nThe bomb had been planted in the hotel by Patrick Magee. He received eight life sentences but was later released under the Good Friday peace agreement in 1999.\n\nHe now regularly appears alongside Jo Berry - a daughter of one of the victims - discussing peace and reconciliation.\n\nLady Tebbit was born in the Fens in 1934 as one of nine children.\n\nShe was training to be a nurse when she met her future husband, then a pilot in the RAF. She described him as \"great company - life was never dull\".\n\nFor 20 years, Lady Tebbit was vice president of the spinal cord injury charity Aspire. The organisation's chief executive Brian Carlin said she would be \"deeply missed,\" describing her as \"an incredible ambassador and role model for people with spinal cord injuries\".\n\nChair of the Association of Conservative Peers, Lord Hunt of Wirral, said Lady Tebbit was \"a courageous and brave woman,\" adding \"our thoughts are with Norman at this difficult time\".", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Covid patients speak of their frightening experiences at people not following lockdown rules\n\nStaff at one of Wales' biggest hospitals said the emergency department had at times not been a safe place due to a sudden increase in coronavirus patients.\n\nAndrew McNab, a consultant at Morriston Hospital's A&E, said staff were \"relieved\" new restrictions had come into force over Christmas.\n\nThere has been an increase in younger patients spending \"months\" in hospital.\n\nThis has caused bed shortages, Mr McNab said.\n\n\"We know just looking at the patients coming through the doors and the way the curve is going that actually we were going to be overwhelmed.\n\n\"We were having days here, maybe four out of the last 10, when we felt the department was no longer a safe place to be looking after people, but there was nowhere else to look after them.\"\n\nHe warned that the standard of care would suffer should the pressure continue to mount.\n\n\"We don't like to drop the standard of care but ultimately when you're having to make decisions about who can fit in and who can't, people wait longer than they would do and sometimes the care they get isn't as good as you would like to give.\"\n\nMr McNab warned the impact of the virus on staff was also taking its toll.\n\n\"We've got colleagues who had Covid in the first wave who are still not back to normal, and people who've had it early in the second wave who still haven't come back to work because they can't walk more than 15 yards because they're short of breath.\"\n\nDr Keith Reid, the director of public health for the hospital's health board, warned: \"The virus is running rampant in all communities in the Swansea Bay region.\n\n\"That is why we welcomed the move to tier four restrictions on Saturday.\n\n\"It's that kind of population-level approach that is going to have the biggest impact, reducing it, getting people to keep themselves to themselves, and that is what will interrupt the transmission of the disease.\"\n\nMargaret Powell, from Townhill, who is being treated on one of the hospital's Covid wards, said she had \"never been so ill\".\n\n\"I can't get any rest,\" she told BBC Wales between coughs.\n\n\"I just wish to God sometimes I was just dying, but no, I will fight it, I will.\n\n\"I just wish all these fools and idiots would stop going around, just wear their masks, cover themselves up, put visors on whatever they want, anything.\n\n\"Cover themselves from head to toe if they've got to.\"\n\nLeighton Smith, 72, from Gorseinon, said he had been ill for a while before his family found him collapsed 10 days ago, shaking and aching.\n\n\"I was feeling very, very, very bad. Very scared. I've never been so scared in all my life.\n\nLeighton Smith says having Covid-19 has made him realise what is important\n\n\"Gradually now I've got stronger and stronger and I'm off oxygen, feeling stronger all the time. I'm still quite emotional. It's frightening to me.\n\n\"It's made me realise how important life is and how important your family is, and to be safe, and keep away and not to do anything stupid, it's just not worth it. There'll always be Christmas again next year.\"\n\nMr Smith was supportive of the government's change to the plans for Christmas mixing with other households.\n\n\"I wish they'd done it sooner to be honest, you can't mess around with things like this.\n\n\"You've got to give up a little bit now to have a longer and better future.\"\n\nEleri D'Arcy says even younger people are \"knocked for six\" by the virus\n\nEleri D'Arcy, who works as an occupational therapist in the intensive care unit, said she was taken aback by how young some patients are.\n\n\"We're not talking about little, old, frail people here, we're talking about people in their 40s and 50s who were previously completely independent. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, it's knocked them for six.\n\n\"Even for the fittest people that haven't had bouts of Covid strong enough to warrant an ICU stay, members of my team who have had Covid who didn't even have a hospital admission are still recovering weeks and months later, and that's affecting their work and obviously it's affecting the entire workforce then as well.\n\n\"The intensity of rehab required to get people back to some level of function has been really quite astounding.\"\n\nMs D'Arcy said the pandemic was having a significant effect on staff morale too.\n\n\"People are tired from a personal perspective and through work. It's relentless.\n\n\"There is only so far people can go and this has been a really long year, and when you see people just flouting the rules and having parties and seemingly not having any grip on the reality of the situation, it's upsetting, it's frustrating.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Priti Patel tweeted about the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants, during a trial linked to them\n\nA Twitter post by the home secretary about the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants led to the trial of alleged people-smugglers being halted.\n\nThe migrants were found dead in a lorry trailer in Essex on 23 October 2019.\n\nOn the anniversary, Priti Patel tweeted they died \"at the hands of ruthless criminals\" and jurors were warned to ignore comments from politicians.\n\nThe Home Office said the tweet was quickly deleted and \"not intended to reference\" those involved in the trial.\n\nFollowing the Old Bailey trial which ended on Monday, two men were found guilty of manslaughter and two others were convicted of being part of a wider people-smuggling conspiracy.\n\nOn 23 October, Ms Patel, MP for Witham, Essex, posted: \"One year ago today, 39 people lost their lives in horrific circumstances at the hands of ruthless criminals.\"\n\nThe trial was temporarily halted as lawyers in the case discussed what action should be taken.\n\nIn the absence of the jury, Alisdair Williamson QC, who was defending lorry driver Eamonn Harrison, complained about the description of \"ruthless criminals\".\n\nHe said: \"It is unhelpful to say the least and a lot worse could be said.\"\n\nThe 39 people who died in the back of a trailer as it crossed the North Sea between Zeebrugge and the UK\n\nThe judge in the case, Mr Justice Sweeney, brought the jury back and warned them of comments made about the case outside of the court room.\n\n\"No doubt the anniversary will be commented on whether in mainstream media or social media,\" he said.\n\n\"And whether by politicians, likewise journalists or others, inevitably there is a risk that such comments may assert or imply guilt of amongst others the men who are in your charge, two of whom are charged with the manslaughter of the victims.\n\n\"You must ignore any such comments.\"\n\nThe tweet was live for more than an hour before it was deleted.\n\nThe bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October last year\n\nA Home Office spokesperson said: \"The Home Secretary's tweet intended to refer to individuals who were involved in the incident and had already entered guilty pleas.\n\n\"The tweet was not intended to reference individuals involved in the ongoing trial. However, as soon as concerns were raised, the tweet was deleted.\"\n\nMr Justice Sweeney adjourned sentencing of all the defendants to 7, 8 and 11 January.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "Nicola Smith with her husband Steve who died in July this year\n\nAfter a particularly tough year, Nicola Smith was planning to spend Christmas abroad with her daughter and granddaughter to create \"new memories\".\n\nHer husband, Steve, died in a motorbike accident in July - and the toy shop she owns had to shut for huge parts of 2020 due to the Covid-19 lockdowns.\n\nNicola, 60, from Morecambe, was due to fly to Canada on Monday to visit her daughter Philippa, and three-year-old granddaughter Martha.\n\nIt would have been the first time she had seen Philippa since she suffered her own trauma: Philippa's partner, Tom, died in a white-water-rafting accident last year.\n\nBut her hopes of seeing her family were dashed on Monday morning when Canada brought in a 72-hour ban on flights from the UK.\n\n\"I just wanted to go away where we could make new memories,\" said Nicola.\n\n\"I haven't seen Philippa since Tom drowned, and she's having such a hard time so far away from her family with a lockdown.\n\n\"She was trying to work from home with a three-year-old, with no family within thousands of miles.\n\n\"She was so looking forward to just having her mum there.\"\n\nNumerous countries have introduced travel bans amid concerns over the new coronavirus variant\n\nCanada is one of several countries to have banned arrivals from the UK because of concerns about the spread of a new variant of coronavirus.\n\nNicola said this year had been \"horrendous\", and when she woke up to the news of the travel ban she was in \"disbelief\".\n\nChristmas Day will be exactly five months after Steve's death, so she was looking forward to getting away to somewhere she hadn't spent the festive season before.\n\nNicola also hasn't seen her granddaughter since she was a baby - so the Christmas trip was going to be an extra special time for the family.\n\n\"I speak on Facebook Messenger to her but it's not the same,\" Nicola said. \"She doesn't really know who I am, but she's been getting excited for grandma coming.\"\n\nIt's not yet clear when the UK travel ban to Canada will be lifted - or whether Nicola will be able to rebook her flight.\n\n\"You come so far and then it's taken away again,\" she said. \"If there's a flight on Christmas Eve I'll go. But nobody knows what's going to happen\".\n\nNick Kennedy and his family were looking forward to hosting his parents in France this Christmas\n\nNicola is one of many people who have had their plans to go abroad for Christmas disrupted at the last minute.\n\nCanada, India, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Italy and Austria are some of the more than 40 countries that have blocked UK arrivals.\n\nBritish man Nick Kennedy, who lives in France, was looking forward to sharing Christmas with his parents who were due to travel there from Swindon on Tuesday.\n\n\"We don't get enough time together as a family, so we wanted to make the most of it.\" he said. \"We want our son to spend as much time as possible with his English grandparents.\n\n\"It's a big disappointment as a family. All I can hope for is that the borders reopen very, very quickly. We've got to wait until Tuesday to see if there's any possibility of movement before Christmas.\n\n\"Many people, including my family, don't believe the borders will be open.\"\n\nLes hasn't seen his family since August\n\nLes Banks Irvine was due to fly back to the UK from Monrovia in Liberia - where he works - to spend three weeks with his family this Christmas.\n\nBut when he turned up at the airport on Sunday he was told at the check in-desk: \"Sorry, because you're going to the UK, you can't go.\"\n\n\"I was hoping to be spending some time with my two children and three grandchildren in mid-Wales, but it now looks like I am stranded here in Monrovia,\" he said.\n\n\"I've been here for about nine months this year. I last saw my family at the end of August.\n\n\"I know its difficult times for everyone, but I do wish national air carriers would keep us informed.\"\n\nFlights from the UK are being suspended to countries across the world including Italy, Slovakia and India\n\nMaria Kovacsova, who is from Slovakia but lives in London, is due to fly home to see her family on Christmas Eve - but her trip is looking unlikely now.\n\n\"I have spent so much money on a private Covid test in order to go home,\" she said. \"I haven't seen my family for a year. My heart is broken.\n\n\"I was last at home a year ago. I couldn't go after that because the big lockdown started in March. I had to work as well.\n\n\"I'm going to do nothing for Christmas. You can't do anything basically, you can't see your friends or family.\n\n\"I live in shared accommodation with five people in Tooting. We are basically five strangers living together; five professionals in one house and we're not able to leave the house.\"\n\nGary Fearon and his partner Abigail Brown, who have lived in Spain since January, are facing the prospect of Christmas in a Northampton hotel.\n\nThe couple own a pet transport company and had arrived in the UK on Friday to deliver pets from Spain.\n\nThey were due to pick up other customers' pets from the UK and travel back with them to Spain on Tuesday. But their plans are now up in the air.\n\n\"We have no information as to when and how we will get to Spain,\" said Gary.\n\n\"Customers who are ready to fly to Spain are now having to decide what to do with their pets as we cannot guarantee when we can leave.\"\n\nThe couple are unable to stay with family as Gary's relatives live in Ireland and Abigail's family are in Covid high-risk groups.\n\n\"The hotel we're in at the minute doesn't know for definite if they're open on Christmas Day,\" said Gary. \"We have our own pets in Spain that are being minded by a neighbour.\n\n\"We've been lucky to get a hotel room. I feel sorry for the lorry drivers in Dover.\"", "Tashaun Aird was stabbed nine times during a planned attack\n\nThe family of a murdered teenager say the system of school exclusion has to change, or more children will be lost like their son.\n\nTashaun Aird, 15, was killed in Hackney, east London, in May 2019 after being permanently excluded in 2017 and sent to an Alternative Provision.\n\nA Serious Case Review said his exclusion \"was a catalyst to the deterioration in his behaviour\".\n\nHackney Council accepted \"opportunities were missed\" to help Tashaun.\n\nThe 15-year-old, who wanted to be a professional musician and producer, was stabbed nine times during a planned attack and died in an alleyway. The stabbing came three months after an earlier one, which left Tashaun in hospital for weeks.\n\nIn December last year, a 16-year-old boy was found guilty of his murder and two other teenagers were convicted of manslaughter.\n\nTashaun was \"like a giant walking teddy bear\", his mother Michelle said\n\nThe Old Bailey heard the killers believed Tashaun was a member of the Red Pitch gang, but he denied he was. Police endorsed this, adding he was not a gang member or associate.\n\nHis sister Tashoya said: \"He associated with friends who were from a specific area, just down the road from his own house.\n\n\"Tashaun's not a fighter, he's not one to carry a weapon, Tashaun's not one to have issues with anybody.\"\n\nThe family believe Tashaun's behaviour worsened due to his exclusion.\n\nTashaun was \"a peacemaker\" and had no links to gangs, his family said\n\nTashaun had been a pupil at Hackney New School, a free school, but at the end of the 2017 summer term he was permanently excluded after a prank involving a teacher's coat.\n\nHis mother Michelle Tan-Ming appealed against the decision, and months later that exclusion was quashed by an Independent Review Panel. However, the school refused to reinstate him.\n\nThe Serious Case Review, published this month, criticised this decision, saying: \"It appeared that the school was determined to PEX (permanently exclude), without consideration of the wider implications to his safety, well-being or his education.\"\n\nThe family say when Tashaun was moved to the Alternative Provision - called Inspire! - he began smoking cannabis and his behaviour changed.\n\n\"It wasn't instant,\" said his sister. \"It was learned behaviour. If there are few rules, if you can walk out of school, you'll do it. He became a product of his environment.\"\n\nTashaun's mother works in the education sector and said Inspire! did not share her ethos or educational values.\n\n\"Pupils were allowed to smoke with teachers,\" she told the BBC. \"They were allowed to leave the classroom unattended.\n\n\"There was nothing the children could get recognised for. It was like they were just there doing nothing.\n\n\"I felt this was no place for my son. This was the next step to prison.\"\n\nA post-mortem examination revealed Tashaun suffered nine wounds, including a fatal 11cm-deep wound to the chest\n\nThe Serious Case Review noted that Inspire! had a \"chaotic environment\" that made it \"impossible to deliver intervention\".\n\nIn the months before his murder, Tashaun's family were already very worried about his safety.\n\nIn January 2019 a pupil from another school walked in, armed with a screwdriver, and tried to attack a pupil.\n\nThen in early February, Tashaun was attacked for the first time when he was stabbed as he left Hackney Youth Hub, where the school had taken boys for recreation.\n\nTashaun took weeks to recover in hospital and his family refused to let him return to Inspire! and he was tutored at home instead.\n\nBut he missed his friends, and on 1 May he spent some time \"chilling\" with a small group in local parks.\n\nHe promised his mother he'd be home by 21:00, but instead, she had a call, saying he'd been attacked at Somerford Grove.\n\nTashaun \"was that piece that held the family together\", his sister says\n\nThe Serious Case Review into Tashaun's death has made 15 recommendations for improvement, raising particular concern about Tashaun's exclusion and how it put him at risk.\n\nIt criticised the current government guidance, saying \"despite the clear imperative for safeguarding risk to be an active component of decision-making, the statutory guidance falls short in emphasising this with sufficient clarity\" and said the Department for Education (DfE) should review this.\n\nThe DfE said it was currently revising this guidance and added that \"no child should face the kind of violence Tashaun Aird experienced\".\n\nHis family insist Tashaun's exclusion was the crucial issue.\n\n\"That's the genesis,\" his stepfather Kevin said. \"You tell a child he's going to amount to nothing, you keep telling him. You're going to break him down.\n\n\"That's what they're telling these young men and women: 'You're nothing'.\"\n\nTashaun was found injured in the Somerford Grove area of Hackney\n\nHackney Council is still sending excluded pupils to Inspire!, which it said was under new leadership and had strengthened its safeguarding procedures.\n\nAnne Canning, the council's group director for Children and Education, said Tashaun's case was \"tragic and complex\".\n\nShe added: \"We are sorry for the missed opportunities that could have helped make a difference at an earlier stage.\n\n\"We fully accept the findings of this review and will work with all agencies involved to implement its recommendations in full.\"\n\nHackney New School is now run by the Community Schools Trust, which took over after poor Ofsted reports.\n\nThe prosecution said the gang which attacked Tashaun were \"intent on serious, if not fatal violence\"\n\nDespite not being at the school when Tashaun was kicked out, the new head teacher Charlotte Whelan said she wanted to work with Tashaun's family to answer their outstanding questions surrounding his exclusion.\n\nBut for Tashaun's family the abiding trauma continues, 19 months after he was murdered.\n\nTashaun's mother Michelle said: \"It just gets harder. We're forever grieving and I think we'll do that for the rest of our lives.\"\n\nHis sister Tashoya added: \"Since he's been gone, it hasn't been the same.\n\n\"I think Tashaun was that piece that held the family together. You know when something's missing, and we feel it every day.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The new rules apply to people travelling from Wales and tier-four areas\n\nPeople travelling from tier-four areas to other parts of England are being asked to \"assume\" they have the new coronavirus variant and self-isolate.\n\nHealth officials said anyone who has come from a tier-four area or Wales to parts of the West Midlands and North West should stay at home for 10 days.\n\nNo visitors are allowed to a house where someone is isolating, even on Christmas Day, the statement said.\n\nPeople who test negative are also being told to self-isolate.\n\nStatements were issued by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the West Midlands Conurbation Local Resilience Forum, the latter of which said it applied to people travelling to the region on or since 18 December.\n\nThey said the new advice followed the emergence of the new variant of coronavirus, which had seen a \"very rapid increase in cases in London and parts of the South East and East of England\".\n\n\"Although our region is not in tier four, rates are increasing and it is highly likely that the new variant is circulating,\" the West Midlands statement said.\n\nIt also told people to change Christmas plans as much as possible and only to meet with those in their bubble.\n\n\"Other people who live in the house do not need to self-isolate unless they get symptoms but no visitors should be allowed in that house at all, even on Christmas Day.\"\n\nDominic Harrison, director of public health for the Lancashire authority of Blackburn with Darwen, told BBC Lancashire that anyone who had travelled from a tier-four area since Wednesday should self-isolate for at least five days.\n\nThe guidance also calls on those who have symptoms to get tested and self-isolate for 10 days, without waiting for results.\n\nDr Jeanelle de Gruchy, the director of public health in Tameside, Greater Manchester, said the variant's spread was \"extremely worrying\".\n\nOther parts of England, including Doncaster and Telford, have issued similar guidance.\n\nWales entered lockdown on Sunday, with new restrictions covering the Christmas period. Hundreds of people are thought to have contracted the new variant, First Minister Mark Drakeford said.\n\nAnyone who has arrived from tier four or Wales since Friday is being asked to self-isolate immediately\n\nThe rate of coronavirus hospital admissions in the West Midlands has been among the highest in the country - and the last thing the region needs is a more transmissible strain on the rampage.\n\nPublic health bosses admit, though, it's already here. Today's message is about trying to mitigate the impact of that.\n\nThat message is basically that if you've come from a tier-four area in recent days, act like you've got the virus. And stay at home.\n\nHow far people will follow this is another matter. It's not a legal requirement, but it's been described to me as \"the strongest possible advice\".\n\nOf course Christmas plans are already in the balance for many. This is another blow, but one that it's felt is entirely necessary as this Covid winter really kicks in.\n\nChief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, said public health directors in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands \"need to make decisions\" as they have a \"role to make sure their local population is looked after\" and they're \"doing a fantastic job.\"\n\nHe also warned it was \"likely measures will need to be increased in some places in due course.\"\n\nMuch of the West Midlands and North West is in tier three, with Burnley in Lancashire having the highest rate of infection in the two areas, with 437.5 new cases per 100,000 people in the week up to 17 December.\n\nStoke-on-Trent has the highest rate of infection in the West Midlands, with 340.5 new infections.\n\nAnyone arriving in the Liverpool city region has been told to get a coronavirus test, which is available in all six local authority areas.\n\nA deserted Oxford street in London, which is currently subject to tier-four restrictions\n\nIf you live in a tier-four area, you must not leave or be outside of the place you are living unless you have a reasonable excuse.\n\nYou cannot meet other people indoors, including over the Christmas period, unless you live with them, or they are part of your support bubble.\n\nOutdoors, you can only meet one person from another household. These rules will not be relaxed for Christmas for tier four - you cannot form a Christmas bubble in tier four.\n\nFollow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech is currently being given to the most vulnerable in the UK\n\nThe company behind the Covid-19 vaccine being given to people in the UK says it is \"highly likely\" the vaccine will protect people against the new variant of the virus.\n\nBut if necessary, the vaccine could be re-engineered in a matter of weeks, BioNTech's boss said.\n\nUK scientists discovered the variant after analysing a sharp rise in cases in the south-east of England.\n\nThey say it could spread up to 70% more quickly than other forms of the virus.\n\nThe new variant is thought to be present in many parts of the UK but is particularly concentrated in cases in Kent, Essex and London.\n\nThis is where the fastest rise in cases is being detected, with some areas seeing cases double in the past week.\n\nThe daily figures released by the government showed 36,804 cases reported in the UK - a record since mass testing began in the summer. Some 691 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were also recorded.\n\nThe new variant has also been found in Denmark, the Netherlands and South Africa - countries which, like the UK, are experienced at carrying out genome sequencing - and is likely to be present in many more.\n\nCalled VOC-202012/01, the variant contains 23 mutations - an unusually large number all at once - which can cause it to behave differently, although it's unclear yet exactly how.\n\nThere are no signs the new variant causes more a more severe form of Covid-19 and no evidence it spreads more easily in children, although this is something being investigated.\n\nBioNTech, in partnership with drug firm Pfizer, developed the first vaccine against Covid-19 to be approved by an internationally recognised regulatory body - the UK's, in early December.\n\nMore than 500,000 people in the UK have now been given their first dose of the vaccine.\n\nThe vaccine has also been approved by the US regulator, the FDA, and the European Medicines Agency for use in the EU.\n\nAt a news conference in Germany, Ugur Sahin, chief executive of BioNTech, said \"scientifically, it is highly likely that [the] immune response by this vaccine also can deal with the new virus variant\".\n\nAnd he added that the company had the technology to refine its vaccine very quickly if it needed to.\n\n\"The beauty of the Messenger RNA technology is that we can directly start to engineer a vaccine which completely mimics this new mutation - we could be able to provide a new vaccine technically within six weeks, so that means a vaccine which contains this information,\" Mr Sahin said.\n\nHe confirmed that he didn't know \"at the moment\" if their vaccine was able to provide protection against this new variant.\n\nGenomics experts from the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) which discovered the new variant after examining a cluster of cases in Kent, also say it should not affect how well the Covid vaccine works.\n\nThey believe that antibodies, which build up in the body to defend it against future infections, will still target the virus despite some mutations affecting its infamous spike protein.\n\nBut they warned the virus may develop more mutations in the future.", "Donald Begg said there is understanding but also frustration about the move to tighter restrictions\n\nBusinesses in parts of the north and south of Scotland face moving into the country's toughest Covid restrictions on Boxing Day - despite currently operating under level one rules.\n\nThey say they are frustrated by the decision to put the whole of mainland Scotland into level four restrictions.\n\nIt includes Highland, Moray, Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders which have been in level one for several weeks.\n\nPubs, cafes and non-essential shops close from Saturday for three weeks.\n\nNicola Sturgeon announced the introduction of the toughest level four rules at the weekend, saying \"firm preventative action\" was needed following the emergence of a faster-spreading strain of coronavirus.\n\nDonald Begg, managing director of family-owned Begg Shoes, said there was an \"element of understanding\" but also of \"an element of frustration\" about the development.\n\nThe firm has shops in Inverness in the Highlands and Elgin in Moray.\n\nMr Begg said: \"The phones have been going mad with everybody wondering 'what do we do?' Staff have been wondering and suppliers panicking about what they do with deliveries.\"\n\nHe added: \"I think it is just about us all working together right now.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by The Bookshop This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post by The Bookshop\n\nThe Highlands and Moray have been in level one of Scotland's coronavirus tiered system of restrictions since it was introduced at the end of October.\n\nRestrictions eased in Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders earlier this month. It meant limits on hospitality, some spectator sports and soft play were relaxed.\n\nThe number of positive cases in the regions have been relatively low although there has been concern recently about rising infection rates in the Borders.\n\nInverness beautician Zoe Kinnear-McIntyre said efforts to control the spread of Covid were needed, but had hoped areas with low transmission rates could remain at level one.\n\nShe fears months-long restrictions similar to the lockdown earlier this year.\n\n\"From a self employed perspective it's devastating,\" she said.\n\nBeautician Zoe Kinnear-McIntyre worries about how long Scotland's toughest restrictions will remain in place\n\n\"The last time we were told it would be for three weeks it went on for three months.\n\n\"We don't really know when it is ending. It is really unnerving.\"\n\nIn her announcement on Saturday, the first minister also confirmed that the relaxation of rules for Christmas would last only one day.\n\nEmmanuel Moine, who runs the Glen Mhor Hotel in Inverness and is chairman of the Inverness Hotel Association, said the short notice of the move to level four had added to the stress for business owners and staff.\n\nHe said: \"Everybody was ready to celebrate Christmas - buying food, preparing menus and making dinners.\n\n\"We have had hundreds of cancellations. People are upset. It means a loss of money and jobs.\"\n\nHotelier Emmanuel Moine said the latest developments had caused added stress for businesses and staff\n\nLee-Anne Gillie, who chairs the Borders Chamber of Commerce, said it was a tough setback for the region.\n\n\"I think it is a body blow for the Borders, for these rural locations,\" she said.\n\n\"We had just seen that glimmer of light, that light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine and going into tier one.\n\n\"It does feel tough right now thinking that here we go again.\"\n\nHowever, she said the region had got through similar circumstances before and it was \"hopefully\" only for three weeks this time.\n\n\"I think as a community we can all rally, look after each other, support each other and we will get through this.\"\n\nOn Monday, the first minister has said she understood \"how upsetting Saturday's announcements were in particular for so many of you\".\n\nMs Sturgeon said: \"None of the actions I announced on Saturday were taken lightly.\"\n\nShe said the analysis of the new variant of Covid-19 gave \"real cause for concern\".", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Tuesday morning.\n\nOne possible solution could involve testing lorry drivers before they depart\n\nThe World Health Organization says there's no evidence the new variant of coronavirus increases the severity of disease. Scientists, though, are urgently investigating whether it may spread more easily in children. Earlier variants found it harder to infect children than adults and any evidence this new one is different could alter the role they, and crucially schools, play in spreading the virus. On Monday, the prime minister said he wanted to open schools in January \"if we possibly can\". Here's everything we know about the new variant at this point.\n\nThe new variant has plunged much of southern England into a tier four lockdown, and prompted Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to introduce their own tougher measures. On Monday night, the Stormont Executive voted against imposing a travel ban from Great Britain into Northern Ireland. But it backed plans to issue new guidance against all but essential travel between NI, GB and the Irish Republic. The UK's top scientist has warned the new variant is now \"everywhere\" and more areas may need to enter the highest level of restrictions. A reminder of what tier four and its equivalents outside England mean in practice.\n\nThe president-elect received his first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in front of the cameras, saying he wanted to show Americans it is \"safe to take\". He joins a growing number of senior US politicians to receive the jab. The Biden team has set a goal of 100 million vaccinations during the new administration's first 100 days, and on Sunday, the roll-out began for a second vaccine, created by Moderna. So far in the UK only the Pfizer jab has been approved. We're especially eager to see the version from Oxford University and AstraZeneca get the green light - find out more on that process.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nFour-year-old Eliana created a fairy garden outside her California home at the start of the pandemic, and got a wonderful surprise when a \"fairy\" started writing back. Neighbour Kelly Kenney was, as she puts it, \"going through a pretty rough time\" and decided on a whim to write a note pretending to be Sapphire, the fairy who came to live in the garden. Eliana was delighted, and she and \"Sapphire\" have now been sending letters and gifts back and forth for months. Kelly says it gave her a sense of connection at a very lonely time, and recently, the friends got to meet in person.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, can pregnant women receive a coronavirus vaccine? Well, it depends. Let us explain.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "The coroner said Anas had acted selflessly and his actions should be commended\n\nA \"selfless\" teenage boy drowned trying to save his brother who had got into difficulties during a river swim, an inquest has heard.\n\nAnas El-Rafai, 15, died on 17 August trying to help his brother in the River Tees at Darlington.\n\nThe pair were among a group of friends who had gone to swim at a popular beauty spot known as Broken Scar.\n\nThe group had visited the river to take photographs and had apparently gone into the water to cool down, the hearing was told.\n\nAnas was swept away after managing to push his 13-year-old sibling, Jamal, to safety.\n\nMr Thompson said the tragedy \"reinforced the dangers of playing in rivers and in open water\".\n\nHe said \"People should take extreme care and need to understand the power of nature.\"\n\nFlowers were attached to railings at the site of the accident\n\nThe inquest was told recent heavy rain had left river levels high and that the undercurrent was strong and the water cold and fast-flowing.\n\nMr Thomson said Anas had acted \"selflessly\" and his actions should be commended.\n\nHe added: \"Anas had a few seconds to think and he simply acted - there was nothing more his friends or the emergency services could do.\"\n\nAnas's family fled the civil war in Syria in 2011, initially going to Lebanon, then moving to the UK in 2018.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"I am kicking myself very hard\" - Nicola Sturgeon apologises for mask rule breach\n\nScotland's first minister has apologised for breaching Covid rules by taking her face mask off at a wake.\n\nThe Scottish Sun has published a photograph of Nicola Sturgeon standing talking to three people at a social distance, but with her face uncovered.\n\nShe was attending a wake after the funeral of a Scottish government civil servant who died with Covid.\n\nMs Sturgeon had been wearing a tartan mask and is said to have taken it off briefly as she was leaving the venue.\n\nThe Scottish government's Covid regulations say that customers in hospitality venues must wear a face covering except when seated - including when they are entering, exiting and moving around.\n\nAnyone who breaches the face covering rules can be punished by a fixed penalty notice of £60.\n\nHowever Police Scotland said they would not be taking any action, saying the first minister had apologised and \"acknowledged this inadvertent breach\" of the regulations.\n\nIn a statement, Ms Sturgeon said she had \"briefly\" removed her face mask while attending a wake, calling it a \"stupid mistake\".\n\nAddressing MSPs at Holyrood, the first minister said she wanted to express \"how sorry I am for my breach of rules that I ask all of us to follow\".\n\nMs Sturgeon said: \"I want to be clear that regardless of the circumstances, I was in the wrong. There are no excuses.\n\n\"These rules do apply to me, just as they do to everyone else, and the rules really matter.\n\n\"I am kicking myself very hard - possibly harder than my worst critic ever could - but more importantly I'll be making sure I don't drop my guard again.\"\n\nMs Sturgeon is understood to have been at the wake in the Stable Bar and Restaurant in Edinburgh after attending a service at nearby Mortonhall Crematorium.\n\nThe first minister regularly uses her daily coronavirus briefings to remind people to cover their faces to limit the risk of spreading the virus.\n\nScotland's national clinical director Jason Leitch told Good Morning Scotland he had spoken to Ms Sturgeon last night and she was \"furious with herself\".\n\n\"She is absolutely mad at this little lapse in concentration - it's so easily done,\" he said. \"We live in a completely different world from a year ago.\n\n\"She was leaving a funeral of a colleague of ours - a wonderful, wonderful individual who did a huge amount of work during the pandemic. It was an awfully sad day for many of us in the government who knew him and his family well.\n\n\"It just reinforces again to all of us, the nature of these instructions and this virus.\"\n\nWhen you make and promote coronavirus rules, it is not a good idea to break them.\n\nNo-one understands that better than Nicola Sturgeon, who has already parted company with an MP and a medical adviser for past breaches.\n\nThe first minister has not taken a train journey having tested positive for the virus as MP Margaret Ferrier did.\n\nShe had not made unnecessary trips to a holiday home during lockdown as her former chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, did.\n\nNor has she taken a drive to Barnard Castle as the prime minister's former adviser Dominic Cummings did.\n\nNicola Sturgeon's breach - removing her face mask briefly to talk to people at a funeral wake - is relatively minor. But it is a breach.\n\nThat's why the first minister has put her hands up and apologised for what she calls a \"stupid mistake\".\n\nIt is a mistake that anyone could make but when you're fronting the campaign to get the public to obey coronavirus rules, it does not make that job any easier.\n\nA Scottish Conservative spokesman said: \"The first minister should know better. By forgetting the rules and failing to set a proper example, she's undermining essential public health messaging.\n\n\"It's a blunder that an ordinary member of the public wouldn't get away with. There cannot be one rule for Nicola Sturgeon and another for everyone else.\"\n\nScotland's Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said in a tweet that Ms Sturgeon had been \"upfront\" from the very beginning of the pandemic.\n\n\"She has apologised for [the] accidental lapse (which I suspect most of us have had one over last 9 months),\" he wrote.\n\nHe said the FM was her own harshest critic and that \"most people\" would accept her apology and move on.\n\nJillian Evans, head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian, said high-profile breaches of Covid rules \"matter a lot\" to the public.\n\nShe told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: \"There are clear breaches and then there are indiscretions.\n\n\"I'm not passing comment on anyone in particular, but some of us are prone to lapses now and again.\n\n\"The main thing is how honest and trustworthy our leaders are. I don't doubt anyone in Scotland's dedication to the cause but it really does matter, because everybody must follow the rules at all times as much as they possibly can.\"", "The EU and UK are making a \"final push\" for a post-Brexit trade deal, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said.\n\nBut he told diplomats from the bloc's 27 member states there was little time left to reach agreement before the 31 December deadline.\n\nThe UK will leave the EU trading rules at that point.\n\nTalks have been taking place round the clock to try to settle differences over fishing, competition rules and how future disputes will be resolved.\n\nIf there is no trade deal by 31 December, both sides could place import taxes on each other's goods, potentially affecting prices.\n\nSpeaking in Brussels, where the talks are happening, Mr Barnier said: \"We are really in a crucial moment and we are giving it a final push. In 10 days, the UK will leave the single market.\"\n\nOne EU diplomat told the BBC Mr Barnier had said that, while most issues had been agreed or were close to being settled, differences on fishing access and quotas \"remain difficult to bridge\".\n\nHe said the EU thought the UK was \"not moving enough yet to clinch a fair deal on fisheries\".\n\nWhile progress on other issues has been made in recent days, there has been little sign of a breakthrough on fish.\n\nThe UK insists that, as a sovereign state, it must have control of its waters from 1 January and retain a larger share of the catch from them than it does under the current quota system.\n\nThe EU wants to phase in a new system over a much longer period and retain significant access to UK waters for boats from France, Spain and other countries with large fleets.\n\nDowning Street sources said Boris Johnson was in \"close contact\" with European President Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the pair were \"speaking from time to time\".\n\nBut, on Monday, the prime minister said the state of the talks remained \"unchanged\" and there were still \"problems\".\n\nEU diplomats have suggested the bloc would be willing to continue negotiations beyond 1 January if necessary.\n\nMr Johnson suggested the UK would \"prosper mightily\", whatever the outcome of the talks.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nFrance is starting to let traffic from the UK back in after the nations reached agreement over their shared border, closed amid concerns over a new coronavirus variant.\n\nFreight drivers and some passengers, including EU citizens, will be among those allowed to return - if they have a recent negative test for the virus.\n\nSome 2,850 lorries have been stuck in Kent since the border shut on Sunday.\n\nNHS Test and Trace staff and the military will be deployed for testing.\n\nPlanes, boats and Eurostar trains are due to resume on Wednesday morning.\n\nUnder the agreement between the two countries, admittance to France will be granted to those travelling for urgent reasons, including hauliers, French citizens, and British citizens with French residency.\n\nBut in order to travel, they will need to have received a negative test result less than 72 hours before departure.\n\nRapid lateral flow tests, which can detect the new strain and give a result in about 30 minutes, will be used rather than the 24 hours required for so-called PCR tests.\n\nThe drivers will receive the result by text message, and this message would give them the right to cross the Channel.\n\nA \"protocol is still being finalised\" to work out what to do with those drivers who test positive, a government source told the BBC.\n\nIn an interview with broadcasters, Mr Shapps said enough tests had been sent to Kent to test all those who wanted to return by Christmas, but suggested it could take until Christmas for congestion to be relieved near ports.\n\nMr Shapps warned hauliers against travelling to Kent until further notice to alleviate congestion at ports.\n\nHe said: \"I am pleased that we have made this important progress with our French counterparts this evening. This protocol will see the French border reopen to those travelling for urgent reasons, provided they have a certified negative Covid test.\n\n\"We continue to urge hauliers not to travel to Kent until further notice as we work to alleviate congestion at ports.\"\n\nThe arrangement agreed with the French government will be reviewed on the 31 December, but could run until 6 January, the Department for Transport said.\n\nThe French government will also carry out sample testing on incoming freight to the UK.\n\nThe announcement comes after the EU Commission urged member states to drop their travel bans to avoid supply chain disruption.\n\nMore than 50 countries have banned UK arrivals following widespread concern about the spread of the new variant.\n\nNo lorries have been leaving the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel to France.\n\nKent County Council leader Roger Gough told the BBC on Tuesday afternoon that 2,220 vehicles were at the temporary lorry park at Manston, while 632 were still being held on the M20.\n\nIt comes as Tesco said it would be reintroducing temporary purchasing limits on some essential products, including toilet rolls, eggs, rice and hand wash.\n\nThe British Retail Consortium warned that trucks needed to be able to start travelling again in the next 24 hours to \"avoid seeing problems on our shelves\".\n\nAndrew Opie, its director of food and sustainability, told the Commons business, energy and industrial strategy committee: \"What we've been told by members is that unless those trucks can start travelling again and go back to Spain and Portugal and other parts of Europe, we will have problems with fresh produce from 27 December.\"\n\nThe Channel is a vital trade route, with about 10,000 lorries a day travelling between Dover and Calais at Christmas, largely bringing in the freshest produce.\n\nA further 36,804 people in the UK have tested positive for coronavirus and there were 691 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to Tuesday's government figures.\n\nIt is the largest daily number of cases recorded yet, though it is thought the infection rate was higher during the first peak in spring when testing was much more limited.\n\nMeanwhile, truck drivers stranded in Kent have called for immediate help from the government, with hundreds facing a third night sleeping in their cabs.\n\nTruck driver Laszlo Baliga, 51, from London, spent Tuesday delivering food and water to those lined up at Manston Airport, a disused airfield.\n\nHe began taking supplies after Hungarian drivers stranded in the lorry park posted on Facebook asking for help, with one telling him the only toilet on the site had been blocked.\n\nHe said he and friends had so far spent more than £500 on food and water for drivers at the site.\n\nMr Baliga said: \"We have got ready-to-eat sausages, bread, tomatoes, lettuce, coffee. Basic foods for now for the drivers.\n\n\"We like to help because this is a difficult time.\"\n\nRonald Schroeder, 52, from Hamburg in Germany, said: \"I am now staying in a hotel, but in front of the hotel there are thousands of people without any rooms waiting to come over the Channel crossing.\n\n\"I feel a little bit like Robinson Crusoe on an island.\"\n\nThe government defended the facilities for stranded drivers, saying there were \"more than adequate health and welfare provisions available\".\n\nAre you a lorry driver? Have you been affected by the restrictions? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A BBC team came across roadblocks as they tried to report on research into viruses that bats carry\n\nA Chinese scientist at the centre of unsubstantiated claims that the coronavirus leaked from her laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan has told the BBC she is open to \"any kind of visit\" to rule it out.\n\nThe surprise statement from Prof Shi Zhengli comes as a World Health Organization team prepares to travel to Wuhan next month to begin its investigation into the origins of Covid-19.\n\nThe remote district of Tongguan, in China's south-western province of Yunnan, is hard to reach at the best of times. But when a BBC team tried to visit recently, it was impossible.\n\nPlain-clothes police officers and other officials in unmarked cars followed us for miles along the narrow, bumpy roads, stopping when we did, backtracking with us when we were forced to turn around.\n\nWe found obstacles in our way, including a \"broken-down\" lorry, which locals confirmed had been placed across the road a few minutes before we arrived.\n\nAnd we ran into checkpoints at which unidentified men told us their job was to keep us out.\n\nAt first sight, all of this might seem like a disproportionate effort given our intended destination, a nondescript, abandoned copper mine in which, back in 2012, six workers succumbed to a mystery illness that eventually claimed the lives of three of them.\n\nBut their tragedy, which would otherwise almost certainly have been largely forgotten, has been given new meaning by the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\nThose three deaths are now at the centre of a major scientific controversy about the origins of the virus and the question of whether it came from nature, or from a laboratory.\n\nAnd the attempts of Chinese authorities to stop us reaching the site are a sign of how hard they're working to control the narrative.\n\nFor more than a decade, the rolling, jungle-covered hills in Yunnan - and the cave systems within - have been the focus of a giant scientific field study.\n\nChinese virologist Shi Zhengli is seen here inside the laboratory in Wuhan\n\nIt has been led by Prof Shi Zhengli from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).\n\nProf Shi won international acclaim for her discovery that the illness known as Sars, which killed more than 700 people in 2003, was caused by a virus that probably came from a species of bat in a Yunnan cave.\n\nEver since, Prof Shi - often referred to as \"China's Batwoman\" - has been in the vanguard of a project to try to predict and prevent further such outbreaks.\n\nBy trapping bats, taking faecal samples from them, and then carrying those samples back to the lab in Wuhan, 1,600km (1,000 miles) away, the team behind the project has identified hundreds of new bat coronaviruses.\n\nBut the fact that Wuhan is now home to the world's leading coronavirus research facility, as well as the first city to be ravaged by a pandemic outbreak of a deadly new one, has fuelled suspicion that the two things are connected.\n\nI would personally welcome any form of visit, based on an open, transparent, trusting, reliable and reasonable dialogue. But the specific plan is not decided by me.\n\nThe Chinese government, the WIV, and Prof Shi have all angrily dismissed the allegation of a virus leak from the Wuhan lab.\n\nBut with scientists appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) scheduled to visit Wuhan in January for an inquiry into the origin of the pandemic, Prof Shi - who has given few interviews since the pandemic began - answered a number of BBC questions by email.\n\n\"I have communicated with the WHO experts twice,\" she wrote, when asked if an investigation might help rule out a lab leak and end the speculation. \"I have personally and clearly expressed that I would welcome them to visit the WIV,\" she said.\n\nTo a follow-up question about whether that would include a formal investigation with access to the WIV's experimental data and laboratory records, Prof Shi said: \"I would personally welcome any form of visit based on an open, transparent, trusting, reliable and reasonable dialogue. But the specific plan is not decided by me.\"\n\nThe BBC subsequently received a call from the WIV's press office, saying that Prof Shi was speaking in a personal capacity and her answers had not been approved by the WIV.\n\nThe BBC denied a request to send the press office a copy of this article in advance.\n\nDr Peter Daszak: \"I've yet to see any evidence at all of a lab leak or a lab involvement in this outbreak\"\n\nMany scientists believe that by far the most likely scenario is that Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, jumped naturally from bats to humans, possibly via an intermediary species. And despite Prof Shi's offer, for now there appears to be little chance of the WHO inquiry looking into the lab-leak theory.\n\nThe terms of reference for the WHO inquiry make no mention of the theory, and some members of the 10-person team have all but ruled it out.\n\nPeter Daszak, a British zoologist, has been chosen as part of the team because of his leading role in a multimillion dollar, international project to sample wild viruses.\n\nIt has involved close collaboration with Prof Shi Zhengli in her mass sampling of bats in China, and Dr Daszak previously called the lab-leak theory a \"conspiracy theory\" and \"pure baloney\".\n\n\"I've yet to see any evidence at all of a lab leak or a lab involvement in this outbreak,\" he said. \"I have seen substantial evidence that these are naturally occurring phenomena driven by human encroachment into wildlife habitat, which is clearly on display across south-east Asia.\"\n\nAsked about seeking access to the Wuhan lab to rule the lab-leak theory out, he said: \"That's not my job to do that.\n\n\"The WHO negotiated the terms of reference, and they say we're going to follow the evidence, and that's what we've got to do,\" he added.\n\nThe Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was linked to early cases of the new coronavirus\n\nOne focus of the inquiry will be a market in Wuhan which was known to be trading in wildlife and was linked to a number of early cases, though the Chinese authorities appear to have already discounted it as a source of the virus.\n\nDr Daszak said the WHO team would \"look at those clusters of cases, look at the contacts, look at where the animals in the market have come from and see where that takes us\".\n\nThe deaths of the three Tongguan workers following exposure to a mineshaft full of bats raised suspicions that they'd succumbed to a bat coronavirus.\n\nIt was exactly the kind of animal-to-human \"spillover\" that was driving the WIV to sample and test bats in Yunnan.\n\nIt is no surprise then that, following those deaths, the WIV scientists began sampling bats in the Tongguan mineshaft in earnest, making multiple visits over the next three years and detecting 293 coronaviruses.\n\nBut apart from one brief paper, very little was published about the viruses they collected on those trips.\n\nIn January this year, Prof Shi Zhengli became one of the first people in the world to sequence Sars-Cov-2, which was already spreading rapidly through the streets and homes of her city.\n\nShe then compared the long string of letters representing the virus's unique genetic code with the extensive library of other viruses collected and stored over the years.\n\nAnd she discovered that her database contained the closest known relative of Sars-Cov-2.\n\nRaTG13 is a virus whose name has been derived from the bat it was extracted from (Rhinolophus affinis, Ra), the place it was found (Tongguan, TG), and the year it was identified, 2013.\n\nSeven years after it was found in that mineshaft, RaTG13 was about to become one of the most hotly contested scientific subjects of our time.\n\nChina imposed tough restrictions on Wuhan to stop the spread of the virus\n\nThere have been many well-documented cases of viruses leaking from labs. The first Sars virus, for example, leaked twice from the National Institute of Virology in Beijing in 2004, long after the outbreak had been brought under control.\n\nThe practice of genetically manipulating viruses is also not new, allowing scientists to make them more infectious or more deadly, so they can assess the threat and, perhaps, develop treatments or vaccines.\n\nAnd from the moment it was isolated and sequenced, scientists have been struck by the remarkable ability of Sars-Cov-2 to infect humans.\n\nThe possibility that it acquired that ability as a result of manipulation in a laboratory was taken seriously enough for an influential group of international scientists to address it head on.\n\nIn what has become the definitive paper ruling out the possibility of a lab leak, RaTG13 has a starring role.\n\nPublished in March in the magazine Nature Medicine, it suggests that if there had been a leak, Prof Shi Zhengli would have found a much closer match in her database than RaTG13.\n\nWhile RaTG13 is the closest known relative - at 96.2% similarity - it is still too distant to have been manipulated and changed into Sars-Cov-2.\n\nSars-Cov-2, the authors concluded, was likely to have gained its unique efficiency through a long, undetected period of circulation in humans or animals of a natural and milder precursor virus that eventually evolved into the potent, deadly form first detected in Wuhan in 2019.\n\nMedics and scientists in Wuhan battled to control the early stages of the pandemic\n\nWhere though, some scientists are beginning to wonder, are those reservoirs of earlier natural infection?\n\nDr Daniel Lucey is a physician and infectious disease professor at the Georgetown Medical Centre in Washington DC and a veteran of many pandemics - Sars in China, Ebola in Africa, Zika in Brazil.\n\nHe is certain that China has already conducted thorough searches for evidence of precursor viruses in stored human samples in hospitals and in animal populations.\n\n\"They have the capability, they have the resources and they have the motivation, so of course they've done the studies in animals and in humans,\" he said.\n\nFinding the origin of an outbreak was vital, he said, not just for wider scientific understanding, but also to stop it emerging again.\n\n\"We should search until we find it. I think it's findable and I think it's quite possible it's already been found,\" he said. \"But then the question arises, why hasn't it been disclosed?\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Covid-19: How everyday life has changed in Wuhan\n\nDr Lucey still believes that Sars-Cov-2 is most likely to have a natural origin, but he does not want the alternatives to be so readily ruled out.\n\n\"So here we are, 12, 13 months out since the first recognised case of Covid-19 and we haven't found the animal source,\" he said. \"So, to me, it's all the more reason to investigate alternative explanations.\"\n\nMight a Chinese laboratory have had a virus they were working on that was genetically closer to Sars-Cov-2, and would they tell us now if they did? \"Not everything that's done is published,\" Dr Lucey said.\n\nIt's a point I put to Peter Daszak, the member of the WHO origins study team.\n\n\"You know, I've worked with the WIV for a good decade or more,\" he said. \"I know some of the people there pretty well and I have visited the labs frequently, I've met and had dinner with them over 15 years.\n\n\"I'm working in China with eyes wide open, and I'm racking my brain back in time for the slightest hint of something untoward. And I've never seen that.\"\n\nAsked if those friendships and funding relationships with the WIV presented a conflict of interest with his role on the inquiry, he said: \"We file our papers; it's all there for everyone to see.\"\n\nAnd his collaboration with the WIV, he said, \"makes me one of the people on the planet who knows the most about the origins of these bat coronaviruses in China\".\n\nThe conclusion [of the Kunming Hospital University thesis] is neither based on evidence nor logic. But it’s used by conspiracy theorists to doubt me\n\nChina may have provided only limited data about its hunt for the origin of Sars-Cov-2, but it has begun to promote a theory of its own.\n\nBased on a few inconclusive studies conducted by scientists in Europe that suggest Covid-19 may have been circulating earlier than previously thought, state propaganda is full of stories suggesting the virus didn't start in China at all.\n\nIn the absence of proper data, speculation is only likely to grow, much of it focused on RaTG13 and its origins in a Tongguan mineshaft. Old academic papers have been dug up online that appear to differ from the WIV's statements about the sick mine workers - among them a thesis by a student at the Kunming Hospital University.\n\n\"I've just downloaded the Kunming Hospital University student's masters thesis and read it,\" Prof Shi told the BBC.\n\n\"The narrative doesn't make sense,\" she said. \"The conclusion is neither based on evidence nor logic. But it's used by conspiracy theorists to doubt me. If you were me, what you would do?\"\n\nProf Shi has also faced questions about why the WIV's online public database of viruses was suddenly taken offline.\n\nShe told the BBC that the WIV's website and the staff's work emails and personal emails had been attacked, and the database taken offline for security reasons.\n\n\"All our research results are published in English journals in the form of papers,\" she said. \"Virus sequences are saved in the [US-run] GenBank database too. It's completely transparent. We have nothing to hide.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Can you become immune to coronavirus?\n\nThere are important questions to be asked in the Yunnan countryside, not just by scientists, but by journalists too.\n\nAfter a decade of sampling and experimenting on viruses collected from bats, we now know that back in 2013 the closest known ancestor was discovered of a future threat that would claim well over a million lives and devastate the global economy.\n\nYet the WIV, according to the published information, did nothing with it, except sequence it and enter it into a database.\n\nOught that to call into question the very premise on which the expensive, and some would say risky, mass sampling of wild viruses is based?\n\n\"To say that we didn't do enough is absolutely correct,\" Peter Daszak told the BBC. \"To say that we failed is not fair at all. What we should have been doing is 10 times the amount of work on these viruses.\"\n\nBoth Dr Daszak and Prof Shi are adamant that pandemic prevention research is vital, urgent work.\n\n\"Our research is forward-looking, and it's difficult for non-professionals to understand,\" Prof Shi wrote by email. \"In the face of countless micro-organisms that exist in nature, we humans are very small.\"\n\nThe WHO is promising an \"open-minded\" inquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus, but the Chinese government is not keen on questions, at least not from journalists.\n\nAfter leaving Tongguan, the BBC team tried to drive a few hours north to the cave where Prof Shi carried out her ground-breaking research on Sars almost a decade ago.\n\nStill being followed by several unmarked cars, we hit another roadblock, and were told there was no way through.\n\nA few hours later, we discovered that local traffic had been diverted onto a dirt track that skirted the obstruction, but as we attempted to use the same route, we met yet another \"broken down\" car in our path.\n\nWe were trapped in a field for over an hour, before finally being forced to head for the airport.", "PSNI officers issued 68 fines under Covid-19 regulations at Black Lives Protests in June\n\nChief Constable Simon Byrne has apologised after the Police Ombudsman found justification in claims the handling of the Black Lives Matter protests was unfair and discriminatory.\n\nA report by Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson stated it was \"not intentional and not based on race or ethnicity\".\n\nHowever, confidence in policing among some in minority communities has been \"severely damaged\".\n\nMr Byrne said: \"The time is right to show some humility and say sorry.\"\n\nMrs Anderson launched an investigation after complaints about police actions on 6 June, when about 70 fines were handed out at demonstrations in Belfast and Londonderry.\n\nChief constable Simon Byrne has apologised after the policing of the Black Lives Matter protests\n\nIn contrast, no £60 fixed penalty notices were issued at a Protect our Monuments rally in Belfast on 13 June - those attending included loyalists and military veterans.\n\nMrs Anderson said police had \"failed to fully understand\" the human rights of those at the Black Lives Matter (BLM) events to be able to protest peacefully.\n\nHer report found officers had not engaged in any harassment as some had claimed.\n\n\"The differential treatment by PSNI of protesters on 6 June when compared with those attending Protect Our Monuments on 13 June gave rise to claims of unfairness and discrimination against those persons who organised and attended the 'Black Lives Matters' protests,\" the report stated.\n\n\"These concerns are in my view cogent, have substance and are justified in the circumstances.\n\n\"I believe that this unfairness was not intentional. Neither was it based on race or ethnicity of those who attended the event.\"\n\nOn the issue of fines and prosecutions, the ombudsman said they should be reviewed.\n\n\"A number of fines issued at the Guildhall Square and Custom House Square have now been paid by the recipients.\n\n\"My investigation has established that many of these contain inconsistencies and errors and therefore their validity is questionable.\"\n\nParts of her report echoed one from the Policing Board published in November, which questioned whether the PSNI approach had been unlawful.\n\nThe PSNI has already announced it is establishing a task force to help rebuild relations with black, Asian and ethnic minority groups.\n\nIn a statement, Mr Byrne said: \"We tried our best to respect the public health requirements of the Northern Ireland Executive to save lives and at the same time deal with public outcry triggered by this awful death [of George Floyd].\n\n\"We operated within the legal framework available to us at the time, but the ombudsman is clear that whilst unintentional, we got that balance procedurally wrong.\"\n\nHe added: \"It is clear to me that some members of the Black and Minority Ethnic Community have been frustrated, angry and upset by our policing response and our relationship with them has suffered.\n\n\"For that I am sorry, and I am determined in that regard to put things right.\"\n\nPatrick Corrigan, from Amnesty International, said the report was \"deeply critical\".\n\nHe called for a \"fundamental reassessment\" of how the PSNI approaches the right to protest and the police's relationship with black and minority ethnic communities.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nMore than 2,850 lorries are stuck in Kent waiting to leave the UK, the county council has said, as politicians thrash out a plan to reopen France's border to trade and travel.\n\nFrance shut its UK border for 48 hours on Sunday amid fears of a new coronavirus variant.\n\nAny solution would probably include testing for lorry drivers, BBC Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield said.\n\nMeanwhile, the EU Commission has urged countries to drop their travel bans.\n\nMore than 50 countries have banned UK arrivals following widespread concern about the spread of the new variant.\n\nIn a recommendation to all member states, the commission said flight and train bans should be discontinued to avoid supply chain disruption.\n\nPeople should be allowed to travel to their country of residence, provided they take a Covid-19 test or self-isolate, it said. But the commission added that non-essential travel should still be discouraged.\n\nCurrently, no lorries are leaving the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel to France.\n\nThe leader of Kent County Council, Roger Gough, told the BBC that 2,220 vehicles were at the temporary lorry park at Manston, while 632 were still being held on the M20.\n\nIt comes as Tesco said it would be reintroducing temporary purchasing limits on some essential products, including toilet rolls, eggs, rice and hand wash.\n\nA further 36,804 people in the UK have tested positive for coronavirus and there were 691 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to Tuesday's government figures.\n\nIt is the largest daily number of cases recorded yet, though it is thought the infection rate was higher during the first peak in spring when testing was much more limited.\n\nEarlier, Home Secretary Priti Patel told BBC Breakfast discussions were under way between the UK and France \"to find a resolution\" to the Channel disruption, with an update on the situation expected later.\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on Monday and, according to the BBC's Hugh Schofield, a solution to the blockage will probably include compulsory negative Covid tests for lorry drivers coming into France from the UK.\n\nAny plans agreed between the leaders would come into effect on Wednesday, France's Europe minister, Clément Beaune, said.\n\nMs Patel said potentially testing lorry drivers at ports was \"part of the discussions\", adding that setting up testing for this could \"happen relatively quickly\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nEU member states are understood to be pressing for UK arrivals to be tested for the virus before entering their countries.\n\nBosses at Eurotunnel estimate that up to 2,500 freight vehicles are expected to arrive in the UK on Tuesday, and the same again on Wednesday.\n\nThe port of Harwich in Essex - which is about 130 miles from Dover by road - is also seeing a build up of lorries as drivers divert from Dover, a spokesman for the port said. The port of Felixstowe in Suffolk is also busy but there are no queues.\n\nThe British Retail Consortium said trucks needed to be able to start travelling again in the next 24 hours to \"avoid seeing problems on our shelves\".\n\nAndrew Opie, its director of food and sustainability, told the Commons business, energy and industrial strategy committee: \"What we've been told by members is that unless those trucks can start travelling again and go back to Spain and Portugal and other parts of Europe, we will have problems with fresh produce from 27 December.\"\n\nLabour's Rachel Reeves told BBC Breakfast the government had \"wasted the last 24 hours\" and called for \"testing in place so we can reopen the border\".\n\nThe border disruption has also affected passenger services - with many air, rail and sea services cancelled between the UK and France, as well as other countries.\n\nEurotunnel said it hoped passengers would be able to travel between the UK and France from Wednesday or Thursday, if a solution was agreed.\n\nBritish Airways said it would operate \"a reduced and dynamic schedule\" amid the uncertainty.\n\nThe Channel is a vital trade route, with about 10,000 lorries a day travelling between Dover and Calais at Christmas, largely bringing in the freshest produce.\n\nShane Brennan, the head of the Cold Chain Federation which represents the UK's temperature-controlled transport industry, said the number of vehicles stuck was worse than the government figures suggested, as lorries were \"dispersed around southern England\".\n\nMs Patel said the numbers do \"fluctuate\", and added there were welfare facilities and support available for hauliers at Manston Airport.\n\nQueues on the M20 in Kent aren't exactly unheard of, but the French decision to close the border is dramatic and has caused a lot of disruption.\n\nPoliticians on both sides of the Channel are hopeful they might be able to agree a way of getting things moving again before the end of the year.\n\nBut if that requires a massive expansion of testing for coronavirus at the border, that's easy to say, far harder to do.\n\nIn England, 17 million people are under tier four rules, the toughest level, where people are being told to stay at home and not leave the area. Some parts of England, as well as Wales, have asked people who travel from tier four areas to self-isolate.\n\nWales has entered a new national lockdown while Scotland has said it might need to tighten its top level of rules (level four), ahead of the whole nation moving into that level on Boxing Day. Northern Ireland will begin a national lockdown on Boxing Day.", "Covid vaccinations will start being given to patients from GP surgeries in England as part of the next stage of the rollout of the programme.\n\nGP practices in more than 100 locations will receive their first deliveries of the vaccine later, the NHS said.\n\nSome will start vaccinating on Monday afternoon, with the majority getting under way on Tuesday.\n\nTens of thousands of people in the UK received the Pfizer-BioNTech jab last week in hospitals.\n\nLike last week, GP practices will prioritise over-80s, along with health and care staff.\n\nDr Simon Hodes, a GP from Watford who will begin vaccinations on Monday, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme patients are welcoming their jab offers with \"great excitement\".\n\nHe said calls to at-risk over-80s showed very few of his patients had worries about the vaccine.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Covid vaccine safety: How does a vaccine get approved?\n\n\"They've been reading the news - they know it's safe - and they're keen to have it,\" he said.\n\nHe added that his surgery has a \"military[-style] operation\" to ensure doses of the vaccine are not wasted - with a list of health workers drawn up if doses are going spare.\n\nDr Nikita Kanani, director of primary care at NHS England, urged people waiting for coronavirus vaccinations to be patient.\n\n\"There's a huge range of things that general practices are already doing so if we can ask for people to just wait a moment and wait to be contacted that would be very appreciated,\" she told Today.\n\nMeanwhile, Business Secretary Alok Sharma told BBC Breakfast arrangements were in place \"to make sure the distribution of vaccines is not in any way disrupted\" in the event of a no-deal Brexit.\n\nHe added that there would be \"some millions\" of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the UK before Christmas.\n\n\"We are going as fast as we can in terms of the vaccination programme,\" he said.\n\nOnce the vaccine is delivered, there will be no messing around. GP practices will receive batches containing 975 doses.\n\nThese will have been thawed out - they are kept in ultra-cold storage in hospital - which means practices only have three-and-a-half days to use them up.\n\nIt will be all hands on deck therefore with GPs, practice nurses and health care assistants working together to vaccinate the over-80s.\n\nThe 100 or so practices getting the vaccine on Monday will be followed by another 100 to 200 over the course of the week.\n\nThe rest of the network of 1,200 designated practices - each local area has been asked to nominate one practice to deliver the vaccine - are expected to follow in the coming weeks.\n\nBut that will depend on supply. There's thought to be fewer than one million doses of the Pfizer vaccine in the country - although more is due to arrive from Belgium soon.\n\nWhat could change the whole speed of rollout is approval of a second vaccine made by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.\n\nRegulators are currently assessing the safety and effectiveness of that vaccine, of which there are already over five million doses available.\n\nCare home residents in England are also expected to receive their first vaccine later this week, along with other parts of the UK, the NHS said.\n\nRoll-out to care homes - the highest priority for vaccination - had been held up by strict rules governing the handling of the Pfizer vaccine, which has to be stored at -70C.\n\nBut the regulator is expected to give the green light to vaccinators taking the jab into care homes in the coming days.\n\nIn Scotland, family doctors are helping deliver the vaccination programme via hospital hubs but England is the first part of the UK to roll out the jab through GP practices.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will the new Pfizer vaccine work?\n\nProf Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, acknowledged there were \"logistical challenges\" to the rollout but said GPs had \"an excellent track record of delivering mass vaccination programmes\".\n\nHe added: \"We won't be vaccinating everyone all at once - it will be a relatively small number at first - but as long as there is supply, GPs and our teams at selected sites will start vaccinating people this week, starting with our most vulnerable patients.\"\n\nHe urged people not to contact their GP enquiring about vaccination, saying patients would be contacted when it was their turn to get the jab.\n\nIt comes as a further 18,447 coronavirus cases were recorded across the UK on Sunday, along with 144 deaths within 28 days of a positive test. Recorded deaths tend to be lower over the weekend due to reporting delays.\n\nMinisters and experts have warned the rollout of the vaccine does not mean coronavirus restrictions can be suddenly relaxed.\n\nOn Sunday NHS Providers - which represents hospital trusts in England - said people must think carefully about the risk of increased social contact over Christmas, despite the rules allowing three households to mix indoors and stay overnight between 23 and 27 December.\n\nFrom this week mass testing is being rolled out in 67 areas of England which are under tier three restrictions, including Oldham, Lancashire and Kent.\n\nMass testing is also being offered to sixth-form and secondary school staff, pupils and their families in parts of north-east London, Essex and Kent, following a rise in cases, particularly among 11 to 18-year-olds.", "Roberts Buncis, pictured with his father, died two days before his 13th birthday\n\nA third teenager has been arrested in connection with the death of a 12-year-old boy, police have confirmed.\n\nRoberts Buncis was found dead on a patch of land in the Fishtoft area of Boston, Lincolnshire, on Saturday.\n\nA 13-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder, Lincolnshire Police said.\n\nEarlier, a 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named due to his age, appeared at Lincoln Crown Court charged with murder and was remanded in custody.\n\nA plea and trial preparation hearing is due to take place on 11 January, with a provisional trial date set for 21 June.\n\nA 19-year-old man arrested earlier on suspicion of murder has been released with no further action, Lincolnshire Police said.\n\nThe body of Roberts Buncis was found in Fishtoft on Saturday\n\nRoberts's body was discovered at about 10:20 GMT on Saturday on a patch of land between Alcorn Green and Woodthorpe Avenue, just two days before his birthday.\n\nA police cordon remains in place around the area and a bouquet of flowers has been left at the scene.\n\nA JustGiving campaign set up to help Roberts's family has raised more than £12,000 since it was launched.\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Greenwich Council has asked all schools to move to online learning amid rising Covid cases\n\nThe government has told a London council it must keep schools open or face legal action.\n\nGreenwich Council had written to head teachers asking all schools to move classes online from Tuesday amid rising Covid-19 cases.\n\nOn Monday evening, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson ordered the south-east London council to keep schools open.\n\nHe said: \"Using legal powers is a last resort but continuity of education is a national priority.\"\n\nOfsted said it was right to keep schools open as children were \"suffering\" from \"yo-yoing in and out of school\", while parents criticised the timings of the announcements and questioned the politics behind the move.\n\nLondon, most of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire will move into England's highest tier of Covid restrictions on Wednesday due to a rise in infections.\n\nSchools in England were told they could close a day early for Christmas last week to give staff a \"proper break\" from identifying potential coronavirus cases.\n\nIn Basildon, where the third-highest Covid rate was recorded, schools were also allowed to close early, while London's mayor Sadiq Khan has called on secondary schools and colleges in the capital to follow suit.\n\nBut Mr Williamson said the decision by councils in Greenwich, and also Islington in north London and Waltham Forest in east London, was \"not in children's best interests\".\n\nHe added: \"That's why I won't hesitate to do what is right for young people and have issued a direction to Greenwich Council setting out that they must withdraw the letter issued to head teachers on Sunday.\"\n\nEducation Secretary Gavin Williamson said it was \"vital\" children remained in school until the end of term\n\nHead of Ofsted Amanda Spielman described it as a \"really difficult situation\" in which people were \"weighing up short-term concerns about health risks and long-term concerns about children's education\".\n\nShe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"It's so easy to call for closures and forget the long-term price which children pay which our visits show so clearly.\n\n\"We've had children yo-yoing in and out of school through the autumn and really suffering as a result. We need clarity, consistency, not last minute decisions.\"\n\nIn a letter sent on Sunday, Greenwich Council leader Danny Thorpe asked all schools to move the majority of pupils to remote learning but said buildings would remain open for vulnerable children and those of key workers.\n\nThe regional schools commissioner, who acts on behalf of the education secretary, told the council that new powers introduced under the Coronavirus Act allowed the secretary of state to issue \"directions\" to require schools to enable all pupils to attend school full-time.\n\nThe Department for Education (DfE) said no decisions had been taken yet about what action to take against all three Labour-run councils.\n\nSadiq Khan wants all students to be tested for Covid-19\n\nGreenwich Council had until 10:00 GMT on Tuesday to retract its letter and had said it would seek legal advice before responding.\n\nMr Thorpe previously said changing plans already in place before Tuesday would have been \"impossible\".\n\n\"Schools across the borough have now organised online learning from tomorrow (Tuesday), whilst others are opening their premises to all pupils,\" he said.\n\n\"We have alerted schools and will speak to them tomorrow. But given we received this notification just before 17:00 GMT, it was impossible to ask schools to change any of the arrangements they have in place for Tuesday.\"\n\nThe leader of Islington Council said in a tweet that the authority was recommending moving to online teaching.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Richard Watts #STAYSAFE This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nMr Khan has called for more testing in schools, citing a 75% increase in children aged between 10-19 testing positive for the virus.\n\nHe told the Today programme councils should speak to the DofE to avoid court action and described how parents were pulling children out of school either because they had been part of bubble that had to self-isolate, or because they wanted 10 days to self-isolate before seeing grandparents at Christmas.\n\n\"In the absence of community testing in schools, many children - despite the heroic efforts of teachers - could have the virus and not know about it,\" he said.\n\n\"And these very same children next week will be hugging and kissing granny because the rules are being relaxed so we're going from tier 2, to tier 3, to tier 0, and back to tier 3 in advance of another potentially national lockdown in January.\"\n\nOn Monday, the reaction was mixed among parents outside Robert Owen Nursery School and Christ Church Church of England Primary School, both in Greenwich.\n\nOne mother said: \"It's 2.5 days, so I don't see what difference this is really going to make and I think the timing of it is really, really bad.\n\n\"I'm on maternity at the moment but if I was working, it's just too short notice to get any kind of childcare arrangements in place.\"\n\nAnd a father added: \"I think the timing might be right as a lot of people will be gathering for Christmas and it takes 10 to 14 days to show up so it may be damage limitation.\n\n\"I hope it will have an impact. If not, then it's just political.\"\n\nHave you been affected by the issues raised in this story. You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nFormer Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier has died at the age of 73.\n\nThe Frenchman managed the Reds from 1998-2004 and led them to five major trophies, including the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup treble in 2000-01.\n\nPrior to Liverpool, Houllier managed Lens, Paris St-Germain and the French national team, and after leaving the Reds won two Ligue 1 titles at Lyon.\n\nHis last managerial job was at Aston Villa, but he left in 2011 after nine months, following heart problems.\n\nIn a statement, Liverpool said they were \"deeply saddened\" by Houllier's death.\n\n\"We are mourning the passing of our treble-winning manager, Gerard Houllier,\" the club said.\n\n\"The thoughts of everyone at Liverpool Football Club are with Gerard's family and many friends.\"\n\nAston Villa said: \"All at Aston Villa are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Gerard Houllier, our manager during the 2010-11 season.\n\n\"Our thoughts are with Gerard's loved ones at this incredibly difficult time.\"\n• None 'He brought the good times back' - how fans reacted\n\nHoullier made his managerial name with Lens and PSG in the 1980s before taking over the French national side in 1992.\n\nHowever, after Les Bleus failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup finals - with Houllier blaming a mistake from winger David Ginola for their exit - he resigned from the role.\n\nIn 1998, he moved to England and took charge of Liverpool as joint manager alongside Roy Evans.\n\nEvans resigned three months later and Houllier took sole charge, rebuilding the Reds and leading them to the unprecedented treble in the 2000-01 season.\n\nIn October 2001, he had open heart surgery after suffering from chest pains during a home match against Leeds, but returned to the dugout at Anfield and remained there for another three years before leaving in May 2004.\n\nAfter leaving Liverpool, he led Lyon to two French titles before joining the French Football Federation in 2007, but he was enticed back into management by Villa in September 2010, signing a three-year deal.\n\nBut the following April Houllier was admitted to hospital with chest pains and Gary McAllister stepped in to help steer Villa away from relegation trouble.\n\nHe stepped down from the role at the end of the 2010-11 season with concerns that a return to the dugout could cause further health issues.\n\nHe has since held the head of football role at Red Bull, and in November became technical director of women's football clubs Lyon and OL Reign.\n\nHoullier's record at Liverpool (games as sole manager only)\n\nMany of Liverpool's treble-winning squad from 2000-01 were quick to pay tribute to their former boss.\n\nEx-Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp wrote on Instagram : \"Incredibly sad news to hear of the passing of Gerard Houllier. A man that did an amazing job for Liverpool football club and for football as a whole. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. I will never forget the day he gave me the Liverpool captaincy, the greatest honour of my career.\"\n\nDietmar Hamann said: \"Devastated to hear the news that our former manager Gerard Houllier passed away. Great manager and an even better man. You'll never walk alone Gerard.\"\n\nPhil Thompson, Houllier's assistant manager at Liverpool, said he was \"absolutely devastated and heartbroken\".\n\nThe rest of the football world also paid tribute to Houllier, with many Premier League teams tweeting their condolences, including Tottenham, West Ham, Manchester United and Liverpool's Merseyside rivals Everton.\n\nCurrent and former Liverpool players also paid tribute, with Djibril Cisse, tweeting: \"Today I am very sad. Thanks to you, I was able to play in this wonderful @LFC. Many thanks for everything you have done for me.\"\n\nNeil Mellor said: \"Thank you for believing in me & giving me my professional debut.\"\n\nSpeaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, former Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland, who was signed by Houllier in 2001, said: \"I've always been a Liverpool fan, my first game was when I was seven in 1988 and then he made my dreams come true by signing me.\n\n\"He was a special man, it wasn't just about football, it was about a human being too. His door was always open. he had this warm feeling about him which, when you were talking to him, made you feel a million dollars. He will be really sadly missed.\n\n\"He changed the dynamics at Liverpool, he changed it all, and the way they went forward.\n\n\"His team talks were so special, especially when you needed to get a result in Champions League nights and huge Premier League games. He had you on the edge of your seat listening to every word.\n\n\"He was so calm. Some managers rant and rave but he always used to take a couple of minutes, he always used to compose himself before he came into the changing room. As soon as he came in, the dressing room went quiet and everyone was hanging onto his words.\n\n\"He had a calmness about him, if you were losing he would say he backed you and told you to trust each other. You had to be there to appreciate how special his team talks were and nine of 10 times they worked.\"\n\nLiverpool legend Kenny Dalglish tweeted: \"Very sad news about Gerard Houllier. He was a gentleman and a great footballing person; I enjoyed his company many times. His legacy at LFC will forever be appreciated, respected and never forgotten.\"\n\nSpeaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Houllier's former co-manager Roy Evans said: \"The passing of Gerard Houllier is a real sad day for all Liverpool fans.\n\nOn the difficulty of trying to work as joint managers he added: \"It was more or less impossible, you have got two people trying to do one job. Football is all about opinions and different things and that is why I walked away at the time.\n\n\"But I never held that against Gerard, he came to do a job and he did a good one.\n\n\"The last time I saw him was about 12 months ago in Ireland and we had a good chat. It is another Liverpool legend who has passed away.\"\n\nFormer Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: \"The news has come as a total shock this morning. Gerard Houllier was still a young man at the age of 73.\n\n\"Gerard became a really good friend during his time at Liverpool. We remained great friends after he left and he was always a great ally to have.\n\n\"He had fantastic football knowledge which he gained during his extensive and varied career. When we saw each other at Uefa meetings or other events, we would often enjoy a chat, he was always great company and I will miss him dearly. He was a true gentleman.\n\n\"It is a sad day for the football world and my thoughts are with his family at this desperately sad time.\"\n\nNasser Al-Khelaifi, chairman of PSG - who won their first French title in 1986 under Houllier - said the club felt \"profound sadness\".\n\nFormer England full-back Ashley Young, now at Inter Milan, played under Houllier at Aston Villa.", "The makers of one of most anticipated games of the year have apologised and offered refunds amid a backlash from gamers about performance problems.\n\nCyberpunk 2077, which stars Keanu Reeves, came out last week after several delays.\n\nProblems with glitches and crashing have mostly appeared on last generation consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One.\n\nCD Projekt Red says it \"should have paid more attention to making it play better\" on those consoles.\n\nThey are now offering refunds to people who want to return the game.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Cyberpunk 2077 This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nProblems reported include choppy frame rates and screen tearing, but those with the newest versions of consoles have not experienced them.\n\nReviewers were sent a PC version of the game, which appears to be one of the reasons the problems were not reported before the game was released.\n\nThe game was originally supposed to be released in April, but faced three delays before its eventual release.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Robert Sole This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n'Gamers have been let down'\n\nOne of the games that has had people salivating at every preview snippet or video for years - Cyperpunk 2077 was expected by some to be one of the best games ever made.\n\nWhile many reviewers still hold it in very high regard, especially when running on a PC, the problems that have made the game almost unplayable on many consoles will be a source of embarrassment for the developers.\n\nCD Projekt Red, up until now, has been considered one of the most respected game creators in the industry. This will no doubt be upsetting and frustrating for the team that worked so hard on trying to get the game ready in time for Christmas.\n\nAlso upset and frustrated though are the gamers who feel let down by the developer's failure to be fully transparent about the performance of the game they were buying on consoles.\n\nIt's hard to tell at the moment just how damaging to the reputation of the company this incident will be.\n\nIt's not uncommon for games to be released with bugs and errors in them - and 2020 has been a year like no other, making game development even harder than it is normally.\n\nBut for the conversation around a major title to be totally dominated by issues like this is rare and has overshadowed the release.\n\nIt begs the question - why didn't the company delay release one more time until these issues were sorted?\n\nThe developers have said they will be releasing a number of patches in January and February to fix the game for players who want to hang on to their copies of the game.\n\nDigital versions can be refunded through Sony and Microsoft online stores, while the boxed version can be returned to stores.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nMade by the people behind The Witcher games, Cyberpunk 2077 sees players live in a criminal world, where they can pay to upgrade their bodies with technology.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 3 by Steelers (11-2) Cavs (1-0) This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nCyberpunk started life as a role-playing game like Dungeons and Dragons, set in 2020 and was created by Mike Pondsmith, who helped created the new game.\n\nIn the original, written in the 1980s, he predicted instant messaging and corporate control, but also flying cars - which is one things that hasn't come true - not yet anyway.", "A house has collapsed after a gas explosion is believed to have ripped through the property.\n\nThe explosion happened in Holly Drive in Bourne, Lincolnshire, at about 09:10 GMT causing severe damage.\n\nA male occupant suffered minor injuries and is a \"little shaken\", Lincolnshire Police said.\n\nA spokesperson said the scene had been assessed and it had been deemed that there was no need to evacuate any other properties.\n\nThe force said: \"Whilst a full investigation is to be conducted, we believe it is probably a gas explosion.\"\n\nPolice, fire and gas services were called to the scene\n\nNo other properties were evacuated\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: 'Whatever happens, the UK will do very, very well'\n\nWhen is a deadline not a deadline? When it's anything to do with Brexit, perhaps.\n\nBoth sides in this long, long process, have agreed to go on rather than pull the plug today.\n\nA joint statement emerged just before noon with a much more positive tone than anything that's come out of late, and did not feature the usual kind of warning of big gaps between the two sides.\n\nThe froideur from Thursday and Friday seems to be thawing a little. It's also worth noting no new time limit was put on the talks, although of course there is one hard deadline of 31 December, when the status quo runs out.\n\nIt's also worth noting that the prime minister was loath to show much sign of optimism when he appeared in front of a camera shortly after the joint statement emerged.\n\nStripping away the spin on both sides, there is little question that the prospects of a deal felt slim at the end of the week.\n\nThe prime minister moved repeatedly to start warning the public and business that leaving without an agreement felt increasingly likely, unless there was some shift in the EU position.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nRemember it's not that long ago that a deal had seemed within reach, before some countries started pushing for a more robust approach.\n\nIt seems now that in the last couple of days the negotiators have taken some small steps back towards that position with suggestions that Brussels has softened its position on how the two sides sort out disputes over common rules in the years to come.\n\nThere are whispers that they have pulled back from trying to include the \"ratchet clause\", a major UK gripe explained by my colleague Faisal Islam.\n\nThis was the problem described by Mr Johnson on Thursday using a rather bizarre metaphor about twins.\n\nHowever you describe it, it was clear the UK just wasn't willing to accept that the EU could take punitive action on its own, so the negotiators have been trying to sort out how to fix it together.\n\nIndeed one diplomatic source suggested that the \"ratchet clause\" approach had been abandoned some time ago, and the political narratives on both sides have been running behind what's been happening in the negotiating room.\n\nThe circle around the talks is extremely tight so it is very hard to know precisely what is going on. It is possible that both sides are dangling concessions.\n\nOne Cabinet minister on the call with the prime minister said even they weren't told about the details of where any movement has been going on.\n\nBut there is the sense now that the ground has shifted enough to make the chance of a deal worth pursuing.\n\nAs the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC this morning, there is always the possibility of \"creative contours in the drafting\".\n\nIn other words - the political imperatives to make this happen are so strong that even tricky issues at this late stage can still potentially be fudged.\n\nIt's far from certain that the talks will end in agreement, but the chances of resolution are once again on the rise.", "The Welsh Government has updated its Coronavirus Control Plan , changing its traffic-light framework of restrictions to one of four alert levels.\n\nIt said the change was \"aligned to the measures we will need to have in place to control the spread of the virus through the difficult winter months ahead of us and to protect people’s health\".\n\n\"It also sets out how and when Wales will move between these alert levels,\" a statement said.\n\n\"The all-Wales measures are designed to be as simple, fair and clear as possible and they will provide greater certainty for people and businesses about what legal restrictions will be put in place, depending on the level of risk, helping them to plan for the future.\"\n\nAlert level one (low risk): This represents the level of restrictions closest to normality, which are possible while infection rates are low and other preventative measures, such as social distancing and working from home, remain in place.\n\nAlert level two (medium risk): This includes additional controls to limit the spread of coronavirus. These may be complemented by more targeted local actions to manage specific incidents or outbreaks.\n\nAlert level three (high risk): These represent the strictest restrictions short of a firebreak or lockdown. These respond to higher or rising level of infections where local actions are no longer effective in containing the growth of the virus.\n\nAlert level four (very high risk): Restrictions at this level would be equivalent to the firebreak regulations or lockdown. These could either be deployed as a preventative firebreak or as a lockdown measure.\n\nFull details have been published on the Welsh Government website.", "A former Holiday Inn, which offered landmark views of Washington DC, was brought down without a hitch in a controlled implosion.", "The London borough of Greenwich has become the first in England to ask all schools to move learning online from Tuesday amid rising Covid cases.\n\nThe council's Labour leader Danny Thorpe has written to parents and head teachers saying it is justified by the \"extreme risk\" of the virus.\n\nThe National Education Union said the decision was \"very sensible\".\n\nBut the Department for Education said it remained a national priority to keep schools open full time.\n\nIn two letters, to parents and to head teachers, Mr Thorpe explained why he is asking schools to close.\n\n\"I wouldn't be asking for this unless the risk was extreme, but with numbers rising so rapidly it is clear action is needed,\" he wrote to parents.\n\nAs a result, he said, the escalating number of cases demanded immediate action, and all schools were being asked to move teaching online from Tuesday.\n\nThe council is advising them to keep buildings open for vulnerable children and those of key workers, but for all other pupils to learn remotely.\n\nMr Thorpe wrote to parents he was \"extremely sorry\" for the disruption this was likely to cause.\n\nTo head teachers he wrote it had become clear rates of Covid-19 were rising extremely rapidly and he couldn't \"in all good conscience standby by whilst the numbers are doubling\".\n\nThe call from the local authority will put schools in a difficult position as ultimately they will have to make their own decisions.\n\nArk Greenwich Free School, which has the same autonomy as an academy, said the secondary would be remaining open.\n\nThe head teacher Rhys Spiers took to social media to tell parents they had not had a confirmed case of coronavirus at the school since October and \"our teachers are in school ready to warmly welcome your children to lessons\".\n\nSchools which rely on the local authority for support may feel under more pressure to move teaching online.\n\nKevin Courtney, general secretary of the National Education Union, said the request by Greenwich was very sensible.\n\n\"Local government is having to step in because central government is ignoring its responsibilities,\" he said\n\nThe move by a Labour led authority will be regarded as a provocative move by the government, which said it remained \"a national priority\" for schools to remain open.\n\nSchools who have said they would like to move learning online have been firmly reminded that the government has the legal power to require them to stay open.\n\nBut head teachers unions said a more flexible approach was needed.\n\nPaul Whiteman, from the NAHT, said the government was obsessed with a one size fits all approach, driven from Whitehall, that was not working for anyone.\n\n\"But it is working against any reasonable education objective, school leaders need flexibility to organise the best education possible in this crisis,\" he said.\n\nGeoff Barton, from the Association of School and College Leaders, said: \"The government's determination to force schools to provide direct classroom teaching for all pupils regardless of local circumstances with coronavirus rates is far too inflexible. \"\n\nA spokesman for the Department for Education said it was \"vital\" that children remain in school until the end of term.\n\nHe said: \"Schools, colleges and early years settings across the country have worked tremendously hard to put protective measures in place that are helping reduce the risk of the virus being transmitted.\"\n\nThe Regional Schools Commissioner for the South East of England and South London would be continuing discussions with Greenwich, he added.\n\nIn a letter to the prime minister Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called for an immediate increase in testing provision across the capital - including regular asymptomatic testing being rolled out to students and staff at the city's secondary schools and colleges.\n\n\"Time is running out to get the virus under control in our city,\" he said.", "Michel Barnier is leading the EU's negotiating team in Monday's talks\n\nUK and EU negotiators have restarted talks over a post-Brexit trade deal in hope of securing an agreement.\n\nIt comes after the two sides confirmed on Sunday there had been enough progress for negotiations to continue.\n\nEU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday there had been \"movement\" in the talks and negotiators had not exhausted all options.\n\nBut a UK government source later said there had not been \"significant progress in recent days\".\n\nTime is fast running out to finalise an agreement before the UK's Brexit transition ends in just over two weeks.\n\nThe decision to keep talking came after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson discussed the main sticking points with President Von der Leyen on Sunday.\n\nNegotiations will continue in Brussels on Tuesday, but a new deadline for a decision has not been set.\n\nThe ultimate deadline comes on 31 December, however, when the UK stops following EU trading rules.\n\nWithout a trade deal in place by then, the two sides would begin trading on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms, meaning taxes - or tariffs - would be introduced, potentially raising the cost of imported goods such as food.\n\nFishing rights, \"level playing field\" rules on how far the UK should be able to diverge from EU laws, and how any agreement should be policed remain the major stumbling blocks.\n\nThe EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier has resumed talks with his UK counterpart Lord Frost, after briefing ambassadors of EU member states.\n\nAccording to an EU source, Mr Barnier is believed to have told them talks over a level playing field remained hard, but were moving towards an agreement.\n\nHe is also said to have told them a wider deal could fall into place if a route towards an agreement on fishing rights can be identified.\n\nBut a UK government source later downplayed progress, saying: \"Talks remain difficult and we have not made significant progress in recent days, despite efforts by the UK side to bring energy and ideas to the process.\"\n\nLord Frost has said a deal is only possible if it \"fully respects UK sovereignty\".\n\nSpeaking at an event on Monday, Mrs von der Leyen said the issue of the level playing field was the \"one and only important question\" if UK should continue to have access to the EU's single market.\n\nThe EU Commission president added: \"They have either to play by our rules, because this is a matter of fairness for our companies... or the other choice is there is a price on it, and the price is border and tariffs.\"\n\nLabour's shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves welcomed the continuation of the talks and said the worst outcome would be to \"crash out with no deal whatsoever on 1 January\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ursula von der Leyen: \"We want a level playing field not only at the start, but also over time\".\n\nThis new phase of the talks is expected to focus on how close the UK should stick to EU economic rules in the future.\n\nThe EU is determined to prevent the UK from gaining what it sees as an unfair advantage of having tariff-free access to its markets - not paying taxes on goods being bought and sold - while setting its own standards on products, employment rights and business subsidies.\n\nThe EU is reported to have dropped the idea of a formal mechanism to ensure both sides keep up with each other's standards and is now prepared to accept UK divergence - provided there are safeguards to prevent unfair competition.\n\nFishing rights is another major area of disagreement, with the EU warning that without access to UK waters for EU fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nBut the UK argues that what goes on in its own waters, and its wider business rules, should be under its control as a sovereign country.\n\nWhat does it mean in Brexit trade deal terms \"to go the extra mile\"?\n\nThat's the distance the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, have promised to travel over the next days.\n\nBut will the road take them to deal or no-deal? And who will compromise on what to get there?\n\nEU contacts close to the talks say both sides are being constructive. They insist negotiations aren't simply continuing because neither the EU, nor the government want to be blamed in a no-deal scenario and prefer not to walk away first.\n\nRemember: what's said in front of the cameras is only part of the picture.\n\nWe aren't behind the scenes in the negotiating room or on the closed calls between Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen.\n\nBut however long these talks rumble on, ultimately neither the government, nor the EU, will sign up to a deal if they can't claim it as a victory.\n\nThe National Farmers' Union has warned there will be \"significant disruption\" to the sector if the UK fails to reach a trade deal with the EU.\n\nAnd the British Retail Consortium warned the public would face \"over £3bn in food tariffs [meaning] retailers would have no choice but to pass on some of these additional costs to their customers\".", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "Scots have been urged to \"cut down on unnecessary contacts\" now if they plan to meet up with relatives at Christmas.\n\nRules on household meetings are being eased for five days over the festive period, allowing up to eight people from three households to meet indoors.\n\nFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon said those who choose to do this should cut contacts now to be as safe as possible.\n\nShe said the \"best Christmas gift we can give family and friends\" is to \"keep our distance and keep them safe\".\n\nMs Sturgeon also urged people not to hold office Christmas parties, saying they present a \"real risk of transmission\".\n\nPeople will be allowed to form Christmas \"bubbles\" of three households between 23 and 27 December.\n\nMs Sturgeon said this was a \"pragmatic step\" to make the festive period \"as safe as possible\" for those who feel they must meet up - but has repeatedly urged people not to do it unless absolutely necessary.\n\nAt her coronavirus briefing on Monday, the first minister said Christmas might be \"the toughest\" point of the pandemic for many, but she added that people In Scotland should \"think really carefully\" about gathering indoors.\n\nShe said: \"Hopefully next year this will all be a bad memory and we'll be looking forward to a much more normal Christmas.\n\n\"What we should be thinking about this Christmas is about ensuring that everyone we love is still there when we get to next Christmas, and that we're not losing more people to Covid along the way.\"\n\nMs Sturgeon said people planning to meet up should \"reduce unnecessary contacts between now and then\", particularly if they will be seeing elderly relatives.\n\nShe suggested people avoid catching up with friends in cafes or car-sharing in the run-up to Christmas.\n\nThe first minister said: \"By taking precautions to cut down on unnecessary contact then we reduce any chance of getting the virus and inadvertently passing it on.\"\n\nThe first minister also urged people not to hold office Christmas parties, saying they present \"a real risk of transmission\" particularly if alcohol is involved.\n\nShe said: \"Perhaps think about postponing your Christmas celebration until spring or summer next year, when hopefully we will see some greater normality return to our lives.\n\n\"I know all of this is very hard at the end of a horrible year, but these are not normal times and it's important we get through them as safely as possible.\"\n\nThere have been concerns about rising cases of the virus in some parts of the UK, with London facing a move to the highest tier of restrictions in England.\n\nHowever, the UK government has said it has \"no plans to review the Christmas guidelines\" which will allow greater mixing.\n\nScottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said \"all politicians are right to highlight the risks\" around the festive period.\n\nHe said: \"This is not a risk-free option - this is an option to allow people to come together to celebrate Christmas, but to do so in a way that will be different to what we have experienced before.\n\n\"Let's do it safely - let's allow families as they can to come together in a small way, but know the risks of that and try to minimise the risks.\"\n\nThe Scottish Greens meanwhile said Ms Sturgeon's plea to cut contacts was contradictory to her stance on keeping all schools open.\n\nMSP Ross Greer said there was a \"very real chance that teachers could be spending their Christmas day calling pupils and their families to inform them they were a close contact of someone who tested positive and must self-isolate\", calling this a \"failure of leadership\" by the government.", "McLaughlan arrived in Ramsey on Friday afternoon and then walked to Douglas\n\nA man who crossed the Irish Sea from Scotland to the Isle of Man \"on a jet ski\" to visit his girlfriend has been jailed for breaching Covid-19 laws.\n\nDouglas Courthouse heard 28-year-old Dale McLaughlan took four-and-a-half hours to travel from the Isle of Whithorn to Ramsey on Friday.\n\nMcLaughlan, from North Ayrshire, made the crossing despite having never driven a water scooter before.\n\nHe admitted arriving unlawfully on the island and was jailed for four weeks.\n\nUnder the island's current laws, only non-residents given special permission are allowed to enter the Isle of Man.\n\nMcLaughlan, of Warrix Avenue in Irvine, was previously given permission to work as a roofer on the island for four weeks in September and, after isolating for 14 days, met his girlfriend on a night out.\n\nThe court heard his subsequent applications to return had been rejected.\n\nProsecutors said the 28-year-old bought the vehicle and set off on the journey of about 25 miles (40km), which he had expected to take 40 minutes.\n\nAfter he arrived in Ramsey at about 13:00 GMT, he walked another 15 miles (25km) to his girlfriend's home in Douglas, who believed he had been on the island working for several weeks, the court was told.\n\nThe following afternoon, he gave a police officer her address as his own and that evening, the couple went to two busy nightclubs.\n\nFollowing identification checks, police arrested him on Sunday evening.\n\nIn mitigation, the 28-year-old's defence advocate said he suffered from depression and was not coping with being unable to see his partner.\n\nSentencing him, Deputy High Bailiff Christopher Arrowsmith said McLaughlan had made a \"deliberate and intentional attempt to circumnavigate\" the border restrictions, potentially putting the community at risk.\n\nHe said the \"carefully planned\" journey had also put the 28-year-old \"at very real risk\" of harm.\n\nSpeaking after the hearing, a government spokesman said following an investigation, public health officials were \"satisfied\" there was \"no wider risk to the public\".\n\nWhy not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and Twitter? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The former president posts that he has been told to report to a grand jury, \"which almost always means an Arrest\".", "Esther Dingley last spoke to her partner on 22 November\n\nA British hiker missing in the Pyrenees was an experienced walker who was happy with life, her family have said.\n\nThe search for Esther Dingley, 37, began after she failed to return from a solo trek as planned on 25 November.\n\nShe last communicated with her partner of 19 years Dan Colegate via Whatsapp on 22 November when she was atop Pic de Sauvegarde on the Spain-France border.\n\nMr Colegate has dismissed media reports that she was unhappy, which seemingly stem from a French police source.\n\nMs Dingley had been travelling alone in the couple's campervan for a month while he stayed at a French vineyard, the pair having given up their home in Durham to tour Europe in 2014.\n\nMr Colegate said: \"We spoke every day, the time apart worked as we expected, and we were very joyful when we spoke.\n\n\"The hike she went missing on was to be her last before driving back. Our last conversation was totally loving and all smiles. She was so happy, and we were excited to see each other.\n\n\"Why the police [officer] who spoke to a journalist implied 'things weren't as happy as they looked' baffles me.\n\n\"I have never spoken to the person quoted.\"\n\nEsther Dingley and Dan Colegate had always been keen travellers\n\nMr Colegate also said claims he had been \"quizzed\" multiple times by police were a misrepresentation of the numerous meetings he has had with both French and Spanish police to provide information.\n\nMs Dingley's mother Ria described her daughter as an \"open book\" and said while the couple may have faced some \"difficult decisions\" about continuing their touring after Brexit, \"that didn't dampen her joy for the life they both were living\".\n\nShe said: \"We are utterly distraught not knowing where Esther is or what has happened to her and would implore anyone who may know anything, however seemingly insignificant, to come forward.\"\n\nMr Colegate said it was normal for the couple to spend time apart but that they also enjoyed their trips together, which included a 1,000 mile hike in the summer.\n\nEsther Dingley and Dan Colegate have been touring Europe in a campervan with their five dogs\n\nHe described Ms Dingley as a \"very experienced\" mountain hiker who always kept him updated with her planned routes.\n\nMr Colegate said: \"The terrain she was on is not difficult. The weather was excellent. It does not mean she hasn't had an accident; I just consider it unlikely.\n\n\"There seems to be a perception that because it's the mountains, because it's nearly winter and because Esther was alone, that what she was doing was reckless.\"\n\nPolice have previously said they are looking at all options including \"non-accidental\" ones.\n\nMs Dingley's family is now being supported by LBT Global, formerly the Lucie Blackman Trust, which assists relatives of missing people abroad.\n\nChief executive Matthew Searle MBE called for a \"swift end\" to speculation about what has happened to Ms Dingley.\n\nHe said: \"Our priority is supporting Esther's loved ones through this traumatic time and it is clear they are deeply upset at some of the speculation.\n\n\"Spreading unconfirmed assumptions is unhelpful and unfair, as well as deeply upsetting for those closest to Esther.\"\n\nSearches for Ms Dingley have been suspended due to bad weather and both French and Spanish police say they are investigating her disappearance.\n\nFollow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: 'Whatever happens, the UK will do very, very well'\n\nWhat does it mean in Brexit trade deal terms \"to go the extra mile\"?\n\nThat's the distance the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, have promised to travel over the next days.\n\nBut will the road take them to deal or no-deal? And who will compromise on what to get there?\n\nEU contacts close to the talks say both sides are being constructive. They insist negotiations aren't simply continuing because neither the EU, nor the government want to be blamed in a no-deal scenario and prefer not to walk away first.\n\n\"We're carrying on talking because no-deal is a big deal,\" one EU contact told me. \"We think it will have a dramatic impact on lives and livelihoods. As long as talks aren't going backwards, it would be irresponsible not to give this a chance.\"\n\nBoris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen said it was \"responsible at this point to go the extra mile\"\n\nThe now-infamous three main sticking points are still open, with tentative progress being made, we hear.\n\n1) On fishing rights, EU whispers suggest a kick-the-can, down-the-road fudged compromise might be found (though not settled yet), involving considerable European concessions\n\n2) The governance of the overall deal is being worked on in detail. Still to be agreed: what actions could be slapped with which sanctions, and who decides\n\n3) Competition regulations - aka the level playing field - are still a big issue\n\nAlongside technical talks, both sides say political intervention will certainly still be needed.\n\nSo, what are we to make of the prime minister sounding a whole lot gloomier on Sunday about the prospects of a deal, than the European Commission, carrying out the negotiations on the EU's behalf?\n\nRemember: what's said in front of the cameras is only part of the picture.\n\nWe aren't behind the scenes in the negotiating room or on the closed calls between Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen.\n\nBut however long these talks rumble on, ultimately neither the government, nor the EU, will sign up to a deal if they can't claim it as a victory.\n\nFor Mr Johnson, that means being able to say the deal respects post-Brexit national sovereignty; that it allows the UK to make and take its own decisions.\n\nBrussels wants to be able to confidently reassure the 27 EU leaders that the deal protects the single market and European businesses in it from what they feared could be unfair UK competition.\n\nIf there is a deal, the EU assumption is that many in the UK will want to trumpet what one Brussels insider called \"a Great British Victory\" and to point to EU concessions, real or alleged.\n\n\"If that narrative helps get a deal over the line in the UK, then it's worth it,\" he shrugged. \"Few Europeans are paying attention to the Brexit process anymore. We don't care about PR. We care about protecting our interests, deal or no-deal.\"\n\nThat last sentiment, of course, is one loudly expressed by the UK too.", "Households have been warned not to stockpile food and toilet roll ahead of 1 January when the UK stops trading under EU rules.\n\nOn Sunday, the UK and the EU agreed to extend a deadline aimed at reaching a deal on post-Brexit trade.\n\nThe British Retail Consortium (BRC) said ongoing uncertainty made it harder for firms to prepare for the New Year.\n\nBut it said shops had plenty of supplies and shoppers must not buy more food than usual.\n\n\"Retailers are doing everything they can to prepare for all eventualities on 1 January - increasing the stock of tins, toilet rolls and other longer life products so there will be sufficient supply of essential products,\" said BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson.\n\n\"While no amount of preparation by retailers can entirely prevent disruption there is no need for the public to buy more food than usual as the main impact will be on imported fresh produce, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, which cannot be stored for long periods by either retailers or consumers.\"\n\nSupermarkets are now used to dealing with anxious shoppers.\n\nSupermarkets had to impose limits on some goods during coronavirus lockdowns this year\n\nDuring the first lockdown earlier this year to stop the spread of the coronavirus, grocers introduced limits on goods such as toilet roll, dried pasta and UHT milk after panic buying by Britons.\n\nThere are fears shoppers might think disruption at ports after 31 December could lead to shortages in shops as the UK transitions to new trading rules with the EU.\n\nThe UK and the EU have agreed to carry on trade talks past Sunday's deadline.\n\nIn a joint statement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was \"responsible at this point to go the extra mile\".\n\nBut Mr Johnson told the BBC the two sides are \"still very far part on some key things\", and said the \"most likely\" course is an Australian-style trade deal with the EU.\n\nHe admitted that this type of deal \"it is not where we wanted to get to but if we have to end up with that solution the UK is more than prepared\".\n\nHowever, Ms Dickinson warned: \"Without a deal, the British public will face over £3bn in food tariffs and retailers would have no choice but to pass on some of these additional costs to their customers who would see higher prices filter though during 2021.\"\n\nOther business groups welcomed the extension to trade talks but also cautioned that it was imperative that the UK avoid a no deal Brexit with the EU.\n\n\"The news that talks will continue gives hope,\" said Tony Danker, director-general of the CBI business lobby group. \"A deal is both essential and possible.\"\n\nThis torture is better than no deal. The fact that talks are ongoing is a good thing. Business groups are unanimous in their view that if a deal is at all possible, it should be pursued with every last effort.\n\nHowever, the problem with this uncertainty is two-fold.\n\nFirst, political and business timetables are getting increasingly misaligned by the day. Businesses need to know whether tariffs are coming or not as it effects pricing of products and services for next year. How can firms place or take an order if they don't know what that price needs to be?\n\nSecond, there is a danger that businesses who watch this process being dragged out will take their eye off the ball while waiting for some rabbit to appear out of the hat.\n\nNo deal is very bad but a deal still leaves an awful lot of work to do in preparing for new procedures, for example customs, that will change in any event.\n\nBut the fact remains that while this may be torture, it could be worse. No deal would not put UK business out of its misery - it could put some sectors out of business.\n\nWhile Mr Danker said that \"ongoing delays are frustrating and cost businesses,\" he urged the government to \"make use of the time\".\n\n\"Government must move with even more determination to avoid the looming cliff edge of 1 January.\"\n\nBritish Chambers of Commerce director general Adam Marshall said it is a \"very frustrating time for business\".\n\nBut he added: \"If a few more hours or days makes the difference, keep going and get an agreement that delivers clarity and certainty to businesses and trade on both sides. Businesses will need time and support to adjust in a New Year like no other - whatever the eventual outcome.\"\n\nMike Hawes, head of the motor industry's trade body, the SMMT, said that although it was good the two sides will continue to talk, they must now \"finish the job\". A no-deal \"would be nothing less than catastrophic for the automotive sector, its workers and their families and represent a stunning failure of statecraft. Quite simply, it has to be ruled out,\" he said.\n\nAnd Make UK, the manufacturers' trade body, said that after more than four years of uncertainty \"UK manufacturers are now facing the most challenging start to the New Year, dealing with a pandemic and the risk of having no trading arrangement with our largest market\".\n\nNews that talks will continue pushed sterling higher against the euro and dollar, although trading on Sunday would have been limited. Against the dollar, the pound rose 1.1% to $1.3360, compared with Friday's close. Against the euro, it strengthened 1% to 90.58 pence.\n\nSterling fell to a one-month low last week on fears Britain would leave the EU without a deal.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Priti Patel says she “always promised to listen and act” and that it was her mission to “correct the wrongs of the past”.\n\nThe government is to give more money to victims of the Windrush scandal, which saw hundreds of people wrongly threatened with deportation.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel announced that the minimum payment will rise from £250 to £10,000, and the maximum from £10,000 to £100,000.\n\nThe figure will be higher still in \"exceptional\" circumstances, with money coming through quicker than before.\n\nThe Windrush scandal mainly affected UK citizens originally from the Caribbean.\n\nThey were granted indefinite leave to remain in 1971, but thousands were children who had travelled on their parents' passports.\n\nBecause of this, many were unable to prove they had the right to live in the country when \"hostile environment\" immigration policies - demanding the showing of documentation - began in 2012, under then Home Secretary Theresa May.\n\nThe scandal broke in 2018, including the revelation that many of those affected had lost homes and jobs and had been denied access to healthcare and benefits.\n\nThe BBC's Westminster Hour reported last month that at least nine people had died while awaiting payments under the compensation scheme set up for victims.\n\nCampaigners for the Windrush victims are likely to ask why this announcement by the home secretary didn't come sooner.\n\nThe government acted quickly in setting up the Windrush Compensation Scheme when the scandal became public in 2018, but that scheme has long been criticised for being too slow and resulting in offers some say are too low.\n\nThe speed at which claims are processed and money is offered is seen as being particularly crucial, given that many of those affected are elderly.\n\nThe additional announcement that the compensation process for loss of earnings will also change could potentially lead to even larger payouts for victims.\n\nEarly responses from claimants suggest a sense of cautious optimism at the latest announcement, with one person telling me they won't believe it until a cheque is in the post.\n\nThe Windrush Compensation Scheme will be updated following consultation with the Windrush Working Group, chaired by Bishop Derek Webley.\n\nMs Patel told the House of Commons there would be \"substantial changes\".\n\nShe added that these would \"make a real difference to people's lives\", saying: \"I've always promised to listen and act to ensure that the victims of Windrush receive the maximum amount of compensation they deserve.\n\n\"It's my mission to correct the wrongs of the past and I will continue to work with the Windrush Working Group to do exactly that.\"\n\nThe changes to the scheme will apply retrospectively, meaning those previously given less than £10,000 will receive top-up payments.\n\nThe Home Office is also removing the 12 months' salary limit on compensation for earnings lost by people forced out of their jobs.\n\nIt will start letting those affected by the changes know from next week.\n\nBishop Webley said: \"Many will benefit from the relief that these new payments will provide, and begin to move forward with their lives with hope and determination.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Explained: What is the 'hostile environment' policy?\n\nAn estimated 500,000 people living in the UK make up the surviving members of the Windrush generation.\n\nAn Equality and Human Rights Commission report last month said government action taken to \"record and respond to negative equality impacts\" of hostile environment immigration policies had been \"perfunctory, and therefore insufficient\".\n\nIt called for a plan\" of \"specific actions\" to \"avoid a future breach\", with the commission's interim chair, Caroline Waters, describing the treatment of the Windrush generation as \"a shameful stain on British history\".\n\nThe Windrush compensation scheme came into force last year, with £2m being paid out so far and a further £1m offered.", "Gerard Houllier put a smile on the faces of a lot of people who support Liverpool, say fans\n\nLiverpool fans have paid tribute to the team's former manager Gerard Houllier remembering the Frenchman as \"a gentleman\" who \"returned pride\" to the club.\n\nHoullier, who led Liverpool to five major trophies, died earlier on Monday, aged 73.\n\nHe \"brought the good times back\", said Reds supporter John Gibbons.\n\nOne fans' group is already looking to arrange a memorial tribute to Houllier at Anfield.\n\nAndy Knott, who twice previously arranged crowd mosaics in Houllier's honour, said he \"most definitely\" would look to remember him in a special way once supporters are allowed to return in numbers.\n\nAfter Houllier's heart attack in 2001, the Kop paid tribute in French spelling out the word 'Allez'\n\nLiverpool fans first showed their appreciation for their then manager in November 2001, spelling out his initials 'GH' after he underwent open heart surgery at Broadgreen Hospital, having been taken ill a month earlier.\n\nOn the Frenchman's return to management duties in March 2002, supporters once again united to spell out the words \"Allez, allez\" to mark his recovery.\n\nMr Knott, who is a contributor to Liverpool fanzine, Red All Over The Land, met Houllier at the club's Melwood training base soon after, and remembers him as \"a likeable gentleman\".\n\n\"He was busy, but came down and had a good chat with us and said how he was so grateful,\" he said.\n\nGerard Houllier guided Liverpool to a treble in the 2000-01 season, which included winning the UEFA Cup\n\nHoullier is a figure that will forever remain \"very much loved\" in Liverpool for the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup treble-winning season of 2000-2001.\n\nLifelong Reds fan Damian Kavanagh was there for all three finals.\n\n\"What a time of our lives that was,\" he said.\n\n\"That is how he should be remembered. no-one is perfect, he didn't get every single decision right, but he really did bring Liverpool up to date when we needed it because we were struggling before he took charge.\n\nKavanagh said Houllier's history in the city, having worked as a teacher in the Liverpool in the 1960s when he also watched the team as a fan at Anfield, ensured a \"strong connection\".\n\n\"The fact he had been on the Kop and lived amongst us all here showed that he understood how much the team means to us,\" Kavanagh continued.\n\n\"In our short lives all you can ever leave behind is smiles and Houllier can certainly rest peacefully that there are a hell of a lot of people that support Liverpool that he made smile.\"\n\nJohn Gibbons (third from left) with fellow Liverpool supporters meeting Gerard Houllier at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil\n\nFor John Gibbons, a podcaster for the Anfield Wrap, Houllier is manager that delivered glory to a new generation.\n\n\"We loved it (treble season) because for us winning trophies is what Liverpool did on video, on VHS tapes,\" he said. \"We were wondering when it would be our turn and when Houllier came, it was our turn.\n\n\"He gave us a lot of our pride back and brought good times back to the club. We will always be grateful for that.\"\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk", "Hop on board with no quarantine needed?\n\nNew Zealand has agreed to a quarantine-free travel bubble with Australia \"in principle\".\n\nThe country's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said trips under the agreement could begin early next year.\n\nHowever, the much-anticipated deal will depend on the Covid-19 situation in both counties remaining as it is now.\n\nTravellers from New Zealand have been allowed to enter most Australian states without quarantine since October.\n\nSo far though, this has been a one-way agreement - meaning they must do 14 days of managed isolation on their return to New Zealand.\n\nAnd Australians are not allowed into New Zealand at all, unless they have an exemption.\n\nMs Ardern did not give a date for the travel bubble to begin and the agreement will still need to be signed off by the Australian government.\n\nBoth countries have had very low case numbers over recent months but there have been regional outbreaks in Australia.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nNew Zealand was one of the first countries to declare itself virus free in June after a complete border closure and one strict lockdown period. It has since had a few cases.\n\nA planned travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong last month had to be postponed because of surging cases in the city.", "John le Carré (centre) at the 2011 UK premiere of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy\n\nAuthors, actors and admirers have paid tribute to the late John le Carré, the best-selling British spy writer who has died from pneumonia at the age of 89.\n\nIan Rankin praised his fellow writer for taking his chosen genre of spy fiction \"into the realm of literature\".\n\nAuthor Robert Harris agreed, describing le Carré as \"a writer of immense quality\" who \"transcended his genre\".\n\nLe Carré's best-known works included The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.\n\nFatherland author Harris told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"You only have to read a page and you know it's le Carré\". His books would \"still be read in a hundred years\", Harris added.\n\nSusanne Bier, who directed the 2016 TV adaptation of le Carré's 1993 thriller The Night Manager, told Today he had been an \"incredibly contemporary\" author.\n\n\"Even his old novels have totally current resonance,\" she said, describing his prose as \"exciting, thrilling and deeply romantic\".\n\nSpeaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, historian Ben Macintyre praised le Carré for his insights into \"the knotted timbre of human personality\".\n\n\"He was often described as spy writer, but he was far more than that,\" he said. \"He was really a student and expert in the human condition.\"\n\nMacintyre described the late author's novels as \"neatly plotted, beautifully written examinations of the human character\".\n\n\"The world of espionage was a perfect backdrop for profound psychological examinations on why people behave how they do,\" he added.\n\nJohn le Carré with Susanne Bier (second from right) and the cast of The Night Manager in 2016\n\nScottish writer Rankin told BBC Breakfast le Carré had lived \"an extraordinary life\" and that authors like himself \"lived in his shadow\".\n\nRankin also revealed he had once \"used a bit of spycraft\" himself to obtain le Carré's autograph at an event at the House of Lords.\n\n\"It was 1988 and he had no idea who I was,\" he recalled. \"I went up to him, said I was collecting everyone's signatures as a memento. Really, though, his was the only signature I wanted.\"\n\nActress Florence Pugh, meanwhile, revealed she had once jokingly called the author \"an old fart\".\n\nThe pair met during the shooting of the 2018 TV adaptation of le Carré's 1983 novel The Little Drummer Girl, in which Pugh starred.\n\n\"I watched his eyes light up with glee and we both cackled until we cried,\" the British Oscar nominee recalled on Instagram.\n\n\"He peered at me over his glass and giggled, 'I think we're going to get along just fine.' We knew a magical friendship had arrived.\"\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by florencepugh This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nGary Oldman, who played spymaster George Smiley in the 2011 film adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, said he was \"generous with his creativity and always a true gentleman\".\n\nOther famous fans have used social media to pay tribute to the author, who died on Saturday.\n\n\"If there is a contemporary writer who's given me richer pleasure I can't for the moment name them,\" tweeted Stephen Fry.\n\nMargaret Atwood tweeted that his novels featuring Smiley - described by le Carré as an \"antidote\" to James Bond - were the \"key to understanding the mid-20th Century\".\n\nHistorian and novelist Simon Sebag Montefiore described le Carré as \"the titan of English literature\" and said he was \"heartbroken\".\n\nPointless star and author Richard Osman said he had been \"the finest, wisest storyteller we had\" and thanked him \"for a lifetime of tales\".\n\nBrazilian author Paulo Coelho, meanwhile, said le Carré - real name David Cornwell - had not only been \"a great writer but a visionary\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Paulo Coelho This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nBorn in Poole, Dorset, in 1931, le Carré worked in undercover intelligence before publishing his his first novel, Call For The Dead, in 1961.\n\nHis third novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, brought him worldwide acclaim and allowed him to take up writing full time.\n\nHe is best known for creating spymaster Smiley, who appeared in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and several other novels.\n\n\"We will not see his like again,\" sad his agent Jonny Geller in a statement confirming the author's death.\n\nI only met John le Carré once. A brief chat on the red carpet at the premiere of the film of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in 2011. A three-minute experience I'd been looking forward to for months.\n\nI discovered his novels relatively late in life. My first was Tinker, Tailor, which I found so enthralling that at one point I was buying a new le Carré every week. I loved his style of storytelling - his ability to create vivid and believable characters in situations that may have been far from our own more mundane experiences, but which still felt utterly relatable.\n\nSo when a few years ago I was asked if I was interested in taking part in Celebrity Mastermind, I suggested as my specialist subject the author's George Smiley novels. Le Carré's complete body of work would have been a mammoth task. But the novels featuring his most famous and enduring creation seemed more manageable.\n\nHis Smiley books had always been my favourites.\n\nSo it was also a great and welcome reason to spend a few weeks revisiting some of the stories I'd enjoyed so much over the previous decade, from early work like A Murder of Quality (not a spy story at all - Smiley is asked to investigate a death at an exclusive public school) to later books like Smiley's People (where the spymaster goes into final battle against his Soviet nemesis Karla).\n\nI luckily didn't embarrass myself on the show, only fluffing one question. And at the end of the programme I came a creditable second to the formidable crime writer Val McDermid.\n\nOn the red carpet, I do remember discussing with le Carré whether his best-known piece of work was Tinker, Tailor or The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. The rest is a bit of a blur.\n\nIn my job I'm lucky enough to meet a lot of famous, well-known figures, it's a routine part of the work we do. But unusually for weeks afterwards I remember being unable to stop myself endlessly telling friends and colleagues, with a huge smile and sense of pride, that I'd finally met the great John le Carré.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: 'Whatever happens, the UK will do very, very well'\n\nThe UK and EU have agreed to carry on post-Brexit trade talks after a call between leaders earlier on Sunday.\n\nIn a joint statement, Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was \"responsible at this point to go the extra mile\".\n\nThe pair discussed \"major unresolved topics\" during their call.\n\nThe two sides had said Sunday was the deadline for a decision on whether to continue with talks, with the UK set to leave EU rules at the end of the month.\n\nThe leaders agreed to tell negotiators to carry on talks in Brussels \"to see whether an agreement can even at this late stage be reached\".\n\nThey did not say how long these latest talks would continue, but the ultimate deadline is 31 December, and time must be allowed for the UK and European Parliaments to vote on any deal that emerges before then.\n\nMrs von der Leyen said Sunday's call with Mr Johnson had been \"constructive and useful\".\n\nBut Mr Johnson repeated his warning from earlier in the week that a no deal scenario was \"most likely\".\n\nThe UK and EU have been carrying out negotiations for a post-Brexit trade deal since March and are attempting to secure one before the so-called transition period end on 31 December - when the two sides would move to trading on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.\n\nWithout a trade deal, tariffs - charges on goods being bought and sold between the two sides - could be introduced and, in turn, prices on certain products may go up.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nReading out the joint statement, Mrs von der Leyen said: \"Despite the exhaustion after almost a year of negotiations, despite the fact that deadlines have been missed over and over, we think it is responsible at this point to go the extra mile.\"\n\nMr Johnson later said \"where there is life, there is hope\", and that the UK \"certainly won't be walking away from the talks\".\n\nBut he added: \"I've got to repeat the most likely thing now is of course that we have to get ready for WTO terms.\n\n\"As far as I can see, there are some serious and very difficult issues that currently separate the UK from EU and the best thing to do now for everybody… [is to] get ready to trade on WTO terms.\"\n\nLabour's Rachel Reeves welcomed the continuation of the talks and said the worst outcome would be to \"crash out with no deal whatsoever on 1 January\".\n\nShe added: \"I hope that they [the talks] will swiftly conclude, but I also hope on behalf of all British businesses and workers, and our security as well, that the government deliver the promise they made to the British people and come back with a deal.\"\n\nTalks will now continue in Brussels, with a focus expected on how close the UK should stick to EU economic rules in the future.\n\nThe EU is determined to prevent the UK from gaining what it sees as an unfair advantage of having tariff-free access to its markets - not paying taxes on goods being bought and sold - while setting its own standards on products, employment rights and business subsidies.\n\nThe EU is reported to have dropped the idea of a formal mechanism to ensure both sides keep up with each other's standards and is now prepared to accept UK divergence - provided there are safeguards to prevent unfair competition.\n\nFishing rights is another major area of disagreement, with the EU warning that without access to UK waters for EU fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nBut the UK argues that what goes on in its own waters, and its wider business rules, should be under its control as a sovereign country.\n\nBusiness lobby group the CBI said the continuation of talks \"gives us hope\", and that a deal was \"both essential and possible\" for the UK economy.\n\nWhen is a deadline not a deadline? When it's anything to do with Brexit, perhaps.\n\nBoth sides in this long, long process, have agreed to go on rather than pull the plug.\n\nThe circle around the talks is extremely tight so it is very hard to know precisely what is going on. It is possible that both sides are dangling concessions.\n\nBut there is the sense now that the ground has shifted enough to make the chance of a deal worth pursuing.\n\nThe political imperatives to make this happen are so strong that even tricky issues at this late stage can still potentially be fudged.\n\nIt's far from certain that the talks will end in agreement, but the chances of resolution are once again on the rise.\n\nRead more from Laura here.\n\nThe National Farmers' Union has warned there will be \"significant disruption\" to the sector if the UK fails to reach a trade deal with the EU.\n\nAnd the British Retail Consortium warned the public would face \"over £3bn in food tariffs [meaning] retailers would have no choice but to pass on some of these additional costs to their customers\".\n\nTaoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin said he believed a no-deal scenario \"would be very bad news for all of us\" and \"an appalling failure of statecraft\" on both sides.\n\nSpeaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr, he called for the teams \"with any bit of energy we have left [to] focus on negotiating a deal\".\n\nA number of Conservative MPs welcomed the continuation of talks, with former minister Damian Green, who backed Remain in the 2016 EU referendum, saying it was \"good news\" and that \"no deal would be terrible\".\n\nBut leading Tory Brexiteer Sir John Redwood tweeted: \"A long complex legal agreement that locks the UK back into many features of the EU that hinder us is not the Christmas present the UK needs.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Speaking to Andrew Marr, Micheál Martin stressed the importance of reaching a good Brexit deal", "The boy's body was found on common land\n\nA 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a teenager found dead in Lincolnshire.\n\nThe boy was discovered on a patch of common land behind Alcorn Green in Fishtoft, near Boston on Saturday.\n\nPolice said final identification was yet to take place, but it was believed he was of secondary school age.\n\nDet Supt Martyn Parker said: \"This is a devastating incident in which a young boy has lost his life.\"\n\nPolice have appealed for anyone with external facing CCTV covering the junction of Freiston Road and Woodthorpe Avenue between 20:00 GMT on Friday and 10:20 GMT on Saturday to get in touch.\n\nThey also have asked for footage covering the entire length of Wing Drive and Alcorn Green between the same times.\n\nDet Supt Parker added: \"This type of incident is not what we would expect to see within our communities.\n\n\"I want to reassure the public that we will do all in our power to meticulously investigate the circumstances of this young boy's death.\"\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nA 90-year-old woman in South Lanarkshire has become the first care home resident to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.\n\nFormer carer Annie Innes was immunised at Abercorn House in Hamilton.\n\nCare home residents across Scotland have been prioritised to receive the vaccine, along with frontline health care staff.\n\nMs Innes told reporters it was \"wonderful\" to get the vaccine just before Christmas.\n\n\"I hope it keeps me, my friends here and the staff safe and means we can get back to normal very soon,\" she said.\n\nShe added: \"The nurses and the care home staff have been great with us and we are relieved to have been offered the vaccine.\"\n\nHealth Secretary Jeane Freeman thanked those involved in rolling out the vaccine programme.\n\n\"It has been a challenge to get the Pfizer vaccine into care homes because of transport and storage requirements but I am delighted to see Mrs Innes become the first care home resident to receive her vaccine and I wish her many more years of good health,\" she said.\n\n\"Throughout the pandemic our priority has been to save lives and keep people safe. Vaccines give us a vital additional layer of protection we haven't had until now.\"\n\nThe second person vaccinated at the care home was 82-year-old Margaret Keating, a former bar tender who has been a resident at Abercorn House for a year.\n\nResidents and members of staff at Abercorn House will receive the vital second dose of the vaccine in the new year.\n\nMargaret Keating was the second care home resident in the country to be vaccinated\n\nTrudi Marshall, nurse director with health and social care North Lanarkshire, who is managing care home vaccination across the region, said they would be able to vaccinate 2,990 care home residents and 5,601 staff across 93 Lanarkshire care homes in the \"quick moving and complex operation\".\n\n\"It's important to recognise just how much work our staff have put in to the process in such a short time,\" she said. \"Care home staff and managers also deserve praise for their fantastic co-operation and help.\"\n\nThere were initial fears that care homes would not be able to receive the first batch of the drug because of logistical issues associated with its storage at -70C.\n\nMore than 65,000 doses have been distributed to vaccination centres across Scotland where they have been \"packed down\" before being diluted for use in care homes.\n\nSo far more than 5,000 frontline NHS staff and vaccinators have been given the first of two injections of the drug, which cuts cases of Covid by about 95%.\n\nThe vaccination programme is beginning after the most recent official weekly figures showed there have been 78 deaths in care homes in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.\n\nDonald Macaskill, the chief executive of Scottish Care, which represents care homes in Scotland, said there were about 50,000 adults in care homes in Scotland and that prioritising those most in need was key.\n\nBut he warned the vaccine rollout would be a slow process.\n\nSpeaking to BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, he said: \"This is an tremendously important and positive day for residents, for their family members and also for staff.\n\n\"We've had nine months of sheer hell and distress across Scotland's care home sector. This virus has hit the most vulnerable the hardest, and those sadly are individuals in our care homes.\n\n\"So this really is the beginning of turning a corner.\"\n\nAlison Strath, the Scottish government's interim chief pharmaceutical officer had worked \"tirelessly\" with the care home sector to ensure Scotland could be the first country where the vaccine could be taken to residents, he said.\n\n\"It is an amazing achievement in such a short space of time, but it will take a long time,\" Dr Macaskill said.\n\nHe added: \"Practically, we need to work with the fact that we have a supply which is the first phase supply and we need to prioritise those most at risk.\"\n\nAlong with rapid testing, which has begun in some care homes and is also being rolled out across the country from Monday, the vaccines would allow visits to residents to begin to return to normal, he said.", "A new variant of coronavirus has been found which is growing faster in some parts of England, MPs have been told.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said at least 60 different local authorities had recorded Covid infections caused by the new variant.\n\nHe said the World Health Organization had been notified and UK scientists were doing detailed studies.\n\nHe said there was \"nothing to suggest\" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A new variant of Covid could be speeding up the spread of cases in parts of south east England, says Matt Hancock.\n\nHe told MPs in the House of Commons that over the last week, there had been sharp, exponential rises in coronavirus infections across London, Kent, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire.\n\n\"We've currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant predominantly in the South of England although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas.\n\n\"We do not know the extent to which this is because of the new variant but no matter its cause we have to take swift and decisive action which unfortunately is absolutely essential to control this deadly disease while the vaccine is rolled out.\"\n\nEngland's Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris Whitty said current coronavirus swab tests would detect the new variant that has been found predominantly in Kent and neighbouring areas in recent weeks.\n\nThe changes or mutations involve the spike protein of the virus - the part that helps it infect cells, and the target Covid vaccines are designed around.\n\nIt is too soon to know exactly what this will do to the behaviour of the virus.\n\nProf Alan McNally, an expert at the University of Birmingham, told the BBC: \"Let's not be hysterical. It doesn't mean it's more transmissible or more infectious or dangerous.\n\n\"It is something to keep an eye on.\n\n\"Huge efforts are ongoing at characterising the variant and understanding its emergence. It is important to keep a calm and rational perspective on the strain as this is normal virus evolution and we expect new variants to come and go and emerge over time.\"\n\nDr Jeremy Farrar, Director of Wellcome, said it was potentially serious. \"The surveillance and research must continue and we must take the necessary steps to stay ahead of the virus.\"\n\nThere is a simple rule for understanding all \"new strain\" or \"new variants\": Ask whether the behaviour of the virus has changed.\n\nThis is crucial as viruses mutate all the time, it's just what they do. And so far we've been given the \"scare\" but not the \"answer\".\n\nMatt Hancock said the new variant of coronavirus \"may be associated\" with the faster spread in the south-east of England.\n\nThis is not the same as saying it \"is causing\" the rise and Mr Hancock did not say this virus has evolved to spread from person-to-person more readily.\n\nNew strains can become more common for reasons that have nothing to do with the virus.\n\nOne explanation for the emergence of the \"Spanish strain\" over the summer was tourism.\n\nSo at the moment there are scary headlines everywhere, but still no scientific detail to know how significant this is.\n\nProf Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology at Nottingham University, said: \"The genetic information in many viruses can change very rapidly and sometimes these changes can benefit the virus - by allowing it to transmit more efficiently or to escape from vaccines or treatments - but many changes have no effect at all.\n\n\"Even though a new genetic variant of the virus has emerged and is spreading in many parts of the UK and across the world, this can happen purely by chance.\n\n\"Therefore, it is important that we study any genetic changes as they occur, to work out if they are affecting how the virus behaves, and until we have done that important work it is premature to make any claims about the potential impacts of virus mutation.\"\n• None 'Mutant coronavirus' seen before on mink farms", "The next question comes from the BBC's Vicki Young, who asks whether the government reckons it should be rethinking plans to relax rules over Christmas?\n\nFrom 23-27 December rules are being relaxed to allow three households to mix.\n\nMr Hancock says it's \"important\" that all of us are cautious and \"very careful\" over Christmas.\n\nBut he says that \"especially after a difficult year\", he understands why people want to get together with their loved ones.\n\nProf Chris Whitty is also asked what he thinks of the Christmas rules, and says \"it's no secret... Christmas is a period of greater risk\".\n\nBut he says they have tried to strike the balance of doing what is \"least damaging\" while keeping the virus under control.\n\nAnd he urged people to take the tiers seriously before Christmas to reduce the risk as much as possible. \"Go no further than you have to,\" he said, of the relaxation in rules.\n\nProf Kevin Fenton, Public Health England's regional director for London, said \"the actions we take now\" will affect our ability to have a safe Christmas.\n\n\"The restrictions in the tiers will still be in place. But the Christmas period allows us to meet those who are nearest and dearest to us but also taking care to prevent the transmission to them as well.\"", "LaTroya Hall (left) said she had been \"devastated\" by the death of her husband Sherwin\n\nA man who had to \"beg\" to get an MRI scan because of the Covid-19 crisis has died of cancer, his family have said.\n\nSherwin Hall, 27, from Leeds, first went to hospital on 23 March suffering leg pain but was misdiagnosed and sent away with a course of antibiotics.\n\nAfter 13 visits in four weeks a scan on 26 May revealed a tumour in his pelvis and 30 small tumours on his lungs.\n\nLeeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said it had maintained scanning for all \"urgent interventions\".\n\nMr Hall's wife LaTroya said had his cancer been found sooner \"it is likely he would still be here today\".\n\nBefore his death, Mr Hall said he \"kept begging\" for a scan but was told services had been \"slowed down because of the coronavirus\".\n\nIn July, he featured in a special BBC Panorama programme Britain's Cancer Crisis.\n\nSherwin Hall made 13 hospital visits before he was given an MRI scan\n\nMrs Hall, who is being supported by the Catch Up With Cancer Campaign, said she was \"devastated\" and had \"lost the love of my life\".\n\nThe campaign was launched by the parents of Macclesfield beautician Kelly Smith who died after her treatment for bowel cancer was stopped as a result of the pandemic.\n\nMrs Hall said: \"It worries me that the government and NHS leaders continue to say cancer services are back to normal; our family's experience has been that, even now, this is simply not the case.\n\n\"Even if services were back at pre-pandemic levels, that is not enough. The cancer backlog also needs to be cleared.\"\n\nCancer charity Macmillan Cancer Support estimated there was a backlog of 50,000 people living with undiagnosed cancer across the UK as a result of the pandemic.\n\nA spokeswoman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: \"We would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to Mr Hall's family at this very difficult time.\"\n\nShe said the trust had maintained scanning for all \"urgent interventions\" throughout the pandemic and had operated in accordance with Nice guidelines.\n\nA Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said cancer diagnosis and treatment had \"remained a priority\" during the pandemic and said the government had given £3bn to tackle the impact of Covid.\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Thousands of Donald Trump supporters alleging electoral fraud converged on several US cities and towns on Saturday and there were isolated scuffles with counter-demonstrators.\n\nIn Washington DC, more than 20 people were arrested and four people were stabbed, police said.\n\nMr Trump lost the 3 November election to Joe Biden but is yet to concede.\n\nThe Electoral College, the system which elects US presidents, is due to endorse Mr Biden's victory on Monday.\n\nMr Biden won 306 votes to Mr Trump's 232 in the Electoral College, and gained over seven million more votes than his Republican rival in the popular vote.\n\nIn the nation's capital, police sought to keep the two sides apart, a strategy that included sealing off Black Lives Matter Plaza where counter-demonstrators had gathered.\n\nPro-Trump demonstrators, rallying under the banner of \"Stop the Steal\", were joined by members of the far-right Proud Boys, dressed in yellow and black, many wearing bullet-proof vests.\n\nMr Trump caused controversy by saying the group should \"stand back and stand by\" during a September presidential debate, though he later condemned \"all white supremacists\".\n\nAs night fell, Proud Boys and Antifa counter-demonstrators, mostly separated by police lines, yelled insults at each other. But sporadic violence broke out.\n\nThe stabbings took place near the downtown Harry's Bar, but it was not clear which group those injured belonged to, according to the Washington Post.\n\nEight people were taken to hospitals, including two police officers, according to CNN.\n\nMake America Great Again (MAGA) protesters, who support Mr Trump, were captured on video tearing down a Black Lives Matter sign from a church, pouring petrol on it and setting it alight.\n\nOn Sunday the Ashbury church pastor compared the actions to cross burnings.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Jack Jenkins This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n\"Seeing this act on video made me both indignant and determined to fight the evil that has reared its ugly head,\" Rev Ianther Mills said in a statement.\n\nCounter-demonstrators were kept at a distance from Trump supporters by Washington DC police\n\nFar-right Proud Boys made gestures symbolising white supremacy as they gathered near the Washington Monument\n\nRallies also took place in Olympia, the capital of Washington state, Atlanta and St Paul, Minnesota. Police in Olympia said one person had been shot and three arrested as rival groups clashed.\n\nThe Washington DC rally attracted several thousand Trump-supporters but it was smaller than a similar event on 14 November. Few participants wore masks despite Covid-19 restrictions.\n\nThere were speeches by Mr Trump's now pardoned former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, and Sebastian Gorka, another former White House official.\n\nMr Trump's pardoned former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, was among those making speeches\n\nMr Gorka urged the president not to give up his legal campaign - based on debunked allegations of electoral fraud - to reverse the election result.\n\nThe president's latest legal defeat came on Friday when the Supreme Court rejected an unprecedented attempt to throw out results in four battleground states which Mr Biden won. Mr Trump has now lost more than 50 cases linked to the election.\n\nCheers erupted as the presidential helicopter, Marine One, flew over the Washington rally carrying Mr Trump to the Army-Navy football game at West Point, New York.\n\nThe president had earlier tweeted his support.\n\nSorry, we're having trouble displaying this content. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nGeneral Flynn likened the protesters to soldiers and priests breaching the walls of Jericho, echoing the rally organisers' call for \"Jericho Marches\" to overturn the election result.\n\nThat refers to a story in the bible where an army peacefully conquer the city of Jericho, which God has promised them, after marching around its walls for six days. It is considered symbolic of a test of faith.", "Farmed mink are known to escape into the wild\n\nThe first known case of coronavirus in a wild animal has been reported, leading to calls for widespread monitoring of wildlife.\n\nThe US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said a wild mink had tested positive around an infected mink farm in Utah.\n\nCoronavirus outbreaks at fur farms in the US and in Europe have killed thousands of the animals.\n\nAs a consequence, millions of farmed mink have had to be culled across Europe.\n\nThe USDA said it had found one positive case in \"free-ranging, wild mink\" in Utah as part of wildlife surveillance around infected farms.\n\nSeveral animals from different wildlife species were sampled and all tested negative, the agency added.\n\nIt said it had notified the World Organisation for Animal Health, but there is no evidence the virus has been widespread in wild populations around infected mink farms.\n\n\"To our knowledge, this is the first free-ranging, native wild animal confirmed with Sars-CoV-2,\" the USDA said in an alert to the International Society for Infectious Diseases.\n\nThe discovery raises concerns that the infection could spread between wild mink, said Dr Dan Horton, a veterinary expert at the University of Surrey, UK.\n\nThe case \"reinforces the need to undertake surveillance in wildlife and remain vigilant\", he added.\n\nMink are known to escape from mink farms and become established in the wild. In the UK, there is a population that is thought to have arisen from animals that escaped from fur farms many years ago, Dr Horton added.\n\nThe virus has also been found in zoo tigers, lions and snow leopards in the US, and in a small number of household cats and dogs.\n• None What's the science behind mink and coronavirus?", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nA man armed with two pistols has been shot dead by police after opening fire near a cathedral in New York.\n\nOfficers say the incident happened at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan on Sunday near a crowd gathered for a Christmas concert.\n\nAs yet the man - who yelled \"Kill me\" as he began shooting - has not been identified.\n\nPolice Commissioner Dermot F Shea said it was \"by the grace of God\" that nobody had been injured.\n\nThe carol service - held outside because of Covid restrictions - had just ended when the shooting began. Cathedral staff wrote on Facebook that the man had \"set off a round of gunfire into the air\" from the front steps.\n\n\"Everybody is in shock,\" cathedral spokeswoman Lisa Schubert told the New York Times. \"There were hundreds of people here, and he shot at least 20 times.\"\n\nThree officers nearby fired 15 rounds at the suspect after he began to shoot, the commissioner said. At least one bullet hit the man in the head.\n\nA Reuters photograph shows the gunman carrying two pistols and wearing a face mask sporting the flag of the Dominican Republic\n\nA bag filled with gasoline, knives, rope, wire, a Bible and some tape was recovered from the scene, as well as two semi-automatic handguns.\n\n\"I think we can all surmise the ill intentions of the proceeds of this bag,\" Commissioner O'Shea told reporters.\n\nReuters news agency photographs show the gunman wearing a face mask bearing the flag of the Dominican Republic as well as a black winter coat and a white cap.\n\nAuthorities are awaiting fingerprints to confirm his identity, but police officials told the New York Times his identification said he was a 52-year-old man with a previous conviction for second-degree murder and a lengthy criminal record.\n\nManhattan borough President Gale Brewer confirmed on Twitter that members of her staff had been at the event and thanked the police for their response.", "The gowns ordered from PPE Medpro were similar to that pictured here\n\nMillions of medical gowns bought for the NHS at the end of the first lockdown for £122m have never been used.\n\nThe gowns were ordered by the government from a supplier which had set up just a month earlier, and no other companies were asked to bid for the contract.\n\nThe supplier, PPE Medpro, says it had met the agreed terms.\n\nThe Department of Health said all PPE must undergo rigorous checks.\n\nPPE Medpro was set up as a company in May while the UK was still in the first coronavirus lockdown.\n\nAt the time, hospitals across the country were reporting shortages of personal protective equipment - clothing and accessories to protect medics from the virus.\n\nEarlier this week NHS Providers, which represents English hospital trusts, told the House of Commons spending watchdog that the supply of gowns was the most \"pertinent problem\" over several months.\n\nSix weeks after it was incorporated, PPE Medpro signed a contract with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for £122m to supply sterile surgical gowns to the NHS in England.\n\nThe contract was not opened to competition due to the exceptional urgency of the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nSterile surgical gowns are used to reduce the risk of infection when Covid patients are put on to ventilators, for example.\n\nThe DHSC told the BBC that contracts for the gowns must meet the British Standard for the sterilisation of medical devices or a \"technical equivalent\".\n\nPPE Medpro followed this second route. This required the DHSC to seek approval from the health regulator, the MHRA, for them to be used in the NHS.\n\nThe contract, which shows the agreed sum of £122m\n\nThe DHSC and MHRA declined to comment when asked for details of the approval application made for the Medpro products. There is as yet no record of PPE Medpro or either of its two Chinese suppliers on the regulator's exemptions list, although it is understood the evaluation process is now under way.\n\nPPE Medpro say they delivered 100 per cent of the contract to the terms specified.\n\nThe company said it supplied the equipment \"fully in accordance with the agreed contract, which included clear terms as to technical specification and performance criteria of the products\".\n\n\"We did so in very challenging circumstances earlier this year and are very pleased to have been able to assist DHSC fully and properly at a time of national crisis,\" it added.\n\nIn August the BBC revealed that 50 million face masks bought by the UK government from a different company earlier in the year would not be used in the NHS because of safety concerns.\n\nThe DHSC said: \"The safety of front-line staff and patients is of paramount importance and we now have a four-month stockpile of all Covid-critical PPE in place.\n\n\"All PPE must undergo rigorous checks so they meet the safety and quality required.\n\n\"Proper due diligence is carried out for all government contracts and we take these checks extremely seriously.\"\n\nMore from Phil on Twitter @phill_kemp", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'Two people every five minutes are getting Covid in Swansea area'\n\nThe Christmas relaxation of lockdown rules \"makes no sense\" as Covid-19 cases continue to rise in Wales, doctors have warned.\n\nThe Welsh Intensive Care Society also wants an \"urgent\" lockdown across Wales before Christmas, warning critical care would be unable to cope without urgent action.\n\nIt comes after the number of positive Covid-19 tests passed 100,000 in Wales\n\nWales' health minister Vaughan Gething has said \"nothing is off the table\".\n\nBut Mr Gething fears people would \"make up their own rules\" if meeting up over Christmas was banned.\n\nWales has the highest Covid-19 infection rate in the UK - a seven-day average of 425 cases per 100,000 - and eight of the UK's top 10 worst infected areas are in Wales with Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend the top three.\n\nIn a letter to the health minister, the Welsh Intensive Care Society chairman Dr Richard Pugh warns critical care services will not be able to cope over the winter period without intervention \"at the highest level\".\n\nUp to three households can stay together and form a \"Christmas bubble\" from 23 to 27 December, all four UK nations have agreed.\n\nBut the body representing intensive care staff want that decision reviewed amid fears it will cause a surge in cases.\n\n\"Christmas is a special time but it seems a very, very difficult thing to justify,\" said Dr Pugh.\n\n\"It makes no sense viewed from a perspective of front-line staff and public health.\"\n\nWith 190 critical care beds already being used - almost half by coronavirus patients - Dr Pugh said critical care was already over-capacity.\n\n\"Welsh critical care services will be unable to manage rising demands relating to Covid-19, to maintain emergency non-Covid activity, and to continue providing peri-operative care for high risk urgent surgical cases in coming weeks without intervention at the highest level,\" he said.\n\nTwo health boards in south Wales have already cancelled some non-urgent care - Swansea Bay and Aneurin Bevan University Health Boards.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. People in Cardiff share their views on the relaxation of Covid-19 rules over Christmas\n\nAmbulances waited for the equivalent of a week to deliver sick patients to hospital staff at the new £350m Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran on Saturday.\n\nOn Sunday, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board apologised after a 73-year-old man waited more than 19 hours in an ambulance outside that hospital.\n\nThe Welsh Ambulance Service said more than 10 patients had waited more than 12 hours in ambulances outside hospitals awaiting beds in the last week.\n\nThe family of Ted Edwards from Monmouthshire said he waited for 19 hours in an ambulance outside a hospital\n\nThe service has raised its alert system to its highest level, which signals \"extreme pressure\".\n\n\"We've seen more Covid-related patients in the last six weeks than than we've seen since March,\" chief executive Jason Killens told BBC Radio Wales.\n\n\"We've more staff off sick or self-isolating since April and we've seen some of our busiest days this year in the last 10 days, with four of the last five days the busiest since the start of the pandemic.\"\n\nAdded to \"congestion\" outside hospital A&E departments, Mr Killen apologised as ambulance crews had \"real difficulties being able to respond in a timely way, particularly to less serious patients\".\n\nDr Pugh said there was now a case for the cancellation of elective surgery to happen on a \"national basis\" to allow the NHS to be able to treat new patients as coronavirus cases increased.\n\nHe said that while imposing more stringent rules ahead of the festive period was difficult, the impact of lockdowns took weeks to help departments.\n\n\"Viewed from a front-line perspective, I am afraid we do not have the luxury of deferring such steps until after the Christmas period,\" added the intensive care consultant at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Denbighshire.\n\nMorriston Hospital will be one of those in Swansea only treating urgent cases\n\nMr Gething said the situation across Wales was \"very serious\" but added it was not Wales' \"preference\" to break the Christmas rule relaxation.\n\n\"There is a lot of capital invested in that easing of the rules which all four countries signed up to,\" he said.\n\nMr Gething said officials were now working with hospitals to look at how to send patients who were no longer infectious - especially the elderly - home.\n\nThe seven-day case rate for Swansea Bay Health Board area, which treats patients in Neath Port Talbot and Swansea, now stands at 770.3 per 100,000 people.\n\nIt has the second highest rate for any of the board areas in Wales, behind Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board on 870.3.\n\nThere were also more than 250 Covid patients in Swansea Bay hospitals, with another 115 recovering patients. This is about a third of all patients.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Swansea Bay NHS This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nWales' First Minister Mark Drakeford warned the Welsh NHS was in danger of becoming the \"national coronavirus service\" when the number of positive Covid-19 tests passed 100,000 in Wales on Saturday.\n\nMr Gething said the Welsh NHS had experienced one of its busiest weekends of 2020 as it dealt with a combination of rising Covid cases and winter pressures.\n\nHe urged people to abide by rules and regulations, adding: \"We need everyone's help to get through what remains of this year.\"\n\nCovid-19 patients make up nearly 26% of all patients in hospital with 1,992 people in hospital across Wales on Sunday.\n\nDr Ami Jones, an intensive care consultant at the new Grange Hospital in Cwmbran, warned the hospital was \"stuffed full with patients with very significant needs\".\n\n\"We have reached a tipping point, we have more patients that have Covid than don't have Covid now,\" she said.\n\nDr Sarah Aitken, the health board's interim executive medical director, said there were now 404 patients with confirmed coronavirus in its hospitals - compared to 283 in April at the peak of the first wave of the pandemic.\n\nHowever she insisted the service was not close to \"breaking point\".", "People must think \"really carefully\" about the risk of more social contact over Christmas, NHS bosses have warned.\n\n\"I don't want to be the Grinch who stole Christmas,\" said Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers.\n\nBut he pointed out that the US saw \"record numbers\" of cases and deaths after the Thanksgiving holiday - and said the NHS was worried about January.\n\nThe government's Dominic Raab said people needed the five-day relaxation of Covid rules on \"an emotional level\".\n\nMeanwhile, the chances of the Oxford University vaccine being rolled out by the end of the year are \"pretty high\", the vaccine's architect Prof Sarah Gilbert has told the BBC.\n\nA further 18,447 cases were recorded across the UK on Sunday, along with another 144 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nThe number of deaths recorded tends to be lower over the weekend because of reporting delays.\n\nBetween 23 and 27 December, coronavirus restrictions are being relaxed across the UK, allowing three households to form a \"bubble\" and mix indoors and stay overnight.\n\nBut NHS Providers - which represents hospital trusts in England - has written to the PM urging him to \"personally lead a better public debate about the risks inherent in the guidance\" - although it stopped short of calling for a review of the rules over Christmas.\n\n\"There seems to be a sense at the moment that, 'hey because the government's put these rules down, there's no risk to people having more social contact over Christmas',\" Mr Hopson told BBC Breakfast.\n\n\"Of course, part of it is about sticking to the rules but any kind of extra social contact over Christmas - particularly with those who are vulnerable to the virus - actually is very risky.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How you and your family can celebrate Christmas and minimise the spread of coronavirus\n\n\"I don't want to be the Grinch who stole Christmas, I really don't, but I think everybody needs to think really, really carefully what are they going to do over Christmas,\" he said.\n\n\"It's not, 'is what we're going to be doing sticking within the rules?' It's 'how much risk are we going to cause to the people we interact with?'\"\n\nThe rise in infections in the US after the Thanksgiving holiday was also highlighted by NHS Providers.\n\nThe NHS is worried about the potential pressure on hospital beds, and its ability to treat all the patients it needs to in December, January and February, Mr Hopson said.\n\n\"At the same time you've got rising infections in places like London, Essex, parts of Kent, parts of Lincolnshire,\" he added.\n\nForeign Secretary Dominic Raab ruled out any possibility that the government would review the Christmas relaxation of rules.\n\nSpeaking to Sky News's Sophy Ridge programme on Sunday, he said: \"I think people do need that five-day window over Christmas to spend a bit of time with their loved ones and I think at a mental health level, an emotional level, people do need it.\"\n\nIt comes after public health expert Prof Linda Bauld said loosening Covid restrictions over Christmas was \"a mistake\".\n\nWales' health minister Vaughan Gething said the rules around Christmas could be changed - but it could affect trust in the government.\n\nNHS Providers also warned that relaxing Covid rules when they are reviewed in England could trigger a third wave of the virus during the busiest time of year for hospitals.\n\nEngland's three-tier system is due to be reviewed on Wednesday 16 December.\n\nIt urged the PM against moving any area to a lower tier and said areas should be moved into tier three - the highest level of restrictions - \"as soon as this is needed, without any delay\".\n\nEarlier this week, some health experts called for London to be placed in tier three \"now\" after official figures showed Outer London had a higher infection rate than some areas already in the top tier.\n\nThe government said it \"will not hesitate to take necessary actions to protect local communities\".\n\nDecisions on tiers are made by ministers, based on the latest available data and advice from public health experts, a spokesperson added.\n\n\"We have introduced strengthened local restrictions to protect the progress gained during national restrictions, reduce pressure on the NHS and ultimately save lives,\" they said.\n\n\"On top of our record NHS investment, this winter we are providing an extra £3bn to maintain independent sector and Nightingale hospital surge capacity and a further £450m to upgrade and expand A&Es.\"\n\nMeanwhile, Prof Sarah Gilbert, lead researcher on the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine, was upbeat when asked about the possibility of people receiving the Oxford jab by the end of the year.\n\nThe vaccine has not yet been approved by the UK's regulator, but a study this week showed it was safe and effective.\n\n\"I think the chances are pretty high,\" she told the BBC's Andrew Marr. \"But we do need multiple vaccines, all countries need multiple vaccines, the world needs multiple vaccines and we need vaccines made using different technologies, if that's possible.\"", "The US has begun delivering the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine \"across all states\" with the aim of inoculating more than 100 million people by the end of March, officials say.\n\nThe first doses, packed in containers with dry ice to keep them refrigerated, were transported across the country on trucks and planes early on Sunday.\n\nUS Army Gen Gustave Perna, who is overseeing distribution, said the vaccine would be delivered to 145 locations on Monday, and a further 491 sites on Tuesday and Wednesday. The initial delivery will cover about three million people.\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19, received emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday following intense pressure from the Trump administration.", "The NHS Choir recorded their half of the duet at Abbey Road Studios\n\nJustin Bieber has teamed up with a choir of nurses, doctors and other NHS staff to record a Christmas single.\n\nThe Lewisham and Greenwich NHS choir have added their voices to a remix of the star's single Holy, which reached number seven in October.\n\nThe charity collaboration comes five years after the two acts were locked in a battle for the Christmas number one.\n\nBieber eventually threw his weight behind the choir's efforts, leading them to clinch the festive top spot.\n\nAfterwards, Bieber said: \"I was honoured to meet everyone from the choir and I'm really happy that they got their number one.\"\n\nTheir new charity single is also aiming for Christmas number one, with proceeds to be split between NHS Charities Together, which represents more than 230 NHS charities, and the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust Charity.\n\nBieber said he was \"humbled to team up\" with the singers.\n\nBieber presented the choir with their sales award after A Bridge Over You topped the charts in 2015\n\nChoir member Pamela Lutalo, who worked on a 30-bed Covid ward this year, said Holy was \"a song of appreciation to families, friends, colleagues and community who have provided encouragement and support to people during the pandemic\".\n\nMike Corr, a former immunisation clinical co-ordinator, added: \"The message that holding someone is such a special thing that it's almost a holy experience is so resonant with current difficulties and personal challenges.\n\n\"There are some special people I miss terribly and I hear them say, 'Hold me, hold me,' when all this is over.\"\n\nHoly is not the only song vying for this year's UK Christmas number one, which will be unveiled on BBC Radio 1 on Christmas Day. Here are some of the other contenders:\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by Liam Gallagher - Topic This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video 2 by Jess Glynne This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "A woman who called 999 while being attacked by her boyfriend used a silent code to tell police she needed help but was unable to speak, a court heard.\n\nEmma Parkinson raised the alarm when she was kicked in the face by Alexander Boy at her home in Exeter.\n\nBoy, 25, of Station Road, Keswick, admitted battery and was jailed for 16 months at Exeter Crown Court.\n\nMiss Parkinson pressed 55 during the 999 call. This told the operator she was too scared or unable to speak.\n\nThe system, called the Silent Solution helps call handlers distinguish between nuisance and genuine calls.\n\nThe attack happened on 13 September after Boy had been drinking, the court heard.\n\nHe woke Miss Parkinson up at 04:00 GMT by sitting at the end of her bed and playing loud music on his phone.\n\nWhen she kicked him off the bed, he pulled her to the ground before kicking her in the face.\n\nBoy was arrested as he fled Miss Parkinson's flat and officers found her injured in her bedroom.\n\nMiss Parkinson was left with bruising all over her face and head, the court was told.\n\nAlexander Boy was jailed for 16 months at Exeter Crown Court\n\nAt the time of the attack, Boy was serving a suspended sentence for two previous attacks on Miss Parkinson.\n\nJudge Timothy Rose told Boy: \"You have a very worrying inability to control yourself in matters of domestic violence.\n\n\"This assault occurred when you were under the influence of alcohol, which makes it worse rather than better.\"\n\nHe imposed a seven-year restraining order banning any further contact with Miss Parkinson.\n\nIn a victim impact statement, Miss Parkinson said she was being treated for depression and felt embarrassed for ignoring advice from friends who warned her against resuming the relationship.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Ikea has apologised to customers after facing stock shortages due to the current congestion at UK ports.\n\nAngry shoppers complained they faced delays to orders and could not get through on the retailer's helpline.\n\nPorts have been hit by surging demand for imports caused by countries reopening after lockdown, Brexit stockpiling and the Christmas rush.\n\nIkea said it made orders for its flat-pack furniture harder to fulfil at a time of \"unprecedented demand\".\n\nOn Twitter, one angry customer said: \"My order is over a week late and @IKEAUKSupport will not reply to anything or update me on the status of the delivery.\"\n\nAnother said: \"@IKEAUKSupport Still waiting for a response for something broken when I opened my delivery... Been trying to sort this for 16 days and no response at all.\"\n\nSales at the Swedish retailer have boomed in lockdown as people spend more on doing up their homes.\n\nBut a spokeswoman said its supply chain - including the ports where its products are received - had been hit by the effects of Covid-19 and product availability had been impacted.\n\n\"These continue to be extraordinary times and we apologise unreservedly for the inconvenience caused to our customers,\" she added.\n\n\"We fully understand their frustration and want to assure them that we are working intensively to resolve these challenges as soon as possible.\"\n\nImports ranging from building materials to toys and fresh food have been held up due to the issues at ports, causing headaches for businesses.\n\nCarmaker Honda even had to pause production last week due to a shortage of components.\n\nOn Saturday, the British Ports Association said the issues were now \"cascading\", with long queues of traffic outside lorry ports becoming increasingly common.\n\nIts boss Richard Ballantyne blamed a \"perfect storm\" of surging global container movements, the busy pre-Christmas period and people moving more goods before the UK's Brexit transition ends.\n\n\"This is putting pressure on the logistics and storage sectors both in the UK and abroad,\" he said.\n\nSome have warned price rises are likely due to the problems.\n\nRyan Clark, director of the Essex-based freight forwarder Westbound Logistics Services, told the BBC last week: \"The increase in freight is either creating more expensive prices for the consumer, or unsustainability for businesses that will be forced to close where the onward price cannot be increased.\"", "Sizewell C (lighter grey on the right) would be built next to Sizewell B, which is still generating, and Sizewell A, which is being decommissioned\n\nThe government has begun talks with EDF about the construction of a new £20bn nuclear power plant in Suffolk.\n\nThe Sizewell C site could generate 3.2 gigawatts of electricity, enough to provide 7% of the UK's needs.\n\nBut it has proved controversial with campaigners saying it is \"ridiculously expensive\" and that taxpayers will have to foot the bill for extra costs.\n\nThe government said any deal would be subject to approval on areas such as value for money and affordability.\n\nEDF, the French energy giant, is also building the Hinkley Point C nuclear energy plant in Somerset in partnership with China General Nuclear Power.\n\nThe government said talks with EDF about Sizewell C would depend on the progress of the Hinkley Point C. However, that project is set to cost up to £2.9bn more than originally thought and will be up to 15 months late.\n\nChina General Nuclear Power has a 20% stake in Sizewell C but is thought to be planning to pull out after security concerns were raised about a Chinese state-owned company designing and running its own design nuclear reactor on UK soil.\n\nIf it does pull out, it would increase the need for new investors. One option could be for the government to take a stake in the plant.\n\nMonday's announcement is part of the long-awaited Energy White Paper, which ministers say will support up to 220,000 jobs over the next decade.\n\nThe paper sets out specific steps to cut emissions from industry, transport and buildings.\n\nThe policies should remove 230 million metric tonnes of emissions, which is equivalent to taking 7.5 million petrol cars off the road, the government says.\n\nThe paper outlines a policy to boost competition in the energy retail market to tackle the \"loyalty penalty\" in which long-standing customers pay more than new ones.\n\nIt will also provide at least £6.7bn in support to the fuel poor and most vulnerable over the next six years.Government in talks to fund £20bn nuclear plant\n\nThe government has always been clear that it remains committed to new nuclear power to meet its target of net zero emissions by 2050.\n\nWith other nuclear projects suffering recent setbacks, and an identical plant already under construction in Somerset, Sizewell was the clear front runner to get approval.\n\nThe high cost of big nuclear plants and the plummeting cost of renewables like offshore wind make a £20bn project like this controversial, but the enormous quantities of low carbon non-intermittent electricity it produces is considered by the government to be an essential part of the UK's future energy mix as existing nuclear plants are phased out.\n\nAny final decision to build the plant will be subject to a full regulatory and planning approval process. Some local opposition groups claim the project will damage the surrounding environment and important wildlife habitats, but there is also local support for the number of high quality jobs it will bring to an area which includes areas of high unemployment.\n\nCommenting on the talks with EDF, the government said they would hinge on how Hinkley Point C is progressing, \"and the developer's application of lessons learnt from Hinkley Point C across to Sizewell C from development and design, through construction and commissioning, and into operations\".\n\nHinkley Point is now estimated to cost between £21.5bn and £22.5bn, with EDF blaming \"challenging ground conditions\".\n\nIf the Sizewell C plant proceeds, it could create thousands of new jobs during construction and operation, the government said.\n\n\"We are starting negotiations with EDF, it is not a green light on the construction,\" Business and Energy Secretary Alok Sharma told the BBC's Today programme.\n\n\"The wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine,\" he said - referring to the variability of renewable power.\n\nBusiness lobby group the CBI welcomed the news. \"Building new nuclear capacity will give us a vital tool to help meet our global climate obligations,\" said Rain Newton-Smith, CBI chief economist.\n\nThe Nuclear Industry Association's chief executive, Tom Greatrex said: \"Sizewell is a vital next step towards the net zero power mix we need for the future.\n\n\"As well as at least 60 years of constantly available clean electricity, this project will provide thousands of highly-skilled, well-paid and long-term jobs across the supply chain, at a time when they are badly needed.\"\n\nEDF is also building the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Somerset\n\nBut campaigners hit out at the plans.\n\n\"The idea that it could provide value for money is pie in the sky,\" said Alison Downes from the Stop Sizewell C campaign.\n\n\"Sizewell C remains too slow and expensive to help our climate emergency, and both the government and any pension funds considering the project must beware the reputational risk of investing in a still unproven reactor design.\"\n\nCaroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: \"When renewables costs are plummeting, it's madness to waste £20bn on another nuclear white elephant,\n\n\"It will leave consumers with higher bills, destroy important habitats and unlikely to be online till the late 2030s.\"\n\nTalking about the energy white paper, Mr Sharma said: \"Today's plan establishes a decisive and permanent shift away from our dependence on fossil fuels, towards cleaner energy sources that will put our country at the forefront of the global green industrial revolution.\"\n\nThe paper says that electricity demand will double due to transport and low carbon heat.\n\nIt proposes that by the mid-2030s, all newly-installed heating systems should be low carbon or to be able to be converted to a clean fuel supply.\n\nCo-incidentally, on Monday the government faced criticism over two existing climate policies.\n\nThe Commons Environmental Audit Committee said the recently-imposed Green Homes Grant to help householders insulate their homes faced serious problems.\n\nIt said most people had difficulty using the website, and many could not find a contractor to install insulation.\n\nSeparately, the UK Energy Research Centre - a government-funded consortium of academics - said the government's policy of banning the sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 was insufficient.\n\nIt said ministers needed to tax such vehicles heavily now, or people would still be buying them in 2029 and running them for a couple of decades.", "More than 127,000 people in the UK who contracted coronavirus have lost their lives - with the pandemic claiming more than 3.4 million deaths worldwide. As the UK marks a year since the first coronavirus lockdown was called, it's a time for reflection.\n\nWe have gathered tributes to more than 770 of those who have died. Below are words of remembrance from friends, family and colleagues.\n\nPlease enable JavaScript or upgrade your browser to see this interactive\n\nThe tributes are displayed at random, which means that you will see different faces each time you visit this page.\n\nIf we have used your tribute to your friend or family member, it will appear in the carousel above, or you can find it by entering their name in the search box below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. Enter a name to search the tributes\n\nFor more on NHS and healthcare workers, please see this page dedicated to 100 people who died while helping to look after others.\n\nFor more on how it has affected people's lives, from family tragedy to its impact on everyday life, we have a collection of personal stories about life in lockdown.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Nelson said it was time to \"embark on a new chapter\"\n\nJesy Nelson has left Little Mix, saying being part of the pop group had \"taken a toll on my mental health\".\n\nShe explained: \"I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard.\"\n\nWriting on Instagram, the 29-year-old said being in the band had been \"the most incredible time\" but it was now time to \"embark on a new chapter\".\n\nHer former bandmates said it was \"an incredibly sad time for all of us but we are fully supportive of Jesy\".\n\nThe news comes a month after Nelson said she was taking an \"extended\" break from the pop group for \"private medical reasons\".\n\nLeigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall performed as a trio on Strictly Come Dancing at the weekend.\n\nLittle Mix formed on The X Factor in 2011\n\nIn her statement, Nelson said she had made her decision \"after much consideration and with a heavy heart\".\n\n\"I need to spend some time with the people I love, doing things that make me happy,\" the singer continued.\n\nThe remaining members added: \"We know that Jesy leaving the group is going to be really upsetting news for our fans.\n\n\"We love her very much and agree that it is so important that she does what is right for her mental health and well-being.\"\n\nThey said they were \"still very much enjoying our Little Mix journey\" and would continue as a trio.\n\nLittle Mix formed on The X Factor in 2011 and have gone on to record six UK top 10 albums and four number one singles. They are currently number five in the chart with their hit Sweet Melody.\n\nLast year, Nelson was widely praised for discussing her mental health struggles in a BBC Three documentary.\n\nThe group were recently seen looking for a new backing band to join them on tour in the BBC One talent show Little Mix: The Search.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.\n• None BBC Three - Jesy Nelson: 'Odd One Out'", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Monday evening. We'll have another update for tomorrow morning.\n\nLondon, as well as parts of Essex and Hertfordshire, will move into tier three - England's highest tier of coronavirus restrictions - from 00:01 GMT on Wednesday. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said action had to be taken immediately to slow surging rates of infection. Tier three restrictions mean pubs and restaurants must close except for takeaway and delivery services. The changes will affect Greater London, the south and west of Essex (Basildon, Brentwood, Harlow, Epping Forest, Castle Point, Rochford, Maldon, Braintree and Chelmsford, along with Thurrock and Southend-On-Sea borough councils), and the south of Hertfordshire (Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Watford and the Three Rivers local authority). You can read more about England's different tiers and what they mean here.\n\nThe surge in cases in the south-east of England may in part be due to a new variant of coronavirus. The health secretary said at least 60 different local authorities in England have recorded Covid infections caused by the new variant. He said the World Health Organization had been notified and the Porton Down science laboratory was doing detailed studies - but added there was \"nothing to suggest\" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work. \"We've currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant predominantly in the south of England, although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas,\" he told MPs. BBC medical editor Fergus Walsh said the new variant was \"nothing to panic about now, but absolutely right that the geneticists at Porton Down and elsewhere do all the due diligence and look at this\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A new variant of Covid could be speeding up the spread of cases in parts of south east England, says Matt Hancock.\n\nMeanwhile, people in Scotland have been urged to \"cut down on unnecessary contacts\" now if they plan to meet up with relatives at Christmas. Rules on household meetings are being eased across the UK between 23 and 27 December, allowing up to eight people from three households to meet indoors. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said those who choose to do this should cut contacts now to be as safe as possible. She said the \"best Christmas gift we can give family and friends\" is to \"keep our distance and keep them safe\". Ms Sturgeon also urged people not to hold office Christmas parties, saying they present a \"real risk of transmission\". You can read more about the UK's Christmas Covid rules here.\n\nThe first Covid vaccinations approved for public use in the US are expected to take place in the coming hours, with high-risk healthcare workers set to be first in line. Millions of frozen vials of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are being distributed, with almost 150 hospitals expected to receive doses on Monday. The US - where Covid deaths are nearing 300,000 - is gearing up for its largest ever vaccination campaign, with the aim of reaching 100 million people by April. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine received emergency-use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nA series of paintings of NHS workers who have put their \"life on the line\" during the pandemic pay \"tribute\" to their bravery, their creator has said. Aliza Nisenbaum used photos and Zoom calls to create portraits of nurses, doctors, porters and a hospital chaplain for Tate Liverpool. She said they were about how workers \"balance life\" on the front line. Nurse Ann Taylor said she took part \"on a whim\", having been drawn by the chance to have \"my 15 minutes of fame\". Nisenbaum, who is known for her bright, large-scale portraits of people and community groups, created the works in her New York studio, using video calls and photographs to get to know her subjects.\n\nThe exhibition includes two large group pieces and 11 individual portraits\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, many of us are hoping to return to the office in 2021, but workplace air quality is a growing concern. What are employers and tech companies doing to improve it?\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "Les Miserables: The Staged Concert opened on 5 December in the West End\n\nLondon theatres have been given the \"devastating news\" that they must shut again as the city moves into England's highest tier of Covid-19 restrictions.\n\nA number of West End shows had restarted over the last two weeks.\n\nThe Society of London Theatre said the move would cause \"catastrophic financial difficulties\" for venues, producers and thousands of workers.\n\nCulture Secretary Oliver Dowden said he knew it would have a \"huge impact\" but that the government \"must act quickly\".\n\nThe measures mean Tuesday night will see the last live performances in London for an indefinite period.\n\nThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Pantoland at the London Palladium on Friday\n\nSocially distanced performances to smaller audiences had been allowed in London since the last national lockdown ended.\n\nShows that had opened included Six the Musical, Love Letters, Everybody's Talking About Jamie and a concert version of Les Miserables starring Michael Ball and Alfie Boe.\n\n\"It was nice while it lasted,\" tweeted Carrie Hope Fletcher, who was also part of the Les Miserables cast at the Sondheim Theatre.\n\nProducer Sir Cameron Mackintosh, whose shows include Les Miserables, said the government's \"sudden volt[e] face\" was \"devastating for both the theatre and the economy\".\n\n\"The constant changes of rules and advice we have received is impossible for any business to react to,\" he continued. \"Where is the leadership this government promised?\"\n\nHe now had \"no idea when theatres are to be allowed to reopen\", he added.\n\nAndrew Lloyd Webber, who owns the London Palladium, said it seemed \"arbitrary and unfair\" that theatre performances were being banned while shopping could continue. But he said he \"reluctantly\" agrees with the decision to put London into tier three.\n\nPantoland at the Palladium, starring Julian Clary, Elaine Paige, Ashley Banjo and Nigel Havers, was among the other shows to have opened. On Friday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took their three children to a special performance of the production.\n\nProducer Michael Harrison announced on Twitter that its \"final\" two performances would take place on Tuesday and criticised the government's \"yo-young approach on advice\".\n\nHe said: \"It is not possible for any business to function in an environment where our leaders seem to have no idea how our country will look from one week to the next.\"\n\nThe National Theatre will also have to close Dick Whittington, only the second pantomime it has ever staged.\n\nActress Elaine Paige said she was disappointed that the theatre has to close, asking in a tweet why it was theatres were closing when Tube journeys and flights were still allowed.\n\n\"These rules are illogical,\" she said. \"The audience response shows how desperate they are for 2hrs of escapism. If its so terrible - cancel Christmas!\"\n\nThe Society of London Theatre's chief executive Julian Bird said the announcement was \"devastating news for the city's world-leading theatre industry\".\n\n\"The past few days have seen venues beginning to reopen with high levels of Covid security, welcoming back enthusiastic, socially distanced audiences,\" he said.\n\n\"Theatres across London will now be forced to postpone or cancel planned performances, causing catastrophic financial difficulties for venues, producers and thousands of industry workers.\"\n\nDeath Drop at the Garrick Theatre is another show affected\n\nHe urged the government to \"recognise the huge strain this has placed on the sector and look at rapid compensation to protect theatres and their staff over Christmas in all areas of the country\" that are in tier three.\n\nMr Dowden said the rules had been tightened because the capital's rising coronavirus figures were \"deeply concerning\".\n\nThe remaining £400m from the government's Culture Recovery Fund would \"be there to help those affected by [the] changes\", he promised.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Oliver Dowden This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nJon Morgan, director of the Theatres Trust, called London's move into tier three \"a disaster\" for the sector.\n\n\"Theatres have worked incredibly hard to create safe environments for audiences and through no fault of their own will now face enormous financial losses,\" he said.\n\nHe called for a government-backed insurance scheme for theatres, a request that was echoed by Sonia Friedman, producer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and other shows.\n\nShe said: \"London going into tier three is yet another blow for British theatre - one it simply cannot afford after a brutal year, and one that both could and should have been avoided.\n\n\"This feels like a final straw,\" she said of the latest measures, calling them \"proof that this government does not understand theatre and the existential crisis it is facing\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Behind the scenes at the Arts Theatre in London to meet the sassy women in King Henry VIII's life\n\nThe producers of Six the Musical said it was \"frustrating that our industry has been sidelined once again and an already hard hit sector will have to try and survive with no income for a further period of uncertainty\".\n\nAndy Barnes and Kenny Wax said they and their fellow producers were \"being penalised for reopening the sector and rejuvenating the West End\".\n\nThe move into tier three will also see cinemas and other entertainment venues forced to close their doors.\n\nThe measures will have an impact on the UK release of Wonder Woman 1984, which is due to hit cinemas on Wednesday.\n\nA government spokesperson pointed to its £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund and said it remains \"completely committed\" to supporting the arts industry during the pandemic.\n\nThey added: \"We held back £400m of contingency funding so we could respond to the changing public health context and will now use it to support organisations facing financial distress as a result of closure, as well as helping them transition back to fuller opening in the spring.\"\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Coronavirus cases in one part of Wales are increasing at an \"alarming rate\", a health board has said.\n\nAneurin Bevan health board said its hospitals were under \"significant\" pressure due to Covid patient numbers.\n\nIt had already announced it would be halting outpatient appointments and non-urgent planned surgery from Monday.\n\nThe stark warning comes as First Minister Mark Drakeford said Wales' NHS was in danger of becoming the \"national coronavirus service\".\n\nOn Saturday, the day the number of positive Covid-19 tests passed 100,000 in Wales, the family of Ted Edwards, 73, from Monmouthshire, said they were \"really concerned\" after he spent more than 19 hours in an ambulance outside the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran.\n\nThe Welsh Ambulance Service said it was \"facing high demand\" across the country \"with acute pressure\" around the hospital leading to \"some long delays with patients on our ambulances\".\n\nThe health board said: \"The number of Covid positive patients in our communities is increasing at an alarming rate and we need everyone to play their part to ensure our services are available for when our sickest patients need them.\"\n\nWeekly infection rates across the five south Wales counties the health board covers averaged about 550 cases for every 100,000 people.\n\nMeanwhile, Swansea Bay University Health Board tweeted that it now has nearly 240 Covid-19 patients in its hospitals, with a warning infection rates in its communities were \"exceptionally high\".\n\nSpeaking about the threat faced by the NHS, Mr Drakeford said unless \"we take all the action we can [not just] as a government, but as a population\", even more restrictions would be \"unavoidable\".\n\n\"The huge danger here is that we transform our National Health Service into a national coronavirus service.\n\n\"If the numbers continue to go up as they are, then we will end up diverting our staff resources away from all the things that we expect and need them to do, simply to take care of an ever-rising number of people who are so ill with this dreadful disease that they have to be looked after in hospital.\n\n\"We need our health service to be able to respond to all those other things that happen in people's lives in Wales.\n\n\"If the numbers continue to escalate in the way they are then, even more restrictions straight after Christmas seem to me to be unavoidable,\" he told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This map shows how cases per 100,000 people across the 22 council areas in Wales have changed by day over the last two months\n\nHe has previously said the coronavirus situation was \"very difficult\" but not out of control.\n\nLast month, a senior doctor said in an email, seen by BBC Wales, that she had \"huge concerns\" about patient safety ahead of the Grange hospital opening four months ahead of schedule.\n\nBut Mr Drakeford told BBC Politics Wales \"it was the right thing to open a hospital that was ready to open\".\n\n\"Imagine what it would be like in Aneurin Bevan [health board area] if we didn't have all the beds that are available today in the Grange hospital in addition to what is available,\" he added.\n\nMultiple ambulances were parked outside the Grange hospital on Sunday morning", "Sadiq Khan wants all students to be tested for Covid-19\n\nLondon's mayor has urged the government to ask all secondary schools and colleges in the capital to shut early ahead of Christmas.\n\nIn a letter to ministers, Sadiq Khan said he also wanted schools to reopen later in January amid \"significant\" Covid outbreaks in 10 to 19-year-olds.\n\nIt comes as the BBC was told London was likely to move into tier three.\n\nGreenwich and Islington councils are the first in England to urge schools to switch this week to online learning.\n\nCouncil officials in Greenwich have advised schools to shut from the end of Monday, although some academies will remain open, while Islington schools have been asked to move online from the end of Tuesday.\n\nA spokesman for the Department for Education said it was \"vital\" children remained in school until the end of term.\n\nThe prime minister's official spokesman said not being in school had \"a detrimental impact on learning and other areas of pupils' development\".\n\nRegional school commissioner teams were working closely with local authorities to\" keep schools open and keep pupils and staff safe,\" he added.\n\nSadiq Khan also urged the government to make face coverings mandatory in busy outdoor public spaces\n\nMr Khan described the surge in Covid-19 cases in London \"deeply concerning\" and that in the last week, there had been a 75% increase in those aged 10-19 testing positive for the virus.\n\nHe said \"if the government isn't careful these children will pass on the virus to really vulnerable people because the rules are relaxed\" over Christmas.\n\n\"My message to the government is if you can't keep the schools Covid safe in the last few days before Christmas, it's better to err on the side of caution and revert to online teaching for these few days.\"\n\nIn the letter, also sent to the prime minister, he said he wanted regular asymptomatic testing to be extended to everyone who could not work form home as well as students and staff at London's secondary schools, sixth-form college and further education colleges.\n\nHe has also called for face coverings to be made mandatory in busy outdoor public spaces, \"given the numbers on our high streets in the run-up to Christmas\".\n\n\"The rollout of the vaccine has provided some light at the end of what has been a very dark tunnel, but this is no time to be complacent and we cannot let so many months of compromise and sacrifice go to waste,\" he said.\n\n\"Time is running out to get the virus under control in our city which is why I urge the government to heed my call and provide us with the extra support we desperately need. Londoners always work together - and together our city will get through the winter and can look forward to better times ahead.\"\n\nMr Khan said if London went into further restrictions, the current financial support offered by the government would be \"insufficient to keep many businesses and the self-employed afloat\".\n\nHe warned if the capital moved to tier three, UK Hospitality predicted £2.7bn could be wiped off London's hospitality industry, with 160,000 jobs permanently at risk.\n\nMr Khan said that if London moved to tier three, UK Hospitality had warned £2.7bn could be wiped off the capital's hospitality industry\n\n\"Theatres and venues in London have begun to reopen, many for the first time since March and after making their venues as safe as possible,\" he wrote.\n\n\"Several major Christmas theatre productions are scheduled in December and January in the West End alone. Last-minute cancellations of these could prove ruinous.\"\n\nMr Khan said before any additional restrictions are imposed, ministers must set up a compensation scheme for all lost income during the crucial festive period based on last year's returns.\n\nHe added workers required to self-isolate must also receive full pay and not just statutory sick pay.\n\nA spokesman for the Department for Education said: \"Schools, colleges and early years settings across the country have worked tremendously hard to put protective measures in place that are helping reduce the risk of the virus being transmitted.\"\n\nThe Regional Schools Commissioner for the South East of England and South London would be continuing discussions with Greenwich, he added.\n\nLast week it was announced all pupils, their families and teachers in parts of London, Kent and Essex should take a Covid test with extra mobile testing units brought in.\n\nIt comes as east London and parts of Kent and Essex became some of England's major coronavirus hotspots.\n\nThree in four boroughs in the city have registered an increase in Covid-19 cases, figures released last week from the Office of National Statistics show.\n\nKevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said it supported Greenwich Council and the mayor in their call for schools to move to online learning.\n\nHe said: \"The government should have been planning for this weeks ago.\n\n\"They have now started to recognise the blindingly obvious fact that transmission is happening in schools and that this can spread to families. But the government now needs to act.\n\n\"Much more is needed to control the virus in schools and to protect communities.\"\n\nA spokesman for the Department for Education said it was \"vital\" children remained in school until the end of term\n\nParents outside Robert Owen Nursery School and Christ Church Church of England Primary School, both in Greenwich, reacted to the news schools in the borough would be closing early.\n\nOne mother said: \"I really feel for the kids.\n\n\"After a pretty up and down year, a year that hasn't been the best, it would be nice to end the year with a couple of parties but I completely understand and I think the nursery does a great job.\"\n\nOne mother said: \"It's 2.5 days, so I don't see what difference this is really going to make and I think the timing of it is really, really bad.\n\n\"I'm on maternity at the moment but if I was working, it's just too short notice to get any kind of childcare arrangements in place.\"\n\nOne father added: \"I think the timing might be right as a lot of people will be gathering for Christmas and it takes 10 to 14 days to show up so it may be damage limitation.\n\n\"I hope it will have an impact. If not, then it's just political.\"", "A woman in Byron Bay had to rescue her dog, who was lost under a sea of foam, as wild weather batters Australia's east coast.\n\nByron Bay's famous beach has all but disappeared, and more than 2,000 homes in the cities were out of electricity on Monday after strong winds struck power lines.", "Tourists and scientists gathered at an observation site in Argentina's Neuquen province to watch a total solar eclipse.\n\nThe spectacle was visible from a 90km corridor spanning Chile's southern Pacific coast, across the Andean mountain range, and into Argentina.\n\nThe eclipse is the second to be visible in South America in 18 months, though poor weather conditions in Chile affected the visibility of the phenomenon when the moon passes between the sun and Earth.", "Buildings and roads make up the majority of human-made mass\n\nScientists say the weight of human-made objects will likely exceed that of living things by the end of the year.\n\nIn other words, the combined weight of all the plastic, bricks, concrete and other things we've made in the world will outweigh all animals and plants on the planet for the first time.\n\nThe estimated weight of human-made objects is about one teratonne.\n\nFor every person in the world, more than their body weight in stuff is now being produced each week.\n\nThese astonishing figures have been calculated by a team at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Rehovot, Israel, to show how our species is transforming the Earth.\n\n\"The significance is symbolic in the sense that it tells us something about the major role that humanity now plays in shaping the world and the state of the Earth around us,\" Dr Ron Milo, who led the research, told BBC News.\n\n\"It is a reason for all of us to ponder our role, how much consumption we do and how can we try to get a better balance between the living world and humanity.\"\n\nSince the first agricultural revolution, humans have halved plant biomass\n\nThe scientists worked out the combined mass of all human-made stuff from 1900 to the present day and compared this with the weight of all the living things on the planet (known as biomass).\n\nFrom plastic bottles to the bricks and concretes we use for buildings and roads, the weight of all the things we produce has been doubling every 20 years recently.\n\nAt the same time, the weight of living things has been falling, mainly due to the loss of plant life in forests and natural spaces.\n\nThe scientists knew at some point we would reach a crossover point. And according to their estimates, 2020 is the year when human-made mass from the likes of roads, buildings and machines, will likely overtake that of all the living things in the world.\n\nThe exact timing is sensitive to definitions, so there may be some variability in the estimates by a few years either side, they say.\n\nBut if we continue as we are, by 2040, the weight of all human-made stuff will have almost tripled from 1.1 teratonnes (1,100,000,000,000 tonnes) to about three teratonnes.\n\nBuildings and roads make up the majority of human-made mass\n\nThis means humanity is now producing stuff at a rate of more than 30 gigatonnes (30,000,000,000 tonnes) per year.\n\nThe research, published in Nature, is further evidence that we have entered a new geological age, known as the Anthropocene, where humanity's impacts on Earth will be visible in sediments and rocks millions of years into the future.\n\nThe formal start date could be the 1950s, which marks the beginning of the \"Great Acceleration\", when the human population and its consumption patterns suddenly speeded up.\n\nIt coincides with the spread of ubiquitous materials, such as aluminium, concrete and plastic.", "Owners of weapons such as knives, knuckle-dusters and rifles are being offered cash to hand them in to police.\n\nThe Offensive Weapons Act comes into force next year, and items banned under it can be surrendered under a three-month scheme in England and Wales.\n\nCompensation for lawful owners ranges from £2 to £5,105 for each item - but the total value of a claim must be at least £30.\n\nThe National Police Chiefs Council said the scheme would make streets safer.\n\nIt was already illegal to possess a knife or offensive weapon in public, but the new law makes it unlawful to possess certain rapid-firing rifles, specific types of knives and other offensive weapons in private.\n\nWhile the overall scheme applies to England and Wales, compensation will also be offered in Scotland and Northern Ireland but only firearms will be covered by those schemes.\n\nCrime and policing minister Kit Malthouse said the weapons in question had \"a high potential for causing harm\".\n\n\"Every item surrendered is one which can no longer fall into the hands of criminals,\" he added.\n\nThe Offensive Weapons Act was introduced by the government in response to a spike in serious violence, including knife crime.\n\nAs well as prohibiting the possession of dangerous weapons in private, it also made it a criminal offence to sell bladed products online without verifying the buyer was aged over 18.\n\nGraham McNulty, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police - who also acts as lead officer on knife crime for the NPCC - said: \"The surrender scheme will enable us to remove dangerous weapons off the streets and assist in keeping our communities safe.\n\n\"Every weapon removed is possibly a life saved and I urge people to please help us make our streets safer.\"\n\nPatrick Green, CEO of the Ben Kinsella Trust, said he welcomed the initiative and urged owners to come forward \"so that these knives can be disposed of in a safe and responsible way\".\n\n\"Knuckle-dusters, disguised knives, and zombie knives serve no useful purpose other than to cause harm or kill,\" he said.\n\n\"These knives have no place in our society and bring misery to thousands of families every year.\"", "The new options could see outpatient clinics close and non-urgent cancer treatment cancelled\n\n'Difficult choices' will have to be made by the NHS this winter, the health minister has admitted.\n\nVaughan Gething said Covid is spreading at an \"alarming rate\" as latest figures show a record number of patients in Welsh hospitals with Covid-19.\n\nIn a written statement, the minister set out a range of options which local health boards could implement if the pressures continue to rise.\n\nOther options include closing community dental services and postponing other planned treatments.\n\nBy issuing a written statement, the health minister has given permission for health boards to take these actions if there is a risk of becoming overwhelmed in the coming weeks - and so that staff can be redeployed to prioritise emergency care.\n\nIn March, the Welsh Government suspended almost all non-emergency care in anticipation of the first Covid wave.\n\nDuring the second wave, the NHS has been trying to keep as many of those services going in so far as possible.\n\nHowever some non-urgent treatments may soon be put on hold.\n\nVaughan Gething said: \"We are collectively growing increasingly concerned about the potential risk of harm to patients who require access to essential healthcare services.\n\n\"The framework of actions for local consideration by NHS organisations is intended to mitigate the potential risk of harm in the system.\n\n\"These actions will ease the pressures on the NHS by allowing for services and beds to be reallocated and for staff to be redeployed to priority areas.\n\n\"As well as taking individual actions set within a local context, I also expect NHS organizations to work together to ensure the resilience of the emergency response beyond their own boundaries.\"\n\nThe Welsh Ambulance Service is asking for the public to \"play their part\" and only call 999 or attend A&E if they are seriously sick or injured.\n\nChief Executive Jason Killens said: \"Winter is our busiest period, and this year we also have a global pandemic to contend with, and now rising rates of infection in our communities.\n\n\"We need to manage people's expectations about what service they'll get if they call for an ambulance.\"\n\nIn a joint statement unions representing, doctors, nurses and other front-line health care staff said they have significant concerns about the impact the five-day relaxation of rules over the Christmas period will have on infection rates and the NHS's ability to cope.\n\nThey said staff are 'beyond exhausted' and a potential third wave of the virus could prove too much for staff.\n\nThe Joint Health Trade Unions said: \"If pressure on the service continues to increase, we must be realistic about what it will mean for patients in hospitals where every bed is full - making treatment difficult and waiting lists longer.\n\n\"We are not seeking to change the decision that has been made about Christmas, but we have a responsibility to help minimise any impact on the health service and its staff and patients.\n\n\"Staff are truly exhausted, mentally and physically, and they are extremely concerned about what January will bring.\n\n\"All we ask, as we have done throughout the pandemic, is that when you make your choices about Christmas, you take the risk seriously and minimise contact as much as possible. Covid-19 has not gone away.\"\n\nHowever the Wales Cancer Alliance said cancelling of non-urgent cancer treatment was worrying time for patients.\n\nTenovus Cancer Care charity has urged the Welsh Government to explore \"all options\" to avoid delays to diagnostic and treatment.\n\nJudi Rhys, chief executive, said: \"We risk swapping COVID-19 deaths avoided today for unnecessary cancer deaths in a few years' time.\"", "GMP faced \"unprecedented challenges\" during the first Covid lockdown, a senior officer said\n\nEngland's second-largest police force failed to record about 80,000 crimes in a year and closed cases without proper investigation, a watchdog has found.\n\nInspectors said Greater Manchester Police's (GMP) service to victims of crime was a \"serious cause of concern\".\n\nHM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said about 220 crimes a day went unrecorded in the year up to June 2020.\n\nVictim support charities said it was \"shocking\" while the Greater Manchester mayor apologised on GMP's behalf.\n\nIn the 12-month period reviewed by inspectors, it was estimated the force had recorded 77.7% of reported crimes, a drop of 11.3% from 2018.\n\nHMIC's report said about one in five of all crimes and one in four violent crimes reported to GMP were not recorded.\n\nThe review also found officers prematurely closed some investigations on the basis the victim did not support police action.\n\nInspector Zoe Billingham said she was \"deeply troubled\" by the frequency of closed cases without a full investigation.\n\n\"In too many of these cases, the force did not properly record evidence that the victim supported this decision,\" she said.\n\nInspector Zoe Billingham said she was \"deeply troubled\" by the number of cases closed without full investigation\n\nThis was particularly evident in cases of domestic abuse, where seven in 10 were closed on this basis, Ms Billingham said.\n\nShe said it was \"simply not good enough\" that, despite being urged by the watchdog to improve in 2016, \"concerns have not been addressed for over four years\".\n\nMs Billingham did, however, acknowledge the force was taking action and had made a \"marked improvement\" in its recording of serious sexual offences and rapes.\n\nA further inspection will take place in six months.\n\nCharity Independent Choices said victims of domestic violence were \"extremely vulnerable\"\n\nIndependent Choices in Greater Manchester said: \"It's extremely shocking for us, as a domestic abuse charity, to hear that 70% of all domestic abuse cases were closed prematurely by GMP.\"\n\nJo Roberts, manager of the charity, said: \"Victims of domestic abuse are extremely vulnerable and it takes so much courage to seek help in the first place so it is vital they get the right support and help when they report cases to the police.\n\n\"This could discourage victims from reporting incidents in future, potentially putting their lives in danger.\"\n\nWomen's Aid said it was alarmed by the findings too.\n\nIt was \"crucial\" police and wider justice system listen and respond to the wishes and needs of survivors of domestic violence, Lucy Hadley, head of policy and campaigns said.\n\n\"Survivors and our member services continue to make clear that perpetrators of coercive and controlling behaviour are still not being held accountable - and, as today's report shows, a very high proportion of unrecorded crimes in the Greater Manchester Police region involved coercive control.\"\n\n\"This means that patterns of abuse and harm are not being investigated, and opportunities to support survivors are missed.\"\n\nFailing to report domestic abuse has \"a knock-on effect for future victims,\" Jane Gregory from the Salford Survivor Project said.\n\nThe abuse will not be recorded on Clare's Law register, she said, \"it may put other victims at risk\".\n\nThe scheme - named after Clare Wood, 36, from Salford who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend with a record of violence against women in 2009 - allows the police to disclose information on request about a partner's previous history of domestic violence.\n\nSarah Lewis, Greater Manchester Victim Support manager, said: \"We want victims to know we are here to support them regardless of whether they have reported an incident to the police.\n\n\"More needs to be done to strengthen victims' trust in the process so that they are not suffering in silence and feel supported and listened to when reporting crimes.\"\n\nGMP Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said the force had \"robust plans\" to address the issues\n\nDeputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling said the force was \"disappointed... particularly where we have let victims down\".\n\nHe said GMP had a long-term \"robust\" strategic plan to address the issues raised and \"secure the best possible outcomes for victims\".\n\nThe inspection had coincided with the implementation of a troubled computer system and \"unprecedented challenges posed by the first Covid lockdown\", he added.\n\nHe said: \"I would like to say sorry to all of the victims of crime who have found that the service has not been good enough.\n\n\"We owe it to them to improve and we will and we will do it fast.\"\n\nThe region's deputy mayor for policing Bev Hughes said the findings were \"extremely disappointing\".\n\nShe added that she had \"communicated my feelings\" to the force's Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, \"who must now move quickly to make improvements\".\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nHave you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n• None HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Joe Biden (right) is \"deeply proud\" of Hunter Biden (left), the president-elect's transition team says\n\nUS President-elect Joe Biden's son Hunter has said his tax affairs are under investigation.\n\nThe investigation is being conducted by federal prosecutors in Delaware. US media quote sources saying it relates to business dealings with foreign countries including China.\n\nHunter Biden said he was confident he would be shown to have done no wrong.\n\nThe Biden-Harris transition team said the president-elect was \"deeply proud of his son\".\n\nA statement from the team said Hunter had \"fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger\".\n\nThe 50-year-old said he had learned of the investigation on Tuesday. He did not disclose any further details.\n\n\"I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisers,\" he said.\n\nReports say the investigation was begun in 2018, before Joe Biden announced his bid for the presidency.\n\nHunter Biden was a frequent target of Republican criticism during the 2020 election campaign, focusing on his business dealings in Ukraine and China when Joe Biden was vice-president in the Barack Obama administration.\n\nLast December, President Donald Trump was impeached by the Democratic-run House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress stemming from his attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.\n\nBut Mr Trump was cleared by the Republican-held Senate in February.\n\nThe new investigation into Hunter Biden's tax affairs comes as his father assembles his cabinet. If the case is still ongoing when Mr Biden is sworn into office next month, his pick for attorney general could have oversight of the investigation, AP notes.\n\nThe presidential election is over, but it seems President-elect Joe Biden's son Hunter - a regular target of Republican attacks during the campaign - is going to stay in the news.\n\nThe revelation that Hunter is under tax investigation is not entirely surprising. There have been hints of such an inquiry for months. With official confirmation, however, comes further scrutiny - and potential political headaches for the president-elect.\n\nIf Republicans maintain control of the US Senate, hearings into Hunter's finances - and any ties to President Biden - are a foregone conclusion. And if the investigation turns into formal charges, political concerns for the Biden family could turn into very real legal ones.\n\nWhile Donald Trump's critics will be quick to accuse the outgoing president of orchestrating this investigation as political reprisal, the US attorney behind it - David Weiss of Delaware - is a veteran prosecutor. Although he was appointed by the current president, Weiss also worked as a deputy in the office, and as interim US attorney, during Democrat Barack Obama's presidency.\n\nHunter Biden, in a statement, says he acted \"legally and appropriately\". If so, this matter will eventually fade from view. Being under the federal criminal microscope, however, is never a pleasant affair.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"Masking, vaccinations, opening schools\": Joe Biden's key goals for his first 100 days\n• None What was Hunter Biden doing in China and Ukraine?", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Split opinion among parents on removing children from school in the run up to Christmas\n\nFears of families having to self-isolate over Christmas has prompted some parents to pull their children out of school before the end of term.\n\nMost Welsh local authorities have said schools should remain open until 18 December, despite calls from some unions to end lessons early.\n\nHowever Bridgend will follow Caerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taf councils in closing schools early on 16 December.\n\nPupils in Blaenau Gwent will have their last day in the classroom on Wednesday.\n\nThe area recorded the highest Covid-19 infection rates in Wales last week, with pupils set to be taught online until 18 December.\n\nVictoria Rosser said there was \"a lot of pressure on parents\"\n\nFamilies with children have been told they should consider \"pre-isolating\" at home for 10 days before Christmas if they are planning to see elderly relatives, in a report by the Welsh Government's Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Tuesday.\n\nBut Health Minister Vaughan Gething said harm had been done to children when schools were closed, particularly vulnerable children, highlighting the mental health impact particularly among secondary school age children.\n\nFormer primary school teacher Victoria Rosser, 34, from Cwmbran, is taking her children, aged five and eight, out of school a week early.\n\n\"There is a lot of pressure on parents. I feel the pressure immensely,\" she said.\n\n\"The children would be devastated if they came into contact with another child next week who was positive. It would mean isolating throughout the Christmas period.\n\n\"It would mean they couldn't see their grandparents over Christmas. I'm also worried they could pass it on to their grandparents.\"\n\nThe mother-of-four said she was also worried about her own auto-immune condition and her newborn daughter's health.\n\nShe said she informed her children's school she would not be sending them in next week, despite schools in Torfaen remaining open until 18 December.\n\n\"It's enough time to make sure they don't come into contact with any positive cases over the next two weeks and make sure they're nice and safe on Christmas Day to see family,\" she added.\n\n\"I've heard of a lot of families doing this. At the moment I think lots of parents would like to take their children out for the final week.\"\n\nSamantha and Daniel Pearce said news their daughter Hazel, 10, would be at home after Wednesday came \"totally out of the blue\"\n\nNic Cooke, 35, also from Cwmbran, has made the same decision for her seven and 11-year-old.\n\n\"We've had a lot of things spoiled for us and have had adapt to new ways of life this year due to Covid. I'm not letting them spoil Christmas,\" she said.\n\n\"If I sent my children in the last week of term and they needed to isolate then Christmas wouldn't be the same as we couldn't spend it with our family.\"\n\nFirst Minister Mark Drakeford has said schools were among the safest places for children to be during the pandemic.\n\nCaerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taf councils are planning to close schools a few days before the end of term. Schools in Blaenau Gwent will be the earliest in Wales to stop physical teaching, nine days before the end of term.\n\nKimberley Lloyd is an NHS worker and mother-of-three from Swffrydd in Blaenau Gwent.\n\nShe said her children's school was not providing a hub for keyworker's children which had created a childcare problem.\n\n\"It's left us in a really difficult situation,\" she told BBC Radio Wales.\n\n\"I do understand the teachers' welfare and welfare of students - nobody wants to self-isolate over Christmas but my job doesn't stop tomorrow, my husband's job doesn't stop tomorrow…\n\n\"I really don't understand where the decision has come from and why it's been made.\"\n\nDaniel and Samantha Pearce said the news their daughter Hazel, 10, would be at home after Wednesday came \"totally out of the blue\".\n\nMrs Pearce, 34, who is a self-employed cleaner, said: \"There'll be parents that either can't or won't ask for their family's help to look after the children because they are frightened they could be giving them Covid just before Christmas.\"\n\nHealth Minister Vaughan Gething told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast: \"We are having conversations all the time with local authorities and we've agreed that face-to-face teaching can continue until the end of next week.\n\n\"If this local public health situation is so significant that schools can't operate because they've got staff who aren't there, they may need to make different choices. There isn't a significant public health case that suggests that we need to close our primary schools.\"\n\nHe said school closures would have a \"direct impact\" on front-line services, adding: \"These are really difficult choices. These are presented as a simple and obvious choice - 'close schools and all will be well' - but it isn't that simple at all.\"\n\nMr Gething added: \"We review the evidence that comes to us pretty much each and every day. There's nothing simple and there's certainly nothing glib in the way that we make our choices.\"\n\nThe National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) Cymru is urging the Education Minister to close schools early before Christmas.\n\nIn a letter to Kirsty Williams, NAHT Cymru called for blended or distance learning for the final week of term (14-18 December) for all school pupils.\n\n\"Self-isolation remains of paramount importance for anyone with COVID-19 symptoms,\" it said..\n\n\"The best way to protect older family members is not to expose them to potential infection, no matter how well-intended the reason for contact.\"", "Tesco and Morrisons will open their shops on Boxing Day despite calls to give staff the day off.\n\nUnions say supermarket staff should not have to go in on 26 December as a thank you for their work during the pandemic\n\nAsda, Marks & Spencer, Pets at Home, and toy store The Entertainer have all said they will close.\n\nBut Tesco and Morrisons have joined Sainsbury's in saying they would open on Boxing Day for a limited number of hours.\n\nTesco said it would reward frontline staff with an extra 10% bonus over the Christmas and New Year period.\n\nMorrisons said that working on the day would be voluntary with staff getting double pay.\n\nSainsbury's will open but has reduced the hours after requests from staff. It said most workers would have Boxing Day off.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Father Christmas has some tips on how to have a safe Christmas\n\nSupermarkets, which have been are classed as \"essential\" retailers during the pandemic, have seen their sales boom this year.\n\nAs part of a thank you to staff for their work during the pandemic, Asda said that all of its 631 shops would close for two days over the Christmas break.\n\nFrontline staff will also get 100% of their bonus entitlement regardless of whether they have reached sales quotas.\n\nAsda chief executive Roger Burnley said in a message to staff it had been a \"challenging year\" and they had \"done an incredible job\".\n\nHe also said that many staff would have missed out on spending time with their families and friends due to Covid restrictions.\n\n\"This is of course our busiest time of year but it was important for us to give as many of you as possible the opportunity to spend this time with those loved ones that you may not have not seen for many months so, uniquely for this year, we will not reopen our stores until 27 December.\"\n\nThe GMB union said it had been \"requesting Asda to allow their key worker heroes family time over the Christmas period, so we are really pleased they have agreed to our calls.\"\n\nGMB national officer Roger Jenkins, said: \"It's a shame this is not extra holiday - workers will have to book a day of their annual leave entitlement.\n\n\"But it's a step in the right direction and GMB now calls on the rest of the retail sector to follow suit and repay these key workers with a chance to spend Boxing Day with their loved ones.\"\n\nUsdaw, the union which represents shop workers, has also been calling on all retailers to close their doors on Boxing Day.\n\nUsdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis said at the end of November: \"With the country facing a crisis unlike any in our lifetime, retail and distribution workers have stepped up and kept food on all of our tables.\n\n\"When others stay safe at home, they go out to work.\n\n\"The only way they will be guaranteed a decent break at Christmas is if food retailers close for Boxing Day,\" he said.\n\nHowever, supermarket giant Sainsbury's, which has a large network of convenience shops as well as larger outlets, said on Wednesday that its supermarkets would remain open, albeit with reduced hours.\n\nA spokesperson for Sainsbury's said: \"For colleagues that have requested it, we have made sure they are able to take at least two consecutive days off over Christmas.\"\n\nTesco said: \"Our stores are open for reduced hours on Boxing Day. Many of our customers rely on their local stores over Boxing Day - from families in search of essentials, to key workers needing access to food.\"\n\nA Morrisons spokeswoman said it would open its stores for a limited number of hours on Boxing Day but it was \"working hard to ensure all colleagues get a meaningful break during the Christmas period\".\n\nIt said anyone who worked on Boxing Day would also get time back in lieu.\n\nIn November, Marks & Spencer said it would reverse its decision to open on Boxing Day so staff could spend more time with their families.\n\nPoundland said earlier in the year that it would stay closed on Boxing Day and New Year's Day, while retailers including Wickes, Pets and Home and the Entertainer have also said they will be closed.\n\nJohn Lewis and Waitrose stores are normally shut on Boxing Day, and will remain so this year.", "Last updated on .From the section European Football\n\nItaly's 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi has died aged 64, his family says.\n\nRossi became a household name after leading the Azzurri to victory at the tournament in Spain, finishing as top scorer and being named best player.\n\nAt club level he first came to prominence as a prolific scorer for Vicenza, earning a move to Juventus and later playing for AC Milan.\n\nHis death was announced on Thursday, following what Italian media report had been a long illness.\n\nRossi's wife Federica Cappelletti posted a picture of them together on social media with the words \"Per sempre\" (\"forever\").\n\nShe did not disclose the cause of his death.\n\nRossi scored 20 goals in 48 appearances for the Italian national side, and more than 100 Serie A goals during spells with Vicenza, Perugia, Juventus, Milan and Verona.\n\nFollowing his performances at the 1982 World Cup, he was awarded the Ballon d'Or which at the time was given to the European footballer of the year.\n\nAfter retiring from football in the late 1980s, Rossi worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset and Rai.\n\nThe Italian football federation (FIGC) said flags would fly at half-mast at its headquarters in Rome and its technical centre in Florence.\n\n\"Pablito's passing away is another moment of deep pain, a wound to the heart of all fans that is difficult to heal,\" said FIGC president Gabriele Gravina.\n\n\"We've lost a friend and an icon of Italian football.\n\n\"In spurring the national team on to success in 1982, he had Italians celebrating in squares across the country, both for him and with him.\n\n\"He indelibly tied his name to the Azzurri and, through his style of play, inspired numerous strikers of future generations.\"\n\nEuropean football's governing body, Uefa, said \"a moment of silence\" would be held before Thursday's Europa League matches to honour the player.\n\nA statement from Vicenza, who Rossi helped win promotion to Serie A in 1977, said: \"Sometimes there are simply no words to express the pain we are all experiencing.\"\n\nMilan, where he played in the 1985-86 season, said Rossi would \"forever be in our memory\".\n\nRossi wrote his name into footballing folklore with his displays at the 1982 World Cup - although he nearly missed the competition after being implicated in a match-fixing scandal.\n\nAlthough Rossi maintained his innocence, he was banned from football for three years after being accused of taking part in the 1980 Totonero scandal.\n\nThis suspension was reduced to two years on appeal, meaning he was available to play at the World Cup in Spain.\n\nRossi later described going on to win the tournament as a \"personal redemption\".\n\nThe tournament started with a whimper for both Italy and Rossi. The Juventus striker failed to score in the opening group stage as Italy drew all three games to scrape through.\n\nThe Italians looked far from World Cup contenders - until Rossi, whose performances had come under criticism, found his sharpness in front of goal in the crucial meeting with Brazil in the second group stage.\n\nRossi scored a hat-trick as Italy won 3-2 to reach the semi-finals, then scored both goals against Poland as Italy set up a meeting with West Germany in the final.\n\nA tense final swung Italy's way when Rossi scored the opening goal in the second half, the Azzurri going on to win 3-1 and become world champions for a third time.\n\n\"On one hand I felt fulfilled. I said to myself, 'you've made it',\" Rossi later said about the triumph.\n\n\"On the other hand, I was disappointed that all of this just ended. The World Cup was over.\n\n\"[But] when you win something important it's not just about the trophy. It's about the group you win it with, it's about your entire career that took you there.\"\n\nItaly's triumph sparked an outpouring of emotion back home, providing national unity and joy at a time when the country was beset by political and social unrest.\n\nThose images of Rossi and his team-mates becoming world champions will forever be ingrained in the country's culture, says Italian journalist Daniele Verri.\n\n\"We are all shocked here because Paulo Rossi is such an iconic figure for Italian football,\" Verri told BBC World Service.\n\n\"He is part of Italian history that goes beyond football.\n\n\"For those who were lucky enough to see him play in the 1982 World Cup we cannot ever forget what he did.\n\n\"The images of Spain 82 are part of Italian culture.\"\n• None Lionesses legend Kelly Smith on what is takes to reach the top\n• None England's T20 series reviewed and will Burnley get a Jimmy Anderson street?", "ITV's Tom Clarke asks if it's inevitable we are going to see a third wave of cases, and whether ministers should be acting sooner in making a decision on restrictions.\n\nHe also asks what tests will be rolled out for secondary schools, and how effective they will be?\n\nMatt Hancock says decisions on tiers will depend on how people behave.\n\nHe says targeted testing is being rolled out due to a particular rise in cases in a particular part of London.\n\n\"That can help us and play a part in keeping case rates down, but only as part of an overall package.\n\n\"It's individuals behaviour that can make the biggest difference,\" he says.\n\nHe says PCR tests will be used in the first instance in London, and then lateral flow tests will also be rolled out. \"They are both effective,\" he says.\n\nProf Chris Whitty says a third wave \"is not inevitable\" but it can be avoided by everyone \"coming together\".\n\nHe says people should be \"very sensible\" over the Christmas period.\n\nOn testing, he says a testing programme is a \"useful addition\" to all the other social distancing measures. \"If you add it to those things it adds an additional bit of heft,\" he says.", "Former Italian footballer Paolo Rossi, who led the national team to victory in the 1982 World Cup, has died aged 64, his family says.\n\nHis wife Federica Cappelletti posted on Instagram a picture of them together with the words \"Per sempre\" (\"forever\" in Italian).\n\nShe did not disclose the cause of his death. Italian media are reporting that he had a long illness.\n\nRossi was the top scorer and the best player of the 1982 tournament in Spain.\n\nHis memorable hat-trick eliminated favourites Brazil in a match many fans see as one of the greatest in World Cup history.\n\nRossi nearly missed the competition after being banned from football for two years for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nAt club level, the striker was also a prolific goalscorer for Vicenza. He also played for a number of other Serie A outfits, including Juventus and Milan.\n\nIn 2004, he was named by Brazilian legend Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers.\n\nAfter retiring from football in the late 1980s, Rossi worked as a pundit for Sky, Mediaset and Rai.", "Hilda Hubbard, known as Frances, was found dead at the retirement bungalow she shared with her husband of 50 years\n\nA woman killed by her husband was believed to have never experienced domestic abuse before, a report found.\n\nHilda Hubbard was repeatedly stabbed by her husband Michael, who had dementia, at their Norfolk bungalow in September 2018.\n\nThe pair had been happy, riding in a scooter and sidecar they had called \"Wallace and Gromit\", the report said.\n\nThe Domestic Homicide Review said there were \"many examples of good practice\" by professionals involved with them.\n\nMr Hubbard was later detained in a secure mental health unit after he was found to be unfit to stand trial over the death of his wife, to whom he had been married for 50 years.\n\nNeighbours rang 999 after they saw Mr Hubbard standing in the doorway of their home in Brooke, near Norwich, with his wife, known as Frances, lying on the ground.\n\nPolice fired a rubber bullet at the pensioner, who was 81 at the time, before taking him to hospital and later charging him with murder.\n\nThe review into her death, which does not use the couple's real names, was carried out to examine what could be learned from the case.\n\nIt looked at the roles of organisations involved with the couple from July 2014, when Mr Hubbard first raised concerns about his memory loss.\n\nFloral tributes were left for Mrs Hubbard, who, with her husband was described as \"community-minded\"\n\nThe \"community-minded\" and \"traditional\" couple were described as \"very private\", \"self-sufficient\" and \"proud\" of their children who both achieved master's degrees.\n\nMr Hubbard was forced to retire at the age of 43 after suffering health problems from breaking his back when he was 20.\n\n\"Life didn't turn out for either of them as they had expected, but they eventually won through and made an enviable life for themselves,\" their daughter told the report's author.\n\nThe couple became even more private following Mr Hubbard's diagnosis in 2014, and Mrs Hubbard - as her husband 's carer - had refused offers of support, the report said.\n\nIn summary, it found there had been \"notable practice\" by their GP, social housing provider and police, after an officer was called to them the day before Mrs Hubbard's death regarding a theft allegation.\n\nIt said the examples should be reinforced and shared across Norfolk and made a number of other recommendations.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ursula von der Leyen: \"Our negotiators are still working and we will take a decision on Sunday\"\n\nUK-EU talks to reach a post-Brexit trade deal are \"unlikely\" to continue after Sunday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said.\n\nHis comments come after a meeting between Boris Johnson and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen aimed at breaking the Brexit trade deadlock.\n\nMrs von der Leyen said she had a \"good conversation but it is difficult\".\n\nThe EU has set out the measures it would take in the event of a no-deal scenario with the UK.\n\nThe plans aim to ensure that UK and EU air and road connections still run after the UK stops following EU trading rules on 31 December.\n\nThey also allow the possibility of fishing access to each other's waters for up to a year, or until an agreement is reached.\n\nA Downing Street spokesman said: \"We would never accept arrangements and access to UK fishing waters which are incompatible with our status as an independent coastal state.\"\n\nTalks between the UK's chief negotiator Lord Frost and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier resumed in Brussels on Thursday.\n\nThe main obstacles continue to be access to fishing waters, rules about subsidising businesses and how any new deal would be policed.\n\nSpeaking in the House of Commons, minister Penny Mordaunt insisted that the UK would \"leave no stone unturned\" and will \"carry on negotiating until there is no hope\".\n\nLater on Thursday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the PM to \"get on and deliver\" a deal, adding the outstanding issues \"are capable of resolution\".\n\nAsked whether his party would back a deal in a vote in the Commons, he said: \"We will look at it - and we will act in the national interest.\"\n\n\"But on a straight choice between no deal and deal, then deal is clearly in the national interest,\" he added.\n\nAddressing MSPs in the Scottish Parliament, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was \"deeply and increasingly concerned\" about a \"lack of clarity\" on what arrangements will apply after 31 December.\n\nArriving at an EU summit in Brussels, Mrs von der Leyen said: \"We are willing to grant access to the single market to our British friends - the largest single market in the world - but the conditions have to be fair and they have to be fair for our workers and our companies.\"\n\n\"This fine balance of fairness has not been achieved so far,\" she said, adding that negotiators were still working and that a decision would be taken on Sunday.\n\nThe Irish PM, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, said that no one understated the challenges that lie ahead.\n\n\"But it's important for the citizens of Europe that we do everything we can to get an agreement here,\" he said.\n\nSweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said he was more \"gloomy\" about the trade talks following Wednesday night's meeting.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Penny Mordaunt told MPs the UK \"cannot accept a deal at any cost\" with the EU.\n\nSpeaking to the BBC earlier, Mr Raab said: \"We are rapidly approaching the point where we need some finality.\"\n\nAnd asked if talks would go beyond Sunday, he said it was \"unlikely\" but added \"never quite say never when you are negotiating with the EU\".\n\nResponding to a warning from the Tesco chair that food prices could rise were a deal not to be agreed, Mr Raab acknowledged there could be \"some bumps along the road\" but said he was \"not concerned about either supermarket cupboards running bare or food prices\".\n\nThe EU statement, published on Thursday morning, outlines some of the plans in place if there is no deal, and it says some sectors would be more affected than others.\n\nProvision for air travel, allowing aviation safety certificates, connectivity for road freight and passenger transport for six months, and reciprocal fishing access are included in the document.\n\nAfter 31 December, many things will change regardless of whether or not a deal is reached.\n\nUK travellers could be barred from entering the EU from 1 January as travel rules associated with being part of the EU expire and Covid restrictions block entry.\n\nIn the event of a no-deal scenario, prices of goods could go up - that's because the UK and EU are likely to impose import taxes (known as tariffs) on products crossing the border.\n\nThere could also be delays at the border as, without an agreement on food standards, freight is more likely to be stopped for checks.\n\nA Downing Street spokesman said that the government had put \"extensive preparations\" in place for the end of the transition period to secure supply chains.\n\nAsked whether families should ensure their fridges were well stocked at the end of December, the spokesman said: \"We have a resilient supply chain, that will continue to be the case after the transition period ends, whether that's with a free-trade agreement or otherwise.\"\n\nHow will Brexit affect you? Do you have any questions about the trade deal? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Mahalia won Best R&B/Soul and Best Female at this year's awards\n\nAfter a two-year break, the MOBO Awards have returned with a socially-distant show.\n\nThe ceremony was hosted by Maya Jama and Chunkz and broadcast on YouTube.\n\nMahalia and Nines both won two awards, with Mahalia taking home Best R&B/Soul and Best Female and Nines winning Best Album and Best Hip Hop act.\n\nMahalia told Newsbeat: \"As a young black artist at the MOBOs, everything it stands for and holds is really special.\"\n\nThe pandemic \"put a stop\" to a lot of Young T and Bugsey's plans\n\nYoung T and Bugsey were awarded Best Song for Don't Rush.\n\nThe Nottingham duo said the viral Don't Rush challenge helped it become such a staple sound of 2020.\n\nBugsey said: \"Day by day it was just growing and getting bigger and bigger, we had no idea that would happen.\n\n\"I was a big wrestling fan as a kid, so when I saw that the whole WWE lot did the challenge I was like 'yeah, we're doing something'.\"\n\nThe pair released their mixtape at the start of the year, with plans for tours and other live performances.\n\n\"All artists have had to learn how to manoeuvre through it, hopefully next year shows will be back again.\"\n\nIn a year filled with \"way too many Zoom calls\", the Best Newcomer award is some good news for Aitch\n\nAitch, who picked up Best Newcomer, said the event was a good end to a bad year.\n\nHe told Newsbeat: \"It's sick to be recognised for what I'm doing.\"\n\nIn a year like no other, Aitch says time away from touring and performances has had some advantages.\n\n\"Some things have happened that wouldn't have happened if I was out on the road.\"\n\nAlthough he's done \"way too many Zoom calls\".\n\nIt was Maya's second time hosting the show\n\nChunkz won Best Media Personality up against names including Clara Amfo, Mo Gilligan and co-host Maya Jama.\n\nWith social-distancing measures in place, it might not have been the best year to host such a big event. But, after the MOBOs were cancelled in 2018 and 2019, founder Kanya King said she \"felt like she had to\" bring them back.\n\nShe said: \"2020 has been such a unique year and MOBO has always a spotlight for talent to shine.\n\n\"Entertainment and activism have always gone hand in hand, and we're using the power of black culture to empower and uplift people.\"\n\nThis year's ceremony also included a one-off category to retrospectively award the best albums released between September 2017 and August 2019, which was won by Ella Mai.\n\nNines won two awards, and gave his acceptance speech via video\n\nFor a lot of artists, the pandemic was a chance to get creative.\n\nMahalia released her EP Isolation Tapes in May, made up of songs she previously hadn't found time to finish.\n\n\"If isolation hadn't happened, I might never have seen those songs again,\" she says.\n\nAlthough it's been a \"confusing and stressful\" year, Mahalia said ultimately she learned to \"be present and full of energy online\".\n\n\"I think a lot of us artists in that time realised how important social media platforms are,\" she says.\n\n\"It's a gateway to be able to speak to fans. I wasn't very good at that before so this has been a learning curve for sure.\"\n\n\"It made you interact with fans more and people who support you more because you can be connected,\" Young T said.", "If at first you don't succeed you can try and try.\n\nBut eventually, sometimes, failure is what follows.\n\nThat now seems the likely outcome of months of talks designed to create a smooth path for the country towards a different future - a deal that, in theory, would ease the junction from membership of a huge trading bloc to a world outside.\n\nThere is a chance still that a couple of frantic days could result in a change.\n\nThe prime minister could decide that after all, the potential disruption of no deal is just too great to risk.\n\nThe EU president might be able to persuade continental leaders to budge, as they gather in Brussels today.\n\nBut the chance of reassessing and refreshing the efforts seem now remote.\n\nThe talks between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen were difficult - the gaps between them no slimmer at the end than the start.\n\nThe hoped-for mutual understanding, the nudge or wink to pursue compromise, did not come.\n\nThe only agreement was on when they might call a halt.\n\nFor the first time in a world of highly moveable deadlines, they announced that a final decision must be taken by the end of the weekend.\n\nBoth sides want to stick to their principles. But that determination right now has set them on the path to the practical outcome they both wanted to avoid - and, if nothing changes, the chance of significant disruption at least in the short term for the country in many different ways.\n\nAnd for both sides, failing to agree would be a real political accident - something they don't want, and that didn't have to happen.\n\nOne diplomat told me: \"It's dystopian - the UK wants to have the absolute freedom to do things it will probably never do - apart from some tinkering. The EU wants to protect itself from things that will probably never come.\"\n\nPeople involved in the negotiations believed that there was a way through that could protect each part.\n\nBut unless one side, or more likely both, are willing to give up some of their principles very fast, or the negotiators come up with a sudden miracle, then for all his optimism, Boris Johnson may fail to achieve the trade deal that Brexiteers boasted would be easy.\n\nA result that he always said he would be ready for, but no doubt what he wanted to avert.", "Police said the girls were aged 13 to 16\n\nThirty-two men have been charged with sexual offences in connection with abuse involving eight girls.\n\nMost of the men, largely from the Kirklees area, are charged with rape offences which were allegedly committed between 1999 to 2012.\n\nPolice said the girls were aged 13 to 16 at the time with some victims being abused when they were young adults.\n\nThe alleged offences took place in parts of Kirklees, Bradford and Wakefield.\n\nPolice said the men had been charged as part of Operation Tourway, an investigation into non-recent child sexual exploitation in parts of West Yorkshire.\n\nThey are due appear at Kirklees Magistrates' Court on 11 and 14 December.\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The International Criminal Court says it will not take action against the UK, despite finding evidence British troops committed war crimes in Iraq.\n\nA 180-page report says hundreds of Iraqi detainees were abused by British soldiers between 2003 and 2009.\n\nBut the ICC could not determine whether the UK had acted to shield soldiers from prosecution.\n\nThe MoD said the ICC report \"vindicates our efforts to pursue justice where allegations have been founded\".\n\nThe ICC told the BBC: \"It is without dispute there is evidence war crimes were committed.\"\n\nIts report said there was a reasonable basis to conclude that at least seven Iraqis were illegally killed while in British custody between April and September 2003.\n\nThe ICC report refers to evidence of a pattern of war crimes carried out across a number of years by soldiers from several British regiments. Some detainees were raped or subjected to sexual violence. Others were beaten so badly they died from their injuries.\n\nThe Iraqi individuals, many of them civilians, were unarmed and in British custody at the time.\n\nThe UK government has repeatedly accused human rights lawyers of bringing vexatious claims, but the ICC says it is \"disingenuous to describe the entire body of claims, involving hundreds of claimants, as baseless or spurious\".\n\nA BBC Panorama investigation last year revealed that British detectives had also found credible evidence of war crimes committed in Iraq.\n\nBut the programme discovered that despite this, not one of the cases was taken forward by the army's prosecution service.\n\nBritish army base Camp Stephen in Basra, Iraq, where numerous detainees were alleged to have been abused and killed\n\nThe ICC said it took Panorama's findings very seriously, and that on the whole the information it received was consistent with the reports in the programme.\n\nIt could \"not rule out\" that there had been a cover up on the part of the British authorities.\n\nIts report concluded that investigations by the Royal Military Police had been \"inadequate\" and were \"marred by a lack of independence and impartiality\".\n\nHowever, it could not make a determination as to whether the UK had acted to shield soldiers from prosecution.\n\nThe ICC said it will reopen its examination of the UK's conduct in Iraq \"should new facts or evidence\" come to light.\n\nThe UK government is currently seeking to introduce a controversial new law which will make it harder to prosecute British soldiers.\n\nIt says the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill, if passed, \"delivers on the government's manifesto commitment to tackle vexatious claims and end the cycle of re-investigations against our brave Armed Forces\".\n\nAfter scrutinising the proposed legislation, Parliament's Joint Human Rights Committee has said: \"We found that the real problem is that investigations into incidents have been inadequate, insufficiently resourced, insufficiently independent and not done in a timely manner.\n\n\"The government is effectively using the existence of inadequate investigations as a reason to legislate to bring in further barriers to bringing prosecutions or to providing justice for victims\".\n\nThere is a palpable sense of relief inside the Ministry of Defence that the International Criminal Court will not be pursuing a case against the UK government over allegations that British forces in Iraq committed serious war crimes against Iraqi detainees.\n\nThat said, there's still the potential that the ICC report will cause the government problems.\n\nThe publication comes as the government tries to pass new legislation aimed at protecting troops from what it calls \"vexatious claims\" by lawyers against British troops over allegations of abuse.\n\nAmong the proposals of the Overseas Operations Bill is a presumption against prosecution five years after any alleged abuse, unless there's compelling new evidence.\n\nThe legislation, which has already passed its first stages in the Commons, has been widely criticised by opposition parties, human rights groups, lawyers and some former senior military commanders.\n\nThe ICC report also raises concerns about the legislation.\n\nThe Ministry of Defence says the ICC has brought no new evidence to light.\n\nBut the ICC prosecutor says: \"The fact the allegations investigated by the UK did not result in prosecutions does not mean that these claims were vexatious.\"\n\nThose words will be seized upon by the bill's critics.\n\nOne of the investigations by the Royal Military Police, featured in last year's Panorama, was into the death of Radhi Nama in British custody.\n\nThe Royal Military Police concluded he had died of a heart attack - even though his body and face showed signs he had been beaten.\n\nTo date, no one has been prosecuted in connection with Radhi Nama's death.\n\nHis daughter, Afaf Radhi Nama, told Panorama: \"I saw torture signs on his body.\n\n\"They covered his head and tied his hands, he could not defend himself, and they killed him. It is my wish to see the soldiers who committed this crime put on trial and facing justice.\n\n\"If I was a British citizen my rights would be respected, but because I am an Iraqi citizen, it seems I have no rights.\"\n\nDefence Secretary Ben Wallace said the ICC review \"confirms that the UK is willing and able to investigate and prosecute claims of wrongdoing by armed forces personnel\".\n\nHe said it had brought to light \"no new evidence\" and the ICC statement \"vindicates our efforts to pursue justice where allegations have been founded\".\n\n\"I am pleased that work we have done, and continue to do, in improving the quality and assurances around investigations has been recognised by the ICC,\" he said.\n\n\"The Service Justice System Review and the appointment of Sir Richard Henriques to provide assurance of our investigative processes are all steps towards making sure we have one of the best service justice systems in the world.\"", "A teenager given a tent to live in, and a child denied the chance to say \"goodbye\" to his dying mother feature in a report revealing heart-breaking decisions about children in care.\n\nThe watchdog report also includes a case of siblings abruptly removed from a foster family wanting to adopt them.\n\nAnother details how a fostered girl returned home to find her bags packed and a taxi to a hostel waiting for her.\n\nThe cases are revealed by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.\n\nOmbudsman Michael King said even one case like this was one too many, and urged all councils, when making decisions about children in their care, to ask: \"Would this decision be good enough for my child?\"\n\nNone of the councils in England are named in the report.\n\nCathy Ashley, of the Family Rights Group, said such poor decisions could be \"so damaging at a critical moment in the lives of children in care or at risk of care\".\n\nWith the number of children in care at its highest for 35 years, and the pandemic increasing the pressure and strain on families and on children's services, this was very concerning, she said.\n\nThe report - Careless: Helping to improve council services to children in care - looks at the journey of children coming into care, creating stability, contact arrangements and eventually leaving care.\n\nIt uses a litany of real life case studies. whose names have been changed to protect their identities, to show where things have gone wrong.\n\nOne case featured was Albert who was 11 and living with foster parents, when he was told his birth mother had died.\n\nFour years later, during a review meeting, Albert learned his mother had been seriously ill and on life support.\n\nThis was switched off without him being told, thus denying him the opportunity to visit her before she died.\n\nHe also complained about the use of insensitive language and the way in which the information was shared with him. The council upheld the complaint.\n\nThe ombudsman said young children needed to be able to understand the decisions being made by their corporate parents.\n\nThe case of Billy, a vulnerable and troubled 17-year-old who was thrown out of his home by his father, is also highlighted\n\nThe unnamed council offered him accommodation, but far from where he usually lived. Then rather than consider whether it should accommodate Billy nearer, the council gave him a tent to live in, followed by a static caravan.\n\nBilly's mental and physical health seriously deteriorated during his ordeal, and shortly afterwards, he was detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 where he remained for nearly a year, the ombudsman said.\n\nIt added: \"The council had seriously failed Billy by not offering him suitable accommodation under section 20 of the Children Act 1989.\"\n\nThe council awarded Billy £2,500 for the distress they caused and for placing him at risk.\n\nIn another case, Tim and Nikki fostered two particularly vulnerable children when their birth parents were no longer able to look after them.\n\nAfter two years, the couple told the council they wished to adopt the children.\n\nBut the council questioned the amount of money the couple requested to help them support these needy children, and they were also concerned about the children's academic progress.\n\nThe council decided the children should be removed from Tim and Nikki's care without notice. There was no statutory meeting or evidence to support the council's claim about the foster parents.\n\nSocial workers then collected the children from school and told them Tim and Nikki had gone on holiday.\n\nThe ombudsman said: \"In this case, we used our powers to also consider the injustice the children suffered. We found the children would have been harmed by the sudden removal from the home.\n\n\"While, happily, they were found another foster placement which became long term, the way the council acted denied them the chance to voice their own wishes on the matter,\" it said.\n\nMs Ashley added: \"Putting the voices and experiences of children and families at the centre is key to getting this right.\"\n\nPresident of the Association of Directors of Children's Services Jenny Coles said there had been a 34% increase in the number of children in care over the past decade, and that the availability of placements for children in care was a key issue for the majority of councils.\n\nHe said; \"It is important that local authorities learn from their successes and also where things have gone wrong.\n\n\"The case studies in the report provide an opportunity for the sector to learn and subsequently improve practice.\"", "DeGeneres speaks from her living room during a Fox concert programme in March\n\nUS chat show host Ellen DeGeneres has announced that she tested positive for Covid-19. \"Fortunately, I'm feeling fine right now,\" she posted online.\n\nHer daytime programme - the Ellen DeGeneres Show - will pause production until January, according to a statement from her producers.\n\nThe show returned in September amid allegations of misconduct by senior staff. Three top producers were fired.\n\nDeGeneres, 62, herself apologised on air, pledging \"necessary changes\".\n\nOn Thursday, DeGeneres wrote that she was following the government's Covid guidelines, and had notified those with whom she had been in close contact.\n\n\"I'll see you all again after the holidays,\" she wrote. \"Please stay healthy and safe.\"\n\nHer last guest, who appeared in-person with her on Wednesday, was Hamilton musical actor Leslie Odom Jr.\n\nIn October, the programme became one of the first in the US to resume filming in-studio, according to USA Today. Forty audience members - rather than the normal capacity of 300 seats - have been allowed to attend tapings each day.\n\nOther December guests to her studio included singers Justin Bieber and Lil Nas X, and actors Bryan Cranston and Diane Keaton.\n\nOver the summer, DeGeneres faced criticism on social media amid reports that she had created a toxic work environment for her staff.\n\nAppearing for her 18th season premiere in September, she addressed the allegations of racism, sexism and bullying made by her employees.\n\n\"I am so sorry to the people who were affected,\" she said into the camera. \"I know that I'm in a position of privilege and power. I realised that with that comes responsibility and I take responsibility for what happens at my show.\"\n\nIn the aftermath, she has continued to apologise to her staff and has increased leave time and health insurance packages for her employees, according to Entertainment Weekly.", "Mass testing will be rolled out to secondary school children in the worst-affected areas of London, Kent and Essex, the health secretary has said.\n\nMatt Hancock said \"by far\" the fastest rise in coronavirus infection rates in these areas was in 11 to 18-year-olds.\n\nThis age group in these areas should be tested regardless of symptoms, he said.\n\n\"We need to do everything to stop the spread in school-age children now,\" Mr Hancock said, adding that more details will be set out on Friday.\n\nIt comes after Londoners were urged to \"stick by the rules\" this week amid fears the capital - in tier two - may be put under tier--three restrictions following a rise in Covid-19 cases.\n\nMeanwhile, all secondary schools and further education colleges in Wales will move classes online from Monday, Welsh education minister Kirsty Williams has announced.\n\nSpeaking at a Downing Street press briefing, Mr Hancock said the government was \"particularly concerned\" about coronavirus cases in parts of London, Kent and Essex, which were rising and were often \"already high\".\n\nHe said the government must not wait until the next review of the tiered restrictions on 16 December but must \"take targeted action immediately\".\n\nMr Hancock said \"in particular\" there was a \"very specific rise\" among the secondary school age group and specifically in north-east London, while the rate among adults in London was \"broadly flat\".\n\nHe said: \"We know from experience that a sharp rise in case in younger people can lead to a rise among more vulnerable age groups later.\"\n\nEast London and the parts of Kent and Essex that border it have become one of the major Covid hotspots in England.\n\nRates have been rising in recent weeks with some areas seeing well over 300 cases per 100,000 people in the past week. To put that in perspective, it's close to double the rate seen in Manchester which is currently in tier three.\n\nThe data shows cases are being driven by young people but the concern is that that will then lead to high rates among older age groups who are susceptible to serious illness.\n\nThe government's hope is by flooding the areas with testing they will be able to break the chains of transmission.\n\nBut that will be too late in terms of the difficult call that has to be made by Wednesday when the government decides whether areas move up or down in the system of tiers.\n\nMinisters have wanted to treat London as a whole, but with some of the southern boroughs seeing below average rates there is a growing argument the capital should be split when it comes to restrictions.\n\nThe mass testing plan will apply in the seven worst-affected boroughs of London, plus parts of Essex that border London and parts of Kent.\n\nMr Hancock said it was \"right\" to keep schools open \"for education and for public health\".\n\n\"We are therefore surging mobile testing units and will be working with schools and local authorities to encourage these children and their families to get tested over the coming days,\" he said.\n\nMr Hancock said both PCR (a standard coronavirus test) and lateral flow testing - which takes about half an hour to show a result - would be used.\n\nLondon and Essex are currently in tier two - the second highest level - meaning there is no household mixing allowed anywhere indoors and the rule of six applies outdoors.\n\nKent is in tier three, the highest level, in which you can only meet other households in outdoor public spaces such as parks, where the rule of six applies.\n\nFour London boroughs were among the 20 places with the highest case rates in England in the week ending 6 December, according to Public Health England. They are Havering (400.7 cases per 100,000 people), Barking and Dagenham (333.5), Waltham Forest (327.1) and Redbridge (310.3).\n\nProf Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia's school of medicine, told the BBC it \"does sadly look like\" the capital would be moved into tier three.\n\nMayor of London Sadiq Khan said on Thursday that London was facing \"a tipping point\" - but that placing it under tier three restrictions would be \"catastrophic\".\n\nHowever, Mr Hancock said he \"didn't want to pre-empt\" any decision that might be made about moving London and parts of the South East into tier three.\n\nHe said it was \"not inevitable\" that the capital would have to face tighter rules.\n\nMr Hancock also told the briefing it was important not to \"blow\" the progress made so far in controlling coronavirus and urged everyone to \"stay on our guard now and through Christmas\".\n\nHe said tens of thousands of people had been vaccinated with the Pfzier/BioNTech jab in 73 UK hospital hubs.\n\nGP-led sites will begin vaccinations next week, Mr Hancock said, with jabs administered in some care homes by Christmas.\n\nAsked whether people would be able to spend New Year's Eve with their close family members, he said there would be no special set of rules for the occasion.\n\nEngland's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said a third wave was \"not inevitable\" but warned people must be \"very, very sensible\" over Christmas.\n\n\"The way we prevent it [a third wave] is everybody, all of us, coming together and deciding we want to try and stick to the guidance that's there,\" he said.\n\nLast week, Scotland's education secretary said there would be no extension to the nation's school Christmas holidays, despite talks about potentially shutting all schools on 18 December and reopening them again on 11 January.\n\nMeanwhile, Northern Ireland's education minister has repeatedly said there were no plans to close schools early for the Christmas break.\n\nThe latest coronavirus daily figures show 20,964 new coronavirus infections have been recorded across the UK, and another 516 people have died within 28 days of a positive test, bringing the total to 63,082.", "The European bison was driven to the edge of extinction in the early twentieth century by hunting and habitat loss\n\nThe European bison has moved a step back from the brink of extinction, according to an update of the official extinction list.\n\nEurope's largest land mammal was almost wiped out by hunting and deforestation a century ago, but numbers have now risen to over 6,000 in wild herds across the continent.\n\nThe recovery is regarded as a \"conservation success\" story.\n\nBut 31 species of plants and animals have gone extinct in the latest tally.\n\nThey include frogs, fish, several plants and a bat.\n\nThe extinction list by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation for Nature) assesses the survival prospects of plants, animals and fungi.\n\nIn the third and final update for this year, Dr Bruno Oberle, director general of the IUCN, said the recovery of the European bison and 25 other species demonstrated \"the power of conservation\".\n\nBut the growing list of extinct species \"is a stark reminder that conservation efforts must urgently expand\", he added.\n\nFrom the 1950s onwards, European bison began to be reintroduced into the wild\n\nThe IUCN has now assessed almost 130,000 species of plants and animals, of which more than a quarter are threatened with extinction.\n\nIn the latest update of the \"RedList\", there is good news and bad news for a range of mammals, birds and amphibians.\n\nDespite good news for animals such as the European bison, a total of 31 species have been declared extinct, including three frogs of Central America, 17 freshwater fish of the Philippines, the Lord Howe long-eared bat and 11 plant species.\n\nThe frogs have been hit by a deadly fungal disease, while the fish have disappeared due to predation by introduced species and over-fishing.\n\nA dolphin found in the Amazon river, the tucuxi, has been classed as endangered. All the world's freshwater dolphins are now threatened.\n\nThe tucuxi dolphin found in the Amazon river is endangered\n\nThe small grey dolphin is in trouble due to accidental capture in fishing gear, pollution and the damming of rivers. The IUCN says its survival rests on eliminating the use of gillnets - curtains of fishing net that hang in the water - and reducing the number of dams in the waters where they live.\n\nIn the bird kingdom, the Andean condor, secretary bird, bateleur and martial eagle are now at high risk of extinction.\n\nThe Andean condor is one of the world's largest flying birds\n\nIan Burfield of BirdLife International, which compiles the extinction list for birds, said while any species being listed as threatened was obviously bad news, \"it doesn't have to be a tragedy\".\n\n\"For many, the road to recovery begins here, as listing brings visibility to their plight and helps to raise their conservation priority,\" he explained.\n\nThe benefits of conservation action are being seen for a number of animals. They include an upturn in numbers for the European bison and another 25 species of plants and animals, including skates, amphibians and birds.\n\nThe \"conservation successes\" announced on Thursday \"provide living proof that the world can set, and meet, ambitious biodiversity targets\", said Dr Jane Smart, global director of IUCN's Biodiversity Conservation Group.\n\nStatus: Moved from Vulnerable to Near Threatened\n\nLarge herds of wild bison once roamed across Europe, as recorded in ancient cave paintings. But human pressures and hunting caused their downfall, and by the 1920s, the large mammal was extinct, except in zoos.\n\nBy the end of the 1920s, less than 60 individual European bisons were alive in zoo and private parks\n\nEfforts to return the bison to its natural landscape started in Poland in the 1950s.\n\nNumbers have grown from around 1,800 in 2003 to more than 6,000 last year, mainly found in Poland, Belarus and Russia.\n\nThe bison are scattered in almost 50 herds, most of which are too small to survive without continued conservation work.\n\nDr Rafal Kowalczyk, a bison expert from the Polish Academy of Sciences, told BBC News: \"The species is very vulnerable to extinction but with this international effort we were able to save the species, to increase its number of herds and increase its distribution. and I hope the future of the species is bright.\"\n\nStatus: Moved from near threatened to least concern (the lowest category of extinction risk)\n\nThe red kite is increasing in number\n\nThe red kite was declining across Europe, due to poisoning from pesticides, persecution and loss of natural spaces. But legal protection led to an action plan, including large-scale reintroduction projects. The bird is now recovering and has become a common sight in many areas, although poisoning and persecution are still a problem in some places.\n\nStatus: Moved from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened\n\nMany amphibians are in trouble, but actions by local communities in Mexico have helped to protect this frog's habitat.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jacqueline Mason visiting her mother Eileen McGrugan in the care home\n\nA bus driver has said his detour to let a passenger visit her mother in a care home was \"just the right thing to do\".\n\nJacqueline Mason had accidentally got on the wrong bus on her way to the home and could have missed her visiting slot.\n\nDriver Alec Bailey said it \"hit his heart\" when Jacqueline broke down in tears at that prospect.\n\nHe told his other passengers he would take a detour to get her as close to the home as possible.\n\n\"When the woman said to me she hadn't seen her mum in a long time, it just hit my heart,\" he said.\n\n\"A lot of people have suffered this year and you've seen on the news, people not able to see their mother or their father in the homes and it just struck a chord with me.\n\n\"I just said to myself, I have to get this woman as close as I can to that home.\"\n\nAlec Bailey said Jacqueline's plight struck a chord with him\n\nJacqueline, was due to visit her 79-year-old mother in Bradley Manor nursing home in north Belfast on Wednesday.\n\nDue to coronavirus restrictions, she only had a 30-minute slot to visit her mum.\n\nWhen she arrived, media crews were there to interview residents and staff as they received the Covid-19 vaccine.\n\nJacqueline told Sky's Ireland correspondent about the driver's kind gesture and how she wanted to thank him.\n\nBut all she knew was that his first name was Alec and that he drove a Translink Metro bus along the 11B route.\n\n\"I don't know this side of town at all,\" she explained.\n\n\"He asked people on the bus did they mind if he took a short detour and he took me to the roundabout just at the top here and then I was able to get here on time to see Mummy.\"\n\nSpeaking to BBC News NI on Thursday, Jacqueline said: \"I can't get over the other passengers as well, but especially Alec.\n\n\"He's made my Christmas and he's made my year, I can't thank him enough.\"\n\nJacqueline promised Alec a hug when it is safe\n\nAlec said he had not told anyone about the incident and spent the day worrying about whether the woman had got to see her mum.\n\nIt was only later when his daughter showed him the clip of Jacqueline that he was able to see the impact his kind gesture had had.\n\n\"My daughter sent me the clip and I looked at it and when I viewed it, I saw how happy the woman was to see her mum.\n\n\"The smile and the joy on her face just said it all and I was just so pleased.\n\n\"It was just a nice, magical moment. It was just the right thing to do.\"\n\nJacqueline's mother Eileen McGrugan was among the residents who were vaccinated at Bradley Manor nursing home\n\nIn a statement to BBC News NI, Translink's chief executive Chris Conway said: \"I am proud of Alec Bailey for going above and beyond to help Jacqueline.\n\n\"Alec exemplifies the spirit and resilience of the Translink team.\n\n\"He is a long-serving member of staff who has been working throughout the pandemic, going out of his way to ensure key and essential workers, education and communities stay connected.\n\n\"I'm delighted that we were able to help in this case,\" Mr Conway added.\n\nJacqueline's story was retweeted by Stormont's Transport Minister Nichola Mallon, and also by her department's official Twitter account, which described it as \"a real winter warmer\".\n\nJacqueline's mother, Eileen McGrugan, was among the residents who received their first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday.\n\nJacqueline told Sky she was looking forward to being able to hug her mum again soon.", "Burley has been one of the faces of Sky News for more than 30 years\n\nSky News presenter Kay Burley and three colleagues have been taken off air while an investigation into breaches of Covid guidelines is carried out.\n\nPolitical editor Beth Rigby, north of England correspondent Inzamam Rashid and presenter Sam Washington are also off air while the inquiry takes place.\n\nBBC media editor Amol Rajan said Burley's job is hanging in the balance.\n\nIt follows her admission that she \"broke the rules\" while celebrating her 60th birthday at the weekend.\n\nThe journalist said she could \"only apologise\" for her \"error of judgment\".\n\nWriting on Twitter on Monday, Burley said she had been at a \"Covid compliant\" restaurant on Saturday and had later \"popped into another\" venue to use the toilet.\n\nAmol Rajan said she was one of a party of 10 people at the Century Club, a private members' club on London's Shaftesbury Avenue. Her group took up two tables, with six people on one and four on the other.\n\nBurley then went onto Folie restaurant, where she used the toilet, before moving on to a private residence where individuals from at least three households mixed, Rajan said.\n\n\"This is a source of deep anxiety among Sky News bosses,\" Rajan said. \"There is fury within the Sky News newsroom at the compromising of the brand, especially after Sky News has had a strong year.\"\n\nRigby, Rashid and Washington are reported to have been present during the evening, although it's not known which parts they attended.\n\nBurley was absent from her daily breakfast show on Tuesday and Wednesday, and fellow presenter Niall Paterson said he would be taking over her slot until Christmas.\n\nIn a tweet that was subsequently deleted, Burley said she had always planned to take time off this month to visit her \"beloved Africa\".\n\nSharing a video from a safari trip, she said she would be leaving on Friday to go \"sit with lions\", adding: \"They kill for food not sport.\"\n\nBurley, who joined Sky News in 1988 and has hosted the breakfast show since October 2019, offered an apology to her 519,000 Twitter followers on Monday.\n\n\"On Saturday night I was enjoying my 60th birthday at a Covid compliant restaurant,\" she wrote. \"I am embarrassed to say that later in the evening I inadvertently broke the rules.\n\n\"I had been waiting for a taxi at 11pm to get home. Desperate for the loo I briefly popped into another restaurant to spend a penny. I can only apologise.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Kay Burley This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nLondon is under tier two restrictions, which means people are not allowed to socialise with anyone from outside their household or support bubble indoors, either in a private home or a public place.\n\nSome venues have outdoor seating and you are able to meet in a group of up to six people outside, including in a garden or in a public place.\n\nOn Monday, a spokesman for Sky said: \"We place the highest importance on complying with the government guidelines on Covid, and we expect all our people to comply.\n\n\"We were disappointed to learn that a small number of Sky News staff may have engaged in activity that breached the guidelines.\n\n\"Although this took place at a social event in personal time, we expect all our people to follow the rules that are in place for everyone.\"\n\nBurley's apology followed those of pop star Rita Ora, who said sorry for failing to self-isolate following a trip to Egypt and for throwing a birthday party at a London restaurant.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Quote Message: The prime minister and President von der Leyen met for dinner in Brussels this evening. The leaders had a frank discussion about the state of play in the negotiations. They acknowledged that the situation remained very difficult and there were still major differences between the two sides. They agreed that chief negotiators would continue talks over the next few days and that a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks by Sunday. The prime minister is determined not to leave any route to a fair deal untested, but any agreement must respect the independence and sovereignty of the UK. from Downing Street spokesman\n\nThe prime minister and President von der Leyen met for dinner in Brussels this evening. The leaders had a frank discussion about the state of play in the negotiations. They acknowledged that the situation remained very difficult and there were still major differences between the two sides. They agreed that chief negotiators would continue talks over the next few days and that a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks by Sunday. The prime minister is determined not to leave any route to a fair deal untested, but any agreement must respect the independence and sovereignty of the UK.", "Sales of homes continued to rise ahead of Christmas, but surveyors are expecting a slowdown early next year.\n\nMany buyers have been trying to benefit from temporary stamp duty holidays, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said.\n\nBut there were signs that demand was \"losing a bit of steam\" in some areas of the UK.\n\nDespite the predicted slowdown it is not expecting a significant fall in house prices.\n\nIt pointed out that \"stickier\" property prices could cause affordability problems for some people hoping to buy a home.\n\nEnquiries from new buyers had increased in November, RICS said, and sales had also been on the rise in most areas of the UK.\n\nWales and Northern Ireland seeing particularly strong growth for November, it said.\n\nSurveyors in the West Midlands, East Midlands and Scotland had started to report a flatter trend in agreed sales.\n\nMany buyers were making the most of a temporary reduction or removal of stamp duty, or its equivalent tax, in the different parts of the UK.\n\nColin Townsend, of John Goodwin Estate Agents in Malvern, Worcestershire, said that house prices were still rising and that he had seen \"another record-breaking month for sales in November as buyers seem to be trying to move before the stamp duty deadline\".\n\nOnce that tax break was withdrawn, there was an expectation of falling demand from buyers.\n\nSimon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, said: \"It is clear from responses to the latest survey that there is considerable concern about the prospect of a sharp slowdown in transaction activity following the end of the first quarter of the coming year.\"\n\nReduced government support and expectations of a rise in unemployment as redundancy programmes began to take effect were behind those predictions, he said.\n\n\"There is little sense that the projected softer sales picture will feed through into pricing which is viewed as likely to prove rather stickier in the face of ongoing macro challenges,\" he said.\n\nThe report comes after some of the UK's biggest mortgage lenders reported relatively large rises in house prices in November.\n\nThe Nationwide Building Society said UK house prices were 6.5% higher than a year ago - the sharpest rise for nearly six years.\n\nRival lender, the Halifax, said the average property price had risen by more than £15,000 since June.\n\nHouse prices have risen at a relatively rapid rate in many parts of the UK in the late summer and autumn as some people sought a Covid-inspired change in lifestyle, or more space to work from home.\n\nThere was also some pent-up demand from the first period of lockdown.", "Google has been fined 100 million euros (£91m) in France for breaking the country's rules on online advertising trackers known as cookies.\n\nIt is the largest fine ever issued by the French data privacy watchdog CNIL.\n\nUS retail giant Amazon was also fined 35 million euros for breaking the rules.\n\nCNIL said Google and Amazon's French websites had not sought visitors' consent before advertising cookies were saved on their computers.\n\nGoogle and Amazon also failed to provide clear information about how the online trackers would be used, and how visitors to the French websites could refuse the cookies, the regulator said.\n\nIt has given the tech giants three months to change the information banners displayed on their websites.\n\nIf they do not comply, they will be fined a further 100,000 euros per day until the changes are made.\n\nIn a statement published by Reuters, Google said: \"We stand by our record of providing upfront information and clear controls, strong internal data governance, secure infrastructure, and above all, helpful products.\n\n\"Today's decision under French ePrivacy laws overlooks these efforts and doesn't account for the fact that French rules and regulatory guidance are uncertain and constantly evolving.\"\n\nAmazon said it disagreed with the CNIL decision,\n\n\"We continuously update our privacy practices to ensure that we meet the evolving needs and expectations of customers and regulators and fully comply with all applicable laws in every country in which we operate,\" it said in a statement.\n\nIn a separate case, Google is being probed by a UK regulator over its plans to change the way the Chrome browser handles cookies.\n\nGoogle wants to stop advertisers using cookies to track users as they move around the web from one site to another when using Chrome, in a bid to improve privacy.\n\nIt plans to introduce an alternative system know as the Privacy Sandbox that will only provide anonymised feedback.\n\nA group of about a dozen small tech companies and publishers has lodged a complaint with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) claiming this would damage their businesses.\n\nThe CMA is expected to announce whether it will intervene over the coming weeks.", "A black hair code has been created by a group of campaigners to try and end discrimination against people from African and Caribbean backgrounds.\n\nSchools and workplaces are being encouraged to sign up to the Halo code which supports students and staff to wear their Afro hair how they choose to. Unilever is one of the first businesses to sign-up to the code.\n\nIt’s hoped the Halo Code will educate more teachers and employers about natural Afro hair and normalise protective hairstyles.", "\"Very large gaps remain\" between the UK and EU, despite a meeting between Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen aimed at breaking the Brexit trade deadlock, No 10 has said.\n\nAnd Mrs von der Leyen said the two sides were still \"far apart\".\n\nTalks between the UK's chief negotiator Lord Frost and the EU's Michel Barnier will resume in Brussels.\n\nBut Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was \"unlikely\" the negotiations would be extended beyond Sunday.\n\nAfter their meeting, the prime minister and European Commission president \"agreed that by Sunday a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks\", a No 10 spokesperson added.\n\nAnd on Thursday morning, the EU set out the measures it would implement in the event of a no-deal scenario.\n\nThe plan includes allowing aviation safety certificates to continue to apply to avoid the grounding of aircraft.\n\nThe BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said the evening discussions between Mr Johnson and Mrs von der Leyen had \"plainly gone badly\" and the chances of the UK leaving the post-Brexit transition period at the end of the year without a firm arrangement was a \"big step closer\".\n\nTime is running out to reach a deal before 31 December, when the UK stops following EU trading rules.\n\nMajor disagreements remain on fishing rights, business competition rules and how a deal will be policed.\n\nThe dinner was seen as a last-ditch opportunity to work through the main sticking points and for the two sides to try and find some common ground.\n\nIf at first you don't succeed you can try and try. But eventually, sometimes failure is what follows.\n\nThat now seems the likely outcome of months of talks designed to create a smooth path for the country towards a different future - a deal that, in theory, would ease the junction from membership of a huge trading bloc to a world outside.\n\nThere is a chance still that a couple of frantic days could result in a change.\n\nThe prime minister could decide that after all, the potential disruption of no deal is just too great to risk.\n\nThe EU president might be able to persuade continental leaders to budge, as they gather in Brussels today.\n\nBut the chance of reassessing and refreshing the efforts seem now remote.\n\nIn a statement, the UK side said there had been \"a frank discussion about the significant obstacles which remain in the negotiations\".\n\n\"Very large gaps remain between the two sides and it is still unclear whether these can be bridged,\" a No 10 spokesperson said.\n\nThey said the two sides had agreed to further discussions over the next few days, and the PM did \"not want to leave any route to a possible deal untested\".\n\nThe two negotiators, Lord Frost and Mr Barnier, also attended the three-hour dinner meeting between the two leaders.\n\nMrs von der Leyen said the discussions had been \"lively and interesting\", and the two sides fully \"understand each other's positions\" but they \"remain far apart\".\n\n\"We will come to a decision by the end of the weekend,\" she said.\n\nMeanwhile the UK has signed a free trade deal with Singapore. The agreement is broadly similar to the Southeast Asian country's current arrangement with the EU and will cover a trade relationship worth more than £17bn.\n\nInternational Trade Secretary Liz Truss is now travelling to Vietnam to conclude a trade agreement with that country.\n\nThe EU, taken as a whole is the UK's largest trading partner, with UK exports to the EU totalling £294bn - or 43% of all UK exports - in 2019.\n\nDinner between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen ended as predicted in Brussels - with neither a breakdown, nor a breakthrough in the trade talks impasse.\n\nEU diplomats say the bloc is ready to go the extra mile during the next days of negotiations but contrary to the UK government view, the EU thinks the decision - deal or no deal - lies primarily in Downing Street.\n\nBrexit isn't on the official discussion agenda at an EU summit starting in Brussels later today, though leaders will be briefed on the negotiations.\n\nAttitudes seem to be hardening.\n\n\"No deal is better than a bad deal\" is a sentiment you hear both sides of the Channel now.\n\nSpeaking to the BBC, Mr Raab said: \"I think we are rapidly approaching the point where we need some finality.\"\n\nAsked if talks would go beyond Sunday, he said it was \"unlikely\" but added \"never quite say never when you are negotiating with the EU\".\n\nResponding to a warning from the Tesco chair that food prices could rise were a deal not to be agreed, Mr Raab acknowledged there could be \"some bumps along the road\" but said he was \"not concerned about either supermarket cupboards running bare or food prices\".\n\nThe Confederation of British Industry said the cost of no deal was \"significant\".\n\nIts director-general, Tony Danker, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"The difference between a deal and no deal is incredibly real in GDP [gross domestic product] terms, it's incredibly real for businesses - particularly in certain sectors - so we have to be in 'getting to yes' mode.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dominic Raab says it's 'unlikely' negotiations will be extended beyond Sunday\n\nLabour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said the prime minister had \"completely failed\" to deliver the \"oven-ready\" deal he had promised at the last election.\n\n\"The failure to deliver the deal he promised is his and his alone,\" she said.\n\nEarlier this week, Mr Johnson said the oven-ready deal he was referring to was the withdrawal agreement, or divorce deal, rather than a trade deal.\n\nSNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford tweeted: \"A no deal would be a massive failure of diplomacy and leadership which Boris Johnson has to take ownership of.\"\n\nMeanwhile, Tory Brexiteer MP John Baron said the PM deserved praise for \"standing firm\" rather than compromising in a rush to agree a deal. \"We must remember a trade deal is for keeps, not just for Christmas,\" he said.\n\n\"We all want a deal, but it has to be a good deal because as we've said many times before, no deal is better than a bad deal.\"\n\nSpeaking before he left for Brussels, Mr Johnson said the EU was insisting on terms \"no prime minister could accept\" in relation to access to UK fishing waters and retaliatory measures if the UK diverged from EU standards.\n\nAny deal also has to be ratified by the European Parliament and win the backing of MPs at Westminster.\n\nThe House of Commons could sit as late as Christmas Eve should it be required to look at a Brexit deal, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said.\n\nUnder current plans, the Commons will stop sitting on 21 December, but he told Sky News the recess could be delayed.", "Burley has been one of the faces of Sky News for more than 30 years\n\nSky News presenter Kay Burley is to stay off-air for six months after admitting breaking Covid rules during a night out for her 60th birthday.\n\nPolitical editor Beth Rigby and north of England correspondent Inzamam Rashid, who were among those with her, will be absent for three months.\n\n\"I made a big mistake, and I am sorry,\" Burley wrote on Twitter.\n\nBurley was among 10 people who went to a restaurant on Saturday before she briefly went into another restaurant.\n\nShe then moved on to a private residence where individuals from at least three households mixed, the BBC has been told.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Kay Burley This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n\"I have today agreed with Sky News to step back from my broadcasting role for a period of reflection,\" Burley wrote.\n\n\"It's clear to me that we are all in the fight against Covid-19 and that we all have a duty to stick firmly by the rules.\n\n\"It doesn't matter that I thought I was Covid-compliant on a recent social event. The fact is I was wrong, I made a big mistake, and I am sorry.\n\n\"Some dear friends and colleagues - some of the most talented and committed professionals in our business - have been pulled into this episode and I regret this enormously.\n\n\"I was one of the founding presenters on Sky News. No one is prouder of our channel's reputation, the professionals on our team, and the impact we make.\n\n\"I very much look forward to being able to continue my 32-year career with Sky when I return.\"\n\nThe channel said it had completed an \"internal review into the conduct of a small number of team members who attended a social event\" on Saturday.\n\n\"Over the course of the evening, Covid guidelines were breached,\" a statement said. \"Sky News expects all team members to fully comply with the COVID restrictions. All those involved regret the incident and have apologised.\n\n\"Following our review of what took place on 5th December, we have agreed with Beth Rigby (Political Editor) and Inzamam Rashid (News Correspondent) that they will not be on air for three months, and we have agreed with Kay Burley (Breakfast Show Presenter) that she will not be on air for six months.\"\n\nThe channel did not say whether they would still be paid while off air.\n\nSky added that presenter Sam Washington, who was also off-air while the internal review took place, will be back at work next week.\n\nBurley, who joined Sky News in 1988 and has hosted the breakfast show since October 2019, first offered an apology on Monday, saying she had been \"at a Covid-compliant restaurant\" but \"inadvertently broke the rules\" by popping to the toilet in the second restaurant.\n\nLondon is under tier two restrictions, which means people are not allowed to socialise with anyone from outside their household or support bubble indoors, either in a private home or a public place.\n\nSome venues have outdoor seating and you are able to meet in a group of up to six people outside, including in a garden or in a public place.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Royal Mail has acknowledged delays to its deliveries amid \"exceptionally high volumes\" of post and anti-Covid measures.\n\nDespite \"exhaustive planning\", some customers may be experiencing \"slightly longer delivery timescales\" than normal, the postal group said.\n\nIt came as people complained of late or missed deliveries.\n\nRetailers including John Lewis, Boots and HMV have also blamed Royal Mail for delivery delays.\n\nOn Thursday, online shoppers messaged Royal Mail, as well as contacting retailers directly, to complain about parcels failing to arrive in time - in some cases weeks after they were expected.\n\nPeople also complained their post was arriving less frequently.\n\nOthers expressed sympathy for postal workers having to meet a surge in demand during the pandemic.\n\nMariusz Luczakowski runs a small chocolate company in Worcestershire and uses Royal Mail to send out orders to customers via first class delivery. Over the past few days he says he has received emails from customers complaining of delays - sometimes of seven or more days.\n\n\"I am feeling frustration, but at least it's not only me,\" he told the BBC.\n\n\"It is a really scary and uncertain time for a small business owner and so easy to destroy the reputation of your own company by not delivering on time as promised.\"\n\nBusiness owner Mariusz Luczakowski says he is frustrated with Royal Mail after customers complained about not receiving their deliveries on time\n\nNeil Watts, 58, from Edinburgh, told the BBC he ordered a Christmas present online for his wife on 27 November and he still has not received it despite paying for next day special delivery.\n\n\"It's the frustration of trying to resolve it,\" Mr Watts said. \"Tomorrow is two weeks before Christmas. Do I cancel the order or wait?\"\n\nA postman from Manchester, who did not want to be named, said their delivery office was short-staffed and had lost \"around 20 staff\" over the last two years.\n\n\"On top of that we're also receiving a far greater number of both parcels and letters than normal even for the time of year and are being told to prioritise tracked packets over everything else,\" the postman said.\n\n\"Everyone I speak to in the office feels awful that people aren't getting their Christmas cards and presents and many of us are working several hours overtime every day to try and prevent things backing up too much.\"\n\nIn a statement, the postal group said there had been a \"greatly increased uptake of online Christmas shopping\", driven \"in no small part\" by the lockdown.\n\nThis meant all delivery companies were experiencing \"exceptionally high volumes\" of post, it said.\n\nThe company said it had hired about 33,000 temporary workers to support its 115,000 permanent postmen and women and had expanded its seasonal sites to help manage the anticipated growth in parcel volumes.\n\nCoronavirus-related absences had also affected services, the Royal Mail's customer service account said.\n\n\"Despite our best efforts, exhaustive planning and significant investment in extra resource, some customers may experience slightly longer delivery timescales than our usual service standards.\n\n\"This is due to the exceptionally high volumes we are seeing, exacerbated by the coronavirus-related measures we have put in place in local mail centres and delivery offices.\n\n\"In such cases, we always work hard to get back to providing our usual level of service as quickly as we can.\"\n\nThe company advised customers to visit the service update page of its website.", "The infection rates are not falling as fast as the government had hoped\n\nFrance will delay the reopening of cultural venues and introduce a night-time curfew as it struggles to curb the spread of Covid-19.\n\nPrime Minister Jean Castex said the infection rates were not falling as fast as the government had hoped after a lockdown was imposed in late October.\n\nA stay-at-home order will be lifted as planned on 15 December, when the daily 20:00-06:00 curfew will begin.\n\nThe measure will not be waived on New Year's Eve, to prevent big gatherings.\n\nThe government had conditioned the easing of restrictions on the number of new cases falling to around 5,000 a day. But that number remains well above 10,000 - on Thursday, there were 13,750 infections.\n\n\"We aren't yet at the end of this second wave, and we won't reach the objectives we had set for 15 December,\" Mr Castex told a news conference. \"We can't let down our guard. We have to stay focused, and find our way through the next few weeks with lots of vigilance.\"\n\nMuseums, cinemas and theatres as well as sports venues, which were expected to reopen on Tuesday, will remain closed for an extra three weeks.\n\nThe decision was criticised by some in the cultural world, with actor and director Phillipe Lellouche telling BFM TV: \"We're tired of not being given more consideration. Once more culture is being left on the side of the road.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nMr Castex has also announced that:\n\nBars and restaurants will remain closed at least until 20 January. Some non-essential shops had already reopened on 28 November.\n\nFrance has confirmed more than 2.3 million cases and nearly 57,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.", "Bee populations have been on the decline across the world\n\nResearchers have found that honeybees in Vietnam collect and smear animal faeces around their nests to prevent deadly raids by giant hornets.\n\nThey say the finding is the first to document the use of \"tools\" by honeybees.\n\nThe bees used chicken poo, buffalo dung and even human urine to defend their hives.\n\nHoneybees play a critical role in pollinating the plants humans depend on for their diet.\n\nThe scientists behind the study, published in the journal PLOSE ONE on Wednesday, said the research was sparked when a Vietnamese beekeeper told them that the mysterious dark spots they had spotted at hive entrances was excrement.\n\n\"We thought that'd be crazy because bees don't collect dung,\" lead author Heather Mattila told AFP news agency.\n\nBut the study confirmed that the poo was indeed a defence being deployed by the bees, specifically against giant hornets.\n\nIt adds to \"an already impressive list of defences they have to prevent these hornets from destroying their colonies\", Dr Mattila, a biology professor at Wellesley College in the US state of Massachusetts, said.\n\nBees are known for using a range of strategies to deflect attacks from predators.\n\nThey have been observed physically shielding their colonies through synchronised body shakes, hissing, or enveloping encroachers in a ball until they overheat.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Listen to the sounds of honeybee queens \"tooting\" and \"quacking\"\n\nGiant Asian hornets - up to five times bigger than honey bees - can slaughter a bee colony in a matter of hours. They can also inflict powerful stings on humans.\n\nThe scientists found that the hornets were less likely to launch mass attacks on hives dotted with more faeces, and that they spent 94% less time chewing at the entrance if they did land.\n\nThe use of excrement was particular to Asian honeybees, they added, saying their counterparts in Europe and North America lacked similar defences.\n\nAsian hornets have recently been detected in North America where they have been dubbed \"murder hornets\" for the threat they pose to local honeybees and ecosystems as well as concerns about human safety.\n\nAround 40 people are killed annually by the hornets in Asia, according to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.", "Rhiannon Davies, pictured with daughter Kate, campaigned for a review into maternity care\n\nMothers were blamed for their babies' deaths and a large number of women died in labour at a scandal-hit maternity unit, a review has found.\n\nThe inquiry into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS (SaTH) trust found deaths were often not investigated and an induction drug was repeatedly misused.\n\nRhiannon Davies said she never doubted what happened with her daughter Kate.\n\nSeven \"immediate and essential\" actions have been made for all maternity services across England.\n\nThe chief executive of SaTH said they \"commit to implementing all of the report's actions\".\n\nThe review began in 2018 following campaigns led by two families. Richard Stanton and Ms Davies' daughter Kate died hours after her birth in March 2009, while Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths' daughter Pippa died in 2016 from a Group B Streptococcus infection.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: The parents of babies Kate and Pippa talk about the pain of losing their child\n\nThe interim report lists numerous traumatic birth experiences including the deaths of babies due to excessive force of forceps and stillbirths that could have been avoided.\n\nOthers recount repeated failures by staff to recognise mothers and babies in deteriorating conditions, including one mother whose baby died because staff were \"too busy\" to monitor her during labour.\n\nIt found letters and records \"which often focused on blaming the mothers\" rather than considering whether the trust's systems were at fault. This was exacerbated by the attitude of staff, the report said.\n\nIt said: \"One of the most disappointing and deeply worrying themes that has emerged is the reported lack of kindness and compassion from some members of the maternity team.\n\n\"The fact that this was found to be lacking… is unacceptable and deeply concerning.\"\n\nIn June police launched an investigation to examine if there was evidence to support a criminal case against the trust or any individuals involved.\n\nFollowing the publication of the report, Geoff Wessell, Assistant Chief Constable for West Mercia Police, said their investigation has been running concurrently with the review and remains ongoing.\n\nThe inquiry - the largest ever of NHS maternity care - is being led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden and is looking into 1,862 cases and initially examined 250 cases.\n\nIt looked at a selection of cases between 2000 and 2018 and found there were 13 maternal deaths, a rate that is disproportionately high.\n\nWhile the report said the women were often correctly identified as being \"high risk\" due to existing medical conditions, little concrete action appeared to follow with junior doctors conducting assessments and no team working to ensure best care.\n\nAfter each death \"in some cases, no investigation was initiated\" whilst in others \"no learning appears to have been identified.\"\n\nThe report said \"inappropriate language had been used at times causing distress,\" and there were cases \"where women were blamed for their loss and this further compounded their grief.\"\n\nMs Davies' daughter Kate was born \"pale and floppy\" at Ludlow Community Hospital and died after delays in transferring her from Ludlow to a doctor-led maternity unit.\n\nShe has fought for a review for 11 years and said: \"I may sound arrogant but I've never doubted my surety of what happened with Kate.\n\n\"I knew I was right. The interim findings will hopefully bring this essential change, critically required change, change this trust has not been able to see it needs to embed and that will hopefully ensure patient safety improves and that is the only reason we've continued.\"\n\nPippa Griffiths died at one day old after contracting meningitis from a Group B Strep infection\n\nHer husband Richard said: \"I think it's really important that the interim findings go someway to imposing emergency recommendations which are clearly needed at this point to improve maternity care, no family should have to go through what me and Rhiannon and all the others have gone through.\n\n\"We just wanted to get to the truth.\"\n\nThe reports lists 27 actions the trust must immediately carry out.\n\nMs Ockenden said: \"Today we are explaining in this first report local actions for learning and immediate and essential actions which we believe will improve maternity care, not only at this trust but across England so that the experiences women and families have described to us are not replicated elsewhere.\n\nThe work that follows \"owes its origins to Kate Stanton-Davies and her parents\", Ms Ockenden said.\n\nShe added Kate and Pippa's parents have shown \"an unrelenting commitment in ensuring their daughter's short lives made a difference to the safety of maternity care\".\n\nMrs Griffiths, Pippa's mother said: \"It's not acceptable... you have to pick those failures up, you have to own them and you have to make improvements.\"\n\nThis is not a dry report - its pages scream with the voices of the families who have been needlessly harmed.\n\nI've heard many of these stories over the years, having spoken to dozens of families, but to read it in black and white, was still a sobering moment.\n\nThe review's publication also draws a firm line under the pretence that successive poor, weak leaders of the organisation maintained until recently, namely that the trust was no worse than others. They are worse, much worse, and have been for years.\n\nThe alphabet soup of NHS organisations that were meant to protect these families - the inspectors, the regulators, the commissioners - have a lot of questions to answer too.\n\nTheir repeated refusal to see what was happening, despite being told of the problems, is just as shaming as the trust's stance. Their moment of reckoning will come next year, when the final report is published.\n\nConservative MP for Telford Lucy Allan said the findings of the review were \"deeply harrowing\".\n\nFormer Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who ordered an inquiry in 2017, tweeted: \"This is a tragic day for families across Shropshire who've had it confirmed in black & white that hundreds of babies died needlessly.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Jeremy Hunt This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nLouise Barnett, the trust's chief executive, said: \"I want to say how very sorry we are for the pain and distress that has been caused to mothers and their families due to poor maternity care at our trust.\n\n\"We commit to implementing all of the actions in this report and I can assure the women and families who use our service that if they raise any concerns about their care they will be listened to and action will be taken.\"\n\nThe seven actions outlined for maternity services across England include: Enhanced safety, listening to women and families, staff training and working together, managing complex pregnancy, risk assessment throughout pregnancy and Monitoring fetal wellbeing.\n\nAs part of those seven actions, it said there must be twice daily consultant-led ward rounds, seven days a week, in the day and at night.\n\nFollow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The United States could move a step closer to approving the Pfizer-Biontech Covid vaccine on Thursday, as the Food and Drug Administration's advisers meet to discuss its authorisation.\n\nBut how will Americans get it? Will it be free? And will enough people take it?", "Mrs Whitehead died at a care home just days before her husband received the vaccine\n\nA man has been given the Covid vaccine, days after his wife died after contracting the virus.\n\nRae Whitehead, 79, died on 1 December after testing positive for Covid-19 at her care home in East Yorkshire.\n\nOn Tuesday her husband Edward, 84, was one of the first to receive the jab at Middlesbrough's James Cook Hospital.\n\nThe couple's surgeon son Dr David Whitehead, 49, said he felt relief his father had had the jab but \"heartbreak\" his mother could not be saved.\n\nMr Whitehead, 49, an ENT consultant in Middlesbrough, who also received the jab with his father, who is also a retired ENT surgeon, said: \"It's heartbreaking on the one hand and also potential relief on the other.\n\n\"My father and I are deeply saddened that, had we not put my mother in a nursing home, she would maybe be alive today and could have had the vaccine.\n\n\"Her life slipped away - a week later the vaccine is being rolled out.\"\n\nDr Whitehead said his mother, who had worked as a civil servant before having children, had spent her life \"looking after us and the family\".\n\nHe said he had contracted coronavirus himself in March, and had a temperature and a \"sensation as if my head was being boiled alive\".\n\nHe said the NHS rollout of the vaccine had made him proud.\n\n\"This is the good thing about the NHS - because it's nationalised we have this ability and power to have these interactions with the large pharmaceutical companies so that this sort of thing can happen,\" he said.\n\n\"I feel quite proud that we've managed to approve it, a vaccine from a trial, so quickly.\"\n\nOn Tuesday UK grandmother Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, became the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.\n\nFollow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Schools moving online at short-notice could be 'confusing' for students\n\nAll secondary schools and further education colleges in Wales will move classes online from Monday, the education minister has announced.\n\nKirsty Williams said it was part of a \"national effort to reduce transmission of coronavirus\".\n\nHowever, the Children's Commissioner for Wales has criticised the decision as disruptive to education.\n\nA number of counties have also said primary schools will close earlier, including Cardiff and Swansea.\n\nMs Williams said it was important to take a \"clear, national direction\" to ease the pressure from schools, colleges, local councils and parents and carers.\n\n\"Every day, we are seeing more and more people admitted to hospital with coronavirus symptoms,\" she added.\n\n\"The virus is putting our health service under significant and sustained pressure and it is important we all make a contribution to reduce its transmission.\"\n\nTeaching will move online from Monday in Wales\n\nShe said the advice from Wales' Chief Medical Officer, Dr Frank Atherton, was to implement the online learning plan \"as soon as is practicable\".\n\n\"Having spoken to local education leaders, I am confident that schools and colleges have online learning provision in place,\" added Ms Williams.\n\n\"This will also be important in ensuring that students are at home during this time, learning and staying safe.\n\n\"Critically, and this is very important, children should be at home.\n\n\"This is not an early Christmas holiday, please do everything you can to minimise your contact with others.\"\n\nThe latest data shows the infection rate across Wales is averaging more than 370 cases for 100,000 people, with 17% of tests now coming back positive.\n\nIt means the reproduction (R) number in Wales has now reached 1.27, with infections doubling in 11.7 days.\n\nThe Children's Commissioner for Wales Sally Holland says she does not support closing schools early\n\nBut Children's Commissioner Sally Holland said the move was \"not the right decision\" for children and young people in Wales and had yet to see any scientific advice to support the move.\n\n\"Whilst accepting the severity of the public health emergency and the responsibilities all of us have to keep each other safe, this decision compounds the disruption to our children's education over the last few months,\" she said.\n\nThe announcement does not extend to primary or special schools, with the education minister \"encouraging\" them to remain open.\n\nHowever, a number of local authorities have announced they will also be halting face-to-face learning early.\n\nSchools in Swansea will all move to online blended learning on Monday, so Friday is the last day in the classroom for primary school pupils.\n\nPembrokeshire and Ceredigion parents have been sent emails telling them classrooms will close after Monday.\n\nCarmarthenshire council has said primary and special schools will be given the choice to move to online learning or stay open from Tuesday.\n\nCardiff council said the final day in class will be Tuesday.\n\n\"The move is designed to enable students to remain at home in the run up to Christmas to try to halt the rise in infection rates,\" said a statement from Cardiff city officials on Thursday evening.\n\nThe neighbouring Vale of Glamorgan will close primary schools on Wednesday, 16 December.\n\nSeveral local authorities have already announced they would shut schools early\n\nSome local authorities had already announced plans to close schools early.\n\nBlaenau Gwent shut classrooms on Wednesday, with infection rates in the county now standing at nearly 600 cases for 100,000 people.\n\nIn north Wales, Flintshire and Wrexham had decided to shut schools on Friday, with infection rates running at 175 and 230 cases per 100,000.\n\nBridgend, Caerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taf councils had also planned to shut early next Wednesday.\n\nThe teaching union NAHT had called for schools in Wales to shut this Friday, and be replaced with online classes.\n\nBut the union said it was \"bitterly disappointed\" the move did not include primary or special schools.\n\n\"This decision ignores Welsh Government's own advice on pre-isolating before seeing extended family over the Christmas holidays,\" said Laura Doel from the union.\n\n\"Many parents will simply vote with their feet and keep children at home anyway.\"\n\nThe Association of School and College Leaders has supported the Welsh Government's announcement.\n\n\"This is obviously a difficult decision but the public health advice is very clear that this needs to happen to tackle Covid infection rates in Wales and reduce transmission of the virus,\" said its director in Wales, Eithne Hughes.\n\n\"However, we urge the Welsh Government and local authorities to keep a close eye on the situation in primary schools and take appropriate action if needed.\"\n\nThe decision has also been welcomed by the National Education Union Cymru and Unison.\n\nBut the move has been criticised by the education leader at one north Wales council.\n\nHuw Hilditch-Roberts, of Denbighshire council, said the announcement was a \"blanket approach based on what is happening in the south\".\n\nThe rate of infection in the county is 101.4 per 100,000.\n\n\"Any decision to close schools should be made on the data, and the data in our area doesn't support the decision,\" he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.\n\n\"I feel this could result in a community spike because it will be harder to manage with more children in the community for longer.\"\n\nResponding to the announcement, Plaid Cymru's education spokeswoman Siân Gwenllian said on-site provision must be made for all younger learners, and children of key workers \"who can't make alternative arrangements\".\n\nShe said every secondary school pupil must also have suitable devices for accessing online lessons, adding: \"Accessing education through Xboxes and mobiles phones is not good enough.\"\n\nThe Welsh Conservatives said the decision was another instance of \"confusing messages\" from the Welsh Government.\n\n\"There is no doubt that the situation is grave in parts of Wales, but I would have preferred targeted interventions where needed, not another blanket ban,\" said their education spokeswoman in the Senedd, Suzy Davies.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "An update to England and Wales's NHS Covid-19 contact-tracing app is adding a way to apply for a £500 grant if it gives a self-isolation order.\n\nUntil now, those on low incomes were only offered the payment if they had been told to stay at home by human Test and Trace operators.\n\nThe move comes at a time when the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus is on the rise again.\n\nExperts have suggested following the app's guidance could help reverse that.\n\n\"People are not isolating because they can't afford to or because they don't realise that they have to - the whole system is not working,\" Paul Hunter, professor of health protection at the University of East Anglia, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.\n\n\"I think there is ample evidence that many people who should be isolating don't feel they can for whatever reason, and I think that has to be fixed if this is going to be effectively controlled until we've had adequate rollout of the vaccine.\"\n\nNew figures reveal that the NHS Covid-19 app has been downloaded 20,361,253 times as of 2 December, representing about 40% of eligible adults.\n\nThat only represents a 0.7% gain since the previous week, suggesting that installations have plateaued.\n\nBut by offering financial support, more people might be willing to use it.\n\nAnd that in turn would help the system become more effective at identifying those at high risk of being infected by someone they were recently in close proximity to.\n\nHowever, officials say the key aim is to encourage and make it easier for more people to self-isolate.\n\nEngland and Wales have both allowed people on low incomes, who cannot work from home, to apply for financial help if they have received a phone call, email, letter or text message telling them to self-isolate.\n\nPreviously, that did not cover people who had received the app notification to isolate.\n\nThis was in part because the app is designed to keep the identity of anyone receiving an alert private.\n\nSo, the challenge was to find a way to add the facility while still being able to prevent fraudulent claims.\n\nThe solution involves a new financial support button that only appears on the app's home screen if the user has been told to self-isolate.\n\nIf tapped, the user is taken out of the app to a webpage that asks them to select if they live in England or Wales.\n\nIn the case of England, they will then need to fill in an eligibility criteria check.\n\nIf accepted, they are next asked to supply their email address and phone number to get a security code to register with NHS Test and Trace.\n\nThe NHS Test and Trace team then provides an account number that the user supplies to their local authority to get the payment.\n\nIn doing so, the user must reveal their identity and accept a legal obligation to stay at home for the duration of the order.\n\nIf they then break the self-isolation rules they can be fined £1,000 or more.\n\nWales's NHS Test, Trace, Protect service has a parallel system, which first asks users which of the country's 22 local authorities they live in.\n\nEach council has its own claims process, which must then be completed.\n\nThe system has been set up in such a way that the process only works once, and the external webpage checks it has been accessed in an authorised way via use of a token.\n\nAll data stored within the app, including locations checked in via QR barcode scans, remains anonymous to the authorities.\n\nNorthern Ireland's StopCovid NI app recently deployed a similar solution, generating a Self-Isolation Certificate that can be used to apply for a grant from its Department for Communities.\n\nBut at this point, the NHS Scotland Protect Scotland app lacks a similar facility to let users apply for help from the Scottish Welfare Fund.\n\n\"Currently we are not able to provide direct eligibility from an app-only request to isolate as it maintains the anonymity of the user so we cannot confirm that the applicant is the person who has been contacted,\" said a spokeswoman for the Scottish government.\n\n\"We are looking at possible solutions if a user chooses to be identified when asked to isolate.\n\n\"In the meantime, local authorities are being flexible and looking further into the individual circumstances of these types of applications on a case by case basis to determine whether the request to isolate can be verified by other means and an award made.\"", "The number of patients in England waiting over a year for routine hospital care is now 100 times higher than before the pandemic, figures show.\n\nNearly 163,000 out of the 4.4 million on the waiting list at the end of October had waited over 12 months for operations such as hip replacements.\n\nThere were just 1,600 year-long waiters in February, NHS England data shows.\n\nThe Royal College of Surgeons warned patients were being left in pain unable to carry on with \"day-to-day life\".\n\n\"Yet again, these waiting time figures drive home the devastating impact Covid has had on wider NHS services,\" RCS president Prof Neil Mortensen said.\n\nIt was a \"national crisis\" that could take two to three years to tackle, he added.\n\nThe number of long waits is now at its highest level since 2008.\n\nAlthough there are signs elsewhere in the figures that things may be starting to improve. The number of operations being done is on the increase, while average waits are falling.\n\nThe data also shows accident-and-emergency attendances dropped during lockdown.\n\nThere were 1.49 million visits to A&E in November - a quarter down on normal levels, raising concerns people with serious illnesses may not be receiving the help they need.\n\nAt the peak of the pandemic, attendances dropped to 900,000 a month before climbing during the summer and reaching a peak of 1.72 million.\n\nThe numbers of urgent cancer checks and patients starting cancer treatment, however, have returned to their normal levels.\n\nAn NHS England spokesman said: \"Although Covid hospitalisations almost doubled during November, for every Covid inpatient the NHS treated, hospitals managed to treat five other inpatients for other health conditions.\n\n\"With cancer referrals and treatments now back above usual levels, our message remains that people should continue to come forward for care when they need it.\"\n\nThere is mounting concern, however, about the current trends for Covid.\n\nThe number of Covid patients in hospital in England - currently 12,600, accounting for one in seven of all beds available - has shown a slight increase in recent days after several weeks of falls.\n\nAnd the number of cases being diagnosed has also stopped falling.\n\nThey peaked at just above 25,000 on average in mid-November but have been around the 15,000 mark for the past two weeks.\n\nOn Thursday, 20,964 more people tested positive for coronavirus and 516 people died in the UK.", "Joe Anderson, who has been mayor since 2012, was arrested on Friday\n\nThe mayor of Liverpool has stepped aside following his arrest on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nJoe Anderson said he was \"stepping away from decision-making\" and would take unpaid leave while the investigation continued.\n\nHe said his arrest on Friday was a \"painful shock\" and he believed \"time would make it clear that I have no case to answer\".\n\nHe was released on conditional bail.\n\nMr Anderson and four others, including Derek Hatton, the former deputy leader of the council, were held as part of an investigation into the awarding of building contracts in the city.\n\nThe year-long police inquiry, Operation Aloft, focussed on a number of property developers.\n\nLiverpool City Council's chief executive Tony Reeves met Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick on Monday and the government later requested the authority reveal its planned commercial property deals.\n\nIn a statement, Mr Anderson said: \"I have always done what I believe is best for the city, and I am taking the following action with those best intentions in mind.\"\n\nHe said it was \"important\" that everyone in Liverpool knew leaders were \"focussed on what is most important to the people, their livelihoods and, with a pandemic still in force, their lives\".\n\nLiverpool City Council was asked to reveal all its proposed property deals to the government\n\nMr Anderson added: \"For this reason, I believe it is important that the city, and government, are reassured that our city is indeed operating in the correct way.\n\n\"I am, therefore, stepping away from decision-making within the council through a period of unpaid leave, until the police make clear their intentions with the investigation on the 31 December.\"\n\nDeputy mayor Wendy Simon will now become interim mayor.\n\nThe council's Liberal Democrat opposition leader Richard Kemp said Mr Anderson had made \"almost the right decision\" to step away from the city's affairs.\n\nHe added: \"His resignation would have been an even cleaner break\".\n\nMr Kemp also tweeted: \"Relationships with the government and the private sector would be very difficult whilst the city's political leader is under a cloud.\"\n\nHe said the situation had shown up the \"worst of the mayoral system\" and his party would submit a motion to end that system and return to a modern committee system \"in which there are checks and balances\".\n\nDerek Hatton, the former deputy leader of the council, was also arrested on Friday\n\nHe tweeted: \"Stand-in mayor Wendy Simon must act swiftly to restore trust in local democracy. Share power across a cabinet of all the parties to see us out of this health, financial and political crisis.\"\n\nMs Simon said her \"number one\" priority was \"steering this great city and its people through the pandemic and preparing for the recovery\".\n\nShe said while she was acting mayor she wanted to \"create a city that has equal opportunities for all\" and \"establish a platform of confidence\" to reassure investors.\n\nFather-of-four Mr Anderson was elected in 2012, having been a Labour councillor since 1998.\n\nHe said he was \"very grateful\" for messages of support and had \"faith\" that Liverpool's future was \"bright\" and the city's \"best days\" lay ahead.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson says there is a “strong possibility” the UK will not reach a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.\n\nBoris Johnson says there is a \"strong possibility\" the UK will fail to strike a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.\n\nSpeaking for the first time since a crunch meeting in Brussels, the PM said \"now is the time\" for firms and people to prepare for a no deal outcome.\n\nTalks continue between the two sides but Mr Johnson said they were \"not yet there at all\" in securing a deal.\n\nTime is running out to reach an agreement before the UK stops following EU trade rules on 31 December.\n\nWeeks of intensive talks between officials have failed to overcome obstacles in key areas, including competition rules and fishing rights.\n\nMr Johnson met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday, but the pair failed to make a breakthrough.\n\nMr Johnson pledged British negotiators, who earlier resumed talks with their EU counterparts in Brussels, would \"go the extra mile\" to reach a deal.\n\nBut he said the EU wanted to keep the UK \"locked\" into its legal system, or face punishments such as taxes on imports, which had \"made things much more difficult\".\n\nThe PM added that the EU's proposals would mean, despite leaving the bloc earlier this year, the UK would be forced to remain a \"twin\" of the 27-country organisation.\n\n\"At the moment, I have to tell you in all candour, the treaty is not there yet and that was the strong view of our cabinet,\" he said.\n\nMr Johnson said that \"looking at where we are,\" it was vital the UK prepares for the \"Australian-style option\" of not having a free trade deal with the EU.\n\n\"There's a strong possibility that we will have a solution much more like Australian relationship with the EU than a Canadian relationship with the EU,\" he said.\n\nMr Johnson has insisted the country will \"prosper\" on these terms, but former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm said the UK should be \"careful what you wish for\".\n\nMr Turnbull told BBC's Question Time there were some \"very large barriers to Australian trade with Europe\", adding: \"Australians would not regard our trade relationship with Europe as being a satisfactory one.\"\n\nWill there be no deal? Right now it is just too hard to say.\n\nBut is Boris Johnson only trying to send messages to his opposite numbers? The answer is no.\n\nOn Wednesday we saw this whole saga move closer to what both sides would consider a failure - an inability to agree on a trade deal that had been in reach and is still in their mutual interest.\n\nIt may yet come to pass that the prime minster or the EU leadership will have a change of heart.\n\nOf course the rhetoric does not tell us everything that's going on.\n\nBut the PM's warning tonight is far from just a message designed to be heard in EU capitals - whatever the merits of the decision he may take, Downing Street is preparing the ground for a choice to leave the status quo without firm arrangements in place.\n\nAustralia is negotiating a free trade deal with the EU but currently does not have one.\n\nIt largely does business with the EU on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, but has a few arrangements in place, such as co-operation on science and trade on wine.\n\nMoving to WTO rules on 31 December could result in tariffs being imposed leading to higher prices for the goods the UK buys and sells from and to the EU, among other changes.\n\nCanada finalised a deal with the EU in 2017.\n\nMr Johnson said he \"tried very hard to make progress\" at his dinner with Mrs von der Leyen, but the EU was making things \"unnecessarily difficult\".\n\nMeanwhile, the EU has set out the contingency measures it would take in the event of no trade agreement being reached with the UK.\n\nThe plans aim to ensure that UK and EU air and road connections still run after the post-Brexit transition period ends on 31 December.\n\nThey also allow the possibility of fishing access to each other's waters for up to a year, or until an agreement is reached.\n\nEU leaders are meeting in the Belgian capital for a two day-summit of their own, although Brexit will not be the main focus.\n\nA spokesman said they discussed the situation on Friday morning, but only for 10 minutes.\n\nArriving at the summit, Mrs von der Leyen said the conditions for a trade deal would have to be \"fair for our workers and our companies.\"\n\n\"This fine balance of fairness has not been achieved so far,\" she said, adding that a decision would be taken on Sunday.\n\nBBC Europe correspondent Kevin Connolly said the EU leaders had been preoccupied with disputes about their own budget, a maritime row with Turkey in the Mediterranean and coronavirus as they talked into the early hours of Friday morning.\n\n\"Brexit has not been the only priority here - perhaps not even the main one,\" he said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sir Keir Starmer tells Boris Johnson to “get the deal” and his party will then look at it.\n\nBefore the PM's remarks, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged Mr Johnson to \"get on and deliver\" a deal, adding the outstanding issues \"are capable of resolution\".\n\nAsked whether his party would back a deal in a vote in the Commons, he said: \"We will look at it - and we will act in the national interest.\"\n\n\"But on a straight choice between no deal and deal, then deal is clearly in the national interest,\" he added.", "Folklore is the best-reviewed album of Taylor Swift's career\n\nTaylor Swift is releasing her second surprise album of 2020 at midnight, she has revealed on Twitter.\n\nEvermore is described as a \"sister album\" to the delicate, escapist Folklore, which itself arrived out-of-the-blue in July.\n\nRecorded remotely in quarantine, that record topped the US and UK charts and earned Swift nominations for six Grammy awards, including album of the year.\n\nSwift said the new 17-track collection featured songs from the same sessions.\n\n\"To put it plainly, we just couldn't stop writing,\" she said.\n\n\"To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: To turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Taylor Swift This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n\"I've never done this before,\" she continued. \"In the past I've always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released.\n\n\"There was something different with Folklore. In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning. I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales.\n\n\"I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them.\"\n\nAs with Folklore, the new album will contain collaborations with indie artists Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner, as well as female rock trio Haim - who are one of Swift's competitors in the Grammys' album of the year category.\n\nThe star also said she has directed the video for the song Willow, which will also be released at midnight on Friday, 11 December.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Taylor Swift This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nEvermore caps off a busy year for the singer-songwriter, who filled the empty space in her tour diary with a string of musical projects, including a live album and a performance film based on the Folklore sessions, which was released on Disney Plus last month.\n\nThe 30-year-old has also begun re-recording all of the material from her first six albums after the master tapes were sold against her will last year.\n\nShe revealed the first fruits of those sessions - a faithful reproduction of her hit single Love Story - in a TV advert last week.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mr Musk was delighted with how much the test outing achieved\n\nUS entrepreneur Elon Musk has launched the latest prototype of his Starship vehicle from Texas.\n\nCodenamed SN8, the uncrewed rocket lifted away from the Boca Chica R&D facility on what had been billed as a brief flight to 12.5km (41,000ft).\n\nThe 50m-tall vehicle crashed on touchdown but Mr Musk was delighted with how much the test outing achieved.\n\nBefore the flight, the tech billionaire had dampened expectations, warning his fans that some mishap was likely.\n\nNonetheless, Musk has big hopes for the Starship when it is fully developed. He says it is the future for his SpaceX company.\n\nStarship will launch people and cargo into orbit, and the entrepreneur also envisages the vehicle travelling to the Moon and Mars.\n\nThe SpaceX CEO praised his team, adding that the demonstration had acquired \"all the data we needed\".\n\n\"Mars, here we come!!\" he tweeted.\n\nThe SN8 was given a nosecone and flaps for the flight\n\nThe Boca Chica facility has developed a line of ever-more complex prototypes. The philosophy has been to test each iteration until it fails. Sometimes explosively.\n\nSN8 was the first to attempt a high-altitude suborbital flight.\n\nThe plan had been to demonstrate some manoeuvres that mimicked a belly-facing re-entry to Earth's atmosphere, ending up with a flip back to the vertical just before touchdown.\n\nMost of this was achieved: a clean launch off the pad, a steady climb to altitude, followed by a horizontal descent. But it was when the Starship tried to flip back to the vertical that things started to go wrong.\n\nThe vehicle came into its landing pad with too much speed, and promptly exploded on impact.\n\n\"Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD,\" Mr Musk explained on Twitter.\n\n\"RUD\" stands for \"rapid unscheduled disassembly\". A crash, in other words.\n\nMr Musk will move swiftly on. He already has other prototypes at Boca Chica ready to take SN8's place.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Elon Musk This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nVisually, SN8 looked quite different from the test articles that had gone before it.\n\nThe new vehicle was given three of SpaceX's latest methane-burning Raptor engines, a nose cone and aerodynamic control surfaces - the large flaps at its top and base.\n\nJust three Raptors today, but eventually the Starship will fly with six\n\nThe Starship will eventually launch atop a booster called the Super Heavy.\n\nThis will feature perhaps 28 Raptors, producing more than 70 meganewtons (16 million lbs) of thrust. That's much more than even the mighty Apollo Saturn 5 rocket, which sent men to the Moon.\n\nBoth parts of the new SpaceX system - Starship and Super Heavy booster - will stand 118m tall on the launch pad.\n\nThe two elements are being designed to be fully reusable, making propulsive landings at the end of each mission.\n\nMr Musk is in a hurry to get to Mars\n\nIn June this year, Mr Musk stated that Starship was now his number-one priority, beyond the Falcon rockets he currently routinely flies for satellite companies, the US Air Force and the US space agency (Nasa).\n\nHe believes the Starship concept can transform the economics of spaceflight.\n\nThe specifications call for more than 100-tonnes to be lifted into low-Earth orbit.\n\nThis mass could include satellites, people and even hardware to build bases on the Moon and Mars.\n\nNasa has already asked Mr Musk to examine the possibility of landing a Starship on the lunar surface in the next few years.\n\nThe entrepreneur has in mind a higher objective and a faster timeline, however. Receiving an award last week from the Germany digital publishing group Axel Springer SE, he said he aimed to have people at Mars in the next four to six years.\n\nThe SpaceX CEO is famous for his aggressive and overly optimistic schedules. He does, however, have a habit of proving critics wrong by eventually attaining his goals.\n\nAn artist's impression of the entrepreneur's grand plans for the future\n\nJonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos", "YouTube said on Wednesday it would start removing content that falsely alleges that widespread voter fraud changed the result of the US election.\n\nThe update applies to all new content, including videos from President Donald Trump.\n\nThe company had previously labelled potentially misleading election videos, adding links to accurate information.\n\nYouTube said \"enough states have certified their election results to determine a president-elect\".\n\nDemocrats have criticised YouTube for not doing enough to take down fake news and conspiracy theories on the platform.\n\nMr Trump and senior Republicans have repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that the election was \"rigged\".\n\nTrump's lawyers have failed to provide evidence of this.\n\nThe announcement comes after a \"safe harbour\" deadline - which sets a date by which states need to certify the results of the presidential election.\n\n\"Yesterday was the safe harbour deadline for the US Presidential election and enough states have certified their election results to determine a President-elect,\" said YouTube.\n\nIt also said that the move was in line with its historical approach to US presidential elections.\n\nExamples it cited of videos it would now remove were uploads claiming that a presidential candidate won the election due to widespread software glitches or counting errors.\n\nLast month Reuters identified several YouTube channels making money from ads and memberships that were amplifying debunked accusations about voting fraud.\n\nYouTube said that it has taken down 8,000 channels since September, for uploading \"harmful and misleading elections-related videos for violating our existing policies\".\n\nThe latest move will anger President Trump and many Republicans, many of whom already believe Big Tech is biased against conservatives.\n\nThe focus now moves to Twitter and Facebook as to whether they will follow YouTube's lead.", "A coalition of news providers and tech companies has pledged to work together to tackle harmful misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.\n\nThe Trusted News Initiative's members include the BBC, Reuters, Facebook, Google/YouTube and Twitter.\n\nThe project was set up last year to combat fake news around elections.\n\nBBC director general Tim Davie said: \"Whether it's a threat to our health or a threat to our democracy, there is a human cost to disinformation.\"\n\nHe said 2020 had seen \"the rapid spread of harmful disinformation and a growing number of conspiracy theories online\".\n\nThe project would not prevent \"legitimate concerns\" about vaccines being aired, but would attempt to stop \"harmful disinformation myths\", Mr Davie added.\n\nFalse claims about the vaccines have been rife on social media. The World Health Organization has said the world is fighting an \"infodemic\" as well as a pandemic, with an overload of information - some of it false - making it difficult for people to make decisions about their health.\n\nThe Trusted News Initiative said its members would alert each other to \"disinformation which poses an immediate threat to life so content can be reviewed promptly by platforms, whilst publishers ensure they don't unwittingly republish dangerous falsehoods\".\n\nYouTube, Facebook and Twitter already say they will remove harmful and misleading claims, and the companies are part of another group with fact-checkers, governments and researchers to come up with a new way of tackling misinformation.\n\nMargaret Keenan, 90, became a celebrity when she became the first person in the world to receive an approved Covid-19 vaccine\n\nThe roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines began in the UK this week.\n\nThe TNI members have already been working together in an attempt to tackle harmful false news around coronavirus and about elections in the UK, US, Myanmar and Taiwan.\n\nThe organisation has also announced a year-long research project into the effectiveness of different initiatives to prevent the spread of health disinformation.\n\nThe other members of the TNI are the Associated Press, Agence France Presse, CBC/Radio-Canada, European Broadcasting Union, Financial Times, First Draft, The Hindu, Microsoft, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and The Washington Post.", "Tom Sleigh said he needed to plunge his burnt fingers into a cold sink\n\nA London councillor accidentally set his notepad on fire while taking part in an online committee meeting.\n\nTom Sleigh was on a video call with the City of London Resource Allocation Sub-Committee when he ignited his papers in front of some 30 colleagues.\n\nThe Labour Party member said he had been trying to light a candle \"but it accidentally ignited my notepaper\" and he had \"badly\" burnt his fingers.\n\nNevertheless, his mishap seemed to go unnoticed and the meeting carried on.\n\nThe committee meeting was being streamed live online when the fire occurred.\n\nSpeaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Sleigh said he was using a USB lighter to light a candle when things went awry.\n\nHe managed to put the flames out quickly but said he had badly burnt his fingers and he had \"plunged them into a cold sink\" afterwards.\n\nHowever, he also saw the funny side, later tweeting: \"Today didn't go as smoothly as I hoped.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Travellers returning to the UK from Spain's Canary Islands from Saturday morning must self-isolate for two weeks, the transport secretary has said.\n\nGrant Shapps said this was because of rising infection rates on the islands.\n\nThe Canary Islands are popular with winter holidaymakers, being one of the few parts of Europe warm enough for beach holidays.\n\nTravellers to mainland Spain already have to isolate.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe restrictions will be in place from 04:00 GMT on Saturday 12 December.\n\nIndustry body Airlines UK has previously said the islands were \"hugely important\" for winter travel and represent \"over 50% of bookings for some tour operators\".\n\nMeanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Botswana have been added to the UK's safe travel corridor list, meaning travellers will not need to self isolate if arriving from these places after 04:00 on Saturday.\n\nThe Department for Transport said there had been a \"sharp increase\" in the number of positive coronavirus tests in the Canary Islands, which had been added to the government's safe travel list in October.\n\nMore than 800 people are waiting to find out if their Tui holidays to Tenerife tomorrow morning will be cancelled, because the Foreign Office has not yet decided whether to also advise against travel to the islands.\n\nBetween 06:00 and 11:00 on Friday morning, six flights from various English airports are due to fly out to Tenerife with package holidaymakers.\n\nIf the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against travel to the Canary Islands, Tui will cancel all holidays immediately as this change invalidates travel insurance.\n\nIt also expects to cancel its entire Christmas holiday schedule.\n\nThat would be a blow for the operator which announced losses of €3bn (£2.74bn) on Thursday.\n\nAt the moment, Tui has received no guidance on how to proceed.\n\nFor UK airlines and tour operators, the winter gloom has just deepened.\n\nThe Canary Islands are a vital market for winter travel, a magnet for holidaymakers trying to escape the chill back home.\n\nWith the industry in the throes of an unprecedented crisis that trade is badly needed.\n\nSo the removal of the canaries from the list of safe travel corridors so soon before the Christmas holidays will come as a bitter blow.\n\nReturning passengers will now have to self-isolate.\n\nNew rules that come into force next week will allow them to reduce the isolation period if they take a negative test after five days - but the test will have to be done privately, and will come at a cost.\n\nThe quarantine change comes ahead of the government's new \"Test and Release\" programme next week, which will allow travellers arriving into England to reduce their quarantine by more than half if they pay for a Covid test after five days.\n\nThe rules will come into force from 15 December and the tests from private firms will cost between £65 and £120.\n\nEngland has also introduced a quarantine exemption for certain categories of travellers, including people making high-value business trips, sports stars and performing arts professionals.\n\nThe Canary Islands and the Maldives were added to the government's safe travel list in October.\n\nThe reversal of this decision will come as a blow to UK travel businesses, who have pinned hope on a revival in holidays and revenue for Christmas and winter holidays to the Canaries.\n\nA number of operators saw a large uplift in bookings to places such as Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria when the Canaries were reopened for safe travel.\n\nPaul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: \"It's utterly devastating news for the thousands of British travellers who booked to go to the Canaries for Christmas and New Year.\n\n\"It's also a body blow for travel firms who'd seen an uplift in bookings for the winter after the Canaries were added to the travel corridor list.\n\n\"It now means thousands of refunds and lost bookings for a sector that needed the Canaries to help them recover.\"\n\nAirline Easyjet chief executive Johan Lundgren said that the news would be \"disappointing for many customers booked to travel to the Canary Islands from the UK in the coming weeks.\"\n\nCustomers wishing to transfer their flights without a fee must do so within a week, he said.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What do Welsh retailers hope Christmas will bring for business?\n\nWelsh retailers are on \"a knife edge\" amid fears many will not survive a fall in Christmas trade, according to an industry body.\n\nStores such as Debenhams, Peacocks, Top Shop and Bonmarche are the latest to feel the financial strain of 2020.\n\nMany non-essential shops had to close for months during lockdowns aimed at reducing Covid-19 rates.\n\nA Welsh Government spokesman said it has provided the UK's most generous package of support for businesses.\n\nHe said it has been worth nearly £2bn since the start of the pandemic, including extensive business rate relief.\n\nTwenty per cent of all retail sales usually come in November and December, said the Welsh Retail Consortium.\n\nBusinesses will be looking for good Christmas sales to help boost them after the losses felt this year, its head, Sara Jones, told BBC Wales.\n\n\"The festive period is absolutely critical for retailers... particularly in the current climate,\" she said.\n\n\"Signs are fairly positive that we're seeing footfall coming back onto our high streets in our town centres, but to say that's going any way to make up for the disaster of a year [for] retailers, certainly will be a long way off the mark.\n\n\"We had some hope in the pre-festive period that we should get some of that trade back, get people back into our shops able to take advantage of the fantastic offers.\n\n\"But, as it stands, we are looking at a concerning picture going into the new year.\"\n\nDebenhams, with eight stores in Wales, is expected to close its doors in the new year\n\nNon-essential retailers had to close over two periods in 2020 and the prospect of another lockdown in 2021 has been raised as a possibility if cases rise after Christmas.\n\n\"Retailers are already at a knife edge. They're having to make some really difficult investment and decisions around what happens in the new year,\" Ms Jones warned.\n\nThe Arcadia group which includes Top Shop, Peacocks and Bonmarche have gone into administration, posing a challenge for Welsh high streets especially in smaller towns and cities.\n\nDebenhams, with eight stores in Wales, has gone into liquidation and is expected to close its doors in the new year.\n\nBut it's not just the large chains that have felt the impact of the pandemic.\n\nJayne Rees has been running her toy shop in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, since 2002 but has only been trading online for the last three years.\n\nShe believes that has saved the business.\n\n\"We would be really struggling if we didn't have our online business. We've seen a three-fold increase in online sales,\" she said.\n\n\"We weren't expecting it, but it has saved the day, and has kept us going.\n\n\"We have missed our customers. A toy shop is a sad place when you've got no children in it, but we've survived so far.\"\n\nCardiff-based online retailer, Escentual, expects the rise in online trade to continue through the festive period as some customers avoid the shops.\n\nChelsey Edmunds: \"Christmas should be really good for us this year\"\n\n\"The biggest surprise this year was online actually overtook bricks and mortar for Black Friday, so that gives a really strong indication that Christmas should be really good for us this year,\" said Chelsey Edmunds, communications manager.\n\n\"We've seen more of a trend around classics and particularly home fragrance. It's going to be a really interesting year.\"\n\nSales of home fragrance had increased by over 265% as people increasingly stayed at home during the pandemic, the company said.\n\nIt also believes a drop in sales of lipstick but an increase in sales of mascara was down to people increasingly wearing masks.\n\nBut with vaccines now being rolled out, will this accelerated trend of more online shopping continue longer-term?\n\n\"I actually see online sticking because customers really appreciate the sort of ease - click, collect, done,\" she said.\n\nLaura Tenison: \"Some people will thrive but many will actually go to the wall\"\n\nLaura Tenison, who owns the mother and baby chain Jojo Maman Bebe, said the pandemic has meant businesses have had to adapt their services but that turning retail demand into a mail order business overnight was difficult.\n\n\"Retail in 2021 is a scary place to be,\" she said.\n\n\"I think some people will thrive but many will actually go to the wall and we're going to see a lot of empty shops.\"\n\nThe Welsh Government spokesman said it had \"engaged significantly\" with business and retail.\n\nHe added: \"Our Ministerial Town Centre Action Group, which includes representation from the Welsh Retail Consortium and other business interests, supports the economic and social recovery of our town centres, and our Transforming Towns programme is providing more than £90m to help achieve this.\"", "Food and drink supplies in the UK face more disruption after the end of the Brexit transition period than they did from Covid, the industry has said.\n\n\"There are 14 [working] days to go,\" the Food and Drink Federation's (FDF) chief executive, Ian Wright, told MPs.\n\n\"How on earth can traders prepare in this environment?\" he added.\n\nNoting that rules for sending goods from Welsh ports to Northern Ireland had only just been published, he said: \"It's too late, baby.\"\n\nUncertainty over a deal and new border checks would make it difficult to guarantee the movement of food through ports without delays, he said.\n\nMr Wright was giving evidence to the Commons business committee on Brexit preparedness.\n\nHe said there was a big concern that the problems would \"erode the confidence of shoppers in the supply chain\", adding: \"It has done very well over Covid and shoppers will expect the same thing over Brexit, and they may not see it.\"\n\n\"We can't be absolutely certain about the movement of food from the EU to the UK from 1 January for two reasons,\" Mr Wright said.\n\n\"One is checks at the border. The other is tariffs, and the problem with tariffs is, we don't know what they will be.\"\n\nMr Wright added: \"With just 14 working days to go, we have no clue what's going to happen in terms of whether we do or don't face tariffs.\n\n\"And that isn't just a big imposition. It's a binary choice as to whether you do business in most cases. My members will not know whether they're exporting their products after 1 January, or whether they'll be able to afford to import them and charge the price that the tariff will dictate.\"\n\nMr Wright warned that while he expected Kent and Operation Brock to work \"reasonably well\", he was less confident about ports such as Holyhead, with goods heading to Northern Ireland.\n\nHe called the Northern Ireland protocol a \"complete shambles\", adding: \"The idea that you can prepare for something as big as the change that's going to happen is ridiculous, it's a massive toll.\"\n\nMr Wright added that 43% of FDF members who supply Northern Ireland have said they were not going to do so in the first three months of next year.\n\nHe told MPs that many companies had lost some of their customer base in the EU. \"The problem is, if there's any disruption to supply, you lose your customer pretty quickly and you do not get them back,\" he added.\n\nMiles Celic, chief executive of TheCityUK, told the committee that up to a quarter of the UK's financial activity was EU-related and that in the worst-case scenario, about 40% of that business could be lost.\n\nHowever, he added: \"We've not seen this vast shift in jobs and activity.\"\n\nInstead, Brexit had acted as a \"strategic accelerator\", with firms taking action such as restructuring EU-based offices as standalone operations. Even so, he warned: \"This all comes ultimately at a cost.\"\n\nLloyd Mulkerrins of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that if tariffs were levied on parts and finished vehicles, the UK's car industry was likely to see a sales decline of 20% to 30%.\n\nProduction would decline from as much as 1.6 million to just 800,000, he told the MPs.", "UK travellers could be barred from entering the EU from 1 January as travel rules associated with being part of the EU expire and pandemic restrictions block entry.\n\nUnrestricted travel to countries within the bloc will no longer automatically apply to UK residents from then.\n\nThis means entry into the EU would then be based on essential travel only.\n\nCurrently only countries with low coronavirus infection rates qualify for non-essential travel.\n\nThere are only eight countries with low Covid rates that are on the approved list for free travel and there are currently no plans to add the UK to that list.\n\nForeign Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC's Today programme that Covid restrictions would depend on what the EU and its member states decide.\n\nHe added that \"restrictions on travel, inevitably, is going to be something that's kept under review\".\n\nWith talks about a trade deal between the UK and the EU still continuing, there is a possibility this could change.\n\nAlternatively, individual member state countries could decide to override the EU rules and create a corridor with the UK.\n\nAt the moment, the UK is considered to have the same status by the EU as countries such as Norway and Switzerland, which are members of the European Free Trade Association, travel expert Simon Calder told the BBC.\n\nMr Calder said that many regions dependent on tourism, such as the Canary Islands, may well make an exemption for British tourists, \"but there's no obligation to at the moment\".\n\nPaul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy the PC Agency, agreed, saying: \"Cool heads need to prevail at this politically difficult time as travel and tourism is such a key contributor to economic growth in Europe.\n\n\"I'm sure that individual countries who need UK tourism will be sensible and override any EU-bloc decision which prevents entry. It is so important now for countries to work together globally to create a consistent approach.\"\n\nA spokesperson for airline EasyJet said: \"There is no EU blanket law which requires individual states to limit entry from those arriving from outside the EU and so just as they do today, we expect individual European countries to continue to apply their own rules.\"\n\nIt might come as a big surprise that UK travellers could be barred from entering the EU after 31 December. Remember - Europe is our top holiday destination with more of us going to Spain than any other country.\n\nBut with infection rates still rising, countries have to do what they can to protect themselves and now we're out of the EU, we have to follow new rules.\n\nTravel corridors, set up in the summer to help travellers bypass quarantine with countries with low infection rates, could come back.\n\nThey've operated between individual EU countries like Spain, France and Italy before, and could return so individual countries can welcome lucrative UK holidaymakers to spend their pounds in hotels, bars and restaurants.\n\nBut for now, yes, we could be barred. However, this scenario could also be negotiated away as part of the talks that go on until Sunday.\n\nA spokesman for ABTA, the travel industry trade body, said: \"The EU has sought to adopt a common approach to travel restrictions, but this is only a recommendation and individual countries are able to implement their own measures, including options like travel corridors and testing.\"\n\n\"It is too early to say what restrictions might be in place on 1 January given the uncertain nature of the pandemic, but we know that UK travellers are hugely important to a number of EU destinations, including some winter sun favourites like the Canary Islands and Madeira.\"\n\nA spokesman for Airlines UK said: \"We expect EU member states that gain enormously from the tourism and air travel from the UK, and the billions of pounds it generates, to continue to apply their own rules, in order to provide certainty to consumers and families looking to travel to the EU from January onwards.\"\n\nNorway, which is part of the EU travel arrangement, said British citizens who do not live in the country will be barred from entering the country from 1 January, the Financial Times newspaper reported.", "Jessica Watkins is a member of the most recent astronaut class, selected for training in 2017\n\nNasa has announced 18 astronauts who will travel to the Moon under the agency's Artemis programme.\n\nThey include individuals who have already travelled to the International Space Station, as well as new recruits who have never flown in space.\n\nThe group includes the next man and first woman who will walk on the lunar surface in 2024.\n\nThe cadre of nine women and nine men were announced by US Vice-President Mike Pence at an event in Florida.\n\nHe said: \"My fellow Americans, I give you the heroes of the future who will carry us back to the Moon and beyond.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"The Moon will help teach us about deep space survival\"\n\nStephanie Wilson, who has flown into space three times aboard the space shuttle, Christina Koch, who holds the record for the longest continuous time in space for a woman, and Victor Glover, who recently launched to the ISS aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon, are among those who will fly to the Moon in coming years.\n\nJonny Kim is a doctor and a former Navy Seal. Now he'll be flying to the Moon as well\n\nSpeaking at the eighth National Space Council meeting at Kennedy Space Center, Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said: \"This is the first cadre of our Artemis astronauts. I want to be clear, there's going to be more.\"\n\nThe US space agency plans to send a man and woman to the Moon's south pole in 2024 for the first crewed landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Engineers test one of the RS-25 engines used by the SLS\n\nBut this will be followed by further flights by astronauts travelling in a spacecraft called Orion, which will be launched by a huge rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS).\n\nBridenstine has said that Nasa wants to establish a \"sustainable\" programme of lunar exploration, including the construction of a lunar base.\n\nAstronaut Kate Rubins has been to the space station twice, and is there now\n\nThe astronauts announced on Wednesday are:\n\nNine of the astronauts have already flown in space; eight are members of the most recent astronaut class - selected in 2017. One, Nicole Aunapu Mann, was selected in 2013, but has not yet flown on a mission.", "Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf during a debate on the Hate Crime and Public Order Bill\n\nThe Scottish government has been urged to make further changes to its controversial Hate Crime Bill.\n\nPlans to amend the legislation had already been announced.\n\nIt followed an outcry over proposals to create a new offence of \"stirring-up hatred\", which critics fear will stifle freedom of expression.\n\nAfter scrutinising the Scottish government's plans, MSPs on Holyrood's Justice Committee say they believe additional changes are needed.\n\nThe committee has now recommended the Scottish Parliament back the general principles of the bill \"subject to those amendments being made\".\n\nConvener Adam Tomkins said the committee is unanimous in calling for more changes.\n\nThe Scottish government introduced the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill after a review of current legislation.\n\nThe government asked a senior judge, Lord Bracadale, to examine all of the country's existing hate crime legislation to make sure it was still fit for purpose in the 21st Century.\n\nThe bill was introduced in response to his recommendations.\n\nDespite Mr Yousaf pledging to make amendments to the bill, MSPs on the Justice Committee want provisions concerning the safeguarding of free speech to be \"deepened and strengthened\".\n\nIn a new report on the bill, the committee demand clarification of the \"reasonableness\" defence available to those who are charged with \"stirring-up\" offences.\n\nMSPs also argued that for behaviour to be considered \"abusive\" under the terms of legislation, prosecutors must be required to show a \"reasonable person\" would consider this to be the case - claiming this would set a higher bar for prosecutions.\n\nWhile the committee said \"hate crime offences are no more acceptable if they are committed inside a person's home than in public places\", MSPs added care should be taken to ensure people are not prosecuted for expressing their views in a private space if there is \"no public element\".\n\nThe report is clear the bill is \"not intended to prohibit speech which others may find offensive\" - stressing the \"right to freedom of speech includes the right to offend, shock or disturb\".\n\nMSPs said education - and not just legislation - is ultimately what is needed to tackle hate crime.\n\nThe report states: \"Hate crime legislation will not, of itself, rid Scotland of prejudice.\n\n\"In pursuing that goal, education is likely to be far more important than necessarily creating new criminal offences.\n\n\"As such, the committee seeks further information from the Scottish government on what further steps it proposes to take and what additional resources it intends to provide, including in relation to education, to tackle prejudice in Scottish society.\"\n\nAdam Tomkins is convenor of the justice committee\n\nMr Tomkins said \"balancing freedom of expression and legislating to ensure hateful actions can be prosecuted is a difficult task\".\n\nHe added: \"We believe that, if amended in line with our unanimous recommendations, this bill should be fit to protect the communities it affords extra protections to without encroaching on the ability of citizens to have robust debates, hold views others find unpalatable and express themselves freely.\"\n\nMr Tomkins said it is \"testament to the open-mindedness of all members\" that the committee had \"found such consensus on what has undoubtedly been a contentious piece of legislation\".\n\nMr Yousaf, the justice secretary, said the Scottish government would give the recommendations \"full consideration\" ahead of Holyrood debating the bill on Tuesday.\n\nHe said he hopes MSPs \"can listen to the voices of those affected by hate crime and come together to support the general principles of this legislation\".\n\nThe minister added: \"The parliamentary debate will provide the opportunity for MSPs to find consensus on how we collectively and effectively tackle hate crime, working together to ensure Scotland is an inclusive and forward-thinking society that safeguards all of its people and communities.\"\n• None Why is the Hate Crime Bill so controversial?", "There were 75 Covid patients in critical care - slightly more than the week before - but units are working over normal capacity\n\nThe number of Covid patients in hospital in Wales is the highest yet recorded.\n\nThere were 1,936 Covid-19 patients in hospital beds on Wednesday, this was 153 more patients than the week before - according to the latest NHS Wales figures.\n\nIt has risen in all areas, with Aneurin Bevan seeing the biggest increase and it has the most patients too - 592.\n\nThey include a record number - 585 - who are recovering from the virus.\n\nRecovering patients were not counted until the end of May but the numbers in hospital are now at the highest levels since then.\n\nCovid-19 patients make up about 24% of all patients in hospital. This compares with about 18% at the end of May and the proportion has been slowly increasing.\n\nBut hospital admissions are holding steady - at an average of 71 a day over the past week. NHS Wales said Covid admissions had \"generally decreased\" since the start of November although there was volatility and fluctuations.\n\nThere were 75 patients in critical care - slightly more than the week before.\n\nWith new records being set each day, it's easy to understand why the NHS, especially in parts of Wales, is struggling.\n\nFirstly, they're having to deal with the increasing burden of Covid - with rates of new infections surging across the country.\n\nSecondly, many of their own colleagues are either off work because they have Covid or having to isolate because of infections in their households - with one in 10 NHS staff here now estimated to be off work. The impact of stress and exhaustion is also having an effect.\n\nAnd thirdly, the NHS having approaching the time of year when usual winter pressures are at their most severe.\n\nIn a typical winter, hospitals struggle when people medically fit enough to leave can't because of delays in arranging social care.\n\nIt means hospitals quickly fill up, because patients are flowing in more quickly than beds are becoming available.\n\nThis year there's an added pressure of course - with hundreds (record numbers) of hospital beds now filled with patients who are taking a long time - several weeks or more - to recover from the virus.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ch Insp Mark Runacres of Avon and Somerset Police: \"Sadly... there have been four fatalities\"\n\nFour people have died and another has been injured in a large explosion at a waste water treatment works.\n\nFirefighters were called to Wessex Water's premises in Avonmouth, Bristol, at about 11:20 GMT.\n\nThree of the people who died worked for the firm, and the other was a contractor. The injured person's condition is not life-threatening.\n\nThe blast happened in a silo containing treated biosolids and was not terror related, police said.\n\nA witness reported hearing a \"very loud explosion\" that \"shook buildings\", and another said they saw about 10 ambulances driving to the scene.\n\nPolice declared a major incident and are investigating the circumstances of the blast.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nCh Insp Mark Runacres, from Avon and Somerset Police, said the explosion happened in a chemical tank at a water recycling centre.\n\n\"The fire service led the rescue operation but sadly, despite the best efforts of all those involved, there were four fatalities.\n\n\"This is a tragic incident and our thoughts and sympathies go out to them.\"\n\nThe families of those who died have been contacted.\n\nPolice and paramedics were sent to the scene\n\nLuke Gazzard from Avon Fire and Rescue Service said the four people died at the scene and there was no report of a fire.\n\nHe said emergency services had dealt with \"a very, very challenging incident\".\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet he was \"deeply saddened\" to learn of the loss of life in the explosion.\n\n\"Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. Thank you to the emergency services who attended the scene,\" he said.\n\nColin Skellett, chief executive of Wessex Water, said the company's \"thoughts are with the families, friends and colleagues of those involved\".\n\nHe said they were \"absolutely devastated that the tragic incident at our site earlier today has resulted in four fatalities\".\n\nThe company is working with the Health and Safety Executive as part of the investigation.\n\nThe silo holds treated biosolids before it is recycled as an organic soil conditioner, Ch Insp Runacres said.\n\nHe said a \"thorough investigation involving a number of agencies\" would be carried out.\n\n\"I can reassure people living in the nearby area that there is not believed to be any ongoing public safety concerns.\"\n\nBiosolids are \"treated sludge\", a by-product of the sewage treatment process.\n\nAccording to Wessex Water, the sludge is treated in anaerobic digesters, oxygen-free tanks, to produce agricultural fertiliser and renewable energy.\n\nPeople have been urged to avoid the area.\n\nAn emergency services helicopter landed near the site\n\nJawad Burhan, who took a photo appearing to show a tank that had exploded, said there was a \"helicopter looking for missing people\".\n\n\"I heard the sound, I'm working beside the building in another warehouse.\n\n\"After 10 minutes I saw the helicopter coming and the police.\"\n\nKieran Jenkins, who works nearby, said he was inside a warehouse when he heard a \"big bang\".\n\n\"The whole warehouse was shaking and we literally stood there in shock,\" he said.\n\n\"We thought everything was going to fall and we came out and all we could see was people running - it was a bit of a shock, really.\"\n\nBristol Waste, which runs the nearby Avonmouth recycling centre, tweeted it had closed the site temporarily.\n\nLorry driver Ronan Doyle said he was parked off Kings Weston Lane about to enter the recycling plant when he heard the explosion.\n\n\"There was a quieter 'whoosh' first, followed by a much louder and more intense noise,\" he said.\n\n\"It sounded like someone had driven into the lorry - the noise was so loud it didn't sound like anything I've ever heard before and it was followed by a loud bang.\n\n\"I continued into the recycling centre and we have just locked ourselves in purely because our way out is blocked.\"\n\nSean Nolan, who witnessed the aftermath of the explosion, said he initially thought the noise was from a crash.\n\n\"I heard what I thought may have been two trucks colliding by the way it shook the ground... it was big.\n\n\"It was quite short-lived, I'd say about two or three seconds. Sort of a boom and echo and then it just went quiet.\n\n\"That was it. There was no smoke, there was no after-effects of it.\"\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer gave his condolences on Twitter, writing: \"My thoughts are with all those who tragically lost their lives today in Avonmouth. My heart goes out to their friends and family.\"\n\nDarren Jones, MP for Bristol North West, said: \"My family and I are keeping those affected in our thoughts and prayers, following the tragic consequences of the explosion in Avonmouth.\"\n\nHe was \"pleased that the situation has been contained and that there is no further risk to local people\".\n\nBristol Mayor Marvin Rees said: \"This has already been such a challenging year, and this news of further loss of life is another terrible blow.\n\n\"As a city we will mourn for them.\"\n\nAre you in the area? Did you witness what happened? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Prince Philip Hospital has 205 beds and treats both inpatients and outpatients\n\nFrontline NHS staff at a hospital have concerns they will miss out on the first round of the Covid vaccine due to an internal booking system.\n\nSome nurses in the Hywel Dda health board area said they were unable to book as they were not sent the link.\n\nThe new coronavirus vaccine was authorised for use just this week, with NHS healthcare workers first in line.\n\nThe health board called on staff to \"bear with us\" as it worked to confirm more slots.\n\nNo bookings have been confirmed after December 11, with a spokesperson telling staff: \"You may need to wait a couple of weeks before you are able to book an appointment.\n\n\"There will be enough vaccine for all patient-facing staff. We hope to be able to open up to 4,500 vaccine appointments before Christmas.\"\n\nSome frontline health workers at hospitals in the south west Wales area said they were not made aware of the link to make a booking for the vaccine - which meant all slots were immediately taken within five hours of going live, and many nurses in particular were left unable to get an appointment.\n\nOne nurse, who works on a Covid ward at the Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli, said she was one of those who missed out on getting an appointment for the new vaccine - and so did her colleagues.\n\n\"I feel a bit let down,\" said the nurse who did not want to be identified.\n\n\"We were asked to give our availability, we were sent a link to book and by the time we got the link there were no appointments left.\n\nA vaccination centre has been set up at Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen\n\n\"There are around 57-60 staff on the Covid ward. As far as I know none of them were able to get an appointment.\n\n\"What we've been told is that by time management gave us the link it had been circulating around the health board and others, not frontline workers, were able to get an appointment.\n\n\"Whether Prince Phillip were a bit slow off the mark, perhaps others sent to their friends in other departments and all the slots were gone.\n\n\"We've had lots and lots of members of staff off with Covid, some quite unwell, yet we weren't given priority.\"\n\nShe added that she does not know when the vaccine will be available to her, but was told it could be the following week.\n\nPeople will be vaccinated in Wales from Tuesday\n\nHywel Dda University Health Board said the invitation for a vaccination was sent to a strict clinical distribution list on Wednesday at 17:00 GMT, but that all appointments had been taken by 22:00 GMT.\n\nA limited supply of the new vaccine means the Hywel Dda health board has received 975 doses in this first round. It is currently unclear when the next batches will be available.\n\nThe vaccination programme is due to begin on Tuesday within the Hywel Dda health board area, with two vaccination centres being set up - one at Glangwili Hospital and the other in Cardigan.\n\nPlaid Cymru leader Adam Price called the reports \"very concerning\" and said it endangered both public health and trust.\n\n\"It would appear that poor communication on the part of the health board has prevented some frontline staff from securing their slot to be vaccinated, risking putting themselves and patients in danger,\" he added.\n\n\"We need an urgent statement from the health board and an immediate intervention from the Welsh Government to make it clear that frontline health and care staff, patients and residents must be first priority.\"", "There needs to be “a sustained fall” in the number of coronavirus cases to reverse the alcohol ban being imposed in Wales from this evening, the first minister has said.\n\nPubs and restaurants throughout Wales will be barred from serving alcohol on their premises from 18:00 on Friday.\n\nThe measures are due to be reviewed on 17 December.\n\nBut Mark Drakeford warned of conditions needed for the ban to be lifted.\n\n“We would need to see figures coming down across Wales, we need to see a sustained fall in those numbers and be clear that the trajectory is heading down as well,\" he said.\n\n“And we would need to see Wales in terms of the number of people falling ill with coronavirus coming more into line with the levels that are used to determine level two and tier two in England and Scotland.\n\n“Because if that were to be the case, then the flow of people into our hospital system and the pressures that are currently being created there would be being mitigated.\n\n“But those are the sorts of things that we would need to see before we would be in a position to do anything to lessen the restrictions that we have to have in place in Wales, in order to bring the virus under control.”\n\nPubs and bars in Wales have to close by 18:00 daily and will not be able to sell alcohol Image caption: Pubs and bars in Wales have to close by 18:00 daily and will not be able to sell alcohol", "A 16-year-old boy was among four workers killed in an explosion at a waste water treatment works.\n\nTeenager Luke Wheaton, Michael James, 64, Brian Vickery, 63, and Raymond White, 57, died in the blast in Avonmouth, Bristol. A fifth person injured is recovering at home.\n\nIt happened at 11:20 GMT on Thursday in a silo that treated biosolids.\n\nWessex Water said it was working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate the cause of the blast.\n\nIt is understood Mr James was a contractor working at the site, while Mr Vickery and Mr White were employees of Wessex Water and Luke was an apprentice at the firm.\n\nLuke was a former pupil at Bradley Stoke Community School in Bristol and had recently started an apprenticeship at the plant.\n\nIn a post on Facebook, the school said it was \"shocked and saddened\" to hear of the \"tragic passing of our former student Luke Wheaton\".\n\n\"Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time,\" it added.\n\nNorth Bristol Rugby Football Club also paid tribute to the teenager on Twitter, saying his death was \"absolutely heartbreaking\".\n\n\"Such terribly sad news that one of our Colts, Luke Wheaton was tragically lost in the accident in Avonmouth yesterday morning,\" it said.\n\n\"All of our love and thoughts to Luke's family, team mates, coaches and everyone else that knew him.\"\n\nFlowers have been laid at the scene\n\nA witness reported hearing a \"very loud explosion\" that \"shook buildings\" and another said they saw about 10 ambulances driving to the scene.\n\nAvon and Somerset Police declared a major incident in the immediate aftermath.\n\nSupt Simon Brickwood said he wanted to \"extend my heartfelt sympathies to the families of those involved\".\n\n\"We appreciate the impact this incident has had on the local community and we thank those affected for their patience while our investigative work is carried out,\" he said.\n\n\"This is likely to be ongoing for some time and we will be keeping the victims' families informed throughout.\"\n\nFormal identification of the victims is yet to take place and post-mortem examinations are under way, police said.\n\nInvestigators are due to speak to the fifth victim when it is appropriate to do so.\n\nThe blast happened in a silo that treated biosolids\n\nOn Thursday, Avon Fire and Rescue Service described the scene of the incident as \"very challenging\".\n\nSearch and rescue dogs were drafted in to locate casualties following the blast.\n\nColin Skellett, chief executive of Wessex Water, said the firm was \"absolutely devastated\" by what had happened.\n\n\"Our hearts go out to the family, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives during the tragic event on Thursday,\" he said.\n\n\"I know from the thoughts and comments I have received from so many, that this has affected the whole Wessex Water family.\n\n\"We are determined to find out what happened and why and we will work with the relevant authorities to do just that.\"\n\nA police spokesman confirmed the blast, in a chemical tank, was not terror-related.\n\nBiosolids are \"treated sludge\", a by-product of the sewage treatment process.\n\nAccording to Wessex Water, the sludge is treated in anaerobic digesters, oxygen-free tanks, to produce agricultural fertiliser and renewable energy.\n\nPolice said a cordon at the site was likely to remain in place for several days while the blast is investigated by a team of chemical and mechanical experts, who are working with the HSE.\n\nGiles Hyder, HSE's head of operations in the South West, said: \"We send our deepest condolences to the families of those who tragically died. It is important a joint investigation is carried out.\n\n\"We will provide specialist support to what is likely to be a complex investigation under the command of the police.\"", "The percentage of people testing positive for the coronavirus has fallen in all English regions except the North East, according to the Office for National Statistics.\n\nIn the week to 28 November, one in 105 people in England had the virus compared with one in 85 a week before.\n\nMeanwhile, the R number for the UK has fallen to between 0.8 and 1 - the second week running it's been below 1.\n\nThis measures virus reproduction rate, suggesting the epidemic is shrinking.\n\nThe UK government says it's \"absolutely confident\" it will have 800,000 doses of a Covid vaccine to begin vaccination next week. The first delivery arrived in the UK on Thursday.\n\nThe ONS figures are based on swab tests of thousands of people in UK households whether they have symptoms or not. It is one source of data used by the government's scientific advisers to estimate the R number of the virus and how fast it is spreading.\n\nThey estimate the R number is currently below 1, which means the number of people an average infected person passes the virus onto is less than one.\n\nIt's also the first time since September that advisers believe there's a good chance infections are falling in every region in England.\n\nEngland's second lockdown, which lasted for nearly a month, ended on Wednesday.\n\n\"It is clear that on a national level, the lockdown has had the predicted effect,\" says Prof James Naismith from the University of Oxford.\n\nHe added: \"We are currently on the downward slope of the second wave. The lower we get the daily number of infections, the less risk the Christmas relaxation poses.\"\n\nElsewhere in the UK, where different levels of restrictions have been in place in over the past month, the picture is more mixed.\n\n\"We are seeing early signs of decreasing levels in Scotland whilst infections in Northern Ireland have been continuing to decline since October,\" said Katherine Kent, who analysed data from the ONS infection survey.\n\nBut she added: \"The level of infections appears to have stopped decreasing in Wales recently.\"\n\nFurther restrictions are being introduced there on Friday after a rise in cases across the country.\n\nAt the end of November, the ONS estimates the number of people infected was equivalent to:\n\nIn England, the ONS says infection levels are falling in all age groups but remain highest in children of secondary school age.\n\nThe percentage of people testing positive is highest in the North East, North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber regions.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Lidl will join other supermarkets to repay more than £100m of business rates relief it received during the pandemic.\n\nThe firm's UK boss said the company felt it was \"the right thing to do\".\n\nIt follows similar moves by the UK biggest grocers including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, and will see more than £1.9bn handed back to taxpayers.\n\nSome retailers, whose sales have boomed during the crisis, have been criticised for taking government help while paying dividends to shareholders.\n\nChristian Härtnagel, chief executive of Lidl GB, said: \"The business rates relief that was provided to us, and the rest of the supermarket sector, came with a lot of responsibility that we took extremely seriously.\n\n\"We've been considering this for some time, and we are now in a position to confirm that we will be refunding this money as we believe it is the right thing to do.\"\n\nIn March, all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England were given a business rates holiday for 12 months to help them get through the crisis.\n\nHowever, shops deemed \"essential\" by the government, such as supermarkets, were allowed to stay open during lockdown.\n\nIn a statement, Lidl said that it had incurred Covid-related costs from recruiting 2,500 temporary staff, increasing stock levels and introduce protective, plastic screens at checkouts.\n\nBut, it has taken the decision to repay the rates relief due to strong customer footfall.\n\nOthers, including Morrisons, Aldi, Asda, Pets at Home and B&M, have also pledged to repay the rates relief, citing strong sales during Covid.\n\nSeveral retailers have been criticised for accepting the payments from government and then handing out dividends to shareholders.\n\nTesco came under fire in April for handing investors £900m in dividends despite receiving the tax break from the government.\n\nLabour MP Rushanara Ali, who is also a member of the Treasury Select Committee, described the tax break as \"completely disproportionate\" and \"an absolute scandal\".\n\nTesco chairman John Allan previously said he would 'defend to the death' a decision to pay dividends\n\nIn October, Tesco's chairman John Allan said he would \"defend to the death\" the board's decision to pay a dividend and that he didn't \"remotely feel any sort of guilt over it\".\n\nThis week Tesco said it would repay £585m in business rates relief. It was swiftly followed by the UK's other big grocers.\n\nMeanwhile, former retail chief Bill Grimsey has written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, asking that the returned funds should be used to support for smaller businesses and struggling High Streets.\n\nHe writes: \"What the rate relief episode has proved beyond doubt is that a good proportion of Britain's biggest businesses do not need generous tax breaks.\n\n\"The public are not happy to see them paying big dividends to shareholders with taxpayers' money,\" he said.\n\nA spokesperson for HM Treasury said: \"We've been clear throughout the pandemic that businesses should use our support appropriately, and we welcome any decision to repay support where it is no longer needed.\"\n\nOn Friday, Pets at Home also announced that it would repay in full the £28.9m in rates relief it had received.\n\nPeter Pritchard, chief executive of Pets at Home, said that the cash had helped the firm take the decision to keep its stores, online operations and veterinary practices open during the pandemic.\n\nThe firm is classed as an essential retailer and its shops were allowed to stay open during lockdown restrictions.\n\nPets at Home announced it will hand back £28.9m in business rates relief\n\nPets at Home's sales between April and October rose by 5.1% to £574.4m while pre-tax profit grew by more than 14% to £38.9m.\n\nThe strong trading prompted the retailer to pay a 2.5p dividend, worth £12.4m, despite having received business rates relief.\n\nOn Friday, Mr Pritchard said Pets at Home \"is a robust business, both operationally and financially\" and its decision to return the business rates relief \"demonstrates our clear commitment to acting responsibly and treating all of our stakeholders fairly\".\n\nHe added that the repayment meant that the £35m in Covid-related costs, such as implementing new safety measures in its grooming salons, it has been forced to pay would no longer be off-set by the relief it had received.\n\nThe company will also be shutting its stores on Boxing Day, costing an estimated £3m in sales, to give its staff \"a rest\".", "Odeon owner AMC is in \"urgent talks\" with Warner Bros after the film maker said all releases would be available to stream instantly in the US.\n\nThe move will enable film fans to watch the forthcoming sci-fi epic Dune and the Matrix sequel on HBO Max at the same time as their cinema release.\n\nIt has escalated tensions between Hollywood and US movie theatres.\n\nBoth studios and chains are desperate to rebuild revenues after virus control measures closed cinemas.\n\nThe new releases will be available on the service, which is not yet available in the UK, for one month after release. HBO Max is set to launch in Europe in the second half of next year, according to its global boss Andy Forssell.\n\nThe releases are also expected to include Godzilla vs Kong, Mortal Kombat and The Suicide Squad.\n\nEarlier this year, assertive action by AMC successfully curbed a similar screening plan by rival Hollywood studio, Universal.\n\nCinemas are desperate for content to lure viewers back with new entertainment that can initially only be seen on their screens.\n\nTypically, new releases are shown exclusively at cinemas for months.\n\nAMC had agreed to allow one film, Wonder Woman 1984, to be shown simultaneously on HBO Max, the streaming service owned by its ultimate parent company AT&T.\n\nAMC boss Adam Aron, said: \"These coronavirus-impacted times are uncharted waters for all of us, which is why AMC signed on to an HBO Max exception to customary practices for one film only, Wonder Woman 1984, being released by Warner Brothers at Christmas when the pandemic appears that it will be at its height.\"\n\nKeanu Reeves will reprise his role as Neo in The Matrix 4\n\nIt accused Warner Bros of subsidising its HBO Max by its move: \"We will do all in our power to ensure that Warner does not do so at our expense. We will aggressively pursue economic terms that preserve our business.\n\n\"We have already commenced an immediate and urgent dialogue with the leadership of Warner on this subject.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. As ever more people sign up to streaming services, are fewer going to the movies?\n\nAnn Sarnoff, chair and chief executive of WarnerMedia Studios, said the pandemic called for \"creative solutions\".\n\n\"No one wants films back on the big screen more than we do,\" she said.\n\n\"We know new content is the lifeblood of theatrical exhibition, but we have to balance this with the reality that most theatres in the US will likely operate at reduced capacity throughout 2021.\"\n\nAMC banned all Universal films after the studio said it would release new movies at home and on the big screen on the same day.\n\nThe two firms eventually agreed that Universal films can go to digital services after just 17 days of viewing in cinemas.\n\nExplaining Warner Bros' decision, Ms Sarnoff said the \"unique one-year plan\" would give \"moviegoers who may not have access to theatres, or aren't quite ready to go back to the movies, the chance to see our amazing 2021 films\".\n\n\"We see it as a win-win for film lovers and exhibitors, and we're extremely grateful to our filmmaking partners for working with us on this innovative response to these circumstances.\"", "The large detached brick property was built in the 1920s\n\nSir Ian McKellen has backed a campaign to buy the house where author JRR Tolkien once lived.\n\nThe actor, who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movie franchise, hopes a \"fellowship\" of fans will come together to raise £4.5m.\n\nThe crowdfunding campaign, called Project Northmoor, was set up by author Julia Golding to preserve the house for future generations.\n\nIt has also been backed by actor Martin Freeman who starred in The Hobbit.\n\nThey are joined by Annie Lennox, who wrote and performed an Oscar winning song for The Return of the King, Middle Earth illustrator John Howe, as well as actors John Rhys-Davies and Sir Derek Jacobi.\n\nTolkien is believed to have written The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings at the house, which was home to the writer and his family from 1930 until 1947.\n\nThe six-bedroom home in Northmoor Road, Oxford, is largely unchanged since it was built in 1924.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Ian McKellen This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nMcKellen said: \"We cannot achieve this without the support of the worldwide community of Tolkien fans, our fellowship of funders.\"\n\nMs Golding said purchasing the house was a once-in-a-generation opportunity.\n\nShe added: \"To raise six million dollars in three months is a huge challenge.\n\n\"However, we need only to look at Frodo and Sam's journey from Rivendell to Mount Doom, which took that same amount of time - and we are inspired that we can do this too.\"\n\nShe said the plan was to \"welcome Tolkien enthusiasts from the world\" there.\n\nSir Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman have backed the crowdfunding campaign\n\nJRR Tolkien remains one of the most celebrated fantasy authors of all time\n\nMr Rhys-Davies said: \"Unbelievably, considering his importance, there is no centre devoted to Tolkien anywhere in the world.\"\n\nHe said it would be a \"literary hub that will inspire new generations of writers, artists and filmmakers\".\n\nThe six-bedroom home in Northmoor Road, Oxford, is largely unchanged and has a blue plaque\n\nIt was bought by a private buyer in 2004 for more than £1.5m and was given Grade II-listed status shortly afterwards.\n\nTolkien died in 1973, but the popularity of his works remains undimmed, with Amazon Studios recently announcing a Lord of the Rings television series.\n\nThe show is widely tipped to be the most expensive ever made, at a cost of at least $1bn (£801m).\n\nFollow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.\n• None Middle-earth in colour- How Tolkien drew his fantasy universe\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The Bank of England should be trying to track down £50bn of \"missing\" UK currency, a committee of MPs has said.\n\nThe figure amounts to about three-quarters of all UK banknotes in existence.\n\nThe cash is not used in transactions or held as savings, but may be overseas, tucked away in homes unreported or being used in the \"shadow economy\".\n\nThe issue was first identified by the National Audit Office (NAO), which highlighted it in September.\n\nNow the Public Accounts Committee has said the Bank should \"get a better handle\" on the currency.\n\nThe committee said there were \"implications for public policy and the public purse\" if a material proportion of that large volume of banknotes was being used for illegal purposes.\n\nHowever, the UK is not the only country to face this problem - and other major global currencies could well be more seriously affected.\n\nA Bank of England spokesperson said: \"It is the responsibility of the Bank of England to meet public demand for banknotes. The Bank has always met that demand and will continue to do so.\n\n\"Members of the public do not have to explain to the Bank why they wish to hold banknotes. This means that banknotes are not missing.\"\n\nHowever, the figure of £50bn is not disputed, even if the terminology is.\n\nThe money \"is stashed somewhere, but the Bank of England doesn't know where, who by or what for - and doesn't seem very curious\", said Meg Hillier, who chairs the committee.\n\n\"It needs to be more concerned about where the missing £50bn is. Depending where it is and what it's being used for, that amount of money could have material implications for public policy and the public purse.\n\n\"The Bank needs to get a better handle on the national currency it controls.\"\n\nDemand for banknotes has steadily gone up, although their use is in decline, but the Bank of England does not \"appear to have a convincing reason for why the demand for notes keeps increasing\", says the committee in a report.\n\nRecent debate over cash has centred on whether vulnerable people - who might struggle with digital payments - will have access to notes and coins in the future.\n\nMPs on the committee say that means little attention is being paid to the whereabouts of banknotes today.\n\nThere is nothing wrong with stashing cash rather than spending it, assuming it is secure.\n\nBut that makes little sense for your average saver who could get some interest, however small, by keeping it safely in a bank or building society.\n\nThat is why MPs have their suspicions that many of these banknotes are being hidden for less innocent reasons instead.\n\nThis rising demand is \"a trend being seen with other major currencies\", as the committee itself admits.\n\nIt particularly affects the dollar and the euro, which are widely held as reserve currencies around the world.\n\nIn the case of the dollar, only about 15% of the US currency supply can be accounted for - a significantly lower proportion than for the UK.\n\nBoth those currencies are more attractive to criminals because they have higher-denomination notes which make it easier to smuggle or stash ill-gotten gains.\n\nFor instance, there are more $100 bills out there than any other denomination of the greenback, with 80% of them estimated to be held outside the US.\n\nAs for the euro, the European Central Bank in Frankfurt no longer issues the €500 note because of concerns it could facilitate illegal activities.\n\nHowever, it remains legal tender, while €100 and €200 notes are still in production.\n\nBy contrast, the highest-value note issued by the Bank of England is £50.\n• None No new 2p or £2 coins to be made for 10 years", "The government is \"absolutely confident\" the UK will have 800,000 coronavirus vaccine doses by next week, when the vaccination programme starts, the business secretary has said.\n\nAlok Sharma said some of the Pfizer/BioNTech doses had arrived, with more expected by the end of the year.\n\nHe was unable to say how many that will be.\n\nNHS Providers said the UK must work on the basis that more doses beyond this might not arrive \"for some time\".\n\nChief executive Chris Hopson tweeted that it was \"vital\" hospitals sought to vaccinate as many people as possible in the highest priority groups.\n\nHe added that with \"every day that goes past, we become more confident we will get a lot more [doses] and get them soon\".\n\nIt comes as official data showed infection levels were falling in all English regions, except the North East.\n\nThe government said the R number - the average number of people each person with Covid-19 goes on to infect - has fallen to between 0.8 and 1 in the UK, from between 0.9 and 1 last week.\n\nIt also reported that a further 504 people had died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test, bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 60,617.\n\nThe first consignment of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine arrived in the UK on Thursday, though the number of doses has not been confirmed.\n\nAsked about whether the 800,000 doses the UK is expecting in the coming days will arrive by next week, Mr Sharma told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"We will have - I'm absolutely confident - that we will have 800,000 doses available at the point next week when we start the vaccination programme.\n\n\"Of course, by the end of this year we will expect some more doses to come through - I can't give you a number on that.\"\n\nThe UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - enough to vaccinate 20 million people.\n\nElderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list - which is recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) - followed by the over-80s and front-line health and care staff.\n\nMr Sharma reiterated that the bulk of the vaccination programme would be carried out next year, adding that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was also reviewing the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ros Atkins from BBC's Outside Source asks if people will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19\n\nThe chief commercial officer for BioNTech, Sean Marett, said there would be more shipments of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which is made in Belgium, next week.\n\nHe said the first batch arrived on Thursday via the Eurotunnel and they were then transported to a storage facility.\n\nMr Hopson said the vaccines will by now have reached the hospital hubs to enable vaccinations to begin on Tuesday.\n\nHospitals were working out how many care home residents, care home staff and over-80s they can get it to, he said.\n\nHe told BBC Radio 4's The World at One that the vaccine will be delivered to care homes within \"the next 10 to 14 days, but we're going as fast as we can\".\n\nProf Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the JCVI, told The World at One that he understood the elderly in care homes \"might not end up being the first priority group for operational reasons\" and the committee would \"closely monitor this\".\n\nHe stressed that the JCVI still expected care home residents \"to be prioritised\".\n\nThis week, Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, apologised for remarks that seemed to criticise the UK's vaccine approval process.\n\nMr Sharma defended the UK's approach to approving the vaccine, saying the MHRA was \"absolutely meticulous\" and was regarded as a \"gold standard of regulation\" by international scientists.\n\nHe told Sky News: \"People should be really confident that this vaccine is safe. If it wasn't safe it wouldn't be deployed and I certainly have full confidence in the work the MHRA have done.\"\n\nDowning Street also defended the UK's medicines regulator, with the prime minister's official spokesman describing the MHRA as a \"world leader in its field\".\n\nWorld Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the development of vaccines means \"we can now start to see the light at the end of the tunnel\" - but added that the organisation was \"concerned that there is a growing perception that the Covid-19 pandemic is over\".\n\nThe vaccine is made in Belgium and has to be stored at around -70C\n\nNorthern Ireland has received its first doses of the vaccine. and vaccinations are due to begin on Tuesday morning.\n\nWales' First Minister Mark Drakeford said the country expected to receive its first supplies in the coming days and was planning to begin vaccinating people from Tuesday.\n\nHe told a coronavirus briefing: \"We hope, of course, this marks a turning point in the pandemic and that it'll put us on to what is going to be a long path back to normality.\"\n\nBut he cautioned that for now the situation in Wales \"remains very serious\" ahead of new national restrictions coming into force later to try to curb the spread of the disease.\n\nMeanwhile, scientists have expressed concern about how well rapid lateral flow tests - which provide results in about 20 minutes without the need for a lab - perform in practice.\n\nDr Angela Raffle, a consultant in public health and honorary senior lecturer at the University of Bristol, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the results on how these tests had performed during Liverpool's mass-testing scheme had been \"buried\".\n\nThis follows an article in the BMJ medical journal which also raised concerns about the effect of rapid testing in the city and the sensitivity of lateral flow tests.\n\nDr Raffle said: \"The infection rate in Liverpool has come down no quicker than in many other places that haven't got mass testing and we haven't yet seen a proper evaluation report from Liverpool.\"\n\nThere has also been concern in some parts of the care home sector over the use of the tests, with homes in Greater Manchester reportedly urged not to use them to allow visits.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Simon Jones and Jenna Roberts said the second cancellation was \"ten times worse\"\n\nA couple say they are \"heartbroken\" at having their wedding cancelled for a second time in six months by Covid-19.\n\nJenna Roberts and Simon Jones were due to tie the knot in July but the wedding was cancelled due to lockdown.\n\nNow their \"dream\" has been shattered again after the venue at Margam Park, Port Talbot, was confirmed as a Covid-19 vaccination centre.\n\nThey want compensation from Neath Port Talbot (NPT), claiming they have been left £2,000 out of pocket.\n\nSimon and Jenna, from Porth, Rhonda Cynon Taff, had waited almost three years for their wedding at The Orangery, after booking in 2017, but said they understood the reasons for cancelling first time, during lockdown.\n\nThey postponed the special day to July next year, only to be informed on Friday it can no longer go ahead.\n\nThe venue is to be used as a vaccination centre for up to 12 months from 13 December.\n\nNPT council said the venue was \"absolutely necessary\" and would play a \"crucial role\" in the Covid-19 vaccination programme for local people.\n\nThe venue has cancelled 64 weddings, which can be rearranged for a later date in 2022 when the venue is due to reopen - or a full deposit offered.\n\n\"The worst part was I had to get off the phone and tell my partner we had to cancel our wedding again. She just burst into tears,\" said Simon, 38.\n\n\"We've had no communication about this at all, so it just came out of the blue. Had we known, we wouldn't have booked suppliers again.\"\n\nThe couple say they have to find another £2000 to make up for lost costs\n\nJenna, 34, said: \"The first time was hard enough, the second time was ten times worse. There were a lot of tears.\n\n\"We have elderly relatives that might not be able to make our wedding in two years' time. It's just terrible.\"\n\nWhile they are able to set a new date or get most of their deposit back, they will not get refunds for stationery, such as invites, the videographer and their children's bridesmaids dresses and suits.\n\nSimon estimates the total cost to rearrange again will be about £2,000.\n\n\"In no way do we blame them for any of this, but we are truly heartbroken and devastated at the fact Neath Port Talbot Council have had no thoughts on the implications it has caused by taking over a wedding venue,\" he said.\n\nSimon and Jenna have one child together, alongside two Jenna has from a previous relationship.\n\nThe Margam Orangery is among 12 sites being used as a vaccination centre by NPT and Swansea councils, due to its size, location and available car parking.\n\nA NPT council spokesperson said it was aware of the disappointment but plan to deliver 500 vaccinations every day, seven days a week, to \"safeguard the health of local residents as quickly as possible\".\n\nThe venue said continuing to hold weddings would have reduced the building's capacity for vaccinating by 1,500 per wedding.\n\nCouncillor Peter Rees said: \"We sincerely apologise but the venue will play pivotal role in saving lives.\n\n\"We ask that couples and their families understand that we would not take this action unless it was absolutely necessary and in the interests of public safety.\n\n\"We will honour our 2020 prices for any of couples who chose an alternative date in 2022, and will offer them first refusal to move back to their original date, should the vaccination programme be completed earlier than next December.\"\n\nOn Wednesday, the Pfizer vaccine was judged safe for use in UK next week. Preparations will be made for the rollout of the vaccine as early as next week.\n\nEach health board will get its share and vaccines will go across Wales at the same time. Mass vaccination centres will be set up - particularly for the mRNA vaccine, which needs to be stored at -70 degrees.\n\nOfficials say each site will have tight security and the vaccines will be guarded \"like a VIP\", as well as cyber and IT security measures being taken.", "A light aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing on an interstate in Minnesota.\n\nThe single-propeller plane appeared to have suffered an engine failure, the Ramsey County Deputy's Federation said on Facebook.\n\nNobody was injured in the accident.", "The vaccine is made in Belgium and has to be stored at around -70C\n\nThe first consignment of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine has arrived in the UK.\n\nIt has been taken to a central hub at an undisclosed location, and will now be distributed to hospital vaccination centres around the UK.\n\nThe UK has ordered 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people.\n\nEngland's deputy chief medical officer said the first wave of vaccinations could prevent up to 99% of Covid-19 hospital admissions and deaths.\n\nSpeaking to BBC News, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam said that would be possible if everyone on the first priority list took the vaccine and it was highly effective.\n\nHe said it was key to distribute the vaccine \"as fast\" and at the \"highest volume\" as possible, but he acknowledged there would need to be some flexibility in the list.\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are made in Belgium and have travelled to the UK via the Eurotunnel.\n\nThe order in which people will get the jab is recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and decided by the government.\n\nElderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list, followed by over-80s and health and care staff.\n\nHowever, because hospitals already have the facilities to store the vaccine at the necessary -70C, the very first vaccinations are likely to take place there - for care home staff, NHS staff and patients - to lower the risk of wasting doses.\n\nProf Van-Tam told BBC News: \"If we can get through phase one [of the priority list] and it is a highly effective vaccine and there is very, very high up take, then we could in theory take out 99% of hospitalisations and deaths related to Covid 19.\n\n\"That is why the phase one list is what it is, that is the primary ambition.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will the new Pfizer vaccine work?\n\nThe UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday.\n\nDr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, has apologised for remarks that seemed to criticise the UK's vaccine approval process.\n\nHe initially told Fox News: \"The UK did not do it as carefully. If you go quickly and you do it superficially, people are not going to want to get vaccinated.\"\n\nBut the UK defended its process, and said the jab is safe and effective.\n\nAnd speaking later to the BBC, Dr Fauci said: \"There really has been a misunderstanding, and for that I'm sorry, and I apologise for that.\n\n\"I have a great deal of confidence in what the UK does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint.\n\n\"Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the UK. And that's just the reality. I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way.\"\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19.\n\nThe UK's 40 million doses will be distributed as quickly as they can be made by Pfizer in Belgium, with the first load rolled out next week and then \"several millions\" throughout December, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.\n\nBut the bulk of the roll-out across the UK will be next year.\n\nAnd it could take until April for all those deemed most at-risk to receive the new vaccine, according to NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens.\n\nThe arrival of the vaccines comes after the UK became the first country in Europe to surpass 60,000 coronavirus deaths\n\nOfficial figures show a further 414 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were recorded on Thursday, taking the total to 60,113.\n\nTwo other ways of measuring deaths - where Covid is mentioned on the death certificate, and the number of \"excess deaths\" for this time of year - give higher total figures.\n\nOnly the US, Brazil, India and Mexico have recorded more deaths than the UK, according to Johns Hopkins University.\n\nHowever, the UK has had more deaths per 100,000 people than any of those nations.\n\nIn terms of deaths per 100,000 people, the UK is the seventh-highest country globally, behind Belgium, San Marino, Peru, Andorra, Spain and Italy.", "City centre streets were deserted after the ban closed pubs and restaurants\n\nBarrels of beer are being poured down drains as Wales' hospitality industry prepared for the alcohol ban to come into force.\n\nPubs, restaurants and cafes are banned from serving alcohol from Friday evening and must close at 18:00 GMT, other than for takeaway service.\n\nBusinesses said it was \"a devastating hammer blow\" after going to lengths to keep customers safe.\n\nThey said the restrictions will also significantly impact the supply chain.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nAt the Glamorgan Brewery in Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taf, staff have been pouring barrels of beer down the drain because it now cannot be sold in pubs.\n\nOn Thursday, 58 of the company's 64 employees went back onto furlough.\n\nBarrels of beer are being poured down the drain due to the ban\n\nDirector David Atkins said the new measures are \"an absolute kick in the teeth\".\n\n\"This time last year we probably turned over about £1.5m for the month of December. This year, it's £50,000.\n\nHe added the majority of their beer - about 45,000 pints - will have to be thrown away.\n\nPubs began clearing tables and chairs as the ban came into force at 18:00 GMT on Friday\n\nAt The Cricketers pub in Pontcanna, Cardiff, staff were also pouring away beer on Friday afternoon.\n\nSimon Buckley, of Evan Evans Brewery which supplies the pub said: \"How can it be right and safe to open to serve food in pubs but not alcohol? It defies logic.\n\n\"Why is 6pm the bewitching hour as opposed to 10pm? In these difficult times - and the month of December particularly - the lost revenue is significant.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What does Wales' hospitality sector make of the new Covid rules?\n\nJames Cunningham, manager of the Ruthin Castle Hotel in Ruthin, Denbighshire, said customers have appreciated the safety measures put in place and the new rules were \"incredibly frustrating\".\n\n\"Whenever they can, people want to try to come out and enjoy themselves in these very, very testing times,\" he said.\n\nHe described the measures as a \"devastating hammer blow\" to the hospitality industry.\n\n\"Figures show that less than 5% of all settings of infection happen in hospitality - and yet here we are once again taking the hammer blow,\" he said.\n\n\"There's no guarantee those restrictions are going to be lifted,\" he said.", "Mariah Carey made it to number two this week, matching the song's best ever UK chart position\n\nIt's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas, with festive singles accounting for more than half of this week's UK top 40 chart.\n\nTwenty-one seasonal songs appear in the latest rundown, led by Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You.\n\nMariah is at number two, kept off the top spot by Ariana Grande's Positions.\n\nMartin Talbot, head of the Official Charts Company, said it was \"very unusual\" to see such a \"surge of interest\" in festive tunes.\n\nThe appetite for Christmas music \"essentially started in November\", Talbot said, with people throwing themselves into \"familiar TV, film, books and music as comfort from the miserable tone of so much of this year's news\".\n\nWham's Last Christmas and Fairytale of New York by The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl have both gone back into the top 10 this week.\n\nAriana Grande topped the chart with Positions, while her single 34+35 was at number 10\n\n\"The public are also buying their Christmas trees and putting up their decorations much earlier this year too, almost certainly finding solace in Christmas at the end of a year that most people want to put behind them as soon as possible,\" Talbot said.\n\n\"Who could dispute that, in 2020, we all deserve to start celebrating Christmas earlier than ever?\"\n\nLittle Mix, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa and Tate McRae are among the artists with non-Christmassy singles in the top 10.\n\nThe 21 Christmas singles in the top 40:\n\nThe star's latest album was inspired by everything from swing and jazz to the comedy of Morecambe and Wise\n\nGary Barlow's latest release Music Played by Humans topped the album chart, which he said felt to him like \"Christmas Day\", adding: \"What an honour, what a privilege, I can't believe it. This could, possibly, mean the most to me than any other before.\"\n\nHe was followed by Steps' new album What the Future Holds at number two.\n\nThe album chart also featured plenty of Christmas cheer, with Michael Ball and Alfie Boe's Together at Christmas at number three, Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra at number eight with Jolly Holiday, and Michael Buble's Christmas at number nine.\n\nMiley Cyrus, AC/DC, Little Mix, Kylie Minogue and Shakin' Stevens also made it into this week's top 10 album chart, while BTS fell from number two last week to number 33 with Be.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Bereavement charities say they are struggling to cope with a rising demand for support following the death of loved ones with Covid.\n\nThey've warned of what they call a “tsunami of grief” as restrictions continue for funerals and family contacts.\n\nResearch from the National Bereavement Alliance found up to 40% of services could be forced to close or cut back support because of fewer financial donations.\n\nDaniela Relph has been talking to those bereaved by Covid.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dr Fauci told the BBC: \"I have a great deal of confidence in what the UK does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint\"\n\nDr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, has apologised for remarks that seemed to criticise the UK's vaccine approval process.\n\n\"I have a great deal of confidence in what the UK does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint,\" Dr Fauci told the BBC on Thursday.\n\nThe UK on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer vaccine for the coronavirus.\n\nIt has defended the rapid approval and said the jab is safe and effective.\n\nDr Fauci on Wednesday had told Fox News that the UK did not review the vaccine \"as carefully\" as US health regulators, although he implied that the US would quickly also be in a position to approve a vaccine. \"We'll be there. We'll be there very soon,\" he added.\n\nHe later told CBS News that the UK had \"rushed\" the approval, but on Thursday he walked back the comments, and said there was \"no judgement on the way the UK did it\".\n\n\"Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the UK. And that's just the reality,\" Dr Fauci told the BBC. \"I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way.\"\n\nThe UK medicines regulator - MHRA - said it had \"rigorously assessed the data in the shortest time possible, without compromising the thoroughness of our review\" - adding that it reviewed preliminary data on the vaccine trials dating back to June and had been running a \"rolling review\" since October which helped speed the process.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will the new Pfizer vaccine work?\n\nThe regulator said that Covid vaccines were being developed \"in a coordinated in a way that allows some stages of this process to happen in parallel to condense the time needed\" adding that it did not mean that \"the expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness\" had been bypassed.\n\n\"Any vaccine must undergo robust clinical trials in line with international standards, with oversight provided by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency,\" it said.\n\n\"No vaccine would be authorised for supply in the UK unless the expected standards of safety, quality and efficacy are met,\" the MHRA added.\n\nOn Thursday, the UK's deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam told the BBC he was \"very confident\" in the MHRA.\n\nHe said there was more than \"100 years of medical experience\" between the UK regulator and the committee advising which groups of people are vaccinated first.\n\nDr Fauci's remarks came as the US surpassed 14 million Covid-19 infections in total, with a recorded 276,325 deaths.\n\nA woman waits for a Covid-19 test in California, as cases mount across the US\n\nAmerica's Food and Drug Administration does have a different approach to other regulators around the world - it often asks vaccine makers for their raw data, which it then spends time re-analysing.\n\nThe UK's medicines regulator in London, on the other hand, relies more heavily on the companies' own reports as does the European Medicines Agency, based in Amsterdam.\n\nPolitics may also explain why the FDA hasn't yet given the green light. Back in October, President Trump pressured health officials to approve the first vaccine candidates before election day on 3 November but they pushed back, fearing it might become a political football.\n\nThe FDA said it wanted to see two months' extra safety data from the final phase vaccine trials before pharmaceutical companies could apply for emergency approval.\n\nThat has inevitably left some arguing the US has got bogged down in a much more detailed review than might have been necessary.\n\nThe head of the European Medicines Agency also appeared to raise eyebrows yesterday at the truncated timetable in London.\n\nBut officials in the UK believe the US and EU are likely to approve the vaccine soon.\n\nThe UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine - enough to vaccinate 20 million people, and the first consignment of that vaccine has now arrived.\n\nIt has been taken to a central hub at an undisclosed location, and will now be distributed to hospital vaccination centres around the UK.\n\nEngland's deputy chief medical officer said the first wave of vaccinations could prevent up to 99% of Covid-19 hospital admissions and deaths.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dr June Raine from the MHRA: \"The safety of the public will always come first\"\n\nThe US FDA plans to meet on 10 December to discuss approval for the UK-approved vaccine, and will meet again on 17 December to discuss a second vaccine - Moderna.\n\nDr Fauci had described the US Food and Drug Administration's approval process, slower than the UK, as the \"gold standard\". On Thursday he clarified, saying the US does \"things a little differently\" than the UK.\n\n\"That's all,\" he said. \"Not better, not worse, just differently.\"\n\nAn independent UK expert on the use and effects of drugs in populations - Prof Stephen Evans of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the approvals processes carried out by the FDA and the MHRA were \"basically very similar\".\n\n\"The only major difference is that the FDA may reproduce all the tables submitted by a company by re-analysing the data,\" he said.\n\n\"It is very clear that the UK assessment of this has followed all the usual processes, but has been working incredibly long hours and seven days a week both with MHRA staff and with their academic advisors for quite a long time on initial and interim data before the final data were submitted.\"\n\nDr Fauci has led the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) for more than 30 years - covering five presidential transitions - and has become the most visible member of the White House's coronavirus task force.\n\nThe EU, meanwhile, is eyeing a 29 December meeting of the European Medicines Agency to determine if there is adequate safety data on the vaccine for it to be approved in Europe. This timeline puts the EU weeks behind both the UK and US. After the agency approves the vaccine, it will probably also need a sign-off from the EU Commission.", "Budget clothing retailer Primark says it expects sales and profits in its current financial year to rise, despite the disruption from recent lockdowns.\n\nIt said autumn store closures meant it missed out on £430m of sales, higher than a previous estimate of £375m.\n\nHowever, it said sales since reopening, including in England this week, had \"once again been very strong\".\n\nPrimark does not sell online, and on reopening on Wednesday, pent-up demand saw queues form at several stores.\n\nThe chain's owner, Associated British Foods (ABF), said it expected this financial year - which runs from September - to produce higher sales and profits at Primark than in the previous 12 months, which were affected by a longer lockdown period.\n\nIt also said it would continue to expand its retail selling space.\n\nHargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter said Primark's loyal customers and the woes afflicting rivals such as Topshop owner Arcadia, which went into administration this week, would continue to support its growth.\n\n\"[Its] highly loyal customer base... waited until stores re-opened to satisfy their pent up shopping desires,\" she said.\n\n\"In the UK, it is likely to have easy pickings in prime locations in the future, given the demise of its rivals.\"\n\nABF said last month that so far Covid-19 had cost Primark £2bn in lost sales and £650m in profit.\n\nThis new financial year has seen a month-long shut down in England and a host of other curbs in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.\n\nClosures in the start of its financial year saw Covid restrictions, designed to stop a second wave of the coronavirus, temporarily close stores in a number of other major markets.\n\nThese include the Republic of Ireland, France and Belgium, which all also reopened in the last week.\n\nPrimark still has 34 stores - fewer than 10% of its 389 outlets worldwide - closed across its global markets, including all outlets in Northern Ireland and Austria.\n\nRecently it opened new stores in the US, in Italy and its 50th store in Spain.\n\nABF's other businesses include groceries, sugar and other agricultures. It said these were doing better than previously expected and would also perform better this year than last.", "Some coronavirus restrictions are being eased from next Friday\n\nThe business community has welcomed comments from the first minister that there will be no further Covid-19 restrictions before Christmas.\n\nNon-essential retail and some parts of the hospitality sector can reopen next Friday, the NI Executive agreed on Thursday.\n\nPubs that do not serve food will have to remain shut.\n\nBut health professionals have warned there will be an increase in transmission due to the eased rules.\n\nMany hospitality businesses, including restaurants, cafes and hotels, can resume trading but must be closed at 23:00 GMT each day.\n\n\"We're trying to make sure people have a good Christmas and can come together in a safe way,\" First Minister Arlene Foster said on Thursday.\n\nThe DUP leader said guidance would be issued for several sectors so that they could operate safely, and said there was a need to provide more financial support to drink-only pubs.\n\nDeputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill described the relaxations as \"measured\" and would allow people to move around \"a bit more freely\", but acknowledged it came with a risk.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. No further restrictions before Christmas - Foster\n\nThe executive agreed on Thursday that:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe chief executive of Newry Chamber of Commerce welcomed a safe reopening of non-essential retail.\n\nColm Shannon told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme that there will be longer opening times in the area and council staff will be on the high street, to help with the flow of people.\n\nHe said that \"personal responsibility\" was also important, urging shoppers to \"respect the guidelines that are in place\".\n\n\"We have these two weeks now to try and recover some of the grounds but we do need to think about the future as well.\"\n\nNorthern Ireland Hotels Federation chief executive Janice Gault said that hotels would reopen \"in a responsible manner with the health of guests and staff to the fore\".\n\n\"Christmas is a vital trading period for the hotel industry with many guests checking in with their families over the festive season,\" she said.\n\n\"This year will be different, but hotels are determined that those who arrive will have an excellent experience after what has been a very difficult year for everyone.\"\n\nLondonderry hotel director Ciaran O'Neill said he was \"surprised but glad\" at the decision.\n\n\"Stormont have finally decided to give us proper notice on this and give us a week to reopen,\" said Mr O'Neill.\n\n\"We have been taking bookings with asterixis now for about six weeks so every week we have to ring people to cancel or move their booking to a different date.\"\n\nHowever, Mr O'Neill said his hotel is still operating \"under 50% capacity\", adding \"we need to be mindful of that\".\n\nBut owners of drink-only pubs have criticised the executive for the decision to keep them shut.\n\nWest Belfast bar owner Gerard Keenan has only opened his business for three weeks since March.\n\n\"We kind of knew that was going to happen but up until the point that somebody tells you, it's still a bitter pill to swallow,\" said Mr Keenan.\n\n\"It's just the future, I'm worried now about the future, but I'm grateful now that we're getting some financial help.\"\n\nHe described the situation as \"brutal\", adding \"the stigma now that's attached to wet pubs, it's killing us\".\n\nGyms will also be able to reopen under the rules agreed on Thursday\n\nDr Tom Black, the Northern Ireland chairman of the British Medical Association, said the easing of the restrictions appeared to be a \"pragmatic decision\".\n\n\"It is a calculated risk because when you have a holiday period and people meet up the transmission of the virus increases,\" he told the BBC's The View programme.\n\n\"We will have in the health service in Northern Ireland a very busy time in the first three weeks in January, that seems inevitable.\n\n\"We will be sitting down to a banquet of consequences with increased admissions to hospital and more people in intensive care.\"\n\nThe latest medical and scientific advice given to ministers indicates that the R-number - the average number of people that one infected person will pass the virus to - is about one.\n\nStormont ministers have been told that if the R-number can be maintained at 1.6 or below then no intervention, in terms of further restrictions, would be required until the end of December/beginning of January.\n\nBut if it was to rise as high as 1.8 then intervention would be required \"a few days earlier than this\", according to a Stormont briefing paper.\n\nA vaccine will be available in Northern Ireland from next week, after the UK drugs regulator gave approval in record time.", "Michel Barnier and his team were working late into the night with their UK counterparts\n\nTo do business with each other from January, the UK and the EU agree there will have to be some shared rules.\n\nIt's called the level playing field, if you want to use the jargon, and you can read about it in all the detail you want here.\n\nBut again and again, the two sides have clashed over who should be in charge of the rules and, particularly, what happens if things go wrong.\n\nAlongside who gets to catch fish in whose waters, this part of the talks has been the most problematic.\n\nLate on Wednesday though, there were signs that a deal was nearly concluded.\n\nThe pizzas fuelled the negotiators into what seemed like a good place - you can read about the state of play last night here.\n\nA swift deal was not inevitable, but it certainly felt like the jigsaw pieces were lining up, with sources on both sides of the Channel agreeing that agreement on Friday or Saturday could be very lightly pencilled in.\n\nBut after another day of talks on Thursday, just before 19:00 GMT, things seemed to take a turn for the worse.\n\nUK sources said the talks had \"gone back 24 hours\", claiming the EU has toughened its stance on an independent regulator to police what happens if the shared rules and regulations are broken, and things go wrong.\n\nA senior government source told the BBC: \"At the eleventh hour, the EU is bringing new elements into the negotiation. A breakthrough is still possible in the next few days but that prospect is receding.\"\n\nIt's been claimed that the French government has been leading a charge for a more robust system of oversight, trying to push the UK into a position they cannot accept.\n\nAn EU source told the BBC the talks were in difficulty and had become \"extremely sluggish\", confirming that the main point of tension was over enforcing the rules and regulations.\n\nBut another EU insider suggested the UK might just be posturing, and that there was bafflement at the suggestion anything new was put on the table - the theatrics, perhaps, in the closing moments of the negotiations.\n\nFrankly, at the moment, it is extremely hard to work out exactly what is going on - although we know for sure the negotiators are still hard at it (Thursday's food delivery was from the food chain Leon.)\n\nEvery Brexit negotiation has had last minute dramas, where very often, just in the nick of time, victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat.\n\nIt's true that both sides want a deal. It's also true that both sides can see the shape of a possible deal.\n\nBut when there is so much at stake, taking it for granted that it will happen is quite an assumption to make.", "US travel spiked over Thanksgiving despite warnings\n\nAs coronavirus spread across the US last month, health officials urged people to refrain from travel to see friends and family over the Thanksgiving holiday. But data shows that millions of Americans ignored these calls. While air travel was much lower than in previous years, airports still reported some of their busiest days since the start of the pandemic. The US Transportation Security Administration said it had screened over one million passengers on several days during the holiday period. Experts have warned the US could see \"surge upon surge\" of Covid-19 cases as a result, while the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warned that even a small number of infected travellers could lead to hundreds of thousands of new infections. Meanwhile vehicle travel surged around Thanksgiving, peaking at only around 5% less than last year, according to transport analytics firm Streetlight Data. The company's founder, Laura Schewel, told the Associated Press that this showed \"people were less willing to change their behaviour than any other day during the pandemic”. Officials have made similar calls for people to avoid travel over Christmas and New Year period, as hospitalisation numbers soar to record highs. Read more: Millions travel for Thanksgiving despite warnings", "For months, the government has been urging businesses to get ready for a new era in trading with the EU. But it was only on Boxing Day that details of all the new rules were actually published.\n\nBusiness groups are relieved that the threat of a no-deal Brexit, which would have meant tariffs (or taxes) on goods crossing the border with the EU, has been removed. But companies that trade with the EU are still facing a lot of new bureaucracy.\n\nAnd the disruption in mid-December, caused by border closures related to the new variant of Covid-19, was a reminder of how dependent the UK economy is on trade across the English Channel.\n\nFrom 1 January 2021, goods entering the EU from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) face large amounts of new paperwork and checks, including:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHauliers will also need to make sure they have the right transportation paperwork before they drive to the border.\n\nThere is particular focus on the \"short straits\" route between Dover and Calais, and the nearby Channel Tunnel, which taken together handle about four million lorries a year.\n\n\"This is the biggest imposition of red tape that businesses have had to deal with in 50 years,\" says William Bain from the British Retail Consortium.\n\nFull controls on British exports to the EU began on 1 January. The first day of the new regime appears to have gone relatively smoothly.\n\nBut it's feared that later in the year, the new controls could cause disruption, even though new border infrastructure has been built at ports such as Calais, to help process vehicles more efficiently.\n\nThere are some mitigating measures though.\n\nIn response to the Covid crisis, the government is delaying full controls on goods entering Great Britain from the EU for a further six months.\n\nThere will be checks from 1 January on controlled substances such as alcohol and tobacco, and traders deemed to be a risk will also be asked to fill in customs declarations.\n\nBut most checks on goods coming in from the EU will be delayed until 1 July, a deadline that could in theory be extended.\n\n\"I think we will want to monitor it,\" the chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs, Jim Harra, told MPs in November. \"Hopefully we will not still be in a situation where Covid-19 is consuming as much of people's attention.\"\n\nOther measures to tackle potential disruption include diverting trade to other ports around the country and opening lorry parks in Kent, to avoid gridlock on the roads.\n\nSome of these contingencies were put into action early, to deal with the Covid border closures in December.\n\nOperation Brock, for example, involved changing the layout of a section of the M20, using a concrete barrier to allow lorries heading for mainland Europe to queue safely on the motorway.\n\nThousands of lorries were also diverted to temporary parking at a disused airport at Manston.\n\nFrom 1 January drivers of lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes will need to acquire a Kent Access Permit before they enter the county. They will have to show that they have all the paperwork they need to ferry goods to Europe.\n\nBut that doesn't deal with the challenge of the thousands of vans that cross the Channel every week.\n\n\"What has been serially misunderstood by various parts of government is the scale of the complexity for people on the ground dealing with the paperwork,\" says Duncan Buchanan, the Policy Director of the Road Haulage Association.\n\nThat could mean that instead of queues on motorways, many traders won't be able to leave their depots.\n\n\"Either they won't be able to get vets to sign off on their meat exports, or they won't be able to get their permit because they don't have the right bits of paper,\" says Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Storage Federation.\n\n\"We might see a quite significant holding off of trading - people just not moving stuff in the first few weeks.\"\n\nEighty-five per cent of the volume of trade between the EU and Great Britain is carried by EU hauliers, who are often paid not by the hour, but by the kilometre. If they think there will be too many delays, many may simply not come.\n\nThe government says the readiness of traders to deal with the new system remains its biggest concern.\n\nLorries parked on the M20 in Kent\n\n\"The sheer scale of the overall operation means there are literally many millions of moving parts,\" permanent secretary of the cabinet office Alex Chisholm told MPs. \"Inevitably there are going to be some difficulties for some individual people as they adjust to the new regime.\"\n\nThe government has also announced a new Border Operations Centre as part of plans \"for the UK to have the world's most effective border by 2025\".\n\nQuestions have been asked about how changes at the border might affect food supply. The short answer is no-one can say for sure, but nearly 30% of all the food consumed in the UK is imported from the EU.\n\nThe good news is that there is a deal, which makes a big difference. But the challenge is particularly acute because the UK grows relatively small amounts of fruit and vegetables in January and February and is most dependent on supplies from southern Europe at this time of year.\n\nSo, if there are delays, they could cause some shortages on the shelves.\n\n\"Some gaps are possible but we're not going to run out of food - that's not going to happen\" says Ian Wright.\n\nWhen it comes to non-perishable items, there had been some stockpiling in preparation for either outcome, but extra supplies won't last forever.\n\n\"The crunch point is probably not going to be in the first few days or weeks of January,\" William Bain argues. \"Towards the end of the month, when new orders start being placed and delivered, we will start to see the processes in Kent and the other ports really tested.\"\n\nAnd it's not only about food.\n\nOther retailers, which are used to moving their stock freely around the EU customs union, have had to create separate supply chains for the UK. That is costing them more money, and their new systems have yet to be tested properly.\n\nIt's not just about trade across the English Channel.\n\nTrade across the Irish Sea between Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland will be subject to the same pressures, while Northern Ireland will be a special case under the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.\n\nNorthern Ireland will remain in the EU single market for goods, and unlike the rest of the UK it will continue to enjoy frictionless trade with the EU with no checks of any kind at the land border with the Republic.\n\nBut there is a price to pay for that - new bureaucracy within the UK between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.\n\nThe EU, for example, has strict rules on products of animal origin: meat, milk, fish and eggs.\n\nThese products must enter the single market (and, from 1 January, Northern Ireland) through a border control post where paperwork is checked, and a proportion of goods physically inspected.\n\nThere will be a grace period of three months for supermarkets and their suppliers, but some smaller traders may have to get used to the new rules straight away.\n\nAll shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will also need a safety and security declaration, and a customs declaration from a new IT system which none of the traders have used before.\n\nThe government has set up a Trader Support Service to help.\n\nThe details of the new trading arrangements for Northern Ireland were announced separately in early December, and provided some clarity. They include an agreement which means the vast majority of goods being shipped from GB to NI will not be at risk of having tariffs imposed.\n\nBut there are plenty of unresolved issues.\n\nTraders are seeking answers about how to send parcels from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, and some online retailers have already suspended deliveries.\n\nThe trade from British to Northern Irish ports often involves multiple small shipments on a single lorry - all of which will need the right paperwork.\n\n\"We need clear rules for everyone in the supply chain,\" says Duncan Buchanan, \"and when you scratch the surface it is just not ready.\"\n\nIt is expected that many checks will be carried out on a 'light touch' basis to begin with.\n\nBut anyone trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is going to have to get used to a new way of working very quickly.", "The boy fell from a carriage on the Twister ride at Lightwater Valley in May 2019\n\nA theme park where a boy fell from a rollercoaster has been fined £350,000 for health and safety breaches.\n\nThe seven-year-old was airlifted to hospital with head injuries after falling from the ride at Lightwater Valley in North Yorkshire in May 2019.\n\nYork Magistrates' Court heard the ride no longer operated and the park viewed the accident with \"great sadness\".\n\nThe boy fell from the Twister attraction during the spring half-term holiday, the court heard.\n\nBosses at the theme park, near Ripon, admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.\n\nJudge Adrian Lower was told the boy had not been wearing a seat belt and fell through a gap between the seat and a restraining bar.\n\nBut the boy and his mother, who was in the car with him, were not told they had to wear a seat belt, the court heard.\n\nJudge Lower was told the effectiveness of the restraining bar was not enough to hold the youngster in position.\n\nThe child was airlifted to hospital after the accident at Lightwater Valley\n\nProsecutor Craig Hassall said the victim suffered serious head injuries following the fall and was airlifted to hospital in Leeds.\n\nHis mother saw him slip under the restraint as he was ejected from the car which was between two and three metres from the ground at the time\n\nMr Hassall said seatbelt rules were not universally understood by ride operatives and that maintenance of seatbelts was not adequate or in effective working order.\n\nIn June 2001, 20-year-old Gemma Savage from South Yorkshire died when two of the rollercoaster's cars collided.\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Emily Jones \"was always full of joy, love and laughter,\" her family have said\n\nA woman who slit a seven-year-old's throat has been cleared of murder after the prosecution offered no further evidence and withdrew the charge.\n\nEltiona Skana, 30, had admitted the manslaughter of Emily Jones on the grounds of diminished responsibility.\n\nSkana, who has paranoid schizophrenia, had been on trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court after pleading not guilty to murder.\n\nMr Justice Wall will sentence Skana for manslaughter on Tuesday.\n\nThe jury had been directed to formally return a not guilty verdict.\n\nAfter hearing evidence from a consultant forensic psychiatrist treating Skana at high-security Rampton Hospital, Michael Brady QC, prosecuting, told the court there was no realistic prospect of a conviction on the murder charge.\n\nThe court heard how Emily was in Queen's Park in Bolton with her father Mark Jones on the afternoon of Mother's Day on 22 March.\n\nShe was riding her scooter when she spotted her mother Sarah Barnes, who was jogging.\n\nThe youngster was calling out to her mother as she scooted past a park bench where Skana was sitting, alone and armed with a craft knife.\n\nSkana got up, grabbed Emily and slit her throat before running off.\n\nThe defendant, originally from Albania, was later detained under the Mental Health Act.\n\nDuring the trial, the prosecution alleged that it was for the jury to decide whether this was a case of murder rather than manslaughter and questioned whether Skana's poor mental health was a \"convenient excuse\" for her actions.\n\nThe court heard about a conversation between Skana and a nurse while in Rampton, which pointed to the attack being planned and therefore a calculated killing rather than manslaughter.\n\nSeven-year-old Emily Jones was stabbed as she played in Queen's Park, Bolton\n\nBut the jury was also told the conversation took place when Skana was not taking her anti-psychotic medication as part of a change in treatment at the hospital.\n\nDr Victoria Sullivan, who treated Skana at a medium secure mental health unit in Manchester after her arrest, said the defendant's sister Klestora told them she had not been taking her anti-psychotic medication before the attack.\n\nSkana came to the UK in 2014 and had been having injections of anti-psychotic drugs each month since 2017, the court heard.\n\nBut she also told medics this medication had caused her mental health to deteriorate and she began taking tablets instead.\n\nWhen police raided her flat in Bolton, they found a stash of untaken, anti-psychotic drugs, which amounted to around a month's worth of medication.\n\nFrom mid-December of last year until March 11, the defendant had no face-to-face contact with her mental health workers, the jury heard.\n\nEarlier, in 2017, Skana had stabbed her own mother and in another incident attacked her sister and had been admitted to psychiatric hospitals three times.\n\nDr Syed Afghan, her consultant at Rampton, agreed Skana became psychotically violent when not taking her medication.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson is one of five men arrested\n\nLiverpool's mayor Joe Anderson has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nHe and four others were held as part of an investigation into the awarding of building contracts in the city.\n\nIt is understood the Labour Party has suspended Mr Anderson pending the outcome of the case.\n\nThe year-long police probe, Operation Aloft, has focussed on a number of property developers.\n\nLiverpool City Council said it was co-operating with Merseyside Police.\n\nA police statement said those arrested include two men, 33 and 62, both from Liverpool, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nA 46-year-old man from Ainsdale has also been arrested on suspicion of the same offence.\n\nThe other two arrested men are a 72-year-old man from Liverpool and a 25-year old from Ormskirk, who have been arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation.\n\nDeveloper Elliot Lawless was arrested in January 2019 and denied any wrongdoing. Elliot Lawless is currently released under investigation and was not one of the five arrested earlier on Friday.\n\nCouncillor Richard Kemp, leader of the opposition Lib Dem group on Liverpool City Council, said Mr Anderson \"should follow the precedence set by leaders of the council and other senior figures in such cases.\"\n\n\"He should step away from the council and step away from his mayoralty while this goes through due legal process,\" he said.\n\nHe later studied for a degree in social work at Liverpool John Moores University and went on to become a social worker for Sefton Council in 1992.\n\nThe father-of-four was Liverpool's first elected mayor in 2012 having served on the city council since 1998.\n\nHis national profile been raised by his role in driving forward mass coronavirus testing in the city.\n\nMr Anderson, whose brother Bill died recently of Covid-19, was praised for his response to the virus by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine have arrived in Northern Ireland.\n\nNearly 25,000 doses arrived in Belfast on Friday - it is hoped it will be the first of several deliveries this month.\n\nHealth Minister Robin Swann said confirmation of which groups will get the vaccine first is due next week.\n\nThere will be dummy runs at various locations, but it has been confirmed the first administration of the vaccine will be on Tuesday morning.\n\nMr Swann said there was \"a long journey ahead of us but we can be optimistic\".\n\nHe added: \"Vaccinators will be the first to receive the vaccine, followed swiftly by priority groups.\n\n\"We are being guided on prioritisation by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.\n\n\"It has identified care home residents and staff and health and social care workers as priority groups.\"\n\nDistribution of the vaccine would be \"a massive logistical challenge\", particularly in terms of rolling it out in care homes, added the health minister.\n\nAnother six people in Northern Ireland have died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the Department of Health's recorded total of deaths to 1,032.\n\nAnother 449 people have tested positive for the virus.\n\nIn the Republic of Ireland six more Covid-19-related deaths were recorded, taking the country's overall tally to 2,086.\n\nIrish health officials also reported that another 265 people have tested positive.\n\nThe arrival of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Northern Ireland is a massive box ticked.\n\nBut it doesn't just magic the virus away and some people might see the vaccine as an excuse to forget about the restrictions.\n\nGiven the existing two-week lockdown, the authorities anticipate that number of new infections will decline ever so slightly or remain stable until shortly before Christmas.\n\nBut with more of us out and about and mixing they are sure to rise again.\n\nIt is understood that if the so-called R-number can be maintained at 1.6 or below then intervention would not be required until the end of December or beginning of January.\n\nHowever, if it was to rise as high as 1.8 then intervention would be required, possibly at end of December.\n\nAll of this depends on our behaviour and how closely we practice the Covid-19 guidelines.\n\nTo vaccinate care home residents in Northern Ireland, 12,000 doses of the vaccine are required.\n\nThe problem facing those responsible for rolling out the vaccination scheme is how to deliver it to care homes safely and effectively.\n\nIt is thought the seven vaccination centres that have been earmarked, including leisure centres and hospitals, will be used to roll out the vaccine to those care homes which are located nearby.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What will the vaccination process look like?\n\nThe vaccine must be stored at around -70C and will be transported in special boxes, packed in dry ice.\n\nOnce delivered, it can be kept for up to five days in a fridge.\n\nOn Wednesday the UK regulator the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the jab, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness, is safe.\n\nIt is thought Northern Ireland will receive about 1.5 million doses in total.\n\nThe UK is the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for widespread use.\n\nPatricia Donnelly, who is leading the vaccine rollout programme in Northern Ireland, said the fact the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had to be stored at a very low temperature and came in large packs meant it was more practical to take the people receiving it to larger centres.\n\n\"We hope that we will start to deploy it next week - we're aiming for early in the week but we can't confirm that until we have all our final arrangments in place,\" she told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra.\n\n\"Because we don't have a limitless supply of the vaccine we're also looking at where our priorities are for this.\n\n\"Next week we have a definite plan to vaccinate the vaccinators.\"", "I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here has brought in over £1m to Wales' economy, say the owners of the castle hosting the reality TV show.\n\nThis year's series, which finishes on Friday, is being filmed at Gwrych Castle, near Abergele, Conwy.\n\nThe castle's trust insisted local firms were employed as part of the deal to use the Grade I listed building.\n\nOne local coach company said the work had been a \"lifeline\" during the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nTV presenter Vernon Kay, author and podcast presenter Giovanna Fletcher and radio DJ Jordan North are in Friday night's final after Eastenders actor Shane Richie was voted out on Thursday night.\n\nMark Baker, chairman of the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust, said ITV has fulfilled its promise to use local contractors wherever possible.\n\nThis included builders working on the set and firms providing portable toilet and temporary road surfacing, as well as accommodation for the crew.\n\n\"The programme is one of the biggest TV productions in Europe, and that's been reflected in the number of people on site and the amount of money that's been spent in the area,\" said Mr Baker.\n\n\"Local companies have supplied everything from the t-shirts the celebrities are wearing to the bags of castle coins that they win in their daily challenges.\n\n\"All in all, we've counted up to 50 Welsh businesses involved just in getting the castle ready for filming.\"\n\nLiz Castro said working with the show has meant a 'hectic few weeks'\n\nLiz Castro runs Place2Print in Llandudno, and printed the t-shirts, clothing and accessories worn by the celebrity contestants.\n\nThe timing could not have been better, having been forced to close earlier in the year due to the pandemic.\n\n\"It's really exciting. We watch the programme at home each year but for ITV to contact me was a major deal,\" she said.\n\n\"It's been really good to have a big job come through the door after being closed earlier this year.\n\n\"It's been a hectic few weeks, but we've been working with an amazing bunch of people.\n\n\"We had to move fast and get everything ready at speed when the names of the celebrities were confirmed.\n\n\"People may not realise, but all the celebrities have name tags in their sleeping bags and on their water bottles, so they know which is theirs. We printed them all.\n\nA few miles away from Gwrych Castle, Voel Coaches has described the programme as a \"lifeline\".\n\nThe company had seen its business wiped out by the pandemic but said this contract, transporting staff and crew both to and around the castle site, has safeguarded its immediate future.\n\nChris Gentile said he has had 150-200 phone calls from people who wanted to be drivers with Voels\n\nChris Gentile, marketing manager said: \"Since the coronavirus pandemic, we've had a really tough year.\n\n\"We run excursions and holidays and our business was almost non-existent after March. We suddenly found ourselves having to refund everyone.\n\n\"But in the last few months, we've been able to create jobs and take on new staff. It is still tough, but this work means we will get through.\n\n\"When people realised that we had the contract, we had around 150 to 200 phone calls from people who wanted to be drivers with us.\"\n\nFrom Ant and Dec welcoming viewers every night with \"noswaith dda\" - good evening in Welsh - to Kiosk Cledwyn and his Yr Hen Siop - or Ye Old Shop - the Welsh language has had exposure around the UK.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How do you pronounce I'm A Celeb's Gwrych Castle?\n\nAn average audience of 10.9 million watched the first show on 15 November and people offering Welsh lessons say they have seen an increase in interest.\n\n\"I've spoken to many Welsh language lesson providers and many have told me that they've seen an increase in traffic,\" said Garffild Lewis, the language consultant who worked with ITV on the show.\n\n\"We introduced the language in a subtle way. It's not out there shouting at you but we've introduced words here and there and the language can be seen round the set\".\n\n\"That has brought a presence and it's had a very positive reaction.\n\n\"The profile of the language has increased and that leads people to wanting to know more and learning it, which of course is very important\".", "The Pfizer vaccine must be used within 12 hours of being unpacked, the regulator says\n\nThe Covid-19 vaccine will \"definitely\" be ready to go into care homes in the next two weeks, the regulator has said.\n\nThe Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had approved the way doses would be distributed to homes.\n\nIt means care home residents and staff may not be the first to receive jabs, despite being the top priority.\n\nBut the UK's chief medical officers say the vaccine will only have a \"marginal impact\" on winter hospital numbers.\n\nIn a letter to colleagues, the chief medical officers of England (Prof Chris Whitty), Scotland (Dr Gregor Smith), Wales (Dr Frank Atherton) and Northern Ireland (Dr Michael McBride) warn this winter could be \"especially hard\" for the health service due to coronavirus.\n\n\"Although the very welcome news about vaccines means that we can look forward to 2021 with greater optimism, vaccine deployment will have only a marginal impact in reducing numbers coming into the health service with Covid over the next three months,\" they said.\n\nThey added they did not expect the virus to \"disappear\" even once full vaccination had occurred.\n\nFestive gatherings are likely to place \"additional pressure\" on hospitals and GPs in the New Year, which \"we need to be ready for\", the experts said.\n\nThe experts' warning comes as vaccinations are expected to begin at 50 hospital hubs in England on Tuesday.\n\nNHS England also says GP-run vaccination centres will be up and running from 14 December and are expected to start inviting in patients aged over 80.\n\nDr Ellie Cannon, a GP in North London, said local GPs were working together to provide one centre or one team to administer the vaccines.\n\n\"We've been told we need to be available to vaccinate people from 8am to 8pm,\" she told BBC Breakfast, adding there was \"a lot of enthusiasm among healthcare staff to help and to be involved\".\n\nShe cautioned that strict guidelines would have to be followed and only \"the most high risk\" would receive the vaccine in the first week.\n\n\"Don't call us, we will be calling you,\" she advised patients. \"GPs have already identified exactly who their high risk patients are. We don't have the facility to bypass the rules,\" she warned.\n\nBecause of how the vaccine doses are packed, the regulator needs to approve the way in which they are broken down into smaller consignments for distribution to care homes, while ensuring that the vaccine stays at very cold temperatures.\n\nAsked when the vaccine would get to care homes, Dr June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA, told BBC Radio Cumbria that it might be \"variable\" but added: \"I would say definitely within the next two weeks.\"\n\nThe MHRA, which regulates medicines across the UK, requires that the vaccine doses are repacked for shipping to care homes in refrigerated cold rooms at between 2 and 8C and transferred into carriers that maintain the same temperature.\n\nAs soon as they thaw the vials of vaccine, assemblers have 12 hours to pack them, label them and transport them to care homes, an operation that has never been done before at this scale.\n\nBusiness Secretary Alok Sharma said the UK is \"absolutely confident\" it will have 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - the first to be approved by the regulator - next week.\n\nHe said more doses were expected by the end of the year, but he was unable to specify how many.\n\nScotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have also said they are ready to begin vaccinations on Tuesday.\n\nMeanwhile, official data showed infection levels were falling in all English regions, except the North East.\n\nThe government said the R number - the average number of people each person with Covid-19 goes on to infect - had fallen to between 0.8 and 1 in the UK, from between 0.9 and 1 last week.\n\nIt also reported that a further 504 people had died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test, bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 60,617.\n\nThe first consignment of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine arrived in the UK on Thursday, and the government has ordered 40 million doses in total - enough to vaccinate 20 million people.\n\nElderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list - as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) - followed by the over-80s and front-line health and social care staff.\n\nProf Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the JCVI, told The World at One on BBC Radio 4 he understood the elderly in care homes \"might not end up being the first priority group for operational reasons\" and the committee would \"closely monitor this\".\n\nHe stressed the JCVI still expected care home residents \"to be prioritised\".\n\nChris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said the vaccines would now have reached 50 hospital hubs to enable vaccinations to begin on Tuesday.\n\nHospitals were working out how many care home residents, care home staff and over-80s they can get it to, he said.", "The crash happened at the junction with Old Bothwell Road\n\nTwo men and a woman have died following a crash in Bothwell, South Lanarkshire.\n\nPolice were called to the collision, involving a Vauxhall Astra, on Blairston Avenue - near the junction with Old Bothwell Road - at about 04:35 on Friday.\n\nA woman, aged 30, and two men, aged 36 and 62, were pronounced dead at the scene.\n\nA man, aged 31, was taken to University Hospital Wishaw, where hospital staff described his condition as critical.\n\nA 42-year-old man was taken to the same hospital where his condition has been described as stable.\n\nCh Insp Darren Faulds said: \"Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those involved in this crash. Our officers are liaising with the families and providing support.\n\n\"Our investigation is ongoing to establish the full circumstances of this crash.\n\n\"I would ask any witnesses to the crash, or anyone with information that may assist our investigation to contact us.\n\n\"I would also like to speak to anyone who was driving on this road around the time of the crash and may have dashcam footage to come forward.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "EU negotiator Michel Barnier has been in London since face-to-face talks resumed\n\nThe prospect of a breakthrough in post-Brexit trade negotiations between the UK and EU is \"receding\", according to a senior UK government source.\n\nThey told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg that the EU team were \"bringing new elements into the negotiation\" at the \"eleventh hour\".\n\nBut the source said a breakthrough was \"still possible in the next few days\".\n\nTalks were continuing into the night in London. Current trading rules expire on 31 December.\n\nBoth sides are urgently seeking compromises in key areas, including fishing rights and competition rules.\n\nAn EU source told the BBC's political editor that talks were \"extremely sluggish\" around the so-called level playing field for competition rules and standards.\n\nBut another source from Brussels said there were \"never any surprises or new demands from the EU side\".\n\nLaura Kuenssberg said both sides were suggesting to her that the real sticking point was over how those rules would be policed.\n\nThe UK and EU have been locked in talks since March to determine their future relations once the UK's Brexit transition period ends in less than four weeks' time.\n\nThe BBC's political editor said: \"The stumbling blocks certainly aren't new, but the sense on the UK side is that talks have gone backwards 24 hours\".\n\nShe added that there were \"still real problems to solve\".\n\nEarlier, Ireland's foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney told Irish broadcaster RTE that talks were \"at the very end\".\n\nSpeaking ahead of Brexit meetings in Paris with his French counterpart on Thursday, he said efforts were under way to close negotiations \"in the next few days\".\n\nBoris Johnson has said the UK remains \"absolutely committed\" to \"getting a deal if we can\".\n\nSpeaking on Wednesday, the prime minister said the EU side \"know what the UK bottom line is,\" as talks continued in what is seen as a crucial week.\n\nFace-to-face talks between negotiators have been ongoing since the weekend after a week-long pause.\n\nThe EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, is expected to return to Brussels on Friday to brief the bloc on the state of play, but Laura Kuenssberg said he may come straight back to join the four new negotiators who arrived on Thursday night.\n\nTo do business with each other from January, the UK and the EU agree there will have to be some shared rules.\n\nIt's called the level playing field, if you want to use the jargon, and you can read about it in all the detail you want here.\n\nBut again and again, the two sides have clashed over who should be in charge of the rules and, particularly, what happens if things go wrong.\n\nLate on Wednesday, there were signs that a deal was nearly concluded.\n\nBut after another day of talks on Thursday, just before 19:00 GMT, things seemed to take a turn for the worse.\n\nIt's true that both sides want a deal. It's also true that both sides can see the shape of a possible deal.\n\nBut when there is so much at stake, taking it for granted that it will happen is quite an assumption to make.\n\nRead more from Laura here.\n\nOn Thursday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told reporters: \"If the choice is a deal or no deal, then a deal is obviously in the national interest.\"\n\nHe said he was \"consulting across the Labour Party\" on whether the party's MPs should back a deal if it comes to a vote in the Commons, and would decide after examining the contents of the deal.\n\nHe denied Labour was split over the issue, after reports he was planning to ask his MPs to vote in favour but some shadow cabinet members want to abstain.\n\n\"We've pulled together incredibly over the last few months through difficult decisions, and we'll do so on this decision again,\" he added.\n\nThe government has not confirmed how it intends to ratify a deal in Parliament.\n\nBut the UK's chief negotiator Lord David Frost has said he assumed MPs would have to approve a law to implement \"at least some elements\" of a deal.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe negotiations are continuing ahead of a politically sensitive moment next week, when a controversial piece of Brexit legislation returns to the Commons.\n\nThe Internal Market Bill, which would allow ministers to override sections of the UK's withdrawal agreement, will come back before MPs next Monday.\n\nThe publication of the bill in September sent shockwaves through the talks, and led to the EU Commission beginning legal proceedings against the UK.\n\nBut on Thursday, Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said the government intends to reinsert contentious clauses taken out of the bill by the House of Lords.\n\nThe PM's spokesman added the bill was a \"legal safety net\" to protect the UK internal market, in case talks about detailed arrangements for the Irish border break down.\n\nOn Wednesday, MPs are also set to vote on a new taxation bill that will reportedly contain similar powers to override the withdrawal agreement over the issues of customs and VAT.\n\nEU leaders are due to meet next Thursday in Brussels for a scheduled summit.", "The government has cut £1bn from the rail infrastructure budget following the chancellor's Spending Review.\n\nRishi Sunak had previously promised record infrastructure investment as part of the government's \"levelling up\" agenda.\n\nUntil now, Network Rail's \"enhancement\" budget for the five year period from 2019-24 had been set at £10.4bn.\n\nBut, this week rail minister Chris Heaton-Harris said that the budget would now be £9.4bn.\n\nThat has put a question mark over some long-planned improvements to rail infrastructure.\n\nThe BBC has contacted the government for comment.\n\nThe cuts were not mentioned in Spending Review documentation, which stressed record investment in strategic road and rail projects.\n\nThe shortfall is likely to leave some projects without funding.\n\nAnd the rail industry has raised concerns that the budget could be cut by as much as 10% overall if the government tries to claw back some funding that it was unable to spend this year, partly because of the pandemic.\n\nDarren Caplan, the chief executive of the Railway Industry Association, called the £1bn cut in funding \"very disappointing\".\n\n\"Rail enhancements are essential in ensuring our rail network is fit for the future, improving reliability, connectivity, customer experience and helping to reduce carbon emissions,\" he said.\n\n\"Taking our foot off the pedal now on rail investment will not help for when passengers return following the coronavirus pandemic.\"\n\nMeanwhile, the government is believed to have told the industry to concentrate on so-called \"Northern Powerhouse\" rail and reversing the Beeching cuts, which closed thousands of miles of railway in the sixties. Both plans featured in Boris Johnson's manifesto.\n\nSince the start of the pandemic, the government has spent billions subsidising the rail network, so that trains were able to continue running during lockdown, even as commuters stayed at home.\n\nSo far, the bill has run to more than £3.5bn and the Department for Transport has said \"significant\" support will still be needed.\n\nIn March, the government brought the Northern franchise under state control. Meanwhile, the Welsh government has announced plans to nationalise Transport for Wales' rail services.\n\nMinisters confirmed in October that they would take over the franchise from KeolisAmey, with day-to-day services set to be run by a publicly-owned company.\n\nAlthough passenger numbers have edged up since lockdown, they are still less than half their pre-pandemic levels.\n\nAs a result, emergency measures to cover the losses of train firms have been extended by 18 months. They reduce the fees that can be earned by the companies but will mean that trains are still able to run, even with fewer passengers.\n\nThe day-to-day operating budget of the state owned rail operator covering repairs, renewals and the operations of stations was unaffected.\n\nNews of the budget cuts comes as the future of the franchise system, under which the railways have been run since privatisation, looks set to be replaced by a system of concessions, tightening the grip of government over the industry.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The sound of thundersnow is heard across parts of Scotland\n\nPolice Scotland has reassured residents in Edinburgh after hundreds of people reported being woken by the sound of explosions.\n\nHowever, police said that what people were actually hearing was the phenomenon known as \"thundersnow\".\n\nTwo \"extraordinarily loud\" thunder claps were heard over the capital just before 05:00.\n\nThe snow caused disruption across many areas, including temporarily closing the Queensferry Crossing.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nBBC weather forecaster Gemma Plumb said snow had also fallen overnight and on Friday morning across parts of northern and eastern England as well as on the high ground of south west England and Wales.\n\nFurther snow was expected to continue falling in the afternoon in northern England and Wales and in parts of the Midlands and Scotland, but would become increasingly confined to higher ground.\n\nThere could also be some snow on the high ground of the rest of Wales, south west England and perhaps Northern Ireland in the afternoon, with much of the UK having outbreaks of rain - and potentially sleet or snow on higher ground later on Friday.\n\nAnd there will be a chance of ice in some areas - particularly in the south east of England.\n\nA number of yellow warnings for ice and snow are in place across large areas of Scotland and Northern Ireland and stretch down into North Yorkshire.\n\nThe coldest night of the autumn/winter so far was recorded at Altnaharra in the Highlands, where temperatures dipped to -9.6C (14.72F).\n\nSome residents in Midlothian, including in Penicuik and Loanhead, reported what they thought was a bomb exploding or a building collapse.\n\nThe sound, which is created when thunder and lightning combine with a heavy snowstorm, also caused dozens of car alarms to go off.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Police Scotland Control Rooms This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAfter receiving a number of calls, Police Scotland took to Twitter to reassure residents that there was no need to be alarmed.\n\n\"We have received a number of calls regarding people concerned about explosions heard.\n\n\"Please do not be alarmed, we are currently experiencing thunder and lightning,\" a tweet from their control room said.\n\nSaoirse Morton, 19, in Leith, was up late listening to music when she heard the thundersnow.\n\n\"I heard what I thought was an explosion so I started looking for a factory nearby that could have exploded,\" she said.\n\n\"I just sat for 10 seconds in shock before checking on my pets. I was convinced something had exploded. I messaged some friends on Facebook and said something had exploded and they said 'no, no it's thunder and lightning' and started trying to convince me. I took some convincing.\"\n\nThe noise heard in Kirkcaldy was \"crazy\", according to Leanne Duffy\n\nAnne Ash, who lives in Edinburgh, told the BBC the \"extremely loud noise\" woke her up.\n\nShe described it as sounding \"a bit like a sonic boom\".\n\n\"I leapt out of bed and ran to the window and saw it was snowing quite heavily.\n\n\"My husband said it was thunder and I was unsure so googled it and learned the term 'thundersnow'.\n\n\"A little while later there was a second loud boom which went for a bit longer.\"\n\nShe said the weather later quietened down, and the snow was starting to melt away.\n\nThe noise was also heard in Fife, with Leanne Duffy tweeting that it was \"crazy\" to hear the phenomenon.\n\nThe snowfall has also caused issues on the area's roads, with the Queensferry Crossing closed for several hours in both directions on Friday morning because of falling ice and snow. However, it reopened at about 08:30.\n\nSome schools and nurseries have been closed due to the wintry weather.\n\nIn the Highlands, 10 primaries, two secondary schools and seven nurseries have been closed for the day, affecting almost 2,000 pupils.\n\nA small number of schools in Aberdeenshire, Moray and Dumfries and Galloway were closed due to the adverse weather.\n\nIn the Scottish Borders, schools were open but some bus services were not operating.\n\nScotRail also warned that train journeys across multiple routes were facing \"significant disruption\", and asked passengers to check their plans before setting off.\n\nSnowfall in the North East - including in Banchory, pictured - led to police warning motorists of dangerous driving conditions\n\nParts of Ayrshire also saw snow fall, including in Cumnock\n\nForecasters have warned that Friday will be a cold and windy day across the UK, with spells of rain, sleet and snow - mainly over the north and east of the country.\n\nIn the north east of Scotland, police warned of dangerous driving conditions on the A93 and the B993.\n\nAnd in Ayrshire, officers urged people to take extra care on the roads because of the snow.\n\nAlso in the east of the country, the A70 Lanark Road West, just after Balerno, was closed after an articulated lorry got stuck due to the weather.\n• None How do you stop ice falling from bridge cables?", "So, after a week of super intensive, last-ditch talks, EU and UK negotiators are going their separate ways.\n\nThe EU's chief envoy Michel Barnier heads back to Brussels on Saturday morning. His UK counterpart, David Frost, is to brief the prime minister on why the pause button was pressed.\n\nIs this the end of the road for talks, or are we just round the corner to a Happy Ever After?\n\nProbably neither. Just yet.\n\nIf you're in favour of this post-Brexit EU-UK trade deal and you're looking for clues to be upbeat, I'd say it's significant that the two chief negotiators issued a joint statement before parting ways.\n\nThis wasn't a case of each stomping off to a separate corner before briefing negatively about the other.\n\nThat differences remain on the three key issues: fishing rights in UK waters, competition regulations and the governance of a deal (ie how to ensure both sides stick to the agreement or face penalties) should come as no surprise.\n\nLimited progress was made this week on all fronts in talks, but as I, and many other Brexit commentators, have long suggested, you need political involvement at the highest levels to make the final, most difficult compromises.\n\nOr to publicly declare an agreement is just not possible, and a no deal scenario is heading our way.\n\nPositive-minded readers of this blog might also consider that, even if the EU-UK deal were almost agreed, the European Commission president and arguably, especially Boris Johnson, who has aligned himself so personally to \"getting Brexit done\", would want to put their personal stamp on things.\n\nConfirmation that they will call each other on Saturday afternoon could therefore be seen as a \"good\" sign. Although sources in the EU and UK warn not to expect news of the conclusive Big Breakthrough following their chat.\n\nCynics might nod their head too when I say that - considering the uncomfortable political compromises both sides have to make to reach a deal - one more \"crisis\", aka the current stop in talks, is quite useful to demonstrate to the public back home that you're hanging on in there, fighting for their interests.\n\nThat's certainly the way to interpret France's threat to use its veto if a deal is agreed, and it doesn't like it.\n\nEmmanuel Macron has enjoyed the role of Brexit bad cop throughout. It plays well domestically.\n\nAnd \"France the frenemy\" is an easy headline in the UK too.\n\nBut reality is more nuanced. Paris trumpets more brashly what is the belief in all EU capitals, and in the UK government: Yes to this deal but not at any cost.\n\nThe priority in Brussels is to protect the single market. The EU hoped to contain UK competition with a common rulebook.\n\nBut the UK wants to be nimble and competitive; to compromise post-Brexit sovereignty as little as possible.\n\nOtherwise, government figures ask, what was the point of leaving the European Union?\n\nIf you're looking for some certainty in all this, here you go: Neither side will sign on the dotted line if they can't sell this deal as a victory.\n\nNegotiations will likely become even thornier if they re-start next week.\n\nThe government's Internal Market Bill was expected to return to the House of Commons on Monday.\n\nAnd the long-awaited Finance Bill, scheduled to be tabled on Tuesday. Both could contain clauses contradicting the Protocol on Northern Ireland, signed with the EU last year as part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.\n\nThe government insists the clauses are necessary, as a safety net, to ensure the smooth circulation of goods within the United Kingdom, in case of a no deal situation with the EU.\n\nBut the European Parliament has warned it will veto any deal with the UK, if Downing Street includes the clauses. Breaking the treaty is unacceptable, says the EU. Safety net or not.\n\nSo the pressure is on. On all sides.\n\nWe're witnessing that last minute, five to midnight scramble for a deal, widely predicted, but which the UK and EU always said was the last thing they wanted.", "Esther Dingley sent this photo of her at the top of a mountain on 22 November\n\nA search for a British hiker missing in the Pyrenees has been halted due to bad weather.\n\nEsther Dingley, 37, last messaged her partner Dan Colegate via WhatsApp on 22 November, when she was on top of Pic de Sauvegarde on the France-Spain border.\n\nShe had been due to return from her solo walking trek on 25 November.\n\nMr Colegate said police were now probing \"non-accident\" options. Police said bad weather in Huesca, in north-eastern Spain, had halted the search.\n\nOfficers are treating the disappearance as a missing person case and have circulated posters of Ms Dingley in the area.\n\nDan Colegate and Esther Dingley had always been keen travellers\n\nMr Colegate said the case had been turned over to a \"specialised judicial unit in France\".\n\n\"This means they will be looking at other options beyond a mountain accident,\" he said.\n\nMs Dingley had been travelling in the couple's camper van while Mr Colegate stayed at a farm in the Gascony area of France.\n\nThe weekend she set out on the trek, the couple's story about their adventures around Europe in the camper van since 2014 was published by BBC News.\n\nMs Dingley had started walking from Benasque in Spain and had planned to spend 22 November, when she was last heard from, at Refuge de Venasque in France, Mr Colegate said.\n\nThe couple had lived in Durham before deciding to pack up their lives and go travelling after Mr Colegate nearly died from an infection.\n\nMissing posters have been circulated around the region\n\nFollow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Gitanjali Rao says she doesn't look like \"your typical scientist\"\n\nA teenage scientist and inventor named Time magazine's first-ever Kid of the Year has said she hopes to inspire others to come up with ideas to \"solve the world's problems\".\n\nGitanjali Rao, 15, has invented technologies including a device that can identify lead in drinking water, and an app that detects cyberbullying.\n\nShe was chosen from more than 5,000 US nominees for the landmark title.\n\n\"If I can do it, you can do it, and anyone can do it,\" she said.\n\nIn an interview for Time magazine with actor and humanitarian Angelina Jolie, Ms Rao said she does not look like \"your typical scientist\".\n\n\"Everything I see on TV is that it's an older, usually white man as a scientist,\" she said.\n\n\"My goal has really shifted not only from creating my own devices to solve the world's problems, but inspiring others to do the same as well. Because, from personal experience, it's not easy when you don't see anyone else like you.\"\n\nMs Rao, from the US state of Colorado, said there are many issues that need to be solved.\n\n\"Our generation is facing so many problems that we've never seen before. But then at the same time we're facing old problems that still exist,\" she told Time.\n\n\"Like, we're sitting here in the middle of a new global pandemic, and we're also like still facing human-rights issues. There are problems that we did not create but that we now have to solve, like climate change and cyberbullying with the introduction of technology.\"\n\nThe Time award is just the latest accolade for Ms Rao.\n\nShe was previously named \"America's top young scientist\" for inventing a quick, low-cost test to detect lead-contaminated water.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Gitanjali Rao: 'Never be afraid to try'\n\nTime magazine began naming its Man of the Year in 1927, and later updated it to Person of the Year.\n\nLast year, Greta Thunberg, the Swedish schoolgirl who inspired a global movement to fight climate change, became the youngest person ever to be chosen by the magazine.\n\nTime said the new Kid of the Year title was a \"barometer for the rising leaders of America's youngest generation\".\n\nIt is set to announce its 2020 Person of the Year next week.", "The UK has appointed an entrepreneur as its first technology envoy to the United States and consul-general to San Francisco.\n\nJoe White has worked for 20 years in the digital sector, including as a Silicon Valley investor.\n\nIt is the first time the two roles have been combined and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the move underlined the UK's commitment to the tech sector.\n\nMr White said it was an honour to represent the UK at a \"critical time\".\n\nThe Foreign Office said he had extensive experience as an entrepreneur and venture capital investor and most recently worked as a general partner at tech fund Entrepreneur First.\n\nHe was made an MBE in 2017 for services to technology businesses.\n\nMr Raab said: \"The UK and the US are the largest investors in each other's economies and this important appointment further underlines our commitment to the tech sector.\n\n\"I am delighted Joe will take on this enhanced role as we look to build back better and support an innovative post-pandemic global economy.\"\n\nMr White said: \"It is an honour to represent the UK at this critical time, and a pleasure to support our world renowned tech sector which continues to go from strength to strength.\n\n\"I am looking forward to working closely with UK government tech teams in the US and in the UK, to further our growing and important relationship with the US tech community.\"\n\nMr White will take up his appointment later this year and report to the British ambassador to the US.\n\nDiplomacy was once about nation talking unto nation.\n\nWell, not anymore. For power these days is held not just by countries but also by corporations - especially the technology giants in California.\n\nSo the UK has decided it needs a technology envoy to represent Britain to the likes of Apple and Amazon, Google and Facebook.\n\nOur new man in Silicon Valley, Joe White, is not a smooth-talking Foreign Office lifer but a successful technology entrepreneur.\n\nHis job will be to engage with the technology sector, spot commercial opportunities and support collaboration on everything from trade to research and development.\n\nHis biggest challenge, however, may be defending the interests of millions of Britons whose daily lives are shaped by these powerful firms and their ubiquitous products.", "The ad campaign will run on TV and radio as well as online\n\nOnline shoppers are being warned of the risks of cyber-fraud during the festive season.\n\nThe National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) - part of GCHQ - is launching a major campaign called Cyber Aware with its first ever TV ads.\n\nIt says over last year's Christmas shopping period there was an average loss of £775 per incident from online shopping fraud.\n\nThe NCSC is outlining six key things people can do to protect accounts.\n\nOnline shopping has seen significant growth this year and is likely to reach new levels at Christmas - even with High Street shops now re-open again in many areas.\n\nAnd with that comes the risk from criminals.\n\nThe NCSC is working on the campaign with the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and aims to help individuals and organisations to protect themselves online.\n\n\"Scammers stole millions from internet shoppers last Christmas - but by following our advice, you can protect yourself from the majority of their crimes,\" said Lindy Cameron, chief executive of the NCSC.\n\n\"We hope the Cyber Aware campaign helps people to shop confidently online and enjoy their Christmas.\"\n\nOnline shoppers will be advised to use two-factor authentication\n\nStatistics by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau reveal that over last year's Christmas shopping period (from November 2019 to end of January 2020) there were 17,405 reports of online shopping fraud, reporting a loss of £13.5m - an average of £775 per incident, according to the NCSC.\n\nAs well as a website, there is also a television and radio advertising campaign running until Christmas Eve to advise on six essential behaviours to protect online accounts and devices.\n\n\"As we approach the Christmas season, we should all be on our guard and take the practical Cyber Aware actions to keep us safe as we work, shop and socialise online,\" Penny Mordaunt, the Paymaster General said.", "Madeleine McCann was three when she went missing in 2007\n\nScotland Yard is still treating Madeleine McCann as a missing person, the Met Commissioner has said, despite the belief of German prosecutors that she is dead.\n\nDame Cressida Dick said the force was working with German investigators but had not seen all of their evidence.\n\nMadeleine disappeared in 2007 aged three on holiday in Portugal.\n\nProsecutors previously said they have evidence a German child sex offender named as Christian B killed her.\n\nBut although Christian B, 43, was identified as a suspect in June, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said the evidence is not strong enough to charge him.\n\nSuspects' surnames are not usually revealed in Germany for privacy reasons.\n\nDame Cressida said that the Met's position had not changed since the summer, when the force said its investigation - Operation Grange - remained a missing person inquiry as there is no \"definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead\".\n\nShe said a small team of Met Police investigators continued to work \"very closely\" with police in Germany and Portugal.\n\n\"We will continue until the time that it is right, either because much more light has been thrown on this or somebody has been brought to justice,\" she said.\n\n\"Or if we feel we have exhausted all possible opportunities. We're not at any of those stages at the moment, and the team continues.\"\n\nDespite the close co-operation, she said she did not expect \"every single piece of material to be shared with us\".\n\n\"I'm sure they're sharing the relevant things at the relevant times with us,\" Dame Cressida said.\n\nMadeleine, from Rothley in Leicestershire, went missing from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on 3 May 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.\n\nOfficial records show Christian B has 17 previous convictions, including for rape and sexual abuse of children\n\nChristian B is currently serving a prison sentence for drug offences in Germany and lost an appeal last month against a further seven-year sentence for rape.\n\nHe attacked a 72-year-old American woman in 2005 in the same area from where Madeleine disappeared about 18 months later.\n\nPolice believe he was regularly living in this part of Portugal between 1997 and 2007, staying in a camper van at the time he is suspected of abducting Madeleine.", "Tommy Davies wrote a blog about his journey and spoke about it on BBC Radio 2\n\nA car enthusiast who claimed to have broken the speed record between John O'Groats and Land's End has been cleared of dangerous driving.\n\nThomas Davies, 29, allegedly completed the 841-mile journey in September 2017 in nine hours and 36 minutes, at an average speed of 89mph.\n\nMr Davies, of Corwen, north Wales, was also cleared of two counts of perverting the course of justice.\n\nHe told his trial that what happened was an \"exaggeration of real life\".\n\nTommy Davies (right) was cleared of all charges at Truro Crown Court\n\nTruro Crown Court heard Mr Davies wrote a blog about the journey for a website called Piston Heads and appeared on YouTube, in national newspapers and on the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2.\n\nRyan Murray, prosecuting, said Mr Davies had an ambition to travel between John O'Groats and Land's End \"quicker than anyone else had ever done before\" and that he used \"illegal methods\" to achieve his ambition.\n\nHe said the average speed to complete the 841-mile journey, including a stop for fuel, was 89mph.\n\nBut Mr Davies told the jury: \"I don't dispute a journey was made. I dispute the manner and the speed of the journey.\"\n\nHe said the prosecution's case was circumstantial and was \"wedded\" to the blog he had written being accurate - but he told the jury it was an exaggeration.\n\nHe said he accepted it was \"obvious\" that he had \"done some stupid things\", adding: \"I am not the man that I was three years ago.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "A Roman figurine found near Chelmsford, Essex, in 2014, would now be classed as treasure\n\nPlans aimed at protecting newly-uncovered treasure in England and Wales have been unveiled by the government.\n\nChanges to the 1996 Treasure Act will see artefacts defined as treasure if they are of historical or cultural significance.\n\nThey are intended to ensure significant artefacts are not lost to the public and will instead be able to go on display in museums.\n\nThe move follows the growth in popularity of metal detecting.\n\nUnder the pre-existing rules, objects are classified as treasure if they are found to be more than 300 years old, made of gold or silver, or found with artefacts made of precious metals.\n\nThe Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said a number of Roman finds on UK soil had not met the current criteria for the definition of treasure.\n\n\"The search for buried treasures by budding detectorists has become more popular than ever before and many ancient artefacts now see the light of day in museums' collections,\" said culture minister Caroline Dinenage.\n\n\"However it is important that we pursue plans to protect more of our precious history and make it easier for everyone to follow the treasure process.\"\n\nOnce they have officially been identified as treasure they become the property of the Crown and can be acquired by museums for public display.\n\nThe DCMS said the new rules would have protected discoveries like that of a Roman figurine, depicting a British person, found near Chelmsford, Essex, in 2014.\n\nThe artefact, now in the Chelmsford City Museum after an export licence delayed its sale, would not have previously met the definition of treasure because it is made from a copper alloy.\n\nThe \"licking dog\" is an example of a healing statue thought to be linked to a Roman temple at Lydney\n\n\"Although it was of outstanding archaeological importance, the dog did not fall under the definition of treasure in the 1996 Act because it was made of lead,\" the DCMS said.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Theatres and concert venues in Northern Ireland have not been given a date to reopen for audiences\n\nOne of Northern Ireland's leading performers has said he \"can't get my head around\" why there has not been a plan to allow venues and theatres to reopen safely.\n\nPeter Corry was giving evidence about the effect of Covid-19 restrictions on the arts to a Stormont committee.\n\nHe also said many young people were \"struggling mentally\" as arts and performance classes had been cancelled.\n\nTheatres and concert venues have not yet been given a date to reopen.\n\nAssembly members (MLAs) on the Communities Committee were also told that £29m in emergency funding for arts, culture and heritage has all been allocated.\n\nAs well as performing, Mr Corry runs a production company and is the artistic director of Belfast Performing Arts School.\n\n\"Like many, in March our diaries completely disappeared,\" he told MLAs.\n\n\"Everything that we had lined up for the year has gone.\n\n\"We are down to about 20% of what we thought we would have brought in in 2020.\"\n\nPeter Corry said imaginative ways should be found \"to open up performances\"\n\nMr Corry said he could not understand why there was not a plan to allow venues to open and performances to resume safely, even with limited capacity.\n\n\"I found it very confusing, like many people in my sector, how whenever restaurants and pubs opened, when they did open up and people were allowed to socially distance and sit beside total strangers, that wasn't applied to concerts and theatres,\" he told MLAs.\n\n\"I still can't get my head around that, especially when it was then shown that singing was no more dangerous than speaking at the same volume.\n\n\"We need the support to find imaginative ways to open up performance.\"\n\nMinisters have previously insisted that the rules on what can and cannot open are the safest way to avoid the spread of Covid-19 and are evidence-based.\n\nMr Corry also said the effect of restrictions had been \"hugely difficult\" for teachers and pupils at Belfast Performing Arts School.\n\n\"Many teachers have been utterly confused about what they can do and what they can't,\" he said.\n\n\"As a result, classes are cancelled no matter the size of the class or safety or suitability.\n\n\"That's to the detriment, not just to the livelihoods of the teachers, but also to the mental wellbeing of the students.\n\n\"I've spoken to many young people and many pupils in my school and they are struggling mentally with the uncertainty and the lack of routine, the inability to do what they enjoy most.\n\n\"For many young people, performing is the one place they feel they belong.\"\n\nMr Corry said online lessons worked \"to a certain extent\" but could not replace physical classes.\n\n\"I'm concerned that we are at a point where pupils are starting to disengage due to the lack of physical classes.\n\n\"Parents are also concerned about the amount of time their children are spending in front of a screen.\"\n\nAbout £29m of emergency funding for the arts, culture, heritage and languages was agreed by the Stormont executive in September.\n\nOfficials from the Department for Communities (DfC) told MLAs on the committee that all of that funding had now been allocated to a number of schemes but not all had yet been spent.\n\n\"It is important to say that all of the funding has been allocated to distribution bodies,\" Joanna Gray from DfC told the committee.\n\n\"So there isn't any funding that is still sitting around waiting to have approvals or policy decisions made about it.\n\n\"It's just a case now of those delivery bodies making assessments of applications.\"", "This phonetic alphabet used for decades is to be changed\n\nGermany is to revamp its phonetic alphabet to remove words added by the Nazis.\n\nBefore the Nazi dictatorship some Jewish names were used in the phonetic alphabet - such as \"D for David\", \"N for Nathan\" and \"Z for Zacharias\".\n\nBut the Nazis replaced these with Dora, North Pole and Zeppelin, and their use has since continued with most Germans unaware of their anti-Semitic origin.\n\nExperts are working on new terms, to be put to the public and adopted in 2022.\n\nThe initiative sprang from Michael Blume, in charge of fighting anti-Semitism in the state of Baden-Württemberg, backed by the Central Council of Jews in Germany.\n\nThe job of devising new terms for the problematic letters is now in the hands of the German Institute for Standardization (DIN).\n\nThe commonly-used equivalent in the UK is the Nato phonetic alphabet, with terms such as \"F for Foxtrot, T for Tango\". But many English speakers also use terms like \"D for Dennis, S for Sugar\" on the phone.\n\nIn order to preserve the memory of the anti-Semitic list, it will be presented as an annex to the new list to be put to a public consultation next year. After that discussion, the new German list is to be adopted in late 2022.\n\nDIN spokesman Julian Pinnig said choosing new personal names would be more problematic than German town or city names, because the choice of personal names might not reflect the nation's ethnic diversity today.\n\nOther Jewish names removed by the Nazis in 1934 were \"Jacob\" for the letter \"J\" and \"Samuel\" for \"S\", which became \"Julius\" and \"Siegfried\".\n\nA few Nazi references were, however, replaced after World War Two, such as \"Ypres\" for \"Y\", which became \"Ypsilon\" - originally representing the Greek letter pronounced \"U\" and later the Latin letter \"Y\". Ypres was notoriously the battle where the Germans first used poison gas in World War One.\n\n\"Nordpol\" (North Pole) retains echoes of Nazism, however. Adolf Hitler's ideology rested on the bogus superiority of a mythical northern Aryan race.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.", "Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton have volunteered to have their Covid-19 vaccinations be publicly televised.\n\nThe trio of two Democrats and one Republican said they would get the jab once it has been approved by regulators and recommended by US health officials.\n\nThe move is intended to boost public confidence in the safety and efficacy of coronavirus vaccines.\n\nPolls indicate large swathes of the US public are reluctant to get the jab.\n\nA Gallup poll - conducted in October before the results of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine trials were released - showed roughly six in 10 Americans would be willing to take the vaccine, up from a low of 50% in September.\n\nNo vaccination has yet been approved in the US, but government regulators will be examining Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines in the coming weeks.\n\n\"I promise you that when it's been made for people who are less at risk, I will be taking it,\" Mr Obama said in a SiriusXM radio interview on Wednesday.\n\n\"I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science, and what I don't trust is getting Covid.\"\n\nRepresentatives for Mr Bush and Mr Clinton told CNN that the former presidents - who have banded together in the past - pledged to take the vaccine \"as soon as available\" to them and urged all Americans to do the same.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Not everyone is a fan of injections\n\nPublic health experts have said mass inoculation against the virus could result in herd immunity, an essential step in curbing the spread of the disease.\n\nThe public vaccinations may play into a broader awareness campaign once a vaccine is formally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.\n\nIn the UK - where the Pfizer vaccine has already been approved - the press secretary to Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suggested he may take the vaccine live on TV to convince others to get it too.", "Talks to reach a post-Brexit trade deal have been paused, because UK and EU negotiators say \"significant divergences\" remain.\n\nMichel Barnier and David Frost said conditions for a deal between the two sides have not been met.\n\nEuropean Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen and PM Boris Johnson will discuss the state of play on Saturday.\n\nState aid subsidies, fishing and enforcement of new rules remain the key sticking points in negotiations.\n\nIf a deal is not agreed by 31 December, the two sides will trade on World Trade Organization rules, meaning the introduction of taxes on imports.\n\nReleasing identical statements on Twitter, Mr Barnier and Lord Frost said: \"After one week of intense negotiation in London, the two chief negotiators agreed today that the conditions for an agreement are not met, due to significant divergences on level playing field, governance and fisheries.\n\n\"On this basis, they agreed to pause the talks in order to brief their principals on the state of play of the negotiations.\"\n\nMr Barnier is negotiating on behalf of the 27 EU member states and can only act within the mandate set by their leaders.\n\nA senior UK government source told BBC News the statement shows how far apart both sides are and that the trade talks have run into problems.\n\nEarlier, Boris Johnson's spokesman said the government was \"committed to working hard to try and reach agreement\" but emphasised that the UK couldn't \"agree a deal that doesn't allow us to take back control\".\n\nHe added that \"time is in very short supply and we are at a very difficult point in talks\".\n\nThe Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said it was important for the 27 EU member states to give negotiators \"the space to conclude these talks\". He added that he \"fervently hoped\" a trade deal can be agreed.\n\nMeanwhile, France's Europe minister, Clement Beaune, warned that his country could \"veto\" a deal if it did not satisfy their demands.\n\nThe European Parliament would need to ratify any deal before it can be implemented and UK MPs are likely to get the chance to vote on legislation implementing the agreement.\n\nAnd the 27 EU national parliaments could also need to ratify an agreement - depending on the actual contents of the deal.", "Frequent flyers John (l) and Tim Granger (r) are delighted with their purchases\n\nThey flew off shelves: slippers, cups and saucers, blankets and bedding, towels, even drinks trolleys.\n\nBritish Airways' online sale of thousands of surplus stock not needed for its aircraft caused a stampede of buying from aviation enthusiasts and bargain-hunters.\n\nIn the first 24 hours, 5,000 purchases were made, with the website getting 250,000 page views. In the first four days, 1,900 six-packs of bread baskets were snapped up.\n\nMeal trolleys were among the first to sell out. Items from the now-retired Boeing 747s in BA's aircraft fleet were in big demand.\n\nTrouble is, the sell-off seems to have been so popular it risks becoming a PR headache.\n\nWhile there are plenty of satisfied customers, there are also plenty of dissatisfied ones - just check Twitter, Trustpilot and the frequent flyer website Head for Points, where buyers are venting annoyance about broken and missing items, non-deliveries and lack of responses from BA and the company it used to handle the sale, Whatabuy.\n\n\"Such an unnecessary own goal,\" said Nick Hadjinikos, whose girlfriend is still waiting for her plates and bread baskets.\n\nThe director at communications consultancy Kallinos said: \"During the ordering process, the site kept crashing after payment information had been submitted. This was the big worry, so I put in a couple of emails to Whatabuy and never heard back.\n\n\"Then I took to Twitter and found we were not alone. BA should have spotted the problem and headed it off. I think most of the stuff was snapped up by hawks and ended up on eBay.\"\n\nMeal-equipment boxes from Boeing 747 aircraft were in the sale\n\nAnother buyer, Simon Saunders, told the BBC: \"The whole thing is a shambles. Whatabuy replied to my third email and simply said, 'You will get your stuff in due course.'\"\n\nComments on the Head for Points website include:\n\nWhatabuy did not respond to BBC requests for comment. But in an email to a customer complaining about their order, the company said it had seen \"an unprecedented level of demand\" and processing was taking longer than usual. There had also been IT issues, Whatabuy said.\n\nHead for Points' Rhys Jones said complaints to his website revealed obvious problems with the sale, but he still believes the majority of his readers seem delighted with their purchases.\n\nRhys Jones, from Head for Points, says that despite criticism of BA, most of his website's readers are happy\n\n\"This sale seems to have captured the imagination of travel enthusiasts. It offers them a chance to get hold of some authentic BA memorabilia,\" Mr Jones said.\n\nThat's why John Granger bought some mugs, plates and a blanket - a gift for partner Tim. \"It was curiosity and nostalgia. We love flying so much but have not been able to travel during the pandemic. It's a reminder of our travels.\n\n\"The crockery is actually high-quality bone china [designed by William Edwards].\" He paid £44.70 (including P&P) for the lot. \"That's remarkable value. I'm not sure why BA was selling them so cheap.\"\n\nKirill Maksaev and partner Alexander Smotrov bought £100 worth of BA crockery and would have purchased a lot more, had they been quicker off the mark. They haven't got the items yet, but are not concerned. \"It's fine. We can wait. We've had the confirmation email,\" said Kirill.\n\nKirill Maksaev (r) and Alex Smotrov (l) with some of their air travel memorabilia\n\nThe purchases will be part of the mini-museum Alex has set up in his home - boarding passes, amenity bags, napkins, crockery and branded goods marking his years of air travel. \"We are plane spotters: we are passionate about aviation,\" Kirill said.\n\nBA said it had expected a huge amount of interest from aviation fans, bargain hunters and people looking for \"unique\" Christmas gifts.\n\n\"But of course, no one could have predicted quite how popular it would be and how quickly items would sell out,\" the airline told the BBC.\n\n\"We are working hard to ensure all customers receive their orders as quickly as possible and in time for Christmas. We're in touch with those who may not have received their items yet to reassure them they're on their way.\"\n\nAnd the airline promised refunds \"for any items that are not in the condition advertised on the site\".\n\nWould BA do it again? \"We'll consider our options once we've reviewed the success of the scheme and any learnings,\" the airline said.", "Shukri Yahye-Abdi came to the UK in 2017\n\nThe death of a 12-year-old refugee girl who drowned in a river was an accident, a coroner has ruled.\n\nShukri Yahye-Abdi, who came to the UK in 2017, died after entering the River Irwell in Bury on 27 June 2019 while holding hands with another child, who cannot be named for legal reasons.\n\nCoroner Joanne Kearsley said there was \"no evidence whatsoever\" to suggest that Shukri was pushed into the river.\n\nShe added that claims Shukri had been bullied were \"totally incorrect\".\n\nShukri's mother Zam Zam Ture said the verdict had not brought \"justice\" for her daughter.\n\nFollowing the inquest, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it did not find evidence to indicate Shukri's family were treated less favourably by police because of their ethnic background.\n\nShukri's family had claimed she had been pushed into the water by girls who had been bullying her.\n\nHer school later said it would review its anti-bullying policy amid concerns raised in the community.\n\nMs Kearlsey said there was no evidence of racist bullying by other children and such claims were \"simply rumours and unhelpful speculation\".\n\nShe said Shukri had gone into the river while holding hands with Child One and moved into deeper water after the 12-year-old was told she would be taught to swim.\n\nShe said Child One had been \"naive and foolish\" but what she did did not amount to manslaughter.\n\nShukri's mother Zam Zam Ture said she felt \"so bad\" about the verdict\n\nShukri's family's lawyer said they would seek a judicial review of the inquest's findings.\n\nMs Ture said she felt \"so bad today\" as she had waited a \"long time for justice\".\n\n\"I know what happened to my daughter. I know today I don't have justice, but the justice is coming,\" she added.\n\nShe had previously claimed institutional racism within Greater Manchester Police (GMP) meant officers failed to carry out a full investigation into her daughter's death.\n\nThe IOPC said there was \"insufficient evidence on which a case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct for any of the individual officers could be found\".\n\n\"Therefore the complaints against GMP are not upheld,\" an IOPC spokeswoman said.\n\nThe IOPC's final report said GMP officers had reached the river within three minutes of receiving the report about Shukri being in trouble and taken witness accounts \"almost immediately\".\n\nIt said officers had visited the 12-year-old's school the following day and \"added relevant information concerning bullying to their investigation\".\n\nIt added that GMP had \"promptly brought in translation services\" and a family liaison officer had communicated with Shukri's family throughout.\n\nIOPC Regional Director Amanda Rowe said the complaints received following the 12-year-old's death \"were treated with the upmost seriousness and very carefully assessed against the evidence available to us\".\n\n\"I am satisfied that [GMP's investigation] was carried out in line with national and local policies and procedures,\" she said.\n\nShe added that while \"nothing we can do or say will bring Shukri back\", she hoped the IOPC's work could give her family \"the clarity and facts they had rightly sought\".\n\nIn the aftermath of the 12-year-old's death, more than a million people signed a petition about the case, calling for \"justice for Shukri\" and thousands of people attended events marking the anniversary of her death.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Williamson: 'We are a much better country' for approving vaccine\n\nThe UK is getting a coronavirus vaccine first because it is a \"much better country\" than France, Belgium and the US, says the education secretary.\n\nSome UK ministers claim Brexit speeded the process up - but Gavin Williamson said it was down to having superior medical experts.\n\nOn Wednesday the UK's medical regulator was the first to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for use.\n\nThe EU said it was \"definitely not in the game of comparing regulators\".\n\nA source close to Mr Williamson said that his intention had been to \"praise the scientific brilliance of the regulator, but he is known to be enthusiastically patriotic and that enthusiasm clearly shone through in what was a broadly light-hearted conversation with the studio host\".\n\nThe Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's decision means the vaccine will start to be rolled out to the most vulnerable people from next week.\n\nPeople will need two doses, three weeks apart, so the vaccination project is expected to take several months to complete.\n\nSpeaking to LBC radio on Thursday, Mr Williamson said: \"I just reckon we've got the very best people in this country and we've obviously got the best medical regulator, much better than the French have, much better than the Belgians have, much better than the Americans have.\n\n\"That doesn't surprise me at all, because we're a much better country than every single one of them.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. BBC's Laura Foster explains the order in which the Covid vaccine will be given\n\nHe said the UK had a \"real competitive advantage, but do you know who it's down to? It's down to those brilliant, brilliant clinicians in the regulator who've made it happen so fast, so our thanks go out to them because by doing what they've done, they're going to have saved lives.\"\n\nBut European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said the MHRA's experts are \"very good\" but \"we are definitely not in the game of comparing regulators across countries, nor on commenting on claims as to who is better\".\n\n\"This is not a football competition, we are talking about the life and health of people,\" he said.\n\nConservative peer Lord Forsyth said it was \"disappointing to see some folk trying to make political capital out of the brilliant vaccine news\".\n\n\"Frankly it's just unseemly and we should just be united in our thanks to those responsible for this breakthrough and the hope it brings to every person on the planet,\" the former Scotland Secretary wrote in a tweet.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Michael Forsyth This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAnd some have expressed concern that the UK approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine too quickly.\n\nDr Anthony Fauci, who is leading the response to the pandemic in the US, told Fox News that the US Food and Drug Administration was being more careful. and suggested the UK's process had been \"rushed\".\n\n\"The way the FDA is, our FDA is doing it, is the correct way,\" Dr Fauci said. \"We really scrutinize the data very carefully to guarantee to the American public that this is a safe and efficacious vaccine.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dr Fauci told the BBC: \"I have a great deal of confidence in what the UK does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint\"\n\nBut he later rowed back on his claims, saying he had a \"great deal of confidence\" in the UK's scientific and regulatory standards and he had not meant to \"imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way\".\n\n\"Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the UK,\" he told the BBC. \"And that's just the reality.\"\n\nBoth the MHRA and the EU have rejected Health Secretary Matt Hancock's claim that Brexit allowed the UK to \"speed up\" doing \"all the same safety checks and the same processes\" as the EU.\n\nThe MHRA's chief executive, Dr June Raine, said on Wednesday that \"we have been able to authorise the supply of this vaccine using provisions under European law, which exist until 1 January\".", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Covid: 'People living alone won't be left alone'\n\nThe first people to get the coronavirus vaccine in Wales will get the jab on Tuesday, First Minister Mark Drakeford has said.\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was approved by regulators on Wednesday and supplies have already started to arrive in the UK.\n\nFront-line NHS staff and the over 80s are at the top of the list for the vaccine.\n\nCare home residents are also among those identified as a priority.\n\nIt comes as new rules stopping pubs, restaurants and cafes serving alcohol on the premises come into force at 18:00 GMT on Friday.\n\nMeanwhile, the first minister confirmed a single person, single parent or someone with caring responsibilities can join a bubble at Christmas.\n\nBetween 23 and 27 December, three households from around the UK can join together and the single person would be in addition to those.\n\nWales' chief medical officer Frank Atherton previously said getting the vaccines to care homes was a \"work in progress\" and \"very difficult\" to do because it needs to be kept at a temperature of about -70C.\n\nSpeaking at the Welsh Government's briefing, Mr Drakeford said: \"Our plans in Wales have been thoroughly tested.\n\n\"We expect to receive the first supplies in the next couple of days.\n\n\"We have trained staff to give the new vaccine.\"\n\nThe first minister said a \"precautionary approach\" would be taken\n\nHe said he hoped it would mark \"a turning point in the pandemic\" and \"put us on what is going to be a long path back to normality\".\n\nHowever, he did say his government will take a \"precautionary approach\" to lifting Covid-19 restrictions \"until we have a sufficient number of people vaccinated\".\n\n\"Even with the vaccines that are coming our way fastest, you have to have two doses of them three weeks apart, and they are not effective until after the second dose,\" Mr Drakeford said.\n\n\"So even those people who will be vaccinated in Wales in December will not see the benefit of that vaccine until into the new year.\"\n\nWelsh Conservative leader in the Senedd Paul Davies called for Mr Drakeford to appoint a vaccines minister to ensure the process went smoothly.\n\nThe vaccine was \"giving people hope at the end of a very dark tunnel\", he said.\n\nMr Davies added: \"What's important now is that we see the roll out of the vaccine will take place as soon as possible and that's why I think it's important that the Welsh Government have a specific minister responsible for the rollout of this vaccine, making sure this vaccine now rolls out across Wales over the next few months.\"", "A decision to scrap next summer's exams was made in Wales last month\n\nThe man responsible for working out the details of next year's exam assessments in Wales says he hopes pupils and teachers will get clarity by January.\n\nFormer head teacher Geraint Rees said his group's ambition is to deliver both fairness to students and qualifications which \"stand the test of time\".\n\nGCSE, A-level and AS exams will be replaced by assessments in 2021 due to Covid-19 disruption.\n\nMr Rees said the qualifications must be \"worth what they say on the tin\".\n\nThe senior education consultant is chair of the design and delivery group, tasked by the Welsh Government with working out details of the assessments.\n\nEducation Minister Kirsty Williams decided last month to scrap exams in 2021 because of fears there would not be a level playing field due to the pandemic.\n\nSchool heads and college principals are also part of the 15-strong group, aimed at making sure there is both fair deal for students but also integrity in the qualifications themselves.\n\nMr Rees, a former head teacher of Ysgol Plasmawr in Cardiff, said students needed to know their qualifications were \"worth what it said on the tin and that I worked hard for it.\"\n\nHe said some adjustments would be made to reflect the disruption but the core of each subject had to remain and pupils needed to learn and understand them.\n\nKeep learning and keep driving yourself forward and it's everyone else's job to make sure the system is fair and reflects the circumstances we're in\n\nThe eventual assessments will be \"copper-bottomed\" ones that can be signed off by Qualifications Wales and everybody in the system could say they knew what they were doing and \"what we did was right for learners and what they receive in the summer will stand the test of time\".\n\nHe expects the group to pass its recommendations to the education minister by the end of the month.\n\n\"My hope is in January, everyone will have clarity around what it means for them and what the next few months will look like in terms of teaching, learning and assessment,\" said Mr Rees.\n\n\"For young people, the only advice I'd give is keep learning and keep driving yourself forward and it's everyone else's job to make sure the system is fair and reflects the circumstances we're in.\"\n\nIn England, extra measures were announced on Thursday to \"boost fairness and support students\" for next summer's GCSE and A-level exams, which are going ahead there.\n\nMore generous grading, advance notice of exam topics and \"second chance\" exams in July have been promised there to make up for the disruption faced by students during the pandemic.\n\nCancelling exams answered one big question but it posed many others.\n\nThey include: What exactly is meant by \"teacher-managed classroom-based assessments\" and what else will count towards grades?\n\nOver to the design and delivery advisory group with the big task of building a detailed model before Christmas.\n\nHow courses will be assessed is one thing, how the A*s, Cs, and Es compare with this and other years is another.\n\nIn England, where exams are still planned for next year, grades are set to be awarded in line with last summer.\n\nHow grading is decided here is bound to take account of that.\n\nQualifications Wales said it was continuing to \"work closely\" with regulators in England and Northern Ireland to protect \"the interests of learners in Wales\".\n\nFormer university vice-chancellor and higher education consultant Sir Deian Hopkin said he did not feel any differences between the nations would harm students' chances at university.\n\n\"I am under no doubt at all that universities are going to accept students from Wales just as they always have,\" he said.\n\n\"The reality is students come in all shapes and sizes and universities make all sorts of offers, sometimes with no conditions attached at all.\n\n\"Universities are competing for students. The student numbers have dropped and Brexit is about to hit us.\n\n\"The reality is universities are very glad to get as many students as they can and therefore I think Welsh students will be just as attractive to them - exam or not.\"", "Last updated on .From the section Premier League\n\nA rejuvenated Arsenal recorded an important victory over Chelsea to end their seven-game run without a win in the Premier League and ease the pressure on boss Mikel Arteta.\n\nTwo first-half goals set the platform for the Gunners' first top-flight win since 1 November.\n\nAlexandre Lacazette sent goalkeeper Edouard Mendy the wrong way from the penalty spot and Granit Xhaka curled in a superb free-kick 10 minutes later to put Arteta's side in control.\n\nBukayo Saka's cross then dropped into the top corner early in the second half to put the game beyond the visitors.\n\nTammy Abraham scored from close range to make it a nervy final five minutes for the hosts and Jorginho then saw his weak penalty saved by Bernd Leno.\n\nBut it was an otherwise lacklustre performance by Frank Lampard's side, who missed the chance to go second.\n\nIt was a well-deserved victory for Arsenal, who climb to 14th and will hope any talk of a relegation battle is now behind them.\n• None Premier League Christmas fixtures: How to follow on TV\n\nIt has been an arduous couple of months between Premier League wins for Arsenal boss Arteta but, on the first anniversary of his first game in charge of the Gunners, his side delivered arguably one of the most important victories of the Spaniard's tenure.\n\nFive months ago, Arsenal and Arteta were celebrating winning the FA Cup against their London rivals, only to watch the title-chasing Blues invest £200m on new players while the Gunners spent Christmas in their lowest league position since 1982.\n\nArteta made six changes to the side beaten by Everton last time out in the league and trusted in youth with 19-year-old pair Saka and Gabriel Martinelli and 20-year-old Emile Smith Rowe.\n\nHe was rewarded with renewed energy and, despite there appearing to be minimal contact when Reece James fouled Kieran Tierney in the box, Lacazette made no mistake from the spot to deservedly put the hosts in front.\n\nXhaka, back in the side following suspension, found the top corner with his free-kick soon after and when Saka's attempted cross dropped over Chelsea goalkeeper Mendy into the net, Arteta must have felt his luck was changing.\n\nMartinelli forced Mendy into a low save after a smart move down Arsenal's left and the Blues stopper was relieved when Lacazette failed to capitalise on his mistake.\n\nMohamed Elneny struck the bar as Arsenal threatened to add to their tally before Chelsea's late reprieve, but the Gunners held on for a first win in the Premier League since they beat Manchester United at Old Trafford almost two months ago.\n\nNew West Brom boss Sam Allardyce suggested the Gunners are one of their relegation rivals this week but Arteta will hope this victory proves the catalyst to propel them up the table.\n\nLampard said beforehand he did not want to let Arsenal off this \"moment\" and will be furious that his Chelsea side did exactly that.\n\nMason Mount hit the post with a free-kick after the dangerous Christian Pulisic was fouled, but the Blues otherwise struggled to break Arsenal down in the first half.\n\nOne of the concerns for Lampard will be Timo Werner's failure to score in his past 10 games in all competitions, his longest run without a goal for four years.\n\nThe German forward was taken off at half-time as Lampard brought on Jorginho and Callum Hudson-Odoi in a bid to inject some life into his side, but Arsenal's third goal 10 minutes into the second half quashed any hopes of a comeback.\n\nIt was only in the final few minutes that Chelsea really threatened, though Abraham's chested effort was initially ruled out for offside before being awarded by the video assistant referee.\n\nHad Jorginho netted from the spot moments later it may have been different, but Chelsea will head back across London disappointed with their performance at Emirates Stadium.\n\n'This was a big day for us'\n\nArsenal boss Mikel Arteta told BBC Sport: \"The result is the main thing, we really needed that win. We have been unlucky and frustrated with our results in the last eight weeks so this was a big day for us.\n\n\"From the first whistle you could see the team had the energy and willingness to come out and win the game.\n\n\"The spirit before the game was really positive, they really wanted it. I am pleased for the players and for the supporters, We have let them down for many weeks so it was a good day to give them something to cheer about.\"\n\nChelsea boss Frank Lampard told BBC Sport: \"In the second half we showed some urgency but it was too late. The first half we gave ourselves too much to do, we were very poor. You can't lack energy and desire in the Premier League and we did.\n\n\"You can prepare as well as you want but if you turn up like that that's another thing. It's in the mind.\n\n\"If you perform below par things go against you like the Saka goal. That's life. On another day we could have scored the penalty and come back but it's not a day for us.\n\n\"The teams that win, win, win relentlessly weren't winning two or three years ago. We are not there yet, that's clear. I felt it when we are on our long unbeaten run and I feel it now. We got a lot wrong today.\"\n\nLacazette leads the way - the stats\n• None Arsenal have won their past 10 home Premier League matches on 26 December, the second-best run in the competition after Manchester United won 12 in a row between 1997 and 2016.\n• None Arsenal recorded their first win in eight Premier League matches, and their first at the Emirates since a 2-1 win over Sheffield United in October.\n• None Chelsea have lost their past three away games in the Premier League, their worst run since February 2019.\n• None Arsenal netted more than once during the first half of a Premier League game for the first time this season, leading by at least two goals at the interval for the first time since a 3-2 victory over Watford in July.\n• None Since the start of last season, Tammy Abraham (21) has scored more than twice as many Premier League goals for Chelsea than any of his team-mates.\n• None No Premier League player has scored the opening goal of the game on more occasions this season than Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette, who has netted four of the Gunners' six such goals.\n• None After netting each of his first eight penalties for Chelsea in all competitions, Jorginho has since missed three of his past six for the club, also failing to do so against Liverpool in September and Krasnodar in October.\n\nChelsea host Aston Villa in the Premier League on Monday (17:30 GMT), before Arsenal visit Brighton on Tuesday (18:00).\n• None Attempt blocked. Kurt Zouma (Chelsea) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Christian Pulisic with a cross.\n• None Attempt blocked. Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Jorginho.\n• None Attempt saved. Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Reece James.\n• None Penalty saved! Jorginho (Chelsea) fails to capitalise on this great opportunity, right footed shot saved in the bottom right corner.\n• None Penalty conceded by Pablo Marí (Arsenal) after a foul in the penalty area.\n• None Attempt missed. Thiago Silva (Chelsea) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Christian Pulisic with a cross.\n• None Goal! Arsenal 3, Chelsea 1. Tammy Abraham (Chelsea) with an attempt from very close range to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Callum Hudson-Odoi.Goal awarded following VAR Review. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None Follow the footballer's campaign for free school meals\n• None Need a new box set for the festive period? All episodes of the epic fantasy drama are streaming now", "Anastasia Yeschchenko was described as a brilliant student\n\nA Russian historian who admitted shooting and dismembering his student partner in St Petersburg has been jailed for 12 and a half years.\n\nOleg Sokolov, 63, an expert on the Napoleonic wars, pleaded guilty to the murder of Anastasia Yeshchenko, 24.\n\nHe was found drunk in a river in November 2019 with Ms Yeshchenko's severed arms in his backpack.\n\nWomen's rights activists say the case shows indifference towards harassment and domestic violence in Russia.\n\nAn online petition with more than 7,500 signatures accused St Petersburg State University of ignoring previous complaints from students against Sokolov.\n\nHe has now been dismissed from the university and from another academic post in France.\n\nIn court Sokolov admitted shooting Ms Yeshchenko four times with a sawn-off shotgun, before chopping up her body with a saw and kitchen knife. A stun pistol was also found in the backpack.\n\nPolice later found other body parts further downstream and in Sokolov's flat.\n\nHe is said to have planned to get rid of the body before publicly taking his own life while dressed as Napoleon.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Oleg Sokolov broke down in court and confessed to the killing\n\nMs Yeshchenko had moved to St Petersburg to study from Krasnodar region in southern Russia, and was a postgraduate student at the time of her death.\n\n\"She was quiet, sweet and always the ideal student,\" an acquaintance told Russia's RIA news agency in November 2019.\n\nRussian media reported that her mother is a police lieutenant colonel and her father a school PE teacher. A brother once played as a goalkeeper for the national junior football team.\n\nA lawyer for the Yeshchenko family, Alexandra Baksheeva, said \"no jail term would bring [her] back\" but that they accepted the court's decision.\n\nSokolov had been living with Ms Yeshchenko for at least three years. He organised Napoleonic re-enactments - in which he played the part of Napoleon and she also took part.\n\nHe wrote dozens of historical research papers, some of them co-authored with Ms Yeshchenko.\n\nAccording to students quoted by AFP, Sokolov enjoyed speaking French and did impressions of Napoleon. They said he called Ms Yeshchenko \"Josephine\", after Napoleon's consort, and asked to be addressed as \"Sire\".\n\nIn court Sokolov alleged that Ms Yeshchenko had attacked him with a knife during a blazing row. It was then that he shot her.\n\nRussian media say he also blamed persecution by an academic rival for his actions.", "The Queen will not be making her annual trip to Sandringham this Christmas\n\nFor the past 32 years the Queen and other members of the Royal Family have spent Christmas at her estate in Sandringham, Norfolk. But this year, because of the coronavirus, the Queen has chosen instead to celebrate \"quietly\" at Windsor Palace. What will this mean for the Christmas regulars who gather at Sandringham?\n\nThis snap of the Royals in 2017 provided Karen Anvil with an income to carry out home renovations and help her daughter\n\nKaren Anvil and her daughter Rachel are regular Christmas Day visitors to church in Sandringham.\n\nMs Anvil shot to fame three years ago after her mobile telephone snap of the 'Fab Four' - The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Sussex - was bought by agencies and used worldwide. She describes the money she made from it as being \"like a lottery win\".\n\nKaren Anvil, with her daughter Rachel, captured images of the Royal Family used around the world\n\nHer good fortune was repeated in 2018 when she took and sold a photo of a pregnant Meghan.\n\n\"I would have liked to have gone this year but would probably have just got pictures of them in their face masks,\" says Ms Anvil.\n\nBut she admits seeing the Royal Family at Sandringham this year would have brought some much needed \"normality\" to her life.\n\nMs Anvil works as a nursing auxiliary at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where her daughter is also employed.\n\nShe says they might volunteer to work Christmas Day instead.\n\nSuper Royalist Mary Relph has spoken regularly with the Queen over the decades\n\nMary Relph, from Shouldham in Norfolk, is one of those Royal fans who gets her Christmas Day started by joining the throngs hoping to catch a glimpse, a wave or a chat with the Queen and members of her family.\n\nShe is known to the Queen by her first name, which, for someone who is not an aristocrat, politician or celebrity, is no mean feat.\n\nMrs Relph has been turning out each year to greet Her Majesty on Christmas morning since 1988.\n\n\"Ooh it's one of the biggest events Norfolk ever has, isn't it?\" she says.\n\nShe is disappointed by the cancellation of this year's gathering, but thinks the Queen has set an example to others by not going to Sandringham.\n\n\"I wasn't expecting them to come, not really, not after all the trouble with the [Covid-19] virus,\" says Mrs Relph.\n\n\"I think she's wise. I think we sort of knew with events she wouldn't come.\"\n\nFor her Sandringham visits, Mrs Relph is usually accompanied either by a friend from Dereham or with a Glaswegian friend she made one year amongst the crowd.\n\nShe says she normally gets her own \"spot\" from which she can watch and speak to members of the Royal Family.\n\n\"I'm one of the chosen few, I think, because I've been going for so many years,\" she says. \"I don't have to stand and queue at the gates like I used to. It's wonderful.\n\n\"We spoke to Kate last year and we always ask her about the children and what they're doing.\"\n\nPrincess Beatrice and Eugenie usually spend Christmas with the Queen\n\nPeter Gray, 61, and his wife Stella, 60, live on the Sandringham estate in the hamlet of Babingley.\n\nTurning out to watch the Royals has been part of their Christmas morning routine for the past eight years.\n\n\"It just makes our Christmas,\" says Mrs Gray. \"It's a good start to the day. We're up there by 07:00 GMT, take a flask, mince pies, sometimes brandy!\"\n\nHer husband Peter is a keen photographer and loves snapping the Royal Family.\n\nHe says his relatives in Australia wait for him to post his photos online.\n\n\"The rest of the family are going to be disappointed not to get my Royal photos this year,\" says Mr Gray.\n\n\"We get there and start queuing, start talking to people from all around the world. It's not just about seeing the royals, it's about the people from China, Canada, Australia and the US too.\n\n\"We stand by the same place each year to ensure a good spot, by the gate, as they come through. They don't normally talk to you heading into church but they do afterwards.\"\n\nPeter Gray captured the Duchess of Cornwall at a previous service\n\nPrince Philip and Prince Andrew among the crowds at Sandringham\n\nMrs Gray says she has been a royal fan \"forever\".\n\n\"I've spoken to Camilla, she's come up and said 'Merry Christmas'. Prince William has come up and said 'hello', too,\" she says.\n\n\"Prince Andrew has come up and been err, 'what are you all doing here? You should be at home'. He's quite abrupt!\n\n\"I don't think he understands why we're all out there in the freezing cold wanting to look round and see him, but we enjoy it.\"\n\nShe says things will be \"different\" this year, and a \"bit strange\".\n\n\"I suppose there are people for whom the day is their whole lives,\" she says. \"It's certainly a big part of our Christmas Day. But we're realists and it is what it is.\n\nUp to 5,000 people turn out to greet the Royal Family every Christmas Day at Sandringham\n\nAlso wondering how he will fill his Christmas morning is hair salon owner Tom Tokelove, 31, who lives in Dersingham, Norfolk, with his husband Ashley.\n\nThe couple and their three poodles have spent the past four Christmases \"freezing\" outside St Mary Magdalene Church.\n\n\"Why? It's such a magical morning,\" says Tom Tokelove. \"Everybody is happy.\n\n\"Even if you're not a massive royalist, it brings everyone together and it's just some way of keeping some sort of tradition.\"\n\nThe couple start the day with a glass of champagne before walking the 20 minutes to the estate.\n\n\"Last year we left at seven in the morning just to make sure we got there in the front of the queue,\" he says.\n\n\"We really, really wanted to see Kate and Wills. Kate said 'good morning' to myself as she glided by, looking very elegant with the children, too.\n\n\"And Charles waved and said 'Merry Christmas'.\"\n\nTom Tokelove caught the Royals including Prince George walking from church to Sandringham House last Christmas\n\nThe Tokeloves usually only stop to watch the Royal Family head into church.\n\nBut last year they stayed on and joined in with the carols as the service was broadcast to those outside.\n\n\"It will be a much different dog walk this year - obviously there'll be no Royals about to celebrate with,\" says Mr Tokelove.\n\n\"[We'll] probably drink much more champagne in the morning and have a more relaxed day.\"\n\nAshley and Tom Tokelove (right) say they will miss their annual walk to Sandringham\n\nThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are among those who turn out to greet the public\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Parts of the UK have woken up to snowy scenes, with a \"white Christmas\" officially declared by the Met Office.\n\nSnowfall was spotted from Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to East Riding of Yorkshire and Northumberland.\n\nMost of the country will have clear and dry weather for Christmas Day but eastern parts of England have seen a light scattering of snow.\n\nIt came as more than 1,300 people were urged to leave their homes amid flooding in Bedfordshire.\n\n\"We've just had official confirmation that this Christmas is a white one!\" the Met Office tweeted just before 06:00 GMT.\n\nA family took the sledge for a spin near Hexham in Northumberland\n\nMany woke up to a frost covering their cars, streets and gardens on Christmas morning.\n\nAn early morning dusting of snow spotted in County Durham\n\nIt doesn't have to be deep and crisp and even to count as a white Christmas. Pictures from Richmond in North Yorkshire and Skidby in the East Riding of Yorkshire\n\nIn some places, a scattering of snow had settled overnight.\n\nAndy Brunning took a selfie with the \"sprinkling of snow\" in Ely, Cambridgeshire\n\nThe Met Office said most areas would see a dry and cold day, but there was a chance of more snow showers across eastern parts of England.\n\nSnow dusted cars in Hessle in East Yorkshire on Christmas morning\n\nElsewhere in the UK, people have been dealing with the fallout from heavy rain that led to flooding.\n\nHomes have been evacuated and a leisure centre shut after flooding in Suffolk.\n\nPolice in Northamptonshire said the emergency services evacuated more than 1,000 people from the Billing Aquadrome holiday park on Thursday night and water had reached up to 5ft deep in some places.\n\nSouth Wales Fire and Rescue Service dealt with 500 calls in a matter of hours between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.\n\nA couple were rescued from a submerged car on Christmas Eve near Norwich in what onlookers called a \"Christmas miracle\", while heavy rainfall in Cambridgeshire left some roads impassable.\n\nOn Boxing Day, Storm Bella is forecast to bring further downpours and winds of up to 70mph in some coastal locations.\n\nAn amber warning for wind has been issued for parts of southern Wales and across southern England from 22:00 GMT on 26 December.\n\nA yellow warning for wind will also apply for the whole of England and Wales from 15:00 GMT on Boxing Day.\n\nThere will also be a yellow warning for rain in place for Wales, parts of the south-west and north-west of England, and north-west Scotland.\n\nHave you woken up to a white Christmas? Get in touch with your photos at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nOr use this form to get in touch:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your comment or send it via email to HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any comment you send in.", "A near-deserted Regent Street in London as the Boxing Day sales began\n\nBoxing Day sales are expected to plummet after Covid-19 restrictions meant shops in many areas were forced to stay closed.\n\nBy midday, footfall was down 60% across the UK compared with last year, according to experts Springboard.\n\nStricter measures have been introduced in much of the UK with 40% of England's population now under tier four rules, meaning non-essential shops must shut.\n\nAnalysts said footfall had dropped even where other retailers could open.\n\nNational lockdowns in Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as most of mainland Scotland being placed into its own level four restrictions, meant non-essential stores are forced to be closed on what is traditionally a big day in the retail calendar.\n\nFootfall in tier four regions of England fell by 77.3% compared with last year, and even in tier two and three areas where shops are open, footfall was down by 38.2% and 42.4% respectively, according to Springboard, which analyses customer activity in stores.\n\nAn estimated £2.7bn will be spent by UK shoppers by the end of 26 December, with each consumer planning to spend an average of £162 online, according to research from Barclaycard, down from last year's projection of spending an average of £186 each and a total of £3.7bn.\n\nJace Tyrrell, chief executive of the New West End Company which represents 600 retail and leisure businesses in the capital, described the scenes as \"heartbreaking\", with the London district empty on Boxing Day for the first time since 1871.\n\nMr Tyrrell said the days around Christmas are usually \"the key golden period\" for sales but tier four restrictions have had a \"huge impact\".\n\nHe said coronavirus had cost the West End 80% of its usual year-on-year sales, with £2bn forecast to be lost during the Christmas period.\n\nDiane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said while the losses from reduced footfall will be offset a little by virtual \"comfort-buying\", for the majority of retailers \"the sales they get online are much smaller than what they get in-store\".\n\nLast year's post-Christmas sales also saw a drop in footfall with Springboard seeing an 8.6% decline, the largest since 2011.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch the aftermath of the explosion in Nashville\n\nA parked camper van exploded in the US city of Nashville, Tennessee, early on Christmas morning, injuring three people and knocking out communications systems across the state.\n\nPossible human remains were later found near the blast site, US media report.\n\nPolice believe the powerful blast was caused deliberately.\n\nOfficers responding to reports of gunshots just before 06:00 (12:00 GMT) found a camper van broadcasting a warning message to leave the area.\n\nThe van exploded a few minutes later.\n\nA police officer was knocked off their feet by the force of the blast, officials said.\n\nPolice have now released this image of the van - described by Nashville police as a recreational vehicle (RV) - arriving at the scene early on Friday.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Metro Nashville PD This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe van blew up outside a building belonging to the telecoms giant AT&T, which also occupies an office tower nearby.\n\nBuildings suffered structural damage, windows were blown out, and trees were felled. Videos posted on social media showed water from damaged pipes running down walls as alarms howled in the background.\n\nPolice emergency systems were knocked out across much of Tennessee. Flights out of Nashville International Airport were briefly halted as a result of damage done by the blast but have now resumed.\n\nNo motive has yet been established, nor do police know who was behind the incident.\n\nA number of people have been taken to the central police precinct for questioning, a spokesman told the Associated Press.\n\nIt was not clear whether anyone was inside the vehicle at the time of the explosion, police said.\n\nThe FBI is leading the investigation. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also involved.\n\nThe blast was caused by a parked camper van, police say\n\nResident Buck McCoy said he had been woken up by the blast. He posted a video on Facebook, showing some of the damage done, with alarms howling in the background.\n\n\"All my windows, every single one of them got blown into the next room. If I had been standing there, it would have been horrible,\" Mr McCoy told AP. \"It felt like a bomb. It was that big.\"\n\nThe explosion hit an area of Nashville known for its restaurants and nightlife.\n\n\"To this point, we do believe that the explosion was an intentional act,\" police spokesman Don Aaron told reporters.\n\nCCTV footage posted on YouTube appeared to show the moments before the explosion, when a warning was broadcast, saying, \"If you can hear this message, evacuate now\". A loud bang follows and flames and smoke fill the screen.\n\n\"It looks like a bomb went off,\" Nashville Mayor John Cooper said, urging people to stay away from the area.\n\n\"This morning's attack on our community was intended to create chaos and fear in this season of peace and hope, but the spirit of our city cannot be broken,\" he said.\n\nThe explosion hit an area known for its restaurants and nightlife\n\nIn a tweet Tennessee Governor Bill Lee pledged to supply \"all of the resources needed\" to investigate what happened and who was behind it.\n\nPresident Donald Trump has been briefed on the matter.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Aerial footage shows the extent of flooding in Bedford on Christmas Day\n\nWater levels have passed their peak in Bedford but a a severe flood warning remains in place, a mayor said.\n\nPeople in more than 1,300 properties along the River Great Ouse in Bedfordshire were advised to leave as two evacuation centres were set up\n\nSome residents formed makeshift defences on Christmas Day in a bid to hold back the water.\n\nBedford Mayor Dave Hodgson said levels were now \"receding\" but significant floodwaters remained.\n\nSome bridges in Bedford were closed as water levels rose\n\n\"The peak of the water levels have now passed through Bedford but our officers continue to be out monitoring the peak as it moves east and responding to requests for assistance,\" he said.\n\n\"Floodwaters remain across Bedford borough so please take care and if you are going out please avoid them, they may be deeper than you think or contain unseen hazards.\"\n\nMakeshift flood defences have been formed along the River Great Ouse in Bedford\n\nUp to 40 homes were flooded on Thursday in Witney, Oxfordshire, where the Environment Agency has warned that river levels are still rising.\n\nThe council said an emergency assistance centre remained opened at Bedford International Athletic stadium.\n\nGary Huntley, Franco Felice and Adrian Coleman dug a trench between two trees along the banks of the River Great Ouse on Christmas Day.\n\nAs the night wore on, they said they were joined between 30 and 40 other residents from Tennyson Road and The Embankment. who helped with the digging and provided hot drinks.\n\nGary Huntley, Franco Felice and Adrian Coleman dug a trench alongside the river in a bid to protect their homes\n\nMr Huntley, 51, a boot camp coach, said: \"We just had Christmas Dinner when Franco, my next door neighbour, said we were going to get flooded.\n\n\"We worked until three, had a break and came back out again at six. Fortunately, the level has dropped this morning.\"\n\nA \"severe flood warning\" - meaning \"danger to life\" - is in place along the River Great Ouse in Bedford\n\nPaul Fuller, chief fire officer for Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue, said it was a \"dreadful situation\".\n\n\"People have had a terrible time. We've had all the measures in place to protect people from the spread of the virus,\" he said.\n\n\"It was Christmas Day yesterday, Boxing Day today, our hearts just go out to people that have now - with all that going on - had some of the highest levels of floods for over 20 years.\"\n\nBedford Mayor Dave Hodgson said water levels peaked in Bedford at about 02:00 GMT\n\nThe council said people who had been contacted and asked to evacuate were \"permitted to go to other people's homes\".\n\nBedfordshire is currently under \"tier four - stay at home\" Covid restrictions, which bans household mixing.\n\nBedfordshire Police said the flooding situation \"over-rides the current Covid-19 regulations\".\n\nJan Schofield said neighbourhood WhatsApp groups helped with the community response\n\nJan Schofield, who lives beside the river on The Embankment, said she had been prepared to evacuate if needed.\n\n\"The neighbours were superb,\" she said. \"They were digging the ditch over the road and filling sandbags.\n\n\"Because of WhatsApp groups that were set-up for Covid, it was really quick to get everyone together and act.\n\n\"It was a concern to see the rising water as it got darker. I'm less concerned now it's daylight.\"\n\nThe Carvell family (left) and Wood family live close to the river in Bedford\n\nReece Wood, who also lives nearby with his family, said: \"It was not the Christmas anyone was expecting, but it was great that everyone pulled together.\"\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nHave you been affected by the flooding in Bedfordshire? If it is safe to do so please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch the aftermath of the explosion in Nashville\n\nBusinesses and TV personalities have offered more than $300,000 (£224,000) to catch those responsible for a camper van blast in the US city of Nashville.\n\nThe explosion rocked the city early on Christmas Day, injuring three people and knocking out communications systems across the state of Tennessee.\n\nPolice believe the powerful blast was caused deliberately.\n\nLaw enforcement agents have searched the home of a possible person of interest in nearby Antioch.\n\nNo motive has yet been established for the explosion, and no-one has yet said they were behind it. Possible human remains have been found near the blast site.\n\nLaw enforcement officers searched the property of a possible person of interest in Antioch\n\nFBI Special Agent in Charge Douglas Korneski said officials had received about 500 tips and that they were looking at a \"number of individuals\" in possible connection to the explosion.\n\nOfficers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also involved in the investigation.\n\nEarlier, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said he toured the site, saying on Twitter it was a \"miracle\" that no-one had been killed. He said he had asked President Donald Trump for a federal emergency declaration for his state to aid relief efforts.\n\nThe FBI is leading the investigation into the explosion\n\nBusinessman Marcus Lemonis is the latest to donate to a reward pot, pledging $250,000.\n\n\"We can't have our streets terrorised like this,\" tweeted Mr Lemonis, who hosts reality TV show The Profit.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Marcus Lemonis This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nReward pledges began on Friday after a local tourism body, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, made an initial contribution of $10,000, later increasing it to $35,000.\n\nOfficers responded to reports of gunshots just before 06:00 local time (12:00 GMT) on Christmas Day in an area of the city known for its restaurants and nightlife.\n\nShortly afterwards, they found a camper van broadcasting a warning message to leave the area.\n\nThe van exploded a few minutes later, the force of the blast knocking an officer off their feet, police said. It is still unclear if anyone was inside the camper van at the time.\n\nPolice have released this image of the van - described by Nashville police as a recreational vehicle (RV) - arriving at the scene early on Friday.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Metro Nashville PD This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe van blew up outside a building belonging to the telecoms giant AT&T, which also occupies an office tower nearby.\n\nBuildings suffered structural damage, windows were blown out, and trees were felled. Videos posted on social media showed water from damaged pipes running down walls as alarms howled in the background.\n\nPolice emergency systems were knocked out across the surrounding state of Tennessee.\n\nTelephone, internet and fibre optic TV services were also disrupted in Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia, according to telecoms firm AT&T.\n\nThe blast was caused by a parked camper van, police say\n\nResident Buck McCoy said he had been woken up by the blast. He posted a video on Facebook, showing some of the damage done, with alarms howling in the background.\n\n\"All my windows, every single one of them got blown into the next room. If I had been standing there, it would have been horrible,\" Mr McCoy told AP. \"It felt like a bomb. It was that big.\"", "Michael Gove said he has seen \"seen old friendships crumble\" since the Brexit vote\n\nThe UK and EU will be able to enjoy a \"special relationship\" as a result of the post-Brexit trade deal, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has said.\n\nWriting in the Times, Mr Gove said he hoped the agreement will also see politics move away from the bitterness surrounding the 2016 referendum.\n\nHe wrote: \"We can now embark on a new, more hopeful, chapter in our history.\"\n\nIt comes as EU ambassadors received a Christmas Day briefing on the trade deal from EU negotiator Michel Barnier.\n\nMr Barnier updated them on the agreement, which was reached on Christmas Eve after months of fraught talks on issues such as fishing rights and business rules.\n\nMPs will vote on the deal in Parliament on 30 December, with the UK set to exit existing trading rules on 31 December.\n\nA 1,246-page document, which has been published on the UK government's website, sets out the post-Brexit trade deal with the EU and includes about 800 pages of annexes and footnotes.\n\nWriting in the Times newspaper, Mr Gove, who was a leading campaigner for the Brexit vote in the 2016 referendum, said he \"won't deny it's been difficult\" for many people since then.\n\n\"Friendships have been strained, families were divided and our politics has been rancorous and, at times, ugly. Through the past four years, as a politician at the centre of this debate, I've made more than my share of mistakes or misjudgements, seen old friendships crumble and those closest to me have to endure pressures they never anticipated.\"\n\nHe said he had felt \"conscious of a responsibility\" to deliver Brexit, adding: \"I asked people to vote Leave so they could have their voices heard.\"\n\nOne of the most difficult issues in the negotiations was fishing\n\nMr Gove said the deal would give UK businesses \"certainty and the ability to plan for growth and investment\".\n\n\"We can develop a new pattern of friendly co-operation with the EU, a special relationship if you will, between sovereign equals,\" he added.\n\n\"The greatest prize, however, is the chance now to renew our country and help it to recover from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic in a spirit of shared endeavour and solidarity. We have a duty to spread opportunity more equally across the UK. Outside the EU, with a good trade deal in place, we can tackle the injustices and inequalities that have held Britain back.\"\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson said the deal will \"give certainty to business, travellers, and all investors in our country\".\n\nEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the agreement as \"fair\" and \"balanced\", saying it was now \"time to turn the page and look to the future\".\n\nThe European Parliament needs to ratify the deal, which will define the future relationship for decades, but it is unlikely to do so until the new year.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey: \"This look a very bad deal\"\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer - who campaigned against Brexit - said the deal did not provide adequate protections for jobs, manufacturing, financial services or workplace rights and was \"not the deal the government promised\".\n\nBut with no time left to renegotiate, the only choice was between \"this deal or no deal,\" he added.\n\nLiberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, who also campaigned against Brexit, told BBC One's Breakfast the post-Brexit trade deal meant more red tape \"we all feared\", \"far more bureaucracy\" and was a \"defeat for those who wanted frictionless trade\".\n\nHe said the deal was \"bad for business\", \"less safe\" for families and it was therefore \"insupportable\".\n\nConservative MP and former cabinet minister Theresa Villiers, who voted for Brexit, told BBC Breakfast that \"many prime ministers\" had returned from negotiations Brussels with deals that appear to \"do the right thing and then closer scrutiny demonstrates that there are not as good as first billed\".\n\n\"I hope that we have finally seen the pattern broken and I hope that this is a deal that I can support, but it is important that we scrutinise that detail carefully and take some expert advice on it.\"\n\nShe said Tory colleague Bill Cash, of the European Research Group of Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs, had reconvened a group of lawyers - who had been highly critical of previous Prime Minister Theresa May's withdrawal agreement with the EU - to analyse the deal.", "The Queen has broadcast her annual address in the Christmas Message to the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.\n\nShe acknowledged the “difficult and unpredictable times” of the past year, saying “there is hope in the new dawn.”\n\nShe also paid thanks to the efforts of health workers and community volunteers in the UK and around the world.", "The Queen and other members of the royal family usually attend a Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham\n\nThe Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will spend Christmas at Windsor Castle and not Sandringham as is their usual tradition, Buckingham Palace has said.\n\nA spokeswoman said after considering \"all the appropriate advice\" the royal couple had opted to celebrate \"quietly\" at their Berkshire residence.\n\nThey usually spend Christmas with other royals at the Queen's Norfolk estate.\n\nThe Queen, 94, and the duke, 99, have been living at Windsor during the pandemic with a small household staff.\n\nIt is thought to be the first time the couple have not spent Christmas at their Sandringham home since the mid 1980s.\n\n\"Like everyone they hope things will get back to normal in 2021,\" a palace spokesman said.\n\nThe announcement follows earlier speculation about where the Queen and the duke would spend the festive period, in light of Christmas coronavirus guidance that people should form \"bubbles\" of three households over a five-day period.\n\nThe Queen and other members of the Royal Family usually attend a Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham, where large crowds gather to greet them.\n\nLast year, Prince George and Princess Charlotte went to the service for the first time.\n\nThe Queen will not be attending church on Christmas Day to avoid large crowds of well-wishers gathering, it is understood.\n\nThe Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will spend 25 December at Highgrove, their estate in Gloucestershire, but are expected to see the Queen and Prince Philip at Windsor over the festive period. The duchess will also visit her family.\n\nLast month, the Queen and Prince Philip, who has retired from public duties, marked their 73rd wedding anniversary by releasing a photograph showing them opening a card from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's children.", "A post-Brexit agreement on trade and other issues has been agreed, just a week before the transition period between the UK and the EU comes to an end.\n\nIt avoids the disruption of a no-deal Brexit in the middle of the Covid pandemic, and marks a new era after more than 40 years of UK membership of the European Union.\n\nWe've now seen a copy of the text - more than 1,000 pages of dense legal text which outline how the relationship will operate in the future. Here are 10 initial questions and answers:\n\nOne of the most difficult issues in the negotiations: how many fish will EU boats be able to catch in UK waters in future, and how long will any transition period last before new measures come into full force? Officials involved in the negotiations say the UK initially wanted an 80% cut in the value of the fish caught by EU boats in UK waters, while the EU initially proposed an 18% cut. Who has given more ground?\n\nAnswer: The value of the fish caught by the EU in UK waters will be cut by 25% - which is a lot less than the UK initially asked for. The cut will be phased in over a transition period lasting five-and-a-half years - which is a lot shorter than the EU initially asked for. Once the transition period is over, the UK will fully control access to its waters, and could make much deeper cuts. If it decides to exclude EU fishing boats they can be compensated for their losses, either through tariffs on UK fishing products (or other goods) exported to the EU, or by preventing UK boats from fishing in EU waters.\n\nFishing was one of the most difficult areas of the negotiations\n\nWhat will the rules on fair competition look like, to ensure that businesses on one side don't gain an unfair advantage over their competitors on the other? The definition of what constitutes reasonable levels of state aid, or government subsidies for business, will be important.\n\nAnswer: There are level playing field measures which commit both the UK and the EU to maintain common standards on workers' rights, as well as many social and environmental regulations. This was a key EU demand. They don't have to be identical in the future, so the UK does not have to follow EU law, but they do have to be seen to protect fair competition.\n\nThe UK has also agreed to stick to common principles on how state aid regimes work, and to an independent competition agency which will assess them. But it can choose to develop a system which only makes decisions once evidence of unfair competition is presented. That is different from the EU system which assesses the likely impact of subsidies before they are handed out.\n\nThis will be the subject of years of negotiations to come. How will the deal actually be enforced if either side breaks any of the terms and conditions? If the UK chooses to move away more radically from EU rules in the future, how quickly can the EU respond? Will it have the ability to impose tariffs (or taxes on UK exports) in one area (for example on cars) in response to a breach of the agreement in another (fish, for example)?\n\nAnswer: If either side moves away from common standards that exist on 31 December 2020, and if that has a negative impact on the other side, a dispute mechanism can be triggered which could mean tariffs (taxes on goods) being imposed. It is based around a \"rebalancing\" clause which gives both the EU and the UK the right to take steps if there are significant divergences. This clause is much stricter than measures found in other recent EU trade deals, and was a key demand on the European side. It is a mechanism we may hear a lot more about in the coming years.\n\nThe overall policing of the trade agreement also means that tariffs can be targeted at a specific sector as a result of a dispute in another. There will be a binding arbitration system involving officials from both sides. It means that even though this is a tariff-free agreement, the threat that tariffs can be introduced as a result of future disputes will be a constant factor in UK-EU relations.\n\nThe EU's highest court will remain the ultimate arbiter of European law. But the UK government has said the direct jurisdiction of the ECJ in Britain will come to an end. So, will the European court play any role in overseeing the future relationship agreement?\n\nAnswer: The EU has dropped its demand that the ECJ should play a direct role in policing the governance of the agreement in future. That was a clear British red line. One place where the ECJ will still play a role is Northern Ireland, which has a special status under the terms of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. It will remain subject to EU single market and customs union rules, which means the European Court will remain the highest legal authority for some disputes in one part of the UK.\n\nWhat will the rules be for British people who want to travel to the EU from 1 January 2021? We already know some of the details but will there be any additional agreements on things like social security or vehicle insurance? And will there be any detail on any arrangement to replace the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)?\n\nAnswer: UK nationals will need a visa if they want to stay in the EU more than 90 days in a 180-day period. They will still be able to use their EHICs which will remain valid until they expire. The UK government says they will be replaced by a new UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), but there are no further details yet on how to obtain it.\n\nIts advice is to take out travel insurance with healthcare cover before going on holiday - especially if you have a pre-existing medical condition.\n\nEU pet passports will no longer be valid, but people will still be able to travel with pets, following a different and a more complicated process.\n\nThe two sides agreed to co-operate on international mobile roaming, but there is nothing in the agreement that would stop UK travellers being charged for using their phone in the EU and vice versa.\n\nThe government also says British citizens will not need an International Driver's Permit to drive in the EU (unless they still have a paper licence or a licence from the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey or Gibraltar). But they will need to carry a green card to prove they have the right vehicle insurance.\n\nThe trade agreement is primarily about the rules for goods crossing borders. It will say far less about the trade in services. Is there going to be a separate statement from the EU which will recognise UK rules governing financial services as roughly \"equivalent\" to EU rules? That would make it much easier for UK firms which export services to continue doing business in the EU market.\n\nAnswer: There is, as expected, not a lot in this agreement for service companies to cheer about. The UK will still be hoping that the EU issues \"equivalence\" decisions on financial services in the near future, but service companies in general have not got as much help in this deal as the British government had been pushing for.\n\nThe European Commission says a series of \"further clarifications\" will be needed from the UK, including more information on how it will diverge from EU rules after 31 December, before any decisions on equivalence can be made.\n\nThere is an agreement to continue talking about financial services regulation in the future, but some companies may have to apply to specific EU countries to be allowed to operate there. The guaranteed access that UK companies had to the EU single market is over.\n\nThis is a really important issue. What will the data protection rules be for UK companies which deal with data from the EU? Again, the UK is hoping the EU will issue separately what's known as a data adequacy decision recognising UK rules as equivalent to its own. But the detail will need to be scrutinised carefully.\n\nAnswer: Both sides say they want data to flow across borders as smoothly as possible, but the agreement also stresses that individuals have a right to the protection of personal data and privacy and that \"high standards in this regard contribute to trust in the digital economy and to the development of trade\".\n\nThat's why an EU decision to recognise formally that UK data rules are roughly the same as its own is so important - and we're still waiting for that. In the meantime the EU has agreed to a \"specified period\" of four months, extendable by a further two months, in which data can be exchanged in the same way it is now, as long as the UK makes no changes to its rules on data protection.\n\nWe know there will be more bureaucracy and delays at borders in the future, for companies trading between the UK and the EU. But will the two sides agree any measures to make things a little easier? There's something called \"mutual recognition of conformity assessment\" which would mean checks on products standards would not need to be nearly as intrusive as they otherwise might be.\n\nAnswer: There's no agreement on conformity assessment, even though the UK government had hoped there would be. It's just one reminder of how many new barriers to trade there are going to be. In future, if you want to sell your product in both the UK and the EU, you may have to get it checked twice to get it certified.\n\nOn other border issues, there is also no agreement on recognising each other's sanitary and safety standards for exporting food of animal origin, which means there will have to be pretty intrusive and costly checks for products going into the EU single market.\n\nThere will however be some measures which cut technical barriers to trade, and the mutual recognition of trusted trader schemes which will make it easier for large companies to operate across borders.\n\nA lot of people, from accountants to chefs, work in different EU countries and didn't have to worry about crossing borders multiple times while the UK was part of the EU. But will UK professional qualifications be recognised across the EU in the future, and what restrictions will there be?\n\nAnswer: The short answer is no - they won't be recognised automatically. That will make it harder for UK citizens supplying any kind of service to work in the EU. They will often have to apply to individual countries to try to get their qualifications accepted, with no guarantee of success. There is a framework in the deal for the UK and EU to agree on mutually recognising individual qualifications but that's weaker than what professionals have now.\n\nIt's not just about trade. The UK will lose automatic and immediate access to a variety of EU databases which the police use every day - covering things such as criminal records, fingerprints and wanted persons. So what kind of access will they have, and how will security co-operation work in the future?\n\nAnswer: The UK loses access to some very key databases but will have continued access to others, including the system which cross-checks fingerprints across the continent. But overall, security co-operation will no longer be based on \"real time\" access. And in some cases, such as access to data on which flights people take, that data will only be made available under much stricter conditions.\n\nAn agreement has been reached on extradition, and the UK's role in Europol, the cross-border security agency, allows it to sit in on meetings but not have a direct say in decisions. Both of these are positive, and on a par with the best other countries have achieved.\n\nDisagreements over data will be dealt with by a new committee, not by the European Court of Justice - again, a red line for the UK. But taken together, the speed with which the UK gets important data, and the influence it has on decisions, has been reduced.\n\nThere are many other questions to answer - this agreement will form the basis for UK-EU relations for years if not decades to come. And the two sides will have to continue to talk about how to implement it most effectively.\n\nThe team will continue to read through the text of the agreement and will add more to this story if necessary.", "George Blake told the BBC he had betrayed more than 500 Western agents to the Soviet Union\n\nGeorge Blake, the former MI6 officer and one of the Cold War's most infamous double agents, has died aged 98, Russian media has reported.\n\nOver nine years, the Soviet spy handed over information that led to the betrayal of at least 40 MI6 agents in Eastern Europe.\n\nHe was jailed in London in 1960, but escaped in 1966 and fled to Russia.\n\nThe Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said Blake \"had a genuine love for our country\".\n\nHis death, reported by Russia's state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, was confirmed by Sergei Ivanov, the head of the press bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).\n\nRussian president Vladimir Putin described him as an \"outstanding professional of special courage and life endurance\".\n\n\"Throughout the years of his hard and strenuous efforts he made a truly invaluable contribution to ensuring the strategic parity and the preservation of peace on the planet,\" he said in a message of condolence.\n\n\"Our hearts will always cherish the warm memory of this legendary man.\"\n\nBlake was born George Behar on 11 November 1922 in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.\n\nHis father was a Spanish Jew who had fought with the British army during World War One and acquired British citizenship.\n\nBlake himself worked for the Dutch resistance during World War Two, before fleeing to British-controlled Gibraltar. He was later, due to his background, asked to join the intelligence service.\n\nIn an interview with the BBC in 1990, Blake said he estimated that he betrayed more than 500 Western agents but he denied suggestions that 42 of them had lost their lives as a result of his actions.\n\nHis downfall came when a Polish secret service officer, Michael Goleniewski, defected to the West, bringing his mistress and details of a Soviet mole in British intelligence.\n\nBlake was recalled to London and arrested. At a subsequent trial he pleaded guilty to five counts of passing information to the Soviet Union.\n\nGeorge Blake did enormous damage to British intelligence operations during the Cold War, betraying agents and secret operations and showing that the KGB could run agents within the heart of the British state.\n\nHis escape from prison added to the embarrassment.\n\nThe reasons behind Blake's actions sometimes seemed mysterious, particularly his initial recruitment.\n\nWhen I contacted him a decade ago, he told me: \"It is no longer of particular importance to me whether my motivations are generally understood or not.\"\n\nPart of the problem for him was that he had chosen communism but lived to see its collapse and the end of the Soviet Union, living out his days in Russia, where he was still seen as a hero by the successors to the KGB.\n\nIn 1995, Blake's escape from HMP Wormwood Scrubs became the focus of the play Cell Mates, starring Stephen Fry and Rik Mayall.\n\nAnd in 2015, the BBC documentary Masterspy of Moscow followed what it called \"the strange life\" of an \"enigmatic traitor\".", "More than 70,000 people in the UK have now died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test, official figures show.\n\nA further 570 deaths in the UK were reported on Christmas Day, taking the total by that measure to 70,195.\n\nAccording to Johns Hopkins University, only the US, Brazil, India, Mexico and Italy have recorded more deaths from coronavirus.\n\nThe number of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England and Scotland increased by 32,725 on Friday.\n\nIt came as the number of tests conducted over the last seven days rose by more than 25% compared to the previous week.\n\nThe government explained that the amount of data available will vary over the Christmas holiday period, with any unreported deaths and cases recorded on the following days.\n\n\"As a result, any changes to published data should be interpreted with caution during this period, as they may be a result of changes to reporting schedules,\" it said.\n\nAccording to Office for National Statistics data there have been than 81,361 excess deaths, those over and above what would usually be expected for the time of year, up to 11 December.\n\nLevels of infection are continuing to rise in England, the ONS has said, with figures for the week to 18 December estimating nearly 650,000 people have the virus, up from 570,000 the week before.\n\nThe rising number of deaths came as the UK marked a different Christmas with people under the toughest restrictions in England prevented from meeting other households indoors, while elsewhere planned relaxations of restrictions were cut to just one day on 25 December.\n\nIn England, six million more people are due to enter the highest level of restrictions on Boxing Day while other areas will move up into higher tiers after Downing Street warned the old system was not enough to control a new variant of the virus.\n\nAnd from Monday, all airline passengers arriving in the US from the UK will be required to test negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours of departure, amid concerns over the new variant.\n\nSo far, the UK has approved the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, with more than 500,000 people having been given the first dose, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Wednesday the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine had now submitted full data to the medicines regulator for approval.", "On a roll: LadBaby is again joined by his wife Roxanne and their children on his latest festive hit\n\nLadBaby has become only the third act in UK chart history, after The Beatles and the Spice Girls, to score three straight Christmas number one singles.\n\nThe charitable sausage roll singer fended off competition from a Mariah Carey classic, and a protest song about Prime Minister Boris Johnson.\n\nSir Paul McCartney, meanwhile, topped the festive album chart, on Friday.\n\n\"I can't believe we've done it once, never mind three times,\" LadBaby told BBC Radio 1 presenter Katie Thistleton.\n\nHis latest offering, Don't Stop Me Eatin', which is raising money for The Trussell Trust food bank charity, was a pastry take on Journey's Don't Stop Believin'.\n\nIt followed his previous successful efforts, 2018's We Built This City... On Sausage Rolls; and I Love Sausage Rolls, from last year.\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by LadBaby This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.\n\n\"We know the British public love a sausage roll,\" the hat-trick hero continued.\n\n\"And I think after the year we've all had we just wanted to come back and make everyone smile.\"\n\nHis new song, which was helped along by the release of a surprise alternative version with Ronan Keating earlier this week, became the fastest selling UK single in more than three years, since Artists For Grenfell's Bridge Over Troubled Water.\n\nIt also dislodged Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You at the summit.\n\nAll I Want for Christmas Is Two: You got it Mariah\n\nThe diva's ubiquitous hit had reigned supreme for the past fortnight, remarkably for the first time since its release 26 years ago.\n\nLadBaby now finds himself in exalted company, alongside The Beatles, who dominated the Christmas number one spots between 1963-65, with I Want To Hold Your Hand, I Feel Fine, and the double A-side Daytripper / We Can Work It Out.\n\nAs well as the Spice Girls, who had three in a row from 1996-98, with 2 Become 1, Too Much, and Goodbye.\n\nYouTube comedian LadBaby, whose real name is Mark Hoyle, described 2020 as \"our most important year yet\" to help people, due to the impact of coronavirus.\n\nHe spoke to BBC News last week about why he and his band - aka wife Roxanne and their children - changed their minds after previously saying they wouldn't go for a third. \"We'd run out of songs with rock 'n' roll in the title, because that's been our go-to - you find a song with rock 'n' roll in the title and it's a good change [to sausage roll],\" he said.\n\n\"We wanted to choose a song that people love and can sing to,\" he continued. \"The best way is to look at karaoke songs, and Don't Stop Believin' always features highly on most karaoke lists.\n\n\"We felt like after the year everyone's had, it's a sentiment everyone needs - don't stop believing things are going to get better. It felt very fitting, so we had to weave some sausage roll magic into the lyrics.\"\n\nElsewhere in the singles chart, an expletive-laden song about PM Boris Johnson, by an Essex synth-pop outfit (whose name we can't really mention here without losing our jobs) also made the festive top five; and was at one-point the UK's second most-downloaded song of the week.\n\nJustin Bieber's cover of Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree [number eight] and Liam Gallagher's All You're Dreaming Of [24], which raised money for Action for Children, also proved popular this year.\n\nMcCartney III, the \"fun\" lockdown album by former Beatle Sir Paul, gave him his first number one LP in 31 years - since 1989's Flowers In The Dirt.\n\n\"I just want to say happy Christmas, happy New Year, and a big thank you to everyone who helped get my record to number one in the album charts,\" the rock 'n' roll knight of the realm told the Official Charts Company.\n\nTaylor Swift's surprise new album, Evermore, was close behind him in second.\n\nSir Paul McCartney recorded his Christmas number one album in isolation while spending lockdown with his daughter Mary, who took these photographs\n\nAlso on Christmas Day, it was announced by music licensing company PPL that The Pogues' widely-debated track, Fairytale Of New York was officially the UK's most-played Christmas track of the 21st Century.\n\nLast month, Radio 1 decided to stop playing the original version of the song in full, because its audience may be offended by some of the lyrics.\n\nAll I Want For Christmas Is You had to settle for second place once again in that poll of the past 20 years, while Wham!'s Last Christmas finished third overall - just as it did in this week's singles chart too.\n\nYou can listen to Radio 1's Christmas No.1 show, and Radio 2's 40 Most-Played Christmas Songs of the 21st Century now on BBC Sounds.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "All airline passengers arriving in the US from the UK are to be required to test negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours of departure amid concerns about a new coronavirus variant.\n\nFrom 28 December travellers will need to provide written documentation of their test result to airlines.\n\nOther countries have shut their borders to UK flights because of the variant.\n\nBut its rapid spread has also led to stricter rules in the UK, including a ban on overseas trips for many Britons.\n\nAnd US airlines have drastically scaled back flying to the UK and Europe, after the entry of most foreign nationals was suspended at the start of the pandemic.\n\nHealth officials say there is no evidence the new variant is more deadly, or would react differently to vaccines, but it is proving to be up to 70% more transmissible.\n\nThe decision by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to require testing came after New York City introduced quarantine rules for international travellers in response to the variant.\n\nThe CDC said passengers must test negative via either a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) or an antigen test.\n\nSince Thursday, passengers travelling with Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic on UK flights to the US have already been required to provide a negative test taken within 72 hours before departure.\n\nUnited Airlines will introduce similar requirements for passengers travelling from the UK to the US from 28 December.\n\nAs the new variant has spread quickly in London and south-east England, rules have been tightened across the UK, meaning more than 85% of the population - 48 million people - will be in the top two tiers after 26 December.\n\nThe UK reported 39,036 Covid cases on Thursday and another 574 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.", "Harsher Covid restrictions now apply to millions more people, as rule changes come into force across the UK.\n\nAround six million people in east and south-east England have gone into tier four, England's highest Covid level - which includes a \"stay at home\" order.\n\nLockdowns have also started in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and measures have been reimposed in Wales after being eased for Christmas.\n\nIt comes after official UK coronavirus deaths passed 70,000 on Christmas Day.\n\nThe toughest measures - which mean the closure of all non-essential shops, as well as hairdressers, swimming pools and gyms - now apply to around 24 million people in England, more than 40% of the population.\n\nMeanwhile, work has continued in Kent to clear the backlog of lorries formed after France closed the border to the UK due to the discovery of a fast-spreading variant of coronavirus.\n\nThe border has reopened but drivers must provide a negative Covid test before making the crossing, with the Department for Transport warning there were \"still long queues\" on Saturday evening.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps said more than 15,000 tests had now been carried out on lorry drivers, with 36 positive results.\n\nProf Devi Sridhar, chairwoman of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, told the BBC she believed all of England was likely to soon be in tier four.\n\n\"I think that's where it's heading and it's better to be honest with people so they can plan the next few weeks to understand what might be coming,\" she said, adding: \"To really keep a handle on these numbers, you need to move early.\"\n\nThe whole of Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, as well Essex, Waverley in Surrey, and all of Hampshire with the exception of the New Forest, are now in tier four.\n\nBristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Swindon, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest and Northamptonshire, as well as Cheshire and Warrington, have all moved up to tier three. Meanwhile, Cornwall and Herefordshire have moved from tier one to tier two.\n\nTier four restrictions mean shops in many town and city centres have been closed for the first time in decades on Boxing Day, when there are usually sales.\n\nEven some retailers deemed \"essential\" - such as Asda - have opted not to open.\n\nIn Scotland - which operates under a different tier system - level four lockdown measures have come into force across the mainland for three weeks. Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and other island communities are in level three.\n\nAnd in Northern Ireland, a six-week lockdown has begun. The first week, until 2 January, has stricter restrictions, including essential shops closing at 20:00 GMT and no sport.\n\nFor the first week, people are also banned from meeting indoors or outdoors between 20:00 and 06:00.\n\nNI police have legally-enforceable powers to tell anyone out during those hours to return home, unless they have a \"reasonable excuse\", such as being a key worker or having caring responsibilities.\n\nOn Saturday, the UK government announced a further 34,693 people had tested positive for Covid-19 in England and Scotland, while a further 210 people had died within 28 days of a positive test in England.\n\nDue to service changes over the holiday period deaths in Scotland and deaths and cases in Wales and Northern Ireland will reported at a later date, the government said.\n\nIn Europe, France, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland have reported cases of the more contagious coronavirus variant identified in the UK.\n\nFrance has confirmed one case, while Switzerland has identified three, two of which are British citizens currently in the country, while Spanish officials said there had been three cases of the variant linked to a man who had flown from the UK on Thursday.\n\nIn Sweden the country's health agency said a traveller was ill with the strain there but was self-isolating.\n\nThe appearance of the new coronavirus variant in England triggered travel curbs with dozens of countries.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What a pandemic Christmas looked like around the world\n\nOn Christmas Day, the Queen delivered a heartfelt message of hope to the country in her TV address, praising the \"indomitable spirit\" of those who have risen \"magnificently\" to the challenges of the pandemic.\n\nShe said what many people want \"for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand\" and that \"even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn\".\n\nThe Archbishop of Canterbury used his Christmas sermon to praise schools and hospitals for bringing hope during the coronavirus crisis.", "The 28-year-old died after being struck by a car in Erdington, Birmingham\n\nA man was killed when a car was deliberately driven at him in Birmingham, police say.\n\nPolice have launched a murder inquiry after the victim was found with serious head injuries on Coton Lane in Erdington shortly before 06:00 GMT.\n\nDetectives believe the 28-year-old was deliberately hit by the car that then left the scene.\n\nWest Midlands Police have appealed for witnesses as officers piece together what happened.\n\n\"A family have lost a loved one and we need to find out what took place and who is responsible,\" Det Sgt Nick Barnes said.\n\nFollow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "China is the only major global economy that will have expanded in 2020\n\nChina will overtake the US to become the world's largest economy by 2028, five years earlier than previously forecast, a report says.\n\nThe UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said China's \"skilful\" management of Covid-19 would boost its relative growth compared to the US and Europe in coming years.\n\nMeanwhile India is tipped to become the third largest economy by 2030.\n\nThe CEBR releases its economic league table every year on 26 December.\n\nAlthough China was the first country hit by Covid-19, it controlled the disease through swift and extremely strict action, meaning it did not need to repeat economically paralysing lockdowns as European countries have done.\n\nAs a result, unlike other major economies, it has avoided an economic recession in 2020 and is in fact estimated to see growth of 2% this year.\n\nThe US economy, by contrast, has been hit hard by the world's worst coronavirus epidemic in terms of sheer numbers. More than 330,000 people have died in the US and there have been some 18.5 million confirmed cases.\n\nThe economic damage has been cushioned by monetary policy and a huge fiscal stimulus, but political disagreements over a new stimulus package could leave around 14 million Americans without unemployment benefit payments in the new year.\n\n\"For some time, an overarching theme of global economics has been the economic and soft power struggle between the United States and China,\" says the CEBR report. \"The Covid-19 pandemic and corresponding economic fallout have certainly tipped this rivalry in China's favour.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How US and China's break-up could affect the world\n\nThe report says that after \"a strong post-pandemic rebound in 2021\", the US economy will grow by about 1.9% annually from 2022-24 and then slow to 1.6% in the years after that.\n\nBy contrast the Chinese economy is tipped to grow by 5.7% annually until 2025, and 4.5% annually from 2026-2030.\n\nChina's share of the world economy has risen from just 3.6% in 2000 to 17.8% now and the country will become a \"high-income economy\" by 2023, the report says.\n\nThe Chinese economy is not only benefitting from having controlled Covid-19 early, but also aggressive policymaking targeting industries like advanced manufacturing, said CEBR deputy chairman Douglas McWilliams.\n\n\"They seem to be trying to have centralised control at one level, but quite a free market economy in other areas,\" he told the BBC. \"And it's the free market bit that's helping them move forward particularly in areas like tech.\"\n\nBut the average Chinese person will remain far poorer in financial terms than the average American even after China becomes the world's biggest economy, given that China's population is four times bigger.", "Flood warnings have been issued in Bedfordshire as water levels rise\n\nPeople in more than 1,300 properties have been urged to leave their homes as flood levels rise in Bedfordshire.\n\nPolice warned of a \"really serious situation\" and have contacted people living along the River Great Ouse.\n\nFire crews used boats to rescue people throughout Christmas Day. Nine people and three dogs were among those led to safety in the village of Harrold.\n\nSupt Steve Ashdown said: \"River levels are extremely high and we are expecting this to have a significant impact.\"\n\nA severe flood warning has been issued for areas along the River Great Ouse by the Environment Agency.\n\nRescue teams have been working to help residents in Harrold to evacuate from their homes\n\nAt Bromham, near Bedford, the river was reported to be flowing at its highest recorded level.\n\n\"The fact this is happening on Christmas Day makes the situation even worse, especially after the disruption so many of us have had to our plans already and I really do sympathise with people,\" Supt Ashdown, of Bedfordshire Police, said.\n\n\"But this is a really serious situation and we need people to take action in order to keep themselves safe.\"\n\nEmergency assistance centres have been set up at Bedford International Athletic Stadium and Bromham Village Hall for those with nowhere else to go.\n\nBedford Borough Council said it had set up Covid-safe emergency assistance centres at the Bedford International Athletic Stadium and Bromham Village Hall\n\nBedford Mayor Dave Hodgson said the floods were set to be the worst seen in Bedfordshire for several years.\n\n\"The Environment Agency is expecting this to be the highest level of flooding seen in Bedford borough in a number of years and, working with partners, we are strongly encouraging people who are at risk of flooding and have been contacted to leave if they can do so safely,\" he said.\n\nIn a tweet, he praised council staff and emergency services who are \"working hard to protect residents\".\n\nThe council said people who had been contacted and asked to evacuate were \"permitted to go to other people's homes\".\n\nBedfordshire is currently under \"tier four - stay at home\" Covid restrictions which bans household mixing.\n\nBedfordshire Police said the flooding situation \"over-rides the current Covid-19 regulations\".\n\nBefore leaving their homes, people were being urged to turn off gas, water and electricity and move any valuables upstairs.\n\nThe county was hit by heavy rainfall on Christmas Eve that saw many roads left under water.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nHave you been affected by the flooding in Bedfordshire? If it is safe to do so please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Last updated on .From the section Horse Racing\n\nBryony Frost became the first female jockey to win the King George VI Chase, riding Frodon to victory at Kempton.\n\nThe 20-1 chance led throughout the three-mile race and held off the fast-finishing Waiting Patiently (12-1), ridden by Brian Hughes, to give trainer Paul Nicholls his 12th King George win.\n\nHat-trick-chasing Clan Des Obeaux, the 85-40 favourite, was back in third.\n\n\"I have had the absolute best time going round there on him,\" said a delighted Frost, from Devon.\n\n\"He has just smashed everyone's expectations. I don't argue with him too much as he is his own personality.\n\n\"I cannot stress how much this horse means to me - he is my life. You dream as a little girl to ride a horse like this.\"\n\nThe win gave Frost her 175th career win, making her become the most successful female National Hunt jockey of all-time.\n\nFrost and Frodon had also made history at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival, winning the Grade One Ryanair Chase.\n\nThis time, in front of deserted stands at the Surrey track, Frodon was in front by the first fence, allowing Frost to dictate the pace.\n\nHer rivals were never able to get past her and some solid jumping on the home straight maintained the momentum.\n\nNicholls was surprised that his 12th win in the traditional Boxing Day showpiece had come with the outsider of his four runners.\n\n\"It's amazing - although obviously he's a very good horse on his day,\" he said.\n\n\"He loves it round here, and I said to Bryony: 'Just go as quick as you can, keep galloping and sail on - you know he's tough and brave.'\n\n\"You've just seen today what a remarkable horse he is. He never knows when he's beaten.\"\n\nEarlier, Silver Streak beat Epatante, this year's Champion Hurdle winner, to take the Christmas Hurdle.\n\nEpatante had gone off as the 1-5 favourite but Silver Streak and jockey Adam Wedge put in a superb display of jumping.\n\nAn error at the third-last did not help Epitante and jockey Aidan Coleman and although they tried to rally, Silver Streak went away again to win by six and a half lengths.\n• None Follow the footballer's campaign for free school meals\n• None Need a new box set for the festive period? All episodes of the epic fantasy drama are streaming now", "The annual Boxing Day dip in Whitby is one of the events cancelled due to the virus\n\nScores of bracing sea swims due to take place around England over the festive period have been cancelled due to safety fears over the Covid pandemic.\n\n\"Dippers\" would usually brave the chilly waters dressed as Father Christmas, elves, or even Christmas puddings to raise money for charity.\n\nOrganisers have asked people to take part in virtual challenges instead.\n\nDespite the official cancellations, a handful of hardy swimmers did still take the plunge in Clevedon, Somerset.\n\nBoxing Day and New Year's Day dips at Clevedon Marine Lake were cancelled but some still braved the lake's icy waters on Saturday.\n\nOutdoor swimming coach Rowan Clarke told BBC Breakfast that demand has soared over recent months.\n\nSwimmers still took to the waters at Clevedon Marine Lake on Boxing Day despite the organised swim being cancelled\n\nShe said: \"It's one of those things that people who have done it for a long time make it look really easy.\n\n\"I think that can lull you into a false sense of security that it's not an extreme sport, which of course it is.\n\n\"The best thing to do is start swimming in the summer and then gradually work your way up - or I should say down - to these temperatures.\"\n\nThe Ice Warriors, from Hull, took the plunge earlier in December after Covid put paid to the annual New Year's Day event in Hornsea, East Yorkshire.\n\nAndy Butler, from the group, said: \"We normally have a Christmas party, and attend the New Year's Day dip, but obviously we can't this year.\n\n\"So, we thought we would combine the two and have a charity swim.\"\n\nMr Butler said he had never known the event, organised by Hornsea Inshore Rescue, to be cancelled before - \"even when the weather was horrible\".\n\nHe said it would normally attract a large crowd and raise about £5,000 to help with the costs of running the lifeboat service.\n\n\"We raised about £600,\" he said. \"It's a big drop but better than nothing.\"\n\nHornsea Inshore Rescue said fundraising efforts this year had \"completely dried up\".\n\nSpokeswoman Sue Hickson-Marsay said: \"We need £35,000 to £40,000 a year to function and we've had less than £10,000 this year.\"\n\nLast year's Whitby event attracted about 200 people, many taking the plunge in fancy dress\n\nOthers, including the Whitby District Lions Club, which organises the resort's annual Boxing Day dip, have also been hit.\n\nBrian Harrison, from the charity, said: \"Last year, we had a record-breaking response with over 200 dippers taking part and at least 1,000 spectators supporting the event.\n\n\"As a result, the club raised over £14,000 for various local and national charities.\"\n\nThe charity is instead hosting a virtual ice bucket-style challenge in a bid to raise cash.\n\nHundreds of people would normally take part in Redcar's annual Boxing Day dip\n\nThe annual dip in Redcar, on the North Sea coast, is another long-standing event to be cancelled this year.\n\nThe 2019 event attracted about 360 swimmers and raised in the region of £40,000, the local Rotary Club said.\n\nIt too is asking people to take part in \"a virtual dip\" at home.\n\nNorfolk's annual Boxing Day dip, which claims to be one of the biggest in England, has been cancelled for the first time in its history.\n\nThe event in Cromer, organised by North Norfolk Beach Runners, has raised more than £75,000 since it started \"as a bit of a dare\" in 1985.\n\nOrganisers of the Cromer Boxing Day event said it would have been impossible to enforce social distancing rules\n\nClive Hedges, from the group, said: \"We just felt that under the circumstances it was best to cancel it and focus on a fantastic event next year.\n\n\"It's hugely disappointing but there really was no option.\n\n\"Maybe we could've kept the dippers safe in a Covid-secure environment, but it is ultimately the crowds we could not keep safe and they're the ones that provide the wonderful donations to charity.\"\n\nWhile hopeful \"normality will resume again for next year\", Mr Bridges said there were some who would argue taking a dip in freezing cold waters on Boxing Day \"just isn't normal\" anyway.\n\nCornwall's official Boxing Day swim gatherings have also been cancelled because of Covid restrictions.\n\nThe county went from tier one to tougher tier two on Boxing Day.\n\nMark Richards, of Charlestown Rowing Club, said they usually have between 100 and 600 swimmers in the water.\n\n\"But the problem is with track and trace and social distancing with the 600 to 1,000 people who turn up to watch, which we just cannot do.\"", "Restrictions have been increased in Edinburgh and across Scotland to curb the new strain of coronavirus\n\nMainland Scotland has moved into the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions.\n\nMillions of people are now living under level four curbs - the highest of the country's five-tier system of anti-virus measures.\n\nThe change means non-essential retail and hospitality have been closed and additional travel restrictions imposed to curb a new strain of the virus.\n\nThe restrictions are due to be reviewed in three weeks.\n\nThose living in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, along with other island communities off the Scottish mainland, are subject to level three measures.\n\nLatest Scottish government figures showed on Saturday that 1,149 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported across the country.\n\nFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned that level four restrictions could be further tightened if efforts to reduce the spread of the new transmissible strain of coronavirus were unsuccessful.\n\nAt an emergency briefing last week, Ms Sturgeon said \"firm preventative action\" was needed after the emergence of the faster-spreading strain, which is currently responsible for more than one in three cases of Covid-19.\n\nIt comes as concerns were raised about an outbreak of the new strain in south-west Scotland. Health officials say 64 cases of coronavirus have now been identified in Wigtownshire, with another confirmed in lower Annandale.\n\nLevel four restriction took effect from 26 December and followed a 24-hour period of relaxed rules for Christmas Day.\n\nFor one day only on 25 December, bubbles were formed with other households and travel restrictions were eased.\n\nHowever all but essential travel is now banned outside your local authority area for the remainder of the festive period.\n\nFigures for deaths, hospital admissions and intensive care cases associated with coronavirus will next be updated on 29 December.\n\nSchools will return later than originally planned after the Christmas holidays.\n\nMs Sturgeon said they should resume from 11 January, with learning taking place online until at least 18 January.\n\nThe new variant was first seen in mid-September in London and Kent - but by December it had become the \"dominant variant\" in London.\n\nGovernment advisers believe the new variant could increase the R number - or reproductive rate of the virus - by 0.4 or more.\n\nNicola Sturgeon said there was no evidence to suggest the new strain made people sicker than earlier variants, or that it would change the effectiveness of the vaccine.\n\nWhen the Boxing Day restrictions were announced, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said families would be \"devastated\", but that he understood why the restrictions were necessary.\n\n\"None of us want this, but these sacrifices will save lives,\" he said.\n\nScottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said the Scottish government needed to publish \"persuasive evidence\" to avert a \"heightened risk of non-compliance\".\n\nThe Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens both backed the moves.\n• None Scottish level four rules 'may be strengthened'\n• None What Covid level are you in?", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "Thousands of people have left their homes near the River Great Ouse amid \"severe\" flood warnings on Christmas day.\n\nThis was the scene from the skies in Bedfordshire.\n\nThere was also flooding in Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This is the weather forecast for the British Isles.\n\nGusts of more than 100mph have been recorded after Storm Bella brought heavy rain and high winds to large parts of the UK.\n\nThe Needles, on the Isle of Wight, saw gusts that reached 106mph (170kmh).\n\nA yellow warning for snow and ice - meaning disruption is likely - has been issued by the Met Office for Northern Ireland and north Wales, north-west England and southern Scotland.\n\nSouth Western Railway said heavy rain had \"flooded the railway\" between Bournemouth and Southampton, meaning cancellations and delays were expected all day.\n\nSouth Western, Southeastern Railway and the London Overground all reported fallen trees and other debris blocking lines and causing disruption in various locations.\n\nNational Rail advised anyone travelling by train to check their journey before setting off.\n\nIn York flood defences were put in place as River Ouse water levels are expected to rise to about four metres above normal early on Monday.\n\nMeanwhile, the ports of Dover and Calais warned Channel crossings had also been affected by the weather, with strong winds and poor visibility leading to a \"risk of delays\".\n\nSporting events have also experienced disruption, with the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow being called off due to a waterlogged course.\n\nA further yellow warning for snow and ice affecting travel was issued for much of Wales, the Midlands, the south of England and parts of the east of England from midnight on Sunday to 18:00 on Monday.\n\nThe A1101 in Welney, Norfolk, flooded after heavy rain\n\nAcross southern England, trees - like this one in Golders Green, London - were brought down by the storm\n\nHeavy rain has already caused flooding in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire over the Christmas period.\n\nResidents in 1,300 homes by the River Great Ouse in Bedfordshire were advised to move out following high water levels on Christmas Day.\n\nMayor of Bedford Borough Dave Hodgson told BBC Radio 5 Live that around 40 of those homes had gone on to receive flood damage.\n\nHe added that water levels in the area were \"still high\" on Sunday \"but seem to be reducing at the moment\".\n\nSevere flood warnings remain in place in Northamptonshire for the River Nene, at Billing Aquadrome - where more than 1,000 people were evacuated on Christmas Day because of flooding - and at Cogenhoe Mill Caravan Site.\n\nA further 110 flood warnings have been issued in England, three in Wales and two in Scotland.\n\nFlooding near homes in Abbey Grounds, Cirencester, caused by the River Churn\n\nElsewhere, in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, council officials have been providing sandbags for those at risk of flooding due to heavy rain, after more than 70 homes were without power on Christmas Day when an electricity substation flooded.\n\nAnd up to 40 homes were flooded on Christmas Eve in Witney, Oxfordshire, where the Environment Agency has warned that river levels are still rising.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Aerial footage shows the extent of flooding in Bedford on Christmas Day\n\nThe Met Office said roads and railways in Northern Ireland, north Wales, north-west England and southern Scotland were \"likely\" to be affected by snow and ice until at least 10:00 on Monday.\n\nStorm Bella is the second period of severe weather to be officially named by the UK's Met Office this winter.\n\nA severe flood warning had been in place for the River Great Ouse at Bedford\n\nCommunities Secretary Robert Jenrick urged people to check official advice, including from the Environment Agency, which asked people to keep away from \"swollen rivers and flooded land\".\n\nA statement on its website said: \"It is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.\"\n\nHave you been affected by Storm Bella? If it is safe to do so please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Last updated on .From the section Formula 1\n\nLewis Hamilton says the Black Lives Matter movement helped drive him on to his seventh Formula 1 world title.\n\nHamilton, 35, took a knee on the grid and wore anti-racism slogans in support of the cause during the season.\n\nThe Briton's Mercedes team also adopted a black livery for the 2020 campaign in a stand against discrimination.\n\nHamilton, who guest edited BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday, said: \"I had this extra drive in me to get to the end of those races.\"\n\nHe was voted as the 2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year earlier this month after equalling Michael Schumacher's record of winning seven World Championships and passing the German's total of 91 grands prix victories.\n\nOn Saturday, Hamilton told historian and presenter Professor David Olusoga: \"It was a different drive than what I've had in me in the past - to get to the end of those races first so that I could utilise that platform [for Black Lives Matter] and shine the light as bright as possible.\"\n\nAsked by Olusoga if he had been concerned about the response to his stance, Hamilton replied: \"There is no way that I could stay silent. And once I said that to myself, I didn't hold any fear.\"\n\nHamilton was also asked by presenter Nick Robinson about racism in his sport and the fact that he is the only black F1 driver.\n\n\"There are many other young kids of colour that deserve the opportunity to progress, have a great education, [who could] be an engineer or whatever it is they want. But the fact is, the opportunity is not the same for them,\" said Hamilton.\n\nThe Mercedes driver also hinted that activism might represent a new avenue for him when he retires from racing.\n\n\"The happiness and success of winning these championships is a wonderful thing, but it's short lived,\" Hamilton added.\n• None More on the Black Lives Matter movement\n\nEvery year, the Today programme invites a series of high-profile guests to take charge of an edition of the show, with each setting the agenda for one day across the Christmas and New Year period.\n\nOther guest editors this year include The Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith and author Margaret Atwood.\n\nAs well as Black Lives Matter, Hamilton also discussed the Hamilton Commission, the programme set up in his name to increase diversity in motorsport, the power of sport to bring positive change, electric cars and animal rights.\n• None Follow the footballer's campaign for free school meals\n• None Need a new box set for the festive period? All episodes of the epic fantasy drama are streaming now", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe Queen's Christmas message - which focused on hope amid the pandemic - topped TV ratings on Christmas Day, overnight viewing figures have shown.\n\nAn audience of 8.14 million watched her festive address on BBC One, ITV and Sky News.\n\nBBC One's Call The Midwife had the second highest number of viewers, with an average audience of 5.43 million, and 5.26m tuned in for Blankety Blank.\n\nLast year, the return of sitcom Gavin and Stacey topped the ratings.\n\nAccording to ratings body Barb, Strictly Come Dancing, which featured the show's 25 most memorable dances, and Michael McIntyre's The Wheel were in fourth and fifth place with 4.86 million viewers and 4.66 million respectively.\n\nITV's highest rated programme was Coronation Street with 4.55 million viewers, making it number six on the ratings list.\n\nThe popular soap beat BBC One rival EastEnders - which was in ninth place with 3.54 million viewers, meaning it was beaten by another soap rival, Emmerdale.\n\nThat is a far cry from festive episodes gone by for EastEnders, which was once the powerhouse of the BBC's Christmas offering - including famously in 1986 when more than 30 million tuned in to see Den Watts, played by Leslie Grantham, hand divorce papers to wife Angie, played by Anita Dobson.\n\nThe Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special had 4.86 million viewers\n\nTV star Bradley Walsh, who hosted the Blankety Blank Christmas special, made a second appearance on the list with his quiz show The Chase, in at 10th place with 3.02m viewers.\n\nIn recent years, The Queen's annual broadcast has regularly been the most-watched TV show, based on the overnight figures - which do not include viewers who watch Christmas specials on catch-up services during the rest of the festive period.\n\nThis year, the 94-year-old, who like many was spending Christmas Day apart from her family, used her message to reassure anyone struggling without friends and family that they \"are not alone\".\n\nShe said what many people want \"for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand\" - but \"even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn\".\n\nShe also praised acts of kindness, saying the pandemic \"brought us closer\" despite causing hardship.\n\n1. The Queen - 8.14m (BBC One, ITV 1, Sky One, Sky News, BBC News)\n\nKate Phillips, acting controller of BBC One said: \"I'm really proud of the range and quality of programmes we've shown across this special day,\" she said.\n\n\"BBC One entertained the nation and provided something for everyone to enjoy after a particularly difficult year.\"\n\nTV presenter Bradley Walsh has two shows in the top ten\n\nChristmas Day was an excellent day for Bradley Walsh.\n\nHe helped ITV to a stronger top 10 presence than they've enjoyed in over five years, with The Chase joining Coronation Street and Emmerdale in the day's most watched shows.\n\nThe last time the broadcaster had three top 10 programmes was back in 2014 with Downton Abbey alongside the two soaps.\n\n(But they'll have been disappointed that Britain's Got Talent couldn't break the three million mark and also scrape into the top 10).\n\nAnd Walsh also \"switched channels\" during the day to help BBC One's reboot of Blankety Blank into third place. A rare strong Christmas Day showing for a game show, and one which could well persuade the BBC to commission a full series return.\n\nOverall, the 2020 Christmas Day figures do seem to reflect the gradual decline in viewing that we've seen in recent years. While it's undoubtedly true that the explosion of streaming services and other non-TV related activities has drawn away much of the traditional 25 December audience, it's also worth noting a few other factors.\n\nThis year there wasn't anything like the return of a much-loved show like Gavin and Stacey, which last year performed exceptionally, with 11.6m \"overnight\" viewers. A massive figure by any standards.\n\nAlso, Christmas Day is thought of as being a time when families gather to watch TV. But this year, the pandemic means that many families haven't been allowed to or have chosen not to be together, something that is likely to have had an impact on that traditional part of the audience.\n\nBut the Queen's broadcast remains a unifying moment for many, and is unsurprisingly comfortably at the top of this year's viewing chart.", "The global fleet of Boeing 737s underwent an overhaul following two fatal crashes in 2019\n\nAn Air Canada Boeing 737 Max aircraft has been forced to make an unscheduled landing after developing engine trouble, the airline has said.\n\nThe plane was en route from the US state of Arizona to Montreal in Canada when it was diverted shortly after take-off, Air Canada said.\n\nThe plane was carrying three crew members at the time and landed safely.\n\n737 Max aircraft were grounded in 2019 after two fatal crashes, but resumed flying this month after an overhaul.\n\nThe crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia came within five months of each other and together killed 346 people.\n\nThe accidents were attributed to flaws in automated flight software called MCAS, which prompted the planes to nosedive.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Zipporah Kuria's father Joseph Waithaka was one of 157 people killed when a Boeing 737 Max crashed in March 2019\n\nIn a statement, Air Canada said the pilots \"received an engine notification and, according to the standard operating procedure for such a situation, they decided to shut down an engine\" before rerouting to Tucson, Arizona.\n\nThe aircraft, with no passengers on board, was being flown from a storage site. It remains on the ground in Tucson.\n\nIn the wake of the two crashes, Boeing implemented a series of modifications including updating flight control software, revising crew procedures and rerouting internal wiring.\n\nThe aircraft resumed passenger flights, in Brazil, less than three weeks ago.", "Countries across the EU received their first shipments of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines. A healthcare worker in Budapest was the first to get the shot.", "Drivers are being tested before being allowed to make the crossing to France\n\nThousands of lorry drivers waiting to cross the English Channel to France are spending Christmas Day in their cabs in Kent.\n\nHundreds of military personnel have been deployed to help clear the backlog of about 5,000 lorries, which are waiting at Manston Airport.\n\nDrivers are allowed to travel on the condition they test negative for Covid-19 before boarding a train or ferry.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps said more than 10,000 tests had been done.\n\nHe said out of those lorry drivers who had been tested, 24 were positive for coronavirus.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nFrance closed its border after the UK warned of a fast-spreading variant of coronavirus but ended its ban on Wednesday, providing people tested negative before travelling.\n\nMore than 700 hauliers have been cleared for departure since France reopened its border.\n\nBut about 5,000 remain unable to get home and are waiting at Manston Airport, on a closed section of the M20, and in Dover.\n\nFreight traffic has started moving through the Port of Dover\n\nFrench firefighters have been supporting the testing effort, and a group of Polish medics was deployed to the UK on Thursday to help test drivers. the Polish news website TVN24 has reported.\n\nSome lorry drivers have already spent nearly a week stranded following the closure of the border on Sunday.\n\nMr Shapps said: \"We need to get the situation in Kent, caused by the French government's sudden imposition of Covid restrictions, resolved as soon as possible.\n\n\"I know it's been hard for many drivers cooped up in their cabs at this precious time of year, but I assure them that we are doing our utmost to get them home.\"\n\nThe UK's border with France was closed on Sunday and reopened on Wednesday\n\nThe government said catering vans were providing hot food and drinks to stranded hauliers at Manston, with Kent Council and volunteer groups providing refreshments to those stuck on the M20.\n\nHM Coastguard said its teams in the Dover area had so far delivered 3,000 hot meals, 600 pizzas, 2,985 packed lunches and 17 pallets of water to those waiting.\n\nSoutheastern Railway and Network Rail arranged for food to be delivered to lorry drivers stuck in Operation Stack on the M20.\n\nSeven trains carrying crates of food for the hauliers have left London in the past 48 hours, with the Salvation Army distributing the items.\n\nThere are more than 250 toilets at Manston, with a further 32 portable toilets added to existing facilities already along the M20.\n\nA Port of Dover spokesman said ferry services had run throughout Christmas Eve night and would continue on Christmas Day to help ease congestion.\n\nDuncan Buchanan, from the Road Haulage Association, said: \"The most reassuring thing is that food is getting through at Manston, and I have to say a big thank you to everyone who volunteered to help.\"\n\nAre you a lorry driver waiting to cross the English Channel to France? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nOr use this form to get in touch:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your comment or send it via email to HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any comment you send in.\n\nFollow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe Queen has used her Christmas Day message to reassure anyone struggling without friends and family this year that they \"are not alone\".\n\nShe said what many people want \"for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand\" - but \"even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn\".\n\nThe 94-year-old praised acts of kindness, saying the pandemic \"brought us closer\" despite causing hardship.\n\nThe Queen, like so many, is spending the day apart from her family.\n\n\"Remarkably, a year that has necessarily kept people apart has, in many ways, brought us closer,\" the monarch said in the broadcast, adding that the Royal Family has been \"inspired\" by people volunteering in their communities.\n\n\"In the United Kingdom and around the world, people have risen magnificently to the challenges of the year, and I am so proud and moved by this quiet, indomitable spirit.\"\n\nShe lamented that \"people of all faiths have been unable to gather as they would wish for their festivals\", but said \"we need life to go on\".\n\nThe Queen highlighted Diwali celebrations last month in Windsor - where she is spending Christmas with the Duke of Edinburgh for the first time in decades - as an example of \"joyous moments of hope and unity despite social distancing\".\n\n\"Of course for many, this time of year will be tinged with sadness - some mourning the loss of those dear to them and others missing friends and family members distanced for safety, when all they really want for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand,\" she added.\n\n\"If you are among them, you are not alone, and let me assure you of my thoughts and prayers.\"\n\nShe gave particular thanks to young people, to frontline workers, and to \"good Samaritans [who] have emerged across society, showing care and respect for all\".\n\nThe Queen made a private pilgrimage to the grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey last month\n\n\"We continue to be inspired by the kindness of strangers and draw comfort that even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn,\" she said.\n\nReferring to the centenary of the Unknown Warrior's burial in Westminster Abbey, she said: \"The Unknown Warrior was not exceptional, that's the point. He represents millions like him who, throughout our history, have put the lives of others above their own and will be doing so today.\n\n\"For me, this is a source of enduring hope in difficult and unpredictable times.\"\n\nThis year's message was recorded in mid-December with a pared-back film crew and in accordance with government guidance.\n\nShe did not utter the words \"pandemic\", \"coronavirus\" or \"Covid-19\" but they were the dominant theme of this year's Christmas speech broadcast by the Queen.\n\nHer words conveyed three particular messages. She spoke of the gratitude owed to all those who'd \"risen magnificently to the challenges of the year\", in particular to young people, frontline workers and the \"amazing achievements of modern science.\"\n\nShe found hope in the actions of so many \"Good Samaritans\" who'd emerged across society to offer care.\n\nThere was hope too from the example of the \"Unknown Warrior\" buried at Westminster Abbey a century ago. He symbolised selfless duty: a source of \"enduring hope\" the Queen said.\n\nAnd finally there was reassurance for all those who are mourning or missing friends or family. This was the most touching part of the broadcast. These were people who just wanted \"a hug or a squeeze of the hand\" the Queen said.\n\nThat is not language she often uses in public.\n\nShe added: \"Let the light of Christmas, the spirit of selflessness, love and above all, hope, guide us in the times ahead.\"\n\nThe Queen and Prince Philip, 99, have been living at Windsor Castle during the pandemic with a small household staff.\n\nIt is thought to be the first year the couple have not spent Christmas at their Sandringham home since the mid-1980s.\n\nThe Royal Family usually spends Christmas Day together, but will not visit each other this year because of coronavirus restrictions.\n\nThe Queen also worshipped privately rather than attending a church service, as she usually does - in order, it is understood, to avoid crowds of well-wishers congregating.\n\nOn Christmas Day, the Royal Family tweeted a video of St George's Chapel choir singing.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by The Royal Family This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post by The Royal Family\n\nThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge acknowledged those going through a particularly difficult time this year because of the pandemic, tweeting pictures of people working through the festive season.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post 2 by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge\n\nMeanwhile, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall sent their Christmas wishes on social media, telling followers, \"Here's to a better new year.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 3 by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post 3 by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall\n\nThe Queen's address marks the end of a year that saw her go for seven months - March to October - without carrying out public engagements outside of a royal residence.\n\nDuring that time, her eldest child, Prince Charles, 72, contracted coronavirus and displayed mild symptoms.\n\nPalace sources also told the BBC that the Prince William tested positive in April - though Kensington Palace refused to comment officially.\n\nThe royals have spent some time together during the pandemic.\n\nThe Queen and several other senior royals attended a socially-distanced Christmas carol concert at Windsor Castle this month.\n\nShe was also joined by family members at a scaled-back Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in London's Whitehall in November.\n\nThe Christmas broadcast was the Queen's third televised address this year, which is unusual for the monarch.\n\nIn April, as the first wave of the pandemic saw people across the country told to stay at home, she vowed that the the UK \"will succeed\" in its fight against the virus.\n\nIn a rallying message, she lamented the \"painful sense of separation from their loved ones\" that social distancing was causing people - but said it was \"the right thing to do\".\n\nIn April, the Queen said: \"We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again\"\n\nThe following month, in a poignant address to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, she said people's response to the virus had filled empty streets with \"love\".\n\nIn last year's Christmas speech, she described 2019 - which saw intense political debate over Brexit and a number of personal events affecting the Royal Family - as \"quite bumpy\".\n\nShe said the path is never \"smooth\" but \"small steps\" can heal divisions.\n\nChannel 4's alternative Christmas message will be delivered by a deepfake of the Queen this year.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nStorm Bella has brought strong winds and heavy rain to Wales on Boxing Day, with an amber weather warning for wind in force overnight.\n\nCoastal areas and hills could be hit by gusts of up to 80mph (130km/h) on Sunday and into Monday.\n\nThe Met Office has also issued yellow warnings for wind, across the rest of the country, and another for rain.\n\nAbout 400 homes across south and mid Wales suffered power cuts early on Boxing Day evening.\n\nHomes in Swansea, Caerphilly, Powys, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion were left without power before the amber warning came into effect.\n\nThe M48 Severn Bridge has also been closed after being hit by strong winds.\n\nThe amber wind warning and yellow rain warning are in force until 09:00 on Sunday, while the yellow wind warning is in place until 12:00.\n\nAll of Wales is included in a yellow rain warning with south and west also expecting strong winds\n\nSixteen of Wales' 22 local authorities are covered by the amber warning and south-westerly gales could reach 60-70mph.\n\nThe Met Office says travel could be disrupted from Saturday night through to Sunday morning and there is a chance homes and businesses could flood.\n\nIt also warned that flying debris could cause injury or be a risk to life, and buildings could be damaged in the storm.\n\nAll counties in the south-west and the majority of those in the south-east are covered by the amber warning, as well as parts of Ceredigion, Powys and Gwynedd.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Derek Brockway - Weatherman This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe Met Office has also warned that 40-60mm of rain could fall on hilly areas while 15-25mm is expected more widely.\n\nNatural Resources Wales has issued flood warnings and alerts for the River Ritec at Tenby, Pembrokeshire, and the Lower Dee Valley from Llangollen to Trevalyn Meadows near Wrexham.\n\nThe warnings follow parts of Wales waking up to a flood clean-up on Christmas Eve.\n\nA weather warning for snow and ice on Sunday night has also been issued for parts of north Wales.", "The post-Brexit deal will make the UK safer, Home Secretary Priti Patel says, despite concerns from police chiefs about a lack of access to data.\n\nShe said the UK would be \"more secure through firmer and fairer border controls\" after 31 December.\n\nThe deal allows cooperation on security and policing, but Brussels said the UK will no longer have \"direct, real-time access\" to sensitive information.\n\nThis includes a major database on people and items such as stolen guns.\n\nThe UK-EU trade deal - a 1,246-page document which has been seen by the BBC but not published by the government - will be voted on in Parliament on 30 December, with the UK set to exit existing trade rules the next day.\n\nIn the run-up to the UK's separation from the European Union, police chiefs raised concerns about losing access to databases and the European Arrest Warrant.\n\nMs Patel said the UK would continue to be \"one of the safest countries in the world\" and she was \"immensely proud\" of the package agreed with the EU.\n\nShe said: \"It means both sides have effective tools to tackle serious crime and terrorism, protecting the public and bringing criminals to justice.\n\n\"But we will also seize this historic opportunity to make the UK safer and more secure through firmer and fairer border controls.\"\n\nThe Home Office said the post-Brexit agreement included streamlined extradition arrangements, fast and effective exchange of national DNA, fingerprint and vehicle registration data and continued transfers of Passenger Name Record data.\n\nFrom July 2021, the UK will receive advance data on goods arriving from the EU into Great Britain, something which was not previously possible under EU rules.\n\nBut the UK will lose access to the EU's Schengen Information System II (SIS II) database of alerts about people and items such as stolen firearms and vehicles.\n\nThe EU has said it is legally impossible to offer SIS access to the UK.\n\nEarlier this month Steve Rodhouse, director general of operations for the National Crime Agency, warned that losing access to the database would mean alerts relating to around 400,000 investigations in European countries would disappear from the UK's national computer on 31 December.\n\n\"Investigations could take longer, and it could mean that serious criminals are not held to account as quickly,\" he said.\n\nBBC home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani said that while the agreement did appear to protect continued security and policing cooperation it \"downgrades what British police can achieve - and how quickly\".\n\n\"As expected, the UK will have to unplug its connection to an enormous real-time database that shares alerts on wanted or missing people,\" he said.\n\nIn November, National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) lead for Brexit, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Martin told peers that while contingency plans were being made the loss of access to SIS was \"still a capability gap and it will have a massive impact on us\".\n\nHe said his team had checked the system 603 million times last year.\n\nFollowing the announcement of the deal, the NPCC said while it welcomed a deal between the UK and EU it was working with the government to \"fully understand the detail of the security agreement and how it will be implemented, and ensure we are prepared for any changes to the way we currently operate\".\n\nBBC Reality Check correspondent Chris Morris said while the UK has reached an agreement on extradition and will be able to sit in on meetings of Europol - the cross-border security agency - \"on a par with the best other countries have achieved\", the speed at which the UK gets important data and the influence it has on decisions has been reduced.", "Ten people have been given antibodies as a form of emergency protection after being exposed to coronavirus, in the first trial of its kind.\n\nThe experimental jab is being offered to people who have been in close contact with a confirmed Covid-19 case within the past eight days.\n\nIf it proves effective, it could protect vulnerable people who have not yet been, or cannot be, vaccinated.\n\nAnd it could help to contain outbreaks.\n\nThe trial, run at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NHS Trust, is looking at whether an injection of two different antibodies could prevent someone who has been exposed to Covid from developing the disease - or at least from becoming very ill.\n\nVaccines take weeks to offer full protection, meaning it's too late for them to be given once someone already has the virus brewing in their system.\n\nBut this monoclonal antibody treatment, developed by the drugs company AstraZeneca, should work to neutralise the virus immediately.\n\nAnd it gives ongoing protection for up to a year.\n\nIt could mean healthcare workers, hospital patients and care home residents could be given the treatment if they have been exposed to a known Covid case.\n\nIt could be offered to people with health vulnerabilities by their GPs.\n\nAnd it could be used to prevent one or two cases turning into an outbreak in settings like student accommodation.\n\nThe team, lead by UCLH virologist Dr Catherine Houlihan, wants to recruit 1,000 volunteers.\n\nThey are targeting recruitment at areas where people are likely to have been exposed including hospitals and student accommodation.\n\nPeople wanting to take part will have to show their close contact has tested positive.\n\nThe jab works by \"donating\" antibodies, Dr Houlihan said - \"it skips out that stage of your body doing the work\" to make them.\n\n\"We know that this antibody combination can neutralise the virus, so we hope to find that giving this treatment via injection can lead to immediate protection against the development of Covid-19 in people who have been exposed - when it would be too late to offer a vaccine.\"\n\nShe explained this technique was already used post-exposure for other viruses like rabies, and chickenpox during pregnancy.\n\nAnother trial already under way at UCLH is looking at whether the same antibody treatment could be used before someone is exposed coronavirus, to prevent them ever catching it.\n\nThis could be particularly useful for people who have immune deficiencies or are going through immune-suppressing treatment like chemotherapy.\n\nInfectious diseases consultant Dr Nicky Longley, who is running the pre-exposure trial, said it was being trialled on people with conditions like cancer and HIV which \"may affect the ability of their immune system to respond to a vaccine.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Can you become immune to coronavirus?\n\n\"We want to reassure anyone for whom a vaccine may not work that we can offer an alternative which is just as protective.\"\n\nIt might also be useful to protect vulnerable people as a stopgap before they can be given a vaccine, Dr Houlihan confirmed.\n\nBut she said it was not being suggested as an alternative to the vaccine. And it's also likely to cost considerably more, at hundreds of pounds a dose.\n\nAlong with UCLH, the antibody treatment will be trialled at multiple sites in the US as well as in Wakefield, Manchester, Southampton and Hull.\n\nBut only the London site has begun recruiting and jabbing people.\n\nThe first results for both arms of the trial - using antibodies before and after exposure to Covid - are expected in the spring.", "A growing number of US government agencies have been targeted in a sophisticated hack.\n\nThe US Treasury and departments of homeland security, state, defence and commerce were attacked, reports say.\n\nSolarWinds Orion, the computer network tool at the source of the breach, said 18,000 of its 300,000 customers might have been affected.\n\nMany suspect the Russian government is responsible for the attack, but it denied the claims as \"baseless\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Russian Embassy in USA 🇷🇺 This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post by Russian Embassy in USA 🇷🇺\n\nIt is unclear what information has been stolen or exposed in the hack, but the attackers have been monitoring networks since March and were active as recently as Sunday, the Washington Post reports.\n\nThe attacks were first revealed by Reuters, identifying breaches at the Treasury and homeland security, the department which manages cyber-security for the US government.\n\nParts of the defence department were also breached, the New York Times reports, while the Washington Post says that the state department and National Institutes of Health were hacked.\n\nThe UK's intelligence agency GCHQ is currently monitoring the situation and has described the compromises as \"serious events\".\n\nA number of UK government departments and other organisations use SolarWinds but its unclear if they use Orion.\n\nThe list of identified victims is expected to grow as more information about the incident emerges.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Obama's former director of cyber security warns Radio 4's Today Russia election hacking is like 'playbook'\n\nSolarWinds Orion's software allows IT staff to remotely access computers on corporate networks.\n\nIn a so-called \"supply-chain attack\", hackers gained access to SolarWinds Orion and then had access to all of its customers' networks.\n\nFireEye, a company that provides US government cyber-security, identified the large-scale campaign after it fell victim to the hackers in a separate attack.\n\nThe actors manipulated SolarWinds Orion's software updates to include malware which, once installed, allowed the hackers to monitor its customers' systems, Fireye said.\n\n\"We have been advised this attack was likely conducted by an outside nation state and intended to be a narrow, extremely targeted, and manually executed attack, as opposed to a broad, system-wide attack,\" SolarWinds said in a statement on its website.\n\nIt urged all users of its Orion platform to update their software immediately for security.\n\nFireEye's own hacking tools, which are used to carry out fake attacks on its customers, were stolen by the same actors, it said.\n\nBy mimicking the behaviour of hackers, it uses these programmes to investigate the security of different organisations and offer advice on how to protect vulnerabilities.\n\nSince the discovery, there is evidence that these tools have already been used in 19 countries including the US, UK and Ireland, Raj Samani, chief scientist at leading cyber-security firm McAfee said.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Raj Samani This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nFireEye has now released more than 300 countermeasures to detect the use of its stolen tools and to minimise the potential impact if they are used.\n\nWhen the experts investigating a cyber-attack downgrade their estimate of the number of people affected, it's normally a good thing.\n\nSo when SolarWinds says the number of organisations that could have been spied upon through its products is not the 300,000 initially feared, you'd think it would be cause for slight consolation.\n\nUnfortunately, this is almost completely irrelevant. Like all cyber-attacks, it's not about the quantity of victims but their quality.\n\nYou don't get much higher quality targets than US government departments.\n\nThe other key number in this hack is eight.\n\nThat's how many months it's thought the hackers had access to SolarWinds and could have started to snoop, poke around or steal sensitive material from their customers.\n\nThe thing we don't know, and may never know, is what the quality of the information stolen is.\n\nIt's unlikely that top-level government communications would have been breached - those are likely to be heavily encrypted and sent on separate systems.\n\nBut like any offices, sometimes important operational documents, snippets of information or even the digital keys to other parts of a business are left lying around in places they shouldn't be.\n\nThe investigation into this hack will be months long and its consequences could take years to be realised.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nUS Vice-President Mike Pence has received the coronavirus vaccine live on TV, telling the audience and doctors: \"I didn't feel a thing.\"\n\nThe White House said the aim of the move was to \"promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and build confidence among the American people\".\n\nMr Pence's wife and Surgeon General Jerome Adams also received the jab at the televised White House event.\n\nOn Monday the US began rolling out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.\n\nThe first vaccine to be approved in the US, it offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19.\n\nThe first three million doses are being distributed to locations across the 50 US states.\n\nPresident-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, will receive the vaccine on Monday, a spokesperson told US media.\n\nAlso on Friday, a second vaccine, developed by Moderna, received emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration after it was endorsed by a panel of experts.\n\nAs Mr Pence was receiving his jab, Mr Trump incorrectly said on Twitter that the Moderna vaccine had been \"overwhelmingly approved\" with \"distribution to start immediately\". It is still awaiting final approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).\n\nMore than 310,000 people have died with coronavirus in the US, which has recorded more infections and fatalities than any other country. More than 17 million cases have been recorded in the country since the start of the pandemic.\n\nMr Pence, 61, received the first of two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab at 08:00 local time (13:00 GMT), along with his wife Karen and Dr Adams. He is the most senior US official to be vaccinated so far.\n\n\"We gather here today at the end of a historic week to affirm to the American people that hope is on the way,\" he told the crowd, after the number of newly recorded US coronavirus deaths surpassed 3,000 for the third day in a row.\n\n\"Karen and I were more than happy to step forward before this week was out to take this safe and effective coronavirus vaccine that we have secured and produced for the American people,\" he continued, calling it \"a truly inspiring day\".\n\nTop infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield were in the audience to observe the doctors from Walter Reed hospital perform the injections.\n\nBoth men elbow-bumped Mr Pence and his wife after their jabs. Mr Trump did not attend the event.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\n\"We want virtually everyone eligible to get this vaccine ultimately,\" Dr Fauci said in brief remarks. \"By the time we get to several months into this [coming] year we will have enough people protected that we can start thinking seriously about the return to normality.\"\n\nSpeaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the most senior Democrat in Congress, and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had also received the vaccine on Friday.\n\n\"As the vaccine is being distributed, we must all continue mask wearing, social distancing & other science-based steps to save lives & crush the virus,\" tweeted Mrs Pelosi, alongside pictures of herself getting the jab.\n\n\"Just received the safe, effective Covid vaccine following continuity-of-government protocols,\" tweeted Mr McConnell, sharing a photo of his vaccination card. \"Vaccines are how we beat this virus.\"\n\nEarlier this week, President Donald Trump reversed a plan for senior members of his administration to be among the first to receive the vaccine \"unless specifically necessary\".\n\nThe president, who contracted coronavirus in October and recovered after hospital treatment, said he was not scheduled to take the jab but looked forward to doing so \"at the appropriate time\".\n\nMany of his support base have doubts about the efficacy and safety of vaccines.\n\nPresident-elect Biden, who at 78 is in a high-risk group from Covid-19, has set a goal of administering 100 million vaccination shots in the first 100 days after he takes office on 20 January.", "Alex Rodda was killed in woodland in Cheshire\n\nA teenager who beat a schoolboy to death with a spanner has told a court he did not think his friends would accept him if he was gay.\n\nMatthew Mason, 19, admits killing 15-year-old Alex Rodda in woodland in Ashley, Cheshire, on 12 December last year but denies his murder.\n\nChester Crown Court has heard Mr Mason paid Alex £2,000 to stop him revealing their sexual relationship.\n\nHe said he asked his friends for money but did not tell them what it was for.\n\nMr Mason told the court he was \"embarrassed and worried\" and feared the friendship would end \"because they would not accept me for what happened\".\n\nAsked by prosecutor Ian Unsworth QC what he meant, he said: \"Because of what me and Alex had done together, like if I was to speak to someone about it they wouldn't understand why it had happened and they wouldn't accept me if I was gay or bisexual.\"\n\nMr Mason, of Ash Lane in Ollerton, admitted having sex with Alex but said he thought it was wrong, adding: \"For one, because he was a male and, secondly, his age.\"\n\nHe told the jury he did not hate Alex for blackmailing him but he thought he was \"being a bit of a bully\".\n\nThe court heard Mr Mason had searched the internet for phrases including \"what would happen if you kicked someone down the stairs\" and \"everyday poison\".\n\nHe told jurors he felt depressed and suicidal after his girlfriend broke up with him when Alex contacted her and told her about an explicit photo and video he had sent him.\n\nMr Mason told the court he worked at a plant hire firm, attended Reaseheath College and was rehearsing for the Young Farmers' Club's Christmas play.\n\nHe accepted he hit Alex at least 15 times on the head with the spanner after driving to remote woodland.\n\nHe said when he drove away from the scene he threw Alex's phone out of the car.\n\nThe jury was told before giving evidence he had not previously admitted disposing of the phone.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "How to help keep the virus at bay this Christmas\n\nWelsh minister Baroness Morgan has urged people to \"behave sensibly\" this Christmas to avoid further \"trouble\" in the new year. The number of households who can mix in Wales over Christmas has been cut from three to two (a person who lives alone can join too). But for people who are still undecided or planning to see loved-ones, here is a reminder of how to mix more safely. A study by Sage, the UK government's science advisory panel, found that if you double the number of people getting together, the odds of infection increase fourfold. And since the coronavirus can survive on surfaces, possibly for several hours, passing around objects could post a risk - so Sage recommends playing quiz-style games instead . For more guidance on everything from noise levels to the length of recommended time spent together, head here. Video caption: Covid Christmas: What are the Christmas Covid rules? Covid Christmas: What are the Christmas Covid rules?", "The Covid pandemic has exposed \"profound shortcomings\" in the UK's oversight of national security, a parliamentary report has said.\n\nThe Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy said problems the UK has faced reflect gaps in the planning and preparation for biological risks.\n\nA pandemic has been categorised among the highest security risks since 2010.\n\nBut the report says the only major planning exercise in the last decade left some critical areas untested.\n\nThe MPs and peers on the committee added that local authorities and emergency responders have sometimes lacked the intelligence and support they need from central government to carry out their role in biological security effectively.\n\nInsufficient attention had also been paid to areas like detection, they say.\n\nThe UK's preparations for a significant disease outbreak had mainly focused on a flu pandemic.\n\nBut the report says the \"novel features of Covid-19\", such as its high level of infectiousness compared with the flu, do not fully explain the government's \"inadequate response\".\n\n\"Insufficient attention was paid to important capabilities,\" they said, in areas including testing, isolation and contact-tracing capabilities.\n\nThey say the pandemic also exposed vulnerabilities in the supply of personal protective equipment and in tackling false or misleading information online.\n\nWhen the UK first published its list of top tier security threats a decade ago, a pandemic was there as part of the category covering a major accident or natural hazard.\n\nBut compared with the other three big risks listed - terrorism, cyber-attack and a major military crisis - there is no doubt that it received less attention and funding.\n\nCounter-terrorism scenarios are exercised regularly, the military - despite battles over budget - receives plenty of attention and cyber-security has risen up the agenda rapidly in the last decade, including with the creation of a new National Cyber Security Centre.\n\nBut natural hazards, and particularly bio-security, have felt more like the poor relation and this report argues the pandemic exposed those failings.\n\nThe committee calls for a minister to report annually to Parliament on the state of national preparedness for all top-tier risks, regular exercises to prepare for them and a task force to focus specifically on biological security.\n\nThe chair of the committee, Dame Margaret Beckett, said \"the pandemic in the UK was not unpredicted... it is clear that the government could have, and should have, done more to prepare\".\n\nShe added: \"Its negligence of key capabilities led to unnecessary fumbling for solutions, when instead the country needed decisive action.\n\n\"The government at times seems to have treated a vaccine as a 'fix-all', with little pre-consideration of our capabilities for detecting where the virus is and bringing cases under control.\"", "The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has secured agreements for two billion doses of vaccine for its Covax initiative - a programme that aims to ensure fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines worldwide.\n\n\"The light at the end of the tunnel has grown a little bit brighter,\" WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online news conference.\n\nThe doses secured are from developers AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Novovax and Sanofi/GSK, although none have yet been authorised for use.\n\nIn a statement, the initiative said all 190 economies that had signed up to Covax would \"have access to doses in the first half of 2021, with first deliveries anticipated to begin in the first quarter of 2021 - contingent upon regulatory approvals and countries' readiness for delivery\".\n\nEarlier this week WHO officials warned that a $28bn (£21bn) shortfall in funding meant poor and low income countries could be left behind in a scramble to purchase vaccines.\n\nThe Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which also helped set up the initiative, said the Covax alliance was also in talks with Pfizer and BioNtech over their vaccine, which has been approved in the US and UK, as well as with Moderna, which expects to have its vaccine approved in the US later.", "Taxes must increase or services be cut to compensate for the loss of fuel tax income thanks to the advent of electric cars, the Treasury has admitted.\n\nOfficials have been long concerned about the future loss of more than £30bn in revenue from drivers.\n\nIn a new review the Treasury has acknowledged the problem in a way that will spark a debate about how driving should be taxed in the future.\n\nOne idea would be to charge motorists for every mile they drive.\n\nBut the AA says such road pricing will be tough to sell politically.\n\nInstead, the motoring organisation is proposing a system of \"Road Miles\" in which motorists are allowed to drive free of charge for 3,000 miles (4,000 in rural areas) before they start paying.\n\nThe Treasury review offers another striking conclusion from a government department traditionally worried about harm to the economy from cleaning up the UK's emissions.\n\nThe latest message is the opposite - that tackling climate change might even benefit the economy by giving the UK a lead in clean technologies.\n\nIt says: \"Overall, in the context of the rest of the world decarbonising, the net impact of the transition on growth to 2050 is likely to be small compared to total growth over that period.\n\n\"It could be slightly positive or slightly negative.\"\n\nThe document continues: \"Climate change is an existential threat to humanity. Without global action to limit greenhouse gas emissions, the climate will change catastrophically with almost unimaginable consequences for societies across the world.\"\n\nEnvironmentalists welcome what they say is a dramatic change in tone from the Treasury,\n\nDoug Parr from Greenpeace told BBC News: \"Finally the Treasury has admitted that tackling climate change could actually be good for the economy.\n\n\"For years it's been a total drag on climate policies - it used to get in the way of any good proposals.\"\n\nHe said the Treasury should save money by scrapping the £27bn roads programme and the £100bn HS2 rail line - both of which will increase carbon emissions.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Will the UK be ready for a 2030 ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars?\n\nNick Mabey from the think tank e3g told BBC News the document raised false fears that the UK would lose industries to nations with dirty economies if the UK decarbonised.\n\nHe said: \"This report shows the Treasury still has a lot of homework to do to understand the full implications of the clean energy revolution for Britain.\n\n\"The report talks about the opportunities of moving to net zero but still underplays the benefits of cleaner air and healthier cities.\n\n\"[The Treasury has] still not grasped that British industry is not at risk from dirty imports but from industries powered by cheap solar power in Tunisia, the Gulf and Australia.\"\n\n\"The obvious implication of this report is that the UK can afford to move faster to reduce climate risks.\"\n\nBut both men praised the Treasury for accepting that the big challenge for climate policy will be fairness, not technology.\n\nIts document - an interim review - said poorer people must be protected from the changes in employment and taxation, or the government would lose support for cleaning up emissions.\n\nThis message was strongly advocated by the Citizens Assembly devised to gauge the opinions of the public on climate policy.", "Sony has pulled Cyberpunk 2077, one of the year's most-anticipated games, from its store and offered refunds to all players.\n\nThe unprecedented move follows complaints that the game has been riddled with bugs and glitches, and is prone to crashes.\n\nMicrosoft later said it would also refund any dissatisfied Xbox players.\n\nDeveloper CD Projekt Red has promised to issue patches to improve the game for those who do not return it.\n\nIt’s unclear when Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) plans to return the game to the PlayStation Store.\n\n“SIE strives to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction, therefore we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased Cyberpunk 2077 via PlayStation Store,” the company said.\n\nA Microsoft spokesperson said Xbox players would also get refunds - but is not pulling the game from sale.\n\n\"We know the developers at CD Projekt Red have worked hard to ship Cyberpunk in extremely challenging circumstances,\" a spokesperson said.\n\n\"However, we also realise that some players have been unhappy with the current experience on older consoles.\"\n\nTo rectify the situation it said it was issuing refunds to customers who have already requested one and would be expanding refunds to \"anyone who purchased Cyberpunk 2077 digitally from the Microsoft Store, until further notice\".\n\nTo request an Xbox refund, users needed to follow the steps listed on the Xbox refund page .\n\nSome Sony users reported being unable to request the refund, even after the announcement - something Sony said it was working \"to get up and running as soon as possible\".\n\nIt can still be bought on PCs - and gamers who do not want be reimbursed for their copies can still play the game and receive updates.\n\nIn Cyberpunk 2077, players live in a criminal world where they can pay to upgrade their bodies with technology.\n\nThe action role-playing game was originally \"announced\" in 2012, but then re-announced in 2018 and then showcased with huge fanfare - and an appearance by Keanu Reeves - in June 2019.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe game reviewed well, with critics praising its gameplay and visuals - despite many visual glitches and bugs, which are common in large open-world games and often patched after launch day.\n\nBut on release it became clear that versions of the game for older consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One ran poorly, with hitching, visual quality drops and slowdown that many players said made the game unplayable.\n\nThose with the newest versions of consoles, or a high-end gaming PC, have not experienced the same level of issues.\n\nCD Projekt Red, which traditionally has focused on the PC market, had already acknowledged it \"should have paid more attention to making it play better\" on those consoles.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Cyberpunk 2077 This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe company says it will release patches to solve the problems in January and February.\n\n“They won’t make the game on last-gen look like it’s running on a high-spec PC or next-gen console, but it will be closer to that experience than it is now,” the company said in a statement on its website.\n\nIt also encouraged users to use refund systems on the Sony and Xbox stores if they were unhappy.\n\nHowever, PlayStation's policy is to usually not offer refunds if the game has been downloaded and played, \"unless the content is faulty\".\n\nThat led to much confusion among players seeking refunds as directed by CD Projekt Red, who were refused such refunds by Sony.\n\nIt is not clear if the removal of the game from the PlayStation store means that Sony has decided the game is \"faulty\" under its rules.\n\nHours after PlayStation's announcement that it was pulling Cyberpunk 2077 from sale, CD Projekt Red said the game was \"temporarily\" suspended \"following our discussion with PlayStation\".\n\nIt said the game would \"return as soon as possible\" - but gave no date.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Cyberpunk 2077 This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nXbox users also reported trouble with refunds, with many saying refund requests have been refused, despite an apparently flexible refund policy.\n\nMicrosoft says that while it considers all sales final, \"we understand there may be extenuating circumstances\" and it considers several factors for refund requests.\n\nBut the firm announced it was expanding its refund to cover all digital sales of Cyberpunk 2077 about half a day after Sony.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nCD Projekt Red also came under fire from fans when it announced staff would have to work overtime to finish the game - a process known in the industry as \"crunch\".\n\nIt had previously promised not to impose that kind of demand on its staff.\n• None Cyberpunk 2077: The story behind the video game. Video, 00:08:30Cyberpunk 2077: The story behind the video game", "Hundreds of drivers were left stranded when snow blanketed a major travel route in Japan.\n\nAuthorities have distributed food, fuel and blankets to the those stuck on the Kanetsu expressway, which connects the capital Tokyo to Niigata, in the north.\n\nThe heavy snow is expected to continue through the weekend.", "The UK's R - or reproduction - number is now estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.2, meaning the coronavirus epidemic is growing once again.\n\nCovid-19 cases have risen to an estimated 660,000 infections across the UK between 6-12 December.\n\nIn England, the rise was driven by sharp increases in London, plus rises in the South East and East Midlands.\n\nBut the proportion of people testing positive in the North West and Yorkshire has continued to fall.\n\nRoughly one in every 95 people had the virus across Britain last week.\n\nThe previous week's figures suggested about 560,000 people had the virus across the UK - one in 115 people in England, one in 120 in Scotland, one in 175 in Wales and one in 235 in Northern Ireland.\n\nSo weekly cases have gone up by about a fifth.\n\nCovid cases are broadly stable in Northern Ireland with about one in every 215 people testing positive, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates.\n\nThe R number tells you how fast the epidemic is growing or shrinking.\n\nAnything above one - indicating that each infection leads to more than one extra infection - means the epidemic is growing.\n\nProf Neil Ferguson, the influential epidemiologist from Imperial College London, told Radio 4's the World at One any future lockdown may have to be tougher than the one seen in England in November.\n\nHe said he was \"more concerned about what we're going to be facing in early January than I am over the Christmas period itself.\n\n\"We're facing very rapid increases in case numbers over time and we have very little headroom - we've heard reports today that local hospitals that really are at their limits at the moment - as is typically the case in winter. So we just won't be able to allow case numbers to rise much further.\"\n\nIn England, there were increases in people testing positive in all age groups apart from 17-24-year-olds and 50-69-year-olds.\n\nThe figures suggest infections maybe levelling off in teenagers and young adults.\n\nThe highest proportions of Covid cases are now found in London and the East Midlands, followed by the North East and North West of England.\n\nAcross the UK, restrictions are about to be loosened over the Christmas period.\n\nProf Linda Bauld, Professor of Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, said this policy, \"increasingly looks like the wrong decision at the wrong time.\n\n\"By allowing travel around the UK and changing guidance to allow household mixing indoors we are setting ourselves up for a miserable January with tough restrictions.\"\n\nWales and Northern Ireland have already announced new lockdowns to come into force immediately after this period of relaxation.\n\nSimilar arrangements for England and Scotland have not been announced, but they also haven't been ruled out.\n• None What is happening to the UK's R number?", "Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham should resign after the region's police force was placed in special measures, an MP has said.\n\nGreater Manchester Police (GMP) was placed into an \"advanced phase\" of monitoring on Thursday after it failed to record 80,000 crimes in a year.\n\nConservative MP for Bolton West Chris Green said Mr Burnham, who oversees policing in the area, should step down.\n\nThe Labour mayor said he would not be stepping down.\n\nOn Friday, GMP Chief Constable Ian Hopkins announced his resignation with immediate effect.\n\nHe previously announced he would be going on sick leave after suffering from labyrinthitis - an inner-ear infection which affects your balance - since the end of October.\n\nAsked why it was the chief constable who had stepped down and not him, Mr Burnham said: \"Because I do not run Greater Manchester Police.\n\n\"The police service is operationally independent from politicians and rightly so. My job is different. I have to hold the police to account for the services they provide to the Greater Manchester public, and I am here today doing my job holding the police service to account.\"\n\nInspectors said Greater Manchester Police's service to victims of crime was a \"serious cause of concern\"\n\nIn a report last week, inspectors said GMP's service to victims of crime was a \"serious cause of concern\".\n\nHM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services said about 220 crimes a day went unrecorded in the year up to June 2020.\n\nInspectors found officers prematurely closed some cases without a full investigation, while the force did not properly record evidence that victims supported the decisions, particularly in cases of domestic abuse.\n\nA spokesman for the inspectorate confirmed GMP had been placed in the \"engage\" stage of its monitoring process.\n\nThis means the force, the second largest in England, must \"develop an improvement plan to address the specific causes of concern\".\n\nAs part of his role, Mr Burnham has responsibilities around the governance and budgets relating to GMP, supported by Bev Hughes, the deputy mayor for policing and crime.\n\nEarlier, Mr Green said Mr Burnham should \"resign now\" as he has \"absolute responsibility for policing, its failures\".\n\n\"His role ultimately is to ensure that GMP is delivering. He is in a position if he doesn't think GMP is performing and is delivering then he can challenge and if necessary he can sack the chief of police,\" he said.\n\n\"That is Andy Burnham's power over policing in Manchester. He has absolute authority.\"\n\nFollowing the publication of the report earlier in the week, Mr Burnham apologised on behalf of GMP.\n\n\"I would like to say sorry to all of the victims of crime who have found that the service has not been good enough. We owe it to them to improve and we will and we will do it fast,\" he said.\n\nFormer GMP detective Maggie Oliver said victims were being \"fobbed off and failed\"\n\nFormer GMP detective Maggie Oliver, who resigned over the way grooming cases in Rochdale were handled by the force, said she and two ex-colleagues had a meeting with Mr Burnham in 2018 to highlight \"serious concerns\" and were \"treated with contempt\".\n\nShe said they gave him 26 examples of victims being failed by GMP, including \"people dying as a result of gross neglect\" and he \"basically slammed the door in our face\".\n\nThere was a \"culture of arrogance and cover-ups\" at the force, she said, and a \"radical overhaul\" was needed.\n\nMs Oliver said victim's \"trust in the police had gone\" and her charity, the Maggie Oliver Foundation, was \"drowning in cries for help\" from people who \"have nowhere else to turn\".\n\nGreater Manchester's chief constable Ian Hopkins had been due to retire in Autumn 2021\n\nSir Richard Leese, Manchester City Council leader, said the watchdog's findings indicate there are \"major issues\" that need to be addressed.\n\n\"I think it kind of says it all that GMP so far have not put up a spokesperson to explain what the situation is, what's been going on,\" he added.\n\nIn a statement released on Wednesday, the mayor and deputy mayor said they were \"putting in place the necessary actions to improve standards of service to victims of crime in Greater Manchester\".\n\nMr Burnham announced that a dedicated hotline for victims who have any complaints was also being set up.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk", "Two weeks ago, millions of people watched Pastor Mick Fleming and Father Alex Frost on BBC News, feeding and clothing the poor in Burnley. Many were moved by their work, and since then they have received more than £250,000 in donations.\n\nBut Mick's life wasn't always about love and care. He was once a dangerous, violent drug user and dealer, covering up painful childhood memories. Until a single moment changed everything.\n\nIt was 10am, in a rough industrial area, far away from his home county of Lancashire. Mick Fleming, in his early 40s, was waiting outside a gym for someone to emerge. Mick was in a stolen car - a dark blue Vauxhall Cavalier - with the engine running. This was going to have to be quick.\n\n\"There was no sun, it was a dull dark day, I knew his routine, everything about him,\" he says. \"He was another drug dealer, just like me.\"\n\nMick was a well-established underworld fixer in the North West of England. He was the man others would ring to clear drug debts, and by the time he got the call it meant someone was heavily in debt to equally dangerous people. They were about to get hurt, and badly.\n\n\"My gun was in a plastic carrier bag, on the passenger seat, wrapped tight. You could see the shape of the gun, no DNA or prints would be left behind. Six bullets, spring loaded, it never fails.\"\n\nHe didn't have to wait long.\n\n\"I watched him walk out of the gym. But this time was different. He had two kids with him, two young children, blonde girls, around five years old.\n\n\"I got out of the car, and walked, my hand reaching into the plastic. But then I looked again at the children, again at their faces, their blonde hair, innocent kids.\n\nMick describes in detail seeing a blinding light coming from one of the children's hands.\n\n\"It was white, brilliant white. For 15 seconds I couldn't see,\" he says. \"It was like looking into the sun and I was paralysed by it.\"\n\nMick doesn't know what really happened to him that day, but one thing he is certain of - this was the moment that changed his life forever.\n\n\"I collapsed, then struggled back to the car. I felt sick, I was shaking, sweating, heart beating fast. I could hear my pulse as if it was in my head. I didn't know what was happening to me.\"\n\nAnd then, he says, he pleaded with God to help him. But nothing happened.\n\nThe only thing piercing the silence, he says, was Johnny Cash randomly playing on the radio. The song was Man in Black.\n\n\"I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,\" Cash sang.\n\n\"I felt like I was the Man in Black. By this point in my life, I had been arrested for attempted murder, kidnapping, firearms offences. I wanted to die, I'd had enough.\"\n\nMick took the gun, pressed it to his chin, still wrapped in plastic, and pulled the trigger.\n\n\"I broke down, the tears would not stop falling, and I started to feel sick again. I was retching and I punched and smashed the car radio, my hand started to bleed.\n\n\"In that moment I was seeing myself for who I really was. I hadn't cried for nearly 30 years. The last time I cried like this was when I was 11 years old. Sitting in that car it was like I was crying for him, that child, the boy I was, and the life I could have had.\"\n\nMick was suffering a complete breakdown, his violent past catching up with him, the end of decades of pain.\n\nMick was born during England's 1966 World Cup-winning year into a Burnley working-class family. His Dad was a window cleaner, who had contracts to clean factories around the town, and, as Mick describes him, a \"proper Labour-supporting man\".\n\n\"It wasn't poverty, but it wasn't luxury. It was a strict upbringing. We were forced to go to Church, we couldn't step out of line, it was old-school discipline.\"\n\nBut everything changed over two days at the beginning of February 1977. On the first day of the month, Mick was attacked by a stranger in the park on the way to school. He was just 11 years old.\n\n\"I was in turmoil,\" he says. \"I'd been sexually abused, and I couldn't cope.\"\n\nMick realised he needed help, but first he had to tell his Mum and Dad.\n\nHe walked out of his room where he had been crying, went downstairs, and looked his Mum straight in the eye. But what happened next was both cruel and extraordinary.\n\n\"Before I could open my mouth, the front door opened. It was my dad. He shouted, 'Your sister is dead.' It was brutal, just so direct. I remember the moment of pure silence, quickly pierced by the screams from my mother, howling like an animal.\"\n\nMick had been very close to his 20-year-old sister Ann. He says she looked out for him, gave him money, and bought him clothes.\n\nAnn, he later discovered, had had a heart attack and died in her father's arms at the doors to Burnley hospital.\n\n\"My dad was a tough man, but this must have been horrific for him. He watched the doctors and nurses trying desperately to resuscitate my sister.\"\n\nMick told me that this was the moment his childhood ended. A life disfigured in 48 hours.\n\n\"Drugs were my solution, and that was my introduction. The next 30 years were hell. Pure hell. I would use any drug, and always alcohol.\"\n\nBut with his dependency came criminality. At just 14 he was dealing drugs. People in Burnley, though, just thought he was self-employed, working out of town. The truth was very different.\n\n\"I was a drug runner and debt collector. I was good at my job. I'd hurt people. I wasn't bothered. I was arrested for murder twice, armed robbery three times, countless firearms offences.\n\n\"I was making crazy money, but there was nothing glamorous about this. I was lost, trying to keep my pain down, hide it. None of it worked.\"\n\nIn the 90s, there were two serious attempts on Mick's life, one a drive-by at traffic lights, the other a home invasion that went wrong.\n\n\"Criminality was my world. I didn't know how to work in a factory - I couldn't be normal. I'd see people going to work with sandwich boxes and I didn't want that. I wanted to stand out.\n\n\"Drugs were a constant around me - my best friend died from a drinking session aged 16. He choked on his own vomit, my other friend suffered a methadone overdose at 17.\n\n\"I became hardened to death. I always believed in God, but I also believed God didn't think too much of me.\"\n\nMick was also leading a double life - he had a wife and three children. But the years of lies took their toll. Mick's mum had to step in to take care of the children, to prevent social services getting involved.\n\nHe says that during this \"horrendous\" time his home was often raided by police looking for drugs and guns.\n\n\"All this destroyed my mental health, too. I started taking more drugs. I was now a very dangerous man collecting debts, hurting people. I never expected to live long - genuinely I always believed I'd die young. I didn't want to live, I didn't know how to change.\"\n\nIt was 2009 when Mick found himself outside that gym with a gun wrapped in plastic. What happened in the car, the call to God for help, the attempt to take his own life, triggered an intervention by the authorities.\n\n\"Within 24 hours, I was sectioned under The Mental Health Act. My new home was Burnley psychiatric unit. I had nothing but the clothes I arrived in.\"\n\nStrangely, Mick says, he felt at home in the unit. The patients made him feel loved and cared for. They gave him things - cigarettes, clothes, trainers.\n\n\"There were schizophrenic people in there who weren't treated, those who self-harmed, really ill people, the most vulnerable alcoholics. But these people were giving me essentials, because they saw I had nothing. I was overwhelmed.\"\n\nIt was here that Mick met Pastor Tony, who used to visit the unit. Together they prayed and talked, and Mick says he began to feel emotions again. He started helping others. It was the end of a troubled life, and the beginning of a new one of hope.\n\nA chance meeting with a tutor at the University of Manchester led to a degree in theology. It was tough at first - without much of an education Mick struggled to read and write, and was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia. He failed his first year, but with hard work and support from the university, he eventually achieved a 2:1 degree.\n\n\"I never drank or touched a drug again. It wasn't easy, it was horrendous. But it was my path to God - and all the way to 2020 and the pandemic. I had no idea of how much I'd be needed and how once again I'd be overwhelmed by suffering and pain.\"\n\nToday you'll find the man now known as Pastor Mick, with the charity Church on the Street Ministries, in Burnley, with those most in need - the homeless, the drug users, the hungry. During the coronavirus pandemic he's never been needed more.\n\nI met him on a crisp, late November evening in an almost-empty car park in the centre of town. It was only 6pm but it was quiet - a silence we've become used to during lockdowns.\n\nPastor Mick began to talk about the struggles he's witnessed this year.\n\n\"Politicians say that it's a leveller, this coronavirus. It's a lie, because if you're poor you've got no chance,\" he tells me.\n\nAcross a dual carriageway, in the distance, they started to arrive. First the homeless, some carrying their belongings in bin bags. Then the users, from those on heroin to those dependent on alcohol. There were around 20 people here, from their 20s and upwards.\n\nThen more people came - some in cars, most on foot. At least 40 people were here now, of all ages. Many were desperate, huddling around two cars belonging to the volunteers, looking for warmth and food.\n\n\"There's no need to push - there's plenty,\" shouted Kaz, a friend of Pastor Mick's, and a volunteer.\n\nThe boots of two cars opened and the waft of the hot food hits you first. It was hard not to notice the hands grabbing what they could, a slight push and a shove. Some were so in need, their freezing fingers burned as they touched the food, but it didn't stop them and not a single tray was dropped.\n\nIt didn't take long for the hot food to be snapped up. There was more though - pre-prepared food bags for people to take home. At the back of the queue there was a gentle complaint. \"There's no chocolate in mine.\" \"I think they've all got chocolate in brother,\" said Mick. \"Well mine hasn't.\" \"I'm not Asda,\" Pastor Mick retorted with a smile.\n\nMost here were respectful and thankful, but there was also a sense of community. It's hard to believe this is happening in the UK today.\n\nBurnley is one of the most deprived local authority districts in England. What's more, the local council's spending power was reduced at a greater rate than the English average between 2010/11 and 2018/19.\n\nThere's a young couple here who are struggling - she is in a wheelchair, he is her carer. They say they're having difficulties getting food and money to get by. \"A couple of day's food makes a massive difference to us,\" they tell me.\n\nAnother car boot opened, this time it was full of clothes. It was now a more frantic scene as people searched through it. One woman in her 30s told me that she suffered from depression and the pandemic had made it worse. \"If it hadn't been for all these, I'd basically be dead.\"\n\nPastor Mick was approached by a man in tears. \"My foot is white, Pastor Mick, I'm in so much pain,\" he said. \"Don't worry brother, we'll get you sorted.\" Mick guided the man in his 20s to two volunteer nurses, positioned away from the group for privacy.\n\nAfter 25 minutes, the initial rush had calmed. \"The need is absolutely colossal,\" said Mick. \"You've seen people who are working who can't make ends meet tonight. We've got volunteer NHS nurses for those who can't access primary care - some of these guys are sleeping on the concrete.\"\n\nIt was the day after the car park session, and Pastor Mick was in his white van, driving through the hilly mill town's stunning scenery, from the sandstone terraces to the prefab bungalows in the villages on the edge of Burnley. The van was packed with food, bread, biscuits, milk, chocolate.\n\nHis phone never stopped. A 10-year old boy was asking for a freezer on behalf of his mum. Mick was on it. A single parent needed a bed for her child. Mick would sort it.\n\nHe visited around 10 homes - and he does this every day, seven days a week.\n\n\"I go into houses and I sometimes have children ripping the bags open as I am carrying them through the door.\" Pastor Mick's voice started to falter, the emotion was too much. \"And it's not alright that, and it wasn't as bad as that before the virus.\"\n\nNot far from the centre of Burnley, Mick visited the imposing Gothic-style St Matthew's Anglican Church to see Father Alex Frost. They've worked together since the pandemic hit. The room next to the altar is now a makeshift food bank.\n\n\"The level of need here in Burnley at the moment, I think, is unprecedented,\" said Fr Alex.\n\n\"I think the people feel forgotten about. It is about money and numbers, and statistics. We can't rely on a food bank, it doesn't seem right, it doesn't seem modern day Britain. But it is.\"\n\nOnce Mick stocked up his van, he was back on the road.\n\nFirst up was Pete, his wife, and son. Debt has crippled them. An issue with the family's benefits meant payday loans and financial crisis.\n\n\"I had to take loans out, so we could eat and pay us bills,\" said Pete.\n\n\"We were in debt for well over a thousand pound. Thanks to Pastor Mick, we've got it down now to two, three hundred pounds. My son suffers from depression from it, and so does my wife.\"\n\nMick was off again. This time to see Viv. She's 55, lives alone and suffered terribly with her mental health during lockdown.\n\n\"I stopped eating for about a week, I just ended up collapsing on my bathroom floor and I were there for, I think, a full day,\" she tells me. \"Hyperthermia had kicked in with everything with me.\"\n\nViv had only recently got out of hospital, and was painfully thin. Mick had got some high-energy nutrition drinks to drop off.\n\nLiving alone during this time has brought back painful memories for Viv - of previous family bereavements.\n\n\"It's like losing all my family again, it's just like brought it all back.\"\n\nAs Mick left, he promised to collect her painkillers prescription later in the day. \"She was trapped inside her house, imagine being trapped inside your own mind. She stopped living,\" he said.\n\nNext was a food parcel for Sheila, in her late 50s. Sheila had been diagnosed with stage-four cancer and was worried about the impact coronavirus had had on her care.\n\n\"I'm supposed to have blood tests done once a month for my cancer count,\" she said. \"But nobody's been and done it [in] six months. And I've just found out that what I thought was two hernias is not, it's one huge hernia. I can't be operated on, because my lungs won't survive it.\"\n\n\"I don't want to be a drain on the system that's already dying, because I'm already dying, people need the NHS,\" she said.\n\nThis was just a small insight into one day on Pastor Mick's journey in one town.\n\nAcross England the death rate from all causes, between April and June this year in the most deprived areas of the country, was nearly double that of the least deprived areas.\n\n\"I've never seen anything like this, on this scale,'' said Pastor Mick, \"Poverty seems to be hidden, It's underneath the surface that people don't see, they think they do but they don't.\n\nPastor Mick has travelled his own road to Damascus, from a life of crime to being tested everyday by the impact of coronavirus. I wanted to know what motivates him to keep going.\n\n\"What I do today, it's not a penance, it's the complete opposite. It's a privilege to serve the people of Burnley. It's a glorious thing,\" he said.\n\nBut then Mick revealed a staggering story to try and explain why he is at peace with those terrible events of his childhood.\n\nTen years ago, he befriended a homeless alcoholic outside a take away. Mick listened to him, cared for him, helped him to get sober and reunite with his family. The man died two years later but his family was thankful they'd all been together.\n\n\"What I never told him or his family, or the police, was that he was the man who raped me as a child. Why? I knew that I had been forgiven for my past. I didn't do what he had done, but still, terrible things, but I felt forgiven and I didn't want to live in his sin.\"\n\n\"This is why I'm free, I'm not spending my life in torment. It's redemption.\"\n\nWe next found Pastor Mick praying with a woman outside St Matthew's. It was the second week in a row she had been here. She was distressed but finding comfort in Mick's words.\n\nFr Alex explained what had happened. \"She came last Saturday and she broke down and told me her daughter had killed herself.\"\n\nAfterwards, the woman, Sonia, explained the difference Pastor Mick and Fr Alex have made to her life. She said that without them she, too, would have taken her life.\n\nInside St Matthew's, Fr Alex, broke down and sobbed. \"I'm sorry about getting upset. You carry people's burdens, you try to tell them it's alright. It's so upsetting.\"\n\nPastor Mick is proud that it is \"the people of faith who are stepping in and making a massive difference\".\n\nBut Fr Alex wants others to find a longer-term answer to the issues exposed by the coronavirus in places like Burnley.\n\nThe government says it is committed to reducing deprivation and has spent £100bn on welfare support this year.\n\nThis is the story of Pastor Mick's journey, helping just some of those struggling in Burnley. But the fear is the challenges now facing our poorest communities will remain, long after this pandemic is over.", "Two rare Ferraris sold for £8.5m at auction\n\nA new lifeboat station has been built in north Wales after a businessman left the RNLI cars worth £8.5m in his will.\n\nHe left two rare Ferraris to the charity, which later sold for about £8.5m at auction - the most valuable items ever left to the organisation in a single donation.\n\nPart of the money funded new equipment in Hastings, while £2.8m paid for the new station at Pwllheli, Gwynedd.\n\nMr Colton left the RNLI a red 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB, which sold at auction for £6.6m, and a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4, which raised £1.93m.\n\nWork on the new boathouse is now complete, although Covid delayed the manufacturing of a new lifeboat - due to arrive in April.\n\nPwllheli lifeboat operations manager Cliff Thomas said: \"Receiving this fantastic news really was a shock. What an exceptional Christmas gift for us all.\n\n\"This latest donation really is a humbling end to what has been a difficult year for everyone.\"\n\nClive Moore, Pwllheli coxswain, said: \"We are a small Welsh station and the move to the new building and site will mark a significant period in the history of the station.\n\n\"I find it remarkable and very humbling that a gentleman who had no seafaring connection should have the desire to support the RNLI through the sale of his treasured cars, and that we should now benefit at Pwllheli as a consequence of his generosity.\"\n\nThe local community has also raised £83,000 towards the new station.", "Smoke from wildfires could be a surprising new route for the spread of infections, according to research.\n\nScientist say that microbes and fungi can survive in large numbers in smoky plumes.\n\nThe authors believe it's likely that organisms from the soil, known to cause infection, could be transferred in this way.\n\nThey argue that greater monitoring of wildfire smoke by health authorities is urgently needed.\n\nFor decades, it has been widely assumed that nothing much lives in a plume of wildfire smoke.\n\nIt has also been assumed that if smoke poses a threat to human health, it's because it is full of particulate matter.\n\nThese microscopic particles of soot are known to be a severe irritant, causing respiratory and cardiovascular issues.\n\nHowever, there has been growing concern that wildfire smoke could also carry infectious microbes or fungi.\n\nThe US Centers for Disease Control (CDC0 says that firefighters are at risk of coccidioidomycosis, a common infection caused by a fungus that becomes airborne when soils are disturbed.\n\nScientists prepare to use a drone to gather smoke samples\n\nScientists are now beginning to uncover the scale of the potential infectious threat posed by smoke from wildfires.\n\nUsing new techniques to capture microbes in smoke, researchers say that they found over 900 different types of bacteria and around 100 unique fungi.\n\n\"The diversity of microbes we have found so far in the very few studies that have been done is impressive,\" said Dr Leda Kobziar, from the University of Idaho, in Moscow, US, who led the review.\n\n\"These taxa (groups of living organisms) were not found in non-smoky air in the same locations prior to the fire, proving that combustion and its associated winds aerosolise microbes into smoke columns.\"\n\nThe researchers believe that the microbes hitch-hike on particulate matter in the smoke.\n\nEven in high-intensity fires, the scientists found bacteria in abundance 300 metres above a fire. Over 60% of these were viable.\n\nThey suspect that the particulate matter on which they are travelling protects the microbes from ultraviolet radiation, which might kill them off.\n\nWhile the scientists have shown that there are large numbers of bacteria in smoke and that they can survive in the plume, the key question is how much of a threat to health do they pose?\n\n\"We have found a number of microbes that are commonly known to cause respiratory ailments - things that can trigger asthma, for example,\" Dr Kobziar said, via email.\n\n\"The likelihood of soil and plant-borne organisms known to cause infection is high, but has yet to be experimentally tested.\"\n\nPrevious studies with hurricanes and storms have shown that these infectious agents can travel extremely long distances, although no one has yet shown a similar journey for bacteria in a smoke plume.\n\nBut the ability of smoke to travel around the world suggests that it could be a \"missing link\" in explaining some patterns of infection.\n\n\"When infections are detected in patients, the potential causal agents that are screened are based on what is known to be endemic in a given region,\" said Dr Kobziar.\n\n\"However, smoke blurs the lines between regions. It may be that many cases of infection with undetermined causal agents have occurred due to smoke transport of microbes outside of their areas where it is endemic.\n\n\"It may be that smoke is the missing link to explain some of these patterns of infection across space and time.\"\n\nShe added: \"This could also have ecological ramifications.\"\n\nThe review study has been published in the journal Science.", "Sweden's king has said his country \"failed\" to save lives with its relatively relaxed approach to the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nKing Carl XVI Gustaf made the remarks as part of an annual TV review of the year with the royal family.\n\nSweden, which has never imposed a full lockdown, has seen nearly 350,000 cases and more than 7,800 deaths - a lot more than its Scandinavian neighbours.\n\nPrime Minister Stefan Lofven said he agreed with the king's remarks.\n\n\"Of course the fact that so many have died can't be considered as anything other than a failure,\" Mr Lofven told reporters.\n\nReferring to the government's strategy, Mr Lofven added that \"it's when we are through the pandemic that the real conclusions can be drawn\".\n\nIn the programme, the king says: \"I think we have failed. We have a large number who have died and that is terrible.\n\n\"The people of Sweden have suffered tremendously in difficult conditions. One thinks of all the family members who have happened to be unable to say goodbye to their deceased family members. I think it is a tough and traumatic experience not to be able to say a warm goodbye.\"\n\nWhen asked if he was afraid of being infected with Covid-19, the king - who is 74 - said: \"Lately, it has felt more obvious, it has crept closer and closer. That's not what you want.\"\n\nInstead of relying on legal sanctions, Sweden appeals to citizens' sense of responsibility and civic duty, and issues only recommendations. There are no sanctions if they are ignored.\n\nSweden has never imposed a nationwide lockdown or the wearing of masks, and bars and restaurants have remained open.\n\nHowever, earlier this week, schools across the Stockholm region were asked to switch to distance learning for 13 to 15-year-olds for the first time as soon as possible. The measure was announced in response to rising Covid-19 cases.\n\nThis came a week after a nationwide decision on 7 December to switch to remote learning for those over 16.\n\nAnd on Monday, new nationwide social-distancing recommendations for the Christmas period came into force, replacing similar region-specific guidelines.\n\nSwedes are advised to meet a maximum of eight people, gather outdoors if possible and avoid travelling by train or bus.\n\nA formal ban on public gatherings of more than eight people remains, affecting events such as concerts, sports matches and demonstrations.\n\nSweden's state epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, in November explained the strategy relied on a combination of legal and voluntary measures.\n\nHe told the BBC that this was, in the Swedish context, \"the combination that we really believe is the best one\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Tegnell: \"Not yet possible to say which country has right strategy\" (November 2020 interview)\n\nAccording to an official report released earlier this week, the strategy failed in its effort to protect the elderly in care homes - for which the government has admitted responsibility.\n\nOver 90% of Covid-related deaths have been among those aged 70 and over, and nearly half of all Covid deaths have been in care homes, the government says.\n\nMr Tegnell said his agency (Sweden's Public Health Agency) was not responsible for directing the elderly care system, and added all stakeholders needed to help to improve the situation to make sure the elderly did not get infected.\n\nHe said he thought Sweden had become better at protecting older people, and that no country had succeeded entirely in that area - even Germany was being hit hard right now, he told Swedish radio on Wednesday.\n\nSweden has had more deaths than the rest of the Nordic countries combined. This has led to criticism from the country's neighbours, Norway, Denmark and Finland, that its less strict approach is putting their own measures at risk.\n\nOn Tuesday, Prime Minister Lofven also said he felt many experts had underestimated the second wave.\n\n\"I think most in the profession did not see such a wave incoming. There was instead talk of different clusters,\" he said in an interview with daily Aftonbladet.", "Forecasters have warned of difficult driving conditions due to flooding\n\nSome roads have been flooded and people are being warned to avoid rivers and beaches as heavy rain continues to fall across large parts of Wales.\n\nA yellow warning is in place until 03:00 GMT on Saturday, covering much of south, mid and West Wales.\n\nThe Met Office has also issued an amber rain warning across the south Wales valleys until midnight on Friday.\n\nNatural Resources Wales has issued 13 flood warnings, including for rivers in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.\n\nDozens of flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible and people should be prepared, are in place for people living near rivers, including in Powys.\n\nSouth Wales Fire and Rescue Service has warned people to stay away from beaches and river banks and not to attempt to walk or drive through flood water.\n\nIn Carmarthenshire, the A485 has been closed in both directions due to flooding between New Inn and Gwyddgrug, and flood gates leading into Abergwili Road have been closed due to water on the road, with Dyfed-Powys Police urging people to avoid the area.\n\nEmergency services have also urged people living in areas at risk of flooding to move essential medicine upstairs.\n\nForecasters have warned of disruption to transport services and power lines with up to 100mm of rain expected to fall in some areas.\n\nHomes are likely to be affected and communities could be be cut off due to water on the roads.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by BBC Weather This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe weather warnings will remain in place while a band of heavy rain is expected continue overnight into Saturday.\n\nThe yellow weather warning also includes Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and the Vale of Glamorgan.\n\nWeather warnings are in place across Wales\n\nNRW said its emergency response workers were working with partners across key sites to check defences were in working order and ensuring any drains were clear to reduce risk to people and homes.\n\n\"We are urging people to keep a close eye on weather reports and on the NRW website for details on any potential impacts in their areas,\" he said.\n\n\"We're also advising to take extra care when travelling as conditions could be hazardous.\"", "Alex Webb said he hoped \"to achieve my big dream of owning my own restaurant\"\n\nA young chef \"came of age\" as he was crowned the winner of this year's Masterchef: The Professionals.\n\nAlex Webb won the final of the BBC One TV show after impressing judges Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti and Gregg Wallace with his three-course meal.\n\nThe 25-year-old said: \"It is the best feeling I have ever had in my life.\"\n\nMr Webb, who was born and lives in Essex, is the head chef of a restaurant in Dunmow he started working in as a pot washer when he was 15.\n\n\"To walk away with the trophy is incredible. I am so proud,\" he said.\n\n\"I really wanted it and all the blood, sweat and tears and sleepless nights have paid off.\"\n\nFor his winning meal, Mr Webb made a scallop ceviche starter with an artichoke and pickled pear tartare with yoghurt foam, parsley powder and capers.\n\nFor his main course he cooked pan-seared trout with a number of parsnip sides, plus a mussel and caviar cream sauce alongside a mini potato fish pie.\n\nJudges Marcus Wareing, Gregg Wallace and Monica Galetti were impressed with Alex Webb's winning meal\n\nMichelin-starred Wareing said: \"We have seen a young chef come of age.\n\n\"He is a brilliant young chef, I love his thirst for knowledge, and he has cooked beyond his years.\n\n\"Masterchef is about the next generation and for me as a chef I see Alex as the future.\"\n\nGaletti added: \"There is a bit of Alex's youth which comes through in his cooking which makes it very different and that is something I have really enjoyed.\"\n\nMr Webb said he had \"lots of ideas for a book\" and would like to do more television work.\n\n\"I will continue to work in the restaurant I do now, and I would like to keep learning and pushing myself,\" he added.\n\n\"Then, hopefully one day, I will be able to achieve my big dream of owning my own restaurant.\"", "Free range chickens were found to have Avian flu at a farm in Orkney\n\nA flock of chickens from an Orkney farm has been culled in Scotland's first serious case of bird flu since 2016.\n\nA six-mile (10km) control zone has been set up on the island of Sanday.\n\nThirty-nine free range laying chickens died of bird flu and the 11 remaining birds in the affected flock were put down.\n\nThe controls include restrictions on the movement of poultry, carcasses, eggs, used poultry litter and manure and restrictions on bird gatherings.\n\nScotland's Chief Veterinary Officer Sheila Voas said the risk to human health from the H5N8 Avian Influenza was very low.\n\nBird keepers have been urged to comply with an order to house birds that came in to effect on 14 December.\n\nThe last case of the H5N8 strain was found in a dead peregrine falcon in Dumfries and Galloway four years ago.\n\nOther less serious strains of have been detected since then.\n\nMs Voas said: \"We have already made clear that all bird keepers - whether major businesses or small keepers with just a few birds - must ensure that their biosecurity is up to scratch to protect their birds from disease and prevent any contact between their birds and wild birds.\n\nKeepers who are concerned about the health or welfare of their flock should seek veterinary advice immediately. Your private vet, or your local Animal and Plant Health Agency office, will also be able to provide practical advice on keeping your birds safe from infection.\n\n\"Any dead wild swans, geese, ducks or gulls, falcons or other birds of prey or five or more dead wild birds of other species in the same location, should be reported to the Defra dead wild bird helpline.\"\n\nShe added that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for UK consumers, and it does not affect the consumption of poultry products including eggs.\n\nIn theory, this strain could transmit to humans but as yet there have been no cases of it anywhere in the world.\n\nHowever, it is highly infectious for birds and so restrictions for keepers have been put in place to lock their birds inside and away from wild birds.\n\nThis is more serious than the last case in 2016 when just a single wild peregrine falcon was infected. Clearly this time there has been transmission of the virus.\n\nFree range poultry can continue to be labelled as such for a while but if this goes on for more than 12 weeks they will have to be relabelled and that will effectively devalue them.\n\nIt's an additional headache producers could do without just now with everything else that's going on.\n\nBut it is absolutely worth stressing that there's no risk at all from eating properly cooked poultry or eggs.\n\nBecause of the number of cases in Europe and in England the risk of bird flu is currently judged to be very high for wild birds, high for poultry where there is poor biosecurity and medium for poultry with protection measures in place.\n\nA number of swans were recently found dead near the Hampshire coast and on the Isle of Wight and there were culls in Warwickshire and Worcestershire.\n\nEarlier cases have included two farms in Norfolk, East Anglia and a wildlife centre in Gloucestershire. All 10,500 turkeys at a farm in North Yorkshire were culled following an outbreak.\n\nRural Affairs Minister Mairi Gougeon said Scottish cases were not \"unexpected\" given the cases in wild and captive birds elsewhere in the UK.\n\n\"We ask that the public remain vigilant and report any findings of dead wild birds,\" she added.\n\nNFU Scotland animal health policy manager Penny Middleton described it as \"disappointing\".\n\n\"It is now a legal requirement for all bird keepers, whether they have one hen in the back garden or a large poultry business, to keep their birds indoors and to follow strict biosecurity measures to limit the spread of Avian Influenza and keep out the disease\", she said.\n\n\"It's crucial that everyone remains vigilant and reports any signs of disease - both in domestic birds and in wild birds - at the earliest opportunity.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Demand for dogs skyrocketed in lockdown and has risen again in the run-up to Christmas. Prices have soared as a result.\n\nOrganised crime is exploiting the situation by smuggling puppies from abroad and stealing dogs in the UK.\n\nDog thefts are now believed to be at an unprecedented high, with puppies stolen for immediate sale and adults taken for forced breeding on puppy farms.\n\nAn organised crime expert tells the BBC how it works, and why this is the \"perfect crime\".\n\nIf you have any information about the incidents featured in this film, you can report it online or by calling 101 and quote reference number 40/49974/20 for Melissa and Tig's story - or 41/67201/20 for Trigger and Katy's.", "An average of 115 referrals from helpline calls were made each month between April and November\n\nThe number of referrals from the NSPCC about child abuse has increased by 79% since the UK-wide lockdown was imposed, according to the charity's data.\n\nCalls to its helpline resulted in 923 referrals to police and social services between April and November.\n\nAlmost a third related to neglect and the charity warned more children could be at risk over Christmas.\n\nWales' children's commissioner said the pandemic had a \"real and significant\" impact on the most vulnerable children.\n\nOne caller to NSPCC Cymru's hotline reported concerns their neighbour's son was being neglected.\n\nThey said they could hear the father screaming and shouting obscenities towards his three-year-old son.\n\n\"This led to the boy crying constantly. The parents have no concern for their child, I've noticed the boy is regularly left in the garden for hours on end unsupervised,\" said the caller.\n\n\"There is also an excess of bin bags all ripped in the back garden. I only noticed this because of the smell that was emanating from it. It makes me sad and upset seeing the boy treated like this.\"\n\nCalls to the NSPCC have resulted in more referrals to police and social services\n\nA mother also called as she was worried about her own son, who lived with his father.\n\n\"The father is unable to have a proper conversation about anything. The house is always a mess with lots of rubbish everywhere and my son is normally left to fend for himself,\" she said.\n\n\"I'm worried about the impact this is having on his emotional wellbeing. I can't keep quiet about this anymore, it's really worrying me, what should I do?\"\n\nThere was an average of 115 referrals from helpline calls made each month between April and November, compared to the pre-lockdown average of 64.\n\nNSPCC analysis of the data showed the level of concern about emotional abuse, neglect and physical abuse remained well above the pre-pandemic average across the UK.\n\nKamaljit Thandi, head of the NSPCC helpline, said: \"It's no secret that this Christmas is going to be a very different one and, for thousands of children, being stuck at home for the holidays will be a terrifying thought.\"\n\nChildren's commissioner for Wales, Sally Holland, said people should trust their instincts and not delay speaking up.\n\n\"During a year where many have spent long periods unable to socialise with friends and unable to attend their nursery, school or youth group, some children will have spent more time in a home where they do not feel safe.\n\n\"With infection rates so high in our communities and no clear timeframe for getting back to normal life, it's even more important than usual that people look out for signs of child abuse and contact their local child protection team, or Childline, if they are worried.\"\n\nNSPCC Cymru has urged the Welsh Government to encourage the public to be extra vigilant, especially during the Christmas holidays and while schools are closed, to ensure children and families \"get the help they need\".\n\nIt also said the government needed to invest long-term funding to support children recovering from adverse and traumatic experiences during lockdown.\n\nThe Welsh Government said it was committed to working with safeguarding partners to do everything possible to prevent and tackle child abuse and to support children who have experienced it.\n\n\"Our national action plan sets out clear actions to prevent child sexual abuse, to protect children at risk and to support abused children,\" a spokesperson said.\n\n\"It was published in 2019 and actions are to be completed by 31 December 2021. The existing plan sets out the next steps which would then be taken, including considering evidence from a review of its implementation, in consultation with stakeholders, to decide on next steps.\"", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Friday evening. We'll have another update for you tomorrow morning.\n\nSchool staff feel \"broken\" by last-minute demands for them to run testing schemes in secondary schools in England, a head teacher says. Teachers and administrators face working over Christmas to get ready for January - but the PM says mass testing can help get pupils back safely.\n\nThe UK's R - or reproduction - number is now estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.2, meaning the epidemic is growing once again. Covid-19 cases have risen to an estimated 660,000 infections across the UK between 6-12 December. Meanwhile, a further 28,507 new coronavirus cases were recorded in the UK on Friday, with a further 489 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nStill have Christmas cards and parcels to send? Well, you might want to think about getting a move on. The Royal Mail says its network is running as usual - despite what it describes as \"exceptionally high volumes\". There have been complaints about delivery delays from businesses and consumers across the UK.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\n...if you're concerned about the prospect of picking up - or passing on - the virus over Christmas, we have some advice from scientists.\n\nYou can find more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "Commons leader Jacob Rees Mogg has accused Unicef of \"playing politics\" after the charity launched a campaign to help feed children in the UK.\n\nThe Tory MP said the charity was meant to look after people in the poorest countries and should be \"ashamed\".\n\nIt comes after Unicef said it would pledge £25,000 to a south London charity to help supply breakfast boxes over the Christmas holidays.\n\nUnicef said every child deserves to \"thrive\" no matter where they are born.\n\nThe grant to the charity School Food Matters in Southwark aims to help vulnerable children and families during the coronavirus crisis.\n\nUnicef said the initiative was its first emergency response in the UK in its 70-year history.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"It is a real scandal that Unicef should be playing politics in this way.\"\n\nMr Rees-Mogg was responding to a question from Labour MP Zarah Sultana in the House of Commons.\n\n\"For the first time ever, Unicef, the UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian aid to children, is having to feed working-class kids in the UK,\" she said. \"But while children go hungry, a wealthy few enjoy obscene riches.\"\n\nShe asked if Mr Rees-Mogg would \"give government time to discuss the need to make him and his super-rich chums pay their fair share so that we can end the grotesque inequality that scars our society\".\n\nResponding, Mr Rees-Mogg said Unicef \"should be ashamed of itself\".\n\n\"I think it is a real scandal that Unicef should be playing politics in this way when it is meant to be looking after people in the poorest, the most deprived, countries of the world where people are starving, where there are famines and where there are civil wars, and they make cheap political points of this kind, giving, l think, £25,000 to one council,\" he said.\n\n\"It is a political stunt of the lowest order.\"\n\nHe said the number of children in absolute poverty across the country had gone down by 100,000 over the past decade, which he described as \"a record of success\".\n\nIn response, Anna Kettley, Unicef UK's director of programmes and advocacy, said: \"Unicef UK is responding to this unprecedented crisis and building on our 25 years' experience of working on children's rights in the UK with a one-off domestic response, launched in August, to provide support to vulnerable children and families around the country during this crisis period.\"\n\nShe said more than £700,000 was being granted to community groups around the country to help tackle food insecurity during the pandemic.\n\n\"Unicef will continue to spend our international funding helping the world's poorest children. We believe that every child is important and deserves to survive and thrive no matter where they are born,\" she added.", "Business and consumers across the UK are still facing worries that Christmas deliveries won't arrive on time.\n\n\"Some things haven't been delivered yet, and it's causing stress to people waiting,\" said Ellie Chalkley, who has an Etsy shop in Glasgow.\n\nWith just a week till the festive celebration, couriers are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels.\n\n\"All delivery companies are experiencing exceptionally high volumes this year,\" said the Royal Mail.\n\nIt added that the majority of the Royal Mail network is now running as usual in line with the seasonal peak in demand.\n\nProblems have grown because of a huge increase in online Christmas shopping, partly driven by the recent lockdown, and the ongoing Covid restrictions.\n\nAccording to the online retail trade body the IMRG, sales for the first two weeks of December jumped by just over 50% compared to the previous year.\n\n\"We could not possibly have anticipated this level of packets and parcels, it seems to be intensifying every day,\" said Terry Pullinger, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union.\n\n\"That coupled with the arrangements that are going to be in place to keep key workers safe because of COVID and the rising spread of COVID, is complicating what is already a strategical nightmare.\"\n\n\"Anything that is sent to me via Royal Mail is arriving at least a week late,\" writer Geordie Clarke who lives in north London told the BBC.\n\n\"For the past six weeks I've had one postal delivery every week to 10 days for letters and cards, and parcels arrive whenever.\n\n\"For example, it took nine days for a 48-hour tracked parcel to arrive.\"\n\nBut financial adviser Andy Rainer, who lives in the Scottish Highlands, reported the opposite experience.\n\n\"We haven't experienced any problems, although we may be the lucky ones,\" he told the BBC.\n\n\"Parcels sent on Wednesday arrived yesterday. Christmas cards have been sent and received the following day.\"\n\nThe Royal Mail took on around 33,000 seasonal workers to help it cope with the increased demand as well as opening two extra temporary sorting centres.\n\nEven so, some Royal Mail sorting offices and delivery depots fell behind, resulting in delays for customers.\n\n\"From the start, we have always said that despite our best endeavours, it is possible that some areas of the country may experience a reduction in service levels due to COVID-related absences and necessary social distancing measures at local mail centres and delivery offices,\" it said.\n\nFriday 18 December is the last recommended posting date for second class letters and packages, although there's no guarantee they will reach their destination on time.\n\nMonday 21 December is the last recommended posting date for first class deliveries although, again, there's no guarantee of timely delivery.\n\nBusiness owner Mariusz Luczakowski says he is frustrated with Royal Mail after customers complained about not receiving their deliveries on time\n\nWednesday 23 December is the last chance to use Royal Mail's Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm the next day service in time for Christmas.\n\nIt costs from £6.70 for a 100g letter, rising to £41.20 for a 20kg parcel.\n\nRoyal Mail - along with other couriers - offers a tracking service so you can follow the progress of your package.\n\nMariusz Luczakowski runs a small chocolate company in Worcestershire and uses Royal Mail to send out orders to customers via first class delivery. Over the past few days he says he has received emails from customers complaining of delays - sometimes of seven or more days.\n\n\"I am feeling frustration, but at least it's not only me,\" he told the BBC.\n\n\"It is a really scary and uncertain time for a small business owner and so easy to destroy the reputation of your own company by not delivering on time as promised.\"", "Leading UK property websites are hosting rental listings that may unlawfully discriminate against people who claim benefits, a BBC investigation has found.\n\nThe majority of adverts on SpareRoom and OpenRent say people on benefits will not be considered as tenants.\n\n\"It's very demoralising,\" said Emma, a single mother from London. \"Everyone deserves housing.\"\n\nThe rental platforms said they were working to address the issues.\n\nIn July, a judge ruled that blanket bans on renting properties to benefits claimants are unlawful and discriminatory, breaking the 2010 Equality Act on grounds of sex and disability.\n\nBut the practice is still widespread on SpareRoom and OpenRent. More than 80% of 59,000 listings we analysed on these websites were not open to benefits claimants.\n\nBoth platforms currently offer landlords a tick-box option to exclude people on benefits, although SpareRoom plans to remove the option.\n\nOther websites have policies to remove discriminatory wording from adverts. This includes language such as \"professionals only\", \"no housing benefit\" or \"no DSS\", a reference to the old Department of Social Security.\n\nFewer than 1% of 335,000 listings we analysed on Zoopla and Rightmove contained such phrases.\n\nHowever, the BBC found thousands of listings on these websites that seemed open to benefits claimants, where the same property advertised on OpenRent did exclude them.\n\nOpenRent founder Adam Hyslop said: \"We know that access to suitable properties for benefit claimants is a real and painful problem, and we want to solve the root causes of these issues.\n\n\"We've raised these issues in Parliament and with industry lobby groups and are working hard to address the root causes - as well as trying to combat prejudice by educating OpenRent users.\n\n\"OpenRent does not ban any group of tenants, and in the past year we have let over 25,000 properties where applications from benefit claimants were explicitly welcomed by the landlord.\"\n\nSpareRoom director Matt Hutchinson said: \"After the July ruling we changed the way SpareRoom works, so landlords can only list rooms as unavailable to benefit claimants if their mortgage or insurance specifically forbid it. However, we've seen far more rooms still being listed as unavailable than the small number we expected.\n\n\"The reality is that there are almost no buy to let mortgages left with those clauses in them, so we're currently in the process of removing the option to list as unavailable to benefit claimants completely.\"\n\nEmma lives in a privately rented one-bedroom flat with her son. \"I pay my rent on time every month,\" she said, \"I have references to prove that as well as a guarantor.\"\n\nDespite this, she has been unable to find a larger flat for two years. \"I'm in receipt of benefits, so landlords won't take [me].\" she explained. \"They'll gaslight you, ignore you.\"\n\nHer housing situation has taken a toll on her mental health and stress levels. \"It's made me quite angry,\" she said. \"It's very traumatising.\"\n\nEmma said landlords should not assume that benefit claimants will be unreliable tenants. \"In this economy, my benefits are more stable than your job,\" she added.\n\nSince the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of households in Great Britain in receipt of the Housing Entitlement of Universal Credit grew 62% to 1.2 million, according to the Department for Work and Pensions. A further 746,314 private renters claim Housing Benefit.\n\nRecent housing statistics gathered from official sources by Shelter show women and disabled people are disproportionally affected by policies that ban benefits claimants.\n\nDisabled households are almost three times as likely to use Housing Benefit as non-disabled households.\n\nWomen in the private rented sector are more than 1.5 times more likely to receive Housing Benefit than men.\n\nOne man, who asked to remain anonymous, said: \"DSS discrimination has been a constant hurdle in me even being able to secure a viewing.\"\n\nThe 49-year-old, who has learning disabilities and mental health problems, is in receipt of Housing Benefit, Employment and Support Allowance and Disability Living Allowance.\n\n\"As soon as I tell the letting agents that I'm not able to work as I'm disabled, either I don't hear back from them at all or I phone them up and they tell me the person I need to speak to isn't available,\" he said.\n\nPolly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, said: \"Property portals should be reminding landlords and letting agents of their duty not to discriminate - they should not be contributing to the problem.\"\n\nOtherwise, she said, landlords and agents risk serious legal action.\n\nShe said insurance policies covering landlords who rented to housing benefit tenants were easily available and that all major lenders had removed their \"no DSS\" clauses, including from historic contracts.\n\nA survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of Shelter suggests that landlords' main reasons for not letting to benefits claimants include \"I do not want to let to this type of person or household\" and \"my letting agent advised against it\".\n\nZoopla said: \"While we are happy that the BBC's research showed over 99% of our listings are compliant we recognise even one listing with discriminatory wording is too much. We are constantly updating our systems to ensure any attempts by agents to circumvent our rules are caught and, while we have made strong progress on this, the process is ongoing.\n\n\"Any agent we do find attempting to breach our rules on this can face a variety of sanctions including the removal of their ability to list properties on our site.\"\n\nA Rightmove spokesperson said \"We believe that all prospective tenants should have equal access to the widest possible selection of properties possible irrespective of how their rent is paid.\"\n\nWe analysed over 300,000 rental listings across Great Britain that were advertised between the 1st and 15th of December.\n\nOn OpenRent and SpareRoom, discriminatory listings were identified by a tick box option that excludes people on benefits from renting a property.\n\nOn Zoopla and Rightmove, we searched for language such as \"no housing benefits\" and \"No DSS\", using a list obtained from Shelter.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michel Barnier says negotiations have \"just a few hours\"\n\nThere are \"just a few hours left\" for the UK and EU to agree a post-Brexit trade deal, says Michel Barnier.\n\nSpeaking in the European Parliament on Friday, the EU's chief negotiator said it was \"the moment of truth\" for the two sides to come to an agreement.\n\nHe said there was still a \"chance\" of a deal, but the \"path is very narrow\".\n\nBoris Johnson said the UK side was willing to \"keep talking\", but added: \"Things are looking difficult and there is a gap that needs to be bridged.\"\n\nTalks are resuming later between the two teams in Brussels after the prime minister and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke on Thursday night.\n\nMrs von der Leyen said bridging \"big differences\", particularly on fishing rights, would be \"very challenging\", while Mr Johnson said a no deal scenario was \"very likely\" unless the EU position changed \"substantially\".\n\nEarlier, Mr Barnier met fishing ministers from EU states to discuss the ongoing division over the issue.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the government of \"dithering over Brexit\", calling for the PM to \"get this deal done\" and \"deliver it for the British people\".\n\nThe UK left the EU on 31 January, but has been following the bloc's trade rules while the two sides negotiate a trade deal.\n\nIf one is not agreed by 31 December, they will go on to trade on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, which could see charges introduced on goods being sold and bought - and could lead to an increase in prices.\n\nMr Barnier said it was the UK that decided on the deadline and the EU would have been willing to extend the so-called transition period into next year so talks could continue.\n\n\"If they should leave with an agreement or without, it is nevertheless the Brits that decided on that deadline,\" he told the European Parliament.\n\nMr Johnson has insisted the UK will \"prosper\" with or without a trade deal with the EU.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson: \"Our door is open\" for post-Brexit trade talks\n\nThe talks taking place in Brussels between Mr Barnier and his UK counterpart, Lord David Frost, are aimed at breaking the deadlock on key issues that remain unresolved.\n\nThey include rights to fishing waters from 1 January and what is known as the \"level playing field\" - where the EU does not want UK businesses to get an unfair advantage by moving away from its rules and standards.\n\nOn fishing, Mr Barnier said if the UK wants to use its \"sovereignty\" over its waters to cut access for EU fisherman, \"then the European Union also has to maintain its sovereign right to react or compensate adjusting conditions [to access the] single market\".\n\nAnd on the level playing field, he said there needed to be \"fair competition\" in place, adding: \"If the sovereign United Kingdom would like to depart from those standards, that is their right, but it brings with it consequences when it comes to access to our markets without tariffs or quotas.\"\n\nSpeaking on a visit to Manchester, Mr Johnson said the UK position was \"always that we want to keep talking if there is any chance of a deal\".\n\nBut he called for the EU to \"recognise the UK has got to be able to control its own laws - that's what people voted for - and we have also got to be able to control our waters and fishing rights\".\n\nThe PM added: \"No sensible government is going to agree to a treaty that doesn't have those two basic things in it as well as everything else.\n\n\"Our door is open, we will keep talking, but I have to say that things are looking difficult and there is a gap that needs to be bridged.\n\n\"The UK has done a lot to try and help and we hope our EU friends will see sense and come to the table with something themselves.\"\n\nWhy, you might ask, if the EU's priority in negotiations was to protect the single market, is Brussels allowing the issue of fish to endanger the whole deal?\n\nThe level playing field is worth a lot more in monetary and political terms to the bloc, but it sounds quite abstract to voters.\n\nHowever, fishermen and women losing their jobs, industries dwindling... that would be very visible, very quickly, elevating the importance of fishing rights.\n\nIt is in coastal countries where governments fear a public backlash if it's perceived they've sacrificed national fishing communities for a deal with UK.\n\nAlthough the majority of EU members are not coastal nations, and although everyone in the bloc would love to finally put this deal to bed - for political and financial reasons, as well as being plain fed up with the process - the EU as a whole won't try to force member states to sign up if they are unhappy.\n\nMichel Barnier spoke to EU coastal countries on Friday to try to find a compromise position but, because of the \"nothing is agreed until everything is agreed\" mantra of negotiations, the EU mood is less optimistic about prospect of imminent breakthrough than it was two days ago.\n\nIf a deal is reached between the two sides, it would need to be agreed by parliaments in the UK and EU.\n\nSenior MEPs in the European Parliament have said they will not be \"rushed\" into signing off a deal on their side, and want to see the text of any agreement by Sunday if they are to approve it by the end of the year.\n\nUK MPs have now finished for the Christmas break, but Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said on Thursday that they could be called back to ratify a deal in the coming days, were one to be agreed.", "PM Boris Johnson says he is \"hoping to avoid\" another national lockdown in England but that Covid-19 cases have increased \"very much\" in recent weeks.\n\nHe chaired meetings on Friday, No 10 sources said, amid \"growing concerns\" about the spread of a new variant of Covid in south-east England.\n\nHealth bosses have warned the NHS is already under significant pressure.\n\nNearly 90% of hospital beds in England are full, with coronavirus adding to normal winter demands.\n\nGovernment scientists are continuing to evaluate the new strain and ministers have been discussing what action will be necessary to deal with this, sources said.\n\nAsked if people were going to be told to re-think their Christmas plans, a Downing Street source said: \"We are not there yet.\"\n\nA separate government source suggested that travel restrictions were discussed, but it is not clear that they have been signed off.\n\nOn Monday Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the variant may be associated with the faster transmission of the virus in the South East but there was \"nothing to suggest\" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.\n\nMeanwhile, the R number - which represents how many people each infected person passes the virus onto - has risen above 1 in the UK.\n\nThe latest figure, calculated by the government's scientific advisers, is estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.2, up from between 0.9 and 1 last week.\n\nThe UK recorded a further 28,507 cases on Friday, along with 489 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nOfficial figures show Covid-19 cases have risen in the past week in England, driven by sharp increases in London, as well as rises in the South East and East Midlands.\n\nThe president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Katherine Henderson, said England and Scotland needed to do \"whatever it takes\" to get a grip of the virus, even if that meant \"full lockdown\".\n\nAsked whether England would end up following Northern Ireland and Wales into lockdown, Mr Johnson said: \"Obviously we are hoping very much that we'll be able to avoid anything like that, but the reality is that the rates of infection have increased very much in the last few weeks.\"\n\nHe said the Christmas rules, which are being relaxed across the UK between 23 and 27 December, were \"very much a maximum\" and \"not a target people should aim for\".\n\nThe prime minister encouraged people to \"think about our elderly relatives\" to \"avoid spreading the disease\" over Christmas.\n\nHe added that he hoped next year, with the rollout of the vaccine, would \"be very different indeed\".\n\nEarlier, he tweeted a message warning people planning to form \"Christmas bubbles\" in the UK to start minimising contact with people from outside their households from today.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer said \"nobody wants a third lockdown\" but England's tiered system was \"not strong enough\".\n\nHe called for the prime minister to \"toughen up over Christmas\", saying the Welsh government's decision to limit Christmas bubbles to two households, instead of three, was a \"step in the right direction\".\n\nProf Neil Ferguson, whose team's modelling led to the original lockdown in March, said he was \"more concerned\" about what the country was going to be facing in early January than over the Christmas period itself.\n\nThe epidemiologist from Imperial College London told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme that very rapid increases in case numbers had left \"very little headroom\", adding that any future lockdown in England may have to be tougher than the one seen in November.\n\nMeanwhile, teaching unions have criticised the government's announcement that the return to secondary school in January will be staggered to allow schools to set up a Covid testing scheme.\n\nThey say the move came too late for them to make the necessary preparations for testing. But Nick Gibb, the schools minister, has defended the plan, saying the government would provide support.\n\nIt comes after a tough new six-week lockdown was announced in Northern Ireland from 26 December.\n\nHealth Minister Robin Swann said the measures were essentially a return to March's sustained restrictions, with non-essential shops and close-contact services such as hair salons having to close.\n\nPubs, cafes and restaurants will be restricted to takeaway services.\n\nThe first week of the restrictions, running until 2 January, will see even tighter measures with essential shops, including supermarkets, having to close each day by 20:00 GMT.\n\nNo sporting events will be permitted at all - even at elite level - with people being urged only to leave their home for essential reasons.\n\nIn Wales, non-essential shops will close from the end of trading on Christmas Eve, with an alert level four lockdown starting four days later.\n\nIn England, some 38 million people will be subject to the nation's strictest measures - tier three - from Saturday.\n\nScotland's Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said the option for a post-Christmas lockdown in Scotland \"remains on the table\".\n\nMeanwhile, documents released by the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) say avoiding social contacts for more than five days before meeting older or vulnerable people at Christmas will reduce the risk of transmitting the virus.\n\nA longer period - of a week or more - would reduce the risk even further. A document dated 26 November says taking a rapid coronavirus test before a multi-day gathering inside a home could also reduce the risk.\n\nSage says mixing between households over the festive period for one or two days would be less risky than multiple households spending the entire time together.\n\nBut the documents warn there may be a higher proportion of cases in more vulnerable age groups during the festive period, which could lead to an increase in hospital admissions.\n\nThe decision by all four UK nations to relax restrictions and allow more mixing for five days over Christmas has prompted concern that it will fuel a further surge in case numbers.\n\nAverage NHS bed occupancy in England has reached almost 89% for the week ending 13 December, with 59 out of 126 NHS trusts reporting bed occupancy of higher than 90% - which is above the recommended safe level.\n\nDr Katherine Henderson told BBC News the UK was at a \"really dangerous point where we could tip into finding it incredibly difficult to manage\" and her colleagues were \"increasingly\" seeing ambulances queuing outside hospitals.\n\nIn Northern Ireland, Dr Martin Kelly, a consultant respiratory physician in Londonderry, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"Right in the mouth of Christmas we're seeing a significant further surge in numbers which is already putting the service under significant pressure.\"\n\nAnd Dr Nick Lyons, a health board medical director in south Wales, said things were similar in his region, where non-urgent procedures have been cancelled.\n\nThe intensive care units \"were basically full with Covid patients\" while the area's field hospital was \"roughly at half its total capacity\", he told Today.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"You don't have to cancel Christmas, just postpone it\", says Chris Lea, who's in hospital with Covid-19\n\nA father who is in hospital with coronavirus has urged people not to visit relatives over Christmas.\n\nChris Lea, from Harpenden, Hertfordshire, was taken to hospital on Wednesday as he \"fought for every breath\".\n\nFrom his hospital bed, the 60-year-old said the thought of people travelling around the country visiting family was \"worrying the hell out of me\".\n\n\"It is not worth losing an aunt, an uncle or grandparent,\" he said.\n\nMr Lea is on oxygen and being treated with multiple drugs at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital.\n\nThe father-of-four said he had experienced tiredness for a few days but on Wednesday his situation \"escalated from getting short of breath to fighting for every breath in just a few hours\".\n\n\"The look on my 16-year-old son's face when I was fighting for breath was heartbreaking,\" he said.\n\nMr Lea was admitted to hospital on Wednesday\n\nMr Lea's said his son's year group was sent home from school and told to isolate recently due to two positive cases and he fears this may be how he caught the virus.\n\n\"Sending children to mix with other family members at Christmas is unwise,\" he said.\n\n\"If you saw the look on my son's face when I was fighting for my breath you would not want to be sending these children all over the country to see their family.\n\n\"You don't have to cancel Christmas, just postpone it, we are so close now with this vaccine - have the big family get-together at Easter or in the summer.\"\n\nMr Lea said the care he was receiving was \"phenomenal\" and he had made rapid progress in 48 hours.\n\n\"The doctors, nurses, the porters, everyone is working relentlessly hard, they're working like crazy,\" he said.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "The casino once formed a key part of Atlantic City's skyline\n\nA casino formerly owned by Donald Trump is set to be demolished, and you can push the button for the right price.\n\nThe Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City went bankrupt and shut in 2014. Now, the city is auctioning off the chance to dynamite it for charity.\n\nThe property was one of three Trump-branded casinos that once formed the centrepiece of the world-famous resort city nicknamed \"America's playground\".\n\nBut as revenues plummeted, Mr Trump cut his losses and his ties with the city.\n\nCity officials have called several times for the idle building to be torn down after chunks of the crumbling landmark repeatedly broke off and fell onto surrounding streets.\n\nA bidding process that began on Thursday will determine who gets the right to count down and hit the button that will raze the 39-floor casino.\n\nProceeds from the auction will fund the local chapter of the Boys & Girls Club of America, a youth development organisation.\n\n\"I want to raise at least a million dollars and I think we can accomplish that,\" said Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr, in a press conference.\n\nThe mayor said his office has already been \"bombarded\" with phone calls about the auction, from Arkansas to Canada.\n\nThe building was shut in 2014 and is now considered a safety hazard\n\nA noted hotspot of the \"Roaring Twenties'', Atlantic City resurfaced in the 1980s as the de facto casino capital of the US east coast.\n\nTouting it as a counterweight to Las Vegas, Donald Trump opened Trump Plaza at the centre of its famed boardwalk in 1984, then two more casinos, including the Trump Taj Mahal (which marketed itself as \"the eighth wonder of the world\").\n\nHowever, as gambling laws eased in neighbouring states, out-of-state gamblers stayed away and casino revenues dried up. Meanwhile, Mr Trump took on mountains of debt and endured negative press.\n\nHe distanced himself from the failing casinos and each one was sold off as his company filed for bankruptcy.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nAtlantic City's Mayor Small has been critical of Mr Trump's past, saying: \"He said he took advantage of the bankruptcy laws, took advantage of a lot of people, made a lot of money and then got out, so it's extremely important that we do something worthwhile with this [demolition]\".\n\nHowever, Mr Trump has held up his Atlantic City exploits as a success, once tweeting: \"Does anyone notice that Atlantic City lost its magic after I left years ago?\"\n\nThe demolition - originally set for January but postponed by inclement weather - will take place sometime in February.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Atlantic City down on its luck\n• None Why is gambling so addictive?", "Former Det Insp Tim Ireson led the unit for two years\n\nSix members of a \"toxic\" police unit have been found guilty of gross misconduct after their \"offensive\" conversations were secretly recorded.\n\nInvestigators bugged the Northern Serious Organised Crime Unit's office in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and analysed messages over a 24-day period in 2018.\n\nThe Northern Serious Organised Crime Unit was \"homophobic, racist and sexist\", a misconduct panel heard.\n\nThe panel is due to consider sanctions at a later date.\n\nJason Beer QC, prosecuting, previously said a \"toxic, abhorrent culture\" had developed amongst some officers because of a \"lack of leadership\".\n\nHe said vulgar language was the \"stock-in-trade\" of the unit, where the team's only black officer was often a target of abuse.\n\nMr Beer said the accused men \"habitually\" made offensive remarks about women, black people, immigrants, disabled, gay and transgender people and foreign nationals.\n\nThe six men were based at the Serious and Organised Crime Unit in Basingstoke\n\nThe panel listed numerous instances where gross misconduct was committed.\n\nIn one case, retired Det Insp Tim Ireson, who led the unit for two years, was described as failing to properly manage an officer who turned up for work drunk.\n\nDet Sgt Gregory Willcox failed to supervise the team, while Det Sgt Oliver Lage made \"highly offensive and racist comments\" about the black colleague, the panel found.\n\nOther instances of gross misconduct the panel recorded included PC Andrew Ferguson sending colleagues a fake pornographic image of members of the royal family, and former PC Craig Bannerman failing to challenge \"the most serious\" abuse recorded by investigators.\n\nAnother of the accused officers, PC James Oldfield, interrupted the panel as the verdicts were read out, saying: \"Absolutely unbelievable… nonsense.\"\n\nHampshire Constabulary said disciplinary action was also taken against 14 other officers and police staff from the unit.\n\nIn a statement, the force said the offences came to light when an anonymous source made allegations via its confidential reporting system.\n\nIt said it would respond fully after the panel reconvenes on 4 January to consider sanctions.\n\nMichael Lane, Hampshire police and crime commissioner, said the ruling showed the six officers did not hold themselves to the \"highest standards of ethical behaviour\".\n\nHe said: \"Hampshire Constabulary and I take, and have always taken, this matter very seriously.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The health secretary announces several more counties in southern and eastern England will face stronger restrictions\n\nMore than two-thirds of England's population will be living under the toughest Covid-19 rules from Saturday.\n\nBedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Hertfordshire will move to tier three, as will parts of Surrey, East Sussex, Cambridgeshire and Hampshire.\n\nAnd swathes of the nation already in tier three will remain there.\n\nAnnouncing the changes, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs: \"We've come so far, we mustn't blow it now.\"\n\nBristol and North Somerset will move from tier three to tier two, and Herefordshire will move from tier two into tier one.\n\nThe changes come into effect at 00:01 on Saturday.\n\nIt comes as the UK recorded a further 532 coronavirus deaths, taking the total number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus to 66,052.\n\nA further 35,383 cases were also recorded on Thursday, up from 25,161 on the previous day.\n\nThis figure includes 11,000 positive cases from Wales that were not previously recorded in official figures due to maintenance work on Public Health Wales' computer systems at the end of last week.\n\nThe announcement on tiers means that 68% of England's population - 38 million people - will be living under the toughest restrictions of tier three from the weekend. Some 30% of the population will be in tier two, while just 2% will be in tier one.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was concerned the tier system was \"just not strong enough to control the virus\".\n\n\"We've been seeing the numbers going in the wrong direction across the country in the last seven days in particular,\" he added.\n\nIn Greater Manchester, which was first placed in tier three on 23 October, mayor Andy Burnham said he was \"not surprised but very disappointed\" that the region was staying in tier three, having called for some parts to be downgraded.\n\nHe told BBC Radio 4's World at One that Greater Manchester has lower infection rates than Liverpool and London had \"when they were originally put into\" tier two.\n\n\"It feels like if... London and the South East has rising cases, everyone stays under restrictions,\" he said.\n\nAnnouncing the outcome of the first formal review of the new tier system in England, Mr Hancock told MPs \"no-one wants tougher restrictions any longer than necessary\".\n\nHowever, he said \"these are always the most difficult months for people's health\" and we \"must keep suppressing this virus\".\n\nCases have risen by 46% in the past week in the south-east of England, he told MPs, and were up by two-thirds in the east of England.\n\nMeanwhile, the government has announced the return to school in January will be staggered for secondary pupils in England, with some starting term online rather than in class.\n\nIt will allow schools to set up a Covid testing scheme - but exam-year pupils will start term as usual.\n\nThere will also be a staggered return for schools in Wales after the Christmas break.\n\nThe health secretary said from 00:01 Saturday 19 December:\n\nWith the majority of the country in the highest tier, many will be wondering how long it will be before the rules are relaxed.\n\nThe trajectories are quite different across the tier three areas.\n\nLarge parts of the North have seen cases fall and now have lower than average infection rates, although there are signs those decreases have stalled.\n\nOther areas, particularly large parts of the home counties, have relatively low rates that are rising.\n\nThen there are places - east London and the surrounding areas - that have high rates that are rising.\n\nThe fact that they are all facing the tightest restrictions is a sign of how cautious ministers are being.\n\nThat, of course, is because of the Christmas relaxation - and fear it could lead to a spike in cases.\n\nIf that happens, tier three could become the norm for months - maybe accompanied by a third lockdown.\n\nThat would leave the government and public pinning everything on the vaccine programme.\n\nEarlier this week, ministers said a good start had been made with 137,000 people vaccinated.\n\nBut there are more than 25 million in the priority groups - 12 million of them over the age of 65.\n\nIn theory, two million could be vaccinated every week, but that depends on multiple things going right.\n\nThis could become the status quo for many until the spring.\n\nAround 34 million people have already been living under tier three rules.\n\nLondon, most of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire were placed under the strictest curbs on social contacts on Wednesday.\n\nThey joined much of the Midlands, north-west England and north-east England.\n\nThe news Greater Manchester would remain in tier three provoked anger from some of the area's MPs, including Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers.\n\n\"The statement will be greeted with dismay in Greater Manchester where we have had severe restrictions for nine months, where in nine of the 10 boroughs rates are below the national average,\" he said.\n\nAnd the West Midlands' Conservative mayor Andy Street called for more government funding to support businesses in tier three areas.\n\nLeaders in areas moving from tier two to tier three also expressed their concerns.\n\nStephen McPartland, Conservative MP for Stevenage in Hertfordshire, tweeted that it was \"ridiculous\" the town is \"being dragged into\" tier three.\n\nHe said tiers \"should be imposed on a district basis instead of this unbalanced county-wide approach\".\n\nGerald Vernon-Jackson, the Liberal Democrat leader of Portsmouth City Council, said the decision to introduce the toughest measures there was \"bizarre\".\n\nHe said he was \"slightly surprised\" because he had been told that \"the problem\" was with the city's Queen Alexandra Hospital.\n\nHowever, the hospital also serves nearby local authorities, such as Fareham and Winchester City, which were not being moved up.\n\n\"The government has made a number of bizarre decisions, so it's no surprise they have made another one,\" he said.\n\nElsewhere in the UK, ministers in Northern Ireland have agreed a six-week lockdown from 26 December, in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus.\n\nIn Wales, non-essential shops will close from the end of trading on Christmas Eve, with an alert level four lockdown starting four days later.\n\nAnd in Scotland, the deputy first minister warned that tougher restrictions - including a potential lockdown - after the festive period cannot be ruled out.\n\nWhat are your plans for Christmas? How will you be affected by the rule changes? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Concerns about the virus growing in some areas of the country has prompted the Scottish government to place restrictions on more people ahead of Christmas.\n\nNo local authority is currently in this toughest tier. Rules at this level are similar to the lockdown in March. However, schools - outside scheduled holidays - remain open but all non-essential shops, as well as pubs and restaurants, gyms, libraries and hairdressers, are closed.\n\nThree councils are being moved up from level two, joining the 18 local authorities already in this tier. Rules allow cafes, pubs and restaurants to open until 18:00 to serve food and non-alcoholic drinks to groups of up to six from two households. Alcohol sales are not permitted indoors or outdoors. All leisure and entertainment venues are closed, including cinemas. No non-essential travel is allowed out of a level three area. Indoor exercise, which includes gyms, are restricted to individual and not group exercise. Hairdressers and barbers can open.\n\nIn this tier there is no in-home socialising allowed and up to six people from two households can meet outdoors and in hospitality settings. Licensed premises can only serve alcohol indoors with a main meal - and then only until 20:00. Outdoors, you can be served until 22:30. Most leisure and entertainment premises are closed except gyms, cinemas, bingo halls and amusement arcades. From Friday, 18 December, residents on the outer Argyll islands of Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Ornosay; Coll and Tiree; and Mull, Iona, and the neighbouring islands of Ulva, Erraid and Gometra will be able to meet in houses in groups of up to six from a maximum of two households.\n\nSix people from two households have been able to meet indoors if they are resident in Shetland, the Western Isles, Orkney and some islands (but not ones, like Skye, that are connected to the mainland by road). Level one sees a \"reasonable\" degree of normality. Hospitality has a 22:30 curfew. Events, like weddings, are restricted to a maximum of 20 people. Indoor contact sports for adults are not permitted. Only those unable to work from home should go to their place of employment. Up to eight people from three households can meet outdoors.\n\nNo local authority has been assigned this level. At level zero, hospitality would operate \"almost normally\" - subject to rules on physical distancing, limits on numbers and other rules, such as table service.\n\nUse the form below to send us your questions and we could be in touch.\n\nIn some cases your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions.\n\nIf you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.", "Vehicles are stranded on the snow-covered Kanetsu expressway\n\nRescuers are trying to free more than 1,000 vehicles which have been stranded on a highway for two days after a heavy snow storm struck Japan.\n\nAuthorities have distributed food, fuel and blankets to the drivers on the Kanetsu expressway, which connects the capital Tokyo to Niigata, in the north.\n\nThe snow, which began on Wednesday evening, has caused multiple traffic jams along the road.\n\nIt has also left more than 10,000 homes in the north and west without power.\n\nA Kyodo News report said that there were multiple reports of congestion at different points of the Kanetsu expressway. The gridlock began when a trailer got stuck in snow on Wednesday night.\n\nAnother Kyodo report, quoting police and highway operator East Nippon Expressway Co, said the traffic jam had stretched up to 16.5km (10 miles) along the road at one point.\n\nOfficials have been using a combination of heavy machinery and physical labour to dig out the vehicles one by one, but around 1,000 cars were still stranded on the road as of Friday noon.\n\n\"We are trying our best to rescue drivers and passengers, we are ready to continue the operation through the night,\" a Niigata disaster management official told AFP on Thursday night.\n\nFood, fuel and blankets were distributed to drivers\n\nAnother similar traffic jam also occurred in the nearby Joshinetsu Expressway which saw 300 vehicles stranded. That gridlock lasted from Wednesday to Thursday morning.\n\nAccording to the meteorological agency, the heavy snow - said to be this year's most intense cold spell - is expected to continue through the weekend.\n\nThe country's prime minister Yoshihide Suga has called an emergency cabinet meeting and urged the public to be cautious.\n\nThe snow storm comes as Japan is battling a third wave of coronavirus cases, which has put unprecedented pressure on the country's hospitals.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.", "Google is being sued by 38 US states, accused of trying to make its search engine as dominant inside cars, TVs and speakers as it is in smartphones.\n\nThis follows a landmark lawsuit by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over a similar issue in October.\n\nIt is the tech giant's third US government-related lawsuit in two months.\n\nGoogle said in a blog that redesigning its search engine would \"deprive Americans of helpful information\".\n\n\"We know that scrutiny of big companies is important and we're prepared to answer questions and work through the issues,\" wrote Google's director of economic policy Adam Cohen.\n\n\"But this lawsuit seeks to redesign Search in ways that would deprive Americans of helpful information and hurt businesses' ability to connect directly with customers. We look forward to making that case in court, while remaining focused on delivering a high-quality search experience for our users.\"\n\nHe added that there are many alternatives to Google when looking for relevant information, including Amazon, Expedia and Tripadvisor.\n\nThe tech giant's view is that the lawsuit is suggesting that Google Search \"should, in fact, be less useful\" to consumers.\n\n\"When you search for local products and services, we show information that helps you connect with businesses directly and helps them reach more customers,\" wrote Mr Cohen.\n\n\"This lawsuit demands changes to the design of Google Search, requiring us to prominently feature online middlemen in place of direct connections to businesses.\"\n\nAn animated gif showing what Google calls \"rich results\" when searching for the word \"bread\"\n\nThe complaint was filed on Thursday by 38 states and territories with both Democrat and Republican prosecutors, led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.\n\n\"Google's anticompetitive actions have protected its general search monopolies and excluded rivals, depriving consumers of the benefits of competitive choices, forestalling innovation, and undermining new entry or expansion,\" Mr Weiser explained. \"This lawsuit seeks to restore competition.\"\n\nIt is a separate matter to the lawsuit filed on Wednesday in which 10 US states accuse Google of anti-competitive online advertising practices, including an allegation that it made a deal with Facebook to manipulate online advertising auctions.\n\nIn some ways, the latest complaint is similar to the DoJ's lawsuit, which focused on the billions of dollars Google pays each year to ensure its search engine is installed as the default option on browsers and devices like mobile phones.\n\nHowever, the latest legal complaint goes further to say that the tech giant is using its existing monopolies in search - such as \"exclusionary agreements\" and its ability to collect \"vast amounts of data\" - to dominate newer technologies as well.\n\nFor instance, the lawsuit claims Google bars devices that use Google Assistant from including competing virtual assistant technology, such as Amazon's Alexa.\n\nSmart speaker maker Sonos has publicly complained that Google used its market power unfairly to monopolise the voice assistant market\n\n\"Google is preventing competitors in the voice assistant market from reaching consumers through connected cars, which stand to be a significant way the internet is accessed in the near future,\" said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who also sued Microsoft back in 1998 over antitrust issues.\n\nSmart speaker maker Sonos has publicly complained in the past that Google used its market power unfairly to monopolise the voice assistant market. Sonos only finally decided to support the Google Assistant in 2019.\n\nThe coalition is asking the court to halt what it calls Google's illegal conduct and restore a competitive marketplace, as well as removing any unfair advantages the tech giant gained as a result of its practices. It calls for Google's parent Alphabet to be forced to divest some assets and award damages, instead of paying a fine.\n\n\"Fines are like kicking gorillas in the shin. We fortunately have remedies that are much broader in scope,\" said Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson.\n\nThe states who filed the lawsuit on Thursday are: Colorado, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, and the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico.", "Food was one of the few sectors to see sales grow\n\nStore closures enforced by Covid curbs pushed down UK retail sales in November, figures have indicated.\n\nSales fell by 3.8% last month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, bringing to an end a six-month streak of rising trade.\n\nClothing store sales saw a sharp fall from the previous month, the ONS said, while food stores and household goods stores were the only sectors that grew.\n\nDespite the monthly fall, overall sales remain above their pre-pandemic levels.\n\n\"After a run of strong growth, retail sales fell back in November as restrictions meant many stores had to close their doors again,\" said deputy national statistician for economic statistics Jonathan Athow.\n\n\"Clothing and fuel were particularly hit by the winter lockdown, with their sales falling sharply.\"\n\nMr Athow added that food sales, especially click-and-collect, were boosted as people were not able to eat out.\n\nIn another sign of the way the pandemic has changed shopping habits, online retailing accounted for 31.4% of the total, compared with 28.6% a year earlier.\n\nThe ONS said feedback from businesses suggested that consumers had brought forward Christmas spending.\n\n\"In a month where England went back into lockdown and the UK as a whole was subject to tightening restrictions, it's little surprise that physical retail sales growth stalled in November,\" said Lynda Petherick, head of retail at Accenture UKI.\n\nConsumers had already brought forward Christmas spending, the ONS said\n\n\"However, the show must go on when it comes to Christmas shopping, and some retailers have triumphed by preparing their e-commerce operations for the boom in online sales.\n\n\"Black Friday and early festive shopping continued to stimulate a sector so desperately trying to build recovery momentum.\"\n\nSamuel Tombs, chief UK. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: \"Retail sales will rebound in December, probably to a new record high, as people undertake their pre-Christmas shopping over a narrower time period than usual.\"\n\nHe pointed out that consumers had \"rushed back to the shops\" since non-essential retailers were allowed to reopen on 2 December.\n\n\"Retail sales, however, probably will struggle to improve on December's level next year, given that income support schemes will come to an end in April and people will rotate towards consuming more services again once they have been vaccinated.\n\n\"What's more, non-essential shops might well be forced to close again to contain a third wave of Covid-19 in January. The collapse of more traditional High Street retailers next year, therefore, seems inevitable.\"\n\nMeanwhile, a separate survey by trade publication the Grocer has shed further light on how people's shopping habits have altered during the pandemic.\n\nThe magazine's annual Top Products Survey, covering the 52 weeks to 5 September, found that supermarket purchases of alcohol had soared as people attempted to compensate for their inability to go to the pub during lockdown.\n\nSales of lager were up more than a fifth on last year, adding more than £800m to the nation's grocery bill.\n\nMost-favoured brands included San Miguel, which saw sales growth of 63%, and perhaps surprisingly, the unfortunately named Corona beer, up 40%.\n\nAt the same time, sales of wine and spirits went up by £717m and £567m respectively.\n\nHowever, other products lost out. With people confined to their homes for much of the time, the UK bought 22% fewer cosmetics, while hairstyling products sagged by 18%.\n\nSales of toothbrushes and deodorants both fell 10% for similar reasons.", "Mohsin (left) and Zuber Issa in Blackburn last year\n\nA company co-owned by the billionaire Issa brothers who are buying Asda was fined for \"appalling\" safety breaches, a BBC investigation has found.\n\nOne worker lost a finger in a bubble wrap machine in 2012, and another lost four fingers in 2015, weeks after the brothers resigned as directors.\n\nEuroplast (Blackburn) Ltd showed \"a total lack of care about the safety of its employees\", according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).\n\nIn 2014, the Lancashire packaging firm Europlast (Blackburn) Ltd was fined £50,000 at Preston Crown Court for an incident two years previously, when a worker got a hand trapped between rollers while trying to clean a bubble wrap machine.\n\nHe suffered burns and crush injuries, requiring skin grafts, and lost the top half of his middle finger.\n\nMohsin and Zuber Issa, the billionaire petrol station bosses who have agreed a deal to buy Asda for £6.8bn, were co-owners and directors of the company at the time, according to filings at Companies House.\n\nThe court was told of two previous hand injuries at the company, which had been warned as early as 2009 of the need to guard dangerous machine parts, according to a press release issued by the HSE.\n\nMohsin and Zuber Issa have agreed a deal to buy Asda\n\nHSE principal inspector Mike Sebastian said after the hearing that \"the company had failed to take any action to improve safety, despite receiving numerous warnings and at least two other workers also suffering injuries\".\n\nThe factory was in an \"appalling\" state when the HSE visited, he said. \"There appears to have been a complete absence of any attempt to organise or control health and safety.\"\n\nMohsin and Zuber Issa are still investors in Europlast (Blackburn) Ltd, though they resigned as directors in June 2015, leaving their lower-profile older brother Zakir as sole director.\n\nRepresentatives of Mohsin and Zuber Issa declined to comment on this story. Zakir Issa and Europlast (Blackburn) Ltd did not respond to requests for comment.\n\nTwo months after Mohsin and Zuber Issa resigned, in August 2015, another worker lost four fingers while cleaning a bubble wrap machine.\n\nThe company was prosecuted and pleaded guilty to this incident in 2017, paying a fine of £60,000.\n\nHSE inspector Steven Boyd said: \"These were life-changing injuries that could have been prevented. Sadly, in this case lessons from previous incidents had not been learned.\"\n\nPreston Magistrates' Court heard that the machines were being cleaned while still running - a clear health and safety breach.\n\nThe company was criticised for not reporting the incident until nine months after it happened, delaying the investigation and putting other employees at risk, according to the HSE.\n\nZuber and Mohsin Issa have won awards for their entrepreneurship, and were made CBEs in October\n\nEuroplast is a highly profitable firm, earning £2.7m on a turnover of £9.6m in the year to 30 March 2020.\n\nHowever, it doesn't feature in most accounts of the Issa brothers' meteoric rise.\n\nThey started from a single filling station in Bury in 2001 to build a global petrol and convenience store empire stretching from the US to Australia with over 6,000 sites and €20bn (£18bn) of revenue, according to their company website.\n\nAccording to Companies House filings, however, they were already successful packaging entrepreneurs when they started Euro Garages (now called EG Group).\n\nMohsin and Zakir Issa founded Europlast (Blackburn) Ltd in 1993 and Zuber Issa became a shareholder in 1998.\n\nThe bubble wrap business helped to fund the growth of the fledgling forecourt empire. Accounts show that in 2002 Euro Garages received a £251,393 unsecured interest-free loan from Europlast, which continued to provide free credit in subsequent years.\n\nTheir success with EG Group gave Mohsin and Zuber Issa the financial firepower to buy Asda from its previous owners, the US superstore group Walmart.\n\nIn June 2015, the three brothers transferred their shares in Europlast to a Jersey holding company, now called EP Holdings.\n\nMohsin and Zuber Issa each hold over a million preference shares in EP Holdings, which entitle them to a share of the company's profits, according to documents filed with the Jersey Financial Services Commission in September.", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "The return to secondary school in January will be staggered in England, with some pupils starting online rather than in class, says the government.\n\nIt will allow schools to set up a Covid testing scheme - but exam-year pupils will start term as usual.\n\nThe National Education Union said making the announcement right at the end of the school term showed \"panic\".\n\nEducation Secretary Gavin Williamson said testing would \"clamp down\" on the virus after the Christmas break.\n\n\"Armed forces personnel\" will support the planning for testing in schools, says the Department for Education.\n\nApart from those taking GCSEs, A-levels and vocational exams next year, secondary school pupils will study online for the first week back in January.\n\nThis is to allow schools to make preparations for mass Covid testing - which will offer school staff a test each week and a daily test for seven days for pupils in contact with a positive case.\n\nThose exam year pupils returning for face-to-face lessons will also be offered tests, with all testing to be on a voluntary basis and requiring parental consent.\n\nFace-to-face learning is expected to re-start for all by 11 January.\n\nA similar scheme has been announced for Wales, where schools went online on Monday. A full return to the classroom is expected by 18 January at the latest.\n\nBut school leaders have reacted angrily at having to set up and manage such a testing system with so little notice - with the National Association of Head Teachers calling it a \"shambles\".\n\n\"They have handed schools a confused and chaotic mess at the eleventh hour,\" said the union's leader Paul Whiteman.\n\nJules White, head of Tanbridge House School in Horsham, said: \"The government has spent £22bn on a mass testing programme for test and trace.\n\n\"Schools are being asked to deliver mass testing for staff and students during the Christmas period with no funding, an 'idiot's guide' handbook and barely any notice.\"\n\nThe government is insisting the change to the start of term is not an extension to the school holidays and primary schools will not be affected by the move.\n\nBut it comes after the Department for Education instructed all local authorities to keep schools open in the final days of term, despite several initially telling parents that schools would close early and head teachers calling for more flexibility for online study.\n\nTeaching unions have challenged the practicality of being expected to train and deploy an \"army of volunteers\" to run the testing.\n\nThe National Education Union has now written to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson saying the plans for a school testing system are \"inoperable\".\n\nIt said: \"Telling school leaders, on the last day of term [for many schools], that they must organise volunteers and parents, supported by their staff, to test pupils in the first week of term, whilst Year 11 and 13 pupils are on site for in-school teaching, is a ridiculous ask.\"\n\nTeachers were already \"exhausted by the unreasonable demands, backed by legal threats, that they have been subjected to this term\", said the union's letter.\n\nIt added that running such medical procedures was \"significantly outside the experience and job description\" of school staff, highlighting expert advice that tests carried out by non-specialists were less likely to be effective.\n\nPatrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union said: \"Yet again the government is announcing significant changes affecting schools with little or no time to prepare before the Christmas closure period.\"\n\nHe said it was not the responsibility of teachers or school leaders to undertake testing of pupils or employees.\n\n\"The government has to ensure that it puts into place all the necessary resources needed to deliver the practical and financial support to schools to ensure safety in schools,\" said Dr Roach.\n\nAssociation of School and College Leaders general secretary Geoff Barton said: \"We are very concerned about the feasibility of setting up a testing programme at the scale envisaged.\"\n\nHe added: \"The profession is very willing to work with the government over how to roll-out mass testing, but ministers must understand that chaotic, last-minute announcements do not constitute a collaborative approach.\"\n\nAs the plans for January have been announced, an official study suggests virus rates in schools reflect the levels in their local communities.\n\nVirus rates have been growing fast in some areas, including London and south-east England, in recent weeks, with many schools affected.\n\nThe analysis of tests on 10,000 staff and pupils from Public Health England, Office for National Statistics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found 1.24% of pupils and 1.29% of staff tested positive for coronavirus in schools.\n\nHowever, the impact of those cases will have been felt by many more, as close contacts were required to go home and self-isolate.\n\nThe governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not announced any changes to the start of the January term, but schools in Wales moved online last Monday.", "Talks to reach a post-Brexit trade deal are in a \"serious situation\", Boris Johnson said after a call with the EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen.\n\nHe warned that \"time was short\" and that a no deal scenario was \"very likely\" unless the EU position changed \"substantially\".\n\nMrs von der Leyen said it would be \"very challenging\" to bridge the \"big differences\", particularly on fish.\n\nHowever, she also welcomed \"substantial progress on many issues\".\n\nTalks in Brussels will continue on Friday, with two weeks to go before the UK leaves EU trading rules.\n\nIn a statement issued after the phone call, No 10 said: \"He [Mr Johnson] said that we were making every effort to accommodate reasonable EU requests on the level playing field, but even though the gap had narrowed some fundamental areas remained difficult.\n\n\"On fisheries he stressed that the UK could not accept a situation where it was the only sovereign country in the world not to be able to control access to its own waters for an extended period and to be faced with fisheries quotas which hugely disadvantaged its own industry.\n\n\"The EU's position in this area was simply not reasonable and if there was to be an agreement it needed to shift significantly.\"\n\nThe UK's chief negotiator David Frost echoed the prime minister's tone, tweeting: \"The situation in our talks with the EU is very serious tonight. Progress seems blocked and time is running out.\"\n\nEuropean Parliament leaders have set Sunday as a deadline for them to see the text of any deal agreed by the negotiating teams.\n\nThe senior MEPs said they would \"not be rushed\" into approving an agreement at their end, and would have to see the text by the end of the week if they were to sign it off by 31 December.\n\nThe call came after minister Michael Gove warned talks may go on until after Christmas. He said that while Christmas Day would be \"sacrosanct\", it was possible that Parliament could be recalled to approve a Brexit deal.\n\nParliament closed for the Christmas break on Thursday evening.\n\nMr Gove also said that although the European Parliament has said it would not have time to ratify a deal if it was not concluded by Sunday, they could \"apply provisional application of the treaty\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michael Gove said Brexit talks 'may go on after Christmas'\n\nHe told the Commons Brexit Committee the \"most likely outcome\" was that the current transition period would end on December 31 without a deal.\n\nAsked how likely a deal is, he replied \"I think, regrettably, the chances are more likely that we won't secure an agreement. So at the moment less than 50%.\"\n\nIt's long been predicted that competition rules and fishing would be the last areas where compromise is found.\n\nFor Boris Johnson's government, being tied to EU regulations in perpetuity defeats the purpose of Brexit and makes a mockery of \"taking back control\".\n\nFor the European Union, it will not allow its internal market to be undermined by offering the UK unfair access.\n\nUrsula von der Leyen has claimed the two sides have made a significant step by agreeing to a \"strong mechanism\" to ensure neither side lowers their environmental or social standards, but are yet to agree on how each could diverge from these levels in the future.\n\nA good number of EU diplomats were quietly confident it was a matter of when, not if, EU access to UK fishing waters could be sorted. But it's proving trickier than they thought.\n\nSources tell me that Michel Barnier explained to EU ambassadors at the start of this week that if fishing is resolved, then a wider deal would quickly fall into place.\n\nBut there's no sign of a meeting of minds on fish, with the EU warning openly it may prove to be impossible.\n\nBut let's remember this is the most intense of negotiations and that every public proclamation from London or Brussels will be chosen to strengthening their respective hands in what are the final days and hours of talks.\n\nAlthough there is only 14 days until the deadline, Mr Gove said he believed there was enough time for the necessary legislation to pass before 31 December \"to give businesses legal certainty\".\n\nBut a number of opposition MPs raised issues already facing businesses waiting to discover the outcome of talks.\n\nOne Welsh MP, Jonathan Edwards, said: \"I was contacted late last night by a businessman in my constituency who is reliant on imports from the continent and he can't find a haulage firm willing to carriage on his behalf due to the current delays at the ports.\n\n\"He's very concerned unless this issue was resolved his business would not survive into the new year.\"\n\nMr Gove said he would get in touch with the business concerned.", "Actor Jeremy Bulloch, who played Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, has died aged 75.\n\nHe died in hospital on Thursday from health complications after living with Parkinson's disease for many years, his agent said.\n\n\"He had a long and happy career spanning more than 45 years,\" a statement said.\n\n\"He was devoted to his wife, three sons, and 10 grandchildren and they will miss him terribly.\"\n\nBulloch was best known for playing bounty hunter Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.\n\nThe character has since featured in the second season of Star Wars spin-off series, The Mandalorian.\n\nBorn in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, Bulloch's first major role was in the musical film Summer Holiday in 1963, aged 17. He starred alongside Sir Cliff Richard, who played Don, as Edwin, one of Don's friends.\n\nBulloch also appeared in James Bond film Octopussy in 1983, and the BBC TV series Doctor Who in the 1970s.\n\nStar Wars creator George Lucas said Bulloch \"brought the perfect combination of mystery and menace to his performance of Boba Fett\".\n\nHe added: \"Jeremy was a true gentleman who was very supportive of Star Wars and its fans, and I'm very grateful for his contributions to the saga and its legacy.\"\n\nMark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy, described Bulloch as the \"quintessential English gentleman\".\n\n\"A fine actor, delightful company and so kind to everyone lucky enough to meet or work with him,\" he wrote on Twitter.\n\n\"I will deeply miss him and am so grateful to have known him.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Mark Hamill This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nBilly Dee Williams, best-known as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise, wrote on Twitter: \"Today we lost the best bounty hunter in the galaxy.\"\n\nA post from the official Star Wars Twitter account said Bulloch's \"unforgettable performance\" as Boba Fett \"captivated audiences since he first appeared\".\n\n\"He will be remembered not only for his iconic portrayal of the legendary character, but also for his warmth and generous spirit which have become an enduring part of his rich legacy,\" the post said.\n\nDaniel Logan, who took over from Bulloch to play the role of Boba Fett in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, paid tribute to the actor on Instagram.\n\n\"RIP Legend I'll never forget all you've taught me. I'll love you forever,\" he wrote.\n\n\"Conventions won't be the same without you. May the force be with you always.\"\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by instadaniellogan This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe Boba Fett Fan Club, which was established in 1996, posted filmed interviews with Bullock on their website, and said he \"set the tone and stance\" in the Star Wars films, \"inspired by Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars less-is-more approach\".", "Nearly 90% of hospital beds in England are full as hospitals try to cope with the demands of Covid in addition to normal winter pressures.\n\nAmbulances queuing to offload patients, staff sickness and a lack of beds mean hospitals are \"at a really dangerous point\", say emergency doctors.\n\nThis could result in some trusts facing the decision to stop non-Covid work.\n\nRises in hospital admissions are particularly affecting areas in the south.\n\nThe percentage of NHS hospital beds which are occupied is increasing and has reached almost 89% in England for the week ending December 13.\n\nThis is the highest occupancy rate so far this year - it's still lower than the same time last year, although the extra burden of Covid is likely to make hospitals feel they are much busier.\n\nA safe level for bed occupancy is below 90% but nearly half of NHS trusts report a figure currently higher than this - the largest proportion this season.\n\nThe south and east of England are facing the most pressure on beds.\n\nAcross England, individual hospitals and trusts are coping with varying levels of pressure, and these can change daily.\n\nTrusts in and around London make up most of the busiest ranked by beds occupied - all of the top 10 are over 95%, with three running even higher at over 97%.\n\nDr Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told the BBC: \"We are at a really dangerous point which could tip into finding it incredibly difficult to manage.\"\n\nShe said the combination of staff who are tired, unwell or having to isolate, and the additional burden of Covid, was an \"awful situation\" to be in.\n\nShe added that it would be difficult to keep other work going, with pressure \"so tight\" on intensive care beds.\n\n\"We have to get a grip of the virus and do whatever it takes,\" Dr Henderson added.\n\nDr Nick Scriven, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said he suspected \"many, many trusts\" had already cancelled routine clinics or procedures to try to free up staff for the challenges of winter.\n\n\"What we do know is that the country is in the grip of one crisis and is about to embark on another in the coming weeks, and the fact we will see a festive period with families mixing strikes fear into the hearts of clinicians on the frontline,\" he said.\n\nRecent rises in numbers of people admitted to hospital with Covid are putting major pressure on other hospital work.\n\nIt also means critical care is getting busier in England, with three-quarters of of adult critical care beds occupied last week - up slightly from the previous week.\n\nHowever, this figure was higher during the week ending 22 November in the midst of the second lockdown, when it hit 76.4%.\n\nThree NHS trusts reported their critical-care beds were 100% full - Calderdale and Huddersfield, Portsmouth Hospitals University and Sandwell and West Birmingham, in the week to 13 December.\n\nDelays in ambulances transferring patients over to emergency staff when they arrive at hospital are also causing knock-on problems.\n\nOne in seven ambulances faced delays of 30 minutes doing this, affecting more than 13,000 patients. The target is to transfer patients within 15 minutes.\n\nThe highest proportion of ambulance delays occurred in University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (43%), Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (42%) and North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (41%).\n\nHowever, ambulance delays are common during winter and this number is not particularly high for this time of year.\n\nLike most front-line sectors, coronavirus has had an impact on staffing due to illness and self-isolation.\n\nBack in April, when the virus first peaked, the staff absence rate reached 6.2% - the highest on record. This means that more than one in 20 working days were lost to illness.\n\nRoughly a third of these were lost due to coronavirus.\n\nWe don't have data coinciding with the most recent surge in cases , so we can't assess how well Kent and Medway - which is very much at the epicentre of the outbreak at the moment - is dealing with staffing. But when London was the centre of the crisis, sickness rates hit as high as 7.2%.\n\nWith winter coming in, the pressures of coronavirus will add to what is already a difficult time of the year for staffing; over the past five years, January's absence rate has averaged at just under 5%.\n\nNHS Providers has pointed out that this is combined with already high staff vacancies, which stand at 85,000 in England. This is down from 110,000 in 2018.\n\nIt is also worth mentioning that - with the exception of April - coronavirus has not been the leading cause of staff absences throughout the year. Burn-out, anxiety and other mental health issues equate to one in three sick days for NHS staff in most months.", "The Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil is seeing \"unprecedented\" demand\n\nThe number of people in hospital with Covid is the highest since the pandemic began, with a top doctor saying it could get \"significantly worse\".\n\nThere are 2,231 coronavirus patients in hospitals and Wales' lead respiratory doctor said hospital pressures were \"much worse than the first wave\".\n\nIt comes as Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board said Covid patients were occupying all its intensive care beds.\n\nHywel Dda will delay routine care due to a record number of Covid inpatients.\n\nIntensive care units across Wales are treating the highest number of coronavirus patients since April.\n\nThe UK's seven most infected local authorities are all in Wales - Merthyr Tydfil tops the list with 1,128.9 cases per 100,000 people - while Bridgend, in second, has the highest Covid test positivity rate in the country with 28%.\n\nCwm Taf Morgannwg, the health board that covers Merthyr Tydfil, Pontypridd and Bridgend, has suspended some non-emergency services and is treating 500 coronavirus patients in an \"unprecedented demand\" on services.\n\nNow Hywel Dda, the health board that covers parts of west and mid Wales, will temporarily postpone routine appointments from Monday as it is \"treating the highest number of inpatients with confirmed Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic\".\n\nTwo other south Wales health boards - Aneurin Bevan in the south-east and Swansea Bay - have also suspended non-urgent care.\n\nWales has the highest infection rate of the UK nations - 530.2 cases per 100,000 people over seven days - and Dr Simon Barry, the national respiratory lead doctor in Wales, has warned the pressure on Welsh hospitals will get worse.\n\n\"It is fair to say, and this belief is reflected by my colleagues in other parts of Wales, it is exceptionally busy and much worse than it was during the first wave,\" said Dr Barry.\n\n\"The hospitals are full - they are full of general medical patients. The difference with the first wave is that both streams are busy so we basically don't have capacity in the hospitals.\"\n\nAlmost 18,000 of Wales' 117,367 Covid cases have been reported by Public Health Wales in the past seven days and patients with the virus make up 28% of all patients in hospital.\n\nMore than 3,000 people have died in Wales with Covid and Wales' R number has risen to between 0.9 and 1.2 - and Dr Barry believes that is reflected in the number of patients in hospital.\n\nWhile hospitals are filling up, Dr Barry said the impact of staff sickness and isolation was affecting the care that can be delivered, with a shortage of intensive care nurses a \"major issue\".\n\nThe intensive care unit at Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend is also full of Covid patients\n\n\"On intensive care there are a lot of nurses who are sick or are shielding,\" said the consultant chest physician from Cardiff.\n\n\"You have to have one-to-two nursing, and they can't achieve that. Similarly, if you are managing patients on respiratory wards where you have got sick people, and it is essentially a high-dependency ward, we don't have enough nurses.\n\n\"That is reflected across every hospital in Wales. That is the major issue, it is about staffing.\"\n\nCwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board has seen a 28% rise in coronavirus patients over the past week and 42% of all its patients in hospital beds have the virus.\n\nThe numbers of patients with Covid-19 in hospital beds in Wales set another record on Thursday - 2,231 across Wales - up 13% on the week before.\n\nEarlier, Cwm Taf's medical director Dr Nick Lyons said people's behaviour was going to make a bigger difference, especially around Christmas, than the new Welsh Government rules.\n\n\"When I see our hospitals under the pressure they're under, the difficulties that are going to be caused to the population we serve by the decisions made, then I think it's as much making that personal link between what our own actions make as we prepare for Christmas,\" he said.\n\n\"That's going to make the real difference and that's going to save lives.\"\n\nCase rates in the areas which make up the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board also include the two highest in Wales - Merthyr Tydfil and Bridgend.\n\nAneurin Bevan health board has the highest number of Covid patients - 43% of its 1,357 patients - while Hywel Dda is using more of its field hospitals to manage \"patient capacity and flow\" in hospitals.\n\n\"The measures we are taking are intended to protect patients with the most urgent clinical need whilst allowing us to reprioritise staff to mitigate the increasing risk of harm in acute and emergency care, due to the pressures,\" said Hywel Dda operations director Andrew Carruthers.", "Ian Hopkins had been on sick leave\n\nGreater Manchester Police's chief constable has stood down after the force was placed into special measures.\n\nThe force was put into an \"advanced phase\" of monitoring on Thursday after inspectors found it had failed to record 80,000 crimes in a year.\n\nIan Hopkins said he would step down with immediate effect.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel accused the region's mayor Andy Burnham of throwing the officer \"under the bus to save his own skin\".\n\nHer Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said it was left \"deeply troubled\" over how cases handled by GMP were closed without proper investigation.\n\nIt said about 220 crimes a day went unrecorded in the year up to June 2020.\n\nIn a letter to the chief constable and Mr Burnham last week, Ms Patel said the report \"paints a worrying picture\" and she was \"deeply concerned\".\n\nBut Mr Burnham accused her of failing to give \"a fair and balanced picture\" of GMP.\n\nVictims' Commissioner for England and Wales Dame Vera Baird told BBC Radio 4's PM programme the force's failures were \"outstandingly bad\".\n\nShe said crimes like stalking and coercive control were \"profoundly traumatising\" and victims needed \"not only the support of police to get orders restraining the perpetrator and to take them to court, but they also need to be safeguarded and referred to appropriate victim's services\".\n\nShe added that \"none of that was happening\" and vulnerable people had \"simply been deserted\".\n\nIn a statement, Mr Hopkins, who had been on sick leave, said these were \"challenging times\" for GMP and he believed a chief constable should oversee the force's \"long-term strategic plan\" to address the issues raised from \"start to finish\".\n\nMr Hopkins revealed on Wednesday he had been suffering from labyrinthitis - an inner-ear infection which affects balance - since the end of October.\n\nThe news of the chief constable standing down had barely broken when reporters phones started buzzing with a message from Home Secretary Priti Patel's party political spokesman.\n\n\"It's no surprise that the Labour mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham has thrown a senior police officer under the bus to save his own skin,\" the message said.\n\nLast week, the MP wrote a blistering letter to Mr Burnham about GMP's performance, saying she was \"deeply concerned\".\n\nHer spokesman then sent the letter to journalists saying \"this is exactly what happens when Labour are in power - people are let down by them\".\n\nIn reply, Mr Burnham pointed out Conservative government cuts had lost the force 2,000 police officers and 1,000 police staff.\n\nHe also highlighted Ms Patel's department had failed to deport three members of an infamous Rochdale grooming gang.\n\nThis political tension between populist heavyweights could possibly bring about better policing for the people of Manchester, but it seems more likely that they will lose out as the parties battle over who is responsible for the miserable performance of the force, instead of working together to improve things.\n\nMr Hopkins said given his ill health, he would bring his retirement, which he was due to take in autumn 2021, forward.\n\nHe has been chief constable of GMP since October 2015, leading a force of almost 7,000 officers.\n\n\"Throughout my career, I have been committed to achieving the best outcomes for the people I serve [and] the decision to stand down is not one I have taken lightly, but I feel the time is right,\" he said.\n\nConservative MP for Bolton West Chris Green earlier called for Mr Burnham, who oversees policing in the region, to step down over the HMICFRS findings.\n\nThe Labour mayor said while he had \"a regard\" for Mr Hopkins, \"now is the time for new leadership and a new era in our police force\".\n\n\"At the end of the day, it's public confidence in Greater Manchester Police that matters,\" he said.\n\nHe said Mr Hopkins had led the force during \"one of the most difficult periods in its history\" and had dealt with budget cuts and \"complex threats\", such as the Manchester Arena terror attack, but GMP had not made the progress needed \"in other important areas\".\n\nMr Burnham, who has responsibilities around the force's governance and budgets, said he \"did not run GMP on a day-to-day basis\" and his job was to hold it to account.\n\n\"At times, this essential task has been made too difficult by an overly defensive culture within GMP,\" he said.\n\n\"This needs to change if GMP is to develop the open learning culture that will allow the failures identified to be properly addressed.\"\n\nMr Burnham said deputy chief constable Ian Pilling would assume the operational duties of chief constable ahead of a full recruitment process.\n\nStu Berry, the chairman of Greater Manchester Police Federation, said the issues that had been reported about the force's failures \"should not - and must not - detract from the efforts of our hard working officers\".\n\nHe added that it had been \"an extremely busy, difficult and demanding year for Greater Manchester Police and our members have worked tremendously hard to keep our communities safe during this extraordinary Covid pandemic\".\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "A selection of your pictures of Scotland sent in between 11 and 18 December. Send your photos to scotlandpictures@bbc.co.uk. Please ensure you adhere to the BBC's rules regarding photographs that can be found here.\n\nPlease also ensure you follow current coronavirus guidelines and take your pictures safely and responsibly.\n\nConditions of use: If you submit an image, you do so in accordance with the BBC's terms and conditions..\n\nFirst light house: Beautiful sunrise from Aberdeen beach silhouetting the harbour’s south breakwater wall and lighthouse, thanks to David Hughes.\n\nA creel Christmas tree: \"We found this delightful, unusual Christmas tree made out of fishing equipment whilst walking a section of the Moray coastal path at Hopeman Harbour in Moray\", says Wilson Metcalfe.\n\nA grand, national view: \"My wife Mags and I were admiring great views of Arkle and Foinaven - from which Grand National winners took their names - when all of a sudden a Brocken spectre appeared\", says Stephen Wells. \"Our heads were in the middle of theses circular rainbows and our long leg shadows ran all the way back to us!\"\n\nA tree line trip: \"The dappled winter sun through the trees on an early afternoon walk through the grounds of Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire\", courtesy of Matt Donachie.\n\nSun dogs: \"Beautiful morning in Nairn\" says David Clark. \"Chester, Cooper, Parker, Walter and Arthur all decided to have a sit down and watch it after their walk along the beach.\"\n\nWhat Mor could you ask for: Buachaille Etive Mor looking spectacular, courtesy of Karolina Samerek.\n\nShip shape: \"This image is the MV Loch Shira and the MV Caledonian Isles silhouetted under Ailsa Craig, with Great Cumbrae making an appearance\", says Peter Ribbeck. \"Taken from Largs in North Ayrshire\".\n\nStreet art: \"Hope you like Buchanan Street with the low winter sun streaming up the street\", says Jim Johnston in Glasgow.\n\nA frosty reception: The snowman image welcoming entry into this garage in Spean Bridge is courtesy of Mark Reynolds.\n\nNutting to see here: \"I caught this squirrel peeking out at me in Dundee whilst out for a walk\", says Cara Rogers.\n\nJust face it: \"Do you see a man with a Van Dyke beard?\", asks Peter Crane. \"Simply a beautiful sunrise over Glenmore in Cairngorms\".\n\nLoch and quay: \"Loch Lomond, just before sunrise\", says Victor Tregubov.\n\nSwan around: Nicola Thorne captured this \"calm\" scene at Irvine beach, Ayrshire, her hometown.\n\nHeaven sent: \"Spotted this beautifully decorated stone on the footpath from Dornoch to Embo\", says Anne Maclean.\n\nBreakfast club: \"Our especially tame Robin getting its daily morning feed from our eight-year-old daughter\", says Jamie Stoddart in Port of Menteith.\n\nCold snap: \"This is Lochinver Women's Swimming Group\", says Franci Hutchison. \"We swim at the Whiteshore and have nicknamed our group the 'Blue Boobys' after an exotic looking bird with blue feet. We love the sea, wild swimming, a laugh and a good blether!\"\n\nMud bath: Caroline Eadie spotted this very Scottish scene at Pollok Country Park.\n\nSocial bubble: \"I snapped this lucky shot on my phone while my two-year-old daughter and I played in the garden in Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire\", says Rachel Smith.\n\nYou really otter have expected to see me: Richard Melvin sent us this image from Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.\n\nRear window: \"Colours on my car back windscreen as the ice melted on it\" says Bill Crookston. \"It was unexpected and really beautiful\".\n\nSailing into the sunset: \"Watching the Isle of Arran ferry with Ailsa Craig on the Firth of Clyde\", says Patricia Strong.\n\nCity lights: \"I finally completed my Christmas shopping and took this picture of Glasgow City Chambers in George Square on my way home\", says Hannah McLatchie. \"So close to Christmas that even the puddle is festive! Hope you like it and that it was worth squatting for!\"\n\nA pony for your thoughts: \"An Exmoor pony at North Berwick Law looking like he was either admiring the view or snoozing\", says Sylvia Beaumont.\n\nCatch of the day: \"I am a fisherman so get good sunsets and sunrises from the boat and at home around the harbour area where I spend most of my time\", says Rowan Davies from Dunbar, East Lothian.\n\nDecorated hero: \"The WW1 centenary 'Tommy' Maybole silhouetted against the town's Christmas tree\", says Alistair Hastings. \"Reminded me of the Christmas truce in 1914\".\n\nMe and my shadow: \"We're stuck inside with bad weather, so Caty and daddy amused themselves making shadow puppets,\" says Alison Escobar.\n\nFlight of fancy? \"Apparently this plane is flying from Chicago to Baku\", says Gemma Brown from her garden in Insch, Aberdeenshire. \"But I feel it's flying past Cassiopeia, through Perseus on its way to the moon!\"\n\nCast away: Robert Kerr sent this shot of fishing at sunset near Moscow, in Ayrshire.\n\nWhy the long face? \"We had a friendly horse come over to say hello and get some of the nice grass on our side of the fence when out walking by Countesswells woods in Aberdeen\", says Ewan Martin.\n\nGolden wonder: \"I was just heading out of the Botanic Gardens when I noticed the low sun coming down\", says Henry Memmott. \"I waited for a while in the warm sun, and was rewarded with some gorgeous golden colours and beautiful silhouettes, just before the sun disappeared completely\"\n\nSanta claws: Guinea pigs Shakira and Boba getting into the Christmas spirit in Aberdeen. Hats off to Daisy Banks for this one.\n\nPlease ensure that the photograph you send is your own and if you are submitting photographs of children, we must have written permission from a parent or guardian of every child featured (a grandparent, auntie or friend will not suffice).\n\nIn contributing to BBC News you agree to grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the material in any way, including in any media worldwide.\n\nHowever, you will still own the copyright to everything you contribute to BBC News.\n\nAt no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe the law.\n\nYou can find more information here.\n\nAll photos are subject to copyright.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Before lockdown James was working on the extravagant touring UK musical, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert\n\nJames Marsh had built a 15-year career as a sound engineer for big productions and other live events.\n\nBut when theatres closed during the UK lockdown in March, he had to rethink his plans.\n\nNow James is a \"bin man\" and said he was grateful to have a job.\n\nWhile Wales saw the highest rate of unemployment between August and October of any nation or region of the UK, many people have taken on completely new jobs to sustain their income.\n\nIn the UK, 6.1% of employed people changed their occupation in the first half of this year, compared with 5.7% in the same period last year, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.\n\nJames got a job working for Vale of Glamorgan council\n\nBefore lockdown, James, 35, from Cardiff, was working on the extravagant touring UK musical, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert.\n\nOn 16 March, the show was cancelled and James started looking for other work.\n\nAfter months of rejections, he was employed by Vale of Glamorgan council as a refuse collector in September.\n\nIt was a big change, with earlier shifts and a more physical working day.\n\n\"You're on your feet and you can do up to about 20km a day and it's hard work,\" said James.\n\nWhile James appreciates having a job while many other struggle to find work, he feels many of the skills he developed from his career are being \"wasted\".\n\nAccording to the Welsh campaign group We Make Events, about 10,000 live events could be lost before the sector recovers from Covid.\n\nAmy Buckle from Cardiff started her online store, Buckle and Boo Printhouse, from home\n\nAmy Buckle from Cardiff started her online store, Buckle and Boo Printhouse, from home.\n\nThe 38-year-old mother of two started making uplifting decorative prints two years ago to help her cope, following a number of tragedies.\n\nIn 2018, her mother died in an accident and the following year she lost her baby daughter, Hope, who was born at 21 weeks with a range of conditions.\n\n\"I noticed during this time the profound effect that words had on helping me get through,\" she said.\n\nAmy's husband, Dan, works in recruitment. During the lockdown much of his work disappeared so Amy decided to start making money from her craft.\n\n\"After a lot of chatting through with my husband we decided to take the plunge and invest in a high-end printer which would allow me to provide high class professional prints.\n\n\"So we used the lockdown to set up a business plan… I've had quite a lot of repeat business which is lovely because that gives you a bit of confidence to keep going.\"\n\nRhys Maule used his skills with plant machinery to become a digger driver\n\nRhys Maule, 25, has felt the sting of the sector shutdown as the owner of Pro LX Productions, a Cwmbran-based company which provides technical services for big events.\n\nIn October he decided to use some of the skills from his day job in a different field and became a digger driver for an agency.\n\n\"We already use plant machinery on festivals like telehandler and forklifts and things like that so it wasn't a massive jump,\" he said.\n\nRhys has been operating excavation machinery on a variety of sites, from new housing projects to archaeological digs.\n\nHe enjoyed the break from running a business full-time but said \"nothing will ever beat the adrenaline rush of a live crowd during a gig\".\n\nFor others, the lockdown served as a stepping stone towards running a business.\n\nTumi Williams now makes vegan food from his home and sells through his social media accounts\n\nFor more than 10 years, Tumi Williams has been setting up gigs in Cardiff, as well as touring festivals with his hip-hop band Afro Cluster.\n\nAs the shutdown kicked in, he found the impact on him was not just the loss of income. To find a creative outlet and make some money he turned to cooking, starting a business called Jollof House Party, cooking vegan food from his Nigerian heritage.\n\nTumi now does takeaway from home, selling through his social media accounts, and cooks at food markets and other events. He is also moving into new premises in the new year to expand his business. When lockdown ends he hopes to continue cooking and start playing live music again.\n\nTumi, whose first baby is due in the next few weeks, said: \"When the baby comes I want to be at the top of my game. I want to be the best father I can be.\n\n\"I am optimistic that I can be at a festival, running my store and then run to play a set, and then come back to work while baby and mummy are enjoying themselves in the festival.\n\n\"Next summer could be me cooking and playing gigs, which for me sounds like the life.\"", "The Duchess of Sussex has settled a legal claim against a news agency that photographed her and her son, Archie, the High Court has heard.\n\nSplash News and Picture Agency - which is in administration - has agreed not to take photos of her, Prince Harry or Archie, should it resume trading.\n\nMeghan's solicitor said the photos were taken during a \"private family outing\" in a park in Canada.\n\nThe pictures were taken in Horth Hill Regional Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, on 20 January, using a long lens, and showed Meghan walking with her two dogs, with Archie in a baby sling.\n\nThe duke and duchess had set up base in Canada at the time, after announcing their intention to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and divide their time between the UK and North America. They later relocated to Meghan's home state of California.\n\nMeghan brought privacy and data protection claims against Splash in March both in her own right and with her husband, Harry, on behalf of Archie.\n\nHowever, Splash UK went into administration on 1 July, after the claim had been issued and served.\n\nMr Justice Nicklin heard details of the settlement at a remote High Court hearing.\n\nMeghan's solicitor, Jenny Afia, said that in light of the administration the parties had agreed to settle the claim against the agency, with Splash UK agreeing not to take any photographs of the couple or their son, should it come out of administration in the future.\n\nMs Afia told the court the couple's case was that the taking of the photographs was an \"unlawful invasion of privacy\" and their subsequent syndication to the media violated their data protection rights.\n\nShe said the couple held that when the photographs were taken, Meghan and Archie were on \"a private family outing in a remote rural setting and that there was no public interest in the photographs\".\n\nMs Afia added it was the couple's case that, a day before the photographs were taken, a Splash photographer made \"a full reconnaissance inspection\" of their private home, \"walking around it looking to identify entry and exit points and putting his camera over the fence to take photographs\".\n\nNeil Allen, of the administrators of Splash UK, accepted \"all that Ms Afia has said\" on behalf of the agency.\n\nA spokesman for the parent company Splash said: \"Splash confirms that one of its former companies has agreed that, should it begin trading again, it will not take unauthorised photographs of the family of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.\"\n\nA spokesman for Schillings, Meghan and Harry's legal representatives, said the settlement was \"a clear signal that unlawful, invasive and intrusive paparazzi behaviour will not be tolerated, and that the couple takes these matters seriously - just as any family would.\"\n\nA simultaneous and similar claim against Splash US - Splash UK's American sister company - is continuing through the UK courts, the spokesman added.\n\nThe duchess is also suing Associated Newspapers, publisher of The Mail On Sunday and MailOnline, over publication of a letter the duchess wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.\n\nIn October, she was granted a postponement of the trial, which had been due to be held in January, until autumn 2021.", "Lateral flow testing will be rolled out in secondary schools and colleges from January\n\nSchool staff feel \"broken\" by last minute demands for them to run testing schemes in secondary schools in England, a head teacher has said.\n\nNicola Mason, a Staffordshire school head, said she was staggered to hear, as the term ends, that heads have to set up testing for pupils next term.\n\nIt meant staff would be working through Christmas to get ready for January.\n\nBut Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the idea was to get pupils back safely when they returned to school.\n\nA joint statement from teachers' unions and the National Governance Association, representing school governors, says schools should not feel under pressure to carry out the testing, if it is not a realistic possibility in the time available.\n\nThe advice, also signed by the Association of Colleges and the Church of England education service, says the announcement of the programme has been \"chaotic and rushed\".\n\nIt also says the plan in its current form will be inoperable for most schools and colleges, and stresses that the Department for Education guidance refers to an \"offer\" of testing rather than a requirement for schools to test.\n\nGeneral secretary of the ASCL head teachers' union Geoff Barton said the scheme was \"undeliverable\" in the timescale set out.\n\n\"It is beyond belief that they were landed on school and college leaders in such a cack-handed manner,\" he said.\n\n\"It is not possible to recruit and train all the people needed to carry out tests, and put in place the processes that would be necessary, over the Christmas period.\"\n\nNational Association of Head Teachers general secretary Paul Whiteman said the government was \"in danger of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory once again\".\n\nThe plan involves using the first week of term to test pupils as they return gradually to classrooms in a staggered way.\n\nThose in exam years, Years 11 and 13, would return first for face-to-face teaching, while the rest would be taught online.\n\nMs Mason, head teacher at Chase Terrace Academy in Burntwood, said: \"The government at the very last minute again have literally broken the teachers.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Head teacher Simon Uttley: \"The rhetoric is very much Battle of Britain, the reality I'm afraid feels a bit more like Dad's Army.\"\n\nShe said local public health teams already had plans in place to phase tests in next term which were now not valid.\n\n\"Leaders are confused at best,\" she said. \"The guidance is way too late to plan effectively, there are still a number of things we don't know.\n\n\"We found out through BBC News, we weren't even told directly that this was being put into place. Frankly I am staggered.\"\n\nAnother head teacher, Simon Uttley, of Blessed Hugh Faringdon School in Reading, said he also first heard of government plans from the BBC News app.\n\n\"The rhetoric is very much Battle of Britain, the reality, I'm afraid, feels a bit more like Dad's Army,\" he said.\n\nBut the prime minister told reporters that in terms of \"social justice\" it was important to make sure as many children as possible were in school.\n\n\"Everybody in the country agrees this is a massive priority. If you listen to the Chief Medical Officer, for the health and well-being of young people, they have to receive their education,\" said Mr Johnson.\n\nHead teacher Ms Mason said already exhausted staff now had to use the Christmas holidays to plan for remote lessons, recruit volunteers, do safe-guarding checks, and organise the logistics of the testing and gain consent from parents.\n\nParent of two Ian Ahern from Sandymoor, Cheshire, said: \"What ridiculous timing!\n\n\"My two children are in Year 11 and 8. They have just finished for Christmas.\n\n\"My wife is a teacher and finishes school today. How are parents, teachers and staff supposed to organise this?\"\n\nHe added that as a school governor, he knew how hard schools have been working to organise for the next term.\n\nAnother parent, from Altrincham, Mark Simpson, said: \"It's ridiculously last minute to announce something like this on what for many schools in England is the last day of term, it seems nonsensical.\"\n\nThe late notice for the plan to test \"millions of pupils\" meant it was not going to work, he said.\n\nMr Gibb defended the plans, saying fuller guidance would be published next week filling in any gaps.\n\nHe said: \"This is a fast-moving pandemic, we have to take action at pace.\n\n\"We do have to take swift action, we've been testing these tests in schools over the last several weeks.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHe said the programme would be a national effort supported by the Ministry of Defence and that schools would have the costs of agency staff covered - but it was not clear whether these staff would be health professionals or supply teachers.\n\n\"It is very important that we are testing 5.5 million students twice, three days apart, to make sure we are breaking the transmission of the virus after the increased mixing over the Christmas holidays,\" he said.\n\n\"It's all about making sure we have more young people in the classroom over the spring and summer term as we go forward, and this is an amazing initiative to get these tests into schools.\"\n\nThe Department for Education guidance says schools would have to provide one to two members of staff and several volunteers (for example governors) to organise and run the testing.\n\nAgency staff may be used and schools would be reimbursed, but it is not clear if this means teaching staff or health care professionals.\n\nAnd armed forces personnel are to support the scheme directly by planning with schools and colleges.", "By age 12, 90% of children use an online messaging app - despite a 13+ age requirement\n\nEncryption of online messages could make it harder to police child abuse and grooming online, the children's commissioner for England has warned.\n\nEnd-to-end encryption is a privacy feature that makes it impossible for anyone except the sender and recipient to read messages sent online.\n\nCommissioner Anne Longfield said it also prevented police from gathering evidence to prosecute child abusers.\n\nBut digital rights groups see it as an essential part of online privacy.\n\nFacebook, which is behind the most popular messaging apps children use, already offers end-to-end encryption for Whatsapp.\n\nIt has added an opt-in version to its Messenger service, with plans to make it the default for all its platforms. That could include Instagram, which does not yet have it.\n\nMs Longfield's warning came as she launched a new report looking at how children used online messaging apps.\n\nIt found the vast majority of children aged eight and over used some sort of messaging service.\n\nThat includes 60% of eight-year-olds and 90% of 12-year-olds, despite the main such apps having an age restriction of at least 13, if not older.\n\nMore than a third of children surveyed for the report said they had received a message that made them feel uncomfortable.\n\nOne in 10 talk to strangers online, and one in 20 have shared videos or photos of themselves with strangers.\n\nMs Longfield said the report \"shows how vigilant parents need to be, but also how the tech giants are failing to regulate themselves and so are failing to keep children safe\".\n\nShe is calling on the government to make the big tech firms responsible when it introduces the long-delayed Online Harms Bill, with large fines for companies that breach their \"duty of care\".\n\nShe has warned against classifying encrypted messaging as \"private communications\". Doing so could offer an exemption for the tech giants on their duty of care, she said.\n\nThat \"could be a cynical attempt on the part of some tech firms to side-step sanctions and litigation\" she warned.\n\nA spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport responded: \"Children will be at the heart of our new online harms laws with tough sanctions on social media platforms that fail to protect young people from harm.\n\n\"We are clear that firms should only implement end-to-end encryption if it can be done without preventing action against child abuse.\"\n\nEver since Mark Zuckerberg announced in March 2019 that end-to-end encryption was going to become standard across Facebook's messaging platforms, the criticism of the plan has got ever louder.\n\nMr Zuckerberg himself has admitted that the move could harm the fight against child abuse. \"You're fighting that battle with at least a hand tied behind your back,\" he told a Facebook staff meeting.\n\nNow the Children's Commissioner has joined those warning of the damaging effects of making messages too secret.\n\nBut her broadside may be aimed less at the tech firms than at the government, which she and other critics feel has dragged its heels on the issue of regulating online content.\n\nA year and a half after the publication of the Online Harms White Paper, there is still no clarity about when it will be turned into law and what sort of sanctions might be in it.\n\nThis week saw Labour's Margaret Hodge, a victim of online abuse, call for either an end to anonymity on social media or for directors of the platforms to be made liable for defamatory posts.\n\nThe critics' shopping list for measures against the tech giants is getting longer. Meanwhile, ministers must try to work out what is practicable as well as desirable.\n\nThe commissioner says that end-to-end encryption should not be applied at all to children's accounts, and that tech companies should \"retain the ability to scan for child sexual abuse material\".\n\n\"It's time for the government to show it hasn't lost its nerve and that it is prepared to stand up to the powerful internet giants, who are such a big part in our children's lives,\" she said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nDigital rights organisations, however, have long argued that encryption is essential.\n\nThe Open Rights Group accuses the government of using the Online Harms Bill to weaken security for everyone, warning that a ban on encryption \"would create a degree of surveillance and government intrusion that simply should not be tolerated in a democratic society\".\n\nThe Electronic Frontier Foundation, meanwhile, says encryption \"is one of the most powerful tools individuals have for maintaining their digital privacy and security in an increasingly insecure world\".\n\nFacebook, as the owner of three messaging apps, said that child exploitation has \"no place on our platforms\" and that it has been \"developing news ways\" to prevent and detect abuse.\n\nBut it remains in favour of encryption, with added anti-abuse features.\n\n\"End-to-end encryption is already the leading technology used by many services to keep people safe\", a spokesman said.\n\n\"Through a combination of advanced technology and user reports, WhatsApp bans around 250,000 accounts each month suspected of sharing child exploitative imagery.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The duke and duchess met students during their trip to Wales\n\nA visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Wales has been questioned by a minister who said he would \"rather no one was having unnecessary visits\" as Covid-19 cases continue to rise.\n\nPrince William and Catherine are on a UK tour to talk to care home staff, teachers, pupils and volunteers to hear their challenges during the pandemic.\n\nThe royals arrive with Covid rates in Wales among the UK's highest.\n\nWales' health minister hopes the visit is not used as an \"excuse\" for people.\n\n\"I'd rather no one was having unnecessary visits,\" said Vaughan Gething.\n\n\"But their visit isn't an excuse for people to say they're confused about what they're being asked to do.\"\n\nKensington Palace is not making an official comment but it is understood that the visit was planned in conjunction with the Welsh Government as travelling across borders is permitted for work purposes.\n\nThe Duke and Duchess swapped secret Santa gifts with students\n\nWales reported 2,000 Covid cases in a single day on Monday as Mr Gething said the Welsh NHS is under \"considerable and sustained pressure\" with \"the highest number ever recorded\" of Covid patients in Welsh hospitals.\n\nWilliam and Kate arrived in Cardiff as part of their three-day tour on Tuesday morning on board the royal train to thank community workers and frontline staff in the UK.\n\n\"People always have divisive views about the monarchy,\" Mr Gething told the BBC.\n\nThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge stop for a warm drink on a chilly morning at Cardiff Castle\n\nAsked whether William and Kate's visit should go-ahead, Wales' health minister said: \"I'm not particularly bothered or interested.\n\n\"I don't think that is going to be an excuse for people to say 'I should go and behave in a different way and I should act as if the harm that is being seen in front of us in every part of our healthcare system is not taking place'.\"\n\nThe duke and duchess boarded the royal train on Sunday for their 1,250 mile-journey which includes stops in England, Scotland and Wales.\n\nWilliam and Kate discussed their Christmas plans with people in Cardiff\n\nBut UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden welcomed William and Kate's trip to Cardiff, \"to see the impact\" that culture has on communities.\n\n\"Throughout the pandemic, organisations across the country have stepped up to support those in need and our choirs, bands, actors, film-makers, museums - and the technical crews that support them - are no different.\n\n\"Cultural and heritage organisations across the country have brought us joy and happiness online, on television and on our mobile phones by creating cultural content we can enjoy safely.\"\n\nThe duke got a Guinness coaster card game secret Santa gift while the duchess was given a Welsh love spoon\n\nAfter initially saying the Cambridges' tour was a \"matter for the palace\", No 10 said Boris Johnson welcomed the \"morale boost\" it would provide.\n\nA No 10 spokesman said: \"The PM is delighted to see the warm reception the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have received on their hugely valuable train tour of England, Scotland and Wales.\n\n\"The tour will be a welcome morale boost to frontline workers who have done so much during the pandemic.\"\n\nThe couple were joining students from Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University and the University of South Wales as they unwrapped their Secret Santa gifts to one another.\n\nThe duke and duchess talked to students in Cardiff about their experiences of studying during the Covid crisis\n\nThe duke received a Guinness coaster card game while the duchess was given a traditional Welsh love spoon. He gave a mini table football game while Kate gave a 'Prosecco pong' game.\n\nThe visit coincided with Christmas at the Castle - a festival of Christmas activities staged at the tourist attraction throughout December.\n\nWilliam and Kate browsed some of the Christmas stalls and toasted marshmallows over a fire.\n\nWilliam and Kate arrive in Cardiff as part of their three-day national UK royal tour\n\nTouching one of the sticky sweet treats with her gloved hand, Kate laughed and said: \"I'm going to have that marshmallow on my fingers all day.\"\n\nThe couple admitted they were still struggling over their plans for Christmas, telling students they did not know who to spend the festive season with.\n\n\"It is so difficult,\" William said. \"We are still trying to make plans. It's difficult to know what to do for the best.\"\n\nWilliam and Kate swap secret Santa gits as part of their visit to the Welsh capital\n\nLily Faulkner, a 21-year-old second year politics and international studies student at Cardiff University, said afterwards: \"They were trying like the rest of us to make Christmas plans with their family and still weren't 100 per cent sure of what they were going to do or where they were going to be.\"\n\nLaw student Alice Holloway was one of the first in Cardiff to talk to the royal couple.\n\n\"One of the main things we talked about was the impact of the pandemic on student mental health,\" said the 20-year-old in her third year at Cardiff University.\n\n\"I told them the social isolation students are facing is causing a lot of wellbeing issues at the moment. They were genuinely interested which was lovely to see.\"\n\nAs part of their tour, the royal couple later visited the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading to pay tribute to the work of its nurses.", "Top row (left to right): Alison Howe, Martyn Hett, Lisa Lees, Courtney Boyle, Eilidh MacLeod, Elaine McIver, Georgina Callander, Jane Tweddle - Middle row (left to right): John Atkinson, Kelly Brewster, Liam Curry, Chloe Rutherford, Marcin Klis, Angelika Klis, Megan Hurley, Michelle Kiss - Bottom row (left to right): Nell Jones, Olivia Campbell-Hardy, Philip Tron, Saffie-Rose Roussos, Sorrell Leczkowski, Wendy Fawell\n\nThe brother of the Manchester Arena bomber has admitted his involvement in planning the attack for the first time.\n\nHashem Abedi, 23, was jailed for murdering the 22 people who were killed in the bombing at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.\n\nDuring his trial, he denied helping his brother Salman, 22, plan the attack that also left hundreds more injured.\n\nBut a public inquiry into the bombing heard Hashem Abedi had made the admission in prison in October.\n\nDuring an interview with inquiry lawyers, he admitted he had \"played a full part and a knowing part in the planning and preparation for the arena attack\", in which his brother also died, the inquiry heard.\n\nFigen Murray, whose son Martyn, 29, was killed in the bombing, said \"it would have been more bearable for all of us if he told the truth\" during the trial.\n\n\"We wanted to put that chapter behind us but focus our energies on the inquiry, which continues to be a gruelling and long process,\" she added.\n\nAbedi's admission was confirmed to the inquiry by Det Ch Supt Simon Barraclough, from Greater Manchester Police, who was the senior investigating officer on the case.\n\nPaul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, said to him: \"You are aware, on 22 October this year, in prison serving his sentence, Hashem Abedi was interviewed by members of the inquiry legal team?\"\n\nMr Barraclough told the inquiry he knew of the admission during the interview and agreed it was a \"fair summary\" to say 23-year-old Abedi admitted he had played \"a full part and a knowing part\".\n\nThe detective added that there was \"no doubt in my mind\" that the prosecution of Abedi was \"entirely well founded\".\n\nMr Greaney said: \"So the point you are making is that it didn't need him to tell you that you had got it right?\"\n\nMr Barraclough responded: \"I think we had got there with the trial.\"\n\nNo further details of the prison interview were provided.\n\nThe court heard how the brothers spent months ordering, stockpiling and transporting the materials required for the attack.\n\nThey joined their parents in Libya the month before the blast, but Salman Abedi returned to the UK on 18 May.\n\nHe bought the final components needed for the bomb before carrying out the attack as fans left the arena on the evening of 22 May 2017.\n\nSalman Abedi in the foyer of the Manchester Arena, seconds before he blew himself up\n\nAbedi was arrested shortly afterwards and extradited to Britain.\n\nHe did not give evidence during his trial, providing only a statement in which he denied 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and plotting to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.\n\nAbedi originally claimed he did not hold extremist views and had been \"shocked\" by what his brother had done.\n\n\"Had I any idea of it I would have reported it to my mother initially and then to other family members to prevent it from happening,\" he said in his statement.\n\nBut Abedi, formerly of Fallowfield, Manchester, was convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey and jailed for life in August with a minimum term of 55 years.\n\nTwenty-two people were killed and hundreds more injured in the explosion\n\nA forensic link to Ismail Abedi, the elder brother of Salman and Hashem Abedi, was found in a car that was used to store explosives prior to the attack, the inquiry also heard.\n\nThe Nissan Micra was bought by Salman and Hashem Abedi about 40 hours before they flew to Libya with their parents in April 2017.\n\nWhen Salman Abedi arrived back in the UK on 18 May 2017, he went straight to the car and returned the following morning to collect explosives from the vehicle, the inquiry heard.\n\nIt was previously revealed that Ramadan Abedi, father of Salman and Hashem Abedi, is wanted for questioning after his fingerprints were found inside the Micra.\n\nDuring evidence by Mr Barraclough, the link to Ismail Abedi emerged.\n\nMr Barraclough agreed when questioned by Nicholas de la Poer QC, counsel to the inquiry, that \"the fingerprints and/or DNA of Ismail Abedi and Ramadan Abedi, brother and father respectively, [had been] discovered\".\n\nThe BBC recently sought to question Ismail Abedi about his refusal to assist the inquiry, which has heard he is citing a claimed privilege against self-incrimination.\n\nThe Manchester Arena inquiry, which is being chaired by Sir John Saunders, started in September and is expected to last until the spring.\n\nIt aims to explore the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the attack and whether it could have been prevented.\n\nThe inquiry is being held at Manchester Magistrates' Court, less than a mile away from where the bombing happened.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "A mass vaccination programme against Covid-19 is set to begin in the UK on Tuesday. While the government is working to ease the fears of those who are worried about safety, some people have a more primal fear - needles.\n\n\"My heart would be racing. My mind saying, 'calm down, it's going to be fine' but also, 'it's terrifying, it's going to really hurt you'. Then 'you don't know this person, so you can't trust them'. I would be thinking of ways to get away from it.\"\n\nRaelene Goody, 31, who has cystic fibrosis, an inherited condition that causes lung infections and problems digesting food, regularly requires injections, including an annual flu jab.\n\nBut from the age of four to her late teens, she suffered from severe needle phobia that would leave her \"shaking\" and often meant she had to be sedated.\n\n\"It's like when you are really scared of something like spiders and snakes and you want to run away. It's a similar feeling, except it is a needle,\" she says. \"Apparently I punched my dad in the face once, but I was so petrified I can't remember it.\"\n\nRaelene's severe phobia of injections, known as trypanophobia, in her younger years is not uncommon. Some others have a more general fear of needles, known as belonephobia. Studies show such a fear is highest in children and decreases with age. Nevertheless, it affects up to 10% of the overall population, according to charity Anxiety UK.\n\nDespite her phobia, Raelene, from West Sussex, was still able to go through with her flu vaccination each year, although it could sometimes take hours to administer the jab.\n• None 80%(approx) of adults with needle phobia reported first-degree relative exhibits same fear Source: Fear of injections in young adults by Nir, Paz, Sabo & Potasman; Predisposition to vasovagal syncope in subjects with blood/injury phobia by Accurso et al\n\n\"I had to have it. If you don't have the flu jab and you get the flu it would be worse than getting a chest infection [which reduces lung function in people with cystic fibrosis],\" she says. \"You could actually die.\"\n\nShe has been prioritised for the Covid-19 vaccination, as a clinically extremely vulnerable person, for similar reasons.\n\nAnd she says there were ways she was able to get through her flu jabs at the height of her phobia. A friendly nurse would visit her at home and her parents would be present for reassurance.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nImmunisations with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, approved by the British medicines regulator, the MHRA, are due to start this week in the UK for people in some high-priority groups. People will be vaccinated via injection twice - 21 days apart - and full immunity starts seven days after the second dose.\n\nAs it stands, there is no alternative to the needle. All Covid-19 vaccines have to be given via injection. Could it mean some people might choose to opt out of the vaccine because of their fear of needles?\n\nThe Department of Health has not released any specific guidance around needle phobia and the coronavirus vaccine.\n\nPeople with concerns around vaccinations should contact their local healthcare provider, according to NHS England, which is expected to release vaccine guidance in the coming days.\n\nProf Heidi Larson, who runs the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says needle anxiety and phobia are an issue for some people around vaccination \"in general\", and \"may be the case for the Covid-19\" vaccine as well.\n\nBut it's not expected to be \"the dominant cause of hesitancy\". Surveys and social media monitoring suggest there are a mix of reasons for people's concern, she adds, such as worries about the speed it was developed.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will the new Pfizer vaccine work?\n\nSo what can you do if you have a needle phobia?\n\nMethods of coping with needle phobia can vary from person to person, with treatments including cognitive behavioural therapy, and clinical hypnotherapy.\n\nThere are also self-help methods. Anxiety UK advises self-administered behavioural exposure - a technique where individuals expose themselves to the situation they are phobic about in a gradual manner.\n\nThere are three steps in the process:\n\nGuy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London also recommends trying applied tension, a technique to increase blood pressure levels back to normal to avoid fainting.\n\nRaelene has overcome her needle phobia, although she still has some lingering anxiety about having IV lines after a traumatic experience having one inserted. It's problematic, she says, because people with cystic fibrosis \"deal with having needles all the time for blood tests, IVs, CT scans\".\n\n\"It's something that happens to you a lot, so people will think you just deal with it but it's not as simple as that,\" she says. \"People have had traumatic experiences, and there's trauma there that will freak them out.\"\n\nReflecting on her fears, she says there will likely be people with needle phobia who are too scared to get the coronavirus vaccine.\n\nBut she says \"there will also be some that will feel the same way, but are also terrified of getting coronavirus. \"Knowing that can kill you, people will be terrified - but able to fight through it.\"\n\nInformation and advice: You can find more information on how to get help for phobias here.", "Last updated on .From the section Cricket\n\nTwo members of England's touring party who gave \"unconfirmed positive\" coronavirus tests will be able to return to the UK from South Africa after further testing and analysis showed they are not infected.\n\nThe cases in the England camp were announced on Sunday before the tour was abandoned a day later.\n\nBut England say the duo have been given the all-clear by \"independent virologists in Cape Town and London\".\n\nHad the pair not been cleared they would have had to remain in South Africa until 15 December.\n\nInstead, they are no longer isolating at the team's hotel in Cape Town and are free to rejoin the rest of the touring party before their departure.\n\nRelief at the end of a troubled tour\n\nThe news of the negative tests provides relief for England at the end of a difficult tour.\n\nAll three Twenty20 matches were played as planned, with England winning the series 3-0, but Friday's first one-day international was postponed when it emerged an unnamed South Africa player had returned a positive test.\n\nSunday's game was called off after two hotel staff tested positive and later that day, England announced two members of their touring party had given positive tests.\n\nEngland's medical team saw anomalies in the test results prior to the independent ratification process.\n\nThe pair returned negative results in a rapid test, before receiving the same result on Tuesday in a more sophisticated PCR test.\n\nOriginally a decision on finishing the series was due to be taken after the ratification process but it was called off on Monday to \"ensure the mental and physical health and welfare of players\".\n\nThe party will not have to isolate on their return to the UK - as per government exemptions for those playing elite sport - although players travelling to the Big Bash will have to quarantine for 14 days on arrival in Australia.\n• None The Amazon founder has strong beliefs and big plans\n• None Listen along to a playlist of the greatest Christmas No.1's", "Japanese carmaker Honda has warned that production at its Swindon plant will be disrupted, after transport problems caused a shortage of parts.\n\nThe plant operates on a \"just in time\" production system, where parts arrive at the factory when they are needed.\n\nHonda has told employees that it is currently experiencing vessel delays and congestion at UK ports.\n\nIt will pause production on Wednesday \"due to transport-related parts delay\", the car giant said.\n\n\"The situation is currently being monitored with a view to restart production as soon as possible,\" Honda said.\n\nIt is looking at other arrangements such as air freight.\n\nCongestion at UK container ports has been building up in recent weeks, causing problems initially at Felixstowe, but recently at Southampton and London Gateway as well.\n\nThe backlog has built up as companies increased orders after the initial pandemic lockdown, while some have looked to stockpile goods before the end of the Brexit transition period.\n\nProblems at the UK's container ports have been building up for weeks. Businesses have been complaining about consignments being delayed, or even ending up on the wrong side of the channel. Now a major manufacturer has admitted production will be disrupted.\n\nSo what's gone wrong? Issues at Felixstowe, Britain's biggest container port have been evident for some time - blamed by hauliers on a vehicle booking system that they claimed simply didn't work, preventing them getting into the port.\n\nThe Covid outbreak has also caused problems - which were exacerbated when thousands of containers of PPE imported on behalf of the government were simply left within the port for weeks, adding to the gridlock. And after the lockdown in the first half of the year, the volume of goods being imported has been much higher than normal.\n\nCongestion at Felixstowe has pushed more container traffic to Southampton and London Gateway - and now the situation in both of those ports is also reportedly getting worse.\n\nHonda is looking at air freight to ease its supply problems. The chances are other businesses may have to do the same.\n\nCongestion at England's ports is now so bad that some shipping firms have limited the amount of cargo they will bring to the UK.\n\nConsignments have reportedly been offloaded at continental ports such as Antwerp, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge.\n\nIn a statement, Honda said: \"Honda of the UK Manufacturing has confirmed to employees that production will not run on Wednesday 9 December due to transport-related parts delays.\"", "Laura Nuttall was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2018\n\n\"I'm still getting out there and I'm trying to live my life, despite Covid.\"\n\nTwo years ago, when Laura Nuttall was 18, she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.\n\nShe has had surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and is now undergoing immunotherapy treatment in Germany.\n\nLaura's immunocompromised, which means her immune system is weak and might be unable to fight infections and other diseases.\n\n\"I obviously take precautions, maybe more seriously than others, the 20-year-old student tells Newsbeat.\n\n\"It's nerve wracking\", her mum Nicola says.\n\n\"I am very conscious that if Laura was to get Covid, I have no idea how badly it might hit her.\"\n\nMum Nicola and daughter Laura disagree about when she should get the Covid-19 vaccine\n\nLaura says she feels like she's \"doing fine\" and wants others, particularly older people, to get the Covid-19 vaccine before she does.\n\n\"I feel like there are people that deserve the vaccine, before I get it.\"\n\n\"I would feel a lot happier, knowing that she'd had the vaccine and was protected,\" she says.\n\nWhen Laura was diagnosed, doctors gave her 12 to 18 months to live.\n\nNicola says having a vaccine sooner would give Laura a bit more freedom, flexibility and more confidence.\n\n\"I don't want her to stop living her life and stop socialising - I don't want her to have to stay in.\n\n\"I think it's so important to know that she's had the vaccine early and we're not going to have to wait, it could be the best part of half a year before she gets a turn.\"\n\nAt the moment, they don't know when Laura will get the vaccine, as she may fourth or sixth on the list of priorities.\n\n\"It's the worst thing you can ever imagine being told, that your daughter has a terminal diagnosis,\" Nicola says.\n\n\"It's been hugely traumatic to see Laura go through surgery and radiotherapy, to lose her hair, and have to go through chemotherapy every month for 12 months.\"\n\nAlthough she says it's been tough, Laura has always been very positive.\n\n\"There's no rollercoaster ride like this one, it's horrific.\n\n\"But there have been highs, like the things we've done.\"\n\nLaura and her mum Nicola have been on loads of adventures - and even attended a film premiere\n\nThe family decided to start a bucket list of things to do in 2019.\n\n\"I took a gap year - a kind of an enforced gap year - and I did wonderful things,\" Laura says.\n\nShe travelled - going on safari in South Africa and taking trips to Amsterdam and New York.\n\nShe monster trucks, drove buses, spent a day with the police, went to football matches, watched beans being made in the Heinz factory and went fishing with Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse.\n\nLaura Nuttall went fishing with Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse\n\nShe even got to meet Michelle Obama.\n\n\"I was kind of doing those just to make a statement that my life would not be limited by having cancer.\n\n\"I'm really glad that we managed to get out and do all the crazy stuff that we did.\n\n\"Having those memories to look back gives me a boost when I feel low during Covid.\"\n\nNow Laura is in her second year at Manchester University studying politics, philosophy and economics.\n\nUntil she gets the vaccine she says she's \"being sensible\" but continuing to live her life.\n\nLaura had loads of adventures in 2019, including going on a monster truck\n\nLooking back at 2019, Nicola and Laura say they feel thankful they did it all before the pandemic, as they don't know whether they'll have the time or opportunity to continue their family adventures.\n\n\"We have made good use of the time we had and I'm really glad it happened last year when we were able to do so many things that we couldn't do this year,\" Nicola says.\n\n\"None of us know how long we've got really.\"\n\nListen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.", "Ella Kissi-Debrah lived 25 metres from the South Circular Road in south-east London\n\nThe mother of a nine-year-old girl who died following an asthma attack says she \"would have moved\" if she had known how dangerous local air pollution was.\n\nElla Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, died in 2013.\n\nA 2018 report found unlawful levels of pollution likely contributed to a fatal asthma attack.\n\nAt a new inquest into Ella's death Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah said her daughter was \"the centre of our world\".\n\nMs Kissi-Debrah said \"moving would have been the first thing\" the family would have done if they had known the risks air pollution posed to Ella.\n\nShe told the inquest she knew about car fumes but had never heard of nitrogen oxides (NOx) - one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution.As they did not know of the risks posed by air pollution Ms Kissi-Debrah said she never spoke to doctors about moving.\n\nMs Kissi-Debrah branded air pollution \"a public health emergency\", and called for more education about its dangers.\n\nElla was classified as disabled due to her respiratory problems\n\nElla was first taken to hospital in 2010 after a coughing fit and subsequently admitted to hospital 27 times.\n\nMs Kissi-Debrah said that by the summer of 2012, Ella was classified as disabled. She often had to carry Ella by piggyback to get her around.\n\nElla was seen by consultants at six different hospitals in the years before her death.\n\nOn the day before Ella died Ms Kissi-Debrah described her daughter \"screaming\" as she left her with paramedics.\n\n\"When I saw her in the ambulance I knew she was going to have a seizure, she was so bad,\" Ms Kissi-Debrah said.\n\nDescribing the efforts of doctors to resuscitate Ella on the night of her death, she said: \"They tried and they tried and they tried.\"\n\nRosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah said she did not know how dangerous local levels of pollution were before her daughter's death\n\nAn inquest in 2014, which focused on Ella's medical care, concluded her death was caused by acute respiratory failure and severe asthma.But a 2018 report said it was likely unlawful levels of pollution, which were detected at a monitoring station one mile from Ella's home, contributed to her fatal asthma attack.\n\nElla may become the first person in the UK for whom air pollution is listed as the cause of death.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Much of Venice was left under water on Tuesday, as unexpectedly severe weather caused flooding in the city.\n\nA new system of 78 flood gates, known as Mose, guard the entrance to the Venetian lagoon and were designed to protect the city from tides of up to 3 metres (10 ft), however, they require 48 hours notice to be activated.", "Michael Gove and Maroš Šefčovič have been leading negotiations on implementing the withdrawal agreement\n\nThe UK and EU have reached agreement on how rules in the Brexit divorce deal will be implemented, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland.\n\nThe government says an \"agreement in principle\" has been found for issues including border control posts and the supply of medicines.\n\nDetails of the agreement have not been published but are expected to be rubber stamped in the coming days.\n\nSeparate negotiations to reach a post-Brexit trade deal are still ongoing.\n\nThe UK left the EU in January but has continued to follow the same rules and regulations during what is known as the transition period.\n\nThe new border arrangements will apply regardless of whether the two sides agree a deal to govern their trading relationship after the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December.\n\nThe UK government also agreed to withdraw controversial clauses from its Internal Market Bill, which is currently going through parliament.\n\nMinisters had threatened to use the bill to introduce powers which could override parts of the Brexit divorce deal it signed last year - the withdrawal agreement, potentially breaking international law.\n\nIt said it wanted a \"safety net\" to prevent a \"border down the Irish Sea\" in case talks with the EU broke down.\n\nThe threat had risked jeopardising the separate negotiations over a UK-EU trade deal, which are heading into a crucial stage, but the UK has now dropped plans to put the powers into law.\n\nThe agreement follows talks in Brussels between Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove and EU commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, which have taken place alongside the negotiations over a new trade agreement.\n\nSpeaking after the announcement, Mr Gove said he was \"delighted\" and thanked the EU team for their \"constructive and pragmatic approach\".\n\nMr Gove told reporters: \"We've agreed stability and security for Northern Ireland\", adding: \"We will be able to ensure unfettered access for goods which come from Northern Ireland to the UK\" and \"given certainty to businesses in Northern Ireland\".\n\nHe said there \"will be some necessary checks on food and products of animal origin as they go into Northern Ireland\" but added these are checks that reflect the fact that the island of Ireland has always been treated as a single zone for animal health.\n\nMr Gove added \"there will be a small number of precautionary checks on food products when they go into Northern Ireland\" but emphasised they would be \"as light touch as possible\".\n\nHe said businesses in Northern Ireland would have the access to the \"best of both worlds\" access to the single market without infrastructure and at the same time \"unfettered access to the rest of the UK market\".\n\nMr Šefčovič said the agreement had removed \"one big obstacle\" from the trade talks, and would create \"positive momentum\" for the negotiators.\n\nSpeaking to reporters in Brussels, he added that the negotiating teams are \"still very far apart, and we are not hiding this from anyone\".\n\nWelcoming the news, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney told RTE News the new border deal was a \"very important positive for the island of Ireland\".\n\n\"It's hopefully a signal that the British government is in a deal-making mood and we can carry some momentum from this,\" he added.\n\nNorthern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster said her Democrat Unionist Party would await details of the new agreement before passing judgement.\n\nShe added it was important any new arrangements ensure Northern Irish businesses can trade freely with firms in Great Britain.\n\nThe pledge from UK ministers to remove the powers comes just one day after they ordered Conservative MPs to reinstate them to the bill on Monday. They had been removed from the bill by the House of Lords.\n\nBut not on those three sticking points we've heard so much about in the last few days: fishing rights, competition rules and enforcing any agreement.\n\nYou may remember all of the rows over the last few years about the border on the island of Ireland: how do you keep it open, with Northern Ireland outside of the European Union, and the Republic within it?\n\nThat is what this is about: working out mutually acceptable rules that will keep Northern Ireland more closely aligned to the EU than the rest of the UK.\n\nWhat has happened today is a necessary, but far from sufficient, step as the two sides attempt to reach a free trade deal.\n\nBut one thing it unquestionably does is improve relations between the two sides - with the UK no longer threatening to breach the last deal it did with Brussels, the withdrawal agreement, at just the point it's trying to sort out the next one.\n\nThe Brexit withdrawal agreement - or divorce deal - sets out the details of the UK's exit from the EU, which took place earlier this year.\n\nNorthern Ireland is the only land border between the UK and the EU.\n\nUnder an arrangement known as the Northern Ireland protocol - which is part of the withdrawal agreement - from January, goods will not need to be checked along the Irish border and the region will continue to enforce the EU's customs product standards rules.\n\nThis means, in order to comply with EU requirements, some checks will be needed on certain goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).\n\nIn September, the EU expressed anger when the UK government published its Internal Market Bill, which would have enabled ministers to ignore some of the Northern Ireland protocol requirements.\n\nFor example, it would have allowed ministers to override sections of the Brexit divorce deal specifying that companies moving goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain would have to fill out export declaration forms.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nEfforts to reach a UK-EU trade deal remain stalled over disagreements on fishing rights, business competition rules and how any deal would be enforced.\n\nBoris Johnson - who is due to travel to Brussels on Wednesday in a bid to break the deadlock - has described the situation as \"very tricky\" but added that \"hope springs eternal\".", "The Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine must be stored at a temperature of -70C\n\nUS regulators have confirmed the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine is 95% effective, paving the way for it to be approved for emergency use.\n\nThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found no safety concerns to stop approval of the vaccine.\n\nIt is the first time this level of detail for the jab, which the UK has already started using for mass vaccination, has been published.\n\nThe FDA will meet on Thursday to make a formal decision.\n\nThe agency is yet to approve the vaccine, but has published a document stating the trial data was \"consistent\" with the recommendations set out in its emergency use guidance.\n\nThe UK's regulatory body, the MHRA, approved the vaccine last week.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Fauci: 'We need to be transparent and articulate on the vaccine'\n\nBoth countries have had advanced rolling access to the information on the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.\n\nLast week Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, apologised for remarks that seemed to criticise the UK's vaccine approval process.\n\nHe told the BBC then that the US process was \"one that takes more time than it takes in the UK. And that's just the reality. I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way.\"\n\nEven at the time of his original remarks, he had said the US was only \"a couple of days\" behind.\n\nThe in depth material, published by the FDA, shows the vaccine is 95% effective against Covid-19, in keeping with the headlines published by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.\n\nAlthough two doses are needed to offer full protection, the first jab prevented 89% of the most severe cases.\n\nAnd the vaccine gave similar levels of protection to people who had already had a Covid infection.\n\nThe document, published ahead of the FDA's meeting on Thursday, stated the most common side effect experienced by people who received the vaccine was pain, redness or swelling at the injection site (generally the arm).\n\nThat was followed by short-term fatigue, headache and muscle-pain.\n\nBut beyond these mild effects, there was no notable difference in health conditions between the vaccinated and control groups during the study period.\n\nPregnant women and under-16s were not included in those studied, and so the vaccine will not yet be approved for these groups.\n\nUK and US regulators have slightly different approval procedures for new vaccines.\n\nBoth complete an internal assessment and consult an advisory board, but the FDA also looks at raw figures as well as trial write ups.\n\nUsing these raw figures it has come to more or less the same conclusion as the pharmaceutical company.\n\nIf the vaccine is authorised in the US, it will continue to be monitored for safety.\n• None Pfizer- One of the world's premier biopharmaceutical companies The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Elisa Granato was one of the volunteers given the Oxford vaccine\n\nThe Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is safe and effective, giving good protection, researchers have confirmed in The Lancet journal.\n\nMost in the study were younger than 55, but the results so far indicate it does work well in older people too.\n\nThe data also suggest it can reduce spread of Covid, as well as protect against illness and death.\n\nThe paper, assessed by independent scientists, sets out full results from advanced trials of over 20,000 people.\n\nRegulators, who will have seen the same data, are considering the jab for emergency use.\n\nBut there are still important questions about what dose to give, as well as who it will protect.\n\nWhen the interim trial results were made public in a press release about a fortnight ago, the researchers reported three efficacy levels for the vaccine - an overall effectiveness of 70%, a lower one of 62% and a high of 90%.\n\nThat's because different doses of the vaccine were used in one part of the trial. Some volunteers were given shots that were half the strength than originally planned.\n\nYet that \"wrong\" dose turned out to be a winner - giving 90% protection - while two standard doses gave 62%.\n\nThe Lancet report reveals 1,367 people - out of many thousands in the trial - received the half dose followed by a full dose, which gave them 90% protection against getting ill with Covid-19.\n\nThe relatively small numbers in this group mean it is hard to draw firm conclusions.\n\nNone of that group were over the age of 55 though - and experts know it is older people who are most at risk of severe Covid illness.\n\nIn terms of safety, there was one severe adverse event potentially related to the vaccine and another one - a high temperature - that is still being investigated.\n\nBoth these participants are recovering and are still in the trial.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe study also measured protection against asymptomatic infection by asking volunteers to do regular swabs to check if they had Covid without feeling unwell.\n\nMore of these cases were seen in the group that did not receive the vaccine.\n\nPascal Soriot, chief executive officer for AstraZeneca said: \"The results show that the vaccine is effective against Covid-19, with in particular no severe infections and no hospitalisations in the vaccine group, as well as safe and well tolerated.\n\n\"We have begun submitting data to regulatory authorities around the world for early approval and our global supply chains are up and running, ready to quickly begin delivering hundreds of millions of doses on a global scale at no profit.\"\n\nDr Charlie Weller, head of vaccines at Wellcome, said: \"Today marks another key milestone in the Covid-19 vaccine journey.\n\n\"Although we await the trial completion and full data, it is highly encouraging to see the data behind the interim results announced last month, including an analysis of the different dosing regimens. This suggests that this vaccine could prevent asymptomatic disease.\"\n\nBut some experts said the data could present regulators with a dilemma, with a relatively small cohort in the trial - which didn't contain any over-55s - getting a half-dose, which produced the best results.\n\nDr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health, from the University of Southampton, said the researchers \"were not yet able to fully assess how effective this vaccine is in elderly populations\" and this could have implications for the roll-out in older age groups.\n\nAstraZeneca executive vice-president Sir Mene Pangalos said adults of all ages needed to be vaccinated to make a \"dent\" in the pandemic.\n\n\"I realise the people that are most severely impacted by disease are the over-65s, over-75s, over-85s, but the reality is we need to actually have vaccines that immunise everyone from adolescence to the oldest adults to really dent the pandemic around the world,\" he said.\n\nMeanwhile, the UK has started a mass vaccination campaign with another Covid jab made by Pfizer/BioNTech.\n\nOn Tuesday Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother, became the first person in the world to get the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme..\n\nThe Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine could also play a major role in fighting the pandemic if it is approved soon.\n\nIt is cheaper than some of the other Covid vaccines and easier to store and distribute.\n\nThe UK government has pre-ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, which uses a harmless virus altered to look a lot more like the virus that causes Covid-19.\n\nAstraZeneca says it will make three billion doses for the world next year.", "Sue Hodge says people should not be put off sea swimming but wants them to know the risks\n\nA woman who lost her short-term memory after swimming in the sea last month has said people should not be put off.\n\nSue Hodge, 66, has no memory of going in the sea or even driving to Newquay in Cornwall for a swim on 18 November.\n\nHer friend noticed she appeared \"vacant\" and confused after the short swim and called an ambulance to take her to hospital.\n\nHer next memory was seven hours later and medics told her the cold water had triggered transient global amnesia.\n\nSea swimming has become increasingly popular during 2020 while indoor pools have largely remained closed.\n\nA woman-only sea swimming group in Newquay had 25 members at the start of the year, and now has more than 2,000.\n\nSea swimming is known to have significant mental and physical health benefits\n\nMrs Hodge said: \"We went swimming at about 16:00, and the next thing I remember is waking up in A&E at 23:00. The nurse told me I'd had an amnesic episode.\n\n\"My long-term memory was fine but I couldn't remember anything about what had happened. I couldn't remember even coming into Newquay for the swim, all of that was just obliterated, gone.\n\n\"The consultant who spoke to me said this can be caused through cold water, and so it must have been that which triggered it.\"\n\nSue Semley called an ambulance after becoming concerned for her friend\n\nShe said she would be avoiding the sea for now \"because I would like for it not to happen again\" but said that others \"should still do it, because it is really good fun and the after-effects are great\".\n\nMrs Hodge was swimming with her friend Sue Semley, who said: \"She was just staring. I called her name and she was just staring and she didn't know where she was, and became increasingly agitated.\"\n\nMrs Semley and other swimmers in the group said they had never seen anybody react in this way to cold water previously.\n\nExplaining what she enjoyed about swimming in the sea, Mrs Semley said: \"I just love the way it makes you feel. The cold water makes you feel incredible and really sets you up for the day.\"\n\nSwimmers are advised to make sure they can warm up quickly after getting out of the sea\n\nProfessor Mike Tipton, from the Extreme Environments Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth, said: \"There's an enormous number of people now doing it (sea swimming).\n\n\"We are not trying to stop people because exercising is really important, but we must do it safely.\n\n\"We should realise that we are a tropical animal and want to be in 28 degree air and going into 10 degree water is probably the biggest stress you can pose on the body.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by HM Coastguard This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Last updated on .From the section European Football\n\nParis St-Germain's Champions League game against Istanbul Basaksehir will resume on Wednesday after it was abandoned on Tuesday with a match official accused of using a racist term towards one of the away side's backroom staff.\n\nIstanbul allege fourth official Sebastian Coltescu used the language towards their assistant coach Pierre Webo.\n\nFormer Cameroon international Webo was shown a red card in an exchange on the touchline.\n\nIstanbul players walked off the pitch in protest, with PSG players following.\n\nThe incident happened just 14 minutes into the Group H tie, which was still goalless.\n\nThe match will recommence on Wednesday from the 14th minute. Kick-off will be at 17:55 GMT.\n\nA new set of officials will be in charge, with Dutchman Danny Makkelie appointed referee.\n\nCompatriot Mario Diks and Marcin Boniek of Poland are the assistant referees with another Pole, Bartosch Frankowsky, named fourth official.\n\nPSG are already through to the last 16 after Manchester United's defeat by RB Leipzig.\n\nIn a statement, Uefa said: \"Uefa has - after discussion with both clubs - decided on an exceptional basis to have the remaining minutes of the match played tomorrow with a new team of match officials.\n\n\"A thorough investigation on the incident that took place will be opened immediately.\"\n\nIstanbul forward Demba Ba, who was a substitute, could be seen on the touchline asking the official: \"Why, when you mention a black guy, do you have to say this black guy?\"\n\nTV footage also showed PSG defender Presnel Kimpembe saying: \"Is he serious? We are heading in. We're heading in. That's it, we're heading in.\"\n\nThere followed a wait of around two hours before official confirmation the game would not be finished on Tuesday. During that period, PSG players could be seen warming up in the tunnel awaiting a resumption, but their opponents did not re-emerge.\n\nPSG forward Kylian Mbappe later tweeted : \"Say no to racism. Webo we are with you.\"\n\nRecep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, said he believed Uefa would \"take the necessary steps\".\n\n\"We are unconditionally against racism and discrimination in sports and in all areas of life,\" he wrote on Twitter.", "Food and drink supplies in the UK face more disruption after the end of the Brexit transition period than they did from Covid, the industry has said.\n\n\"There are 14 [working] days to go,\" the Food and Drink Federation's (FDF) chief executive, Ian Wright, told MPs.\n\n\"How on earth can traders prepare in this environment?\" he added.\n\nNoting that rules for sending goods from Welsh ports to Northern Ireland had only just been published, he said: \"It's too late, baby.\"\n\nUncertainty over a deal and new border checks would make it difficult to guarantee the movement of food through ports without delays, he said.\n\nMr Wright was giving evidence to the Commons business committee on Brexit preparedness.\n\nHe said there was a big concern that the problems would \"erode the confidence of shoppers in the supply chain\", adding: \"It has done very well over Covid and shoppers will expect the same thing over Brexit, and they may not see it.\"\n\n\"We can't be absolutely certain about the movement of food from the EU to the UK from 1 January for two reasons,\" Mr Wright said.\n\n\"One is checks at the border. The other is tariffs, and the problem with tariffs is, we don't know what they will be.\"\n\nMr Wright added: \"With just 14 working days to go, we have no clue what's going to happen in terms of whether we do or don't face tariffs.\n\n\"And that isn't just a big imposition. It's a binary choice as to whether you do business in most cases. My members will not know whether they're exporting their products after 1 January, or whether they'll be able to afford to import them and charge the price that the tariff will dictate.\"\n\nMr Wright warned that while he expected Kent and Operation Brock to work \"reasonably well\", he was less confident about ports such as Holyhead, with goods heading to Northern Ireland.\n\nHe called the Northern Ireland protocol a \"complete shambles\", adding: \"The idea that you can prepare for something as big as the change that's going to happen is ridiculous, it's a massive toll.\"\n\nMr Wright added that 43% of FDF members who supply Northern Ireland have said they were not going to do so in the first three months of next year.\n\nHe told MPs that many companies had lost some of their customer base in the EU. \"The problem is, if there's any disruption to supply, you lose your customer pretty quickly and you do not get them back,\" he added.\n\nMiles Celic, chief executive of TheCityUK, told the committee that up to a quarter of the UK's financial activity was EU-related and that in the worst-case scenario, about 40% of that business could be lost.\n\nHowever, he added: \"We've not seen this vast shift in jobs and activity.\"\n\nInstead, Brexit had acted as a \"strategic accelerator\", with firms taking action such as restructuring EU-based offices as standalone operations. Even so, he warned: \"This all comes ultimately at a cost.\"\n\nLloyd Mulkerrins of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that if tariffs were levied on parts and finished vehicles, the UK's car industry was likely to see a sales decline of 20% to 30%.\n\nProduction would decline from as much as 1.6 million to just 800,000, he told the MPs.", "The age limit for playing the National Lottery is set to be raised from 16 to 18 from next October as the government moves to crackdown on gambling.\n\nThe government has pledged a \"major and wide-ranging review\" of the sector, which may include limits on online stakes and restrictions on advertising.\n\nBetting firms could also be banned from sponsoring football shirts.\n\nThe current legislation, established in 2005, was \"an analogue law in a digital age\", the government said.\n\nCulture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the industry had \"evolved at breakneck speed\" and the aim of the review was to tackle \"problem gambling in all its forms to protect children and vulnerable people\".\n\nThe age threshold for playing the National Lottery - including scratchcards - will rise from October 2021. Before that, online sales to 16 and 17-year-olds will stop in April 2021.\n\n\"We're committed to protecting young people from gambling-related harm, which is why we are raising the minimum age for the National Lottery,\" said sport minister Nigel Huddleston.\n\n\"Patterns of play have changed since its inception, with a shift towards online games, and this change will help make sure the National Lottery, although already low-risk, is not a gateway to problem gambling.\"\n\nThe government is canvassing views on the legislation in the form of a call for evidence, which will run for 16 weeks until the end of March 2021.\n\nThe Gambling Commission's role and powers will also be looked at, as will promotional offers and whether extra protections for children and young adults are needed.\n\nMr Huddleston told the Commons the review would seek to \"strike a careful balance\" between individual freedom and protecting the vulnerable.\n\nShadow sports minister Alison McGovern welcomed the announcement, but said it was \"disappointing\" that the government had taken so long.\n\nIn 2018, Paddy Power Betfair was fined £2.2m for failing to stop stolen money being gambled on its website and not protecting customers showing signs of problem gambling.\n\nIan Proctor, UK chairman of its parent company Flutter, told the BBC that gambling rules did need to be updated for the digital age.\n\nBut he warned of \"unintended consequences\" if regulations were not thought through and said that grassroots sports could suffer if sponsorship was restricted.\n\n\"We take [problem gambling] incredibly seriously... but let's also get this in a little bit of context,\" he told the BBC's Today programme.\n\n\"For millions of people every week, they enjoy a bet, it's a leisure activity, it gives people a lot of pleasure. For some people it's not, for a small minority. And we need to make gambling safer for those people.\"\n\nThe review of all the apparatus gambling companies use to attract customers - sponsorship, marketing, online promotion and stakes - should be extremely bad news for those companies.\n\nThis morning, however, the share prices of William Hill and Flutter, the two largest gambling outfits listed on the London market, have scarcely budged.\n\nThe review was, up to a point, priced in - investors knew it was coming, and its likely scope had been well telegraphed in advance.\n\nShareholders may also reflect that while the government has talked tough on gambling restrictions in the past, reforms have often been watered down, and the companies themselves have been able to develop their businesses in ways not anticipated by regulators.\n\nThese companies are also less affected by British regulatory developments than in the past.\n\nFlutter, the home of SkyBet, Betfair and Paddy Power, is now a FTSE 100 multinational, with operations across the world and the ability to switch investment where it sees fit.\n\nWilliam Hill, founded in London between the world wars when gambling was illegal, is being bought by an American company, Caesars Entertainment.\n\nThe Gambling Commission has imposed big fines on other gambling operators in recent years.\n\nIn March, online betting firm Betway paid a penalty of £11.6m for failings over customer protection and money-laundering checks, while in April casino operator Caesars Entertainment UK was hit with a £13m penalty following a \"catalogue\" of social responsibility and money laundering failures.\n\nBut in June, Parliament's Public Accounts Committee described the Gambling Commission as \"toothless\" and said it had an \"unacceptably weak understanding\" of the harms of gambling.\n\nThe review will also examine the actions that customers can take where they feel operators have breached social responsibility requirements.\n\nThe aim is to ensure customer protection is at the heart of the regulations, while giving those that gamble safely the freedom to do so, according to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).\n\n\"Whilst millions gamble responsibly, the Gambling Act is an analogue law in a digital age... the industry has evolved at breakneck speed,\" said Mr Dowden.\n\nJo Stevens, Labour's shadow culture secretary, said it was \"disappointing that the government has taken more than a year to launch this review, during which time more people have suffered with gambling addiction and without getting vital support\".\n\nThe Gambling Health Alliance (GHA), an umbrella group for 50 charities and academics, has called for the review to focus on the damage gambling can do to public health.\n\nThe group's chair, Duncan Stephenson, said for the past 15 years, the public had been at the mercy of a gambling industry which has taken advantage of \"sluggish and inadequate\" regulation.\n\n\"We have seen the devastating effects of this on lives lost and ruined, with gambling companies shamelessly exploiting the young and vulnerable, making obscene amounts of money at the expense of some of our most deprived communities,\" he said.\n\nThe GHA is calling for gambling to be \"de-normalised\", and for a ban on gambling advertising and sponsorship in sports.\n\n\"Just as we have rightly taken steps to ramp up the regulation of other harmful products such as tobacco and junk food, we now need to do the same with gambling,\" Mr Stephenson said.\n\nFormer gambling addict Matt Zarb-Cousin, who runs the Clean Up Gambling campaign group, said: \"This wide-ranging review is a long overdue opportunity to clean up our outdated gambling laws, which are incompatible with the smartphone era.\"\n\nThe gambling review follows a range of measures introduced by the government to protect consumers from the risk of gambling-related harm.\n\nLast year, the maximum stake that can be played on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) was cut from £100 to £2.\n\nAnd in September, the government launched a consultation to explore young people's experiences of loot boxes in video games.", "Singapore is a long way from the snow-capped peaks of the Swiss Alps\n\nThe World Economic Forum, which usually hosts a glitzy annual meeting for political and business leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, has moved next year's event to Singapore.\n\nThe forum says it's making the change to safeguard health and safety.\n\n\"In light of the current situation with regards to Covid-19 cases, it was decided that Singapore was best placed to hold the meeting,\" it said.\n\nSingapore has largely been seen as managing the crisis successfully.\n\nIts health ministry says there are currently 28 people being treated in hospital for the coronavirus, but none are in intensive care, and there are no cases in the community. Singapore's death toll for Covid-19 stands at 29.\n\nBut the country remains under \"phase two\" restrictions, which means gatherings are capped at five people and working from home is still the default for most companies.\n\nSingapore's Trade Minister Chan Chun Sing said the Forum's decision to hold the meeting in the country was \"an affirmation of Singapore's ability to provide a safe, neutral and conducive venue for global leaders to meet\".\n\nSafety measures could include tests on arrival and contact tracing of attendees, the government said.\n\nBreakfast panels are a staple of the Davos summit\n\nThe in-person World Economic Forum annual meeting is planned to take place in Singapore from 13-16 May, before returning to Switzerland in 2022.\n\nIt will be only the second time the event has been held outside Davos in its history. In 2002, the forum was organised in New York to show solidarity with the US after the 9/11 terror attacks.\n\nKlaus Schwab, who founded the forum in the 1970s, said a global leadership summit would be crucial to address the global recovery from the pandemic.\n\n\"Public-private co-operation is needed more than ever to rebuild trust and address the fault lines that emerged in 2020,\" he said.", "Mr Dunford said he used material from his work to create the monolith\n\nA designer has told the BBC he erected a monolith on a British beach in tribute to others which have popped up around the world.\n\nThe pillar, similar to ones in the US and Romania, sparked global headlines after it was found on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England.\n\nTom Dunford, who lives on the island, said: \"I did it purely for fun.\"\n\nThe gleaming structure on Compton Beach has been attracting an influx of visitors since its discovery on Sunday.\n\nThe reflective structure sparked a stir on social media about who put it there and why.\n\nMr Dunford said he put the structure up at about 04:00 GMT on Sunday morning\n\nMr Dunford, 29, from Fishbourne, told BBC Radio Solent: \"If the aliens were to come down I think they'd go for the safest place which is the Isle of Wight in tier 1 [Covid restrictions].\n\n\"I was convinced it would be stolen in the first couple of hours.\"\n\nMr Dunford, who works for a design company, said: \"When I saw the first one pop up [in Utah] I thought it was brilliant, the second one popped up and I had a text from a friend which said 'you're the man that can do this on the island'.\n\n\"I'm absolutely fascinated in futuristic design, science and space. The actual idea sparked when I was walking back to the office and we had an old sheet of mirrored perspex.\"\n\nMr Dunford said he told a few trusted friends and relatives about his plan before he drove down to the beach at 04:00 GMT on Sunday to install it.\n\n\"I'm one of these guys, once I get a creative streak I have to just go for it,\" he added.\n\nMr Dunford (pictured) said his gleaming structure was inspired by the monolith in Utah\n\nBut he admitted he did not expect it to get the reaction it did.\n\n\"I'm going to leave it and let people take photos and go and collect it in a couple of days,\" he said.\n\nThe beach is being closely monitored to avoid a deluge of crowds, the National Trust has said.\n\nThe trust, which is responsible for the site, said rangers would \"ensure the beach remains safe and does not become overcrowded\".\n\nThe National Trust said visitor numbers to the beach would be monitored to \"to ensure the beach remains safe\"\n\nA metal monolith appeared briefly in the Utah desert late last month. It created wild speculation on social media and apparent copycats with two others found in southern California and Romania days later.\n\nAn anonymous collective called The Most Famous Artist has taken credit for the monoliths in Utah and California - it posted an image of the Utah monolith on Instagram, with a 45,000 US dollar (£34,000) price tag.\n\nIn 2001: A Space Odyssey - the 1968 film directed by Stanley Kubrick - imposing black monoliths created by an unseen alien species appear in the movie, based on the writings of novelist Arthur C Clarke.\n\nFollow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "In rural Florida and Georgia - a heartland of Trump support - the contentious presidential election has only deepened political divides.\n\nWith many Republicans believing conspiracy theories claiming the election was rigged, what's it like for voters here who backed Joe Biden?\n\nMusician Jim White says he's not seen the South as divided in his lifetime - but he's trying to reach out to neighbours who disagree with him. Political blogger Justin King says he'll never be able to repair relationships with those who voted for Trump.\n\nProduced by Aleem Maqbool, Eva Artesona. Filmed by Fred Scott. Edited by Alexandra Ostasiewicz.", "Adrian Smith was shocked to find that a photo of him as an eight-year-old had become an internet meme.\n\nHe stumbled upon the picture on Instagram, but it had come from a Tumblr blog in which his image was being used as the stepson of a fictional \"teenage stepdad\".\n\nHe said he was amused by it, but admitted that as a child he would have found it \"confusing and sad\".\n\nMr Smith's discovery has now gone more viral than the original meme.\n\nHe has been in touch with its original creator, and said he was happy that the image has not been used in a \"mean spirit\".\n\n\"Teenage Stepdad\" offered to kill the character off, but Mr Smith is happy for him to carry on with it if he wishes, he said.\n\nThe character which went with the photo was not a part of him, Mr Smith said.\n\n\"I had options - I could ignore it, I could get mad about it, or I could embrace it and make it part of my story now, and have it out there as an example of the chaotic randomness that happens with stuff on the internet that we put there,\" he said.\n\nMr Smith, who lives in North Carolina, had contributed the photograph to a Tumblr blog in about 2007 where people were sharing school photos with laser backgrounds. It was taken in 1992.\n\nHe said he remembered being very proud of the picture, having managed to find a top that matched the background, for which he had paid an additional $2.\n\n\"I'd like to say it's me pre-glasses, pre-braces, and 100% raw power as an eight-year-old,\" he said.\n\n\"My grin in the picture is one of smug satisfaction.\"\n\nMr Smith is himself a parent of two very young children - and said it would be a while before they understood what a meme was. But he did not wish to put them off sharing their lives online.\n\n\"The lesson is that what you put in the internet might last forever and have a life of its own, but also the internet doesn't define you, it doesn't have to be you,\" he said.\n\n\"Figure out who you are first, and if the stuff out there is part of how you want to define yourself then use it for that, if it's not, then don't.\"\n\nHis alter-ego has had a lively few years, sported some interesting hairstyles and made some questionable decisions, like the time he took up smoking. But Mr Smith thinks the fictional boy would also approve of his own career as an entomologist who \"puts videos about bugs on YouTube\".\n• None Viral dad on the trials of working from home", "For months, the government has been urging businesses to get ready for a new era in trading with the EU. But it was only on Boxing Day that details of all the new rules were actually published.\n\nBusiness groups are relieved that the threat of a no-deal Brexit, which would have meant tariffs (or taxes) on goods crossing the border with the EU, has been removed. But companies that trade with the EU are still facing a lot of new bureaucracy.\n\nAnd the disruption in mid-December, caused by border closures related to the new variant of Covid-19, was a reminder of how dependent the UK economy is on trade across the English Channel.\n\nFrom 1 January 2021, goods entering the EU from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) face large amounts of new paperwork and checks, including:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHauliers will also need to make sure they have the right transportation paperwork before they drive to the border.\n\nThere is particular focus on the \"short straits\" route between Dover and Calais, and the nearby Channel Tunnel, which taken together handle about four million lorries a year.\n\n\"This is the biggest imposition of red tape that businesses have had to deal with in 50 years,\" says William Bain from the British Retail Consortium.\n\nFull controls on British exports to the EU began on 1 January. The first day of the new regime appears to have gone relatively smoothly.\n\nBut it's feared that later in the year, the new controls could cause disruption, even though new border infrastructure has been built at ports such as Calais, to help process vehicles more efficiently.\n\nThere are some mitigating measures though.\n\nIn response to the Covid crisis, the government is delaying full controls on goods entering Great Britain from the EU for a further six months.\n\nThere will be checks from 1 January on controlled substances such as alcohol and tobacco, and traders deemed to be a risk will also be asked to fill in customs declarations.\n\nBut most checks on goods coming in from the EU will be delayed until 1 July, a deadline that could in theory be extended.\n\n\"I think we will want to monitor it,\" the chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs, Jim Harra, told MPs in November. \"Hopefully we will not still be in a situation where Covid-19 is consuming as much of people's attention.\"\n\nOther measures to tackle potential disruption include diverting trade to other ports around the country and opening lorry parks in Kent, to avoid gridlock on the roads.\n\nSome of these contingencies were put into action early, to deal with the Covid border closures in December.\n\nOperation Brock, for example, involved changing the layout of a section of the M20, using a concrete barrier to allow lorries heading for mainland Europe to queue safely on the motorway.\n\nThousands of lorries were also diverted to temporary parking at a disused airport at Manston.\n\nFrom 1 January drivers of lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes will need to acquire a Kent Access Permit before they enter the county. They will have to show that they have all the paperwork they need to ferry goods to Europe.\n\nBut that doesn't deal with the challenge of the thousands of vans that cross the Channel every week.\n\n\"What has been serially misunderstood by various parts of government is the scale of the complexity for people on the ground dealing with the paperwork,\" says Duncan Buchanan, the Policy Director of the Road Haulage Association.\n\nThat could mean that instead of queues on motorways, many traders won't be able to leave their depots.\n\n\"Either they won't be able to get vets to sign off on their meat exports, or they won't be able to get their permit because they don't have the right bits of paper,\" says Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Storage Federation.\n\n\"We might see a quite significant holding off of trading - people just not moving stuff in the first few weeks.\"\n\nEighty-five per cent of the volume of trade between the EU and Great Britain is carried by EU hauliers, who are often paid not by the hour, but by the kilometre. If they think there will be too many delays, many may simply not come.\n\nThe government says the readiness of traders to deal with the new system remains its biggest concern.\n\nLorries parked on the M20 in Kent\n\n\"The sheer scale of the overall operation means there are literally many millions of moving parts,\" permanent secretary of the cabinet office Alex Chisholm told MPs. \"Inevitably there are going to be some difficulties for some individual people as they adjust to the new regime.\"\n\nThe government has also announced a new Border Operations Centre as part of plans \"for the UK to have the world's most effective border by 2025\".\n\nQuestions have been asked about how changes at the border might affect food supply. The short answer is no-one can say for sure, but nearly 30% of all the food consumed in the UK is imported from the EU.\n\nThe good news is that there is a deal, which makes a big difference. But the challenge is particularly acute because the UK grows relatively small amounts of fruit and vegetables in January and February and is most dependent on supplies from southern Europe at this time of year.\n\nSo, if there are delays, they could cause some shortages on the shelves.\n\n\"Some gaps are possible but we're not going to run out of food - that's not going to happen\" says Ian Wright.\n\nWhen it comes to non-perishable items, there had been some stockpiling in preparation for either outcome, but extra supplies won't last forever.\n\n\"The crunch point is probably not going to be in the first few days or weeks of January,\" William Bain argues. \"Towards the end of the month, when new orders start being placed and delivered, we will start to see the processes in Kent and the other ports really tested.\"\n\nAnd it's not only about food.\n\nOther retailers, which are used to moving their stock freely around the EU customs union, have had to create separate supply chains for the UK. That is costing them more money, and their new systems have yet to be tested properly.\n\nIt's not just about trade across the English Channel.\n\nTrade across the Irish Sea between Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland will be subject to the same pressures, while Northern Ireland will be a special case under the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.\n\nNorthern Ireland will remain in the EU single market for goods, and unlike the rest of the UK it will continue to enjoy frictionless trade with the EU with no checks of any kind at the land border with the Republic.\n\nBut there is a price to pay for that - new bureaucracy within the UK between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.\n\nThe EU, for example, has strict rules on products of animal origin: meat, milk, fish and eggs.\n\nThese products must enter the single market (and, from 1 January, Northern Ireland) through a border control post where paperwork is checked, and a proportion of goods physically inspected.\n\nThere will be a grace period of three months for supermarkets and their suppliers, but some smaller traders may have to get used to the new rules straight away.\n\nAll shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will also need a safety and security declaration, and a customs declaration from a new IT system which none of the traders have used before.\n\nThe government has set up a Trader Support Service to help.\n\nThe details of the new trading arrangements for Northern Ireland were announced separately in early December, and provided some clarity. They include an agreement which means the vast majority of goods being shipped from GB to NI will not be at risk of having tariffs imposed.\n\nBut there are plenty of unresolved issues.\n\nTraders are seeking answers about how to send parcels from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, and some online retailers have already suspended deliveries.\n\nThe trade from British to Northern Irish ports often involves multiple small shipments on a single lorry - all of which will need the right paperwork.\n\n\"We need clear rules for everyone in the supply chain,\" says Duncan Buchanan, \"and when you scratch the surface it is just not ready.\"\n\nIt is expected that many checks will be carried out on a 'light touch' basis to begin with.\n\nBut anyone trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is going to have to get used to a new way of working very quickly.", "Is this a needle which I see before me? William Shakespeare receiving his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine\n\nMargaret Keenan has made history by becoming the first person in the world to get a Covid-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial, but if there's one name you'll associate with this day, it may not be hers.\n\nNot the writer, poet and playwright, but his 81-year-old namesake. This Mr Shakespeare was the second person to be given a jab - and, guess what, he also comes from Warwickshire.\n\n\"Much ado about nothing?\" It doesn't matter - \"all's well that ends well\".\n\n\"Is this a needle which I see before me?\" the present-day Shakespeare could have asked, but his reaction was a little bit less, well, dramatic: he said he was \"pleased\" to be given the jab, and staff at University Hospital in Coventry had been \"wonderful\".\n\nSo, if Ms Keenan was patient 1A, was Mr Shakespeare \"Patient 2B or not 2B\"?\n\nTheirs were the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be dispensed in the coming weeks in the UK.\n\nThe vaccine is given as two injections, 21 days apart, with the second dose being a booster. Immunity begins to kick in after the first dose but reaches its full effect seven days after the second dose.\n\n\"Two doses, both alike in quantity,\" if we're allowed another pun - but here are some others on the day \"the taming of the flu\" began.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Dan Walker This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. 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To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 4 by Otto English This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 5 by Callum May This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post 5 by Callum May\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 6 by Oonagh This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens: This could be a \"decisive turning point\" in Covid-19 fight\n\nThe first vaccinations will mark a \"decisive turning point in the battle against coronavirus\", NHS England's chief executive has said on the eve of the jab being rolled out.\n\nPeople in the UK will begin to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Tuesday.\n\nNHS England boss Sir Simon Stevens said vaccinations would continue \"at least until next spring\" and warned people to be \"very careful\" in the meantime.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock tweeted all parts of the UK had vaccine doses.\n\nOn Monday, the government announced a further 14,718 people had tested positive for the virus, while a further 189 people had died within 28 days of a positive test - taking the total by that measure to 61,434.\n\nFront-line health staff, those aged over 80, and care home workers will be first in line for the vaccine.\n\nIn England, 50 hospitals have been initially chosen to serve as hubs for administering it.\n\nScotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will also begin their vaccination programmes from hospitals on Tuesday.\n\nSpeaking at the Royal Free Hospital in London ahead of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, Sir Simon said: \"Tomorrow is the beginning of the biggest vaccination campaign in our history, building on successes from previous campaigns against conditions [and] diseases like polio, meningitis, and tuberculosis.\n\n\"Hospitals, and then GPs and pharmacists, as more vaccine becomes available, are going to be vaccinating at least until next spring.\"\n\nRefrigerated containers holding the vaccine doses, which need to be kept at -70C, have been arriving in the UK from Belgium, where it is made, and are being prepared to be moved from secure locations to the hospitals.\n\nThe UK has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab. It is enough to vaccinate 20 million people because two doses are needed.\n\nThere are 800,000 doses in the first tranche, meaning 400,000 people will be vaccinated initially.\n\nAlthough care home residents were placed at the top of the priority list agreed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), they are not getting the very first vaccinations.\n\nThe government has explained this is because the chosen hospital hubs already have the facilities to store the vaccine at the required temperature. But Mr Hancock said the government was doing everything it could to overcome \"significant challenges\" to ensure care home residents were vaccinated as soon as possible.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The health secretary said care homes could get vaccines “by the end of next week”\n\nChris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said people aged over 80 should not be worried if they are not called for the vaccine this month as the vast majority will have to wait until the new year to receive the jab.\n\nWhen asked about potential disruption to supply if there is a no-deal Brexit, Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said the vaccine was a \"top priority product\" and the government would consider using the armed forces to ensure supply \"if we need to\".\n\nThe Ministry of Defence said 60 military planners are working with the government's vaccine task force, with a further 56 personnel helping to construct vaccination centres.\n\nEarlier, Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething warned that potential delays at ports from Brexit changes could disrupt medical supplies.\n\nBut for medication like the Covid vaccine, which could become ineffective if it was delayed, \"the UK government have made arrangements to fly those into different parts of the UK,\" he said.\n\nDo you have an appointment to be vaccinated? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "We've looked into some of the most widely shared false vaccine claims - everything from alleged plots to put microchips into people to the supposed re-engineering of our genetic code.\n\nThe fear that a vaccine will somehow change your DNA is one we've seen aired regularly on social media.\n\nThe BBC asked three independent scientists about this. They said that the coronavirus vaccine would not alter human DNA.\n\nSome of the newly created vaccines, including the one now approved in the UK developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, use a fragment of the virus's genetic material - or messenger RNA.\n\n\"Injecting RNA into a person doesn't do anything to the DNA of a human cell,\" says Prof Jeffrey Almond of Oxford University.\n\nIt works by giving the body instructions to produce a protein which is present on the surface of the coronavirus.\n\nThe immune system then learns to recognise and produce antibodies against the protein.\n\nClaims that Bill Gates plans to use a vaccine to \"manipulate\" or \"alter\" human DNA have been widely shared\n\nThis isn't the first time we've looked into claims that a coronavirus vaccine will supposedly alter DNA. We investigated a popular video spreading the theory back in May.\n\nPosts have noted that messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology \"has never been tested or approved before\".\n\nIt is true that no mRNA vaccine has been approved before now, but multiple studies of mRNA vaccines in humans have taken place over the last few years. And, since the pandemic started, the vaccine has been tested on tens of thousands of people around the world and has gone through a rigorous safety approval process.\n\nLike all new vaccines, it has to undergo rigorous safety checks before it can be recommended for widespread use.\n\nIn Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials, vaccines are tested in small numbers of volunteers to check they are safe and to determine the right dose.\n\nIn Phase 3 trials they are tested in thousands of people to see how effective they are. The group who received the vaccine and a control group who have received a placebo are closely monitored for any adverse reactions - side-effects. Safety monitoring continues after a vaccine has been approved for use.\n\nNext, a conspiracy theory that has spanned the globe.\n\nIt claims that the coronavirus pandemic is a cover for a plan to implant trackable microchips and that the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is behind it.\n\nThere is no vaccine \"microchip\" and there is no evidence to support claims that Bill Gates is planning for this in the future.\n\nThe Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told the BBC the claim was \"false\".\n\nOne TikTok user created a video about being \"microchipped\" and called a vaccine the \"mark of the beast\"\n\nRumours took hold in March when Mr Gates said in an interview that eventually \"we will have some digital certificates\" which would be used to show who'd recovered, been tested and ultimately who received a vaccine. He made no mention of microchips.\n\nThis led to one widely shared article headlined: \"Bill Gates will use microchip implants to fight coronavirus.\"\n\nThe article makes reference to a study, funded by The Gates Foundation, into a technology that could store someone's vaccine records in a special ink administered at the same time as an injection.\n\nHowever, the technology is not a microchip and is more like an invisible tattoo. It has not been rolled out yet, would not allow people to be tracked and personal information would not be entered into a database, says Ana Jaklenec, a scientist involved in the study.\n\nThe billionaire founder of Microsoft has been the subject of many false rumours during the pandemic.\n\nHe's been targeted because of his philanthropic work in public health and vaccine development.\n\nDespite the lack of evidence, in May a YouGov poll of 1,640 people suggested 28% of Americans believed Mr Gates wanted to use vaccines to implant microchips in people - with the figure rising to 44% among Republicans.\n\nWe've seen claims that vaccines contain the lung tissue of an aborted fetus. This is false.\n\n\"There are no fetal cells used in any vaccine production process,\" says Dr Michael Head, of the University of Southampton.\n\nOne particular video that was posted on one of the biggest anti-vaccine Facebook pages refers to a study which the narrator claims is evidence of what goes into the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. But the narrator's interpretation is wrong - the study in question explored how the vaccine reacted when introduced to human cells in a lab.\n\nConfusion may have arisen because there is a step in the process of developing a vaccine that uses cells grown in a lab, which are the descendants of embryonic cells that would otherwise have been destroyed. The technique was developed in the 1960s, and no fetuses were aborted for the purposes of this research.\n\nMany vaccines are made in this way, explains Dr David Matthews, from Bristol University, adding that any traces of the cells are comprehensively removed from the vaccine \"to exceptionally high standards\".\n\nThe developers of the vaccine at Oxford University say they worked with cloned cells, but these cells \"are not themselves the cells of aborted babies\".\n\nThe cells work like a factory to manufacture a greatly weakened form of the virus that has been adapted to function as a vaccine.\n\nBut even though the weakened virus is created using these cloned cells, this cellular material is removed when the virus is purified and not used in the vaccine.\n\nWe've seen arguments against a Covid-19 vaccine shared across social media asking why we need one at all if the chances of dying from the virus are so slim.\n\nA meme shared by people who oppose vaccination put the recovery rate from the disease at 99.97% and suggested getting Covid-19 is a safer option than taking a vaccine.\n\nA meme using images of rapper Drake has been used to promote false vaccine claims\n\nTo begin with, the figure referred to in the meme as the \"recovery rate\" - implying these are people who caught the virus and survived - is not correct.\n\nAbout 99.0% of people who catch Covid survive it, says Jason Oke, senior statistician at the University of Oxford.\n\nSo around 100 in 10,000 will die - far higher than three in 10,000, as suggested in the meme.\n\nHowever, Mr Oke adds that \"in all cases the risks very much depend on age and do not take into account short and long-term morbidity from Covid-19\".\n\nIt's not just about survival. For every person who dies, there are others who live through it but undergo intensive medical care, and those who suffer long-lasting health effects.\n\nThis can contribute to a health service overburdened with Covid patients, competing with a hospital's limited resources to treat patients with other illnesses and injuries.\n\nConcentrating on the overall death rate, or breaking down the taking of a vaccine to an individual act, misses the point of vaccinations, says Prof Liam Smeeth of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It should be seen as an effort by society to protect others, he says.\n\n\"In the UK, the worst part of the pandemic, the reason for lockdown, is because the health service would be overwhelmed. Vulnerable groups like the old and sick in care homes have a much higher chance of getting severely ill if they catch the virus\".", "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nThe qualifiers take place between March and November 2021 England will face Robert Lewandowski's Poland in qualification for the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022. They will also play Hungary, Albania, Andorra and San Marino in Group I. Wales will meet Belgium, who they knocked out of Euro 2016, in Group E. Northern Ireland have been drawn with Italy, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Lithuania in Group C. The Republic of Ireland will come up against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in Group A, as well as Serbia, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. The qualifiers will take place between March and November 2021, with play-offs scheduled for March 2022. Who the home nations will play See the complete draw here England have faced Poland in qualifying for the 1974, 1990, 1994, 2006 and 2014 World Cups. The two sides also met in the finals in Mexico in 1986. Poland have arguably the best striker in world football right now in Lewandowski, who has scored 70 goals in 61 appearances for Bayern Munich since the start of last season. England last met Poland in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, when the Three Lions won 2-0 \"There is a great history with that fixture,\" said England manager Gareth Southgate. \"There was a spell when we seemed to draw them all the time.\" The group also sees England take on three sides they have beaten every time they have played them - Albania (four wins), Andorra (four) and San Marino (six). \"Poland are obviously a very good side,\" Southgate added. \"Hungary just got promoted into the Nations League top division - so those two in particular will be games that will be tough. \"The rest, whenever I have played for England or managed them, are complicated games to navigate.\" England's meeting with San Marino will stir memories of a World Cup qualifier between the two in 1993 when the Three Lions conceded after just 8.3 seconds - but they went on to win 7-1. Ryan Giggs' Wales side may have been drawn against the word's top-ranked side, but the famous triumph over the Belgians at the European Championship four years ago will still be fresh in their minds. The Welsh came back from a goal down to win 3-1 and reach the semi-finals of a major tournament for the first time. Scotland beat Serbia on penalties in their qualifying play-off final last month to reach Euro 2020 Scotland, who will play at next year's delayed Euro 2020, have been drawn in arguably the easiest group of the four home nations as they seek to qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 1998. They have never lost to the Faroe Islands or Moldova and have a good record against the group's toughest opponents Denmark, triumphing in 10 of their 16 previous meetings. Northern Ireland's group sees them renew hostilities with Switzerland, who controversially beat them in a play-off for the 2018 tournament. Italy, whose last World Cup triumph came in the 2006 tournament, are 10th in the latest Fifa rankings, with the Swiss occupying 16th spot. Thirty-two teams will take part in the World Cup in Qatar, of which 13 will be from Europe. The 10 group winners in qualifying will secure their place at the tournament while the 10 group runners-up will go through to the play-offs, along with the two best Nations League group winners who do not finish in the top two of their World Cup qualifying group. The 12 play-off teams will be drawn into three separate play-off paths, each of which will comprise semi-finals and final, with the three winners heading to Qatar. When are the World Cup qualifying group matches? And when are the World Cup finals themselves? Because of Qatar's intense summer heat, this World Cup will be held from 21 November to 18 December 2022, making it the first not to be held in May, June, or July. It is set to be played in a reduced timeframe of 28 days. Thirty-two teams will compete in eight venues in five host cities to succeed reigning champions France.\n• None Missed out on the weekend's Premier League action? All the goals and highlights are streaming now", "Sky News presenter Kay Burley has apologised for an \"error of judgment\" after she \"inadvertently broke the rules\" around Covid-19 safety.\n\nPosting on Twitter, the journalist said she had been celebrating her 60th birthday at a \"Covid compliant\" restaurant on Saturday.\n\nShe later \"popped into another\" venue to use the toilet. It's not clear what rule was broken through this action.\n\nAn internal review is now under way, Sky has confirmed.\n\n\"On Saturday night I was enjoying my 60th birthday at a Covid compliant restaurant. I am embarrassed to say that later in the evening I inadvertently broke the rules,\" Ms Burley posted on Twitter.\n\n\"I had been waiting for a taxi at 11pm to get home. Desperate for the loo I briefly popped into another restaurant to spend a penny. I can only apologise.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Kay Burley This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nMs Burley was notably absent from her daily breakfast show on Sky News on Tuesday morning.\n\nReports suggest Ms Burley was joined by a group of colleagues to mark her birthday in London, which is under tier two restrictions.\n\nThis means people are not allowed to socialise with anyone from outside their household or support bubble indoors, either in a private home or a public place.\n\nSome venues have outdoor seating and you are able to meet in a group of up to six people outside, including in a garden or in a public place.\n\nReacting to the reports, a spokesman for Sky told the BBC: \"We place the highest importance on complying with the government guidelines on Covid, and we expect all our people to comply.\n\n\"We were disappointed to learn that a small number of Sky News staff may have engaged in activity that breached the guidelines.\n\n\"Although this took place at a social event in personal time, we expect all our people to follow the rules that are in place for everyone.\"\n\nHe added: \"An internal process is underway to review the conduct of the people involved.\"\n\nMs Burley has grilled politicians throughout the pandemic, and in May questioned Michael Gove about Dominic Cummings' controversial lockdown trip to Barnard Castle.\n\nHer apology comes after pop star Rita Ora also said sorry for breaching the UK's Covid-19 restrictions, after failing to self-isolate following a trip to Egypt.\n\nShe had previously apologised for another breach after throwing a birthday party at a London restaurant.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "While one Covid vaccine has been approved for use in the UK and two are awaiting approval, many more are still being tested. The UK has pre-ordered 60 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, which is currently undergoing phase three trials. Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary talked to one man about the personal tragedy that prompted him to volunteer for the injection.\n\nPauline Demaline was fit and healthy and only 56 years old when she fell ill with Covid-19 in March. But within days of going into hospital she was dead.\n\nShe worked as a parish administrator at the Holy Trinity parish church in Skipton and it may be here that she caught the virus, in the early days of the pandemic.\n\nShe and her husband, Nigel, were very careful. They didn't go out much and Nigel would do the shopping early in the day, when the shops were quiet. But Pauline had to go into work and would sometimes meet other parishioners - couples about to get married, for example, and their parents.\n\nAt a certain point, she began feeling tired.\n\n\"It seemed like she would be exhausted when she finished work,\" says Nigel. \"She came home and lay down on the settee. I don't think she had a temperature, but she felt rotten. She had a bit of trouble with breathing but thought it was her normal asthma.\n\n\"People were telling her to see a doctor but she wouldn't go. She thought she'd be all right, that it would pass.\"\n\nEventually Nigel forced Pauline to get help.\n\n\"I said to her, 'You've got three choices: I can either get you to the doctor's, I can call an ambulance, which you'd hate, or I can take you down to accident and emergency.' Our neighbour across the road, Rachel, was home. So she had the dogs and I took Pauline to the hospital, not knowing that that was the last time she was going to leave the house.\"\n\nAt accident and emergency she was given a Covid test and put on an isolation ward. That test came back negative and doctors were preparing to move her but then an X-ray of her chest made them change their mind.\n\n\"It was about four hours later that the consultant came back to say sorry, it was a false negative,\" Nigel says. \"He said they were experiencing about 75% false negatives at that point, because the tests that they were doing were so new.\"\n\n\"The next time the consultant saw me and my son he said it's not a matter of if she'll die, it's a matter of when she'll die. We asked about the timescale and he said two days, maybe three days at most. And that was the first time that I suddenly thought, 'This is serious. This is real.'\"\n\nPauline went into hospital on Wednesday 25 March. The conversation with the consultant happened on the Friday. On Sunday Nigel and his son spent all day with Pauline, who was by now having great difficulty breathing, and on Monday 30 March she died.\n\n\"Just after Pauline died - and this is something I've never shown anyone else - I took a picture of her, of how unwell she was,\" Nigel says. \"And I look at it quite regularly because it reminds me of how she was, and it's so sad - that was how she was after her last breath. It's just something to hang on to, and of all the photos I have it's the one that upsets me the most, but gives me the most comfort. The memory is not out of reach. It's not out of grasp. It's there. It's really tangible. I can look at it.\"\n\nThe couple met when Nigel was 16 and Pauline was 15. He'd left school and joined the forces as a musician, and in July 1979 his military band was in the Isle of Man to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the island's parliament, while Pauline was on holiday there with a friend. They met on the sea front in Douglas, when Nigel recognised Pauline's friend from their home town.\n\nThe following year he joined other members of his regiment, the 16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers, stationed near the East German border, and in 1982 they married. \"We were very young but it was such a natural thing to do,\" Nigel says.\n\nNigel and Pauline always loved to travel\n\nThey had seven more years of Army life before moving to Silsden in West Yorkshire. Nigel worked in the motor trade and initially Pauline went to work for North Yorkshire Police in Harrogate. When she was asked to commute further, to a different office, she got the job at the church.\n\n\"She told me later that she'd always known we'd marry, even when she was just 15 and we started our relationship. I thought we were going into our 80s together,\" Nigel says.\n\nHe had always assumed that he would die first. Pauline's only health problem was asthma which had been well-managed since childhood.\n\n\"It's so overwhelming - the feeling of futility sort of sweeps across you,\" Nigel says. \"You think, 'I couldn't do anything!' I wanted to do something but I couldn't.\"\n\nNigel doesn't know if he was infected with Covid at the time of Pauline's death - he wasn't tested - but because he visited her at the Airedale General Hospital near Keighley, he had to isolate for two weeks afterwards, and now wonders whether he did then have some symptoms.\n\n\"That period is all a bit of a haze. I think I've blacked a lot of it out,\" he says. \"But I cried so much. I'd be sat there, the television would be on, and I couldn't tell you what I watched. I'd also be waking up in the early hours of the morning and my chest felt tight. Was it grief? Or was it that I had Covid, but just had very mild symptoms? I don't know.\"\n\nIt was Nigel's grief that spurred him on to become one of the first volunteers for a vaccine trial at Bradford Royal Infirmary, when he saw an appeal for volunteers on Facebook.\n\n\"I clicked on it without giving it a second thought. I thought, 'I need to be doing that.' I just felt the urge and the need to do it,\" he says.\n\n\"I wanted to do something to help. I really didn't want anybody else to go through what I was going through.\"\n\nAnd this is how I came to meet Nigel at one of the hospital's Monday vaccine clinics acouple of months later. I told him he was doing a wonderful thing.\n\n\"People have been saying I'm brave - I'm not,\" he replied. \"I can't do anything else but be brave. You've got to get on with life. I want to feel like I'm doing something.\"\n\nThe Novavax trial that Nigel is taking part in is the first of two that we plan to run in Bradford, and will be followed in January, by a trial of the Sanofi Pasteur vaccine developed with GlaxoSmithKline.\n\nWhy are we doing this when the results from the Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine trials have been so good?\n\nWell, the more options we have to vaccinate the world's seven billion inhabitants, the better. This will help ensure we have effective vaccines for different population groups, provide safe alternatives should one of the vaccines turn out to have unexpected side effects, drive down cost (which is crucial for low- and middle-income countries) and offer simpler options for manufacture and distribution.\n\nThere are some 200 candidate vaccines in development and more than 40 now going through clinical trials.\n\nThe goal, in all cases, is to trigger our bodies to produce antibodies that will coat the virus and stop it from having its deadly effect, but never before has such an array of new technologies been used.\n\nProf John Wright, a doctor and epidemiologist, is head of the Bradford Institute for Health Research, and a veteran of cholera, HIV and Ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. He is writing this diary for BBC News and recording from the hospital wards for BBC Radio.\n\nThe traditional approach pursued by the Oxford/AZ team is to develop a weakened virus to trigger this response in the same way as a natural infection would. The novel Pfizer and Moderna vaccines stimulate antibodies by using Covid-19 messenger RNA (a single-stranded molecule of RNA) to prompt our own cells to produce a harmless piece of the spike protein found on the surface of the coronavirus, which also leads to the production of antibodies.\n\nThe Novavax vaccine has been developed in the US and is being trialled in the UK on 10,000 volunteers. It uses proteins extracted from the coronavirus spike to trigger the body's immune response, and like the Oxford vaccine it has the important advantage of being stable at normal fridge temperatures, so does not require expensive transport or storage solutions. This will be vital in less developed countries.\n\nThe real heroes of this remarkable triumph of science, though, are not the scientists or the clinical researchers, but the thousands of trial volunteers who have stepped forward, like Nigel, to be human guinea pigs. Every Monday I have the privilege of seeing their courage and altruism.\n\nI take consent from each participant, conduct a physical examination and take blood tests for antibodies. The volunteer then gets randomised to either the active vaccine or a placebo of saline solution. It is a double-blind trial, so I don't know what they get and the participant doesn't know. After three weeks they return for a booster and then get followed up after three, six and 12 months.\n\nThe vaccine is successful if it causes no serious side effects and if only a small proportion of those who receive it later come down with Covid-19. But whenever the participants return to the clinic their blood is also tested for antibodies. If they have high levels of antibodies for a long period, that is a good sign.\n\nWhen Nigel came back for his booster injection, he was keen to know whether the blood taken on his first visit showed signs of antibodies, which would have revealed whether he had been infected with the virus around the same time as Pauline. I explained that I couldn't tell him, because I didn't know - this being a double-blind trial - and also because if he were to learn whether he had antibodies, this could affect his behaviour and therefore influence the outcome of the trial.\n\nPauline's funeral had to be delayed for two weeks, while Nigel was isolating.\n\nThere was then a very small service for just her five closest family members, though it was all videoed and there was a live link so that other friends and relatives could watch online.\n\nIn his eulogy, Nigel began by explaining why the service had begun with Every Day Hurts by Sad Café, a memory of the time when he was living in Germany and she was in the UK. \"This was the first single I bought for Pauline and represented the fact that we were 300 miles apart and I missed her profoundly,\" he said.\n\nHe ended by noting that many people would miss her now, and that he would most of all. \"Forty years together has had a profound effect on my life, and I will be very sad for many years to come,\" he said. \"Pauline, I always have and will always love you dearly. Rest in Peace and sleep soundly my love.\"\n\nBy a tragic coincidence, Nigel had suffered another loss almost simultaneously, when one of the family's two dogs, Harry, a Yorkshire terrier, died in his sleep.\n\n\"They were both cremated on the same day, 15 April, and I got calls from the funeral director and the vet's on the same day to pick up the ashes,\" Nigel says. \"I came home with my wife in one carrier bag and our dog in the other.\"\n\nAt the back of the church there's a headstone marking where Pauline's ashes are laid, with the inscription: \"Pauline Demaline, 1964 to 2020. Dear wife, mother and nanna, beloved by family, cherished by friends.\"\n\n\"And she was cherished,\" says Nigel. \"I'd like to think she's there. I like to think of spirits there. And I just try to talk to her - to tell her the news, what's been happening, how people are, and thinking that she's listening.\"\n\nHe thinks Pauline would approve of the vaccine trial.\n\n\"I think she would be proud of what we're doing, and although it's too late for her she would be hoping it works for everybody.\"", "Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson and seven other former players claim the sport has left them with permanent brain damage - and are in the process of starting a claim against the game's authorities for negligence.\n\nEvery member of the group has recently been diagnosed with the early signs of dementia, and they say repeated blows to the head are to blame.\n\nThompson, 42, played in every England match when they won the 2003 World Cup, but says: \"I can't remember any of those games. It's frightening.\"\n\nIt is understood a letter of claim, amounting to millions of pounds in damages, will be sent next week to the governing bodies for English and Welsh rugby and World Rugby - and a group class action could follow.\n\nIt is the first legal move of its kind in world rugby and, if successful, could force change to the way the game is played.\n\nLawyers for the group suggest another 80 former players between the ages of 25 and 55 are showing symptoms and have serious concerns.\n\nGlobal governing body World Rugby told BBC Sport: \"While not commenting on speculation, World Rugby takes player safety very seriously and implements injury-prevention strategies based on the latest available knowledge, research and evidence.\"\n\nThe Rugby Football Union (RFU), which runs the sport in England, said: \"The RFU has had no legal approach on this matter. The Union takes player safety very seriously and implements injury prevention and injury treatment strategies based on the latest research and evidence.\n\n\"The Union has played an instrumental role in establishing injury surveillance, concussion education and assessment, collaborating on research as well as supporting law changes and law application to ensure proactive management of player welfare.\"\n\nThe Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) said it \"supported and endorsed the World Rugby comment on the subject\".\n• None 'I don't want to be a burden' - how a 41-year-old ex-international is dealing with early onset dementia\n\nWorld Cup memories have just gone - Thompson\n\nFormer hooker Thompson played 195 times for Northampton Saints before moving to France to play for Brive. He won 73 England caps, and three for the British and Irish Lions, in a nine-year international career.\n\nHe first retired in 2007 because of a serious neck injury but was given the all-clear to return, before being forced to retire again in December 2011 with the same problem.\n\nThompson, former England team-mate Michael Lipman, ex-Wales international Alix Popham and five other retired players are the first group to agree to - and have - testing.\n\nThompson says his condition is so progressed he cannot remember anything that happened in those 2003 World Cup games.\n\n\"It's like I'm watching the game with England playing and I can see me there - but I wasn't there, because it's not me,\" he said.\n\n\"It's just bizarre. People talk about stories, and since the World Cup I've talked to the lads that were there, and you pick up stories, and then you can talk about it, but it's not me being there, it's not me doing it, because it's just gone.\"\n\nThompson is convinced constant head knocks during matches and training are to blame.\n\n\"When we first started going full-time in the mid-1990s, training sessions could quickly turn into full contact,\" he said.\n\n\"There was one session when the scrummaging hadn't gone quite right and they made us do a hundred live scrums. When it comes to it, we were like a bit of meat, really.\n\n\"The whole point of us doing this is to look after the young players coming through. I don't want rugby to stop. It's been able to give us so much, but we just want to make it safer. It can finish so quickly, and suddenly you've got your whole life in front of you.\"\n\nThompson, who has four children, is frank about his fears for the future and open about some dark thoughts.\n\n\"When you are there alone, the number of times you just think to yourself it's probably easier if you go, if I'm not here,\" he said.\n\n\"You start to think, it's not right to put them through that. That's the difficult side to it.\"\n\nWhat is CTE & how can it be diagnosed?\n\nAll eight players to have come forward so far have been diagnosed by neurologists at King's College, London, with early onset dementia and probable Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).\n\nCTE is the disease discovered by Dr Bennet Omalu in American football player Mike Webster, and the subject of the film Concussion starring Will Smith. In 2011, a group of former American football players started a class action against the NFL and won a settlement worth about $1bn (£700m).\n\nCTE can develop when the brain is subjected to numerous small blows or rapid movements - sometimes known as sub-concussions - and is associated with symptoms such as memory loss, depression and progressive dementia.\n\nThe disease can only be diagnosed in a brain after death, but some experts believe if history of exposure is evaluated, it is reasonable to conclude that the risk increases. The embryonic nature of the science around the issue could play a key part in the success or failure of the overall case.\n\nIt has been found in the brains of dozens of former NFL players, as well as a handful of deceased footballers, including former West Bromwich Albion and England player Jeff Astle. A re-examination of his brain in 2014 found he had died from CTE.\n\nSub-concussions cannot be detected on the pitch or in any post-match examination.\n\nDr Ann McKee, from Boston University, is the leading neurologist in CTE and was instrumental in bringing about change in the NFL.\n\nShe and others have faced scepticism within sport, from those who believe more research is needed before further changes are introduced.\n\n\"There's clearly a problem,\" she told the BBC.\n\n\"We don't know the magnitude of the problem, but as long as we insist that there is no problem, we'll never get to the bottom of it.\n\n\"We're just denying it and prolonging it and making sure that as many rugby players as possible get CTE.\"\n\nSo how could the claim be proved?\n\nIf the case progresses to court, the group must prove the governing bodies have been guilty of negligence.\n\nRichard Boardman, from law firm Rylands, is leading the action.\n\n\"We are now in a position where we believe the governing bodies across the rugby world are liable for failing to adequately protect their players on this particular issue,\" he said.\n\n\"Depending on how many people come forward, the case could be worth tens of millions, maybe even hundreds of millions.\n\n\"Right now we're representing over 100 former players but we expect many more to get in contact.\"\n\nDr Willie Stewart, who with his team at Glasgow University has been leading research around dementia in football, is confident there is an issue in rugby union.\n\n\"There is no question if you look at the data across all the sports in all the regions whether they be football, rugby, American football, I've looked at brains from people from all these different sports.\n\n\"The difficulty we have is gathering enough experience from former rugby players to be able to say with certainty, but I think you would be foolish to ignore it. \"\n\nThe issue of concussion in sport has been debated extensively over the past few years. The links between heading a football and degenerative brain disease have even forced rule changes at youth level.\n\nIn England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, children aged 11 and under are no longer allowed to head the ball in training. There are also limits to heading frequency at higher age group levels.\n\nAt senior level, former professionals have called for more research and better player welfare after the recent death of England World Cup winner Nobby Stiles, and following the news that Stiles' 1966 team-mate and Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton is suffering from the disease.\n\nMore information about dementia and details of organisations that can help can be found here.", "Madeleine McCann was three when she went missing in 2007\n\nA prosecutor who believes Madeleine McCann was killed by a German sex offender says the public would reach the same conclusion if they \"knew the evidence we had\".\n\nHans Christian Wolters told the BBC that while his team does not currently have enough evidence to charge Christian B, he is \"very confident\".\n\nTheir prime suspect is in prison serving sentences in Germany for drug smuggling and rape.\n\nShe was on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal, at the time of her disappearance, the same resort where Christian B raped a 72-year-old American woman.\n\nSuspects' surnames are not usually revealed in Germany for privacy reasons.\n\nAlthough Christian B, 43, was identified as a suspect in June prosecutors do not have enough evidence to charge him.\n\nMr Wolters said: \"If you knew the evidence we had you would come to the same conclusion as I do but I can't give you details because we don't want the accused to know what we have on him - these are tactical considerations.\"\n\nThe six-month investigation has yielded fresh evidence of other alleged crimes.\n\nChristian B lived in Portugal on and off for years and investigators now believe he may have committed at least three other sex crimes here - two of them against children, Mr Wolters said.\n\nHe said charges may follow early next year.\n\nMr Wolters said progress in the case of Madeleine was slower because of the logistical challenges posed by a disappearance now 13 years old in a different country.\n\nBut he said his team was working to build a water tight case against him.\n\nChristian B recently lost an appeal against his rape conviction and will remain in prison for a seven-year sentence once his current drugs sentence ends in January.\n\nMr Wolters said: \"I can't promise, I can't guarantee that we have enough to bring a charge but I'm very confident because what we have so far doesn't allow any other conclusion at all.\"\n\nLast week, Met Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said that the Met's position had not changed since the summer, when the force said its investigation - Operation Grange - remained a missing person inquiry as there is no \"definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead\".\n\nMadeleine, from Rothley in Leicestershire, went missing from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on 3 May 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.\n\nOfficial records show Christian B has 17 previous convictions, including for rape and sexual abuse of children\n\nChristian B is currently serving a prison sentence for drug offences in Germany and lost an appeal last month against a further seven-year sentence for rape.\n\nHe attacked the American woman in 2005 in the same area where Madeleine disappeared about 18 months later.\n\nPolice believe he was regularly living in this part of Portugal between 1997 and 2007, staying in a camper van at the time he is suspected of abducting Madeleine.", "Last updated on .From the section Olympics\n\nBreaking - a competitive form of breakdancing - has been confirmed as part of the final line-up for the Paris 2024 Olympics.\n\nIt will join surfing, skateboarding and climbing, which will be retained after debuts at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.\n\nHowever, parkour will not be part of the 2024 event after missing out.\n\nThe street sport typically involves running, jumping and climbing over obstacles.\n\n\"It's going to be great for breaking as it gives us more recognition as a sport,\" British breakdancer Karam Singh told BBC Sport.\n\n\"And for the Olympics, it will attract young people who may not follow some of the traditional sports.\"\n\nSquash campaigned unsuccessfully for inclusion in the Paris Games, as did billiard sports and chess.\n\nBreaking blends artistry and athleticism with key elements including top rocks - typically a competitor's introductory dance moves -footwork, power moves and freezes.\n\nPower moves are explosive displays such as spins, while freezes are when a performer sticks a pose.\n\nCompetitors - known as b-boys and b-girls - are not only judged on technical skill but also creativity and style, with strength, speed, rhythm and agility all considered.\n\nLast year, the Paris 2024 organising committee had proposed breaking, surfing, skateboarding and climbing for inclusion and were waiting for a final review by the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).\n\nThe IOC has insisted that new events would only be included if they used existing Paris 2024 venues, and priority would be given to those with youth appeal or that would help achieve gender equality.\n\nGames organisers said they wanted to include sports in the programme which were popular with new and younger audiences.\n\nUnder new IOC rules first introduced for the Tokyo Games, Olympic host cities can hand-pick sports and propose them for inclusion in those Games if they are popular in that country and add to the Games' appeal.\n\nCost-cutting measures will see athlete numbers drop from 11,238 at Rio 2016 to under 10,500 by 2024, which will be achieved despite the addition of new disciplines and the removal of only baseball/softball and karate.\n• None Missed out on the weekend's Premier League action? All the goals and highlights are streaming now", "Uber's self-driving car programme met with setbacks after a deadly crash in Arizona in 2018\n\nUber is selling its driverless car subsidiary to start-up Aurora Technologies, abandoning a unit that Uber's founder once hailed as critical to the future of the firm.\n\nAurora, founded in 2017, said the deal will help it \"accelerate\" its mission to make self-driving cars a reality.\n\nUber will invest $400m in the Amazon-backed company, giving it a 26% stake.\n\nIts chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi will also serve on Aurora's board, following closure of the deal.\n\nDespite the sale of its driverless car subsidiary known as Advanced Technologies Group, Uber said it remained interested in the sector, with plans to collaborate with Aurora when it comes to launching driverless cars on its network.\n\n\"Few technologies hold as much promise to improve people's lives with safe, accessible, and environmentally friendly transportation as self-driving vehicles,\" Mr Khosrowshahi said.\n\n\"For the last five years, our phenomenal team ... has been at the forefront of this effort - and in joining forces with Aurora, they are now in pole position to deliver on that promise even faster.\"\n\nDeveloping driverless technology was a key priority when Uber's founder and former chief executive Travis Kalanick was leading the ride hailing firm, since he saw it as a way to reduce costs.\n\nBut the programme hit setbacks after one of its cars was involved in a deadly crash in Arizona, though officials blamed human error for the accident and declined to bring criminal charges against the company.\n\nThe driverless car unit was also tangled up in legal fights over allegations of technology theft.\n\nMr Khosrowshahi, who replaced Mr Kalanick as the boss of Uber in 2017, has refocused the firm on taxi and food delivery services as he pushes to make Uber profitable.\n\nThe deal with Aurora values Uber's Advanced Technologies Group at roughly $4bn, down from the $7.5bn it was estimated to be worth last year, according to Reuters. It is expected to be completed in the first three months of 2021, Uber said.\n\nAurora, led by veterans of driverless car efforts at Google and Uber, says it has previously received \"significant investment\" from Amazon, which is known to be exploring the possibility of driverless delivery vehicles. South Korean carmaker Hyundai has also backed Aurora, which has offices in four US cities.", "Louise Smith had moved in with her aunt who is married to Shane Mays\n\nA man has been found guilty of the \"sexually-motivated\" murder of a teenager whose body he set on fire.\n\nLouise Smith, 16, was found dead at Havant Thicket, Hampshire, on 21 May - 13 days after she went missing.\n\nShane Mays, 30, who is married to Louise's aunt, said he punched her in an argument but claimed she was alive when he left her in the woods.\n\nMays, who admitted manslaughter, was convicted of murder by a jury at Winchester Crown Court.\n\nHe showed no emotion as the verdict was read out, while cries of \"yes\" could be heard from the public gallery.\n\nShane Mays will be sentenced on Wednesday morning\n\nLouise came to live with the couple in late April after an argument with her mother.\n\nMays \"flirted\" with the \"anxious and vulnerable\" teenager, including tickling her feet in a video found on her phone, jurors heard.\n\nJames Newton-Price QC, prosecuting, said Mays lured the teenager to a clearing on 8 May, attempted to sexually assault her and then killed her to \"silence\" her.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nLouise's body, which the court heard was \"dreadfully treated\" and burned, was found almost two weeks later after extensive searches by specialist teams.\n\nShe had suffered \"repeated, heavy blows\" to the head but the cause of death could not be determined due to the fire, the jury was told.\n\nGiving evidence during his trial, Mays, of Ringwood House, Leigh Park, claimed the teenager lured him to the clearing so that they could talk alone but ended up in a violent argument about her drug use.\n\nMays said he \"lost control\" as he punched her repeatedly as she lay on the ground. He claimed she was still alive and \"moaning\" as he walked away.\n\nBut the prosecution said it was actually Mays who had persuaded Louise to walk with him to the woodland by offering her cannabis, with the aim of sexually assaulting her.\n\nHe was later seen on CCTV calmly buying pizzas after murdering Louise.\n\nLouise's parents, Bradley Smith and Rebbecca Cooper, described the \"unbelievable pain\" of her loss\n\nMays, who was assessed by a psychologist as having an extremely low IQ of 63, said he forgot what he had done until he was in prison on remand in June.\n\nIn a statement following the verdict, Rebbecca Cooper, Louise's mother, said: \"No words can describe the loss we feel on a daily basis. She was our sunshine and is truly missed by all that knew her.\n\n\"...the pain inside is unbelievable, just knowing we will never see her again.\"\n\nLouise's father, Bradley Smith, said in a statement: \"We all find it impossible to accept that we will never hear her voice or see her cheeky smile again.\n\n\"Our chance to see her grow up has been ripped away from us. As a father, I moved away to try and build a life for both of us. I'll never get a chance to share that with her. The loss of Louise has destroyed our family.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The last known footage of Louise Smith was shown in court\n\nReacting to the verdict, Det Insp Adam Edwards said: \"It's brilliant to get justice for Louise's family and friends. They lost her in the most tragic of circumstances.\n\n\"The defilement of her body was shocking. It's something all officers at the scene will have to live with for the rest of their lives.\"\n\nThe teenager, who had a social worker, was descried as vulnerable during the trial.\n\nJurors were shown a message she sent to her aunt - May's wife - in which she wrote: \"I have had an amazing life, I hate the fact I am so childish, it's only because I have not been able to be a child.\"\n\nFollowing her death, Louise's family described her as a \"smiley, generous... typical 16-year-old girl\" who was training to be a veterinary nurse.\n\nThey added: \"Louise... enjoyed spending time with her friends. She loved animals and being outdoors.\n\n\"She will be remembered as a smiley, generous person who loved her family and was loved by all.\"\n\nHampshire Safeguarding Children Partnership said it was undertaking a review of Louise's case.\n\nMays will be sentenced on Wednesday morning.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Could it be the last supper?\n\nBoris Johnson will travel to Brussels for the first time in months on Wednesday night to sit and break bread with the EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.\n\nIt is more than a standard diplomatic dinner.\n\nIt is possible that the encounter could be the moment at which the UK and the EU conclude that there cannot be a trade deal now, and that after decades of political and economic ties, efforts to say a polite political farewell have failed, with all the consequences that might entail.\n\nThe purpose of the dinner however is not to call a halt. But nor is the purpose to proclaim that a deal's been done.\n\nThe reason for the meeting is to see if both sides are willing in principle to tolerate the notion of budging, after the negotiations, and frankly negotiators, have been exhausted.\n\nIf the prime minister and Mrs von der Leyen can look each other in the eye and agree that there are still compromises to be had, then a deal is still possible.\n\nIf they are willing to make that kind of pact - to say privately to each other, I'm willing to budge if you are too - then that would in theory allow technical talks to get going again.\n\nThis wouldn't be any kind of changes to the formal mandates - the boundaries the negotiators have been set.\n\nBut it could reset the dial, sending Lord Frost and Michel Barnier back to the table in the understanding that their political bosses might just be a touch more wiling to be flexible after all.\n\nIn turn, that doesn't mean that a deal is going to be achieved.\n\nBut it could tip the balance back towards the overall political imperatives of making this happen, and away from both sides' commitment to stick so closely to their principles.\n\nHere, the government's actions on the Northern Ireland protocol on Tuesday are a hint that they just might be willing to bend a little further.\n\nEqually however, settling the joint protocol makes it easier for the government to minimise disruption if it walks away. So beware wise sages claiming it's definitive proof either way!\n\nDon't forget too, it's only this time last week that there was a sense we were moving towards a conclusion on both sides.\n\nBut that was before some member states, with France as the hard man, toughened their approach, surprising the UK and setting the process back - although any change is still denied officially by the EU side.\n\nWhat we just can't know, however, is whether the leaders will be able to find common cause when they meet on Wednesday.\n\nThere has been a real sense of \"you first\" in the last 24 hours, with both sides waiting to see what the other's next move would be.\n\nIf there is a chance that a deal can be done, tomorrow night's dinner needs to produce at the very least a metaphorical statement of intent.\n\nBut if the two leaders just aren't prepared to make a leap, it could yet be the last supper after all.\n\nP.S. It's interesting to note that when Theresa May was trying to manage these processes, she sometimes dashed off to see the individual leaders of the member states, or held phone calls with them, as did Boris Johnson sometimes.\n\nThere was one notable explosion with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a call last year, which now seems a century ago.\n\nIt's understood that this time Boris Johnson's team was interested in the possibility of talking to Mrs Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in these vital few days themselves.\n\nBut I'm told the EU wanted to keep everything channelled through one point of contact.\n\nDowning Street has denied the suggestion this afternoon that he wanted them to be on the call when he rang Mrs von der Leyen on Monday.\n\nBut it seems there have been discussions about whether to have those separate discussions that have then not (so far) taken place.", "Last updated on .From the section European Football\n\nManchester United's season suffered a huge blow as a defeat at German side RB Leipzig knocked them out of the Champions League.\n\nNeeding just a draw to progress to the last 16, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side conceded twice inside 13 minutes to leave their hopes in tatters before RB Leipzig added what ultimately turned out to be the killer third with 20 minutes left.\n\nUnited staged their now customary second-half fightback thanks to a Bruno Fernandes penalty and Paul Pogba header, but ultimately fell short.\n\nTo rub salt in the wound, the goalscorer of the first and supplier of the second, Angelino, is currently on loan in Germany from Manchester City.\n\nHis superb low shot into the far corner after just two minutes was followed soon after by a chipped cross to the back post, where Amadou Haidara ghosted in to volley past David de Gea.\n\nIt could have been even worse, with the home side seeing a third goal ruled out for offside against Willi Orban on the half-hour.\n\nUnited were better in the second half and struck the crossbar through a Fernandes free-kick but shortly after substitute Justin Kluivert chipped in following some shoddy defensive play from Maguire and De Gea.\n\nFernandes' penalty - awarded for a foul on Mason Greenwood by Ibrahima Konate - gave them a slim chance, which Paul Pogba made real with a back-post header into the net, but the Germans held on.\n\nPogba had started on the bench and came on with 30 minutes to go, a day after his agent Mino Raiola declared that the midfielder was \"unhappy\" at the club and \"has to leave\" in the next transfer window.\n\nIt is small solace for United that they now drop into the Europa League - a competition they won in 2017.\n\nRB Leipzig advance to the Champions League last 16 having reached the last four in 2019-20.\n\nWhether they do so as group winners or runners-up depends on the result between Paris St-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir in a game that was suspended on Tuesday after a match official was accused of using a racist term towards one of the Turkish side's backroom staff.\n• None Man Utd out of Champions League - but at what cost?\n• None 'Inevitable is going to happen - Pogba has to leave Man Utd'\n\nNo comeback this time as United head for Europa League\n\nTuesday's defeat is the latest and lowest dip of what has already been a rollercoaster season for Solskjaer's side, both domestically and in Europe.\n\nThey were firm favourites to progress from Group H after beating PSG and Leipzig in their first two games of the campaign, but last week's home loss to the French side left them vulnerable and the German side completed the job.\n\nIn truth, though, much of the blame for their failure to progress lies with their defeat at Istanbul Basaksehir, who finished bottom of the group.\n\nCritics were quick to pounce on Solskjaer's side after that defeat, particularly in light of the negligent way their defence allowed Demba Ba to run unchallenged from inside his own half to score the opening goal of the Turkish side's 2-1 win.\n\nSuch defensive frailties have also been evident throughout their league season, including in wins at Everton, Southampton and West Ham, in which they fell behind but rallied to take the points.\n\nAgain in Germany they were unpicked with ease as Angelino surged into space on the left to fire in Leipzig's first and was then afforded too much room to pick out Haidara for the second.\n\nIt could have been different had Greenwood taken advantage of time and space on the counter-attack, but he placed his low shot too close to Peter Gulacsi, who saved to preserve the score at 1-0.\n\nIt was perhaps telling that not only did Pogba not start the game but that he was not Solskjaer's first port of call in his bid to alter the game, with Donny van de Beek his first substitution.\n\nWhen Pogba did arrive, he made a difference, scoring the second goal that gave them hope of yet another late recovery and almost an even bigger one with a cross that Nordi Mukiele would have poked into his own net but for the boot of Gulacsi.\n\nThe final whistle followed soon after to give Leipzig their revenge for the 5-0 loss they suffered at Old Trafford on matchday two.\n\nIt is the Manchester derby in the Premier League next for United, who host City on Saturday (17:30 GMT).\n• None Ole Gunnar Solskjær has lost six of his 10 Champions League matches as a manager (W4); he is the first manager to lose six or more times in their first 10 games in the competition while in charge of an English side.\n• None Manchester United have conceded three or more goals in consecutive Champions League games for the first time since April 2003.\n• None United exited at the group stage in a Champions League campaign for the first time since 2015-16 under Louis van Gaal.\n• None RB Leipzig are unbeaten in their past six home Champions League games (W5 D1), winning the last four in a row.\n• None Since his United debut in February, no player in Europe's top five leagues has scored more penalties in all competitions than Bruno Fernandes (13 - level with Cristiano Ronaldo).\n• None RB Leipzig full-back Angelino has had a hand in six goals in six Champions League appearances this season (three goals, three assists).\n• None Angelino's goal scored after 1:49 is the earliest United have conceded in the CL since Alan for Sporting Braga in October 2012 (1:27).\n• None Offside, RB Leipzig. Willi Orban tries a through ball, but Yussuf Poulsen is caught offside.\n• None Attempt saved. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Paul Pogba.\n• None Attempt missed. Scott McTominay (Manchester United) left footed shot from the left side of the box is too high. Assisted by Marcus Rashford.\n• None Offside, RB Leipzig. Christopher Nkunku tries a through ball, but Justin Kluivert is caught offside.\n• None Offside, RB Leipzig. Angeliño tries a through ball, but Justin Kluivert is caught offside.\n• None Attempt missed. Paul Pogba (Manchester United) header from the right side of the six yard box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Bruno Fernandes with a cross following a corner.\n• None Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.\n• None Goal! RB Leipzig 3, Manchester United 1. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.\n• None Penalty conceded by Ibrahima Konaté (RB Leipzig) after a foul in the penalty area. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None Missed out on the weekend's Premier League action? All the goals and highlights are streaming now", "Grocery sales hit a record in November as people spent more during lockdown and started their Christmas shopping early, research indicates.\n\nSome £10.9bn was spent as eating and drinking out was restricted in England, market research firm Kantar said.\n\nIt also found sales of goods such as turkeys jumped as people said they were determined to make this the \"best Christmas ever after a tough 2020\".\n\nBut another analyst said some would cut back in December due to money fears.\n\nKantar said the three days before non-essential retail and hospitality closed in England on 5 November were \"especially busy\" for grocers, with sales up by 17% that week.\n\n\"Limited opportunities to drink in pubs and restaurants, as well as an early eye on festivities, pushed alcohol spend 33% higher than in the same four weeks last year,\" added Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.\n\nMr McKevitt said many people had also \"begun the countdown to Christmas 2020 already, using more time at home to go big on festive revelry\".\n\n\"Sales of turkeys, both whole birds and ready-to-roast joints, are up by 36% on last year, while more than £11m was spent on Christmas puddings.\"\n\nHowever, he said mince pie sales were down by 8%, reflecting \"fewer opportunities to share a treat with friends and colleagues\".\n\nKantar said more than six million households bought groceries online in November - the highest number to date.\n\nUnderlining this, in the 12 weeks to 1 December, sales at online grocer Ocado climbed by 38% from a year earlier, making it the fastest growing of all the UK grocers.\n\nIts next closest competitors were Iceland, with sales up 21%, and Morrisons, up 13.7%.\n\nSupermarkets, which have remained open throughout the lockdowns, have seen their sales boom this year as people spend more time indoors and splash out on food. Sales have also been helped because many other retailers were closed.\n\nHowever, the supermarkets have faced criticism for taking government support while also paying dividends to shareholders, leading some of the biggest retailers to repay hundreds of millions of pounds each in business rates relief.\n\nLike Kantar, Nielsen forecasts even stronger grocery sales in December, with £1bn more spent on shop food and drink than last year.\n\nBut it said one in four shoppers intended to spend less on Christmas groceries than usual, with half saying it was because they were entertaining less, and more than a third citing financial concerns.\n\nMike Watkins, Nielsen's UK head of retailer and business insight, said: \"With the peak Christmas period fast approaching, there are limited opportunities for shoppers to entertain this year and any gatherings that do take place will be smaller.\n\n\"We can see that shoppers are preparing for this where they can - buying packaged grocery, alcohol and frozen food - and many have planned their online orders early.\"", "Three generations of royals gathered at Windsor for a festive carol service\n\nThe Queen has appeared alongside several other senior royals for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began.\n\nThe monarch, 94, welcomed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Windsor Castle following their royal train tour.\n\nPrince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall also attended the socially-distanced Christmas carol concert within the castle's grounds.\n\nThe Earl and Countess of Wessex and Princess Anne were also there.\n\nIt was confirmed last week that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will spend Christmas \"quietly\" at Windsor, rather than Her Majesty's private estate at Sandringham in Norfolk.\n\nAnd rather than a gathering of senior royals as is traditional, the Queen and Prince Phillip, 99, will spend the festive period alone after considering \"all the appropriate advice\", according to Buckingham Palace.\n\n\"Like everyone they hope things will get back to normal in 2021,\" a palace spokesman said at the time.\n\nThe Cambridge's trip on the royal train saw them thank key workers, volunteers and communities in Scotland, England and Wales.\n\nWhile there was veiled criticism from Welsh and Scottish ministers over its timing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the tour as a \"welcome morale boost\", No 10 said.\n\nOn Tuesday, Prince William and Catherine told students in Cardiff they were still wrestling with their Christmas plans and had yet to decide where or with whom they would be.\n\nThe couple have previously spent the festive period with Catherine's parents at their home in Berkshire.\n\nOn the final day of their zig-zag three-day tour of Britain, the couple met undergraduates to hear about their mental health challenges during the pandemic in Wales, and they spoke with NHS workers in Reading.\n\nThe Queen thanked the Salvation Army and other local volunteers at Tuesday evening's service at Windsor Castle\n\nAt the end of Tuesday's performance, the Queen, chatted to her family in turn and as she turned to walk up the steps back inside the castle, Prince William said: \"Bye gran.\"\n\nCommissioners Anthony and Gillian Cotterill, territorial leaders for The Salvation Army in the UK and Republic of Ireland, also came forward to speak to the Queen, who told them \"nobody's allowed to sing anymore\".\n\nChoirs are allowed to perform in the open air and Princess Anne told her mother: \"Oh, we can sing outside.\"\n\nThe Queen spoke animatedly to Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall\n\nMr Cotterill said afterwards: \"The Queen was saying she was just so happy we were able to play some carols because she thinks this will be the only time she'll be able to hear carols, and she was disappointed we didn't sing. \"\n\n\"Sometimes we're playing musicians and other times we're a choir. At an event like this, it's better to have the band as you can hear it for miles.\"\n\nThe Salvation Army's Regent Hall Band, based in London's busy Oxford Street, played Hark The Herald Angels Sing and The First Noel for the royal family.\n\nMrs Cotterill added: \"I did see the Queen mouthing some of the words - so that was nice.\"\n• None Queen and Philip to spend Christmas at Windsor", "The first people in the UK are set to receive a coronavirus jab on what has been dubbed \"V-Day\", as a mass vaccination programme begins.\n\nAbout 70 hospital hubs across the UK are gearing up to give the Pfizer/BioNTech jab to the over-80s and some health and care staff.\n\nThe programme aims to protect the most vulnerable and return life to normal.\n\nGrandfather-of-nine Dr Hari Shukla, 87, said he was \"delighted to be doing my bit\" by getting the jab on Tuesday.\n\n\"I feel it is my duty to do so and do whatever I can to help,\" said Dr Shukla, who will receive his jab at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle with his wife, Ranjan.\n\nThe UK will be the first country in the world to start using the Pfizer vaccine after regulators approved its use last week.\n\nVaccination will not be compulsory.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said there was now \"light at the end of the tunnel\".\n\n\"We will look back on today, V-day, as a key moment in our fightback against this terrible disease,\" he added.\n\nThose administering the vaccine will be the first to receive jabs in Scotland, while health workers will be first in line in Wales and Northern Ireland.\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson said: \"Today marks a huge step forward in the UK's fight against coronavirus.\"\n\nBut he added: \"As the programme ramps up in the weeks and months ahead, it is as important as ever to keep to the Covid Winter Plan - following the rules in your area and remember the basics of hands, face and space.\"\n\nMinisters have warned it could be Easter by the time restrictions are lifted in a significant way.\n\nRace relations campaigner Dr Hari Shukla, who was made a CBE in 2016, will be among the first to receive the Covid vaccine\n\nNHS England's chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said the vaccinations were a \"decisive turning point in the battle against coronavirus\" and will continue \"at least until spring\", urging people to be \"very careful\" before then.\n\nMore than 60,000 people in the UK have died after being infected with Covid-19, according to government figures.\n\nThe government has secured 800,000 doses of this vaccine to start with, but orders have been placed for 40 million in total, enough for 20 million people as two courses are needed.\n\nThe majority of that is not expected to become available until next year, although government sources said another four million doses should arrive in the country by the end of the year.\n\nThese freezers, at a secure location in the UK, can each hold more than more than 80,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine\n\nThe government had initially been promised 10 million doses by the end of December, but problems with manufacturing mean the supply is going to be slower than originally hoped for.\n\nRefrigerated containers holding the vaccine doses have been arriving in the UK over the past few days from Belgium, where it is made, and sent to the network of hospitals that will carry out the vaccinations.\n\nChris Hopson of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, said there had been an \"incredible effort\" to start the vaccination programme so quickly given that the vaccine was only approved for use in the UK last week.\n\n\"This is our wonderful NHS in action,\" he added.\n\nHospital patients over the age of 80 are among the first people who will get the jab on Tuesday, along with the NHS staff who are carrying out the vaccinations.\n\nSome of the most at-risk NHS staff will also be offered the vaccine and, in the coming days, care homes will be able to book their staff in for vaccination.\n\nBut rollout of the jab has been complicated by the need to store it at -70C and that it comes in packs of 975 doses, which cannot yet be split into smaller batches.\n\nThat has meant it has not been possible to offer it to care home residents in the first phase of rollout, despite the government's vaccine advisers designating them the highest priority.\n\nThe NHS is awaiting guidance from the drugs regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, to see what steps are needed to allow these batches to be split and sent to individual care homes.\n\nThat is expected to come in mid-December, which will pave the way for the vaccine to be offered to care homes and distributed to more than 1,000 designated GP centres.\n\nMass vaccination centres at conference centres, sports stadiums and leisure centres are also expected to be established next year.\n\nThe vaccine is given as two injections, 21 days apart, with the second dose being a booster. Immunity begins to kick in after the first dose but reaches its full effect seven days after the second dose.\n\nMost of the side-effects are very mild, similar to the side-effects after any other vaccine, and usually last for a day or so.\n\nThe vaccine was 95% effective for all groups in the trials, including elderly people.\n\nBut it is not yet known how long the immunity it provides lasts, or whether it stops people from passing the virus on to others.\n\nClive Dix, deputy chair of the government's vaccine taskforce, said: \"We may have to vaccinate every year like we do for the flu.\"\n\nBut he said getting to this point was a \"great achievement\" as vaccine development could take 10 years, but had been achieved in 10 months.\n\nThe hope is that the bulk of the most vulnerable groups will be offered a coronavirus jab in the first few months of 2021. But achieving that is likely to require approval of a second vaccine made by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.\n\nThe government has pre-ordered 100 million doses of that jab, which is easier to distribute because is does not need to be kept in ultra-cold storage and is made in the UK. The MHRA is currently assessing the data from trials on that vaccine.\n\nVaccination to protect people from coronavirus in the UK has been promised to all over-50s, as well as younger adults with underlying health conditions - about 25 million people in total.\n\nDo you have an appointment to be vaccinated? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "UK scientists are planning trials to see if giving people two different types of Covid vaccine, one after the other, might give better protection than two doses of one jab.\n\nThis mix-and-match approach can go ahead only if another jab is approved by regulators, as has already happened with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.\n\nThe head of the UK's vaccine task force said trial designs were being prepared.\n\nThe news comes as the NHS starts its Covid mass vaccination programme.\n\nA 90-year-old woman, Margaret Keenan, has become the first person to be given the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as part of the rollout across the UK.\n\nMs Keenan, who is originally from Enniskillen, said: \"I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19. It's the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year.\"\n\nThat vaccine, given as two doses a few weeks apart, offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness, according to data.\n\nAlthough that is a very impressive figure, experts want to explore whether the immune response can be strengthened further and made more durable with a mix-and-match \"heterologous boost\" approach.\n\nKate Bingham, who chairs the vaccine task force, said: \"It's an established process.\n\n\"It's not being done because of supplies.\"\n\nThere is another Covid jab that could soon be approved by regulators - the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.\n\nThis works in a slightly different way to the Pfizer jab which could make it a good companion for pairing, say scientists.\n\nThe Pfizer vaccine uses a small amount of genetic code from the pandemic virus to teach the body how to fight off an infection, while the Oxford one is a genetically modified virus that has been altered so it won't cause infection but does carry information on how to beat Covid.\n\nThe idea is to give people a shot of the Pfizer vaccine followed by a dose of the Oxford one a few weeks later or vice versa, rather than two doses of the same vaccine.\n\nThe hope is that it will make the immune system produce two responses strongly - antibodies and T-cells - to combat Covid.", "An Italian man stepped outside to cool off after quarrelling with his wife - and ended up walking 450km (280 miles).\n\nItalians have nicknamed him \"Forrest Gump\" on social media, after the slow-witted hero of a 1994 movie, played by Tom Hanks, who runs thousands of miles across the United States.\n\nPolice stopped the Italian's epic walk at 2am in Fano on the Adriatic coast, a week after he left Como in the north.\n\nThe man, 48, got a €400 (£362; $485) police fine for breaching the curfew.\n\nThe story was first reported by the Bologna-based newspaper Il Resto del Carlino but quickly went viral in Italian media.\n\nSome comments on social media presented the man as heroic and criticised the fine. One said he should have been rewarded - not fined - and given a new pair of shoes. Another praised him for walking off to cool his anger, rather than resorting to violence.\n\nThe man told police \"I came here on foot, I didn't use any transport\". He said \"along the way I met people who offered me food and drink\". \"I'm OK, just a bit tired,\" he said, having averaged 60km daily.\n\nPolice found him wandering aimlessly and cold at night on a coastal highway.\n\nAfter checking his ID in their database they found that his wife had reported him missing, so they contacted her and she travelled to Fano to collect him.\n\nThe Italian reports did not say how she reacted upon learning that he had picked up a €400 fine.\n\nWATCH: How Italians struggled with lockdown in April:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The mental health toll as Italians struggle to cope with Europe's strictest and longest-running lockdown", "There is nothing surprising about the prime minister going to Brussels in the closing throes of a negotiation that's lasted many months.\n\nThat's a standard piece of political choreography - essentially, the bosses get to sign it off, and get their \"grip and grin\" moment.\n\nThe big headlines of drama, before the last-minute victory.\n\nIt was only the personal chemistry/diplomatic charm/tough muscle-flexing of the politician at the top of the tree (delete as applicable) that got his almost impossible deal over the final line.\n\nThe saga may well follow that well-worn script in the end.\n\nIt is still possible that by the end of the week, Boris Johnson will head to Brussels and return the conquering hero to his supporters, proving the naysayers who told him a deal couldn't be done wrong, again.\n\nMaking his many detractors gnash their teeth, he would prove the politician who seems to court disaster, but whose toast always lands butter side up in the end.\n\nBut as I write tonight, it just doesn't feel that way.\n\nFirst off, Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have spent a significant amount of time talking in the last few days.\n\nYes, it's been virtual. And yes, the chemistry in the room does matter, of course.\n\nBut the two principals here have had two very lengthy private individual exchanges that don't seem to have resulted in any willingness on either side to compromise, or new instructions to their negotiators to budge.\n\nWhat is it that they will suddenly be able to realise or discover in the meeting - perhaps on Wednesday or Friday this week - that they haven't yet?\n\nBoris Johnson rang Ursula von der Leyen for the second time in a week on Monday.\n\nNext, as their official statement makes plain, their conversations have not been about a few pesky details that need to be ironed out.\n\nThey have made plain that the official negotiations have basically been exhausted and there are still big gaps.\n\nTrue, there is only a tiny circle of people who know exactly what is going on.\n\nBut the messages coming out from the centre are that much more than a nip and tuck is required to get this done.\n\nThey haven't asked their negotiators to have another go. They've asked them to sit down and make a list of all the things that are wrong.\n\nIn tone, it's very different to previous such moments, when the leaders were required to put the icing on a cake that was very nearly baked.\n\nAnd lastly, the expectations regarding an agreement have really shifted since this time last week. Even former strong Remainers now in the cabinet totally accept the notion of no agreement being reached.\n\nOne of them told me: \"If it fails, it wouldn't be fair to point the finger at London as the villain of the piece. The uniform approach of the EU suddenly looks very ropey, and they have been left exposed.\"\n\nAnother said \"everyone is just so fed up\" of \"EU game playing\".\n\nInside the government, it doesn't seem there would be an effort to stop the prime minister if he decides to walk away.\n\nOn the EU side, hopes aren't high about what can be achieved by the two leaders when they meet.\n\nOne source said: \"It feels like Saint Nick didn't bring you what you wanted, and we keep hoping every day he may after all.\"\n\nNow, before you scream, the two sides both still want a deal of course. And it makes sense to the EU and the UK to find an agreement.\n\nNot to do so would affect the economy, security, Northern Ireland, and so much more.\n\nAnd for the vast majority of those involved, to fail in this endeavour would be a historic political accident.\n\nBut sentiment is drifting away from a happy conclusion.\n\nIt's not obvious that a face-to-face meeting between two very different politicians will turn that back.\n• None What does Australia have to do with Brexit?", "Millwall and QPR players to stand arm-in-arm in 'show of solidarity' before Tuesday's match Last updated on .From the section Millwall\n\nMillwall players were booed when they took a knee before Saturday's match against Derby Millwall players will not take a knee before Tuesday's Championship fixture against QPR but will stand arm-in-arm in a \"show of solidarity for football's fight against discrimination\". It comes after some Millwall fans booed the players taking a knee before Saturday's defeat by Derby at The Den. Players of both teams will collectively hold up an anti-racism banner. Millwall's regular shirt sponsor will be replaced with the logo of anti-discrimination body Kick It Out. In a statement, Millwall said: \"Millwall believe that this gesture, which the club hopes to repeat with other visiting teams in the coming weeks and months, will help to unify people throughout society in the battle to root out all forms of discrimination. \"Millwall have a zero-tolerance policy against racial and all other forms of discrimination and want to again make clear to anybody who holds such views that you are not welcome at this football club. Millwall's stance, as always, is that anybody found guilty of racial abuse is banned for life.\" The decision came after a meeting on Monday between both clubs, Kick It Out, Show Racism The Red Card, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), the Football Association (FA) and the English Football League (EFL). In a statement, the EFL welcomed the decision of both clubs to \"continue to raise awareness of inequality and discrimination facing society\". \"Discrimination in any form is unacceptable and not welcome within our game or our communities - not today or any day,\" the statement said. \"Players often receive widespread criticism and negativity for merely doing their jobs but here they are leading the way, trying to effect positive change and they should be applauded for taking a stand, showing solidarity and setting an example for others to follow.\" Taking the knee is showing solidarity, not a political statement - Southgate Some QPR players will take the knee before Tuesday's game at The Den, despite having stopped the gesture earlier this season after director of football Les Ferdinand said its impact had \"been diluted\". Players, officials and staff at Premier League and EFL games have been taking a knee pre-match since football restarted in June in order to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement for racial equality. The Den was able to host 2,000 home fans for the first time this season after the second national lockdown was lifted but the return of spectators was overshadowed by the booing, with which Millwall said they were \"dismayed and saddened\". The Millwall Supporters' Club said the booing was not motivated by racism, but instead in opposition to the political views held by the Black Lives Matter organisation. The FA has confirmed it is investigating the incident at Millwall, and a similar one at Colchester United's League Two game against Grimsby Town. If it finds that the actions were discriminatory, the clubs could face fines. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club, former England defender Micah Richards said booing is \"not acceptable\". \"Millwall fans, from their point of view, this whole movement is becoming political. They're saying they don't think the players at their club should want to kneel because of what Black Lives Matter represents in their mind,\" he said. \"If they're booing that, it's not acceptable, but it's free speech and that is their opinion, but I think people are taking Black Lives Matter in a different context and changing the actual narrative of what it's all about. \"When the players are taking the knee they are not saying black lives matter and they are any better than white lives, they are trying to say it's a stand for equality and unity and that is why they are taking the knee.\" Sources described this evening's meeting as \"difficult but productive\". It is understood the PFA was critical of the EFL's perceived lack of involvement, a feeling many at the club share, having told it beforehand of what they feared was likely to happen at The Den on Saturday. There are many unanswered questions for football and Millwall in particular and evidently solutions will not be easy. However, the sense of desperation hanging round the club on Monday has now been replaced by a mixture of trepidation and optimism. No-one at the club can be entirely sure of what will happen when the QPR players take a knee as planned before kick-off but the noises among fans on social media who backed the booing on Saturday is that these measures should be supported. Millwall can only hope this is what happens. Because if what happened on Saturday is repeated, even insiders know the damage to the club will be catastrophic.\n• None Missed out on the weekend's Premier League action? All the goals and highlights are streaming now", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Margaret Keenan was given the vaccine by May Parsons, at University Hospital in Coventry\n\nA UK grandmother has become the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.\n\nMargaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said the injection she received at 06:31 GMT was the \"best early birthday present\".\n\nIt was the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be dispensed in the coming weeks.\n\nUp to four million more are expected by the end of the month.\n\nHubs in the UK are starting the rollout by vaccinating the over-80s and some health and care staff.\n\nSenior NHS sources told the BBC \"thousands of vaccinations\" had taken place across the UK on Tuesday.\n\nDubbing the day \"V-day\", Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was \"a tribute to scientific endeavour and human ingenuity and to the hard work of so many people.\n\n\"Today marks the start of the fightback against our common enemy, the coronavirus,\" he said.\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson, on a visit to a London hospital to see some of the first people getting the jab, said getting vaccinated was \"good for you and good for the whole country\".\n\nScotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: \"Today we should all allow ourselves a smile - but we must not drop our guard.\"\n\nOn Tuesday, the UK government reported a further 616 people had died within 28 days of a positive test, taking the total, by that measure, to 62,033. A further 12,282 people tested positive for the virus.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How the vaccine rollout unfolded – and how a certain William Shakespeare was involved\n\nAt University Hospital, Coventry, matron May Parsons administered the very first injection to Ms Keenan.\n\n\"I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19,\" said Ms Keenan, who is originally from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.\n\n\"It's the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year, after being on my own for most of the year.\n\n\"My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it. If I can have it at 90, then you can have it too,\" she added.\n\nProf Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, who witnessed the \"historic moment\", said: \"We couldn't hug her but we could clap, and everybody did so in the room.\"\n\nAn emotional Sister Joanna Sloan said she had been looking forward to the vaccine for so long\n\nThroughout the day, patients and health workers at some 50 hospitals around the UK have been getting the jab:\n\nThe UK is the first country in the world to start using the Pfizer vaccine after regulators approved its use last week.\n\nOn Tuesday, US regulators confirmed the vaccine is 95% effective, paving the way for it to be approved for emergency use.\n\nThe Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has also been found to be \"safe and effective\", according to a paper published on Tuesday and assessed by independent scientists.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Matt Hancock says he is thrilled but warns that people must still stick to the rules\n\nSpeaking in the Commons, the health secretary stressed people did not need to apply for the vaccine. He said the NHS would be in touch with those eligible and urged them to \"please step forward for your country\".\n\nMr Hancock went on to warn that there was \"still a long march ahead\", saying there were \"worrying signs\" of the virus growing in Essex, London and Kent.\n\nNew data released by national statisticians for the week ending 27 November showed that of the 14,106 deaths registered in the UK, nearly 3,400 involved Covid. This is 20% higher than the five-year average but similar to the percentages seen in the past two weeks.\n\nNHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens called the first vaccinations \"remarkable achievement\", but cautioned it was a \"first step\" and \"incredibly important\" people continued to act sensibly.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson: 'It will gradually make a huge, huge difference... but we haven't defeated this virus yet\"\n\nOn a visit to London's Guy's Hospital, the prime minister spoke to 81-year-old Lyn Wheeler, who was the first to receive the vaccine there.\n\n\"It is really very moving to hear her say she is doing it for Britain, which is exactly right - she is protecting herself, but also helping to protect the entire country,\" Mr Johnson said.\n\nEarlier, he thanked the NHS, volunteers and \"all of the scientists who worked so hard to develop this vaccine\".\n\nLabour's shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said it was \"absolutely fabulous\" to see people getting the vaccine and thanked everyone involved in making it happen.\n\nSome 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been secured by the government to be administered in the coming weeks - although vaccination is not compulsory.\n\nOrders have been placed for 40 million in total - enough for 20 million people, as two courses are needed. However, most supplies are not expected to become available until next year.\n\nMr Hancock said he expected it to take \"several weeks\" to get the first group of health workers, care staff and over-80s vaccinated.\n\nThis is a momentous day, but make no mistake the NHS faces a huge task in rolling out this vaccine.\n\nFirst, there needs to be a smooth supply - and already there are reports of manufacturing problems, which means the UK is expecting less than half of the 10 million doses of the Pfizer jab it was planning for by the end of the year.\n\nThe fact it needs to be kept in ultra-cold storage and in batches of 975 units is an added complication that has meant it cannot yet be taken into care homes to vaccinate residents - the very highest priority group - or sent out to GPs to run vaccination clinics in the community.\n\nNHS bosses hope to receive guidance from the regulator next week on how to get around this.\n\nBut these factors illustrate why the UK is still pinning its hopes on a second vaccine developed by Oxford University.\n\nThat one can be kept in fridges and so is easier to distribute, is British-made and - what is more - there is an ever-growing stockpile ready to use.\n\nIf that vaccine gets the green light from regulators, there will be a genuine hope the first few months of 2021 will see rapid progress in offering jabs to the most vulnerable people, so the UK can return to something closer to normality.\n\nAre you receiving the Covid-19 vaccine today? Or do you have any questions? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "More than 127,000 people in the UK who contracted coronavirus have lost their lives - with the pandemic claiming more than 3.4 million deaths worldwide. As the UK marks a year since the first coronavirus lockdown was called, it's a time for reflection.\n\nWe have gathered tributes to more than 770 of those who have died. Below are words of remembrance from friends, family and colleagues.\n\nPlease enable JavaScript or upgrade your browser to see this interactive\n\nThe tributes are displayed at random, which means that you will see different faces each time you visit this page.\n\nIf we have used your tribute to your friend or family member, it will appear in the carousel above, or you can find it by entering their name in the search box below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. Enter a name to search the tributes\n\nFor more on NHS and healthcare workers, please see this page dedicated to 100 people who died while helping to look after others.\n\nFor more on how it has affected people's lives, from family tragedy to its impact on everyday life, we have a collection of personal stories about life in lockdown.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Chris and Henry Flanagan-Kane are one of 1,300 same-sex couples in Northern Ireland who can now convert their civil partnerships into marriages\n\nChris and Henry Flanagan-Kane were the first gay men in the UK to get a civil partnership back in 2005.\n\nBut they were left in a legal limbo when the laws were changed to allow same-sex couples to get married in NI.\n\nThose already in civil partnerships were denied the retrospective right to marriage, sparking a long legal battle.\n\nAs of Monday, more than 1,300 same-sex couples in Northern Ireland can convert their civil partnerships into marriages.\n\nThe Flanagan-Kanes were among the first going through the process.\n\nFinance Minister Conor Murphy said 17 couples were expected to convert their civil partnerships to marriages on Monday, with a total of 32 planned for this week.\n\nMr Murphy said that as \"a gesture of support\", he had waived the conversion fee for those couples and for all couples who wish to convert their civil partnership to a marriage for a year.\n\nLooking forward to their ceremony, Chris said it was worth the court case to finally have their love recognised as equal.\n\n\"Love is love,\" he said. \"If you fall in love, you want to get married and want the same rights as our heterosexual brothers and sisters.\n\n\"But in Northern Ireland we were denied the right to have equal marriage.\"\n\nChris and Henry Flanagan-Kane with their son Aodhan\n\nIn 2005, they initially thought they would only be able to get a blessing as a recognition they were a couple.\n\nBut a chance phone call revealed they could actually be the first to use the new rights to a same-sex civil partnership.\n\n\"We come from a strong family unit and we always grew up believing that when you met somebody and you fall in love you go and get married,\" said Chris.\n\n\"Unfortunately we couldn't, but the next best thing then was to get a civil partnership so we waited for that.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'This is just a day of equality' - civil partnerships can now be converted to marriages in NI\n\nAnother important thing for the Flanagan-Kanes was to become parents together - but adoption for same-sex couples in Northern Ireland was banned until 2013.\n\nWhen the ban was lifted and they successfully adopted their two children - Aodhan, eight, and Evelyn, two - Chris said they found there was still \"discrimination\" around civil partnerships.\n\nHe said: \"When we were filling in primary school forms and ticking a civil partnership box, you were kind of setting yourself up for discrimination before anyone had even met you.\n\n\"We were going in somewhere with a big flashing sign saying 'I'm gay' - so other people with opinions on that or who were prejudiced against that, they were forming them already before they had even met you.\n\n\"So that was a big thing for us as well, about getting full, equal marriage rights.\"\n\nThat experience meant the new parents increasingly felt they needed to be married as opposed to being in a civil partnership.\n\nChris said they did not want their children to grow up feeling their family was not worth as much as other families.\n\n\"It was for the kids and for the future,\" he said.\n\n\"We don't want our kids growing up thinking we're not equal to everyone else in the world, that we're lesser people or we're doing something wrong.\n\n\"We'll have been in a civil partnership 15 years next month, we've got two kids - you know what, we're doing better than some heterosexual couples and we've lasted a lot longer too.\"\n\nThey teamed up with a lesbian couple in the same predicament, crowdfunded legal fees and took the NI Office to court over the decision not to allow conversions.\n\nChris and Henry Flanagan-Kane at their civil partnership ceremony in 2005\n\nNew regulations to allow conversions from 7 December were introduced to Parliament in October by Northern Ireland minister Robin Walker.\n\nSo on Monday, the Flanagan-Kanes will be able to hold their marriage ceremony at Belfast City Hall, which will be retrospectively applied back to 2005.\n\nThat means they can celebrate their 15th anniversary on 19 December as an officially married couple.\n\n\"It's been a long, long slog,\" he said.\n\n\"It's been through a lot of people fighting behind the scenes to try and get these rights.\n\n\"We're not asking for anything special - we're just looking for the same human rights as everyone else.\"", "Earlier, we reported that a Welsh government minister said he would rather \"no-one was having unnecessary visits\" amid a royal UK tour.\n\nNow Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's royal train tour is a \"welcome morale boost\", according to No 10.\n\nIt comes after Downing Street officials initially refused to say it complied with coronavirus restrictions.\n\nThe prime minister's official spokesman said the tour was a \"matter for the palace\".\n\nChallenged on whether the royal couple had complied with the rules, the spokesman said: \"I'm making the general point that we have set out the regionalised tier system that is now in place and the guidance that we are asking people to abide by.\"\n\nIn response to a suggestion that No 10 was refusing to give its backing to the couple's trip, the spokesman said: \"I would point you towards the palace.\"\n\nBut an hour after the comments in a Westminster briefing, a statement issued by No 10 confirmed Johnson's support.\n\nA No 10 spokesman said: \"The PM is delighted to see the warm reception the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have received on their hugely valuable train tour of England, Scotland and Wales.\n\n\"The tour will be a welcome morale boost to frontline workers who have done so much during the pandemic.\"", "Last updated on .From the section Millwall\n\nMillwall fans applauded as their team and QPR players came together to hold an anti-racism banner before Tuesday's Championship match at The Den, days after booing them for taking a knee.\n\nPlayers were booed as they took a knee before Saturday's defeat by Derby.\n\nMillwall's players did not take a knee before kick-off on Tuesday but QPR's players did, despite stopping the gesture earlier this season.\n\nMillwall said it was \"one of the most important days in the club's history\".\n\nIn a letter handed to fans in attendance, they added: \"The eyes of the world are on this football club tonight - your club - and they want us to fail.\n\n\"Together as one, we will not let that happen.\"\n\nAfter the 1-1 draw, Millwall manager Gary Rowett told Sky Sports: \"I thought it was a very positive stance. I am proud of everybody at the club, because it has been a difficult few days.\n\n\"People perhaps turned up and tuned in tonight expecting - and possibly hoping - for a negative evening against Millwall Football Club.\n\n\"What we have proved tonight is that I believe the fans are behind our anti-discrimination message.\"\n\nQPR's Ilias Chair celebrating his opening goal by taking a knee and raising a fist in front of the Millwall fans, along with team-mate Bright Osayi-Samuel.\n\n\"[We] felt that we needed to do that - especially here,\" Chair told Sky Sports. \"So I think it was a good thing to do.\"\n\nMillwall defender Mahlon Romeo, who said Saturday's booing had \"personally disrespected\" and \"offended\" him, led the team out in front of captain Alex Pearce.\n\nAfter the match Romeo was applauded off the pitch as he held his shirt aloft. Millwall's regular shirt sponsor had been replaced with the logo of anti-discrimination body Kick It Out.\n\n\"He was sat in a meeting yesterday until six o'clock in the evening,\" Rowett added.\n\n\"I am proud of him. Not only [for] the way he spoke intelligently in that meeting and passionately, but also his response tonight and the fact that he has contributed hugely, for me, [to] a far more positive message and far more proactive message and far more positive evening - certainly than we had Saturday. I think he should be applauded for that.\"\n\nBefore the kick-off, players from both clubs stood arm-in-arm behind a banner with the same 'Inequality. United for change' message displayed on the big screen at The Den.\n\nThe decision to hold up the banner came after a meeting on Monday between both clubs, Kick It Out, Show Racism The Red Card, the Professional Footballers' Association, the Football Association and the English Football League (EFL).\n\nPlayers, officials and staff at Premier League and EFL games have been taking a knee pre-match since football restarted in June in order to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement for racial equality.\n\nThe famous Millwall chant goes \"no-one likes us, we don't care\". But Tuesday night was different - there were nerves in the air in this corner of south London.\n\nA taxi driver shouted at our camera crew, telling us we should be focusing on far bigger issues than \"a few boos\". Some fans told us their club needed to do more to tackle societal issues of racism.\n\nThose among the 2,000 heading into The Den were handed a statement claiming all eyes of the world were on them. It added, bizarrely, that they \"want us to fail\".\n\nIt was claimed the statement was written without the backing of the club's chief executive, but the siege mentality clearly worked.\n\nAs the players linked arms and displayed an anti-racism banner, they were loudly clapped and cheered. It continued as some chose to take the knee. The club breathed a sigh of relief.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sadiq Khan: \"None of us want tier 3\"\n\nLondoners have been urged to \"stick by the rules\" amid fears the capital may be put into tier three restrictions following a rise in Covid-19 cases.\n\nThree in four of the capital's boroughs registered an increase in coronavirus cases in the week to 4 December.\n\nOuter London now has a higher infection rate than some areas in tier three, according to Public Health England (PHE) figures.\n\nOfficials are due to meet on 16 December to review the tier system.\n\nLondon has been under tier two restrictions since 2 December, after the month-long England wide lockdown.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock was asked on an LBC radio phone-in whether the capital was close to going into tier three .\n\n\"My message to everybody in London is let's stick by the rules and not push the boundaries of the rules,\" he said.\n\n\"The case numbers are going up in parts of London, in parts of Essex, in parts of Kent, and we know what happens when case numbers go up, sadly more people end up in hospital and more people end up dying.\"\n\nMayor of London Sadiq Khan also called for people to \"continue to follow the rules\".\n\nPHE data shows 21 of London's 32 boroughs have infection rates higher than overall rate for England of 150 cases per 100,000 people.\n\nTaken together, London's outer boroughs have an infection rate of 205 cases per 100,000 - higher than the current rate in Leicestershire, Tees Valley or Bristol, all of which are in tier three restrictions.\n\nOne London restaurant owner said entering tier three during Christmas \"could be the last nail in our coffin\".\n\nUnder the rules, pubs and restaurants are allowed to open for a takeaway service only.\n\nSuleman Raza, who was named Curry King of the year in 2019, said: \"We've already lost so much business throughout the year we needed Christmas to be busy.\n\n\"We were looking forward to Christmas covering our losses.\"\n\nSuleman Raza runs several restaurants in south and west London\n\nRobin Smith, chair of Berwick Street Traders, said \"if we go into tier three the West End is screwed\".\n\nMr Smith, who owns several businesses in Soho, said \"we've nearly been getting back to business and getting money coming in this last week\".\n\nHe added: \"If we lose it now we're done for. Soho and the West End has no residential base, so we're reliant on people coming in to shop, eat and use the hotels.\"\n\nShoppers embraced a pedestrianised Regent Street in central London on the first weekend of tier two restrictions\n\nMr Khan said he was \"really worried\" about the impact moving into tier three would have on hospitality and shops.\n\n\"What none of us wants is to go into tier three. What none of us wants is for the virus to continue to spread,\" the mayor said.\n\nHe added it was particularly worrying that the latest increase in numbers had come during the last national lockdown and he had spoken to the health secretary and borough leaders about the issue.\n\nMatt Hancock called on Londoners to \"stick by the rules\" to prevent more people ending up in hospital\n\nAreas in the South East and London are now regularly seeing some of the highest coronavirus infection rates in England.\n\nThirteen out of the 20 places with the highest rates were from these regions in the week to 4 December. A month ago, no areas from these regions were in the top 100.\n\nKent accounts for eight of those 13 areas, with Swale currently seeing the highest infection rate in England of about 604 cases per 100,000 people.\n\nFor context, the rate across England overall was just over 150 per 100,000 over the same period.\n\nIn London, the borough of Havering saw the highest rate at 362 per 100,000 - and climbing.\n\nThe virus in these regions seems to have been spreading prior to England's second national lockdown, with cases increasing three to four weeks ago.\n\nMany parts of the country saw a drop or levelling off in infections for a few weeks after this point, but more recently the virus has started to spread again.\n\nShoppers flocked to high streets and shopping malls across London on the first weekend after restrictions eased but in numbers well below pre-pandemic levels.\n\nAny effect of an increase in contacts between people will not be seen for several days.\n\nDeaths of patients with coronavirus in London have dropped drastically from early April's peak.\n\nProf Kevin Fenton, London regional director for PHE, said: \"The latest data shows case rates are on the increase again in most London boroughs, including in the at-risk over 60s.\n\n\"Covid-19 behaves like clockwork - the more contact we have with others, the higher the chance of us catching or spreading the virus.\n\n\"If we want to keep infections down, every one of us needs to remain vigilant and follow the rules as we go about shopping, eating out or meeting friends outdoors.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "General Lloyd Austin would need a special waiver from Congress because he retired less than seven years ago\n\nUS President-elect Joe Biden has chosen retired General Lloyd Austin as his defence secretary.\n\nIf approved, the 67-year-old who retired in 2016 would become the first African-American to lead the Pentagon.\n\nHe would need a congressional waiver as seven years are required between active duty and becoming military chief.\n\nMr Biden has been facing calls including from Democratic Asian, Black and Latino caucuses to nominate minorities to senior cabinet posts.\n\nVeteran Pentagon official Michèle Flournoy, who would have been the first woman to hold the position, had also been considered a front-runner - as well as Jeh Johnson, a former Pentagon general counsel and former secretary of homeland security.\n\nFour-star Gen Austin served under the Obama administration, leading the US Central Command, whose area of responsibility includes the Middle East, Central Asia and part of South Asia, between 2013 and 2016. He was the main military architect of the US-led offensive against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.\n\nBefore that he was vice-chief of staff of the Army and the last commanding general of the US forces in Iraq. During these years he worked closely with Mr Biden, who was vice-president in the Barack Obama administration.\n\nIn an Atlantic magazine op-ed defending his choice, Mr Biden wrote: \"I've spent countless hours with him, in the field and in the White House Situation Room. I've sought his advice, seen his command, and admired his calm and his character. He is the definition of a patriot.\"\n\nGen Austin has a reputation for strong leadership and for avoiding the public eye, giving few interviews and opting to not speak publicly about military operations.\n\nJoe Biden and Gen Lloyd Austin - pictured here in Iraq in 2011 - worked closely together during the Obama administration\n\nGen Austin had once been viewed as a long-shot candidate but in recent days emerged as a top-tier contender and a safe choice.\n\nBut the nomination could draw criticism from some progressive groups over Gen Austin's position in recent years as a member of the board of directors of defence contractor Raytheon and opposition from lawmakers in Congress who favour a clear civilian control of the Pentagon.\n\nThe required congressional waiver has been granted only twice, most recently in the case of James Mattis, the retired Marine general who served as President Donald Trump's first defence secretary.\n\nAsking Congress to issue the needed waiver, Mr Biden wrote: \"The next secretary of defence will need to immediately quarterback an enormous logistics operation to help distribute Covid-19 vaccines widely and equitably.\n\n\"Austin oversaw the largest logistical operation undertaken by the Army in six decades - the Iraq drawdown.\"\n\nThe president-elect offered and Gen Austin accepted the post on Sunday, reports said.\n\nNews of the nomination emerged ahead of a meeting between Mr Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and civil rights groups on Tuesday. Rev Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist, said the decision was \"a step in the right direction but not the end of the walk\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How are Biden voters in a Trump heartland dealing with the election aftermath?\n\nThe decision comes two weeks after Mr Biden announced other senior members of his national security team.\n\nMr Biden defeated Republican President Trump in the 3 November election. The president continues to refuse to accept defeat in the election, alleging, without evidence, there has been widespread fraud.", "Pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops have been closed across much of the west of Scotland since 20 November\n\nAll 11 areas living under Scotland's toughest level four coronavirus restrictions are to be downgraded to level three, it has been confirmed.\n\nThe move means that non-essential shops and many other businesses across much of western and central Scotland will be able to reopen from Friday.\n\nMore than two million people have been subject to the level four restrictions since 20 November.\n\nInfection rates in all 11 council areas have fallen since then.\n\nIt has also been confirmed that three level three areas - Inverclyde, Falkirk and Angus - will move down to level two.\n\nAnd both Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders will move to level one from level two.\n\nAll of the country's other council areas will remain in their current levels.\n\nRetail premises which have been closed under the level four restrictions will be allowed to re-open from 06:00 on Friday, with the other restrictions being eased from 18:00 on the same day.\n\nBut hospitality businesses in level three areas must close their doors by 18:00 - meaning they will have to wait until Saturday to welcome back customers for food and non-alcoholic drinks.\n\nAnnouncing the changes in the Scottish Parliament, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged people to \"continue to exercise care and caution\".\n\nAnd she said that travel restrictions will remain in place, meaning that people should not travel in or out of level three areas unless it is essential.\n\nPeople living outside of Glasgow should therefore not travel to the city for Christmas shopping when stores reopen on Friday, for example.\n\nMs Sturgeon added: \"As we know from our experience of Covid so far, progress can very easily go into reverse.\n\n\"So please continue to abide by the rules. That means, in particular, not visiting other people's houses.\"\n\nThe first minister also told MSPs that she considered moving Edinburgh down to level two - but the closeness to the Christmas period meant that this did not happen.\n\nShe also said the government was closely monitoring Clackmannanshire, which is remaining in level three for now despite having the highest number of confirmed cases per 100,000 in the country.\n\nMs Sturgeon said it was thought that the sharp rise in case numbers could be attributed to a mass testing pilot that is being carried out there, adding: \"The issue is more cases being identified rather than a rise in transmission.\"\n\nThere had been concern that Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire could move from level two to level three - but Ms Sturgeon said cases in both areas had dropped slightly in recent days.\n\nHowever, she said the situation would be monitored very carefully, with a move to level three not being ruled out in the weeks ahead.\n\nThe first minister said further support for businesses affected by the restrictions would be announced on Wednesday.\n\nScottish Conservative group leader Ruth Davidson said businesses in areas such as Edinburgh, which have relatively low case numbers, would find it a \"bitter pill to swallow\" that restrictions would not be eased because \"ironically they might get too much trade\" ahead of Christmas.\n\nScottish Labour leader Richard Leonard also criticised the decision not to move Edinburgh down to level two when the data appeared to show the infection was under greater control there than in other parts of the country.\n\nThe first vaccinations against the virus started on Tuesday morning\n\nThe announcement on the country's restriction levels came as vaccinations began at sites across Scotland.\n\nAn initial batch of 65,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine arrived in Scotland at the weekend - with those who will be giving the vaccine to others being the first to be injected with it.\n\nMs Sturgeon said the vaccination programme presents the \"beginning of the end\" of the pandemic.\n\nBut she urged people to continue to think about how to keep themselves and others safe in the meantime.\n\nThe deaths of a further 33 people who had tested positive for the virus have been recorded in the past 24 hours, alongside an additional 692 positive tests.", "Talks to reach a post-Brexit trade deal have been paused, because UK and EU negotiators say \"significant divergences\" remain.\n\nMichel Barnier and David Frost said conditions for a deal between the two sides have not been met.\n\nEuropean Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen and PM Boris Johnson will discuss the state of play on Saturday.\n\nState aid subsidies, fishing and enforcement of new rules remain the key sticking points in negotiations.\n\nIf a deal is not agreed by 31 December, the two sides will trade on World Trade Organization rules, meaning the introduction of taxes on imports.\n\nReleasing identical statements on Twitter, Mr Barnier and Lord Frost said: \"After one week of intense negotiation in London, the two chief negotiators agreed today that the conditions for an agreement are not met, due to significant divergences on level playing field, governance and fisheries.\n\n\"On this basis, they agreed to pause the talks in order to brief their principals on the state of play of the negotiations.\"\n\nMr Barnier is negotiating on behalf of the 27 EU member states and can only act within the mandate set by their leaders.\n\nA senior UK government source told BBC News the statement shows how far apart both sides are and that the trade talks have run into problems.\n\nEarlier, Boris Johnson's spokesman said the government was \"committed to working hard to try and reach agreement\" but emphasised that the UK couldn't \"agree a deal that doesn't allow us to take back control\".\n\nHe added that \"time is in very short supply and we are at a very difficult point in talks\".\n\nThe Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said it was important for the 27 EU member states to give negotiators \"the space to conclude these talks\". He added that he \"fervently hoped\" a trade deal can be agreed.\n\nMeanwhile, France's Europe minister, Clement Beaune, warned that his country could \"veto\" a deal if it did not satisfy their demands.\n\nThe European Parliament would need to ratify any deal before it can be implemented and UK MPs are likely to get the chance to vote on legislation implementing the agreement.\n\nAnd the 27 EU national parliaments could also need to ratify an agreement - depending on the actual contents of the deal.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Diana Isajeva has taken social media in her search to find a live kidney donor\n\n\"I am faced with the reality that my heart may stop and I might not wake up tomorrow.\"\n\nDiana Isajeva has taken to Facebook and social networking app Nextdoor in her search to find a live kidney donor.\n\nThe 27-year-old, from Leckwith, Cardiff, had complete kidney failure during the coronavirus lockdown.\n\nThe Welsh Government said doctors had to balance the need for a transplant with the \"challenges of widespread community transmission of Covid\".\n\nOriginally from Lithuania, Diana has lived in Cardiff since she was 15.\n\nShe was in her first year studying law when she woke up one morning with neck pain: \"I just thought I had slept funny, but then my joints started to swell and I couldn't eat or sleep or walk, and was in complete agony.\"\n\nAfter several tests and a biopsy, she was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of lupus, which turned out to be life-threatening, and her organs started to fail.\n\n\"At 19 years old, the doctors saved my life, and I had to have chemotherapy in order to continue to live, this is what has affected my kidneys,\" she said.\n\n\"Eight years of chemotherapy takes its toll on the body and unfortunately my kidneys couldn't be saved.\"\n\nHer usual monthly blood tests were postponed for four months due to the pandemic and she said her chemotherapy was delayed for 10 weeks.\n\n\"I understand why the ward was turned into a Covid ward and the kidney doctors had to work to help those who had Covid, but the pandemic made it that my condition deteriorated a lot quicker.\"\n\nDiana Isajeva said it would be \"an absolute miracle,\" to find a kidney donor for Christmas\n\nWith the considerable decline in her kidney function, doctors said her best bet to live a healthy life was a transplant.\n\n\"Getting that news was awful, basically being told you are dying and then not being able to hug anyone or see anyone who could support was so, so hard,\" she said\n\nDiana's family all live abroad so cannot donate and her fiancé, Sandeep Singh Randhawa, is not a match, so she has decided to turn to the public.\n\nHer blood type - O - is universal, meaning donors can give to people with blood types A, B and AB, but can only have a transplant from someone who is type O.\n\n\"I read an article where a stranger donated a kidney and it inspired me, so I asked my doctor if I could run a campaign and she said she would support me, so I posted on Facebook and it is slowly picking up,\" she said.\n\n\"I have had responses from all over the world, it's been mixed but mostly positive. Some people have been sceptical and I have had a few offers from people offering to sell me a kidney but its mainly been messages of kindness and support.\n\n\"It would change my life, it would be the biggest gift that I could receive and would be like having a second birthday. I would be able to get married and pursue my career.\"\n\nDiana said, without a live donor, she would need dialysis, which would shorten her life expectancy: \"Dialysis wears out your heart, and cadaver transplants are full of toxins which make it harder to recover.\n\n\"With a live donor, the kidney can last a lifetime as it works much better and for a longer time, it would give me the opportunity to live a happy and healthy life.\"\n\nBecause of the backlog of people waiting for surgeries of kidney transplants after the pandemic, Diana said she was not able to be put back on the waiting list.\n\nWales' only transplant centre was temporarily closed during the UK-wide lockdown earlier this year.\n\nDiana said her ordeal \"made me realise how important life is and to cherish those closest around you\"\n\nFiona Loud, policy director of Kidney Care UK, said transplants were \"down by 800 year-on-year, and the overall drop in transplants was 73%\".\n\nDiana is having more chemotherapy in January, but said it was \"only to prolong my life until I get a transplant\".\n\nShe added: \"I'm just trying to live my life as long as I can, hoping that I can hold on and a match is found, I am so afraid with the realisation that my heart may stop and I may not wake up tomorrow.\"\n\nMs Loud said: \"A kidney transplant is the gold-star treatment for kidney failure yet there are always more people waiting for a transplant than there are donor organs available.\n\n\"Hospitals need to prioritise kidney surgery and ensure they are doing everything they can to support people whose kidneys have failed.\"\n\nThe Welsh Government said: \"We are unable to comment on people's individual circumstances but we are sorry to hear about this woman's situation and we wish the best for her ongoing treatment and care.\n\n\"Kidney transplants were suspended at the start of the pandemic but have been resumed over the summer. Renal services staff have also worked hard to ensure the active monitoring of people under their care has been maintained throughout the pandemic.\n\n\"However, transplant teams need to balance the patient's need for transplant against the additional challenges of wide spread community transmission of Covid and being immuno-suppressed at this time.\"", "So, after a week of super intensive, last-ditch talks, EU and UK negotiators are going their separate ways.\n\nThe EU's chief envoy Michel Barnier heads back to Brussels on Saturday morning. His UK counterpart, David Frost, is to brief the prime minister on why the pause button was pressed.\n\nIs this the end of the road for talks, or are we just round the corner to a Happy Ever After?\n\nProbably neither. Just yet.\n\nIf you're in favour of this post-Brexit EU-UK trade deal and you're looking for clues to be upbeat, I'd say it's significant that the two chief negotiators issued a joint statement before parting ways.\n\nThis wasn't a case of each stomping off to a separate corner before briefing negatively about the other.\n\nThat differences remain on the three key issues: fishing rights in UK waters, competition regulations and the governance of a deal (ie how to ensure both sides stick to the agreement or face penalties) should come as no surprise.\n\nLimited progress was made this week on all fronts in talks, but as I, and many other Brexit commentators, have long suggested, you need political involvement at the highest levels to make the final, most difficult compromises.\n\nOr to publicly declare an agreement is just not possible, and a no deal scenario is heading our way.\n\nPositive-minded readers of this blog might also consider that, even if the EU-UK deal were almost agreed, the European Commission president and arguably, especially Boris Johnson, who has aligned himself so personally to \"getting Brexit done\", would want to put their personal stamp on things.\n\nConfirmation that they will call each other on Saturday afternoon could therefore be seen as a \"good\" sign. Although sources in the EU and UK warn not to expect news of the conclusive Big Breakthrough following their chat.\n\nCynics might nod their head too when I say that - considering the uncomfortable political compromises both sides have to make to reach a deal - one more \"crisis\", aka the current stop in talks, is quite useful to demonstrate to the public back home that you're hanging on in there, fighting for their interests.\n\nThat's certainly the way to interpret France's threat to use its veto if a deal is agreed, and it doesn't like it.\n\nEmmanuel Macron has enjoyed the role of Brexit bad cop throughout. It plays well domestically.\n\nAnd \"France the frenemy\" is an easy headline in the UK too.\n\nBut reality is more nuanced. Paris trumpets more brashly what is the belief in all EU capitals, and in the UK government: Yes to this deal but not at any cost.\n\nThe priority in Brussels is to protect the single market. The EU hoped to contain UK competition with a common rulebook.\n\nBut the UK wants to be nimble and competitive; to compromise post-Brexit sovereignty as little as possible.\n\nOtherwise, government figures ask, what was the point of leaving the European Union?\n\nIf you're looking for some certainty in all this, here you go: Neither side will sign on the dotted line if they can't sell this deal as a victory.\n\nNegotiations will likely become even thornier if they re-start next week.\n\nThe government's Internal Market Bill was expected to return to the House of Commons on Monday.\n\nAnd the long-awaited Finance Bill, scheduled to be tabled on Tuesday. Both could contain clauses contradicting the Protocol on Northern Ireland, signed with the EU last year as part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.\n\nThe government insists the clauses are necessary, as a safety net, to ensure the smooth circulation of goods within the United Kingdom, in case of a no deal situation with the EU.\n\nBut the European Parliament has warned it will veto any deal with the UK, if Downing Street includes the clauses. Breaking the treaty is unacceptable, says the EU. Safety net or not.\n\nSo the pressure is on. On all sides.\n\nWe're witnessing that last minute, five to midnight scramble for a deal, widely predicted, but which the UK and EU always said was the last thing they wanted.", "Last updated on .From the section Premier League\n\nChelsea went top of the Premier League as they came from behind to beat Leeds United in their first game in front of fans for nine months.\n\nFormer Blues striker Patrick Bamford, who spent five years at Chelsea without making a senior appearance, gave Leeds an early lead at Stamford Bridge after getting between defender Kurt Zouma and keeper Edouard Mendy.\n\nTimo Werner then somehow managed to miss from point-blank range after Olivier Giroud's flicked header from a corner, the Germany forward hitting the underside of the bar before Leeds cleared.\n\nHowever, Giroud marked his first league start of the season with his fifth goal of the week, the scorer of all four of Chelsea's Champions League goals away to Sevilla in midweek poking home from five yards after Reece James' cross.\n\nChelsea, who welcomed 2,000 fans back to Stamford Bridge after coronavirus restrictions were eased, went ahead as Zouma headed in from Mason Mount's corner.\n\nSubstitute Christian Pulisic added a late third from Werner's pass, with the United States winger becoming the 13th different player to score for Chelsea in the Premier League this season.\n\nChelsea, who started the day third, are one point clear at the top.\n• None Bamford returns to Stamford Bridge with point to prove\n\nThere were scenes of celebration after the final whistle as Blues boss Frank Lampard went over to applaud fans inside the ground, who gave the players a standing ovation while they headed for the dressing room.\n\nOne supporter held up a banner which read \"It's great to be back\" and Chelsea certainly relished the occasion as they turned on the style.\n\nWhen they last moved to the summit after a win at Newcastle on 21 November, Lampard said he was not going to \"get excited about being top for five minutes\".\n\nWithin a few hours they had been replaced by Tottenham following a win over Manchester City later the same day.\n\nLampard's side will at least enjoy being top a while longer this time, although they could be overtaken by Tottenham and Liverpool on Sunday.\n\nNevertheless, this was a highly satisfactory victory.\n\nWhile France's World Cup winner Giroud made the most of his first league start of 2020-21, Werner will wonder how on earth he did not score.\n\nAfter his astonishing miss, Werner was thwarted on three occasions by Leeds keeper Illan Meslier, while Kai Havertz headed another chance over.\n\nUnbeaten in nine top-flight games, Chelsea are handling the hectic Champions League-Premier League schedule well.\n\nAfter securing top spot in their European group, Lampard's men are looking down on all the rest in England.\n\nBamford arrived at Stamford Bridge with a point to prove - and, despite his team's defeat, left after once again demonstrating he belongs on the Premier League stage.\n\nThe 27-year-old was overlooked during his time at Chelsea, leaving for Middlesbrough in 2017 after five years in London without playing a competitive senior game.\n\nIn an extraordinary opening, and after the hosts had twice gone close in the first two minutes, Bamford got between Zouma and Mendy to connect with Jack Harrison's threaded pass to fire Leeds ahead.\n\nIt was another classy finish by Bamford, who is now level with Leicester's Jamie Vardy and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah in terms of top-flight goals in 2020-21.\n\nIncredibly, seven of his eight league goals have come away from Elland Road, with Bamford scoring in five of Leeds' six away games this season.\n\nHis side, however, could not capitalise.\n\nHaving beaten former leaders Everton in their previous game, they were unable to stop Chelsea from going top.\n\nBefore this weekend only Liverpool had more attempts in the Premier League than Marcelo Bielsa's side.\n\nThey had another eight against Chelsea but could not respond once Zouma headed the hosts ahead.\n\n'Defeats an opportunity to learn' - what they said\n\nChelsea manager Frank Lampard: \"I was nervous of Leeds. They're a threat until the end if you don't get a cushion.\n\n\"They are pretty unique in their style and they're well coached. We knew it was a big task. Character-wise and performance-wise, on lots of levels, I'm absolutely delighted.\"\n\nLeeds boss Marcelo Bielsa: \"It was difficult for us to stop them playing out from the back with their centre-backs and [midfielder] N'Golo Kante.\n\n\"I never question the refereeing decisions and this game was not decided by the referee. He did not decide the game. Always defeats are an opportunity to learn something.\"\n• None Leeds have conceded five goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) in the Premier League this season, only Leicester have conceded more from such situations (six).\n• None Oliver Giroud has become the first Chelsea player to score in six consecutive Premier League starts since Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in October 2001. At 34 years and 66 days, he is the oldest player to score in six consecutive Premier League starts.\n• None Chelsea have won four of their past five Premier League games (drawn one) - indeed, no current Premier League side is on a longer unbeaten run than the Blues (nine - won five, drawn four).\n• None Leeds have lost three of their past five Premier League games (won one, drawn one), conceding three or more goals in all three defeats.\n• None Marcelo Bielsa's side faced 23 shots in this match, their joint-most in a Premier League game this season (also 23 against Manchester City).\n\nChelsea, who have already sealed top spot, host Russian side Krasnodar in their sixth and final Champions League Group E game on Tuesday (20:00 GMT), while Leeds are back in Premier League action next Friday against West Ham at Elland Road (20:00).\n• None Raphinha (Leeds United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.\n• None Goal! Chelsea 3, Leeds United 1. Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) left footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Timo Werner following a fast break.\n• None Attempt missed. Tammy Abraham (Chelsea) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Timo Werner.\n• None Attempt blocked. Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Timo Werner.\n• None Offside, Leeds United. Stuart Dallas tries a through ball, but Ian Poveda-Ocampo is caught offside.\n• None Attempt missed. Reece James (Chelsea) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Mason Mount with a cross following a corner.\n• None Attempt saved. Ian Poveda-Ocampo (Leeds United) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.\n• None Attempt missed. Olivier Giroud (Chelsea) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Mason Mount with a cross following a corner.\n• None Attempt saved. Timo Werner (Chelsea) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Mason Mount. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None I May Destroy You star Michaela Coel joins for his new series", "Joe Anderson has been mayor since 2012\n\nLiverpool mayor Joe Anderson has been released on bail after being arrested by police investigating claims of bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nHe was held with four other men as part of an investigation into the awarding of building contracts in the city.\n\nThe Labour Party has suspended Mr Anderson pending the outcome of the case.\n\nMerseyside Police said all five people \"have been released on condition bail, pending further inquiries.\"\n\nTheir year-long investigation, Operation Aloft, has focused on a number of property developers.\n\nOn Friday, Mr Anderson, 62, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nIn a statement, he said he was \"interviewed for six hours\" and that he was \"co-operating fully\" with the police.\n\nMr Anderson said he would be \"talking to my cabinet colleagues over the weekend to ensure the challenges our city faces with the Covid pandemic continue to receive the focus they deserve\".\n\nHe also said he supported Labour's decision to suspend him while the police inquiry continues.\n\n\"I have been bailed to return in one month's time. Given the investigation is continuing, and there are bail conditions, I will not be making any further comments.\"\n\nCouncillor Richard Kemp, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group on Liverpool City Council, said that Mr Anderson should follow \"other senior figures in such cases\" and \"step away\" from the council and mayoralty during the legal process.\n\nPolice said they detained two other men, from Liverpool and Ainsdale, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nTwo more, aged 25 and 72, were arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation.\n\nLiverpool City Council said it was co-operating with Merseyside Police.\n\nFather-of-four Mr Anderson, an ex-social worker and former member of the Merchant Navy, joined the Labour Party in 1980.\n\nHe was elected mayor of Liverpool in 2012, having been on the city's council since 1998.\n\nIn 2016, he vied to become Labour's candidate for the Liverpool City Region mayoral post, but was beaten by then Walton MP Steve Rotheram, who currently holds the position.\n\nMr Anderson recently spearheaded the drive for mass coronavirus testing in Liverpool.\n\nHis brother Bill died in October after contracting the virus.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Frequent flyers John (l) and Tim Granger (r) are delighted with their purchases\n\nThey flew off shelves: slippers, cups and saucers, blankets and bedding, towels, even drinks trolleys.\n\nBritish Airways' online sale of thousands of surplus stock not needed for its aircraft caused a stampede of buying from aviation enthusiasts and bargain-hunters.\n\nIn the first 24 hours, 5,000 purchases were made, with the website getting 250,000 page views. In the first four days, 1,900 six-packs of bread baskets were snapped up.\n\nMeal trolleys were among the first to sell out. Items from the now-retired Boeing 747s in BA's aircraft fleet were in big demand.\n\nTrouble is, the sell-off seems to have been so popular it risks becoming a PR headache.\n\nWhile there are plenty of satisfied customers, there are also plenty of dissatisfied ones - just check Twitter, Trustpilot and the frequent flyer website Head for Points, where buyers are venting annoyance about broken and missing items, non-deliveries and lack of responses from BA and the company it used to handle the sale, Whatabuy.\n\n\"Such an unnecessary own goal,\" said Nick Hadjinikos, whose girlfriend is still waiting for her plates and bread baskets.\n\nThe director at communications consultancy Kallinos said: \"During the ordering process, the site kept crashing after payment information had been submitted. This was the big worry, so I put in a couple of emails to Whatabuy and never heard back.\n\n\"Then I took to Twitter and found we were not alone. BA should have spotted the problem and headed it off. I think most of the stuff was snapped up by hawks and ended up on eBay.\"\n\nMeal-equipment boxes from Boeing 747 aircraft were in the sale\n\nAnother buyer, Simon Saunders, told the BBC: \"The whole thing is a shambles. Whatabuy replied to my third email and simply said, 'You will get your stuff in due course.'\"\n\nComments on the Head for Points website include:\n\nWhatabuy did not respond to BBC requests for comment. But in an email to a customer complaining about their order, the company said it had seen \"an unprecedented level of demand\" and processing was taking longer than usual. There had also been IT issues, Whatabuy said.\n\nHead for Points' Rhys Jones said complaints to his website revealed obvious problems with the sale, but he still believes the majority of his readers seem delighted with their purchases.\n\nRhys Jones, from Head for Points, says that despite criticism of BA, most of his website's readers are happy\n\n\"This sale seems to have captured the imagination of travel enthusiasts. It offers them a chance to get hold of some authentic BA memorabilia,\" Mr Jones said.\n\nThat's why John Granger bought some mugs, plates and a blanket - a gift for partner Tim. \"It was curiosity and nostalgia. We love flying so much but have not been able to travel during the pandemic. It's a reminder of our travels.\n\n\"The crockery is actually high-quality bone china [designed by William Edwards].\" He paid £44.70 (including P&P) for the lot. \"That's remarkable value. I'm not sure why BA was selling them so cheap.\"\n\nKirill Maksaev and partner Alexander Smotrov bought £100 worth of BA crockery and would have purchased a lot more, had they been quicker off the mark. They haven't got the items yet, but are not concerned. \"It's fine. We can wait. We've had the confirmation email,\" said Kirill.\n\nKirill Maksaev (r) and Alex Smotrov (l) with some of their air travel memorabilia\n\nThe purchases will be part of the mini-museum Alex has set up in his home - boarding passes, amenity bags, napkins, crockery and branded goods marking his years of air travel. \"We are plane spotters: we are passionate about aviation,\" Kirill said.\n\nBA said it had expected a huge amount of interest from aviation fans, bargain hunters and people looking for \"unique\" Christmas gifts.\n\n\"But of course, no one could have predicted quite how popular it would be and how quickly items would sell out,\" the airline told the BBC.\n\n\"We are working hard to ensure all customers receive their orders as quickly as possible and in time for Christmas. We're in touch with those who may not have received their items yet to reassure them they're on their way.\"\n\nAnd the airline promised refunds \"for any items that are not in the condition advertised on the site\".\n\nWould BA do it again? \"We'll consider our options once we've reviewed the success of the scheme and any learnings,\" the airline said.", "Daca protects young people who entered the US without documents as children\n\nA US judge has ordered the Trump administration to fully reinstate a scheme that protects immigrants brought to the country illegally as children from being deported.\n\nThe administration had moved to close the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme to new applicants earlier this year.\n\nBut District Judge Nicholas Garaufis on Friday ruled against the restrictions.\n\nHe told the administration to announce the full resumption of Daca by Monday.\n\nThe Daca programme was introduced by former Democratic President Barack Obama in 2012.\n\nHe set it up to help some of the more than 10 million immigrants who as young people entered the US illegally or overstayed a visa.\n\nMost of the children protected by the Daca programme are from Mexico and other Latin American countries. These migrants are known as \"Dreamers\".\n\nThe scheme protected an estimated 700,000 people, offering temporary permits for work and study.\n\nBut as part of his efforts to curb immigration, US President Donald Trump sought to end the programme in 2017, calling it unconstitutional.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Daca recipients: 'Life in the US is like a rollercoaster'\n\nThe Supreme Court took up the case after lower courts ruled the administration did not adequately explain why it was ending the programme, criticising the White House's \"capricious\" explanations.\n\nIn June this year, the Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings that found Mr Trump's move to rescind Daca was \"unlawful\".\n\nDespite this ruling, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf issued a memo to limit the programme to those who were already enrolled.\n\nNow Judge Garaufis of the US District Court in Brooklyn has ruled that Mr Wolf was not acting within his legal authority and that the scheme should resume.\n\nA protester demonstrating in support of the scheme holds up a placard that reads: I am an American\n\nThe Center for American Progress, a think tank, said more than 300,000 new applicants could now be eligible for Daca.\n\n\"This is a really big day for Daca recipients and immigrant young people,\" Karen Tumlin, director of the Justice Action Center, told AFP news agency.\n\nDemocratic President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on 20 January, has said he plans to revitalise Daca.\n\nHis campaign said he will try to legislate to give a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants living in the US, although such a move would need to be approved by Congress.", "Demonstrators gathered outside the National Assembly in November when the lower house debated the measure\n\nArgentina has passed a new tax on its wealthiest people to pay for medical supplies and relief measures amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.\n\nSenators passed the one-off levy - dubbed the \"millionaire's tax\" - by 42 votes to 26 on Friday.\n\nThose with assets worth more than 200 million pesos ($2.5m; £1.8m) - some 12,000 people - will have to pay.\n\nArgentina has recorded close to 1.5 million infections and almost 40,000 deaths from the coronavirus.\n\nIt has been hit hard by the pandemic, becoming the fifth country worldwide to report one million confirmed cases in October despite only having a population of about 45 million people - making it the smallest nation at the time to surpass that figure.\n\nLockdown measures have further dented an economy struggling with unemployment, high poverty levels and massive government debt. Argentina has been in recession since 2018.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThose affected will pay a progressive rate of up to 3.5% on wealth in Argentina and up to 5.25% on that outside the country.\n\nAFP news agency reports that of the money raised, 20% will go to medical supplies, 20% to relief for small and medium-sized businesses, 20% to scholarships for students, 15% to social developments, and the remaining 25% to natural gas ventures.\n\nBut opposition groups fear it will discourage foreign investors, and that it will not be a one-time tax.\n\nCentre-right party Juntos por el Cambio reportedly described it as \"confiscatory\".", "Sports shirts worn by Michael Jordan, Colin Kapaernick, Barack Obama and LeBron James sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars\n\nTwo basketball vests - one worn by the NBA superstar Michael Jordan and the other by former US president Barack Obama - sold for record sums at a Los Angeles auction on Friday.\n\nJordan's number 23 vest, which he wore when he signed for the Chicago Bulls in 1984, sold for $320,000 (£235,000).\n\nMr Obama's vest, worn with his Punahou School team, went for $192,000 - a record for a high-school sports shirt.\n\nLast year, another one of his high-school vests fetched $120,000.\n\nJulien's Auctions in Beverly Hills said Mr Obama wore his shirt - also number 23 - in 1979, when he helped his team win the Hawaii basketball state championship.\n\nThe ex-president's love of the game has followed him through life. In his new memoir, A Promised Land, he said he had to stop coaching his daughter Sasha's basketball team after parents from a rival team complained that he was giving them an unfair advantage.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The couple were picked by the so-called 'Kiss-Cam' at the Verizon Center in Washington\n\nMichael Jordan - the first billionaire athlete - was at the centre of the Chicago Bulls team that won six NBA championships in the 1990s. A documentary series, The Last Dance, about the team's standout successes was a hit on Netflix earlier this year.\n\nPresident Obama appeared as one of the show's interviewees, saying: \"Michael Jordan and the Bulls changed the culture.\"\n\nThe previous record sum for a Jordan \"number 23\" shirt was $288,000 in an auction in July.\n\nAlso on sale in the latest auction was an autographed Cavaliers shirt worn by current NBA star Lebron James, which sold for $128,000, and an NFL football shirt worn by quarterback Colin Kapaernick, from his debut for the San Francisco 49ers.\n\nKapaernick's shirt also sold for $128,000 - a new record for an NFL shirt.\n\nIn 2016, Kaepernick became a symbol in the fight against racial injustice when he kneeled in protest during the US national anthem.", "It's not really possible for one photo to convey the scale of A68a\n\nAn RAF aircraft has obtained images of the world's biggest iceberg as it drifts through the South Atlantic.\n\nThe A400m transporter flew low over the 4,200-sq-km block, known as A68a, to observe its increasingly ragged state.\n\nThe pictures reveal multiple cracks and fissures, innumerable icy chunks that have fallen off, and what appear to be tunnels extending under the waterline.\n\nThe Antarctic berg is currently bearing down on the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia.\n\nA68a is now just 200km from the island and there is a real possibility it could become stuck in shallow coastal waters.\n\nThis cliff face is 30m high, but the berg probably reaches under water for 200m\n\nThe latest satellite imagery: A68a and South Georgia are about the same size\n\nThe British Forces South Atlantic Island (BFSAI) reconnaissance flight was sent out to assess the situation.\n\n\"Guided by satellite tracking, the A400M can get under the weather and closer to the iceberg, enabling more detailed observations,\" Squadron Leader Michael Wilkinson, Officer Commanding 1312 Flt, said in a BFSAI Facebook posting.\n\n\"I know I speak on behalf of all of the crew involved when I say this is certainly a unique and unforgettable task to be involved in.\"\n\nSome of the separated blocks are significant bergs in their own right\n\nSatellite images acquired in recent weeks have also suggested that A68a's edges are crumbling rapidly.\n\nRelentless wave action is breaking off countless small fragments, so-called \"bergy bits\" and \"growlers\". But some of the pieces being calved are significant objects in their own right and will need tracking because of the additional hazard they will now pose to shipping.\n\nThe A400m's new imagery - stills and video - will be analysed to try to understand how the berg might behave in the coming weeks and months.\n\nThere is now a mass of icy debris around A68a\n\nAlthough currently heading straight at South Georgia, A68a is being carried in fast-moving waters that should divert the bloc in a loop around the southern part of the island.\n\nThere is considerable interest in whether the berg might then ground on the territory's continental shelf.\n\nShould that happen, it could cause considerable difficulties for the island's seals and penguins as they try to get out to sea to forage for fish and krill.\n\nWhen A68a broke away from an ice shelf in Antarctica in July 2017, it measured nearly 6,000 sq km - about a quarter of the size of Wales. At 4,200 sq km, it now has an area closer to that of an English county like Somerset.\n\nExperts are surprised the iceberg hasn't lost more of its bulk. Many thought it would have shattered into several large pieces long before now.\n\nThe flight saw what appeared to be tunnels extending under the waterline\n\nWith a draft of about 200m, A68a has the potential to catch on the shallow shelf around the island", "Charley Oliver-Holland said the number of different social media channels meant \"bullying just doesn't stop\"\n\n\"I went online to make friends with people who were similar to me, so I could be myself, but when the other kids in school found my profile they made fun out of me.\"\n\nAbout one in five children aged 10-15 in England and Wales suffered at least one form of online bullying in the year to March 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).\n\nCharley Oliver-Holland was 12 when she started getting bullied. She always had friends, but did not really fit in at high school.\n\n\"I had an Instagram page that I made of my favourite band and it allowed me to make friends online with similar interests, but when people from school found the page, I ended up getting so much grief,\" she said.\n\nThe 17-year-old from Caldicot, Monmouthshire, remembers being called dyke, emo, fat, as well as being told to die and go cut herself by people at her school, as well as total strangers.\n\n\"People saw I was different and expressing myself and didn't like it, because I didn't fit in, they would call me all sorts of names.\n\n\"It would be random people, I wouldn't even know them and they would post awful things. As a 12-year-old it's not a nice thing to hear and you take it to heart.\"\n\nCharley was targeted by bullies after posting pictures online of herself with black lipstick and hair\n\nShe said people got a feeling of invincibility when online, prompting them to say things they never would in person.\n\n\"All you need is an email address and you can make a fake account and say what you want about whoever. There were so many people in school who, when one account was shut down, they would just make another, it's really scary.\n\n\"People can be really horrible when they don't think there are consequences to their actions, they come across lovely in person but when they are on their phone in their bedroom they change.\n\n\"At school, you get bullied and can go home and escape from it, but with online it's constant, you can't escape from it, it is always there.\"\n\nCharley said some of her friends did not go into school due to the severity of the online bullying they suffered and there were times when she did not want to go in either.\n\n\"I would just feel like an outcast and that people would hold that against me. At 12 years old it feels like the worst thing that can happen to you,\" she said.\n\n\"At that age there aren't many things that are important, but your social status is and how you are viewed by other people, everyone talking about me, I just didn't want to be there, school just seemed like such a toxic environment.\"\n\nCharley feels online bullying behaviour is normalised and - because so many people get involved - it makes it harder to stop or report.\n\nThe ONS report - which featured new data it said should be interpreted with caution - showed more than half of those children who experienced online bullying would not describe what happened as bullying, while one in four did not report it to anyone.\n• None 19%children aged 10 to 15 years in England and Wales experienced at least one type of online bullying\n• None 52%of those children said they would not describe these behaviours as \"bullying\"\n• None 72% of children who experienced online bullying experienced some of it at school or during school time\n\n\"I didn't feel like I could tell anyone, it feels like there is nothing you can do, once it's happening. If you report it to the school what are they going to do? I did tell my mum about it and she did tell me to get off my phone, but it's difficult.\n\n\"It consumes you, I was always on my phone, trying to see what people were saying about me, what nasty messages were being posted.\n\n\"At that age social media is so important, you beg your parents to allow you to have a profile because you don't want to be the odd one out.\n\n\"I just felt alone, people would say nasty comments about my weight, about my sexuality, saying I had no friends, just putting me down. People would bully others for the phone that they have, it would be anything.\"\n\nCharley says she suffered \"relentless\" bullying at school and online\n\nCharley said she was now more careful with what she posts online, but the bullying she experienced five years ago still stays with her.\n\n\"Walking past a group of boys, it takes me back to when I was in school, and I worry if they are going to say something,\" she added.\n\n\"I think there needs to be better education in schools for young people about online bullying and taking a break from social media.\n\n\"I also think that to use those accounts you should have to submit proof to prove who you are, so you can't have fake accounts and are held accountable for what you say.\"\n\nOlivia Barbieri said online bullying leaves people with \"no switch-off and no safe place\"\n\nOlivia Barbieri said she has always been different and was bullied throughout her school life, but when she got her own social media accounts at the age of 13, she felt it got even worse.\n\n\"Face-to-face bullying is horrible and I have experienced that with people from work, but online is 100% worse. People have so much more confidence online and say whatever they want.\"\n\nThe 18-year-old from Caldicot has anxiety and said she did not experience anything really bad until a couple of weeks ago.\n\n\"I did an Instagram Live event with this guy and it just was awful, people were commenting on my appearance, saying I belonged in a mental asylum, that I should be aborted, just stuff that was irrelevant,\" she said.\n\n\"I had people I considered as friends sending me death threats. I ended up deleting all my social media channels and changing my name on my profiles, I had to because he doxxed me. It was really horrible.\n\n\"It's not just about one post or one video, it's everything, it all adds up, and online it's so difficult to report - social media platforms need to take more responsibility.\n\n\"If it wasn't for my family, partner and close friends, feeling I could turn to them and speak with them I don't know if I would be here today.\"\n\nIn a statement, Facebook, which owns Instagram, said: \"We are committed to leading the industry in the fight against online bullying. We have invested in technology to detect and remove offensive content from Instagram, expanded our dedicated safety and security team to over 35,000 people, and built strong partnerships with experts to help keep people safe.\"\n\nFounder of charity BulliesOut, Linda James, said the ONS statistics reflected what she had seen, but feels the true number of victims could be much higher.\n\n\"A lot of people hide bullying under the guise of banter and joking when it isn't, so I fear that the percentages of those being bullied online could be much higher than the figures seen by ONS,\" she said.\n\n\"We as a charity are seeing the trends that online bullying is increasing, and this is then spilling into other forms of bullying including physical.\n\n\"Online bullying is much more emotionally damaging and traumatising for young people than other forms as it is 24/7, it's relentless, it will have a massive impact on their mental health as they are unable to switch off.\n\n\"With more young people at home [due to coronavirus] they are online more and online for longer, there is nothing for them to do apart from being online and the impact this is going to have on them on their self-esteem and confidence is going to be horrific.\"\n\nShe feels more education is needed to understand and support young people: \"It isn't one person's responsibility, parents need to monitor their children and schools need to take responsibility when it comes to online bullying and have a zero-tolerance policy to all forms of bullying.\n\n\"There needs to be more education about what you do online and your digital footprint, so young people are mindful of their behaviour online.\"\n\nDr Sangeet Bhullar, executive director of WISE KIDS, which promotes safe internet use, said: \"We need to look at creating a culture of support where a young person feels comfortable talking about the social media platforms they access and what interaction they have. There needs to be greater accountability with schools and parents.\n\n\"I think we are in a better situation than we have been in as there is a lot more awareness about the situation, but we need to look at developing a sense of wellbeing and self-worth in young people, which will strengthen their ability to deal with uncomfortable situations such as online bullying.\"\n\nThe Welsh Government said: \"Challenging bullying within education remains a key priority for us and we are committed to ensuring all our learners are properly supported to achieve their full potential.\n\n\"It has never been more important to equip our children and young people with the knowledge, skills and resilience to navigate the online world.\n\n\"Protecting children and young people from harmful activity online is critical and it is therefore vital that we provide an education system that enables our learners to embrace technology and contribute positively online.\"", "Millwall say they are \"dismayed and saddened\" after some of their fans booed players taking a knee at the start of Saturday's game against Derby.\n\nThe Den was able to host 2,000 home fans for the first time this season after the second national lockdown was lifted.\n\nHowever, the return of spectators was overshadowed by the pre-match incident.\n\nThe Football Association and anti-discrimination body Kick It Out have also condemned the booing.\n\n\"Millwall Football Club was dismayed and saddened by events which marred Saturday's game against Derby County at the Den,\" said the club in a statement.\n\n\"The club has worked tirelessly in recent months to prepare for the return of supporters and what should have been a positive and exciting occasion was completely overshadowed, much to the immense disappointment and upset of those who have contributed to those efforts.\n\n\"The impact of such incidents is felt not just by the players and management, but by those who work throughout the club and in its academy and community trust, where so many staff and volunteers continue passionate endeavours to enhance Millwall's reputation day after day, year after year.\n\n\"The club will not allow their fine work to be in vain.\n\n\"The players are continuing to use the biggest platform they have to support the drive for change, not just in football but in society generally.\n\n\"There is much work to be done and at Millwall everyone is committed to doing all that is possible, both individually and collectively, to be a force for good and to ensure that the club remains at the forefront of football's anti-discrimination efforts.\"\n\nDerby boss Wayne Rooney, whose side won Saturday's game 1-0, said it was \"disappointing and upsetting\" to hear the booing from supporters.\n\n\"I'm pleased with how my team dealt with that,\" he added. \"They've had to put that to the back of their minds for the 90 minutes but I'm sure it's something they were thinking about.\"\n\nDerby forward Colin Kazim-Richards described the incident as \"an absolute disgrace\".\n\nSome boos were also heard when players took the knee at League Two Colchester United's JobServe Community Stadium, before the home side's 2-1 win over Grimsby Town in front of around 1,000 spectators.\n\nForward Callum Harriott, who scored the winner, later called the booing \"ridiculous\" and said it left him \"absolutely disappointed\".\n\nHis club said it was \"fully behind any and all of our players and staff who take a stand against any form of discrimination\", adding: \"We also condemn the behaviours of any supporters that actively voice opposition to those activities.\"\n\nPlayers, officials and staff at Premier League and English Football League games have been taking a knee pre-match since football restarted in June in order to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement for racial equality.\n\n'We have come so far but we have so far to go' - reaction\n\nFormer Manchester City and England defender Micah Richards described the Millwall incident as \"disheartening\".\n\n\"How do these fans get allocated to the games?\" he said on BBC Final Score.\n\n\"There are 2,000 so you can pinpoint the people going. There are no excuses. I am sick to death of talking about this situation.\n\n\"It is so disheartening because it is like we have come so far but we have so far to go. I don't even like talking about the matter. It feels like it falls on deaf ears. It is time and time and time again.\"\n\nFormer Coventry and Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin, who had a loan spell at Millwall in 2002, added: \"They don't agree with taking the knee, which means they are racist. They don't agree with Black Lives Matter; that says they are racist to me.\n\n\"It says to me that a minority of Millwall fans are spoiling it for a club that is going in the right direction with a tag they have had for years and years and they are trying to eradicate it.\"\n\nOn Friday, Millwall's first-team squad issued a statement supporting efforts to rid the game \"of all forms of discrimination\".\n\nAfter Saturday's match, Lions boss Gary Rowett told Sky Sports: \"I'm disappointed that we are talking about that when we should be talking about the fact we are all back and we want to enjoy the football match again.\n\n\"The club does an enormous amount of work on anti-racism and the club do a lot of work in the community and there is some really positive stuff, so of course I am disappointed.\"\n\n'We applaud the players for defying the hate'\n\nA Football Association spokesperson said: \"The FA supports all players and staff that wish to take a stand against discrimination in a respectful manner, which includes taking of the knee, and strongly condemns the behaviours of any spectators that actively voice their opposition to such activities.\"\n\nKick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari said he was \"saddened\" by the booing and praised the teams for \"defying the hate\" shown by some members of the crowd.\n\n\"What this demonstrates is that players are right to continue standing up to discrimination, whether that is through taking the knee or speaking out,\" he added.\n\n\"The fight for racial equality continues and we will continue to work closely with clubs across the country to tackle discrimination in all its forms.\n\n\"We applaud the players for taking a stand and defying the hate shown today.\"\n\nThe English Football League said: \"The EFL continues to support any individual player, players and clubs who choose to 'take the knee' in support of tackling inequality in society.\n\n\"We are disappointed that a small group of supporters have today chosen to voice their opposition to such activities directly aimed at raising awareness of the fight against racism.\"\n\nAmerican football player Colin Kaepernick started kneeling symbolically during the pre-game national anthem in the NFL in 2016, in protest at police violence against African-Americans in the United States.\n\nThe Black Lives Matter movement and taking a knee has grown in prominence in the UK following the death of George Floyd in the US in May, which sparked protests around the world.\n\nThe 46-year-old, an unarmed black man, died after a white police officer held a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.\n• None I May Destroy You star Michaela Coel joins for his new series", "The first Covid-19 vaccine has arrived in Scotland, the health secretary has confirmed.\n\nJeane Freeman said the vaccination programme would begin on Tuesday.\n\nThe first vaccinations will be given to priority groups including care home residents and staff, the elderly and frontline health workers.\n\nThe news comes as it was announced a further 22 people who tested positive for coronavirus had been recorded to have died in the past 24 hours.\n\nThere are currently 965 people in hospital with a positive Covid test and 64 of those are in ICU.\n\nScottish government figures show the total number of positive cases in Scotland has risen by 777 since Friday, which is 4.5% of those tested.\n\nNHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde has 210 new cases, while there are 149 in NHS Lothian and 117 in NHS Lanarkshire.\n\nThe remainder of the positive cases are split between the other eight mainland health boards.\n\nThe Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said the new Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness - is safe to roll out, and immunisations for people in priority groups will start within days.\n\nJeane Freeman said the vaccinations would start on Tuesday\n\nMs Freeman said: \"I am pleased to announce that the vaccine is now in Scotland and being stored safely in order for vaccinations to begin on Tuesday. Science has given us hope and we are starting on a journey which will eventually allow us to escape this terrible virus.\n\n\"Following clinical advice from the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI) we will begin with those groups which have been prioritised to address 99% of preventable deaths associated with Covid-19. These include the elderly, care home residents and staff, and frontline health and social care workers.\n\n\"I ask everyone to be patient as we work through these groups as vaccine supply allows. I urge you to go for the vaccine when it's your turn, but continue to follow the rules as set out in FACTS. And we will eventually reach the end of this pandemic by working together.\"\n\nThe UK government has already ordered 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people, with two shots each.\n\nAbout 800,000 doses of the vaccine are expected to be available in the UK next week, with about 65,500 being made available for Scotland.\n\nHalf of the initial supplies of the vaccine that arrive in Scotland in December will be held back for the second dose.\n\nThe Scottish government has bought 23 ultra-low temperature freezers to store the vaccine.\n\nThey will be based at all major acute hospitals across the country and on Scotland's islands.\n\nIt has been confirmed care home residents in Scotland will be able to receive the vaccine from 14 December.\n\nThere had been fears that homes would not be able to receive the first batch of doses due to logistical challenges caused by the vaccine having to be stored at -70C.\n\nBut Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said on Thursday that confirmation on how the vaccine can be transported and stored meant it would now be possible to deliver them to care homes.\n\nDr Carey Lunan hopes over-80s can receive a vaccine at GP surgeries before Christmas\n\nDr Carey Lunan, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs in Scotland, hopes the over-80s can start receiving the Oxford-Astrazenica vaccine from GPs from 21 December.\n\nShe told BBC Scotland: \"GPs will have a really crucial role to play in vaccinating the over-80s.\n\n\"We recognise that for that group of people, who've also got underlying health conditions or are more frail, it's not as appropriate for them to be going to the mass vaccination centres and they will be invited to come into their GP practices.\"\n\nShe added that vaccination uptake was lower in areas of higher social deprivation and among some ethnic groups.\n\n\"There's a lot of thinking and planning that needs to be done to make sure that everyone is able to get this vaccine,\" she said.", "Hannah Gaves was sentenced to three years in jail in August\n\nA former prison guard who tried to smuggle crack cocaine into prison in her underwear has had her jail term increased by the Court of Appeal.\n\nHannah Gaves, 27, from Bristol, was found carrying it and cannabis on her way into work at Erlestoke Prison near Devizes.\n\nShe admitted a series of offences and was jailed for three years in August.\n\nLord Justice Davis ruled her sentence was \"unduly lenient\" and increased the term to four years and eight months.\n\nGaves, of Butlers Close, St George, had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply a Class A drug, possession with intent to supply a Class B drug and attempting to bring tobacco into prison.\n\nThe court heard Gaves had been working as a prison officer for just under a year when she was caught with the drugs on 27 January 2019.\n\nCCTV footage showed her \"spending a considerable period of time in a cell of a particular prisoner\" and a decision was made to stop and search her.\n\nWhen she was told she would be searched and was asked if she had any prohibited items, said \"she answered, 'yes, weed and tobacco\"'.\n\nBut the judge said: \"That was not the whole truth because when she was searched, not only was a quantity of cannabis (found) ... in addition, and hidden in her underwear, was a lump of a white substance wrapped in cling film.\"\n\nGaves told police she felt she had \"no option\" and the unnamed individual who asked her to bring drugs into the jail \"knew where she lived and had contacted her on social media\".\n\nBut Lord Justice Davis said: \"If threats are made to (prison officers) they know that their responsibility is to report that threat.\"\n\nIncreasing Gaves' sentence, Lord Justice Davis said the three-year term was \"not simply lenient, it is undoubtedly unduly lenient\".\n\nIn a statement after the hearing, Solicitor General Michael Ellis QC said: \"Gaves intentionally smuggled contraband into prison with the intention of supplying dangerous drugs.\n\n\"She betrayed the trust inherent in her office.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "One of the 13 prisoners deported from the UK to Jamaica on Wednesday has tested positive for Covid-19, the Jamaican government has told the BBC.\n\nThe man is being held in isolation at a hospital in the capital, Kingston.\n\nThe Home Office said he was on the flight, but has not made a statement in relation to the test.\n\nThe flight has already attracted controversy, with critics warning that people might be wrongly removed, as in the Windrush scandal.\n\nThe plane, containing 13 convicted criminals, took off on Wednesday. Twenty-three other prisoners were left off it following legal challenges.\n\nThe man, who did not want to be named on safety grounds, told the BBC he was tested for Covid-19 three days ago on arrival to Jamaica and on Friday received confirmation that he had coronavirus.\n\nHe has been taken under police escort to the St Joseph's medical facility in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, where he will be held under quarantine for 14 days.\n\nThe Home Office said all 13 men were offered tests on arrival, but could not confirm if the men had been tested before being deported from the UK last Wednesday.\n\nNinety public figures, including model Naomi Campbell and actress Thandie Newton, signed an open letter last month calling on airlines not to carry out Wednesday's flight.\n\nWarning that issues linked to Windrush have \"not been resolved,\" they argued the planned deportation flight brought \"credible risks of unlawful and wrongful deportations\" and urged airlines to boycott it.\n\nThe campaigners warned the UK \"frequently\" seeks to deport people whose crimes are linked to forced labour, and processes for identifying victims of trafficking were in \"disarray\".\n\nA separate letter last month signed by over 60 mostly Labour MPs and peers also called for the flight to be cancelled.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel said the references to Windrush were \"deeply offensive\".\n\nShe said she made no apologies for seeking to remove what Downing Street has termed \"dangerous foreign criminals\".\n\nMs Patel previously told the Daily Mail that it was \"misjudged and upsetting\" for \"ill-informed Labour politicians and do-gooding celebrities\" to invoke Windrush in their campaign.\n\nThe scandal - which came to light in 2018 - revealed that many people from Commonwealth countries, who had legally entered and settled in the UK, had been threatened with deportation and some had been wrongly deported by the Home Office.", "The mass use of rapid Covid tests has been defended by a senior NHS adviser, amid concerns over their accuracy.\n\nDr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to NHS Test and Trace, said the lateral flow tests could identify many cases of infection in people without symptoms.\n\nSpeaking to the BBC, she accepted there had been \"false negatives\" but stressed the policy was a \"game-changer\".\n\nA study found the tests missed 50% of cases and some scientists fear people could start to ignore health advice.\n\nMeanwhile, a further 397 new coronavirus deaths were recorded in the UK on Saturday, with another 15,539 cases reported.\n\nMass testing is being introduced in England's tier-three \"high-risk\" areas and is starting in one of the areas hardest-hit by Covid-19 in Wales.\n\nAnd more than million rapid tests are being sent to care homes in England over the next month to allow safe indoor visits.\n\nHowever, an article in the BMJ medical journal raised concerns about the effects of rapid testing in Liverpool, where a pilot scheme was carried out. The lateral flow tests, which do not require processing in a laboratory, were reported to have missed half of all cases and a third of those with a high viral load who were likely to be the most infectious.\n\nDr Hopkins told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the tests had \"limitations\" but said they were helping diagnose asymptomatic cases that would otherwise have gone undetected.\n\nShe added: \"What we are doing here is case detection. We are not saying people do not have the disease if their test is negative.\n\n\"We are trying to say [to people who test positive] 'You do have the disease and now we want you to go and isolate for 10 days.' That is a whole different game-changer.\"\n\nHowever, Dr Hopkins said mass testing did not end the need for social distancing.\n\n\"We are also very clear that until we get a much lower prevalence of disease in this country that we shouldn't be changing our behaviours,\" she said.\n\nThe pregnancy-style lateral flow tests are cheap to produce and provide results on the spot, unlike the standard nose and throat swabs which have to be sent off to a lab.\n\nHowever, the higher number of false negative results means people may wrongly think they are not infectious.\n\nSome scientists worry those people may go on to mix with more vulnerable people, putting them at risk.\n\nBut the government says the Liverpool trial showed rapid tests could break chains of transmission, and they will start to use them for the first time next week in Wolverhampton - where Covid cases are more than twice the average level in England.\n\nDr Hopkins' comments came as the UK's chief medical officers warned the winter could be \"especially hard\" for the health service because of coronavirus.\n\nOfficials are preparing to begin using the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine as early as Tuesday, with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying supplies have arrived in Scotland.\n\nBut in a letter to NHS staff, the chief medical officers of England (Prof Chris Whitty), Scotland (Dr Gregor Smith), Wales (Dr Frank Atherton) and Northern Ireland (Dr Michael McBride) said: \"Although the very welcome news about vaccines means that we can look forward to 2021 with greater optimism, vaccine deployment will have only a marginal impact in reducing numbers coming into the health service with Covid over the next three months.\"\n\nThe rapid lateral flow tests work by taking a nose and throat swab, shaking it in fluid until any viral particles come off, and then dropping the fluid onto a plastic stick. They take about half an hour to show a result.\n\nSome councils have raised concerns over their use, with Greater Manchester councils the latest to pause rapid testing for care home visitors.\n\nProf Jon Deeks, of Birmingham University, said lateral flow tests could not detect low levels of the virus and were being used in ways for which they were never intended.\n\n\"We can't see why the government is progressing with using this test when it is missing so many people,\" he told the BBC.\n\n\"They have been sold to people with the idea that if you are negative you will be able to go and visit people, you will be able to be clear that you haven't got Covid, and that is really dangerous.\"\n\nProf Calum Semple, from Liverpool University and a member of the government's Scientific Advisory group for Emergencies, defended their use, saying more than a thousand coronavirus \"transmission chains\" had been broken during the pilot scheme in the city.", "A 16-year-old boy was among four workers killed in an explosion at a waste water treatment works.\n\nTeenager Luke Wheaton, Michael James, 64, Brian Vickery, 63, and Raymond White, 57, died in the blast in Avonmouth, Bristol. A fifth person injured is recovering at home.\n\nIt happened at 11:20 GMT on Thursday in a silo that treated biosolids.\n\nWessex Water said it was working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate the cause of the blast.\n\nIt is understood Mr James was a contractor working at the site, while Mr Vickery and Mr White were employees of Wessex Water and Luke was an apprentice at the firm.\n\nLuke was a former pupil at Bradley Stoke Community School in Bristol and had recently started an apprenticeship at the plant.\n\nIn a post on Facebook, the school said it was \"shocked and saddened\" to hear of the \"tragic passing of our former student Luke Wheaton\".\n\n\"Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time,\" it added.\n\nNorth Bristol Rugby Football Club also paid tribute to the teenager on Twitter, saying his death was \"absolutely heartbreaking\".\n\n\"Such terribly sad news that one of our Colts, Luke Wheaton was tragically lost in the accident in Avonmouth yesterday morning,\" it said.\n\n\"All of our love and thoughts to Luke's family, team mates, coaches and everyone else that knew him.\"\n\nFlowers have been laid at the scene\n\nA witness reported hearing a \"very loud explosion\" that \"shook buildings\" and another said they saw about 10 ambulances driving to the scene.\n\nAvon and Somerset Police declared a major incident in the immediate aftermath.\n\nSupt Simon Brickwood said he wanted to \"extend my heartfelt sympathies to the families of those involved\".\n\n\"We appreciate the impact this incident has had on the local community and we thank those affected for their patience while our investigative work is carried out,\" he said.\n\n\"This is likely to be ongoing for some time and we will be keeping the victims' families informed throughout.\"\n\nFormal identification of the victims is yet to take place and post-mortem examinations are under way, police said.\n\nInvestigators are due to speak to the fifth victim when it is appropriate to do so.\n\nThe blast happened in a silo that treated biosolids\n\nOn Thursday, Avon Fire and Rescue Service described the scene of the incident as \"very challenging\".\n\nSearch and rescue dogs were drafted in to locate casualties following the blast.\n\nColin Skellett, chief executive of Wessex Water, said the firm was \"absolutely devastated\" by what had happened.\n\n\"Our hearts go out to the family, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives during the tragic event on Thursday,\" he said.\n\n\"I know from the thoughts and comments I have received from so many, that this has affected the whole Wessex Water family.\n\n\"We are determined to find out what happened and why and we will work with the relevant authorities to do just that.\"\n\nA police spokesman confirmed the blast, in a chemical tank, was not terror-related.\n\nBiosolids are \"treated sludge\", a by-product of the sewage treatment process.\n\nAccording to Wessex Water, the sludge is treated in anaerobic digesters, oxygen-free tanks, to produce agricultural fertiliser and renewable energy.\n\nPolice said a cordon at the site was likely to remain in place for several days while the blast is investigated by a team of chemical and mechanical experts, who are working with the HSE.\n\nGiles Hyder, HSE's head of operations in the South West, said: \"We send our deepest condolences to the families of those who tragically died. It is important a joint investigation is carried out.\n\n\"We will provide specialist support to what is likely to be a complex investigation under the command of the police.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith: The asteroid sample is ''exciting key'' to the origins of the Solar System\n\nA capsule containing the first significant quantities of rock from an asteroid is in \"perfect\" shape, according to scientists.\n\nThe container with material from a space rock called Ryugu parachuted down near Woomera in South Australia on Saturday evening (GMT).\n\nA recovery team in Australia found the spacecraft lying on the sandy ground, with its parachute draped over a bush.\n\nThe samples were originally collected by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2.\n\nThe spacecraft spent more than a year investigating Ryugu before returning to Earth. As it approached our planet, Hayabusa-2 released the capsule with the samples and fired its engines to push off in another direction.\n\nThe 16kg capsule, meanwhile, entered the Earth's atmosphere.\n\nThe official Hayabusa-2 Twitter account reported that the capsule and its parachute had been found at 19:47 GMT.\n\n\"Hayabusa-2 is home,\" Dr Yuichi Tsuda, project manager for the mission, said at a press conference on Sunday morning (GMT) in Sagamihara, Japan.\n\n\"We collected the treasure box,\" he said, adding: \"The capsule collection was perfectly done.\"\n\nHe said there was no damage to the container.\n\nA team member carries the capsule, which contains samples from an asteroid\n\nDr Hitoshi Kuninaka, director general of Japan's Institute for Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), said: \"We started development of Hayabusa-2 in 2011. I think the dream has come true.\"\n\nAddressing journalists, he acknowledged past missions that had experienced technical problems, but said: \"Regarding Hayabusa-2, we did everything according to the schedule - 100%. And we succeeded in sample return as planned. As a result, we can move on to the next stage in space development.\"\n\nThe next stage includes a mission called MMX, which will aim to bring back samples from Mars' largest moon Phobos.\n\nEarlier on Saturday, the capsule was picked up by cameras as a dazzling fireball streaking over Australia's Coober Pedy region.\n\nScreaming towards Earth at 11km/s, it deployed parachutes to slow its descent. The capsule then began transmitting a beacon with information about its position.\n\nThe capsule is packed into a protective box for transport to the \"quick look facility\"\n\nCameras in Australia captured the fireball as the capsule re-entered the atmosphere\n\nThe spacecraft touched down on the vast Woomera range, operated by the Royal Australian Air Force.\n\nAt around 18:07 GMT (04:37 local time), the recovery team identified the position of the capsule on the ground. A helicopter, equipped with an antenna to pick up the beacon, took to the air shortly afterwards.\n\nSatoru Nakazawa, Hayabusa-2 sub-manager at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa), who was part of the operation at Woomera, described the search: \"We went there with the helicopter and it was emitting the beacon signal. But at that time, it was still dark, so it was unclear [where it was]. I was very, very nervous.\n\n\"We flew over the area [where it landed] many times and I thought maybe that was where it was. Then the Sun rose and we could visually confirm the existence of the capsule. We thought: 'Wow, we found it!\"\n\n\"But we had a very jittery, frustrating time until sunrise.\"\n\nThe capsule was then taken to a \"quick-look facility\" for inspection. On Monday, Jaxa said it had collected gases from inside the container for analysis, adding that it was still not known whether they come from the Ryugu sample.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Australian Space Agency This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAfterwards, the capsule will be airlifted to Japan, where it will be transported to a curation chamber at Jaxa in Sagamihara for analysis and storage.\n\nThe mission planned to collect a sample of more than 100mg from the asteroid Ryugu.\n\nProf Alan Fitzsimmons, from Queen's University Belfast, said the sample would \"reveal a huge amount, not only about the history of the Solar System, but about these particular objects as well\".\n\nAsteroids are essentially leftover building materials from the formation of the Solar System. They're made of the same stuff that went into forming the Earth, but they avoided being incorporated into planets.\n\n\"Having samples from an asteroid like Ryugu will be really exciting for our field. We think Ryugu is made up of super-ancient rocks that will tell us how the Solar System formed,\" Prof Sara Russell, leader of the planetary materials group at London's Natural History Museum, told BBC News.\n\nStudying the samples from Ryugu could tell us how water and the ingredients for life were delivered to the early Earth.\n\nA rover deployed by Hayabusa-2 sent back this image from the surface of Ryugu\n\nIt had long been thought that comets delivered much of the Earth's water in the early days of the Solar System. Alan Fitzsimmons said the chemical profile of water in comets was sometimes rather different from the profile of water in our planet's oceans.\n\nThe water composition of some asteroids in the outer Solar System, however, is a much closer match. Ryugu probably originated in this cold zone, before migrating inwards to its current orbit, closer to Earth.\n\n\"It may be that we've been looking to comets all this time for delivering water to Earth in the early Solar System. Perhaps we should have been looking a bit closer to home, at these primitive but rather rocky asteroids,\" Prof Fitzsimmons told BBC News.\n\n\"Indeed that's something that will be looked at very carefully in these Ryugu samples.\"\n\nResearchers from around Japan, and other countries, will be working with the samples. In the UK, Prof Russell's team at the Natural History Museum and scientists from the universities of Manchester and Glasgow will get to study the material.\n\nDr Sarah Crowther is one of several researchers at Manchester expecting to receive samples next year. She explained: \"Different labs contribute different expertise, which all helps in understanding the material collected.\"\n\nThe Hayabusa-2 spacecraft, which bypassed the Earth after releasing its capsule, is being sent on another mission. It will now travel to a much smaller, 30m-wide asteroid, reaching it in 2031.", "Sir Keir Starmer - pictured on a visit earlier this week - is not showing any symptoms\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer is having to self isolate after a member of his staff tested positive for coronavirus.\n\nIn line with government advice, Sir Keir will now have to stay at home for 14 days since his last contact with the affected person.\n\nA spokesman for Sir Keir said this means he will come out of self-isolation on Wednesday 16 December.\n\nThey added the party leader was \"well and not showing any symptoms\".\n\nIt is the second time Sir Keir has had to isolate because of coronavirus. In September, a member of his family showed symptoms of the virus.\n\nBut they later tested negative, allowing Sir Keir to get back to Westminster.\n\nIt also comes a week after Prime Minister Boris Johnson came out of his own isolation period, having had contact with an MP who tested positive with the virus.\n\nSir Keir's spokesman said during this latest period of self-isolation, the Labour leader will continue to work from home.", "For months, the government has been urging businesses to get ready for a new era in trading with the EU. But it was only on Boxing Day that details of all the new rules were actually published.\n\nBusiness groups are relieved that the threat of a no-deal Brexit, which would have meant tariffs (or taxes) on goods crossing the border with the EU, has been removed. But companies that trade with the EU are still facing a lot of new bureaucracy.\n\nAnd the disruption in mid-December, caused by border closures related to the new variant of Covid-19, was a reminder of how dependent the UK economy is on trade across the English Channel.\n\nFrom 1 January 2021, goods entering the EU from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) face large amounts of new paperwork and checks, including:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHauliers will also need to make sure they have the right transportation paperwork before they drive to the border.\n\nThere is particular focus on the \"short straits\" route between Dover and Calais, and the nearby Channel Tunnel, which taken together handle about four million lorries a year.\n\n\"This is the biggest imposition of red tape that businesses have had to deal with in 50 years,\" says William Bain from the British Retail Consortium.\n\nFull controls on British exports to the EU began on 1 January. The first day of the new regime appears to have gone relatively smoothly.\n\nBut it's feared that later in the year, the new controls could cause disruption, even though new border infrastructure has been built at ports such as Calais, to help process vehicles more efficiently.\n\nThere are some mitigating measures though.\n\nIn response to the Covid crisis, the government is delaying full controls on goods entering Great Britain from the EU for a further six months.\n\nThere will be checks from 1 January on controlled substances such as alcohol and tobacco, and traders deemed to be a risk will also be asked to fill in customs declarations.\n\nBut most checks on goods coming in from the EU will be delayed until 1 July, a deadline that could in theory be extended.\n\n\"I think we will want to monitor it,\" the chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs, Jim Harra, told MPs in November. \"Hopefully we will not still be in a situation where Covid-19 is consuming as much of people's attention.\"\n\nOther measures to tackle potential disruption include diverting trade to other ports around the country and opening lorry parks in Kent, to avoid gridlock on the roads.\n\nSome of these contingencies were put into action early, to deal with the Covid border closures in December.\n\nOperation Brock, for example, involved changing the layout of a section of the M20, using a concrete barrier to allow lorries heading for mainland Europe to queue safely on the motorway.\n\nThousands of lorries were also diverted to temporary parking at a disused airport at Manston.\n\nFrom 1 January drivers of lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes will need to acquire a Kent Access Permit before they enter the county. They will have to show that they have all the paperwork they need to ferry goods to Europe.\n\nBut that doesn't deal with the challenge of the thousands of vans that cross the Channel every week.\n\n\"What has been serially misunderstood by various parts of government is the scale of the complexity for people on the ground dealing with the paperwork,\" says Duncan Buchanan, the Policy Director of the Road Haulage Association.\n\nThat could mean that instead of queues on motorways, many traders won't be able to leave their depots.\n\n\"Either they won't be able to get vets to sign off on their meat exports, or they won't be able to get their permit because they don't have the right bits of paper,\" says Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Storage Federation.\n\n\"We might see a quite significant holding off of trading - people just not moving stuff in the first few weeks.\"\n\nEighty-five per cent of the volume of trade between the EU and Great Britain is carried by EU hauliers, who are often paid not by the hour, but by the kilometre. If they think there will be too many delays, many may simply not come.\n\nThe government says the readiness of traders to deal with the new system remains its biggest concern.\n\nLorries parked on the M20 in Kent\n\n\"The sheer scale of the overall operation means there are literally many millions of moving parts,\" permanent secretary of the cabinet office Alex Chisholm told MPs. \"Inevitably there are going to be some difficulties for some individual people as they adjust to the new regime.\"\n\nThe government has also announced a new Border Operations Centre as part of plans \"for the UK to have the world's most effective border by 2025\".\n\nQuestions have been asked about how changes at the border might affect food supply. The short answer is no-one can say for sure, but nearly 30% of all the food consumed in the UK is imported from the EU.\n\nThe good news is that there is a deal, which makes a big difference. But the challenge is particularly acute because the UK grows relatively small amounts of fruit and vegetables in January and February and is most dependent on supplies from southern Europe at this time of year.\n\nSo, if there are delays, they could cause some shortages on the shelves.\n\n\"Some gaps are possible but we're not going to run out of food - that's not going to happen\" says Ian Wright.\n\nWhen it comes to non-perishable items, there had been some stockpiling in preparation for either outcome, but extra supplies won't last forever.\n\n\"The crunch point is probably not going to be in the first few days or weeks of January,\" William Bain argues. \"Towards the end of the month, when new orders start being placed and delivered, we will start to see the processes in Kent and the other ports really tested.\"\n\nAnd it's not only about food.\n\nOther retailers, which are used to moving their stock freely around the EU customs union, have had to create separate supply chains for the UK. That is costing them more money, and their new systems have yet to be tested properly.\n\nIt's not just about trade across the English Channel.\n\nTrade across the Irish Sea between Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland will be subject to the same pressures, while Northern Ireland will be a special case under the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.\n\nNorthern Ireland will remain in the EU single market for goods, and unlike the rest of the UK it will continue to enjoy frictionless trade with the EU with no checks of any kind at the land border with the Republic.\n\nBut there is a price to pay for that - new bureaucracy within the UK between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.\n\nThe EU, for example, has strict rules on products of animal origin: meat, milk, fish and eggs.\n\nThese products must enter the single market (and, from 1 January, Northern Ireland) through a border control post where paperwork is checked, and a proportion of goods physically inspected.\n\nThere will be a grace period of three months for supermarkets and their suppliers, but some smaller traders may have to get used to the new rules straight away.\n\nAll shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will also need a safety and security declaration, and a customs declaration from a new IT system which none of the traders have used before.\n\nThe government has set up a Trader Support Service to help.\n\nThe details of the new trading arrangements for Northern Ireland were announced separately in early December, and provided some clarity. They include an agreement which means the vast majority of goods being shipped from GB to NI will not be at risk of having tariffs imposed.\n\nBut there are plenty of unresolved issues.\n\nTraders are seeking answers about how to send parcels from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, and some online retailers have already suspended deliveries.\n\nThe trade from British to Northern Irish ports often involves multiple small shipments on a single lorry - all of which will need the right paperwork.\n\n\"We need clear rules for everyone in the supply chain,\" says Duncan Buchanan, \"and when you scratch the surface it is just not ready.\"\n\nIt is expected that many checks will be carried out on a 'light touch' basis to begin with.\n\nBut anyone trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is going to have to get used to a new way of working very quickly.", "Last updated on .From the section Cricket\n\nEngland's one-day international series against South Africa will begin on Sunday after the hosts' players tested negative for coronavirus.\n\nThe first game of the three-match series had been set to take place on Friday but was called off after a positive test in the Proteas squad.\n\nThe players were tested again on Friday evening after the match was cancelled and returned negative results.\n\nThe series opener will take place in Paarl from 08:00 GMT on Sunday.\n\nThe last two games are in Cape Town on Monday and Wednesday.\n\n\"The entire Proteas team has returned negative results from the Covid-19 tests that were conducted yesterday evening in Cape Town,\" a Cricket South Africa statement read.\n\nThis is the first England match to be postponed because of a positive case since the outbreak of the pandemic.\n\nTwo unnamed South Africa players tested positive before the Twenty20 leg of the tour last month, forcing the cancellation of a Proteas intra-squad practice game.\n\nSouth Africa have not named the player who tested positive and they do not know how he contracted the virus.\n\nThe players were tested after the three-match T20 series, which England won 3-0.\n\nThere have been no fans at any of the matches and the teams have been living in separate, bio-secure areas of hotels near to the grounds.\n\nEngland managed to complete a full revised home schedule this summer, with no home or opposition players testing positive, although England pace bowler Jofra Archer missed the second West Indies Test in July after breaching bio-secure protocols.\n\nIn England's summer series against West Indies, Ireland, Australia and Pakistan, the squads stayed in on-site hotels at Emirates Old Trafford and the Ageas Bowl, but no such facilities are available at the South Africa venues.\n\nBBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew on BBC Radio 5 Live: \"There was a test on Friday night for the South Africa squad and the hotel staff where they are staying.\n\n\"We know England were unhappy with the protocols. They felt there had been some breaches during the T20 series, where they are all staying in the same hotel, although they do not mix.\n\n\"The long and the short of it is there were no new cases and none amongst the staff, so the series will be able to begin.\"\n• None I May Destroy You star Michaela Coel joins for his new series", "City centre streets were deserted after the ban closed pubs and restaurants\n\nBarrels of beer are being poured down drains as Wales' hospitality industry prepared for the alcohol ban to come into force.\n\nPubs, restaurants and cafes are banned from serving alcohol from Friday evening and must close at 18:00 GMT, other than for takeaway service.\n\nBusinesses said it was \"a devastating hammer blow\" after going to lengths to keep customers safe.\n\nThey said the restrictions will also significantly impact the supply chain.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nAt the Glamorgan Brewery in Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taf, staff have been pouring barrels of beer down the drain because it now cannot be sold in pubs.\n\nOn Thursday, 58 of the company's 64 employees went back onto furlough.\n\nBarrels of beer are being poured down the drain due to the ban\n\nDirector David Atkins said the new measures are \"an absolute kick in the teeth\".\n\n\"This time last year we probably turned over about £1.5m for the month of December. This year, it's £50,000.\n\nHe added the majority of their beer - about 45,000 pints - will have to be thrown away.\n\nPubs began clearing tables and chairs as the ban came into force at 18:00 GMT on Friday\n\nAt The Cricketers pub in Pontcanna, Cardiff, staff were also pouring away beer on Friday afternoon.\n\nSimon Buckley, of Evan Evans Brewery which supplies the pub said: \"How can it be right and safe to open to serve food in pubs but not alcohol? It defies logic.\n\n\"Why is 6pm the bewitching hour as opposed to 10pm? In these difficult times - and the month of December particularly - the lost revenue is significant.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What does Wales' hospitality sector make of the new Covid rules?\n\nJames Cunningham, manager of the Ruthin Castle Hotel in Ruthin, Denbighshire, said customers have appreciated the safety measures put in place and the new rules were \"incredibly frustrating\".\n\n\"Whenever they can, people want to try to come out and enjoy themselves in these very, very testing times,\" he said.\n\nHe described the measures as a \"devastating hammer blow\" to the hospitality industry.\n\n\"Figures show that less than 5% of all settings of infection happen in hospitality - and yet here we are once again taking the hammer blow,\" he said.\n\n\"There's no guarantee those restrictions are going to be lifted,\" he said.", "Last updated on .From the section Championship\n\nSome Millwall fans booed players taking a knee at the start of the Championship match against Derby County on Saturday.\n\nIt is the first time supporters have been allowed into The Den this season, following the lifting of the second national lockdown on 2 December.\n\nThe boos rang out as the two teams took a knee before kick-off in a game which Wayne Rooney's Rams won 1-0.\n\n\"It is just disheartening. How do these fans get allocated to the games?\" said former England defender Micah Richards.\n\nPlayers, officials and staff at Premier League and English Football League games have been taking a knee pre-match since football restarted in June in order to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement for racial equality.\n\nRichards told BBC TV's Final Score: \"There are 2,000 so you can pinpoint the people going. There are no excuses. I am sick to death of talking about this situation.\n\n\"It is so disheartening because it is like we have come so far but we have so far to go. I don't even like talking about the matter. It feels like it falls on deaf ears. It is time and time and time again.\"\n\nFormer Coventry and Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin, who had a loan spell at Millwall in 2002, added: \"They don't agree with taking the knee, which means they are racist. They don't agree with Black Lives Matter; that says they are racist to me.\n\n\"It says to me that a minority of Millwall fans are spoiling it for a club that is going in the right direction with a tag they have had for years and years and they are trying to eradicate it.\"\n\nA Football Association spokesperson said: \"The FA supports all players and staff that wish to take a stand against discrimination in a respectful manner, which includes taking of the knee, and strongly condemns the behaviours of any spectators that actively voice their opposition to such activities.\"\n\nThe match itself saw Derby end a 12-match winless streak with Jason Knight netting the winning goal midway through the second half after Millwall keeper Bartosz Bialkowski had saved from Martyn Waghorn.\n\nThe result lifted Derby off the bottom off the Championship table and was a first victory for caretaker-boss Rooney, who has expressed an interest in taking the job on a permanent basis.\n\nMillwall had arguably the better of the chances, with Jed Wallace forcing Derby keeper David Marshall into a fine save in the first half, and Jake Cooper glancing wide from a corner just before Knight's goal.\n\nThe Rams could have doubled the margin of victory but Matt Clarke's header was gathered by Bialkowski.\n\nOn Friday, Millwall's first-team squad issued a statement supporting efforts to rid the game \"of all forms of discrimination\".\n\nThe statement added: \"The gesture of 'taking the knee' before matches provides an opportunity for us to do exactly that and continues to allow all those playing to publicly showcase their support - on behalf of the whole squad - for the fight against discrimination.\n\n\"We wish to make clear that taking the knee, for us, is in no way representative of any agreement with political messaging or ideology. It is purely about tackling discrimination, as has been the case throughout.\n\n\"We will continue to do this until the start of the new year when a new and comprehensive anti-discrimination strategy will be announced by the club.\"\n\nKick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari said he was \"saddened\" by the booing and praised the teams for \"defying the hate\" shown by some members of the crowd.\n\n\"What this demonstrates is that players are right to continue standing up to discrimination, whether that is through taking the knee or speaking out,\" he added.\n\n\"The fight for racial equality continues and we will continue to work closely with clubs across the country to tackle discrimination in all its forms.\n\n\"We urge the players to continue using their platforms and their voices to support this fight.\"\n\nAmerican football player Colin Kaepernick started kneeling symbolically during the pre-game national anthem in the NFL in 2016, in protest at police violence against African-Americans in the United States.\n\nThe Black Lives Matter movement and taking a knee has grown in prominence in the United Kingdom following the death of George Floyd in the US in May, which sparked protests around the world.\n\nThe 46-year-old, an unarmed black man, died after a white police officer held a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.\n• None Nathan Byrne (Derby County) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.\n• None Attempt missed. Mahlon Romeo (Millwall) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Ryan Leonard.\n• None Martyn Waghorn (Derby County) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.\n• None Attempt saved. Matthew Clarke (Derby County) header from a difficult angle on the right is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Max Bird with a cross. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page", "The boy fell from a carriage on the Twister ride at Lightwater Valley in May 2019\n\nA theme park where a boy fell from a rollercoaster has been fined £350,000 for health and safety breaches.\n\nThe seven-year-old was airlifted to hospital with head injuries after falling from the ride at Lightwater Valley in North Yorkshire in May 2019.\n\nYork Magistrates' Court heard the ride no longer operated and the park viewed the accident with \"great sadness\".\n\nThe boy fell from the Twister attraction during the spring half-term holiday, the court heard.\n\nBosses at the theme park, near Ripon, admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.\n\nJudge Adrian Lower was told the boy had not been wearing a seat belt and fell through a gap between the seat and a restraining bar.\n\nBut the boy and his mother, who was in the car with him, were not told they had to wear a seat belt, the court heard.\n\nJudge Lower was told the effectiveness of the restraining bar was not enough to hold the youngster in position.\n\nThe child was airlifted to hospital after the accident at Lightwater Valley\n\nProsecutor Craig Hassall said the victim suffered serious head injuries following the fall and was airlifted to hospital in Leeds.\n\nHis mother saw him slip under the restraint as he was ejected from the car which was between two and three metres from the ground at the time\n\nMr Hassall said seatbelt rules were not universally understood by ride operatives and that maintenance of seatbelts was not adequate or in effective working order.\n\nIn June 2001, 20-year-old Gemma Savage from South Yorkshire died when two of the rollercoaster's cars collided.\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson is one of five men arrested\n\nLiverpool's mayor Joe Anderson has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nHe and four others were held as part of an investigation into the awarding of building contracts in the city.\n\nIt is understood the Labour Party has suspended Mr Anderson pending the outcome of the case.\n\nThe year-long police probe, Operation Aloft, has focussed on a number of property developers.\n\nLiverpool City Council said it was co-operating with Merseyside Police.\n\nA police statement said those arrested include two men, 33 and 62, both from Liverpool, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nA 46-year-old man from Ainsdale has also been arrested on suspicion of the same offence.\n\nThe other two arrested men are a 72-year-old man from Liverpool and a 25-year old from Ormskirk, who have been arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation.\n\nDeveloper Elliot Lawless was arrested in January 2019 and denied any wrongdoing. Elliot Lawless is currently released under investigation and was not one of the five arrested earlier on Friday.\n\nCouncillor Richard Kemp, leader of the opposition Lib Dem group on Liverpool City Council, said Mr Anderson \"should follow the precedence set by leaders of the council and other senior figures in such cases.\"\n\n\"He should step away from the council and step away from his mayoralty while this goes through due legal process,\" he said.\n\nHe later studied for a degree in social work at Liverpool John Moores University and went on to become a social worker for Sefton Council in 1992.\n\nThe father-of-four was Liverpool's first elected mayor in 2012 having served on the city council since 1998.\n\nHis national profile been raised by his role in driving forward mass coronavirus testing in the city.\n\nMr Anderson, whose brother Bill died recently of Covid-19, was praised for his response to the virus by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Hens, turkeys and other captive birds in Britain will have to be kept indoors from 14 December to prevent the spread of bird flu, the government has said.\n\nThe chief vets for England, Scotland and Wales made the decision after a number of cases were detected among both captive and wild birds.\n\nThe risk to humans is \"very low\", the government said, and should \"not affect the consumption of poultry products\".\n\nBut in a joint statement, veterinary chiefs said \"swift action\" was needed.\n\n\"Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands, from 14 December onwards you will be legally required to keep your birds indoors, or take appropriate steps to keep them separate from wild birds,\" read the statement.\n\n\"We have not taken this decision lightly but it is the best way to protect your birds from this highly infectious disease.\"\n\nThere are numerous strains of bird flu. Most either do not affect humans, or are not easily caught and spread by humans.\n\nDeaths have been recorded outside of the UK related to some strains, but the H5N8 strain - which makes up the bulk of the UK's current cases - has not infected any humans worldwide to date, the NHS said.\n\nA turkey farm in Norfolk is among those to found to have had an outbreak of the H5N8 bird flu strain. The birds will now be slaughtered to prevent the spread.\n\nWhile the news will be of particular concern to poultry farmers in the run-up to Christmas, the new rules will apply to all bird owners in Britain.\n\nHowever, despite the concern, the Department for Environment Farming and Rural Affairs said poultry products - including eggs - are still safe to consume.\n\nNo end date for the measures has been given, but Defra said they would be kept under \"regular review\".\n\nFarmers forced to move their birds indoors in circumstances such as these may continue to market the meat as \"free range\" as long as the measures do not last longer than 12 weeks.\n\nFor eggs, this deadline is slightly longer - 16 weeks. After this point, the eggs must be downgraded to \"barn produced\".\n\nAimee Mahony, chief poultry adviser for the National Farmers' Union, said the new rules were \"a logical next step\".\n\n\"These new measures mean that every poultry keeper, whether you have one hen in the garden or a large poultry business, must house their birds indoors and I would urge everyone with poultry to take these measures seriously,\" she said.\n• None Turkeys to be culled after bird flu found at farm", "The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine have arrived in Northern Ireland.\n\nNearly 25,000 doses arrived in Belfast on Friday - it is hoped it will be the first of several deliveries this month.\n\nHealth Minister Robin Swann said confirmation of which groups will get the vaccine first is due next week.\n\nThere will be dummy runs at various locations, but it has been confirmed the first administration of the vaccine will be on Tuesday morning.\n\nMr Swann said there was \"a long journey ahead of us but we can be optimistic\".\n\nHe added: \"Vaccinators will be the first to receive the vaccine, followed swiftly by priority groups.\n\n\"We are being guided on prioritisation by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.\n\n\"It has identified care home residents and staff and health and social care workers as priority groups.\"\n\nDistribution of the vaccine would be \"a massive logistical challenge\", particularly in terms of rolling it out in care homes, added the health minister.\n\nAnother six people in Northern Ireland have died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the Department of Health's recorded total of deaths to 1,032.\n\nAnother 449 people have tested positive for the virus.\n\nIn the Republic of Ireland six more Covid-19-related deaths were recorded, taking the country's overall tally to 2,086.\n\nIrish health officials also reported that another 265 people have tested positive.\n\nThe arrival of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Northern Ireland is a massive box ticked.\n\nBut it doesn't just magic the virus away and some people might see the vaccine as an excuse to forget about the restrictions.\n\nGiven the existing two-week lockdown, the authorities anticipate that number of new infections will decline ever so slightly or remain stable until shortly before Christmas.\n\nBut with more of us out and about and mixing they are sure to rise again.\n\nIt is understood that if the so-called R-number can be maintained at 1.6 or below then intervention would not be required until the end of December or beginning of January.\n\nHowever, if it was to rise as high as 1.8 then intervention would be required, possibly at end of December.\n\nAll of this depends on our behaviour and how closely we practice the Covid-19 guidelines.\n\nTo vaccinate care home residents in Northern Ireland, 12,000 doses of the vaccine are required.\n\nThe problem facing those responsible for rolling out the vaccination scheme is how to deliver it to care homes safely and effectively.\n\nIt is thought the seven vaccination centres that have been earmarked, including leisure centres and hospitals, will be used to roll out the vaccine to those care homes which are located nearby.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What will the vaccination process look like?\n\nThe vaccine must be stored at around -70C and will be transported in special boxes, packed in dry ice.\n\nOnce delivered, it can be kept for up to five days in a fridge.\n\nOn Wednesday the UK regulator the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the jab, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness, is safe.\n\nIt is thought Northern Ireland will receive about 1.5 million doses in total.\n\nThe UK is the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for widespread use.\n\nPatricia Donnelly, who is leading the vaccine rollout programme in Northern Ireland, said the fact the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had to be stored at a very low temperature and came in large packs meant it was more practical to take the people receiving it to larger centres.\n\n\"We hope that we will start to deploy it next week - we're aiming for early in the week but we can't confirm that until we have all our final arrangments in place,\" she told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra.\n\n\"Because we don't have a limitless supply of the vaccine we're also looking at where our priorities are for this.\n\n\"Next week we have a definite plan to vaccinate the vaccinators.\"", "The explosion happened at a house in Green Lane, Illingworth\n\nThree people have been taken to hospital following an explosion at a house in West Yorkshire.\n\nOnlookers said the home, in Green Lane, Illingworth, near Halifax, was \"completely destroyed\" in the blast, which sounded \"like a bomb went off\".\n\nA woman suffered severe burns and a man was seriously injured, West Yorkshire Police said. A second woman sustained minor injuries.\n\nThe force said it was continuing to investigate the cause of the blast.\n\nCh Supt Sarah Baker said officers were conducting inquiries alongside the fire service, local council, Health and Safety Executive and Northern Gas Networks.\n\nWest Yorkshire Fire & Rescue said six nearby homes had been evacuated.\n\nAndy Sykes, who lives nearby, said: \"It's been completely destroyed. It's a real mess.\n\n\"The house is at the end of a row of three and and it just looks like it is completely gone. It's like a bomb has gone off.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Footage from the scene shows a large fire at the explosion site\n\n\"I saw people jumping out of the house, literally there was no front to the house,\" she said.\n\n\"I heard people saying get the old lady out who lives next door. They managed to get her out, I saw them carrying her over their shoulder.\n\n\"It was just like something out of a horror story.\"\n\nAn investigation into the cause of the explosion is under way\n\nBenjy Bush, group manager for West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue said about 20 firefighters were sent to the incident following reports of an explosion at 07:30 GMT.\n\n\"Crews on the ground reported scenes of fire and extensive damage to the property,\" he said.\n\n\"We had reports that there were three adults in the property. Those adults got out of the property and they were being dealt with by Yorkshire Ambulance Service on the scene and then they were transported to hospital.\"\n\nFirefighters were likely to be on the scene for some time and an investigation had been launched, he added.\n\nA fundraiser for those affected by the blast has been set up, with people offering to donate clothes and food to the family through local businesses and charities.\n\nMr Sykes, who works at the Noah's Ark Centre, in nearby Ovenden, said the charity was helping to co-ordinate fundraising.\n\n\"We've had lots of people contacting us wanting to make donations,\" he said.\n\n\"I'm sure over the course of the next 24 hours the community will rally round and we will end up with a good bit of support.\"\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Simon Jones and Jenna Roberts said the second cancellation was \"ten times worse\"\n\nA couple say they are \"heartbroken\" at having their wedding cancelled for a second time in six months by Covid-19.\n\nJenna Roberts and Simon Jones were due to tie the knot in July but the wedding was cancelled due to lockdown.\n\nNow their \"dream\" has been shattered again after the venue at Margam Park, Port Talbot, was confirmed as a Covid-19 vaccination centre.\n\nThey want compensation from Neath Port Talbot (NPT), claiming they have been left £2,000 out of pocket.\n\nSimon and Jenna, from Porth, Rhonda Cynon Taff, had waited almost three years for their wedding at The Orangery, after booking in 2017, but said they understood the reasons for cancelling first time, during lockdown.\n\nThey postponed the special day to July next year, only to be informed on Friday it can no longer go ahead.\n\nThe venue is to be used as a vaccination centre for up to 12 months from 13 December.\n\nNPT council said the venue was \"absolutely necessary\" and would play a \"crucial role\" in the Covid-19 vaccination programme for local people.\n\nThe venue has cancelled 64 weddings, which can be rearranged for a later date in 2022 when the venue is due to reopen - or a full deposit offered.\n\n\"The worst part was I had to get off the phone and tell my partner we had to cancel our wedding again. She just burst into tears,\" said Simon, 38.\n\n\"We've had no communication about this at all, so it just came out of the blue. Had we known, we wouldn't have booked suppliers again.\"\n\nThe couple say they have to find another £2000 to make up for lost costs\n\nJenna, 34, said: \"The first time was hard enough, the second time was ten times worse. There were a lot of tears.\n\n\"We have elderly relatives that might not be able to make our wedding in two years' time. It's just terrible.\"\n\nWhile they are able to set a new date or get most of their deposit back, they will not get refunds for stationery, such as invites, the videographer and their children's bridesmaids dresses and suits.\n\nSimon estimates the total cost to rearrange again will be about £2,000.\n\n\"In no way do we blame them for any of this, but we are truly heartbroken and devastated at the fact Neath Port Talbot Council have had no thoughts on the implications it has caused by taking over a wedding venue,\" he said.\n\nSimon and Jenna have one child together, alongside two Jenna has from a previous relationship.\n\nThe Margam Orangery is among 12 sites being used as a vaccination centre by NPT and Swansea councils, due to its size, location and available car parking.\n\nA NPT council spokesperson said it was aware of the disappointment but plan to deliver 500 vaccinations every day, seven days a week, to \"safeguard the health of local residents as quickly as possible\".\n\nThe venue said continuing to hold weddings would have reduced the building's capacity for vaccinating by 1,500 per wedding.\n\nCouncillor Peter Rees said: \"We sincerely apologise but the venue will play pivotal role in saving lives.\n\n\"We ask that couples and their families understand that we would not take this action unless it was absolutely necessary and in the interests of public safety.\n\n\"We will honour our 2020 prices for any of couples who chose an alternative date in 2022, and will offer them first refusal to move back to their original date, should the vaccination programme be completed earlier than next December.\"\n\nOn Wednesday, the Pfizer vaccine was judged safe for use in UK next week. Preparations will be made for the rollout of the vaccine as early as next week.\n\nEach health board will get its share and vaccines will go across Wales at the same time. Mass vaccination centres will be set up - particularly for the mRNA vaccine, which needs to be stored at -70 degrees.\n\nOfficials say each site will have tight security and the vaccines will be guarded \"like a VIP\", as well as cyber and IT security measures being taken.", "Mass coronavirus testing has started in one of the areas hardest-hit by Covid-19 in Wales in a bid to bring the virus under control.\n\nPeople living or working in the Lower Cynon Valley - which includes Abercynon, Penrhiwceiber and parts of Mountain Ash and Aberaman - will be offered tests.\n\nTest centres will run from Saturday until 20 December.\n\nIt is the second place in Wales to have mass testing after Merthyr Tydfil.\n\nResidents in Mountain Ash East and West, and Aberaman South residents, are also eligible for the tests, which give results in 30 minutes.\n\nDr Kelechi Nnoaham: \"People in the Lower Cynon Valley can play a major role in protecting everyone in our communities\"\n\nCwm Taf Morgannwg health board public health director, Dr Kelechi Nnoaham, said: \"The rate of Covid-19 infection is still very high in our communities, and by engaging with this testing programme, people in the Lower Cynon Valley can play a major role in protecting everyone in our communities.\"\n\nThe main test centres are at Cynon Valley Indoor Bowls Centre, Mountain Ash and Abercynon Sports Centre.\n\nJohn Collins took his test at the bowls centre\n\nJohn Collins, 88, from Penrhiwceiber, who took a test at the bowls centre, said: \"At my age you have to try and avoid getting this virus.\"\n\nThe testing programme will use so-called lateral flow devices which can get results in about 20-30 minutes.\n\nSorry, we're having trouble displaying this content. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nIf a person tests positive, they will be asked to return home so they can self-isolate immediately.\n\nConcerns have been raised by some experts that people who are declared negative could have a misplaced sense of reassurance.\n\nIf someone tests negative, they should still follow the rules, and maintain social distancing, hand hygiene and mask wearing.\n\nRhondda Cynon Taf council leader Andrew Morgan said about 27,000 people could be tested in the Lower Cynon Valley.\n\n\"Unfortunately, over the last week or so, we are seeing our cases starting to increase at quite a concerning rate,\" he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast with Oliver Hides.\n\nMass coronavirus testing will run until 20 December in the Lower Cynon Valley\n\nHe said the area had seen 300 positive cases in the last two days so it was \"important\" to identify and isolate those who were asymptomatic within communities to break \"chains of transmission\".\n\n\"This is an integral part of our fight against the virus, as it gives us a greater understanding of the prevalence and level of transmission within our communities,\" he said.\n\nHealth Minister Vaughan Gething said: \"I would encourage the people of Lower Cynon Valley to get tested.\"\n\nThe Merthyr pilot for mass testing, which launched last month, will run until 11 December.\n\nThe case rate in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) is 368.5 per 100,000, reporting 889 new positive tests in the past week.\n\nThe south Wales valleys had been dominating for highest case rates and having fallen back early in November, the rates have now started to move up again.\n\nIn the most recent comparable week, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Neath Port Talbot have been among the 10 highest case rate areas in the UK.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Fort Bragg is one of the world's largest military bases\n\nInvestigators looking into the deaths of a serving soldier and a veteran at a US army base say they suspect foul play was involved.\n\nThe bodies of Master Sergeant William J. Lavigne II and Timothy Duma were discovered at Fort Bragg army base in North Carolina on Wednesday.\n\nOfficials said their deaths were not related to official training.\n\nFort Bragg is one of the world's largest military complexes, housing about 57,000 active-duty personnel.\n\nThe US Army Special Operations Command said Lavigne, 37, did multiple tours of Afghanistan and Iraq and spent 19 years with the army.\n\nDumas, 44, served from November 1996 to March 2016, an army spokesperson at the Pentagon told military publication Stars and Stripes.\n\nTheir bodies were found in a training area of the base. An army official told US media that no weapon had been found at the scene.\n\nHowever shell casings were found on the ground, an official told the BBC's US partner CBS News.\n\nA defence official told the news outlet that both of the men had been under investigation for using and selling drugs.\n\nThe US Army Criminal Investigation Command is investigating the pair's death.\n\nIt comes as investigators continue to look into the death of army paratrooper Enrique Roman-Martinez.\n\nRoman-Martinez went missing during a camping trip with seven fellow soldiers from Fort Bragg in May. His partial remains washed ashore just days later.", "We're going to pause our live coverage now.\n\nBefore we leave you, here is a quick summary of what has happened with Brexit over the last 24 hours or so.\n• UK and EU negotiators put talks to reach a post-Brexit trade deal on hold citing \"significant divergences\" between the two sides\n• UK PM Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a phone call in a bid to break the deadlock\n• Following the call they released a joint statement reiterating the \"significant differences\"\n• However they also said \"further effort should be undertaken\" to try and bridge the gap\n• They instructed their negotiators to resume talks in Brussels on Sunday\n• And they agreed to speak again on Monday evening\n\nSo all eyes on Brussels tomorrow for any hint of a compromise from either side.\n\nUK chief Brexit negotiator David Frost and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier at start of the first round of post-Brexit talks in March 2020 Image caption: UK chief Brexit negotiator David Frost and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier at start of the first round of post-Brexit talks in March 2020\n\nAnd, so that's all from us.\n\nOn the team with you tonight were George Bowden, Hamish Mackay, Kate Whannel, Johanna Howitt and Joshua Nevett.\n\nThanks for joining us.", "Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen have spoken as they try to break the post-Brexit trade deal stalemate.\n\nUrsula Von Der Leyen says 'significant differences remain' in the Brexit trade deal.\n\nThese sticking points include fishing rights, rules on state subsidies for business and arrangements for policing any deal.", "The Pfizer vaccine must be used within 12 hours of being unpacked, the regulator says\n\nThe Covid-19 vaccine will \"definitely\" be ready to go into care homes in the next two weeks, the regulator has said.\n\nThe Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had approved the way doses would be distributed to homes.\n\nIt means care home residents and staff may not be the first to receive jabs, despite being the top priority.\n\nBut the UK's chief medical officers say the vaccine will only have a \"marginal impact\" on winter hospital numbers.\n\nIn a letter to colleagues, the chief medical officers of England (Prof Chris Whitty), Scotland (Dr Gregor Smith), Wales (Dr Frank Atherton) and Northern Ireland (Dr Michael McBride) warn this winter could be \"especially hard\" for the health service due to coronavirus.\n\n\"Although the very welcome news about vaccines means that we can look forward to 2021 with greater optimism, vaccine deployment will have only a marginal impact in reducing numbers coming into the health service with Covid over the next three months,\" they said.\n\nThey added they did not expect the virus to \"disappear\" even once full vaccination had occurred.\n\nFestive gatherings are likely to place \"additional pressure\" on hospitals and GPs in the New Year, which \"we need to be ready for\", the experts said.\n\nThe experts' warning comes as vaccinations are expected to begin at 50 hospital hubs in England on Tuesday.\n\nNHS England also says GP-run vaccination centres will be up and running from 14 December and are expected to start inviting in patients aged over 80.\n\nDr Ellie Cannon, a GP in North London, said local GPs were working together to provide one centre or one team to administer the vaccines.\n\n\"We've been told we need to be available to vaccinate people from 8am to 8pm,\" she told BBC Breakfast, adding there was \"a lot of enthusiasm among healthcare staff to help and to be involved\".\n\nShe cautioned that strict guidelines would have to be followed and only \"the most high risk\" would receive the vaccine in the first week.\n\n\"Don't call us, we will be calling you,\" she advised patients. \"GPs have already identified exactly who their high risk patients are. We don't have the facility to bypass the rules,\" she warned.\n\nBecause of how the vaccine doses are packed, the regulator needs to approve the way in which they are broken down into smaller consignments for distribution to care homes, while ensuring that the vaccine stays at very cold temperatures.\n\nAsked when the vaccine would get to care homes, Dr June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA, told BBC Radio Cumbria that it might be \"variable\" but added: \"I would say definitely within the next two weeks.\"\n\nThe MHRA, which regulates medicines across the UK, requires that the vaccine doses are repacked for shipping to care homes in refrigerated cold rooms at between 2 and 8C and transferred into carriers that maintain the same temperature.\n\nAs soon as they thaw the vials of vaccine, assemblers have 12 hours to pack them, label them and transport them to care homes, an operation that has never been done before at this scale.\n\nBusiness Secretary Alok Sharma said the UK is \"absolutely confident\" it will have 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - the first to be approved by the regulator - next week.\n\nHe said more doses were expected by the end of the year, but he was unable to specify how many.\n\nScotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have also said they are ready to begin vaccinations on Tuesday.\n\nMeanwhile, official data showed infection levels were falling in all English regions, except the North East.\n\nThe government said the R number - the average number of people each person with Covid-19 goes on to infect - had fallen to between 0.8 and 1 in the UK, from between 0.9 and 1 last week.\n\nIt also reported that a further 504 people had died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test, bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 60,617.\n\nThe first consignment of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine arrived in the UK on Thursday, and the government has ordered 40 million doses in total - enough to vaccinate 20 million people.\n\nElderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list - as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) - followed by the over-80s and front-line health and social care staff.\n\nProf Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the JCVI, told The World at One on BBC Radio 4 he understood the elderly in care homes \"might not end up being the first priority group for operational reasons\" and the committee would \"closely monitor this\".\n\nHe stressed the JCVI still expected care home residents \"to be prioritised\".\n\nChris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said the vaccines would now have reached 50 hospital hubs to enable vaccinations to begin on Tuesday.\n\nHospitals were working out how many care home residents, care home staff and over-80s they can get it to, he said.", "Wendy Knell's body was found in her bedsit in Tunbridge Wells in 1987\n\nA man has been charged with the murders of two women killed more than 30 years ago.\n\nDavid Fuller, 66, was arrested on Thursday in connection with the deaths of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce, from Kent, in 1987.\n\nCold case detectives have since charged Mr Fuller, from Heathfield, East Sussex, with two counts of murder.\n\nKent Police said he had been remanded in custody to appear at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday 8 December.\n\nAssistant Chief Constable Tracey Harman, from Kent Police, said: \"Whilst more than three decades have passed since these murders took place, I would urge anyone who has any information, no matter how minor or insignificant it may appear to be, to contact us.\"\n\nCaroline Pierce was murdered five months after Wendy Knell\n\nMs Knell, 25, was found dead at her home in Guildford Road, Tunbridge Wells, on 23 June, having been beaten and sexually assaulted.\n\nMs Pierce, 20, was attacked outside her home in the town's Grosvenor Park on 24 November.\n\nHer body was found on 15 December in a field near Romney Marsh.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen have spoken as they try to break the post-Brexit trade deal stalemate.\n\nThe leaders were called in after negotiators for the two sides said \"significant divergences\" remained following a week of intensive talks.\n\n\"If there is still a way, we will see,\" EU negotiator Michel Barnier said.\n\nSticking points include fishing rights, rules on state subsidies for business and arrangements for policing any deal.\n\nThe BBC understands the call between the two leaders began at 16:30 GMT. President Von Der Leyen will make a statement shortly.\n\nThe UK left the EU on 31 January but remains under EU trading rules until a transition period ends on 31 December.\n\nOne source close to the negotiations on the UK side suggested there had been a more optimistic outlook earlier in the week but pointed to demands for EU fishing boats to have 10-year access to UK waters as one issue that derailed progress - as had been reported in the Telegraph.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michel Barnier: \"If there is still a way, we will see\"\n\nBBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said the pattern of recent UK negotiations with the EU was for victory to be snatched from the verge of defeat at the very last moment - but that one member of the government was now putting the chances of a deal at around 50-50.\n\nShe said it would be complacent to think it would all automatically fall into place after a last bit of political scrapping.\n\nSpeaking to reporters in London as he prepared to return to Brussels, Mr Barnier said: \"We keep calm, as always, and if there is still a way, we will see.\"\n\nFrance's Europe minister suggested his country could veto a deal if it was not satisfied. French President Emmanuel Macron has been keen to ensure the fishing industry will not lose too much access to British waters.\n\nBut Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts said the fishing issue had been \"overdone\" by both the UK and France, adding: \"We should cut it down to size. It should not be allowed to derail a good deal.\"\n\nMr Lamberts said the main issues that remain were competition and governance.\n\nHe said: \"These are much more important and this is a very tough nut to crack, and it will really depend on whether Boris Johnson wants to limit the economic damage caused by Brexit.\"\n\nMeanwhile, the spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there was \"always room for compromise\".\n\nAnd Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said he \"fervently hoped\" a trade deal can be agreed.\n\nFormer UK Brexit Secretary David Davis told BBC Breakfast the probability of a deal was \"still high\" but there would be compromise on both sides and the \"big decisions won't be this afternoon between the prime minister and president of the commission but in wires running hot between Berlin and Paris and other capitals\".\n\nHe said: \"My suspicion is when it gets to the end of the month there is no time to ratify... so they will have to do some sort of freeze in place of current customs arrangements to take us through the few months until everybody from the European Parliament to the Walloon parliament actually give their opinion.\"\n\nPositive-minded readers might consider that, even if the EU-UK deal were almost agreed, the European Commission president and arguably, especially Boris Johnson, who has aligned himself so personally to \"getting Brexit done\", would want to put their personal stamp on things.\n\nConfirmation that they will call each other on Saturday afternoon could therefore be seen as a \"good\" sign. Although sources in the EU and UK warn not to expect news of the conclusive Big Breakthrough following their chat.\n\nCynics might nod their heads too when I say that - considering the uncomfortable political compromises both sides have to make to reach a deal - one more \"crisis\", aka the current stop in talks, is quite useful to demonstrate to the public back home that you're hanging on in there, fighting for their interests.\n\nThat's certainly the way to interpret France's threat to use its veto if a deal is agreed, and it doesn't like it.\n\nEmmanuel Macron has enjoyed the role of Brexit bad cop throughout. It plays well domestically. And \"France the frenemy\" is an easy headline in the UK too.\n\nBut reality is more nuanced. Paris trumpets more brashly what is the belief in all EU capitals, and in the UK government: Yes to this deal but not at any cost.\n\nReleasing identical statements on Friday evening, Mr Barnier and his UK counterpart, Lord Frost, said: \"After one week of intense negotiation in London, the two chief negotiators agreed today that the conditions for an agreement are not met, due to significant divergences on level playing field, governance and fisheries.\n\n\"On this basis, they agreed to pause the talks in order to brief their principals on the state of play of the negotiations.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ros Atkins looks at why fishing has held up the post-Brexit trade talks\n\nIf an agreement is reached it will need to be turned into legal text and translated into all EU languages and ratified by the European Parliament.\n\nThe UK government is likely to introduce legislation implementing parts of any deal reached which MPs will be able to vote on.\n\nAnd the 27 EU national parliaments could also need to ratify an agreement - depending on the actual contents of the deal.", "Mariah Carey made it to number two this week, matching the song's best ever UK chart position\n\nIt's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas, with festive singles accounting for more than half of this week's UK top 40 chart.\n\nTwenty-one seasonal songs appear in the latest rundown, led by Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You.\n\nMariah is at number two, kept off the top spot by Ariana Grande's Positions.\n\nMartin Talbot, head of the Official Charts Company, said it was \"very unusual\" to see such a \"surge of interest\" in festive tunes.\n\nThe appetite for Christmas music \"essentially started in November\", Talbot said, with people throwing themselves into \"familiar TV, film, books and music as comfort from the miserable tone of so much of this year's news\".\n\nWham's Last Christmas and Fairytale of New York by The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl have both gone back into the top 10 this week.\n\nAriana Grande topped the chart with Positions, while her single 34+35 was at number 10\n\n\"The public are also buying their Christmas trees and putting up their decorations much earlier this year too, almost certainly finding solace in Christmas at the end of a year that most people want to put behind them as soon as possible,\" Talbot said.\n\n\"Who could dispute that, in 2020, we all deserve to start celebrating Christmas earlier than ever?\"\n\nLittle Mix, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa and Tate McRae are among the artists with non-Christmassy singles in the top 10.\n\nThe 21 Christmas singles in the top 40:\n\nThe star's latest album was inspired by everything from swing and jazz to the comedy of Morecambe and Wise\n\nGary Barlow's latest release Music Played by Humans topped the album chart, which he said felt to him like \"Christmas Day\", adding: \"What an honour, what a privilege, I can't believe it. This could, possibly, mean the most to me than any other before.\"\n\nHe was followed by Steps' new album What the Future Holds at number two.\n\nThe album chart also featured plenty of Christmas cheer, with Michael Ball and Alfie Boe's Together at Christmas at number three, Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra at number eight with Jolly Holiday, and Michael Buble's Christmas at number nine.\n\nMiley Cyrus, AC/DC, Little Mix, Kylie Minogue and Shakin' Stevens also made it into this week's top 10 album chart, while BTS fell from number two last week to number 33 with Be.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Tram lines in Edinburgh were engulfed by water\n\nHeavy rainfall has caused extensive flooding in parts of Scotland, with train and tram lines being engulfed by water.\n\nScotRail services between Aberdeen and Inverness have been disrupted after a landslip near Huntly.\n\nTrain services were also affected by flooding on the line at Livingston and at Hartwood in North Lanarkshire. Hartwood services have now resumed.\n\nTram lines in Edinburgh were also swamped with water.\n\nEngineers were struggling to deal with floodwater affecting trams\n\nEdinburgh Trams said the flooding was near Edinburgh Airport and between the Gyle Centre and Edinburgh Gateway.\n\nIt said: \"Our engineers are working around the clock to minimise the effects of the heavy rainfall to ensure we are able to commence full route reservices as soon as the flooding subsides.\n\n\"They continue to pump excess water, however with the nearby Gogar Burn and River Almond at or above capacity, this is having little impact.\"\n\nTram customers can use their tickets on Lothian buses.\n\nServices from Inverness affected by the landslip will terminate and start back from Elgin and services from Aberdeen will terminate and start back from Huntly.\n\nCustomers are advised to use valid tickets on Stagecoach East.\n\nScotRail services between Aberdeen and Inverness have been suspended after the landslip near Huntly\n\nFlooding at Livingston and at Hartwood in North Lanarkshire affected rail services\n\nNetwork Rail used pumps to reduce the water levels near Hartwood\n\nA number of roads in Edinburgh were also closed due to flooding. Affected areas included those around the River Almond in Kirkliston and the Water of Leith in Stockbridge and Roseburn.\n\nEdinburgh City Council staff worked through the night dealing with problems caused by the heavy rain.\n\nThe council's flood response plan was put in place after a Sepa flood warning was received at 18:30 on Friday. Extra staff were also called in to help put out sandbags and clear debris.\n\nThe council's transport and environment convener Councillor Lesley Macinnes said: \"Our roads and flood prevention teams have worked extremely hard throughout the night to help the city cope with the impact of last night's severe weather.\n\n\"There has been some localised flooding and road closures and our flood response plan for the Water of Leith was put into place. Our roads teams will continue to work throughout the weekend to attend to any damage resulting from the flooding and clear away any debris.\"\n\nSome roads in Fife were also affected.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Police in Italy have arrested 19 people accused of running a smuggling ring bringing migrants to Europe.\n\nThe smugglers allegedly transported migrants from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan to Italy and then on to northern Europe.\n\nThose arrested included Iraqi Kurds, Afghans and Italians, police said.\n\nPolice announced the findings following a two-year investigation that linked the suspects with smugglers in Turkey and Greece.\n\nInvestigators began looking into the alleged smuggling ring when ships carrying migrants began to arrive in the Sicilian city of Syracuse in 2018.\n\nAccording to police, the migrants paid roughly €6,000 (£5,412).\n\nProsecutors said that the migrants were brought from Turkey and Greece to Italy in sailboats that were hired or stolen. Those who drove the boats were paid about €1,000.\n\nThey then travelled onward to northern Europe or were given the choice of remaining in Italy.\n\nAccording to the investigation, specific groups across the country had their own special task.\n\nThose in Bari, southern Italy, were responsible for finding the migrants accommodation and provided documents and residence permits that allowed the migrants to move around the country.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Selena was born in a hospital close to Moria, Europe's largest refugee camp, which burnt down\n\nOthers in Turin and Milan helped direct them to the town of Ventimiglia, close to the border with France, where the migrants were helped cross the border and evade French police.\n\nOne of the suspects was discovered at a train station in Ventimiglia and was in the process of transporting migrants, police said.\n\nThe smugglers were \"dedicated to facilitating the entrance, stay and transit towards northern Europe of migrants coming from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan,\" police said.", "Last updated on .From the section Premier League\n\nA rejuvenated Arsenal recorded an important victory over Chelsea to end their seven-game run without a win in the Premier League and ease the pressure on boss Mikel Arteta.\n\nTwo first-half goals set the platform for the Gunners' first top-flight win since 1 November.\n\nAlexandre Lacazette sent goalkeeper Edouard Mendy the wrong way from the penalty spot and Granit Xhaka curled in a superb free-kick 10 minutes later to put Arteta's side in control.\n\nBukayo Saka's cross then dropped into the top corner early in the second half to put the game beyond the visitors.\n\nTammy Abraham scored from close range to make it a nervy final five minutes for the hosts and Jorginho then saw his weak penalty saved by Bernd Leno.\n\nBut it was an otherwise lacklustre performance by Frank Lampard's side, who missed the chance to go second.\n\nIt was a well-deserved victory for Arsenal, who climb to 14th and will hope any talk of a relegation battle is now behind them.\n• None Premier League Christmas fixtures: How to follow on TV\n\nIt has been an arduous couple of months between Premier League wins for Arsenal boss Arteta but, on the first anniversary of his first game in charge of the Gunners, his side delivered arguably one of the most important victories of the Spaniard's tenure.\n\nFive months ago, Arsenal and Arteta were celebrating winning the FA Cup against their London rivals, only to watch the title-chasing Blues invest £200m on new players while the Gunners spent Christmas in their lowest league position since 1982.\n\nArteta made six changes to the side beaten by Everton last time out in the league and trusted in youth with 19-year-old pair Saka and Gabriel Martinelli and 20-year-old Emile Smith Rowe.\n\nHe was rewarded with renewed energy and, despite there appearing to be minimal contact when Reece James fouled Kieran Tierney in the box, Lacazette made no mistake from the spot to deservedly put the hosts in front.\n\nXhaka, back in the side following suspension, found the top corner with his free-kick soon after and when Saka's attempted cross dropped over Chelsea goalkeeper Mendy into the net, Arteta must have felt his luck was changing.\n\nMartinelli forced Mendy into a low save after a smart move down Arsenal's left and the Blues stopper was relieved when Lacazette failed to capitalise on his mistake.\n\nMohamed Elneny struck the bar as Arsenal threatened to add to their tally before Chelsea's late reprieve, but the Gunners held on for a first win in the Premier League since they beat Manchester United at Old Trafford almost two months ago.\n\nNew West Brom boss Sam Allardyce suggested the Gunners are one of their relegation rivals this week but Arteta will hope this victory proves the catalyst to propel them up the table.\n\nLampard said beforehand he did not want to let Arsenal off this \"moment\" and will be furious that his Chelsea side did exactly that.\n\nMason Mount hit the post with a free-kick after the dangerous Christian Pulisic was fouled, but the Blues otherwise struggled to break Arsenal down in the first half.\n\nOne of the concerns for Lampard will be Timo Werner's failure to score in his past 10 games in all competitions, his longest run without a goal for four years.\n\nThe German forward was taken off at half-time as Lampard brought on Jorginho and Callum Hudson-Odoi in a bid to inject some life into his side, but Arsenal's third goal 10 minutes into the second half quashed any hopes of a comeback.\n\nIt was only in the final few minutes that Chelsea really threatened, though Abraham's chested effort was initially ruled out for offside before being awarded by the video assistant referee.\n\nHad Jorginho netted from the spot moments later it may have been different, but Chelsea will head back across London disappointed with their performance at Emirates Stadium.\n\n'This was a big day for us'\n\nArsenal boss Mikel Arteta told BBC Sport: \"The result is the main thing, we really needed that win. We have been unlucky and frustrated with our results in the last eight weeks so this was a big day for us.\n\n\"From the first whistle you could see the team had the energy and willingness to come out and win the game.\n\n\"The spirit before the game was really positive, they really wanted it. I am pleased for the players and for the supporters, We have let them down for many weeks so it was a good day to give them something to cheer about.\"\n\nChelsea boss Frank Lampard told BBC Sport: \"In the second half we showed some urgency but it was too late. The first half we gave ourselves too much to do, we were very poor. You can't lack energy and desire in the Premier League and we did.\n\n\"You can prepare as well as you want but if you turn up like that that's another thing. It's in the mind.\n\n\"If you perform below par things go against you like the Saka goal. That's life. On another day we could have scored the penalty and come back but it's not a day for us.\n\n\"The teams that win, win, win relentlessly weren't winning two or three years ago. We are not there yet, that's clear. I felt it when we are on our long unbeaten run and I feel it now. We got a lot wrong today.\"\n\nLacazette leads the way - the stats\n• None Arsenal have won their past 10 home Premier League matches on 26 December, the second-best run in the competition after Manchester United won 12 in a row between 1997 and 2016.\n• None Arsenal recorded their first win in eight Premier League matches, and their first at the Emirates since a 2-1 win over Sheffield United in October.\n• None Chelsea have lost their past three away games in the Premier League, their worst run since February 2019.\n• None Arsenal netted more than once during the first half of a Premier League game for the first time this season, leading by at least two goals at the interval for the first time since a 3-2 victory over Watford in July.\n• None Since the start of last season, Tammy Abraham (21) has scored more than twice as many Premier League goals for Chelsea than any of his team-mates.\n• None No Premier League player has scored the opening goal of the game on more occasions this season than Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette, who has netted four of the Gunners' six such goals.\n• None After netting each of his first eight penalties for Chelsea in all competitions, Jorginho has since missed three of his past six for the club, also failing to do so against Liverpool in September and Krasnodar in October.\n\nChelsea host Aston Villa in the Premier League on Monday (17:30 GMT), before Arsenal visit Brighton on Tuesday (18:00).\n• None Attempt blocked. Kurt Zouma (Chelsea) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Christian Pulisic with a cross.\n• None Attempt blocked. Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Jorginho.\n• None Attempt saved. Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Reece James.\n• None Penalty saved! Jorginho (Chelsea) fails to capitalise on this great opportunity, right footed shot saved in the bottom right corner.\n• None Penalty conceded by Pablo Marí (Arsenal) after a foul in the penalty area.\n• None Attempt missed. Thiago Silva (Chelsea) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Christian Pulisic with a cross.\n• None Goal! Arsenal 3, Chelsea 1. Tammy Abraham (Chelsea) with an attempt from very close range to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Callum Hudson-Odoi.Goal awarded following VAR Review. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None Follow the footballer's campaign for free school meals\n• None Need a new box set for the festive period? All episodes of the epic fantasy drama are streaming now", "The prime minister has vowed to focus on \"levelling up the country\" and \"spreading opportunity\", after securing the post-Brexit trade deal this week.\n\nBoris Johnson told the Sunday Telegraph the deal would provide new legislative and regulatory freedoms to \"deliver for people who felt left behind\".\n\nBut fishermen's leaders have accused him of \"caving in\" and sacrificing their interests to reach the agreement.\n\nLabour called it a \"thin deal\" that needed \"more work\" to protect UK jobs.\n\nMeanwhile, Tesco chairman John Allan told BBC Radio 4's World This Weekend he expected the impact on food prices to be \"very modest indeed\".\n\nThe agreement was reached on Christmas Eve after months of fraught talks on issues including fishing rights and business rules. MPs will vote on the deal in Parliament on 30 December.\n\nScrutiny of the treaty began in earnest on Saturday morning when the 1,246-page document was officially published, with Conservative Eurosceptics among those promising to pore over the details.\n\nIn his first interview since the deal was agreed, Mr Johnson said \"big changes\" were coming, declaring \"it is up to us now to seize the opportunity of Brexit\".\n\nHe said a \"great government effort\" had gone into the plans, with animal welfare, data and chemicals being areas where the UK could diverge from EU standards.\n\n\"This government has a very clear agenda to use this moment to unite and level up and to spread opportunity across the government,\" Mr Johnson added.\n\nBut he told the Telegraph that the deal \"perhaps does not go as far as we would like\" on financial services.\n\nFrom the end of the transition period on 31 December, financial firms including banks and insurers will not be granted automatic access to EU markets.\n\nThey will have to be deemed by Brussels to be governed by rules as robust as within the bloc.\n\nChancellor Rishi Sunak has sought to reassure the City of London that it will not be damaged by the deal.\n\nHe said they would be \"doing a few things a bit differently\" and looking at \"how we make the City of London the most attractive place to list new companies anywhere in the world\".\n\n\"There is a stable, co-operative framework, mentioned in the deal which I think will give people that reassurance that we will remain in close dialogue with our European partners when it comes to things like equivalence decisions, for example,\" he said.\n\nThe chancellor said the deal was \"an enormously unifying moment for our country\" and it brought reassurance to those who were concerned about the impact on businesses.\n\nHe said the \"comprehensive nature\" of the free trade agreement ensured \"tariff-free, quota-free, access for British businesses to the European market\", and protected British jobs.\n\nThe chancellor says he wants to make the City of London \"the most attractive place to list new companies\"\n\nBut Labour's shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said the agreement did not protect financial services, which employ a million people in the UK.\n\n\"This is a thin deal,\" she told the BBC.\n\n\"It's not the deal that the government promised and there are large areas of our economy, for example financial services - that employs one in 14 people in our country - where there aren't clear elements within this deal.\n\n\"Much more work will need to be done very speedily by the Conservative government in order to ensure that we keep jobs in the UK as a result of this deal and don't lose even more.\"\n\nBut she said her party would support the deal in next week's vote in order to provide legal certainty for businesses.\n\nLiberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey also criticised the agreement, saying it was \"threadbare\" and \"bad for jobs, business, security, and our environment\".\n\nThe agreement will bring \"long delays and higher costs\" because trade with the EU \"will now be wrapped in red tape\".\n\nSNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the deal was a \"disaster for Scotland\" because it will \"rip us out of the world's largest single market and customs union, end our freedom of movement rights, and impose mountains of red tape\".\n\nThe SNP's MPs will vote against the deal, he said.\n\nIn his article, the prime minister said the deal could withstand the \"most ruthless scrutiny\" from the European Research Group of Conservative Brexiteers.\n\nThe group has assembled a self-styled \"star chamber\" of lawyers led by veteran Eurosceptic MP Sir Bill Cash to examine the full text ahead of a Commons vote.\n\nSenior Conservative backbencher Sir Bill said \"sovereignty is the key issue\" as his team analysed the small print of the deal.\n\nTesco chairman John Allan told BBC Radio 4's World this Weekend that overall the post-Brexit agreement with the EU was a \"good outcome, certainly far better than having no deal\".\n\n\"There'll be a little bit more administration associated with importing as well as exporting,\" he said.\n\n\"But, in absolute terms, I think that will hardly be felt in terms of the prices that consumers are paying.\"\n\nBut the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisation (NFFO) accused Mr Johnson of having \"bottled it\" on fishing quotas to secure only \"a fraction of what the UK has a right to under international law\".\n\nThe National Federation of Fishermen's' Organisation accused Mr Johnson of having \"bottled it\" on fishing quotas\n\nBarrie Deas, chief executive of the NFFO, said Mr Johnson had \"sacrificed\" fishing to other priorities, after the subject proved to be an enduring sticking point during negotiations.\n\n\"Lacking legal, moral or political negotiating leverage on fish, the EU made the whole trade deal contingent on a UK surrender on fisheries,\" Mr Deas said.\n\nSenior UK negotiators have admitted to compromising \"somewhat\" over fish, although they say the EU also made concessions.\n\nScotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, accused the government of having \"sold out Scottish fishing all over again\", adding: \"Promises they knew couldn't be delivered, duly broken.\"\n\nThe share of fish in British waters that the UK can catch will rise from about half now to two-thirds by the end of the five-and-a-half-year transition.\n\nAfter this, the UK would be free to reduce EU access to its coastal waters further but could face retaliatory action.\n\nGovernment sources have said any measures taken by the EU would have to be proportionate and would be limited to the fishing industry.\n\nMeanwhile, the EU's 27 member states indicated they will within days give their formal backing to the deal, which covers about £660bn of trade to allow goods to be sold without tariffs or quotas in the EU market.", "South Africa is seeing a steady increase in cases driven by the new coronavirus variant\n\nSouth Africa has become the first country on the continent to register more than one million Covid-19 cases.\n\nIt comes just days after authorities confirmed that a new, faster-spreading, coronavirus variant had been detected.\n\nSome hospitals and medical centres have reported a huge rise in admissions, putting a heavy strain on resources.\n\nPresident Cyril Ramaphosa is widely expected to announce tougher restrictions to prevent the virus from spreading further.\n\nThe latest milestone was announced on Sunday by South Africa's Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize. The country has now confirmed 1,004,413 Covid-19 infections and 26,735 deaths since the outbreak began in March.\n\nLast week, South Africa recorded a daily average of 11,700 new infections - a rise of 39% on the previous week - and from Wednesday to Friday, the daily number of new cases was above 14,000.\n\nA new coronavirus variant - known as 501.V2 - is believed to be driving the surge in infections. It was identified by a network of South African scientists in the Eastern Cape province and then rapidly spread to other parts of the country.\n\nBoth have a mutation - called N501Y - which is in a crucial part of the virus that it uses to infect the body's cells, but appear unrelated to each other.\n\nHospitals and clinics in South Africa are under strain as the numbers of new cases rise\n\nAfter South Africa, the worst hit country on the African continent is Morocco, which has seen 432,079 cases and 7,240 deaths. They are followed by Egypt with 131,315 cases and 7,352 deaths and Tunisia with 130,230 infections and 4,426 deaths.\n\nIn other Covid developments around the world:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Pfizer vaccine must be stored in ultra-low temperatures\n• None France finds first case of new coronavirus variant", "Patient demand in London is \"now arguably greater\" than in the first wave of the pandemic, according to the service\n\nLondon Ambulance Service (LAS) received as many emergency calls on 26 December as it did at the height of the first wave of Covid-19, the BBC has learned.\n\nNearly 8,000 calls were received, a 40% increase on a typical \"busy\" day.\n\nPatient demand was \"now arguably greater\" than during the first wave, an internal message to all staff said.\n\nLAS said it was \"working urgently\" to reduce delays. It urged people only to dial 999 with genuine life-threatening emergencies and to use 111 if possible.\n\nThe rapid spread of the new variant of Covid-19 was said to be the cause of the increased demand, according to the message.\n\nThe UK reported another 30,501 positive tests on Sunday, and 316 deaths of people who had tested positive within the past 28 days.\n\nMeanwhile South Central Ambulance Service - which serves Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire - said it was \"extremely busy\" and asked people only to dial 999 in a \"life-threatening or serious emergency\".\n\nOne London paramedic told the BBC that some patients were being treated in ambulance bays upon arrival at hospital, due to a lack of beds inside.\n\n\"It's been a horrendous time,\" the paramedic said. \"Ambulance staff are finding the whole situation very stressful.\"\n\nFigures seen by the BBC show that at one London hospital on Sunday morning, ambulance crews were typically waiting nearly six hours to hand over patients to hospital staff.\n\nLevels of patient demand were equal \"and now arguably greater\" than those seen during the first wave of the pandemic, according to the all-staff message sent by LAS chief executive Garrett Emmerson.\n\nOn 26 December, LAS received 7,918 calls, while on 16 March - one of its busiest ever days - it received marginally more.\n\n\"The demand is occurring because of the rapid spread of the new variant of the Covid-19 virus, initially in north-east London, but now spreading into north central London and predicted to spread further across the rest of the capital in the coming days and weeks\", the memo read.\n\nAs of 24 December, London, the South East, and the East of England had the greatest proportion of new variant cases\n\nThe NHS 111 service was twice as busy as usual in London, the message added.\n\nLondon Ambulance Service said it was working to find ways of alleviating pressures.\n\nIt said private ambulance services, student paramedics, volunteers and the London Fire Brigade had been recruited to supplement its crews in order to provide as many ambulances as possible with two staff members.\n\nLAS was also receiving assistance from South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), East of England Ambulance Service and St John Ambulance.\n\nNon-patient facing colleagues with clinical skills have also been moved to work frontline shifts.\n\nA separate message sent to ambulance crews on 26 December requested them, when it was safe to do so, to transport all patients to hospital on blue flashing lights in order to \"reduce travel times\".\n\nUsually only the most seriously unwell patients are taken to hospital in this way.\n\nIn a statement, LAS said: \"Like NHS organisations across the country, demand for our services has risen sharply over the past weeks.\n\n\"Our colleagues in emergency departments are also under pressure receiving our patients as quickly as they can. We are working urgently with NHS partners to reduce any delays.\n\n\"The public can support us by only calling 999 for life-threatening emergencies. For urgent medical advice go to: 111.nhs.uk.\"\n\nThe capital has the highest coronavirus infection rate of any UK region, with 794.6 cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days.\n\nOn Sunday, it reported another 9,719 infections.\n\nThis chart, using data up to 23 December, shows how hospital admissions had been rising in London\n• None Cases of new Covid variant appear worldwide\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Flooding in India this year was linked to a very heavy Monsoon\n\nThe world continued to pay a very high price for extreme weather in 2020, according to a report from the charity Christian Aid.\n\nAgainst a backdrop of climate change, its study lists 10 events that saw thousands of lives lost and major insurance costs.\n\nSix of the events took place in Asia, with floods in China and India causing damages of more than $40bn.\n\nIn the US, record hurricanes and wildfires caused some $60bn in losses.\n\nWhile the world has been struggling to get to grips with the coronavirus pandemic, millions of people have also had to cope with the impacts of extreme weather events.\n\nChristian Aid's list of ten storms, floods and fires all cost at least $1.5bn - with nine of the 10 costing at least $5bn.\n\nAn unusually rainy monsoon season was associated with some of the most damaging storms in Asia, where some of the biggest losses were. Over a period of months, heavy flooding in India saw more than 2,000 deaths with millions of people displaced from their homes.\n\nThe value of the insured losses is estimated at $10bn.\n\nChina suffered even greater financial damage from flooding, running to around $32bn between June and October this year. The loss of life from these events was much smaller than in India.\n\nWhile these were slow-moving disasters, some events did enormous damage in a short period of time.\n\nCyclone Amphan struck the Bay of Bengal in May and caused losses estimated at $13bn in just a few days.\n\n\"We saw record temperatures in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, straddling between 30C-33C,\" said Dr Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune.\n\n\"These high temperatures had the characteristics of marine heat waves that might have led to the rapid intensification of the pre-monsoon cyclones Amphan and Nisarga,\" he said in a comment on the Christian Aid study.\n\n\"Amphan was one of the strongest cyclones ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal during the pre-monsoon season.\"\n\nAfrica was also on the receiving end of extreme events, with massive locust swarms ruining crops and vegetation to the tune of $8.5bn.\n\nLocust swarms ruined crops in parts of Africa, causing huge financial losses\n\nThe UN has linked these swarms to climate change, with unusually heavy rains in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa in recent years contributing to the locust outbreaks.\n\nEurope also saw significant impacts when Storm Ciara swept through Ireland, the UK and several other countries in February.\n\nIt resulted in 14 lives being lost and damages of $2.7bn.\n\nChristian Aid stress that these figures for financial costs are likely an underestimate as they are based only on insured losses.\n\nRicher countries have more valuable properties, and on the whole suffer greater financial penalties from extreme events.\n\nFirefighters in the UK had to rescue a stranded driver whose car got stuck in floodwater during Storm Ciara\n\nBut financial losses don't convey the full impact of these storms and fires.\n\nWhile South Sudan's floods weren't among the costliest in dollar terms, they have had a huge impact, killing 138 people and wiping out this year's crops.\n\nResearchers say that the influence of climate change on extreme events is strong and likely to continue growing.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. BBC Reality Check explains what the coronavirus pandemic has done for climate\n\n\"Just like 2019 before it, 2020 has been full of disastrous extremes,\" said Dr Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, from the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Australia.\n\n\"We have seen all this with a 1C of global average temperature rise, highlighting the sensitive relationship between average conditions and extremes.\"\n\nFires raged in many parts of the western US across 2020\n\n\"Ultimately, the impacts of climate change will be felt via the extremes, and not averaged changes.\"\n\n\"Unfortunately, we can expect more years to look like 2020 - and worse - as global temperatures creep higher.\"\n\nWhile 2021 is likely to bring a similar story of losses from extreme events, there is some sense of optimism that political leaders may be on the brink of taking steps that might help the world avoid the worst excesses of rising temperatures.\n\n\"It is vital that 2021 ushers in a new era of activity to turn this climate change tide,\" said report author, Dr Kat Kramer, from Christian Aid.\n\n\"With President-elect Biden in the White House, social movements across the world calling for urgent action, post-Covid green recovery investment and a crucial UN climate summit hosted by the UK, there is a major opportunity for countries to put us on a path to a safe future.\"", "Clinicians are warning health services could be overwhelmed by any surge in coronavirus cases after restrictions were temporarily eased at Christmas.\n\nThe Scottish Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties also said the new faster spreading strain of the virus could create a \"perfect storm\".\n\nThey warned it could take months for vaccinations to alleviate pressure on the \"severely stretched\" system.\n\nHowever Scotland's clinical director denied the system could be overwhelmed.\n\nProf Jason Leitch said measures were already in place to increase capacity where it was needed.\n\nBut the Scottish Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties, which includes anaesthetists, GPs and surgeons, said the short term situation for the NHS remained \"bleak\", despite hope from the vaccine.\n\nThe warning comes a day after the Scottish government put mainland Scotland into level four restrictions in response to the new more transmissible strain of coronavirus.\n\nLatest Scottish government figures showed on Sunday that 740 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported across the country.\n\nIn Dumfries and Galloway health officials said they feared the new strain could be driving a \"rapid increase\" in infections in the area after 64 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Wigtownshire.\n\nWhile reports have indicated the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine could be approved within days, the academy said restrictions would still be needed for some time.\n\nIn a statement they said: \"We know there is hope on the horizon with the rollout of a national immunisation programme, with further vaccines likely to be approved shortly.\n\n\"However, it will take months for this to make a significant difference, and the short-term situation facing our NHS and public health services remains bleak.\"\n\nThey said the NHS and social care services across Scotland were now on an emergency footing and while work had been done to reduce infection rates, the new strain of the virus would add pressure in the days and weeks ahead.\n\n\"We are gravely concerned that this could lead to the NHS being overwhelmed,\" the organisation said.\n\nThey called on the public to recognise the severity of the situation and take the necessary steps to support health and social care services.\n\n\"Our general practices are exceptionally busy and our hospitals are already near capacity. We risk facing a perfect storm of challenges if we don't take collective action now to prevent further spread of Covid-19.\"\n\nBut Scotland's national clinical director, Prof Jason Leitch, denied the system faced being overwhelmed.\n\nHe told the BBC: \"We're not at risk of overwhelming the health care system.\n\n\"But it's not quite as simple as a 'yes no' answer, because we can double, treble, quadruple our care for Covid - the number of beds, the number of intensive care beds - we can absolutely do that. We're ready for it, we have plans for it.\n\n\"But you can't do that at no cost to other elements of the health service.\n\n\"We don't have a spare thousand doctors and nurses just standing by waiting to do something, so if we have to do more intensive care for Covid, which I really hope we don't, then we will have to take away from somewhere else.\"\n\nProf Leitch said efforts had been made to maintain as much of the health service as possible, with hopes that elective surgeries would continue right through the winter.\n\nBut he added: \"The reality is, depending on what happens over the next couple of weeks, we may have to cut back some of that in order to make room for Covid care.\"\n\nThe Scottish government said it was working closely with health boards to ensure the NHS was prepared for additional pressures.\n\nA spokeswoman said: \"Our winter planning process includes assessing our readiness across all aspects of health and care, including Test and Protect, vaccinations, PPE supplies and the maintenance of essential services, including urgent and emergency.\n\n\"As part of the specific response to Covid-19, boards will maintain the ability to double their ICU capacity within one week, treble in two weeks and, if required, extend this to over 700 in total across Scotland. In addition, to support this, over 60 ICU and supportive care medicines, as well as supplies of Covid-19 treatments, have been centrally procured.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Mark Drakeford said the four UK nations were \"closer\" under Theresa May than Boris Johnson\n\nWales has had less influence on UK affairs under Boris Johnson's leadership, First Minister Mark Drakeford has said.\n\nMr Drakeford said the relationship was \"closer\" between the UK government and devolved nations when Theresa May was in No 10.\n\nMr Johnson replaced Mrs May as prime minister after winning the Conservative leadership in July 2019.\n\nThe UK government has been asked to comment.\n\nSpeaking in an interview with Beti George for BBC Radio Cymru, recorded before Christmas, Mr Drakeford reflected on a challenging year for Wales amid the coronavirus pandemic and the UK's exit from the European Union.\n\n\"I don't think our voice in Wales has a lot of influence on Mr Johnson,\" he said.\n\n\"When Mrs May was prime minister - of course her situation was very different and she didn't have a majority in the House of Commons - and I'm sure that's one of the reasons why she was prepared to listen to others.\n\n\"But during the period when she was prime minister, we came together, almost every week, with UK ministers - us, Scotland's first minister and so on. The relationship was closer.\n\n\"After Mr Johnson became prime minister, that changed. He has a majority and can do as he likes in the House of Commons, without listening to anyone else.\"\n\nWales has deviated from the UK government over its response to the coronavirus pandemic several times over the course of the year, while last October Mr Drakeford said there had been no meetings about Brexit for more than a month.\n\nMark Drakeford said Wales would \"have to rethink\" its relationship with England if Scotland went independent\n\nMr Drakeford said that \"in the long term\" the lack of communication between Mr Johnson and the four nations would not be \"a successful way forward\".\n\n\"I think the UK's prime minister has a responsibility to listen and to collaborate and to see what can be agreed by the four governments of the United Kingdom.\"\n\n\"I don't want to see Scotland disappearing from the United Kingdom. If Scotland decides to take its own path - it's different in Northern Ireland - we'll have to rethink about our relationship with England - and will need to consider the arrangements and the options.\"", "Rescuers have so far managed to save 14 climbers\n\nAt least 10 climbers in Iran have died in mountains north of Tehran in an avalanche and blizzards, officials say.\n\nThe Alborz mountain range that towers over the capital city is popular with climbers and skiers but the past few days have seen treacherous weather.\n\nThe Red Crescent has deployed 20 teams who have rescued 14 climbers - but at least seven others are missing.\n\nThe search operation had to be halted at nightfall, and is now expected to resume on Sunday morning.\n\nAmong those who died are a political activist, an academic, a doctor and a mountaineering instructor.\n\nAt one point on Friday, about 100 people were stranded high up at a ski resort when the cable car broke down.\n\nThere had been earlier warnings of bad weather and possible avalanches.\n\nOn social media, some people reported malfunctions to GPS systems, which climbers rely on in the mountains. But it is unclear if those caught up in the blizzards and avalanche were affected.\n\nThe Alborz mountain range stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the coast of the Caspian Sea\n• None Five things you may not know about Iran", "A near-deserted Regent Street in London as the Boxing Day sales began\n\nBoxing Day sales are expected to plummet after Covid-19 restrictions meant shops in many areas were forced to stay closed.\n\nBy midday, footfall was down 60% across the UK compared with last year, according to experts Springboard.\n\nStricter measures have been introduced in much of the UK with 40% of England's population now under tier four rules, meaning non-essential shops must shut.\n\nAnalysts said footfall had dropped even where other retailers could open.\n\nNational lockdowns in Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as most of mainland Scotland being placed into its own level four restrictions, meant non-essential stores are forced to be closed on what is traditionally a big day in the retail calendar.\n\nFootfall in tier four regions of England fell by 77.3% compared with last year, and even in tier two and three areas where shops are open, footfall was down by 38.2% and 42.4% respectively, according to Springboard, which analyses customer activity in stores.\n\nAn estimated £2.7bn will be spent by UK shoppers by the end of 26 December, with each consumer planning to spend an average of £162 online, according to research from Barclaycard, down from last year's projection of spending an average of £186 each and a total of £3.7bn.\n\nJace Tyrrell, chief executive of the New West End Company which represents 600 retail and leisure businesses in the capital, described the scenes as \"heartbreaking\", with the London district empty on Boxing Day for the first time since 1871.\n\nMr Tyrrell said the days around Christmas are usually \"the key golden period\" for sales but tier four restrictions have had a \"huge impact\".\n\nHe said coronavirus had cost the West End 80% of its usual year-on-year sales, with £2bn forecast to be lost during the Christmas period.\n\nDiane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said while the losses from reduced footfall will be offset a little by virtual \"comfort-buying\", for the majority of retailers \"the sales they get online are much smaller than what they get in-store\".\n\nLast year's post-Christmas sales also saw a drop in footfall with Springboard seeing an 8.6% decline, the largest since 2011.", "US wrestler Jon Huber, better known to fans as Brodie Lee or Luke Harper, has died aged 41.\n\nHuber's wife Amanda said in a post on Instagram: \"He passed surrounded by loved ones after a hard fought battle with a non Covid related lung issue.\"\n\nHe competed as Luke Harper for WWE, before leaving in 2019 and joining All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as Brodie Lee.\n\nAEW said it was \"heartbroken\" at news of the death of Harper, who stopped competing in October.\n\nWrestling legend Hulk Hogan said he was \"totally devastated\" over the loss of \"a great talent and awesome human being\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Hulk Hogan This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nTriple H also called Jon Huber an \"amazing talent\", but a \"better human being, husband and father\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Triple H This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAmanda Huber, who also performed under the name Synndy Synn, described her husband as \"the greatest father\" to their two children.\n\n\"I never wanted to write out those words. My heart is broken.\n\n\"The world saw him as the amazing @brodielee (aka Luke Harper) but he was my best friend, my husband, and the greatest father you would ever meet.\n\n\"No words can express the love I feel or how broken I am right now.\"\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by wwe This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nCody Rhodes has been in the ring with Brodie Lee, and posted on Twitter saying he was \"honoured and privileged\" to have Brodie's \"last match\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 3 by Cody This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nMatt Hardy posted: \"I'm shattered over Brodie's passing. He was full of life with a wife and young children he loved.\n\n\"A devastating reminder of how fragile life is. Rest well, friend.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 4 by MATT HARDY This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nWWE said it \"extends its condolence\" to the \"family, friends and fans\" of the former Intercontinental Champion.\n\nListen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.", "Any changes to food prices after Brexit are likely to be \"very modest indeed\" under the deal struck between the UK and the EU, the chairman of Tesco has said.\n\nJohn Allan told the BBC that it would \"hardly be felt in terms of the prices that consumers are paying\".\n\nHe said the deal was a \"good outcome\" and far better than no deal.\n\nBut he said the main benefit was that it removes a distraction from business and government.\n\nWhen reports last month suggested that there might not be a post-Brexit trade deal, Mr Allan had warned that food prices could rise between 3% and 5%.\n\nBut he told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend that the deal agreed this week meant any noticeable changes in food costs for consumers were unlikely.\n\n\"The tariffs were the things that were going to generate the price increases,\" he said.\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson has said the deal ensures \"tariff-free\" trade between the UK and EU.\n\nMr Allan said: \"There'll be a little bit more administration associated with importing and exporting. But in absolute terms, I think that will hardly be felt in terms of the prices the consumers are paying.\"\n\nHe said UK companies would be able to cope with the additional work involved in the customs regime, with the possible exception of some small businesses.\n\nBut 70% of small businesses only trading with the EU, and not further afield, many of them may be dealing with customs paperwork for the first time, Mr Allan warned.\n\nIf the deal had not been struck, the Tesco chairman had previously suggested Brexit might change what Britons eat, as the prices of imported food such as brie cheese could have risen by up to 40%.\n\nBut Mr Allan suggested that Brexit would now only have a \"marginal effect\" on what shoppers put in their trolleys.\n\nThe deal should also make it easier for businesses to cope with some of the new customs issues between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.\n\nMr Allan said he was confident the deal \"will not obstruct our ability to keep our NI supermarkets supplied\".\n\n\"All the detail is not clear, but we were well set up, even if there was no deal, to continue to supply our NI supermarkets,\" he said. \"I think that will be even easier now.\"\n\nAny change to \"intra-Ireland\" trade, including agricultural businesses that operate north and south of the border, would be \"marginal\", he said.\n\nMr Allan said he did not see any major advantages to the supermarket industry of any new freedoms as a result leaving the EU, however.\n\n\"Certainly Tesco - and I assume our competitors - we're very keen to maintain food standards,\" he said.\n\n\"We won't be seeking food from other countries that have different and potentially lower food standards than us, so I don't think it's going to make any material difference.\"\n\nHe suggested the main benefit to the UK government and business would be the removal of Brexit as \"a major distraction\" as the country tries to recover from the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis.\n\n\"It should enable us to address the challenges and opportunities our economy has got in a much more full-blooded way,\" Mr Allan said.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch the aftermath of the explosion in Nashville\n\nBusinesses and TV personalities have offered more than $300,000 (£224,000) to catch those responsible for a camper van blast in the US city of Nashville.\n\nThe explosion rocked the city early on Christmas Day, injuring three people and knocking out communications systems across the state of Tennessee.\n\nPolice believe the powerful blast was caused deliberately.\n\nLaw enforcement agents have searched the home of a possible person of interest in nearby Antioch.\n\nNo motive has yet been established for the explosion, and no-one has yet said they were behind it. Possible human remains have been found near the blast site.\n\nLaw enforcement officers searched the property of a possible person of interest in Antioch\n\nFBI Special Agent in Charge Douglas Korneski said officials had received about 500 tips and that they were looking at a \"number of individuals\" in possible connection to the explosion.\n\nOfficers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also involved in the investigation.\n\nEarlier, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said he toured the site, saying on Twitter it was a \"miracle\" that no-one had been killed. He said he had asked President Donald Trump for a federal emergency declaration for his state to aid relief efforts.\n\nThe FBI is leading the investigation into the explosion\n\nBusinessman Marcus Lemonis is the latest to donate to a reward pot, pledging $250,000.\n\n\"We can't have our streets terrorised like this,\" tweeted Mr Lemonis, who hosts reality TV show The Profit.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Marcus Lemonis This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nReward pledges began on Friday after a local tourism body, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, made an initial contribution of $10,000, later increasing it to $35,000.\n\nOfficers responded to reports of gunshots just before 06:00 local time (12:00 GMT) on Christmas Day in an area of the city known for its restaurants and nightlife.\n\nShortly afterwards, they found a camper van broadcasting a warning message to leave the area.\n\nThe van exploded a few minutes later, the force of the blast knocking an officer off their feet, police said. It is still unclear if anyone was inside the camper van at the time.\n\nPolice have released this image of the van - described by Nashville police as a recreational vehicle (RV) - arriving at the scene early on Friday.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Metro Nashville PD This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe van blew up outside a building belonging to the telecoms giant AT&T, which also occupies an office tower nearby.\n\nBuildings suffered structural damage, windows were blown out, and trees were felled. Videos posted on social media showed water from damaged pipes running down walls as alarms howled in the background.\n\nPolice emergency systems were knocked out across the surrounding state of Tennessee.\n\nTelephone, internet and fibre optic TV services were also disrupted in Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia, according to telecoms firm AT&T.\n\nThe blast was caused by a parked camper van, police say\n\nResident Buck McCoy said he had been woken up by the blast. He posted a video on Facebook, showing some of the damage done, with alarms howling in the background.\n\n\"All my windows, every single one of them got blown into the next room. If I had been standing there, it would have been horrible,\" Mr McCoy told AP. \"It felt like a bomb. It was that big.\"", "Last updated on .From the section Tennis\n\nBritain's Andy Murray has been awarded a wildcard for February's delayed Australian Open.\n\nIt comes two years after he played what he feared would be his final match as a professional in Melbourne.\n\nThe five-time runner-up, suffering from chronic hip pain, lost in five sets to Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round of the 2019 event.\n\nA film paying tribute to his career was shown on the big screen in the Melbourne Arena after the match.\n\n\"We welcome Andy back to Melbourne with open arms,\" tournament director Craig Tiley said.\n\n\"His retirement was an emotional moment and seeing him come back, having undergone major surgery and built himself back up to get on to the tour again, will be a highlight of AO 2021.\"\n\nAt 122 in the world, Murray is ranked just too low to gain direct entry into the tournament, which is due to begin on 8 February after a delay because of coronavirus.\n\nThe 33-year-old Scot has also accepted a wildcard to compete at the ATP event in Delray Beach, Florida, in the first week of January.\n\nMurray was able to play only seven official matches this year because of a lingering pelvic injury, and the five-month suspension of the tours.\n\nBut he looked sharp in this month's Battle of the Brits event, as he beat both British number one Dan Evans and number three Cameron Norrie in straight sets.\n• None Murray says players should probably be required to get vaccine\n\nMurray has said he remains confident of winning big matches if he can stay fit and healthy, and has been making the most of an extended pre-season.\n\n\"I got on this body fat percentage scale thing, and the read-out that I got from that I wasn't happy with it,\" he told reporters in November.\n\n\"I've worked hard to get to this point, but I can do better. I could make sure I'm eating better, I can make sure I'm stronger in the gym.\n\n\"It's the length of time a boxer would have to train for a big fight, and you can get yourself in great shape in that time.\"\n• None Alerts: Get tennis news sent to your phone\n• None Follow the footballer's campaign for free school meals\n• None Need a new box set for the festive period? All episodes of the epic fantasy drama are streaming now", "George Blake told the BBC he had betrayed more than 500 Western agents to the Soviet Union\n\nGeorge Blake, the former MI6 officer and one of the Cold War's most infamous double agents, has died aged 98, Russian media has reported.\n\nOver nine years, the Soviet spy handed over information that led to the betrayal of at least 40 MI6 agents in Eastern Europe.\n\nHe was jailed in London in 1960, but escaped in 1966 and fled to Russia.\n\nThe Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said Blake \"had a genuine love for our country\".\n\nHis death, reported by Russia's state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, was confirmed by Sergei Ivanov, the head of the press bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).\n\nRussian president Vladimir Putin described him as an \"outstanding professional of special courage and life endurance\".\n\n\"Throughout the years of his hard and strenuous efforts he made a truly invaluable contribution to ensuring the strategic parity and the preservation of peace on the planet,\" he said in a message of condolence.\n\n\"Our hearts will always cherish the warm memory of this legendary man.\"\n\nBlake was born George Behar on 11 November 1922 in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.\n\nHis father was a Spanish Jew who had fought with the British army during World War One and acquired British citizenship.\n\nBlake himself worked for the Dutch resistance during World War Two, before fleeing to British-controlled Gibraltar. He was later, due to his background, asked to join the intelligence service.\n\nIn an interview with the BBC in 1990, Blake said he estimated that he betrayed more than 500 Western agents but he denied suggestions that 42 of them had lost their lives as a result of his actions.\n\nHis downfall came when a Polish secret service officer, Michael Goleniewski, defected to the West, bringing his mistress and details of a Soviet mole in British intelligence.\n\nBlake was recalled to London and arrested. At a subsequent trial he pleaded guilty to five counts of passing information to the Soviet Union.\n\nGeorge Blake did enormous damage to British intelligence operations during the Cold War, betraying agents and secret operations and showing that the KGB could run agents within the heart of the British state.\n\nHis escape from prison added to the embarrassment.\n\nThe reasons behind Blake's actions sometimes seemed mysterious, particularly his initial recruitment.\n\nWhen I contacted him a decade ago, he told me: \"It is no longer of particular importance to me whether my motivations are generally understood or not.\"\n\nPart of the problem for him was that he had chosen communism but lived to see its collapse and the end of the Soviet Union, living out his days in Russia, where he was still seen as a hero by the successors to the KGB.\n\nIn 1995, Blake's escape from HMP Wormwood Scrubs became the focus of the play Cell Mates, starring Stephen Fry and Rik Mayall.\n\nAnd in 2015, the BBC documentary Masterspy of Moscow followed what it called \"the strange life\" of an \"enigmatic traitor\".", "All airline passengers arriving in the US from the UK are to be required to test negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours of departure amid concerns about a new coronavirus variant.\n\nFrom 28 December travellers will need to provide written documentation of their test result to airlines.\n\nOther countries have shut their borders to UK flights because of the variant.\n\nBut its rapid spread has also led to stricter rules in the UK, including a ban on overseas trips for many Britons.\n\nAnd US airlines have drastically scaled back flying to the UK and Europe, after the entry of most foreign nationals was suspended at the start of the pandemic.\n\nHealth officials say there is no evidence the new variant is more deadly, or would react differently to vaccines, but it is proving to be up to 70% more transmissible.\n\nThe decision by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to require testing came after New York City introduced quarantine rules for international travellers in response to the variant.\n\nThe CDC said passengers must test negative via either a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) or an antigen test.\n\nSince Thursday, passengers travelling with Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic on UK flights to the US have already been required to provide a negative test taken within 72 hours before departure.\n\nUnited Airlines will introduce similar requirements for passengers travelling from the UK to the US from 28 December.\n\nAs the new variant has spread quickly in London and south-east England, rules have been tightened across the UK, meaning more than 85% of the population - 48 million people - will be in the top two tiers after 26 December.\n\nThe UK reported 39,036 Covid cases on Thursday and another 574 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.", "Harsher Covid restrictions now apply to millions more people, as rule changes come into force across the UK.\n\nAround six million people in east and south-east England have gone into tier four, England's highest Covid level - which includes a \"stay at home\" order.\n\nLockdowns have also started in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and measures have been reimposed in Wales after being eased for Christmas.\n\nIt comes after official UK coronavirus deaths passed 70,000 on Christmas Day.\n\nThe toughest measures - which mean the closure of all non-essential shops, as well as hairdressers, swimming pools and gyms - now apply to around 24 million people in England, more than 40% of the population.\n\nMeanwhile, work has continued in Kent to clear the backlog of lorries formed after France closed the border to the UK due to the discovery of a fast-spreading variant of coronavirus.\n\nThe border has reopened but drivers must provide a negative Covid test before making the crossing, with the Department for Transport warning there were \"still long queues\" on Saturday evening.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps said more than 15,000 tests had now been carried out on lorry drivers, with 36 positive results.\n\nProf Devi Sridhar, chairwoman of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, told the BBC she believed all of England was likely to soon be in tier four.\n\n\"I think that's where it's heading and it's better to be honest with people so they can plan the next few weeks to understand what might be coming,\" she said, adding: \"To really keep a handle on these numbers, you need to move early.\"\n\nThe whole of Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, as well Essex, Waverley in Surrey, and all of Hampshire with the exception of the New Forest, are now in tier four.\n\nBristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Swindon, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest and Northamptonshire, as well as Cheshire and Warrington, have all moved up to tier three. Meanwhile, Cornwall and Herefordshire have moved from tier one to tier two.\n\nTier four restrictions mean shops in many town and city centres have been closed for the first time in decades on Boxing Day, when there are usually sales.\n\nEven some retailers deemed \"essential\" - such as Asda - have opted not to open.\n\nIn Scotland - which operates under a different tier system - level four lockdown measures have come into force across the mainland for three weeks. Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and other island communities are in level three.\n\nAnd in Northern Ireland, a six-week lockdown has begun. The first week, until 2 January, has stricter restrictions, including essential shops closing at 20:00 GMT and no sport.\n\nFor the first week, people are also banned from meeting indoors or outdoors between 20:00 and 06:00.\n\nNI police have legally-enforceable powers to tell anyone out during those hours to return home, unless they have a \"reasonable excuse\", such as being a key worker or having caring responsibilities.\n\nOn Saturday, the UK government announced a further 34,693 people had tested positive for Covid-19 in England and Scotland, while a further 210 people had died within 28 days of a positive test in England.\n\nDue to service changes over the holiday period deaths in Scotland and deaths and cases in Wales and Northern Ireland will reported at a later date, the government said.\n\nIn Europe, France, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland have reported cases of the more contagious coronavirus variant identified in the UK.\n\nFrance has confirmed one case, while Switzerland has identified three, two of which are British citizens currently in the country, while Spanish officials said there had been three cases of the variant linked to a man who had flown from the UK on Thursday.\n\nIn Sweden the country's health agency said a traveller was ill with the strain there but was self-isolating.\n\nThe appearance of the new coronavirus variant in England triggered travel curbs with dozens of countries.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What a pandemic Christmas looked like around the world\n\nOn Christmas Day, the Queen delivered a heartfelt message of hope to the country in her TV address, praising the \"indomitable spirit\" of those who have risen \"magnificently\" to the challenges of the pandemic.\n\nShe said what many people want \"for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand\" and that \"even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn\".\n\nThe Archbishop of Canterbury used his Christmas sermon to praise schools and hospitals for bringing hope during the coronavirus crisis.", "At least seven people have been killed by a knife-wielding attacker in north-eastern China, media reports say.\n\nAnother seven people were reported wounded in the mass stabbing, which took place in Kaiyuan, a small city in Liaoning province.\n\nPolice have arrested a suspect, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports, although a motive remains unclear.\n\nWitnesses described seeing a man stabbing people seemingly at random.\n\nViolent crime is relatively rare in China, but the country has seen unrelated knife attacks in recent years.\n\nThey have usually been carried out by people living with mental illness, or seeking revenge against officials or individuals known to them.\n\nThe suspect in Kaiyuan began attacking people at random just after 08:00 local time, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper reports.\n\nPolice said an officer was injured while confronting the suspect. No other details on casualties have been provided.\n\nAn eyewitness told the SCMP that the attack started outside a school and most victims appeared to be middle-aged or elderly women.\n\n\"It's lucky that school is off today. Otherwise there could have been more victims,\" said the eyewitness, a woman with the surname Liu.", "At the beginning of 2020, photographer Tash Jones was looking forward to wedding bookings\n\nIn May, the UK was in lockdown and George Floyd was killed by US police officers, prompting a global outpouring of grief and anger - and an increased sense of urgency around the Black Lives Matter movement. For one black Welsh woman, 2020 changed her life.\n\nAt the beginning of the year, photographer Tash Jones had a full diary of weddings to capture, and her own marriage to plan.\n\nThen the Covid-19 pandemic struck, preventing large weddings - and in May George Floyd was killed after being pinned to the ground by a police officer in Minneapolis.\n\nThe combination of events led to the mother-of-two from Denbighshire becoming an \"accidental activist\".\n\nBorn to a white, Welsh-speaking mother and a black Jamaican father, Ms Jones was subjected to sustained racist bullying throughout her childhood, once resulting in her hair being set on fire when she was a teenager, and excrement being left on her doorstep.\n\nGeorge Floyd's death and the social media reaction of many of her white friends and acquaintances pushed her into being more vocal about her own experiences and worries for her young children.\n\nA mural in Oregon commemorates the death of George Floyd, which shocked the world in May\n\nAs her wedding jobs were cancelled, she found herself being asked to speak at virtual industry conferences, including one held by Looks Like Film, a large international photography platform.\n\n\"I was kind of thrust into speaking really. It wasn't really in my to-do list,\" she said.\n\nShe was also motivated by \"how I felt about my children, not being represented, and having the same struggles that I had growing up in north Wales\".\n\n\"That left me feeling really queasy because I know how hard it was and I don't want that for them. You always want better for your children.\"\n\nProtesters took the knee outside Cardiff's City Hall as part of the Black Lives Matters movement\n\n\"I think because of lockdown, and everybody having their jobs or their hobbies and their social circles taken away, [Black Lives Matter 2020] obviously got more attention because people were forced to watch it and couldn't look away.\n\n\"I was getting a lot of messages from clients, from old friends, from acquaintances and people I don't even know, asking me what they can do to be better, or what they can do to be anti-racist.\n\n\"And that was a massive pressure for me, and it was detrimental to my mental health because I found myself having to almost handhold everybody I know through a situation that was more harmful to me.\n\n\"It was hard to read comments from people that I thought were my friends, showing their true colours. That was so sad because I thought I was a good judge of character. Honestly so many people surprised me.\"\n\nShe started a Facebook group \"Let's Talk with Tash\", where she discussed other issues too, including mental health and plus-size, and also participated in a panel with Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP on mental health among wedding industry professionals during the pandemic.\n\nTash Jones' work won her a place on the Professional Photo magazine's top 50 UK photographers list\n\nA high point of the year was to be named as one of Professional Photo magazine's top 50 UK photographers.\n\nPartly to set an example to her children, she sent the story to a local paper.\n\nBased on the experience of others, including black female MPs, she anticipated there could be a mix-up of her photos. She sent separate emails containing her own photo, and portraits of other black people.\n\nBut instead of picturing her, they mistakenly put her name against an image of one of her black clients, something she said seemed to happen much more to people of colour.\n\nFor someone who had fought to be recognised, and endured lifelong racism, the mistake triggered painful memories.\n\n\"I was crying my eyes out. It was just a shock... It reaffirmed all those childhood thoughts that I had that I'll never be good enough, that I'll never be [recognised or] important. I can't tell you how massively that impacted me.\"\n\nShe said the mistake also upset other black people - the American client whose photograph was mistakenly labelled, the UK black female photographers network, and her young son, who said \"we don't all look the same\".\n\nShe said positive representation was so important because, during her childhood, cultural depictions of black people were overwhelmingly negative.\n\n\"In films, I would see [black] people who were on drugs or not very good in school and saved by somebody white, or on crack or leaving their kids, or the dads abandon them... I actually thought I didn't have a chance of doing anything.\"\n\nShe said the reporter who made the mistake was \"mortified\", and the paper issued a correction and apologised for any distress caused.\n\nBut the incident underlined her view that much more needs to be done by organisations to improve diversity and deliver sustainable change.\n\n\"Couples in love\" like these photos is the focus of much of her photography work\n\nThis applies as much to the wedding industry as any sector, she said.\n\nAs Black Lives Matters protests spread in the summer, big wedding blogs switched from featuring predominantly white people to black brides and grooms.\n\n\"All of those images that they all posted simultaneously for weeks and weeks and months and months - that content was available to them prior to George Floyd being murdered.\n\n\"Why weren't you posting it then? Why is it taking a worldwide tragic event in uproar for you to be posting diversity?\n\n\"That doesn't sit right with me... So people felt the need to perform, when really they should have been addressing why it wasn't like that in the first place.\"\n\nOne of Tash Jones' \"Dŵr Du\" series, which was part of an exhibition of black female photography\n\nGoing into 2021, she wants to capture more pictures of \"love and life\" again and diversify her portfolio, as she did earlier in the year when her series of images Dŵr Du (black water in English) was selected for the We Are Here exhibition, which showcased black female photography.\n\n\"Most of all I wish to have a relatively stress-free year... and see a real change in systemic racism and those in power taking this to heart.\n\n\"Change is long overdue and I hope that people don't forget what needs to be done.\"", "China is the only major global economy that will have expanded in 2020\n\nChina will overtake the US to become the world's largest economy by 2028, five years earlier than previously forecast, a report says.\n\nThe UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said China's \"skilful\" management of Covid-19 would boost its relative growth compared to the US and Europe in coming years.\n\nMeanwhile India is tipped to become the third largest economy by 2030.\n\nThe CEBR releases its economic league table every year on 26 December.\n\nAlthough China was the first country hit by Covid-19, it controlled the disease through swift and extremely strict action, meaning it did not need to repeat economically paralysing lockdowns as European countries have done.\n\nAs a result, unlike other major economies, it has avoided an economic recession in 2020 and is in fact estimated to see growth of 2% this year.\n\nThe US economy, by contrast, has been hit hard by the world's worst coronavirus epidemic in terms of sheer numbers. More than 330,000 people have died in the US and there have been some 18.5 million confirmed cases.\n\nThe economic damage has been cushioned by monetary policy and a huge fiscal stimulus, but political disagreements over a new stimulus package could leave around 14 million Americans without unemployment benefit payments in the new year.\n\n\"For some time, an overarching theme of global economics has been the economic and soft power struggle between the United States and China,\" says the CEBR report. \"The Covid-19 pandemic and corresponding economic fallout have certainly tipped this rivalry in China's favour.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How US and China's break-up could affect the world\n\nThe report says that after \"a strong post-pandemic rebound in 2021\", the US economy will grow by about 1.9% annually from 2022-24 and then slow to 1.6% in the years after that.\n\nBy contrast the Chinese economy is tipped to grow by 5.7% annually until 2025, and 4.5% annually from 2026-2030.\n\nChina's share of the world economy has risen from just 3.6% in 2000 to 17.8% now and the country will become a \"high-income economy\" by 2023, the report says.\n\nThe Chinese economy is not only benefitting from having controlled Covid-19 early, but also aggressive policymaking targeting industries like advanced manufacturing, said CEBR deputy chairman Douglas McWilliams.\n\n\"They seem to be trying to have centralised control at one level, but quite a free market economy in other areas,\" he told the BBC. \"And it's the free market bit that's helping them move forward particularly in areas like tech.\"\n\nBut the average Chinese person will remain far poorer in financial terms than the average American even after China becomes the world's biggest economy, given that China's population is four times bigger.", "A 15-year-old boy is critically ill after he was hit by a police vehicle responding to a call out.\n\nOfficers were heading to a report of a domestic disturbance when the boy was struck on Garners Lane, Stockport, at about 21:30 GMT on Saturday, Greater Manchester Police said.\n\nThe officers stopped and administered trauma care to the boy until paramedics arrived, a spokesman said.\n\nHe was taken to hospital where he is in a critical state with a head injury.\n\nPolice were heading to a report of a domestic disturbance when the crash happened\n\nThe incident has been referred by GMP to its Professional Standards Branch and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). An investigation has been launched.\n\nSupt Marcus Noden, GMP's divisional commander for Stockport, said: \"This is a terribly sad incident and our thoughts are with the young boy and his loved ones, who are being offered support by our specially-trained officers during this distressing time.\n\n\"This is an incident that police officers wish to never occur, and support is also being offered to the officers involved in last night's events.\n\n\"It is important that a thorough and independent investigation now takes place, and the IOPC will be leading with their enquiries into this incident; therefore it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.\"\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The health board said the situation has improved in the last 24 hours\n\nAn urgent appeal for specialist help caring for coronavirus patients has been made by the health board running Wales' largest hospital.\n\nCardiff and Vale health board, which runs University Hospital of Wales, put out a plea for assistance in its critical care department on Boxing Day.\n\nOn Sunday, it said staffing has been challenging but the position had improved.\n\nFigures show it had no spare intensive care beds on 20 December.\n\nA day later, First Minister Mark Drakeford said NHS staff were \"stretched to their limit\" with Wales' hospitals dealing with more than 2,300 Covid patients.\n\nThe health board tweeted a plea at about 21:15 GMT on Boxing Day saying its critical care department was \"urgently looking for assistance from medical students or other staff groups who have previously supported with proning patients\".\n\nProning involves turning patients on to their front to increase the oxygen supply to the lungs.\n\nOn Sunday morning it thanked people for responding to its request and said there was now \"no need to call us\".\n\nIn a statement, the health board said its critical care unit \"remains extremely busy due to Covid-19 and winter pressures\".\n\n\"Staffing has been challenging, however the position has improved within the last 24 hours,\" it said.\n\nThe number of intensive care beds available in a unit fluctuates day by day, depending on factors such as staffing.\n\nAccording to NHS Wales informatics, Cardiff and Vale health board's intensive care has been running at close to full capacity in recent days, with no spare bed on the unit at all on 20 December.\n\nThere have been a further 4,142 cases of coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 139,642.\n\nPublic Health Wales reported another 70 deaths, taking the total in Wales since the start of the pandemic to 3,368.\n\nHowever, it warned figures would be higher as it did not report cases on Christmas Day.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Olwen Williams, of Royal College of Physicians in Wales, said the situation in intensive care is \"very worrying\"\n\nOlwen Williams, vice president of Royal College of Physicians in Wales, said: \"The number of people that are presenting as so seriously ill that they require intensive care is very worrying.\n\n\"I think we can call this unprecedented, not only in terms of the numbers that are presenting, but also the number of staff that are affected.\"\n\nWales brought forward its level four national lockdown by eight days to start on 20 December.", "Last updated on .From the section Horse Racing\n\nBryony Frost became the first female jockey to win the King George VI Chase, riding Frodon to victory at Kempton.\n\nThe 20-1 chance led throughout the three-mile race and held off the fast-finishing Waiting Patiently (12-1), ridden by Brian Hughes, to give trainer Paul Nicholls his 12th King George win.\n\nHat-trick-chasing Clan Des Obeaux, the 85-40 favourite, was back in third.\n\n\"I have had the absolute best time going round there on him,\" said a delighted Frost, from Devon.\n\n\"He has just smashed everyone's expectations. I don't argue with him too much as he is his own personality.\n\n\"I cannot stress how much this horse means to me - he is my life. You dream as a little girl to ride a horse like this.\"\n\nThe win gave Frost her 175th career win, making her become the most successful female National Hunt jockey of all-time.\n\nFrost and Frodon had also made history at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival, winning the Grade One Ryanair Chase.\n\nThis time, in front of deserted stands at the Surrey track, Frodon was in front by the first fence, allowing Frost to dictate the pace.\n\nHer rivals were never able to get past her and some solid jumping on the home straight maintained the momentum.\n\nNicholls was surprised that his 12th win in the traditional Boxing Day showpiece had come with the outsider of his four runners.\n\n\"It's amazing - although obviously he's a very good horse on his day,\" he said.\n\n\"He loves it round here, and I said to Bryony: 'Just go as quick as you can, keep galloping and sail on - you know he's tough and brave.'\n\n\"You've just seen today what a remarkable horse he is. He never knows when he's beaten.\"\n\nEarlier, Silver Streak beat Epatante, this year's Champion Hurdle winner, to take the Christmas Hurdle.\n\nEpatante had gone off as the 1-5 favourite but Silver Streak and jockey Adam Wedge put in a superb display of jumping.\n\nAn error at the third-last did not help Epitante and jockey Aidan Coleman and although they tried to rally, Silver Streak went away again to win by six and a half lengths.\n• None Follow the footballer's campaign for free school meals\n• None Need a new box set for the festive period? All episodes of the epic fantasy drama are streaming now", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "Citizens Advice had the highest daily number of visitors to its website was topped four times in one week\n\nNew figures from Citizens Advice show three quarters of people seeking help with benefits or employment in 2020 had never contacted the charity before.\n\nMany people made contact for the first time in their lives after losing jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic, the charity said.\n\nIts advisors gave one-to-one advice to 1.1m people in 2020, which it said averages to 12 people a minute.\n\nIt also amassed a record-breaking 47.7m website page views, a 23% rise on 2019.\n\n\"We're seeing people who have always been employed, say for 20 years at the same company, and need help navigating the benefits system for the first time after being made redundant,\" said Jamie McGlynn, a contact centre manager.\n\nThe statistics, shared exclusively with the BBC, showed of 481,834 people seeking advice on benefits, 351,620 (73%) had never asked the charity for help before.\n\nSimilarly, 146,774 (83%) of 175,852 people needing help with employment issues sought advice for the first time.\n\n\"It's really very sad,\" said Mr McGlynn. \"All we can do is keep going and do our best for them.\n\n\"We'd usually expect it to quieten down at Christmas, but we're on track to see double the number of people as last December.\"\n\nThe most recent unemployment rate - for August to October - was 4.9%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which means 1.69 million people were unemployed.\n\nEarlier in the year Citizens Advice saw a spike in website visits after government broadcasts\n\nAs the first lockdowns began across Europe in March, advice pages on claiming refunds for cancelled holidays were most popular, before searches on sick pay surged.\n\nWhen the government advised the population to stay at home, pages offering guidance relating to redundancy and universal credit became the most visited.\n\nIn June, it reported seeing people becoming \"increasingly concerned\" about redundancy.\n\nWhen restrictions were tightened due to a second wave of infections in November, trends spiked in people searching for answers on self-isolation and rules around meeting other people.\n\nCitizens Advice monitored the changes in daily rankings of its most viewed website advice pages during the first lockdown\n\nLaiza, a nurse from Middlesbrough, was working for a private hospital on a mental health ward in early 2020, but lost her job when it was forced to close in March and patients were moved home.\n\nThe 54 year old, who had been working on a zero-hours contact, said by May she had \"no money for food\", with her \"gas and electricity down to almost zero on the meter\".\n\nAfter seeking advice from the charity, Laiza managed to secure an advance payment on her universal credit before finding a job as a permanent nurse.\n\n\"The advisers really looked after me, they were always checking on me to see if I was OK,\" she added.\n\nTop five most-searched terms on the Citizens Advice website in 2020:\n\nAlistair Cromwell, acting CEO of Citizens Advice, said the data allowed the charity to \"map the trajectory of the pandemic and its effect on people's lives\".\n\n\"But the one constant has been the demand for advice,\" he said.\n\n\"Over the past 10 months our frontline advisers have helped more than a million people, each with their own story and struggle.\"\n\nUnemployment has been rising throughout the pandemic", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This is the weather forecast for the British Isles.\n\nGusts of more than 100mph have been recorded after Storm Bella brought heavy rain and high winds to large parts of the UK.\n\nThe Needles, on the Isle of Wight, saw gusts that reached 106mph (170kmh).\n\nA yellow warning for snow and ice - meaning disruption is likely - has been issued by the Met Office for Northern Ireland and north Wales, north-west England and southern Scotland.\n\nSouth Western Railway said heavy rain had \"flooded the railway\" between Bournemouth and Southampton, meaning cancellations and delays were expected all day.\n\nSouth Western, Southeastern Railway and the London Overground all reported fallen trees and other debris blocking lines and causing disruption in various locations.\n\nNational Rail advised anyone travelling by train to check their journey before setting off.\n\nIn York flood defences were put in place as River Ouse water levels are expected to rise to about four metres above normal early on Monday.\n\nMeanwhile, the ports of Dover and Calais warned Channel crossings had also been affected by the weather, with strong winds and poor visibility leading to a \"risk of delays\".\n\nSporting events have also experienced disruption, with the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow being called off due to a waterlogged course.\n\nA further yellow warning for snow and ice affecting travel was issued for much of Wales, the Midlands, the south of England and parts of the east of England from midnight on Sunday to 18:00 on Monday.\n\nThe A1101 in Welney, Norfolk, flooded after heavy rain\n\nAcross southern England, trees - like this one in Golders Green, London - were brought down by the storm\n\nHeavy rain has already caused flooding in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire over the Christmas period.\n\nResidents in 1,300 homes by the River Great Ouse in Bedfordshire were advised to move out following high water levels on Christmas Day.\n\nMayor of Bedford Borough Dave Hodgson told BBC Radio 5 Live that around 40 of those homes had gone on to receive flood damage.\n\nHe added that water levels in the area were \"still high\" on Sunday \"but seem to be reducing at the moment\".\n\nSevere flood warnings remain in place in Northamptonshire for the River Nene, at Billing Aquadrome - where more than 1,000 people were evacuated on Christmas Day because of flooding - and at Cogenhoe Mill Caravan Site.\n\nA further 110 flood warnings have been issued in England, three in Wales and two in Scotland.\n\nFlooding near homes in Abbey Grounds, Cirencester, caused by the River Churn\n\nElsewhere, in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, council officials have been providing sandbags for those at risk of flooding due to heavy rain, after more than 70 homes were without power on Christmas Day when an electricity substation flooded.\n\nAnd up to 40 homes were flooded on Christmas Eve in Witney, Oxfordshire, where the Environment Agency has warned that river levels are still rising.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Aerial footage shows the extent of flooding in Bedford on Christmas Day\n\nThe Met Office said roads and railways in Northern Ireland, north Wales, north-west England and southern Scotland were \"likely\" to be affected by snow and ice until at least 10:00 on Monday.\n\nStorm Bella is the second period of severe weather to be officially named by the UK's Met Office this winter.\n\nA severe flood warning had been in place for the River Great Ouse at Bedford\n\nCommunities Secretary Robert Jenrick urged people to check official advice, including from the Environment Agency, which asked people to keep away from \"swollen rivers and flooded land\".\n\nA statement on its website said: \"It is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.\"\n\nHave you been affected by Storm Bella? If it is safe to do so please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "A further 30,501 positive tests for coronavirus were reported on Sunday, as hospitals in parts of the UK warn they are at risk of being overwhelmed.\n\nAnother 316 people died within 28 days of a positive test, bringing the total to 70,752.\n\nThe true numbers are likely to be higher as some parts of the UK are not reporting data over Christmas.\n\nNorthern Ireland has not reported cases or deaths and Scotland has not reported deaths.\n\nWales recorded 70 deaths on Sunday of people who had contracted coronavirus.\n\nMeanwhile, London Ambulance Service said it had been dealing with more than 400 calls an hour on Sunday afternoon and urged people to only call 999 in an emergency.\n\nWith almost 8,000 calls on Boxing Day, demand for ambulances in London almost matched 16 March, one of the service's busiest ever days.\n\nCrews arriving at one London hospital had a typical wait of six hours before they could hand over patients to overstretched hospital staff.\n\nOne paramedic told the BBC that some patients had been treated in ambulance bays because of a shortage of beds.\n\nAn LAS memo said the rising demand was down to the \"rapid spread of the new variant of the Covid-19 virus\".\n\nSaffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said hospitals in London and the south of England were under \"real pressure\" due to demand from Covid-19 and other conditions, as well as staff absence.\n\n\"The public should be under no illusions that this is one of the most challenging times for the NHS,\" she said.\n\nMeanwhile, NHS England said coronavirus vaccinations had been paused on Christmas Day and over the weekend but would resume on Monday.\n\nThe capital has the highest coronavirus infection rate of any UK region, with 794.6 cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days. On Sunday, it reported another 9,719 infections.\n\nBut in some parts of Essex, the infection rate is even higher. In the seven days up to 23 December, Brentwood had the highest number of cases per 100,000 people at 1442.5, followed by Epping Forest (1388.1) and Thurrock (1330.7).\n\nEssex County Council said it had increased testing in areas where infection rates were known to be high as part of a strategy to identify more cases and \"break the chain of transmission\".\n\nNine out of 10 local authorities in England saw a rise in coronavirus cases in the seven days up to 23 December.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Olwen Williams, of Royal College of Physicians in Wales, said the situation in intensive care is \"very worrying\"", "Kay White said her secret for a long career was \"liking people and helping one another\"\n\nA 93-year-old postmistress - believed to be the country's oldest - is retiring after 80 years of service.\n\nKay White started working at the Post Office in her home village of Claverley, Shropshire, at just 14.\n\nIn 1960 she became the branch's postmistress, a position she has held ever since.\n\nShe runs the post office with her 75-year-old niece Ann Madeley and locals say her services will be greatly missed when the branch closes this month.\n\nMs White was appointed postmistress in 1960 and has held the role ever since\n\n\"I never thought I would live 'til now,\" Ms White said. \"I thought I shall die and the place will all be sold and I shouldn't have to deal with all this.\"\n\nThe Post Office was closed temporarily earlier this year during the coronavirus lockdown restrictions due to Ms White and her niece's health, giving the villagers a taste of the community without its postmistress.\n\n\"Some people come daily just to say hello and speak to Kay,\" Rev Garry Ward said, adding that people \"really felt the loss\".\n\n\"The Post Office is the heart of the village and Kay is a big part of that.\"\n\nMs White started her career doing the accounts, something she still remembers despite the developments in technology.\n\nMs White started working at the village Post Office as a teenager\n\nAt the age of 14, she said the then postmistress, Mrs Drew, asked her mother if the teenager would come and help in the office.\n\n\"In those days, if your mother says you're going to do something, you do it, and that's how I came to be here,\" Ms White said.\n\nIn 2010, Ms White was awarded an MBE for her services to the community.\n\nLinda Sage, who runs Claverley's hairdressers, said her impact has been \"absolutely immense\".\n\n\"She is an absolute character and the person who will miss the Post Office the most is Kay herself,\" she said.\n\n\"It's just been her life.\"\n\nFollow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "More evidence of Margaret Thatcher's disdain for Europe in the final days of her premiership has been revealed in newly released government archives.\n\nNotes from 1990 show the former prime minister described plans for a single European currency as a \"rush of blood to the head\".\n\nShe also called for the European Commission to be turned into a professional civil service.\n\nIt comes days before the UK starts a new trade relationship with the EU.\n\nBaroness Thatcher, the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, hit out at the \"politburo\" in Brussels and vowed not to be dictated to, during talks with her Irish counterpart, Charles Haughey.\n\nThe then-Tory premier likened giving away powers of taxation to gifting sovereignty to Europe, Dublin archives from 1990 show.\n\nIt was over the issue of Europe, and the divisions it caused in the Conservative Party, that led to her being ousted from Downing Street.\n\nAn Irish Government note recorded that Mrs Thatcher said: \"In talking of a single currency, Delors must have had a rush of blood to the head.\n\n\"We are not going to have a single currency.\"\n\nThe newly released papers come from a note of talks between Irish Taoiseach Charles Haughey and Margaret Thatcher from 1990\n\nJacques Delors - who Baroness Thatcher also referred to as a \"mere appointee\" in the notes - was the president of the European Commission and played a key role in the design of the euro and creation of the single market.\n\nBaroness Thatcher wanted to turn the commission into a professional civil service, without the power of initiative, whose job would be to service the Council of Ministers - which represents national governments in Europe.\n\n\"The days of appointed commissioners must be numbered,\" she said. \"We must give power to the Council of Ministers.\n\n\"I am not handing over authority to a non-elected bureaucracy.\"\n\nBaroness Thatcher also said she was getting \"completely fed up of the European community trying to tie us up with bureaucratic regulations\".\n\nAt the time, Soviet Union control over eastern Europe was collapsing, leading Baroness Thatcher to say: \"We are trying to get eastern Europe to accept democratic standards and here we are recreating our own politburo.\"\n\nShe said while the commission had been necessary \"to start off\" it was a \"totally non-democratic power structure now\".\n\nBaroness Thatcher also objected to the idea of a European police force, the papers show.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nIt was the issue of Europe which eventually brought an end to Baroness Thatcher's 11-year term as prime minister in 1990 after she hit out at her European counterparts leading to a rebellion in her cabinet.\n\nSir John Major was elected as her successor and she stood down as an MP in 1992.\n\nSir John Major succeeded Baroness Thatcher as leader of the Conservatives and prime minister\n\nShe was later elevated to the peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, in 1995.\n\nIn the UK certain government documents are made available to the public 30 years after they were created.", "Last updated on .From the section Premier League\n\nSemi Ajayi scored a dramatic late equaliser against leaders Liverpool to earn struggling West Brom their first point since Sam Allardyce took charge.\n\nJurgen Klopp's side looked to be going five points clear at the top of the table when Sadio Mane chested down Joel Matip's long ball forward and fired past Sam Johnstone.\n\nLiverpool dominated for long periods without adding to their lead but the Baggies improved after the break and equalised in the 83rd minute.\n\nAjayi leapt high above the home defence to send a header in off the post to spark jubilant celebrations from the away team at Anfield.\n\nWest Brom keeper Johnstone made a superb save to deny Roberto Firmino a winner near the end.\n• None Reaction from Anfield and the rest of Sunday's Premier League action\n• None How big is the task facing West Brom boss Allardyce?\n\nThere was a deep sense of frustration at full-time from Liverpool's players after they dropped league points at Anfield for the first time this season.\n\nKlopp, who was booked during the second-half by referee Kevin Friend for protesting a decision, walked to the Kop to acknowledge the 2,000 fans allowed into the ground as the home team headed for the dressing room knowing they had let two points slip.\n\nIt has been a monumental 2020 with the Reds ending a 30-year wait for a league title, but this was not the result they wanted in their final home game of 2020.\n\nKlopp's side dominated the first half, enjoying 84% possession, but were unable to add to a sumptuous finish by Senegal forward Mane.\n\nTheir dominance was highlighted by captain Jordan Henderson, who completed 39 more passes (85) than West Brom as a team (46) before half-time.\n\nBut the visitors were livelier after the break and, after Liverpool lost defender Joel Matip to injury, the hosts allowed West Brom a way back.\n\nAlisson did well to keep out Karlan Grant after the forward had got the better of Rhys Williams before Ajayi's equaliser.\n\nJohnstone's save to keep out Firmino at the end only added to Liverpool's frustration, their lead at the top now three points.\n\nIt looked like it was going to be a long afternoon for West Brom when Mane struck early but the Baggies dug deep to return to the Black Country with a crucial point.\n\nThis result will give Allardyce, the last opposition manager to win a Premier League game at Anfield, with Crystal Palace in April 2017, huge encouragement as he looks to keep his new team in the Premier League.\n\nA week after being beaten 3-0 at home by Aston Villa in his first game in charge, West Brom refused to go under against the leaders and showed the spirit and character needed in a relegation battle.\n\nHaving drawn 1-1 at Manchester City in Slaven Bilic's final game in charge, the Baggies have now taken points off last season's top two clubs.\n\nAllardyce, whose side are still five points from safety, will need help when the transfer market opens next month.\n\nBut this result against a Liverpool side which had won the previous eight home league games will lift morale ahead of Tuesday's home game with Leeds.\n\n'It feels like a defeat' - what they said\n\nLiverpool manager Jurgen Klopp: \"It does feel like a defeat, but we have a point more than before so it is completely fine.\n\n\"It's our fault but they deserved the point. In the first half it looked like 90:10 possession - it's a massive challenge to stay on track and do it again but we should have done it.\"\n\nWest Brom boss Sam Allardyce: \"We've got a point against Liverpool, which no-one outside of us in the dressing room thought we'd get.\n\n\"When the first goal went in I think a lot of people thought how many was it going to be today, particularly after they knocked seven past Palace (last weekend).\n\n\"The players were so good today in their discipline, defending as a team, and finding a way in the second half to attack Liverpool when they got the opportunity.\"\n\nLiverpool fail to win for a sixth time - the stats\n• None Liverpool have failed to win six of their 15 Premier League games this season, as many as they did in the entire 2019-20 season.\n• None Having picked up just one point from their opening six away league games this season, West Brom have since earned two from their last two on the road away to Manchester City and Liverpool.\n• None This was the first time Liverpool failed to win a Premier League home game against a side starting the day in the relegation zone - despite taking the lead - since a 2-2 draw with Slaven Bilic's West Ham in December 2016.\n• None Among defenders since the start of the 2018-19 season, only Virgil van Dijk and Aaron Pierre (both nine) have scored more headed league goals in England's top four tiers than West Brom's Semi Ajayi (eight).\n• None Sadio Mane scored his 69th Premier League goal for Liverpool, moving him level with Luis Suárez and behind only Robbie Fowler (128), Steven Gerrard (120), Michael Owen (118) and Mohamed Salah (86) for most goals in the competition for the Reds.\n\nLiverpool's festive programme continues at Newcastle on Wednesday (20:00 GMT), while West Brom host Leeds United on Tuesday (18:00 GMT).\n• None Offside, West Bromwich Albion. Grady Diangana tries a through ball, but Matheus Pereira is caught offside.\n• None Attempt missed. Rhys Williams (Liverpool) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Trent Alexander-Arnold with a cross following a corner.\n• None Attempt saved. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) header from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.\n• None Offside, West Bromwich Albion. Romaine Sawyers tries a through ball, but Matheus Pereira is caught offside.\n• None Attempt blocked. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Sadio Mané.\n• None Attempt missed. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right following a corner.\n• None Goal! Liverpool 1, West Bromwich Albion 1. Semi Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion) header from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Matheus Pereira with a cross following a corner.\n• None Attempt missed. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) right footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high from a direct free kick. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None Follow the footballer's campaign for free school meals\n• None Need a new box set for the festive period? All episodes of the epic fantasy drama are streaming now", "Countries across the EU received their first shipments of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines. A healthcare worker in Budapest was the first to get the shot.", "The IRA wanted to exclude Sinn Féin from proposed ceasefire talks with the British government, according to newly-released Irish state papers from 1990.\n\nThe Irish government document said the IRA's so-called army council told two prison chaplains that it was prepared to talk to the UK government.\n\nBut its least favourite approach was to involve Sinn Féin.\n\nIt said some Provisional IRA chiefs were averse to the \"socialist views being espoused\" by the party's leaders.\n\nThe message from a senior Irish official to colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has been made public after being kept in the Republic of Ireland's National Archives - under file reference number 2020/17/34. 260900 DEC 20 - for 30 years.\n\nRev Will Murphy and Fr John Murphy, who were chaplains at the Maze Prison, had been engaged in a two-year process to encourage loyalist and republican prisoners to move away from violence.\n\nOn 4 May, 1990, Brendan McMahon, head of the Anglo-Irish Division, updated Dermot Gallagher, the assistant secretary at the DFA, on the potential breakthrough with the IRA.\n\n\"I had a conversation with Fr Murphy on 2 May who indicated that they had just concluded a series of intensive discussions with the IRA army council,\" he said.\n\n\"Arising from those discussions, the two chaplains had a meeting on 1 May with the four church leaders.\n\n\"At that meeting, the chaplains reported that the army council had clearly indicated to them their willingness to seek an alternative to the campaign of violence and, with this objective in mind, are prepared to enter exploratory discussions with the British government.\"\n\nNorthern Ireland Secretary Peter Brooke sanctioned backchannel talks between the UK government and the IRA a few months later\n\nMr McMahon added: \"The army council's preference is naturally for such talks to be held in public, though they accept that any talks would probably have to be conducted in absolute secrecy.\n\n\"The IRA's third, and least favoured, option would be for talks involving Sinn Féin.\n\n\"Fr Murphy commented that one thing which has struck him in the course of this initiative is the noticeable difference between the IRA and Sinn Féin - with army council members referring to Sinn Féin as merely \"the party which is the closest to our view\".\n\nCharles Haughey and Margaret Thatcher were two powerful personalities who didn't always see eye to eye\n\nThe 1990 Irish state papers also reveal that the accession of John Major as UK prime minister was regarded by the Irish government as an \"important opportunity\".\n\nMr Major was seen as less likely to back the cause of unionism as strongly as his predecessor Margaret Thatcher, an internal Irish government communique reported.\n\nA note, dated 12 December 1990, written by Dermot Gallagher to then-taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Charles Haughey said: \"The indications are that, as of now, Major has no fixed views or indeed little knowledge about Northern Ireland.\n\n\"At the same time, by instinct and temperament, the new prime minister is likely to find the unionist posture essentially anachronistic.\n\n\"Unionist rhetoric - which at least at times struck a chord with Margaret Thatcher - will sit uneasily with his pragmatism.\n\n\"To the extent that the nationalist case can be couched in terms of logic and common sense, there may be a real possibility of enlisting Major's sympathy and support.\"\n\nOn 30 July 1990, Former Eastbourne MP Ian Gow, who was Margaret Thatcher's parliamentary private secretary, died when the IRA detonated a bomb under his car.\n\nThe same note also speculates that the UK took the view that the Provisional IRA can \"continue their campaign of violence indefinitely at the present, or even at an increased, level\".\n\n\"This has horrendous implications for their security forces and also for the protection of public persons in Britain.\n\n\"The Leader of the House, John MacGregor, privately emphasised to the minister on Monday how shaken the Conservative Party had been - and still is - by Ian Gow's murder.\"\n\nThe note said that the chief constable in Northern Ireland had \"emphasised the scale of the security problem\" by saying that 5,000 British troops \"could be swallowed up in any one area of the border\".\n\n\"The British, I suspect, also realise that the Provisionals have the capacity, in the absence of draconian security measures, to bring down any new political structures in the north which exclude them,\" it added.\n\nThe newly published papers are contained in National Archives file reference number 2020/17/10. 260900 DEC 20.", "The Republic of Ireland intends to start Covid-19 vaccinations on Tuesday, a day earlier than planned, the head of the country's health service has said.\n\nPaul Reid said teams were working on the registration and consent process.\n\nA small number of people at St James's Hospital and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin and Cork and Galway university hospitals will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Tuesday.\n\nThe country received its first batch of the vaccine on Saturday.\n\nThe delivery was part of an EU-wide rollout of the vaccine, with all 27 member states receiving a supply and some countries deciding to administer the jabs immediately.\n\nIn the Republic of Ireland the first vaccinations were expected to be provided on Wednesday.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Pfizer vaccine must be stored in ultra-low temperatures\n\nBut Health Service Executive (HSE) chief executive Mr Reid told Irish national broadcaster RTÉ on Sunday that the \"intention is to start early next week\".\n\nHe added that there was a \"complex consent process\" in relation to elderly and vulnerable people.\n\nMr Reid said the HSE's initial six-week plan would be to vaccinate all residents and staff of nursing homes and other priority groups from 4 January before moving on to the wider population.\n\n\"Our concentration is to do it safely and over a three-week period across nursing homes and then to do it a second time,\" he said.\n\n\"Public and private nursing homes will be completed by the end of February.\"\n\nMr Reid said about 180 workers were being trained to administer the vaccines in nursing homes, while there would be 1,500 providing it in hospitals.\n\nThe first Covid-19 vaccinations in the Republic of Ireland will be given this week\n\nGPs and pharmacists will be tasked with administering the vaccines at a later date.\n\nThe Irish health department reported on Sunday that four more people have died after contracring coronavirus, taking the country's overall number of Covid-19-related deaths to 2,204.\n\nAnother 744 people tested positive for the virus.\n\nNorthern Ireland did not release any figures relating to coronavirus cases or deaths on Sunday.\n\nThe Republic of Ireland returned to stricter Covid-19 restrictions on Christmas Eve, including the closure of restaurants and hairdressing salons.\n\nNo new inter-county travel is allowed as part of the restrictions which will be reviewed on 12 January.", "Ian Jones' charity said he has paralysis in his legs and remained completely blind\n\nA charity worker has returned to the UK from India after being blinded and paralysed by a snakebite.\n\nIan Jones, from the Isle of Wight, was bitten by a cobra in a village near Jodhpur, Rajasthan.\n\nHis charity, Community Action Isle of Wight, said he has paralysis in his legs and remains completely blind.\n\nA statement said \"after a long and stressful journey\" Mr Jones was currently quarantining at home before hopefully receiving further treatment.\n\n\"He is having to adjust to these new found circumstances which is proving both emotional and challenging.\n\n\"The charity, Ian and his family, have been completely overwhelmed by the support and generosity that people have shown towards his situation and would like to reiterate their utmost thanks to everyone concerned,\" it added.\n\nA crowdfunding appeal to help towards medical costs and Mr Jones's repatriation has raised more than £19,000.\n\nIan Jones had also suffered malaria, dengue fever and coronavirus while in India\n\nThe former healthcare worker was running a charity-backed social enterprise aimed at helping craftspeople trade their way out of poverty.\n\nHe was bitten twice by a cobra, which could have proved fatal, in a warehouse he had made his living quarters.\n\nMr Jones has previously suffered from malaria, dengue fever and coronavirus while in India.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Introducing measures in response to the pandemic is a constant “balancing act”, according to Wales' first minister.\n\nMark Drakeford made the comments as he was asked about the possibility of further restrictions being introduced.\n\nSpeaking to reporters, Mr Drakeford said: “I took this press conference twice last weekend and in both press conferences I was asked repeatedly whether or not we were doing too much.\n\n“This week the question is whether we are going far enough.\n\n“And I think that that just demonstrates that this is constantly a balancing act.\n\n“It is constantly trying to find the right set of measures to address the issues that we are facing.\n\n“I believe that with the restrictions that we announced last week, with the changes we are making this week in the health service, in education, in relation to outdoor attractions that we have a package of measures provided - and this is the most important part - provided in our own life, we all do those things that have the biggest effect of all, but we have to allow that package to have an impact.\n\n“If it doesn't have it, if we don't manage to do that, then I'm signalling clearly to people today that more will have to follow.”\n\nAfter announcing that outdoor attractions will be told to close Mr Drakeford provided clarification that it wouldn’t apply to Christmas markets, but rather to attractions offering entertainment.\n\nWales could be facing another lockdown if infection rates do not fall, the first minister warned Image caption: Wales could be facing another lockdown if infection rates do not fall, the first minister warned", "DeGeneres speaks from her living room during a Fox concert programme in March\n\nUS chat show host Ellen DeGeneres has announced that she tested positive for Covid-19. \"Fortunately, I'm feeling fine right now,\" she posted online.\n\nHer daytime programme - the Ellen DeGeneres Show - will pause production until January, according to a statement from her producers.\n\nThe show returned in September amid allegations of misconduct by senior staff. Three top producers were fired.\n\nDeGeneres, 62, herself apologised on air, pledging \"necessary changes\".\n\nOn Thursday, DeGeneres wrote that she was following the government's Covid guidelines, and had notified those with whom she had been in close contact.\n\n\"I'll see you all again after the holidays,\" she wrote. \"Please stay healthy and safe.\"\n\nHer last guest, who appeared in-person with her on Wednesday, was Hamilton musical actor Leslie Odom Jr.\n\nIn October, the programme became one of the first in the US to resume filming in-studio, according to USA Today. Forty audience members - rather than the normal capacity of 300 seats - have been allowed to attend tapings each day.\n\nOther December guests to her studio included singers Justin Bieber and Lil Nas X, and actors Bryan Cranston and Diane Keaton.\n\nOver the summer, DeGeneres faced criticism on social media amid reports that she had created a toxic work environment for her staff.\n\nAppearing for her 18th season premiere in September, she addressed the allegations of racism, sexism and bullying made by her employees.\n\n\"I am so sorry to the people who were affected,\" she said into the camera. \"I know that I'm in a position of privilege and power. I realised that with that comes responsibility and I take responsibility for what happens at my show.\"\n\nIn the aftermath, she has continued to apologise to her staff and has increased leave time and health insurance packages for her employees, according to Entertainment Weekly.", "Dame Barbara Windsor has met Boris Johnson several times, including when he appeared on EastEnders in 2009\n\nDame Barbara Windsor has called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to \"sort out\" care for people who have dementia.\n\nThe former EastEnders star, who has Alzheimer's, launched an open letter with her husband Scott Mitchell to coincide with their appointment as ambassadors for Alzheimer's Society.\n\nMinisters in England have been promising to publish plans on social care reforms since 2017.\n\nThe government said Mr Johnson was \"committed to fixing\" the care system.\n\nAlzheimer's Society said since March 2017 people in the UK with dementia have spent more than one million unnecessary days in hospital \"despite being well enough to go home\" - at a cost to the NHS of more than £400m.\n\nDame Barbara, who turned 82 on Tuesday, urged others to join her in signing the open letter calling for a \"long-term funding solution to end the social care crisis\".\n\n\"[Me and my husband are] lucky to have amazing support but my heart goes out to the many, many people who are really struggling to get the care they so desperately need,\" Dame Barbara wrote.\n\nSorry, we're having trouble displaying this content. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.\n\nMr Mitchell added: \"Seeing the true state of our social care system has shown me how people, who aren't as fortunate to be in the same position as myself and Barbara financially, are facing a constant battle to get what they need. I want to do everything I can to help them.\"\n\nThe open letter will be delivered to Downing Street in September, the charity said.\n\nA spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said it was working to make the UK the \"best country in the world\" in which to live with dementia.\n\nThey added local authorities had been given nearly £4bn in extra funding for adult social care this year.\n\n\"The prime minister has been clear he is committed to fixing the social care system and will outline proposals as soon as possible,\" the spokesperson said.\n\nIn England and Wales, one in eight death certificates cite dementia. Alzheimer's disease is the most common of the diseases that cause the condition.\n\nGlobally about 50 million people are currently living with dementia - but cases are predicted to soar to 130 million by 2050 as populations age.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Police said Craig McCulloch was \"devious\" while pretending to be generous and caring\n\nA \"devious\" church treasurer who stole more than £450,000 from charities has been jailed for three years.\n\nCraig McCulloch, 34, stole more than £130,000 from a London church, defrauded a charity of £287,000 and took nearly £38,000 from a college.\n\nPolice said he \"squandered\" most of the money on fast food, eBay purchases and rental cars.\n\nMcCulloch, of Littleborough in Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud by abuse of position.\n\nAt Southwark Crown Court, he was also handed a five-year serious crime prevention order.\n\nMcCulloch stole from both the bank account of St James Church in New Barnet, north London, and the congregation when he volunteered there between September 2013 and December 2018.\n\nHe had been working in the accounting departments of south London-based young person's charity XLP and the Oasis College of Higher Education in Kennington when he stole from them, the court heard.\n\nVicar of St James Church, Rev Laura Jane Hewitt, said the church community had shared \"the sense of shock and betrayal of trust\".\n\n\"Now that justice has been done, we hope and pray that Craig himself will seek to put his life right and find a fresh start,\" she said.\n\nDet Con Mark Baker, from the City of London Police's fraud team, said McCulloch was \"one of the most devious individuals I have ever dealt with\" and people felt \"shocked and deceived\".\n\n\"He stole charity and church donations and used them for his own personal gain. He presented an image of someone caring, involved in his local community, leading a Christian lifestyle, and being generous with his money,\" he said.\n\nHe said some of the charities were left \"struggling to fund important services\".\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "UK banks are well prepared for serious economic shocks and can continue to lend during the pandemic, the Bank of England has said.\n\nBanks have built up strong capital buffers since the financial crisis more than a decade ago, the Bank said in its latest financial stability report.\n\nMost risks to the UK's financial stability posed by a no-deal Brexit have been mitigated, it said.\n\nBut it warned that \"some disruption to financial services could arise\".\n\nBusinesses, with the support of government guarantees, have borrowed £80bn so far this year, compared with £20bn by this time last year, according to the Bank.\n\nIt said the major UK banks could absorb credit losses in the order of £200bn, but that would involve \"incredibly severe\" shocks that were unlikely to occur.\n\nFor instance, unemployment would have to rise to 15% and house prices to fall by 30%.\n\nFormer Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance told the BBC that the Bank saw the banking system as \"very resilient\".\n\n\"I think that the Bank's assessment makes sense,\" he said.\n\nHowever, he warned that outside the financial system, a no-deal Brexit would pose big challenges.\n\n\"The real economy is going to struggle if we go into a Brexit no-deal,\" he added.\n\n\"Financial sector preparations for the end of the transition period with the EU are now in their final stages,\" the Bank's report said.\n\n\"Most risks to UK financial stability that could arise from disruption to the provision of cross-border financial services at the end of the transition period have been mitigated.\"\n\nHowever, it added: \"Financial stability is not the same as market stability or the avoidance of any disruption to users of financial services. Some market volatility and disruption to financial services, particularly to EU-based clients, could arise.\"\n\nThe Bank said financial institutions should continue taking measures to minimise disruption.\n\nOn the housing market, the Bank noted that activity had picked up sharply in recent months, but the number of advertised mortgage products had continued to fall and was \"materially lower\" than earlier in the year.\n\n\"While some lenders have reintroduced products since the early stages of the pandemic, others have withdrawn further, especially at higher [loan-to-value] ratios,\" it said.\n\nThe Bank said it was important to prevent a rapid build-up of mortgage debt, which it said had \"historically been an important source of risk to financial and economic stability\".\n\nTo that end, the Bank's Financial Policy Committee had recommended limiting the proportion of new mortgages with high loan to income ratios, guarding against an increase in the number of highly indebted households.\n\nThose recommendations are under review and the conclusions will be published next year.", "After her diagnosis with Alzheimer's six years ago, actress Dame Barbara Windsor became a campaigner for those living with dementia. Following the star's death at the age of 83, charities have praised her for helping bring the disease out into the open. So, how did she help others in the UK?\n\nHelen Marshall, from Halifax, says Dame Barbara's campaigning made it easier to speak to her mum, Audrey, about her dementia, after she was diagnosed in 2015.\n\nHelen, 50, says she \"vividly\" remembers how they watched Dame Barbara visiting the prime minister at No 10, where she delivered a letter signed by 100,000 people pleading for better care for people with dementia.\n\n\"She was such an icon, in their generation as well as ours. For somebody so famous to come out and talk about it - it was a shift for my mum,\" she says, explaining that until that point Audrey, 88, never discussed her diagnosis.\n\n\"I don't know if she forgot or was in denial, with dementia you don't know.\"\n\nBut after seeing the footage, Audrey acknowledged her condition.\n\n\"It was quite visible, the effect [Alzheimer's] had had on [Dame Barbara]. I think that was what resonated with mum.\"\n\nHelen also believes attitudes towards those with dementia have changed since Dame Barbara shared \"candid\" details of the effects of dementia on \"every aspect of life\".\n\n\"I've noticed mum's peers are more able to talk about it,\" she says.\n\n\"There's still a lot more to do though.\n\n\"It can be a long time before people are diagnosed so the more awareness people have and the less stigma there is, it might mean diagnoses come quicker.\"\n\nKatie Thomas, 48, from Goddington, Oxfordshire, says campaigning by Dame Barbara and her husband Scott Mitchell, was \"so important\" in the effort to raise awareness and encourage funding to find a cure for dementia.\n\n\"They were instrumental in trying to get awareness and out, and in their openness about the disease,\" she says.\n\nKatie Thomas, with her dad Prof Ceri Peach, who received a Doctor of Letters degree from Oxford University a year after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's\n\nKatie ran two marathons this year, including the virtual London Marathon, in memory of her father, Ceri Peach - an Oxford University professor who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2015 and died aged 78 in October 2018.\n\nShe raised £10,000 for dementia research through the two events - the first completed in her village during the spring lockdown, and the second in Oxford, where her dad lectured in geography at St Catherine's College, this autumn.\n\nKatie says she was inspired to take on the fundraising challenges after cheering on runners taking part in the 2019 London Marathon - in a team called Barbara's Revolutionaries.\n\n\"I joined their Facebook page, which [Dame Barbara's husband] Scott was a massive part of, and got to know a lot of people, and started running.\"\n\nKatie with husband Howard, and her two boys, Will and Charlie, her \"greatest cheerleaders\"\n\nCrossing the finish line in the University Parks in Oxford on 4 October for the virtual London Marathon\n\nThe training has since helped with her grief.\n\n\"Just getting out. Especially when the lockdown happened, it's just being able to get out in the fresh air and run,\" she says.\n\n\"It's my own time, and time to think things through and think about dad. It's really helped in that way.\n\n\"I feel very close to him when I run.\"\n\nDame Barbara Windsor and her husband, Scott, went public with her condition in 2018, four years after her diagnosis.\n\nThe same year, she appeared on a video in aid of a campaign to raise funds and change attitudes towards the condition.\n\n\"I'm asking you to make a stand against dementia,\" she said.\n\nHer husband and former EastEnders co-stars raised more than £150,000 by running the London Marathon in aid of a dementia campaign.\n\nDame Barbara was credited by her friend and former Albert Square co-star Ross Kemp, who made an ITV documentary on dementia, for helping to change the way people thought about the condition.\n\nRobert Beattie was diagnosed with Alzheimer's three years ago, and says he takes living with the disease \"day by day\".\n\nHe will often forget what room he is in, won't know where the bedroom or bathroom is, and his wife Karen will have to guide him through the process of getting changed.\n\nKaren says Dame Barbara going public about her diagnosis has been important \"to get the government talking about it and hopefully do something about it\".\n\n\"Hopefully the momentum won't stop,\" she adds.\n\n\"And we'll get more people like Rob and me that will go out and talk.\n\n\"People inside the houses that have shame, we need you to do the same thing and get this on the platform so that we can get the help that we need.\"\n\nDowning Street says the government has committed to \"significantly increasing research funding, over a number of years to help improve detection and care for people living with dementia\".", "The fire broke out in the three-storey house in St Neots on Thursday morning\n\nA three-year-old boy and seven-year-old girl have died in a fire at a house.\n\nThe children died at the scene of the blaze in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, on Thursday morning, police said.\n\nTheir 35-year-old mother suffered life-changing injuries from jumping from a second-floor window, while her partner, a 46-year-old man, had minor injuries.\n\nFirefighters described how they were told the children were still in the burning house when they arrived and they tried to get them out.\n\nAn investigation into the fire has concluded the most probable cause was an electrical fault in a first-floor bedroom.\n\nThere were no suspicious circumstances, Cambridgeshire Police said.\n\nSmoke was seen billowing from the house on Thursday\n\nAbout 40 firefighters were sent to tackle the blaze, at the home in Buttercup Avenue, Eynesbury.\n\nFloral tributes and soft toys have been left under a tree near the house.\n\nA message on a teddy bear said: \"We have no words. So heartbroken. Hope you are all in a better place. XXX.\"\n\nOne card reads: \"Dear darling angels, keep holding each other's hands. You are so loved.\"\n\nPolice, the ambulance service and an air ambulance were also sent to the scene\n\nNeighbour Charles Cooper, 30, said: \"The flames went up fairly swiftly. By the time my wife and I woke up, the firefighters had already arrived.\n\n\"It took a good three or four hours before the smoke abated. The flames were coming out of the top window.\"\n\nHe said he did not know the family to speak to but said \"we would give them a wave\".\n\nPeter Kellythorn, 40, said there was a smell \"like something might be smouldering\" when he awoke on Thursday.\n\n\"I got dressed, came outside and there was smoke billowing out from the back window,\" he said.\n\nHe added they were \"fairly new houses\" and said of the fire: \"It's just awful.\"\n\nMembers of Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service laid flowers at the scene\n\nTributes have been left under a tree to the front of the house\n\nChief Fire Officer Chris Strickland said: \"Crews fought tirelessly to get the fire under control and locate the children, who they had been told were still in the house.\n\n\"It's one of the toughest incidents you can attend as a firefighter and we're looking after the crews who were there.\n\n\"But all of our thoughts are very much with the family and the local community and we'll be in the area over the coming days providing support to residents.\"\n\nSoft toys have also been left among the floral tributes\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The infection rates are not falling as fast as the government had hoped\n\nFrance will delay the reopening of cultural venues and introduce a night-time curfew as it struggles to curb the spread of Covid-19.\n\nPrime Minister Jean Castex said the infection rates were not falling as fast as the government had hoped after a lockdown was imposed in late October.\n\nA stay-at-home order will be lifted as planned on 15 December, when the daily 20:00-06:00 curfew will begin.\n\nThe measure will not be waived on New Year's Eve, to prevent big gatherings.\n\nThe government had conditioned the easing of restrictions on the number of new cases falling to around 5,000 a day. But that number remains well above 10,000 - on Thursday, there were 13,750 infections.\n\n\"We aren't yet at the end of this second wave, and we won't reach the objectives we had set for 15 December,\" Mr Castex told a news conference. \"We can't let down our guard. We have to stay focused, and find our way through the next few weeks with lots of vigilance.\"\n\nMuseums, cinemas and theatres as well as sports venues, which were expected to reopen on Tuesday, will remain closed for an extra three weeks.\n\nThe decision was criticised by some in the cultural world, with actor and director Phillipe Lellouche telling BFM TV: \"We're tired of not being given more consideration. Once more culture is being left on the side of the road.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nMr Castex has also announced that:\n\nBars and restaurants will remain closed at least until 20 January. Some non-essential shops had already reopened on 28 November.\n\nFrance has confirmed more than 2.3 million cases and nearly 57,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.", "MPs will not be awarded a pay rise for the coming year.\n\nThe Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority - the independent body which sets MPs' pay - said in October that MPs could be in line for a £3,000 pay rise if its usual formula was applied.\n\nBut it now says such a rise would \"be inconsistent\" and \"would not reflect the reality that many constituents are facing\" because of the pandemic.\n\nMore than 50 MPs had already called for the increase to be cancelled.\n\nMany reacted positively to news of the pay freeze.\n\nLabour's Catherine West tweeted that \"anything else would have been an insult to public sector workers,\" while Conservative James Cartlidge said it was \"absolutely the right thing to do\".\n\nMPs' basic salary is currently £81,932 a year, and is more if they serve as government ministers. Ministers' salaries have also been frozen for a year.\n\nIPSA's formula for MPs' pay is linked to any increase in average pay for public sector workers, millions of whom have had their pay frozen.\n\nOverall, average wages have fallen in real terms this year.\n\nIn November, Boris Johnson's spokesman said the prime minister did not think MPs should receive a pay rise for 2021, \"given the circumstances\".\n\nAnd in October, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said \"this year of all years\" the money should go to key workers on the front line of the pandemic response.\n\nIPSA, which was set up in the wake of the MPs' expenses scandal, said: \"It is clear that applying the forthcoming official statistic for public sector earnings growth would result in a salary increase for MPs that would be inconsistent with the wider economic data and would not reflect the reality that many constituents are facing this year.\n\n\"The IPSA Board has therefore decided that the salary for Members of Parliament will remain unchanged for the financial year 2021/22.\"", "Deschamps (left) and Cantona (right) played together in the 1990s but fell out\n\nA defamation case brought by France's football team manager Didier Deschamps against his former teammate Eric Cantona has been declared void.\n\nThe court in Paris ruled that the complaint had not clearly defined the case for defamation. Deschamps has 10 days to appeal.\n\nDeschamps sued Cantona over comments he made ahead of Euro 2016.\n\nHe appeared to suggest Deschamps left out two players from the French squad because of their African origin.\n\nWith reference to Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa, Cantona told the Guardian newspaper at the time: \"Benzema is a great player. Ben Arfa is a great player.\n\n\"But Deschamps, he has a really French name. Maybe he is the only one in France to have a truly French name,\" the former Manchester United striker said.\n\nHe went on to say: \"Ben Arfa is maybe the best player in France today. But they have some origins. I am allowed to think about that.\"\n\nDeschamps' lawyer at the time called the remarks \"unacceptable, slanderous and defamatory\".\n\nBenzema was not selected to play in the European Championship after he was issued with a domestic ban for his involvement in an alleged blackmail scandal over a sex tape. Ben Arfa stayed on the standby list.\n\nCantona's lawyer welcomed Friday's court ruling, claiming it a \"victory\", and saying \"justice had been done\".\n\nEric Cantona, seen here at former club Manchester United, pledged his support for England over France during Euro 2016\n\nCantona and Deschamps, who are former France teammates, have fallen out numerous times since they played together in the mid-1990s.\n\nCantona previously called Deschamps a \"muppet\" and a \"vulgar water carrier\", a football insult implying Deschamps was good only to pass the ball to others.\n\nCantona was dropped from the French national team in 1995 after he attacked a fan during a Manchester United game with a kung fu-style kick, and never played for France again.", "Food and drink supplies in the UK face more disruption after the end of the Brexit transition period than they did from Covid, the industry has said.\n\n\"There are 14 [working] days to go,\" the Food and Drink Federation's (FDF) chief executive, Ian Wright, told MPs.\n\n\"How on earth can traders prepare in this environment?\" he added.\n\nNoting that rules for sending goods from Welsh ports to Northern Ireland had only just been published, he said: \"It's too late, baby.\"\n\nUncertainty over a deal and new border checks would make it difficult to guarantee the movement of food through ports without delays, he said.\n\nMr Wright was giving evidence to the Commons business committee on Brexit preparedness.\n\nHe said there was a big concern that the problems would \"erode the confidence of shoppers in the supply chain\", adding: \"It has done very well over Covid and shoppers will expect the same thing over Brexit, and they may not see it.\"\n\n\"We can't be absolutely certain about the movement of food from the EU to the UK from 1 January for two reasons,\" Mr Wright said.\n\n\"One is checks at the border. The other is tariffs, and the problem with tariffs is, we don't know what they will be.\"\n\nMr Wright added: \"With just 14 working days to go, we have no clue what's going to happen in terms of whether we do or don't face tariffs.\n\n\"And that isn't just a big imposition. It's a binary choice as to whether you do business in most cases. My members will not know whether they're exporting their products after 1 January, or whether they'll be able to afford to import them and charge the price that the tariff will dictate.\"\n\nMr Wright warned that while he expected Kent and Operation Brock to work \"reasonably well\", he was less confident about ports such as Holyhead, with goods heading to Northern Ireland.\n\nHe called the Northern Ireland protocol a \"complete shambles\", adding: \"The idea that you can prepare for something as big as the change that's going to happen is ridiculous, it's a massive toll.\"\n\nMr Wright added that 43% of FDF members who supply Northern Ireland have said they were not going to do so in the first three months of next year.\n\nHe told MPs that many companies had lost some of their customer base in the EU. \"The problem is, if there's any disruption to supply, you lose your customer pretty quickly and you do not get them back,\" he added.\n\nMiles Celic, chief executive of TheCityUK, told the committee that up to a quarter of the UK's financial activity was EU-related and that in the worst-case scenario, about 40% of that business could be lost.\n\nHowever, he added: \"We've not seen this vast shift in jobs and activity.\"\n\nInstead, Brexit had acted as a \"strategic accelerator\", with firms taking action such as restructuring EU-based offices as standalone operations. Even so, he warned: \"This all comes ultimately at a cost.\"\n\nLloyd Mulkerrins of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that if tariffs were levied on parts and finished vehicles, the UK's car industry was likely to see a sales decline of 20% to 30%.\n\nProduction would decline from as much as 1.6 million to just 800,000, he told the MPs.", "The Westway Trust was part of the \"collective response\" in aftermath of the Grenfell fire in 2017\n\nA west London charity that supported Grenfell Tower fire victims has been and remains institutionally racist, a review has found.\n\nThe Westway Trust, which manages land under the Westway road for the local community, commissioned a review in 2018 over allegations of racism.\n\nThe review found the trust had a \"legacy of institutional racism\" and should make a formal public apology.\n\nThe charity said it apologised \"to our entire community\".\n\nThe Westway Trust was created nearly 50 years ago to manage the 23 acres (9.3 hectares) of space under the elevated trunk road in west London.\n\nAccording to the charity's website, it was part of the \"collective response\" in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people.\n\nThe organisation commissioned the review after acknowledging \"serious\" allegations of institutional racism had been made over several decades.\n\nThe trust was created nearly 50 years ago to manage the land around the Westway\n\nThe report by the Tutu Foundation, an organisation that provides mediation services, found that, given all the evidence, the trust \"has been and remains institutionally racist\".\n\n\"The legacy of institutional racism lives within the organisation in terms of the perceptions and relations with the African Caribbean community, which has led to a continuing mistrust.\n\n\"The trust has failed to understand, identify and address racial disparity in terms of key functions including in relation to service delivery and employment,\" the review said.\n\nIt added the charity had \"lost sight of the reason for its establishment and early focus on community and inclusivity\", while anyone who had \"sounded the alarm\" about issues over the years had been ignored or silenced.\n\nThe review recommended a \"reparatory justice approach\" should be taken by the charity, which could include the offer of compensation to affected communities.\n\nIt also recommended the creation of a centre for civil rights and culture, which it said could be \"a way for the rich history of the area to be preserved and curated for future generations\".\n\nThe trust said it accepted the report's recommendations, adding that it wanted to be \"a truly inclusive organisation that is a beacon of good practice\".\n\nChair of trustees Toby Laurent Belson said trustees would now \"take the organisation through the changes necessary to bring about reparative and restorative justice\".\n\n\"Those changes will take time,\" he said. \"We look ahead to working with and representing our community as never before, so that in time we may be the organisation our community deserves.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Actress Dame Barbara Windsor, best known for her roles in EastEnders and the Carry On films, has died aged 83.\n\nHer husband Scott Mitchell said she had died peacefully from Alzheimer's at a London care home on Thursday evening.\n\nHe said she would be remembered for the \"love, fun, friendship and brightness she brought to all our lives\".\n\nThe Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, who both met Dame Barbara, paid tribute to her acting and charity work.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson added: \"So sad about Barbara Windsor, so much more than a great pub landlady and Carry On star.\"\n\nHe added that she was \"one of those people that just cheered you up, and cheered everybody up because she had a kind of irrepressible naughtiness that was totally innocent.\n\n\"She did a lot of good work for charity and looking after lonely and vulnerable people, she lit up people's faces.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Barbara Windsor visited Downing Street to highlight the concerns over dementia care\n\nSir Elton John added: \"The world has lost the biggest ray of light. And heaven has the sweetest and funniest angel.\"\n\nThe BBC's EastEnders programme also paid tribute, saying they were \"all deeply saddened\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by BBC EastEnders This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe BBC announced it is dedicating Friday's Evening schedule on BBC One to Dame Barbara \"in loving memory\". It is showing Babs at 19:35 GMT- a dramatisation of her life story - followed by EastEnders at 21:05 GMT.\n\nDame Barbara was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2014 and had moved to a care home earlier this year.\n\nShe appeared in nine films in the Carry On comedy series, plus Sparrows Can't Sing, for which she was nominated for a Bafta, as well as parts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and On the Fiddle with Sir Sean Connery.\n\nShe was well-known to millions of TV viewers for her portrayal of landlady Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders, starring alongside her on-screen children Ross Kemp and Steve McFadden.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Some of Dame Barbara Windsor's highlights as Peggy Mitchell\n\nHer last appearance in the soap came in 2016, the same year she was made a dame for her services to charity and entertainment.\n\nShe also worked in theatre - making her stage debut at 13 - and appeared in productions including Oh! What A Lovely War and Fings Ain't Wot They Used To Be.\n\nThe moment you met her, she had an ability to make you feel like an old friend. She was funny, warm and engagingly open, she would arrive in a room and bring with her a little ripple of warmth.\n\nAnd the character you saw on TV and film was remarkably close to the person you would chat to before and after an interview. She was from a generation of working-class actors who had got their break in the 60s when theatre directors like Joan Littlewood were looking for talent that seemed real and natural on stage and screen.\n\nThat's not to say she wasn't also tough and canny enough to know how to turn on the charm. Her life was a story filled with gangsters, set backs and determination to succeed.\n\nShe had decided to act when she was a child and there was behind the laughter the sort of steel you need to have a career that lasts nearly 70 years. There was a definitely something of her character in the tough EastEnders landlady, Peggy Mitchell.\n\nBut she was always open about her ups and downs, she didn't hide the flaws and vulnerabilities, which only made her all the more likeable.\n\nAfter her dementia diagnosis, Dame Barbara became an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society and met Mr Johnson to raise awareness about the disease.\n\nThe star delivered a letter signed by 100,000 people pleading for better care for people affected by dementia and saying the system was \"completely inadequate, unfair, unsustainable and in dire need of more money\".\n\nMr Mitchell, who campaigned alongside his wife, said of her death: \"It was not the ending that Barbara or anyone else living with this very cruel disease deserve.\n\n\"I will always be immensely proud of Barbara's courage, dignity and generosity dealing with her own illness and still trying to help others by raising awareness for as long as she could.\"\n\nThe couple went public with her diagnosis in 2018 and Mr Mitchell had said they had been \"really nervous\" about revealing she was affected by the condition.\n\nIn his statement he thanked the public, family and friends for support which he said \"Barbara deeply appreciated\".\n\nHe added: \"I've lost my wife, my best friend and soul mate and my heart or life will never feel the same without you.\"\n\nThe Alzheimer's Society said it was \"incredibly grateful\" to Dame Barbara and her husband for their work bringing awareness to the disease.\n\nIn a statement, the charity said: \"Dame Barbara Windsor was an amazingly true, much-loved national treasure, and in speaking out about her experiences shone like a beacon for others affected by dementia.\"\n\nLike her EastEnders character, Dame Barbara was born in east London, in Shoreditch in 1937.\n\nShe married three times, including to small-time criminal Ronnie Knight, and she also dated gangster Charlie Kray and his brother Reggie.\n\nThe actress married Mr Mitchell in 2000, with the pair having first met in 1992.\n\nIf you, or someone you know, has been affected by dementia you can find more information and support here.\n\nDid you meet or work with Barbara Windsor? Or has her Alzheimer's disease campaigning helped your family? Share your memories and experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: No-deal Brexit now \"very, very likely\"\n\nBoris Johnson and the EU have both warned they are unlikely to reach a post-Brexit trade deal by Sunday.\n\nEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said no deal was the most probable end to \"difficult\" talks.\n\nAnd the UK prime minister argued the EU needed to make a \"big change\" over the main sticking points on fishing rights and business competition rules.\n\nThe Sunday deadline was set by the two leaders after months of talks failed to achieve an agreement.\n\nIf a trade deal is not reached and ratified by both sides by 31 December, the UK and EU could impose taxes - tariffs - on each other's goods.\n\nThis could lead to higher prices, among other changes.\n\nMr Johnson chaired a meeting in Downing Street with Cabinet Officer minister Michael Gove and senior officials on Friday to carry out a \"stock-take\" of plans for a no-deal scenario, a No 10 official said.\n\nBBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said there was \"no sign of much genuine movement to avert no deal\".\n\nWith talks continuing, the EU is determined to prevent the UK from gaining what it sees as an unfair advantage of having tariff-free access to its markets, while setting its own standards on products, employment rights and business subsidies.\n\nIt is also warning that, without access to UK waters for EU fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nBut the UK argues that what goes on in its own waters, and its wider business rules, should be under its control as a sovereign country.\n\nThe two sides also disagree on whether the European Court of Justice should settle future UK-EU trade disputes.\n\nEurope's leaders are keen to clarify they won't personally intervene in the current impasse in trade talks. There'll be no last-minute handshake or \"a-ha\" moment in Paris, Warsaw or Berlin.\n\nBehind the scenes, leaders are involved in discussions with their negotiators, but they don't want to be face-to-face, or ear-to-ear, with Boris Johnson in public.\n\nEU countries are joined together in their single market. So no individual EU leader - not even the most powerful ones, in France and Germany - can be perceived to be making the political compromises that could clinch the UK deal.\n\nConcessions will have an impact on the whole single market - and therefore all member states, as a collective.\n\nThe EU has rejected Mr Johnson's request to bypass the European Commission and speak directly to French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel about the unresolved issues.\n\nAccording to EU officials, he was told discussions could only take place through the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.\n\nSpeaking on a visit to a vehicle battery factory in Blyth, Northumberland, Mr Johnson said: \"We're always hopeful and... our team is still out there in Brussels.\n\n\"If there's a big offer, a big change in what they're saying, then I must say that I'm yet to see it.\"\n\nIf there was no deal, the situation would still be \"wonderful for the UK\", as the country could \"do exactly what we want from 1 January\", he added, even if this was \"different from what we set out to achieve\".\n\nMrs von der Leyen, who met the prime minister in Brussels on Wednesday for three hours of talks, reportedly struck a downbeat tone when she told European national leaders the \"main obstacles\" to a deal remained.\n\nShe later told reporters that the two sides were still \"apart on fundamental issues\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. EC President Ursula von der Leyen says Brexit will be \"new beginnings for old friends\"\n\nBut German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas struck a more upbeat tone, saying: \"We believe finding a solution in the talks is difficult but possible.\"\n\nAnd Ireland's Taoiseach Micheal Martin said there was room for the two sides to \"come closer\" on the major sticking points if there was the \"political will\" to do so.\n\nEarlier on Friday, UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden suggested UK farmers and car manufacturers would get extra financial help if the EU targeted their products with tariffs.\n\nAnd the EU has set out contingency measures it would take in the event of no trade agreement being reached with the UK.\n\nIt says these would ensure UK and EU air and road connections still run after the post-Brexit transition period - under which the UK has continued to follow most of Brussels' rules - ends on 31 December.\n\nThey also allow the possibility of fishing access to each other's waters for up to a year, or until an agreement is reached.", "Disney has unveiled plans for a major expansion of its Star Wars and Marvel franchises on its Disney+ subscription streaming service.\n\nThe company said that its upcoming films Peter Pan & Wendy and Tom Hanks' Pinocchio would be launched directly on to Disney+, skipping theatres.\n\nBut it also announced price increases from February next year.\n\nDisney is the latest major studio to divert its focus from cinema to streaming.\n\nLast week Warner Brothers said all its 2021 releases would debut on HBO Max.\n\nThe coronavirus crisis has hit the film and entertainment industry hard, and cinemas are desperate for content to lure viewers back with new entertainment that can initially only be seen on their screens.\n\nBut content producers want to cater to audiences who may not be ready to go back to cinemas.\n\nThe Mandalorian is a big hit for Disney+\n\nAs part of the expansion, Disney is raising prices from £5.99 a month to £7.99 a month from 23 February. Prices will also increase in other countries by a similar amount.\n\nDisney said that it planned to offer 10 new TV series in its Marvel and Star Wars franchises over the next few years.\n\nThese include new series of Disney+'s biggest hit, The Mandalorian, featuring a Star Wars character who is the same species as Yoda.\n\nAnother Star Wars series, Andor, starring Diego Luna as the character he played in 2016's Rogue One film, was also announced.\n\nMore Star Wars animated series, The Bad Batch and A Droid Story are also in the works, the company said.\n\nAnother 15 live-action Disney Animation and Pixar shows and 15 Disney Animation and Pixar feature films will be available on the streaming service.\n\nExecutives said that customers should expect something new every week.\n\nThe news comes after a Warner Bros said last week that it would debut all 17 of its 2021 movies on its HBO Max streaming service on the same day they are released in cinemas.\n\nBut not every announcement was exclusively focused on streaming.\n\nWonder Woman director Patty Jenkins will become the first woman to direct a Star Wars film, Rogue Squadron, which focuses on a fighter pilot team in the Star Wars universe. It is scheduled for December 2023.\n\nDisney also announced a new streaming brand called Star, which will be part of Disney+ but stream shows from its other brands such as FX and 20th Century.\n\nThat includes a newly-announced TV series based on the Alien series of sci-fi films, but no date or plot details were given.\n\nDisney+, which was launched just over a year ago, now has 86.8 million subscribers - a figure far exceeding its own predictions for customer growth.\n\nTogether with its Hulu and ESPN sports streaming services the company has about 137 million subscribers in total.\n\nDisney+ is still well behind Netflix, which boasts nearly 200 million subscribers worldwide.\n\nBut the number of subscribers it has amassed, in such a short period of time, will have more established streaming services looking over their shoulders.", "All pupils, their families and teachers in parts of London, Kent and Essex should take a Covid test, Matt Hancock has said, as he set out a mass testing scheme for secondary schools.\n\nExtra mobile testing units will be sent out after east London and parts of Kent and Essex became some of England's major coronavirus hotspots.\n\nCases in these areas have risen fast, especially among 11 to 18-year-olds.\n\nOne London head teacher said the extra tests had been \"a long time coming\".\n\nGes Smith, head teacher at Jo Richardson Community School in Dagenham, said he would \"strongly encourage\" his pupils to get tested but added: \"As far as I know we have got no mandate on forcing students to take that test.\"\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said: \"I urge every student, parent and teacher in these areas to step forward for testing - irrespective of whether they have symptoms. While Covid-19 may be lower risk to children and young people, it still poses a significant risk to their families and communities.\"\n\nHe said he wanted to keep schools and colleges open but needed to target rising infection rates.\n\nKevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said many parts of the country had higher infection rates than the places where the secondary school mass testing scheme was being rolled out.\n\nThe government should commit to a rolling out mass testing for schools across the country, including to primary schools in areas where rates for those age groups were high.\n\nA teacher from the Midlands, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was upset at the focus on London and the south east.\n\n\"It shows clear preferential treatment when London schools get offered mass testing, yet the Midlands and the North, which have been under massive pressure for months, have never been offered this mass testing,\" he told the BBC.\n\n\"Will they (the government) now roll out mass testing to other hard-hit areas in the North and Midlands?\"\n\nHe said his school had \"been under massive pressure\" since reopening, \"with close to 100 positive cases of both children and staff\".\n\nThe government said all local authorities in England's top tier three of Covid restrictions had been invited to apply for a six-week community testing programme following a mass testing trial in Liverpool.\n\nMass testing aims to find people who might be infected but not yet displaying symptoms so they can be told to isolate.\n\nMass Covid testing is going to become an ever bigger part of the attempt to keep schools open - and expect to see much more of it in the new year, for staff and pupils.\n\nBut this latest intervention seems to be more about targeting young people in this secondary school age group, in these hotspot areas, rather than entire school year groups being screened.\n\nIt's community testing with a focus on the rising infection rates among young people, rather than head teachers organising mass testing in schools.\n\nThere will be 15 mobile testing units \"in or near schools\" in London, but it seems so far unlikely to be schools testing pupils in the way universities carried out mass testing of students.\n\nThis will also raise questions. If there are such concerns about this age group, why not send pupils home to study online for the last few days of term - as has happened in Wales?\n\nThere have been consistent warnings about Covid hitting attendance in schools - so why is this testing appearing now when the term is almost over?\n\nAnd schools in northern England, struggling for months with high levels of infections, will be irritated at the sudden urgency of efforts to prevent London moving up to tier three restrictions.\n\nThere is also politics behind this. After a summer of U-turns, the government will do everything it can to keep schools open in England.\n\nMr Hancock said both PCR (a standard coronavirus test) and lateral flow testing - which takes about half an hour to show a result - would be used.\n\nIn a joint statement, the Department for Education and Department of Health said an extra 15 mobile testing units would be sent out in or near schools in the capital for staff, students and their families to be tested, providing about 75,000 tests.\n\nAnd 44,000 home test kits will be made available for school staff to be tested before term begins in January.\n\nIn Essex, 10 mobile testing units will be deployed tomorrow and over the weekend, while Kent will have a further 12 mobile testing units by the start of next week.\n\nFour of the affected London boroughs were among the 20 places with the highest case rates in last week, according to Public Health England. These were Havering (400.7 cases per 100,000 people), Barking and Dagenham (333.5), Waltham Forest (327.1) and Redbridge (310.3).\n\nSome 21 of London's 32 boroughs have infection rates higher than overall rate for England of 150 cases per 100,000 people.\n\nTaken together, London's outer boroughs have an infection rate of 205 cases per 100,000.\n\nThat is higher than the rate in Leicestershire, Tees Valley or Bristol, which are all under tier-three rules - the highest level - meaning people can only meet other households in outdoor public spaces such as parks, where the rule of six applies.\n\nKent is in tier three but London and Essex are currently in tier two - meaning no household mixing is allowed indoors and the rule of six applies outdoors.\n\nMr Hancock urged Londoners to \"stick by the rules\" this week amid fears the capital might be moved into tier three when the tiers are reviewed next week.\n\nAbout 99% of England's population are living in areas in the strictest two tiers of coronavirus rules, including more than 32 million in tier-two areas and more than 23 million in tier three.\n\nSchools in England have been given permission to close a day early for the Christmas holidays to reduce the chances of teachers having to spend their time off speaking to contact tracers about potential Covid cases.\n\nMeanwhile, more than 50 schools in Belfast have written to Northern Ireland's education minister urging him to reconsider his decision not to close schools early in the run-up to Christmas.\n\nThe Scottish government considered extending the Christmas school holidays to limit the spread of the virus after families get together during the festive period - but decided against it last week.\n\nWhat are your thoughts on the mass testing programme for secondary schools in the London, Kent and Essex hotspot? Share your views and experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "The song had stalled at number two for the last three Christmases\n\nCompleting a journey 26 years in the making, Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You has reached number one in the UK singles chart.\n\nTaken from Carey's album 1994 Merry Christmas, the modern classic was originally held off the top spot by East 17's Stay Another Day.\n\nHowever, it finally climbed to the summit this week, after being streamed 10.8 million times.\n\n\"Happy Christmas UK! We finally made it!\" said Carey on hearing the news.\n\n\"We are keeping the Christmas spirit alive together despite how dismal the year's been.\n\n\"Love you always! ♥️ Joy to the world 🌎😇🎄!!!!\"\n\n\"Truly one of the greatest songs never to be number one has finally reached the top spot,\" said Radio 1's Scott Mills, who revealed the countdown on Friday. \"Hopefully it can hold on until Christmas Day!\"\n\nCarey knocked Ariana Grande's Positions off the top of the charts, as Christmas songs continue their annual takeover of the top 40.\n\nFestive songs account for 22 of the week's biggest-selling records, with six in the top 10 - including Wham's Last Christmas at number two, and The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl's Fairytale Of New York at four.\n\nWhile most of the songs are Christmas classics, there are also entries for Jess Glynne's cover of Donnie Hathaway's This Christmas and Justin Bieber's version of Brenda Lee's of Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree.\n\nBoth are exclusive to Christmas playlists on Amazon's music streaming service, highlighting the power of the company's smart speakers to boost a song into the charts.\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by MariahCareyVEVO This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.\n\nAll I Want For Christmas Is You is the gift that keeps on giving.\n\nFirst released in 1994, it's an upbeat, catchy tribute to the Christmas hits of Motown and Phil Spector. A top three hit on both sides of the Atlantic, it quickly became a standard, with the New Yorker calling it \"one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon\".\n\nCarey started writing the song while living in upstate New York in the summer of 1994, while playing the movie It's A Wonderful Life for inspiration.\n\nShe quickly stumbled on a chord progression and melody, which she captured on a mini tape recorder and brought to her longtime collaborator Walter Afanasieff.\n\nHe originally worried it was too basic. But that's exactly the quality that has made it such an enduring hit.\n\n\"The oversimplified melody made it easily palatable for the whole world to go, 'Oh, I can't get that out of my head!\" he said in an interview with ASCAP.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. All I Want For Christmas Is You: Meet the man behind Mariah Carey's festive classic\n\nIn her recent memoir, Carey said the song's opening chimes are meant to evoke the \"little wooden toy pianos, like the one Schroeder had on Peanuts\".\n\n\"I actually did bang out most of the song on a cheap little Casio keyboard,\" she added. \"But it's the feeling I wanted to capture. There's a sweetness, a clarity and a purity to it.\"\n\nAlthough she was unhappy at the time, dealing with the pressures of fame and a tempestuous relationship with her future husband Tommy Mottola, she wanted to \"write a song that would me me happy and make me feel like a loved, carefree young girl at Christmas\".\n\n\"I wanted to sing it in a way that would capture joy for everyone and crystallise it forever,\" she added. \"Yes, I was going for vintage Christmas happiness.\"\n\n'Finally able to enjoy it'\n\nThe song has since earned her more than $60m (£45m) in royalties; and has cumulatively spent 70 weeks in the UK's top 100.\n\nLast year, it topped the charts in America for the first time, making Carey the first artist to score a number one single in four different decades.\n\nSpeaking to the New York Times, however, the singer said she wasn't competitive about such matters.\n\n\"I don't need something else to validate the existence of this song,\" she said.\n\n\"I used to pick it apart whenever I listened to it, but at this point, I feel like I'm finally able to enjoy it.\"\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Malcolm Turnbull: \"Be careful what you wish for\"\n\nA former Australian prime minister has warned the UK to be \"careful what you wish for\" when it comes to EU trade.\n\nBoris Johnson has told people and businesses to prepare for the \"strong possibility\" we will not agree a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, and end up trading on \"Australian\" terms.\n\nBut Malcolm Turnbull said there was no trade deal between his country and the bloc, which meant \"large barriers\".\n\nThe UK and the EU have until 31 December to come to an agreement.\n\nIf a deal is not struck, they will move to trading on World Trade Organisation rules - meaning tariffs or charges could be imposed on goods the UK buys and sells from and to the EU.\n\nTalks are ongoing, but Mr Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed this week that a final decision on whether a deal can be reached must be made by Sunday.\n\nThe UK government has said throughout trade negotiations with the EU that it is seeking a \"Canada-style\" Free Trade Agreement, meaning tariffs would not be imposed.\n\nHowever, it has also said if that type of deal was not possible, it would move to an \"Australian-style relationship\" with the bloc, and the country would \"prosper\" either way.\n\nAustralia is negotiating a free trade deal with the EU, but does not currently have one.\n\nIt largely does business with the EU on World Trade Organisation rules, but has a few specific arrangements in place, such as co-operation on science and trade on wine - something that would not be the case for the UK if it leaves EU rules without a deal.\n\nAustralia has free trade agreements with most if its geographical neighbours and does not do nearly as much trade with the EU as the UK does.\n\nSpeaking on BBC Question Time, Mr Turnbull said: \"Australia has a deal with the EU on WTO terms and there are really some very large barriers to Australian trade with Europe, which we are seeking to address as we negotiate a free trade agreement with Europe\n\n\"But Australians would not regard our trade relationship with Europe as being a satisfactory one.\n\n\"There are very big barriers to Australian exports of agriculture products in particular and a lot of friction in the system in terms of services..\"\n\nMr Turnbull is the former leader of Australia's centre-right Liberal Party and was prime minister of the country between 2015 and 2018.", "Dame Barbara Windsor, who has died at the age of 83, became the nation's favourite pin-up, the bubbly blonde who packed a lot of personality into her 4ft 10in frame.\n\nHer journey from saucy minx in the Carry On films to the matriarch of the Queen Vic in EastEnders made her a national treasure.\n\nHer teenage life was troubled. She was rejected by her father, something that drove her into a string of stormy personal relationships.\n\nBut she went on to be a consummate actress who carved out a successful career on both stage and screen.\n\nBarbara Ann Deeks was born in Shoreditch, east London, on 6 August 1937, the daughter of a fruit and veg street seller and a dressmaker.\n\nHer mother Rose had great ambitions for her, paying for elocution lessons in an attempt to lose her cockney accent and move her up the social ladder. Windsor later said her mother's family felt she had married beneath her.\n\nA bright child, she sailed though her 11-plus examination. Her mother wanted her to go to university but she persuaded her otherwise by her performance in a school show.\n\nRose spent her savings on a place for Barbara at the Aida Foster School in Golders Green. The teachers took their turn in trying to iron out her cockney accent but all failed. Barbara made her stage debut at the age of 13.\n\nHer father John walked out when she was 15 and her mother forced her to give evidence at the divorce hearing, something she never forgot.\n\nThe unhappiness of her home life drove her to seek solace in a string of casual relationships, which led to her having three abortions by the time she was 21.\n\nShe had changed her name to Windsor when she appeared in her first film in 1954, as one of the schoolgirls in The Belles of St Trinian's.\n\nHer big break came when she joined Joan Littlewood's company at the Theatre Royal in Stratford, east London, appearing in the musical Fings Ain't Wot They Used To Be.\n\nHer role as Maggie Gooding in Littlewood's 1963 film Sparrers Can't Sing gained her a Bafta nomination.\n\nThere were also early roles in TV sitcoms including the BBC's The Rag Trade, which ran for two years from 1961.\n\nWindsor (right) with the cast of The Rag Trade in 1962\n\nEast End social life saw showbusiness intermingling with local gang culture, and Windsor became friends with the Kray twins and their entourage.\n\nShe dated Charlie Kray for six months - \"the most perfect gentleman I have ever known\" - and also had a brief relationship with his brother Reggie.\n\nIn 1964, she married a small-time criminal, Ronnie Knight, beginning a sometimes stormy union that would last more than 20 years.\n\nIn the same year, she was cast in Carry On Spying, the ninth film in the successful comedy franchise and the last to be shot in black and white.\n\nHer saucy laugh and flirtatious behaviour were perfect for the seaside postcard innuendo on which the success of the films was based.\n\nBarbara Windsor as a nurse in Carry On Doctor (1967)\n\nBut she was adamant that beneath the on-screen character was a serious actress.\n\n\"I am not like my image,\" she once said. \"Everyone thinks I just bounce in, but I study and everything has to be just right.\"\n\nAlthough she appeared in only a third of the Carry On series, they defined her career and later made it difficult to escape the inevitable typecasting.\n\nArguably her most memorable appearance was in Carry On Camping, when her bikini top flew off during some strenuous physical exercise.\n\nThe scene had to be shot three times, with the garment being removed by the deft use of a fishing rod in the hands of an off-screen assistant.\n\nBarbara had a 10-year affair with Carry On co-star Sid James\n\nDuring her Carry On career she had a 10-year affair with co-star Sid James, which ended just before the actor's death in 1976. It was later portrayed in the ITV drama Cor Blimey!, on which Windsor acted as an advisor.\n\nAt first, she fended him off, but his infatuation continued.\n\n\"I cared deeply for him,\" she recalled. \"I didn't at first, he was just my leading man and I used to push him off. But he was an old-fashioned charmer, opening doors and all the rest of it, making you feel like a lady. So our relationship was inevitable.\"\n\nIn between the Carry On films she continued her stage career, receiving a Tony Award nomination for the Broadway production of Oh! What A Lovely War.\n\nShe also starred as the music hall performer Marie Lloyd in the biopic Sing a Rude Song, a role she reprised in the BBC series The Good Old Days.\n\nIn the mid-1970s she toured with her own show, Carry On Barbara, and appeared as Maria in Twelfth Night at Chichester Festival Theatre.\n\nBut, as she reached her 40s, the image of the bubbly blonde with the sexy wiggle was hampering her ability to get work.\n\n\"I found myself in the doldrums in the early 90s. I was too old to play the dolly bird any longer and I looked too young to play a woman of my real age.\"\n\nShe did get the part of the raunchy landlady in a stage production of Joe Orton's black comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane, which was directed by her Carry On co-star Kenneth Williams.\n\nHer marriage to Ronnie was coming to an end, after he fled to Spain following his involvement in a multi-million-pound robbery from a security company.\n\nIn 1994, Dame Barbara was introduced to Albert Square as Peggy Mitchell, mother to Phil (right) and Grant\n\nHer career received a major boost in 1994 when she was chosen to play brassy landlady Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap EastEnders.\n\nIronically, she had spent some of the previous few years pulling pints in a pub in Buckinghamshire that she owned with her second husband, Stephen Hollings.\n\nShe admitted she had found the idea of EastEnders daunting, joining what was an already well-established drama.\n\n\"I was as scared starting on EastEnders as I was when I first stepped on to the Carry On set,\" she later recalled. \"I had to prove myself in a different world.\"\n\nShe based the character of Peggy on Violet Kray, the matriarch of the gang family she had known so well in her youth.\n\nOn set she found herself acting as a mother figure to many of the soap's young actors, some of whom had no formal training in drama.\n\nAnd at the age of 70, she told one interviewer that she still got a thrill from being wolf-whistled in the street - and made sure she put an extra wiggle in her walk when it happened.\n\nShe was forced out of the soap for two years after contracting the debilitating Epstein-Barr virus at the end of 2002, which left her bedridden.\n\nThere was a brief return in 2004, but she was not well enough to resume the role full-time until the following year.\n\nShortly after picking up a lifetime achievement award at the British Soap Awards, she announced she was quitting EastEnders to spend more time with her third husband, Scott Mitchell.\n\n\"I'll be so sad to leave Peggy behind,\" she said at the time. \"She's such a wonderful character to play.\"\n\nThere was also a problem that she withheld from her fans. She had begun finding it hard to learn her lines and she kept repeating certain sentences and stories.\n\nAfter a series of mental agility tests and a brain scan, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2014. \"I'm so sorry,\" she mouthed to her husband.\n\nTwo years later she filmed her final scenes as Peggy Mitchell. EastEnders were reluctant to kill off such an iconic character but she rang the producers to insist.\n\nIn 2009, she was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the British Soap Awards\n\nHer husband Scott went to see them to make sure they understood this really was the end. \"Look into my eyes,\" he said. \"She is not coming back.\"\n\nOn set they had an autocue ready but she did not need it. Peggy Mitchell, terminally ill with breast cancer, took a lethal overdose of pills and died in her sleep.\n\nIn the 2016 New Year's Honours, Barbara was made a dame for her services to charity and entertainment. But soon afterwards, Dame Barbara's Alzheimer's became more difficult to hide.\n\nBy the time she turned 80 in August 2017, a continual confusion had set in. She became more and more housebound, upset at having to keep her secret from the fans who flocked to her whenever she set foot outside.\n\nIn May 2018, she made the decision to go public with her condition and was still well enough to feel overwhelmed by the warmth of the public reaction.\n\nDame Barbara may have retreated from the public gaze but around her friends and family took on the role of campaigning and fundraising for dementia care in her honour.\n\nAdam Woodyatt and Jake Wood were among several EastEnders stars who ran the London Marathon in 2019 in a team called Barbara's Revolutionaries.\n\n\"It means so much to me to see some of my closest friends coming together to support this cause,\" Dame Barbara said.\n\n\"I know it will mean a lot to everyone else living with dementia.\"\n\nLater that year Dame Barbara put her name to an open letter with her husband calling on the prime minister for a \"long-term funding solution to end the social care crisis\". It coincided with the couple's appointment as ambassadors for the Alzheimer's Society.\n\nIn July 2020, Dame Barbara's husband had to make the difficult decision to move her into a care home as her condition deteriorated during the coronavirus lockdown.\n\nBoth on and off-screen Dame Barbara will be remembered as the \"sex-pot with a heart of gold, navigating a complicated and sometimes tumultuous private life\".\n\nShe enjoyed her successes, faced life's challenges bravely and found happiness in her final marriage to Scott.\n\nShe was a formidable character actress with a place in British hearts for more than half a century. And like many of the characters she played, Barbara Windsor was sometimes down, but never out.", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Friday evening. We'll have another update for you on Saturday.\n\nThe self-isolation period for contacts of people who test positive for coronavirus and those instructed to quarantine after returning from high-risk countries, will be shortened from 14 to 10 days across the UK from Monday. Here's a reminder of all of the self-isolation rules.\n\nPupils, their families and teachers should take a Covid test, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said as he set out a mass-testing scheme for secondary schools in parts of London, Kent and Essex. Cases among 11 to 18-year-olds in those areas have been rising rapidly in recent weeks - with one head teacher saying resources for extra testing had been \"a long time coming\". The National Education Union welcomed the extra tests but said the government should commit to mass testing \"across the country, not just in the South East\".\n\nWhile the schools testing programme only applies to the worst-affected areas of London and parts of Kent and Essex, positive coronavirus tests are increasing across the capital, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. Cases could be on the up in the east of England too. It's a mixed picture across the UK though. Wales is seeing rising infections, while levels are falling in Northern Ireland and staying the same in Scotland. Meanwhile, the UK's R number, or reproduction number, has crept up slightly in the past week.\n\nBritons holidaying on Spain's Canary Islands say their Christmas plans have been thrown into jeopardy after quarantine rules were imposed. Travellers returning to the UK will have to self-isolate from Saturday due to rising infection rates. Even a reduced 10-day quarantine period means some of those due to return later next week would still need to isolate over Christmas. Here's a guide to travelling abroad during the pandemic.\n\nInternational blockbusters including James Cameron's Avatar sequels, Amazon's Lord of the Rings series and Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog all managed complex film shoots in New Zealand this year. Thanks to its handling of the pandemic, the country is enjoying an unprecedented boom in film production, with directors seeking safe conditions and that most elusive thing in 2020 - a normal life.\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, as the global race to develop a Covid vaccine makes great strides, we take a look at the vaccine pioneer the world forgot.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "The mass Covid testing of students before Christmas has so far found 0.2% testing positive at one of the universities taking part.\n\nThe University of Portsmouth is reporting \"very low numbers\" of positive cases from its Covid testing.\n\n\"We are seeing fewer than two per day on average at present,\" said vice-chancellor Graham Galbraith.\n\nHe criticised a \"blame culture\" in which students had been accused of spreading infections.\n\n\"Prevalence in students is now very low indeed,\" said Prof Galbraith.\n\nEdge Hill University in Lancashire says it has so far found zero positive cases in its end-of-term testing.\n\nThe mass testing of students, launched on campuses last week, has been screening hundreds of thousands of students preparing to leave for the Christmas holidays.\n\nThere are no national figures so far on results from university testing, but some early findings are being published.\n\nThese include results so far from four universities - but it is not known how representative they might be of the wider picture.\n\nThe most recent figures for the general population show wide regional differences in rates of testing positive, including those without symptoms - from 1.3% in the north west of England to 0.4% in the south west.\n\nCovid testing at the University of Portsmouth has so far found few positive cases\n\nAt the University of Portsmouth, an initial sample of about 4,500 students, showed a rate of 0.2% positive results, or about nine students.\n\nThe University of Cambridge had even lower positive results last week from tests for those who did not have any Covid symptoms - with zero positive cases from more than 10,000 students being screened.\n\nThere were separate figures from Cambridge for those who thought they had Covid symptoms - with nine cases being confirmed out of 71 tested.\n\nCambridge has run its own test and tracking system throughout the term.\n\n\"Where outbreaks did occur, the testing programme helped us identify these quickly and put measures in place to prevent them spreading further,\" said Patrick Maxwell, regius professor and head of Cambridge's school of clinical medicine.\n\n\"Once the second lockdown was put in place, we saw the number of infected students fall away to single figures,\" said Prof Maxwell.\n\nEdge Hill University has reported zero positive cases from more than 2,100 students who took part in the mass testing since last week.\n\nAt the University of Reading, more than 3,500 tests have been carried out for students without symptoms - finding 15 positive results, about 0.4% of tests.\n\nStudents who test positive will then have further tests to confirm if they have the virus.\n\nBut there have also been warnings that lateral flow tests can miss some positive cases - and it remains uncertain how many students might not have taken a test before leaving at the end of term.\n\nPortsmouth's vice chancellor said he wanted to publish the evidence to show how much infection rates had fallen among his university's students.\n\nProf Galbraith said students should not \"bear the brunt of blame and criticism when in reality their overall behaviour has been exceptionally positive in conforming with the rules\".\n\nThe university, which carried out its own Covid testing through the autumn, says that its data shows there was no link between the pattern of student infections and cases in the wider local population.\n\nThere was a surge in early October in cases among students and the local Portsmouth population.\n\nBut from mid-October cases among students began to fall - while cases in the local population continued to climb, with these divergent trends continuing through to mid-November, when local cases also began to reduce.\n\nThe university says its own testing and tracing system had sharply reduced cases among students - and that students were unlikely to have been driving local outbreaks.\n\nNick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said the \"hard evidence\" now emerging from testing could prove that expectations about infection rates among students had been wrong.\n\n\"Like everyone else, the higher education sector has been learning about Covid as it has gone along,\" he said.", "A lone Republican senator has blocked a congressional vote to create two new Smithsonian museums dedicated to American women and Latinos.\n\nCasting his dissenting vote, Senator Mike Lee said they would \"further divide an already divided nation\".\n\nThe legislation received unanimous bipartisan support by the remainder of the 100-member Senate.\n\nIt boasts of being the \"world's largest museum, education and research complex,\" with the newest Smithsonian museum - the Museum of African American History and Culture - added in 2016.\n\nA museum for Latino history has been being considered for at least 20 years, after a government report found in the early 1990s that the Smithsonian \"displays a pattern of wilful neglect\" toward Latinos and \"almost entirely excludes and ignores Latinos in nearly every aspect of its operations\".\n\nA measure to create a women history's museum was introduced in the early 2000s.\n\nIn his speech on the Senate floor on Thursday night, Mr Lee - a Utah senator who leans libertarian - condemned politics based on identity - a topic that many conservative Americans have voiced objections to in recent years.\n\n\"My objection to the creation of a new Smithsonian museum or series of museums based on group identity, what Theodore Roosevelt called hyphenated Americanism, is not a matter of budgetary or legislative technicalities,\" he said. \"It is a matter of national unity and cultural inclusion.\"\n\nSoldiers outside the African American museum during summer protests\n\nBecause the authors of the two museum bills had sought a unanimous vote of all 100 senators, each measure was struck down in its entirety by Mr Lee's objection. Measures supporting the Latino museum and women's museum had already been passed earlier this year by the House of Representatives - the lower chamber of Congress.\n\nMr Lee went on to say: \"The so-called critical theory undergirding this movement does not celebrate diversity; it weaponises diversity.\n\n\"I understand what my colleagues are trying to do and why. I respect what they're trying to do. I even share their interests in ensuring that these stories are told. But the last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation with an array of segregated, separate-but-equal museums for hyphenated identity groups.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Why did so many Latinos back Trump?\n\nIn a following debate, Mr Lee argued that Native Americans and black Americans had their histories \"virtually erased,\" which was why Smithsonian institutions exist for them.\n\n\"We have been systematically excluded,\" retorted New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the author of the Latino museum bill.\n\n\"Believe me, we have been,\" he added, accusing Mr Lee of standing \"in the way of the hopes and dreams and aspirations of seeing Americans of Latino descent having their dreams fulfilled and recognised\".\n\nLatina Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a liberal Democrat from New York, was among those criticising Mr Lee. She noted that the debate over these two bills came as coronavirus stimulus relief bills continued to stall in the Senate.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nMaine Republican Senator Susan Collins, who sponsored the Smithsonian Women's History Museum Act, joined in the criticism of Mr Lee, calling it a \"sad moment\" and adding that \"it seems wrong\" for a single senator to block such popular measures.\n\n\"Surely in a year where we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage, this is the time, this is the moment to finally pass the legislation,\" she said, referring to the centennial of women's right to vote in the US.\n\nMuseum advocates say Mr Lee's objection is just one of many roadblocks, and that other legislative avenues still exist to having the measures pass.\n\nSenators could still attempt to attach the museum measures to the year's highly important budget bill, or otherwise reintroduce the measures when the new Congress convenes in January.\n\nEven if the votes had passed, it would still be years before building would begin, as Congress would also need to vote again to allocate funds to the projects.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nLast week, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G Bunch III released a statement praising the two bills.\n\n\"Creating new museums is challenging, but, with appropriate funding, the Smithsonian has the skill and expertise to do it right,\" he said. \"We can, and have, created museums that meet the needs of the nation and showcase the US to the world.\"", "More than 50 schools in Belfast have written a joint letter to the education minister urging him to \"reconsider your stance on early school closure\".\n\nThe letter comes from nursery, primary and post-primary schools in the West Belfast Area Learning Community (ALC).\n\nIt contains a strongly-worded warning that easing many restrictions on 11 December will have a knock-on effect for schools.\n\nThe schools also said that a plan is needed for January.\n\nThey said \"there may be a tsunami of cases arriving in to each of our schools\" in the new year.\n\nEducation Minister Peter Weir has repeatedly stated that schools will not close early for the Christmas break.\n\nHe has also said that health experts have not recommended closing schools early.\n\nHowever some principals have said pupils will not be marked absent if parents want them to do schoolwork at home in the final week of term.\n\nMany schools are due to end term on Friday 18 December, but some continue until 22 December.\n\nThe joint letter from west Belfast schools told Mr Weir there had been a \"lack of clarity from the Department of Education, conflicting guidance from the department and Public Health Agency, and a real lack of insight from you or your department concerning the enormous volume of work which we face on a daily basis\".\n\nIt said that the easing of many restrictions in other areas would have an impact on schools.\n\n\"Given that the executive has agreed to 'relax' restrictions to enable people to experience a more normal Christmas, we are fearful that this allows for increased mixing of bubbles and larger numbers of households and people being able to gather leading to increased infection rates,\" it said.\n\nEducation Minister Peter Weir has repeatedly said there are no plans to close schools early for the Christmas break\n\n\"These increased risks on people's health, added pressure on NHS and likelihood of increasing mortality as a result of Covid-19 must have been judged to be tolerable in order to ensure that people are allowed to see loved ones at Christmas.\n\n\"However, failure to close schools at a time when hospitality and close-contact services resume, will undoubtedly impact on the Christmas experience of those school staff who are identified by contact tracing over the coming weeks.\n\n\"It might appear to some that whilst increasing deaths and illness rates are tolerable, safeguarding the Christmas of front-line staff such as healthcare workers and schools are not important to the executive or your department.\"\n\nThe letter also said that school staff had been providing constant support to pupils and parents affected by lockdown.\n\n\"Our school populations continue to grow and so, too, does the level of need and vulnerability,\" the letter said.\n\n\"We are all too aware of the 'breaking point' that some of our pupils and families have reached over the possibility of spending Christmas away from loved ones.\n\n\"This period of restrictions has been very difficult on those pupils with special educational needs, especially those suffering with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, as their ability to see loved ones from their extended family has been impacted and Christmas may be the only opportunity in the coming months.\"\n\nIt concludes by pleading with Mr Weir to allow school staff to teach and pupils to learn from home \"for a period of just five or six days\" before the planned end of term.\n\n\"As school leaders we also have a duty of care to our staff, pupils and the wider school community,\" it said.\n\n\"The biggest cause of stress and anxiety we see at the present time is the uncertainty people feel about their ability to see extended family over the Christmas break.\n\n\"In what has been an exceptional year for us all, can I ask that you reconsider your stance on early school closure, or at least trust in the professional judgement of school leaders to provide effective home learning opportunities which will enable the exceptionally hard working educational workforce to have the Christmas break which they have earned throughout this pandemic.\n\n\"This action, alone, has the power to do much to boost the morale and well-being of every member of staff in schools.\"\n\nThe government in Wales has said all post-primary schools will move to online teaching until Christmas from Monday 14 December.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHonours titles associated with the British Empire are \"offensive and divisive\" and should be rebranded, a senior Labour MP has told the BBC.\n\nKate Green, who got an OBE in 2005, told the Political Thinking podcast it gave people \"huge pleasure\" to have their achievements recognised.\n\nBut the shadow education secretary said honours were hierarchical and the link to Empire was \"hurtful to people\".\n\n\"You can't justify that branding,\" she told host Nick Robinson.\n\nBut the Conservatives said \"abandoning\" the current honours system would amount to \"cultural and historic vandalism\".\n\nOrders of the British Empire - the CBE, OBE and MBE - were first awarded during World War One to recognise the contribution of civilians to the war effort and the actions of service personnel in support positions.\n\nThey are now awarded for outstanding achievements in different fields at either a national or local level.\n\nThe British Empire Medal, awarded for significant community service, was revived in 2012, having been scrapped in 1993.\n\nSome Labour MPs have previous called for the word \"empire\" to be replaced by \"excellence\" in honours awarded by the Queen.\n\nMs Green told the BBC's Nick Robinson she had thought hard before accepting an OBE for services to charity and welfare for her work in helping children as chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group and before that as director of the National Council for One Parent Families.\n\nShe said she decided to take the honour, which she received five years before she entered Parliament in 2010, because it \"thrilled\" her father.\n\nWhile honours were a valuable way of celebrating people's contributions to their community or country, she added, their association with the economic and racial injustices of the British Empire was not defensible.\n\nEd Sheeran is among the famous people to have received an MBE\n\n\"It's really the wrong language. It's divisive, it's offensive and hurtful to people.\n\n\"One of the things I've been looking at a lot in recent weeks is the black curriculum campaign and decolonising our history and the whole curriculum. You can't excuse or justify that branding.\"\n\nShe said issues with the way in which honours were handed out ran \"deeper\" than just the titles and a \"lot more reform was needed\" of the secretive system.\n\nMembers of the public can nominate people for honours, but critics say the committees that make the final decisions are not representative of society as a whole and awards for political service make a mockery of the system.\n\nBoris Johnson, Theresa May, David Cameron and Tony Blair have all been criticised for using the honours system to reward political allies and people who have give money to their parties.\n\n\"I know many efforts have been made to democratise and open up that honours system but it's still pretty hierarchical of who gets what,\" she said.\n\nConservative Party co-chairwoman Amanda Milling said: \"The names given to our national honours reflect this country's history and traditions.\n\n\"We should not abandon them, just as we shouldn't rename the Victoria Line, the Royal Albert Hall or the Imperial War Museum, or tear down the countless public monuments, statues and landmarks that tell the story of our United Kingdom.\n\n\"To do so would be an act of cultural and historic vandalism.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jacqueline Mason visiting her mother Eileen McGrugan in the care home\n\nA bus driver has said his detour to let a passenger visit her mother in a care home was \"just the right thing to do\".\n\nJacqueline Mason had accidentally got on the wrong bus on her way to the home and could have missed her visiting slot.\n\nDriver Alec Bailey said it \"hit his heart\" when Jacqueline broke down in tears at that prospect.\n\nHe told his other passengers he would take a detour to get her as close to the home as possible.\n\n\"When the woman said to me she hadn't seen her mum in a long time, it just hit my heart,\" he said.\n\n\"A lot of people have suffered this year and you've seen on the news, people not able to see their mother or their father in the homes and it just struck a chord with me.\n\n\"I just said to myself, I have to get this woman as close as I can to that home.\"\n\nAlec Bailey said Jacqueline's plight struck a chord with him\n\nJacqueline, was due to visit her 79-year-old mother in Bradley Manor nursing home in north Belfast on Wednesday.\n\nDue to coronavirus restrictions, she only had a 30-minute slot to visit her mum.\n\nWhen she arrived, media crews were there to interview residents and staff as they received the Covid-19 vaccine.\n\nJacqueline told Sky's Ireland correspondent about the driver's kind gesture and how she wanted to thank him.\n\nBut all she knew was that his first name was Alec and that he drove a Translink Metro bus along the 11B route.\n\n\"I don't know this side of town at all,\" she explained.\n\n\"He asked people on the bus did they mind if he took a short detour and he took me to the roundabout just at the top here and then I was able to get here on time to see Mummy.\"\n\nSpeaking to BBC News NI on Thursday, Jacqueline said: \"I can't get over the other passengers as well, but especially Alec.\n\n\"He's made my Christmas and he's made my year, I can't thank him enough.\"\n\nJacqueline promised Alec a hug when it is safe\n\nAlec said he had not told anyone about the incident and spent the day worrying about whether the woman had got to see her mum.\n\nIt was only later when his daughter showed him the clip of Jacqueline that he was able to see the impact his kind gesture had had.\n\n\"My daughter sent me the clip and I looked at it and when I viewed it, I saw how happy the woman was to see her mum.\n\n\"The smile and the joy on her face just said it all and I was just so pleased.\n\n\"It was just a nice, magical moment. It was just the right thing to do.\"\n\nJacqueline's mother Eileen McGrugan was among the residents who were vaccinated at Bradley Manor nursing home\n\nIn a statement to BBC News NI, Translink's chief executive Chris Conway said: \"I am proud of Alec Bailey for going above and beyond to help Jacqueline.\n\n\"Alec exemplifies the spirit and resilience of the Translink team.\n\n\"He is a long-serving member of staff who has been working throughout the pandemic, going out of his way to ensure key and essential workers, education and communities stay connected.\n\n\"I'm delighted that we were able to help in this case,\" Mr Conway added.\n\nJacqueline's story was retweeted by Stormont's Transport Minister Nichola Mallon, and also by her department's official Twitter account, which described it as \"a real winter warmer\".\n\nJacqueline's mother, Eileen McGrugan, was among the residents who received their first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday.\n\nJacqueline told Sky she was looking forward to being able to hug her mum again soon.", "The Gender Identity Service is based at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust\n\nAll but one child treated for gender dysphoria with puberty-blocking drugs at a leading NHS clinic also received cross-sex hormones, a study has shown.\n\nThe Tavistock and Portman Trust has argued the treatments are not linked.\n\nThe High Court ruled last week that under-16s are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to be treated with puberty-blocking drugs.\n\nThe trust said the study's findings were not accepted by a peer-reviewed journal until the day of the judgement.\n\nThese findings are from a study run by the Tavistock's Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) - England's only NHS specialist gender clinic for children - and research partners at University College London Hospitals.\n\nThe study began in 2011 and enrolled 44 children aged between 12 and 15 over the following three years. At the time, only those aged 16 and over were eligible for puberty blockers in the UK.\n\nWhen BBC Newsnight covered the study and its preliminary findings last year it highlighted how previous research suggested all young people who took blockers went on to take cross-sex hormones - the next stage towards transitioning to the opposite gender.\n\nThe Tavistock's newly published findings appear to confirm this, with 43 out of 44 participants - or 98% - choosing to start treatment with cross-sex hormones.\n\nEarlier this month, the High Court ruled that children under-16 were unlikely to be able to give informed consent to treatment with puberty blockers.\n\nThe relationship between blockers and subsequent treatment with cross-sex hormones was a core feature of the case.\n\nLawyers representing the claimants said there was \"a very high likelihood\" children who start taking hormone blockers will later begin taking cross-sex hormones, leading potentially to infertility and impaired sexual function.\n\nThe Tavistock argued puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones were entirely separate stages of treatment and one does not automatically lead to the other.\n\nThe judges rejected that argument, saying \"in our view this does not reflect the reality\".\n\n\"The evidence shows that the vast majority of children who take [puberty blockers] move on to take cross-sex hormones,\" and that these are part of \"one clinical pathway\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe study findings potentially lend further support to that assertion.\n\nThe Tavistock disputes this, saying that as those in this study had persistent and consistent gender dysphoria throughout their childhood, it is not surprising they would seek to continue treatment after 16.\n\nIt argues that the fact not all chose to do so shows this course of treatment is not an inevitability.\n\nFurthermore, the data was requested by the High Court during the hearing, but the Tavistock did not provide it.\n\nThe data, the trust argued, would be published in a peer-reviewed journal, but comments were being reviewed by the study's principal investigator, Prof Russell Viner - the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.\n\nHowever, the Tavistock published the data the day after the High Court handed down its judgement, and not in a peer-reviewed journal.\n\nThe Tavistock told the BBC that the paper was not accepted for publication until the day of the judgement and it was put into preprint that day.\n\nThe published study showed that treatment with the blocker brought about no change in psychological function.\n\nThis differs from Dutch findings \"which reported improved psychological function,\" upon which many gender clinics have based their treatment.\n\nPreliminary findings which showed that after a year on blockers, there was a significant increase in those answering the statement: \"I deliberately try to hurt or kill myself\", were not replicated across the duration of the study.\n\nThe study had no control group - with children who did not take puberty blockers - to enable the researchers to compare results with.\n\nSo, it is hard to infer cause and effect or draw conclusions as to the potential harms or benefits of this treatment.\n\nThe Gender Identity Service is based at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust\n\nThe study also measured the impact of puberty blocking drugs on children's height and bone density.\n\nThe researchers found that suppressing puberty \"reduced growth that was dependent on puberty hormones\".\n\nHeight growth continued, \"but more slowly than for their peers\".\n\nThe Tavistock Trust said \"the paper has now been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal and will be published soon\".\n\nAll new referrals for puberty blockers are currently paused because of the High Court's ruling, and an NHS review into gender identity services for children and young people is currently under way.\n\nIf you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can find support and advice via BBC Action Line.\n\nYou can watch Newsnight on BBC Two weekdays at 22:30 or on iPlayer, subscribe to the programme on YouTube and follow it on Twitter.", "Rhiannon Davies, pictured with daughter Kate, campaigned for a review into maternity care\n\nMothers were blamed for their babies' deaths and a large number of women died in labour at a scandal-hit maternity unit, a review has found.\n\nThe inquiry into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS (SaTH) trust found deaths were often not investigated and an induction drug was repeatedly misused.\n\nRhiannon Davies said she never doubted what happened with her daughter Kate.\n\nSeven \"immediate and essential\" actions have been made for all maternity services across England.\n\nThe chief executive of SaTH said they \"commit to implementing all of the report's actions\".\n\nThe review began in 2018 following campaigns led by two families. Richard Stanton and Ms Davies' daughter Kate died hours after her birth in March 2009, while Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths' daughter Pippa died in 2016 from a Group B Streptococcus infection.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: The parents of babies Kate and Pippa talk about the pain of losing their child\n\nThe interim report lists numerous traumatic birth experiences including the deaths of babies due to excessive force of forceps and stillbirths that could have been avoided.\n\nOthers recount repeated failures by staff to recognise mothers and babies in deteriorating conditions, including one mother whose baby died because staff were \"too busy\" to monitor her during labour.\n\nIt found letters and records \"which often focused on blaming the mothers\" rather than considering whether the trust's systems were at fault. This was exacerbated by the attitude of staff, the report said.\n\nIt said: \"One of the most disappointing and deeply worrying themes that has emerged is the reported lack of kindness and compassion from some members of the maternity team.\n\n\"The fact that this was found to be lacking… is unacceptable and deeply concerning.\"\n\nIn June police launched an investigation to examine if there was evidence to support a criminal case against the trust or any individuals involved.\n\nFollowing the publication of the report, Geoff Wessell, Assistant Chief Constable for West Mercia Police, said their investigation has been running concurrently with the review and remains ongoing.\n\nThe inquiry - the largest ever of NHS maternity care - is being led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden and is looking into 1,862 cases and initially examined 250 cases.\n\nIt looked at a selection of cases between 2000 and 2018 and found there were 13 maternal deaths, a rate that is disproportionately high.\n\nWhile the report said the women were often correctly identified as being \"high risk\" due to existing medical conditions, little concrete action appeared to follow with junior doctors conducting assessments and no team working to ensure best care.\n\nAfter each death \"in some cases, no investigation was initiated\" whilst in others \"no learning appears to have been identified.\"\n\nThe report said \"inappropriate language had been used at times causing distress,\" and there were cases \"where women were blamed for their loss and this further compounded their grief.\"\n\nMs Davies' daughter Kate was born \"pale and floppy\" at Ludlow Community Hospital and died after delays in transferring her from Ludlow to a doctor-led maternity unit.\n\nShe has fought for a review for 11 years and said: \"I may sound arrogant but I've never doubted my surety of what happened with Kate.\n\n\"I knew I was right. The interim findings will hopefully bring this essential change, critically required change, change this trust has not been able to see it needs to embed and that will hopefully ensure patient safety improves and that is the only reason we've continued.\"\n\nPippa Griffiths died at one day old after contracting meningitis from a Group B Strep infection\n\nHer husband Richard said: \"I think it's really important that the interim findings go someway to imposing emergency recommendations which are clearly needed at this point to improve maternity care, no family should have to go through what me and Rhiannon and all the others have gone through.\n\n\"We just wanted to get to the truth.\"\n\nThe reports lists 27 actions the trust must immediately carry out.\n\nMs Ockenden said: \"Today we are explaining in this first report local actions for learning and immediate and essential actions which we believe will improve maternity care, not only at this trust but across England so that the experiences women and families have described to us are not replicated elsewhere.\n\nThe work that follows \"owes its origins to Kate Stanton-Davies and her parents\", Ms Ockenden said.\n\nShe added Kate and Pippa's parents have shown \"an unrelenting commitment in ensuring their daughter's short lives made a difference to the safety of maternity care\".\n\nMrs Griffiths, Pippa's mother said: \"It's not acceptable... you have to pick those failures up, you have to own them and you have to make improvements.\"\n\nThis is not a dry report - its pages scream with the voices of the families who have been needlessly harmed.\n\nI've heard many of these stories over the years, having spoken to dozens of families, but to read it in black and white, was still a sobering moment.\n\nThe review's publication also draws a firm line under the pretence that successive poor, weak leaders of the organisation maintained until recently, namely that the trust was no worse than others. They are worse, much worse, and have been for years.\n\nThe alphabet soup of NHS organisations that were meant to protect these families - the inspectors, the regulators, the commissioners - have a lot of questions to answer too.\n\nTheir repeated refusal to see what was happening, despite being told of the problems, is just as shaming as the trust's stance. Their moment of reckoning will come next year, when the final report is published.\n\nConservative MP for Telford Lucy Allan said the findings of the review were \"deeply harrowing\".\n\nFormer Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who ordered an inquiry in 2017, tweeted: \"This is a tragic day for families across Shropshire who've had it confirmed in black & white that hundreds of babies died needlessly.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Jeremy Hunt This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nLouise Barnett, the trust's chief executive, said: \"I want to say how very sorry we are for the pain and distress that has been caused to mothers and their families due to poor maternity care at our trust.\n\n\"We commit to implementing all of the actions in this report and I can assure the women and families who use our service that if they raise any concerns about their care they will be listened to and action will be taken.\"\n\nThe seven actions outlined for maternity services across England include: Enhanced safety, listening to women and families, staff training and working together, managing complex pregnancy, risk assessment throughout pregnancy and Monitoring fetal wellbeing.\n\nAs part of those seven actions, it said there must be twice daily consultant-led ward rounds, seven days a week, in the day and at night.\n\nFollow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The United States could move a step closer to approving the Pfizer-Biontech Covid vaccine on Thursday, as the Food and Drug Administration's advisers meet to discuss its authorisation.\n\nBut how will Americans get it? Will it be free? And will enough people take it?", "Tom Sleigh said he needed to plunge his burnt fingers into a cold sink\n\nA London councillor accidentally set his notepad on fire while taking part in an online committee meeting.\n\nTom Sleigh was on a video call with the City of London Resource Allocation Sub-Committee when he ignited his papers in front of some 30 colleagues.\n\nThe Labour Party member said he had been trying to light a candle \"but it accidentally ignited my notepaper\" and he had \"badly\" burnt his fingers.\n\nNevertheless, his mishap seemed to go unnoticed and the meeting carried on.\n\nThe committee meeting was being streamed live online when the fire occurred.\n\nSpeaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Sleigh said he was using a USB lighter to light a candle when things went awry.\n\nHe managed to put the flames out quickly but said he had badly burnt his fingers and he had \"plunged them into a cold sink\" afterwards.\n\nHowever, he also saw the funny side, later tweeting: \"Today didn't go as smoothly as I hoped.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nA woman who survived a fatal fire started by her boyfriend's brother has thanked a charity she says saved her life.\n\nRebecca Williams, known as Bex, was asleep in Cameron Logan's family home, in Milngavie, when his brother Blair set him alight in January 2017.\n\nCameron, 23, died in the blaze while Bex was left seriously injured from burns and smoke inhalation.\n\nShe turned to The Manda Centre charity during dark days later that year.\n\nThe centre was launched by Joe Duffy, whose daughter Amanda was murdered in Hamilton in 1992.\n\nBex spent weeks in hospital and needed a tracheostomy following the fire\n\n\"I've never been the sort of person who would have thought I would reach the stage where I've considered taking my own life but I was pretty lost,\" she said.\n\n\"I was so angry all the time. I'd lost my partner, my sense of self worth and respect.\n\n\"I literally reached out to them when I felt I couldn't control it anymore. I would be frightened to think what would happen if I hadn't found them.\"\n\nBex told how she was one of the 180,000 people shielding from March until July this year and was receiving government food parcels.\n\nShe said the isolation she experienced gave her \"too much time to think\" - but that The Manda Centre continued to support her.\n\n\"Everyone's lockdown experience is so different, people are at home with family or partners and I was myself,\" Bex said.\n\n\"I kept going 'well if Cameron was here we would be in lockdown together and it wouldn't be as bad'.\n\n\"[The centre] is really good. I can lift the phone whenever, talk about anything I'm upset about and they're never too busy or they never can't fit me in.\"\n\nIn August 2017 Blair Logan was ordered to spend at least 20 years in prison after he confessed to the attack.\n\nBex spent weeks in hospital, needed a tracheostomy which affected her voice and eventually left her job in broadcast journalism to work for Police Scotland.\n\nBex has spoken out praising the work of The Manda Charity, which supports people affected by trauma and loss\n\nShe said counselling has helped her deal with the ongoing challenges she faces in her working life.\n\n\"Naturally with my partner being murdered there are sometimes triggers in my work to do with murder, fire or violent crime,\" Bex said.\n\n\"I felt so far removed from everything normal, but it was just such a relief when I found the centre and I explained all this to them.\n\n\"I remember my first session I just broke down crying because it was such a release to explain all this to somebody and have them understand. I felt completely supported, like a family or community there.\"\n\nIf you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised, BBC Action Line has a list of organisations and charities offering advice and support.", "US President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris have been chosen as Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2020.\n\nThe Democratic pair beat three other finalists: frontline healthcare workers and Dr Anthony Fauci, the racial justice movement, and President Donald Trump, who lost the White House race.\n\nTime has been choosing the year's most influential person since 1927.\n\n\"For changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are TIME's 2020 Person of the Year,\" wrote Time's editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by TIME This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nMr Biden and Ms Harris, who was not mentioned on Time's initial shortlist, are yet to publicly comment on the announcement.\n\nIn 2016, Mr Trump, then also president-elect, received the same recognition from the magazine.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nEvery year, Time chooses a person, a group, an idea or an object that \"for better or for worse\" has had the most impact on the events over the 12 months.\n\nIn 2019, the publication expanded Person of the Year to include such categories as a Businessperson of the Year, Entertainer of the Year, Athlete of the Year and the Guardians of the Year.\n\nSo, this year's winners are:\n\nLast year, Time's Person of the Year was Greta Thunberg, the Swedish schoolgirl who inspired a global movement to fight climate change. Thunberg, who was 16 at the time, was the youngest person to have won the nomination.\n\nIn 2013, the world's first pontiff from the Americas was chosen as Person of the Year.\n\nArgentina's Jorge Mario Bergoglio had become Pope Francis in March of that year, and had already made his mark, rejecting the glittering trappings of the role to focus on the poorest in society.\n\nIn 2007, the title went to a man who Mr Trump has repeatedly said he admires: Russian President Vladimir Putin.\n\nHowever, whether Time Magazine admires Mr Putin is less clear.\n\n\"TIME's Person of the Year is not and never has been an honour. It is not an endorsement,\" it wrote in an editorial explaining the decision that year.\n\n\"It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world - for better or for worse.\"\n\nThe civil rights activist was named Person of the Year in 1963 - the same year he stood at the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his acclaimed \"I Have a Dream\" speech.\n\nHe was the first African American to grace the cover, and publically said later he saw it not simply as a personal victory, but a victory for the civil rights movement.\n\nKing was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.\n\nIf there was ever a recipient to prove the claim that Person of the Year was not an \"honour\", it was the choice for 1938.\n\nAmong other things, 1938 was the year Adolf Hitler \"had stolen Austria before the eyes of a horrified and apparently impotent world\".\n\nBut it is the final line that is perhaps the most chilling: \"To those who watched the closing events of the year it seemed more than probable that the Man of 1938 may make 1939 a year to be remembered.\"\n\nWallis Simpson, pictured with her husband, the Duke of Windsor\n\nThe first woman to be named what had been until then the \"Man of the Year\" was Wallis Simpson, the divorcee who had almost brought the British monarchy crashing to the ground.\n\nShe is still one of the few women to grace the cover alone. Others include Queen Elizabeth II, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.", "Britons holidaying on Spain's Canary Islands say their Christmas plans have been thrown into jeopardy after quarantine rules were imposed.\n\nTravellers returning to the UK will have to self-isolate from Saturday due to rising infection rates, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.\n\nTravel giant Tui said 800 people were due to depart for the islands on Friday morning, with 5,000 there already.\n\nThe quarantine period will be shortened from 14 to 10 days from Monday.\n\nA statement from the four UK chief medical officers said the change came after a review of evidence and that self-isolation for those with coronavirus symptoms remained important.\n\nMeanwhile, the Foreign Office has yet to change its travel advice for the Canary Islands, meaning many holidaymakers may be unable to seek refunds or claim on their travel insurance policies.\n\nThe new quarantine restrictions will be in place from 04:00 GMT on 12 December.\n\nTravellers to mainland Spain already have to isolate, but an exemption for the islands in October encouraged many to book a break in almost-guaranteed winter sun, travel expert Simon Calder told BBC Breakfast.\n\nThe Department for Transport (DfT) said there had been a \"sharp increase\" in the number of positive coronavirus tests on the islands.\n\nIt comes as an upcoming \"test-to-release\" policy will allow travellers to leave quarantine after five days - if they pay for a private coronavirus test and receive a negative result.\n\nEven a reduced 10-day quarantine period would mean some of those due to return later next week would still need to isolate over Christmas.\n\nSteve Hay, from Bournemouth, arrived in Lanzarote on Thursday evening for a seven-day break with his family.\n\nThey now face cutting it short to avoid a quarantine period that could potentially run until 27 December - effectively cancelling their Christmas plans in the UK.\n\n\"How will we do our Christmas shopping?\" Mr Hay said. \"I think it's shocking and doesn't appear much thought has gone into it.\n\n\"Why is it being implemented so quick, this only gives us tomorrow to get back.\n\n\"I think it's crazy and the Canaries cannot be looked at as a whole, each island should be rated.\"\n\nIvor Langford says he faces Christmas alone without his wife after she returned home sooner than planned\n\nIvor Langford from Worcestershire, who is currently at his holiday home in Lanzarote, told the BBC the rule change meant he now faced spending Christmas Day alone in the UK.\n\nHis wife recently returned to the UK after her father caught Covid-19 in hospital, he said.\n\n\"I have been given less than a day to fly home before Saturday 04:00,\" he said. \"I'm due to fly back on 16 December but now will have to have Christmas without my wife.\"\n\nMore than 800 people are waiting to find out whether their Tui holidays to Tenerife departing on Saturday morning will be cancelled, because the Foreign Office has not yet decided whether to also advise against travel to the islands.\n\nIf the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against travel to the Canary Islands, Tui will cancel all holidays immediately as this change invalidates travel insurance.\n\nIt also expects to cancel its entire Christmas holiday schedule, a further blow to the operator which recorded losses of €3bn (£2.74bn) on Thursday.\n\nTui said it would allow those booked between Friday and 17 December \"the opportunity to amend free of charge to another date or destination\".\n\nAirline Easyjet said customers wishing to transfer their flights without a fee must do so within a week.\n\nThe new test-to-release programme begins on 15 December, allowing travellers arriving in England to reduce their quarantine by more than half if they pay for a Covid test after five days.\n\nThey will have to opt in to the scheme on a passenger locator form, according to the government website.\n\nThe DfT said families could decide which members opted in to suit their circumstances but that only those who took a test after five days and received a negative result could be released early.\n\nThe tests, from private firms, will cost between £65 and £120. A list of approved providers has yet to be published.\n\nEngland has also introduced a quarantine exemption for certain categories of travellers, including people making high-value business trips, sports stars and performing arts professionals.\n\nDo you have plans to travel to the Canary Islands from the UK? Are you in the Canary Islands but due back after the quarantine rules change? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "German officials had hoped to relax \"partial lockdown\" conditions but are now planning to tighten them\n\nGermany is facing calls for a second lockdown before Christmas after recording 585 deaths and 29,875 new infections in one day - the highest numbers since the pandemic began.\n\n\"We have to act urgently. We have to do more than was previously planned,\" warned Economy Minister Peter Altmaier.\n\nRussia and Ukraine also reported record numbers of fatalities on Friday.\n\nHowever, the latest excess death statistics have cast doubt on the numbers announced in Russian updates.\n\nGermany has been under partial lockdown since early November, shutting bars, restaurants and entertainment venues, and a relaxation had been planned over Christmas.\n\nBut the rise in infections has increasingly alarmed top officials, with Lothar Wieler, head of Germany's public healthy body, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), describing the situation as \"extremely fragile\". Chancellor Angela Merkel made an impassioned speech in the Bundestag (parliament) this week calling for tighter measures, saying that \"500 deaths a day is unacceptable\".\n\nOn Friday, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned that the only chance of regaining control was an immediate lockdown. \"If we wait until Christmas, we'll have to struggle with high numbers for months,\" he told the Spiegel website.\n\nBavaria, in the south, has already imposed tighter measures and Mrs Merkel is reportedly set to meet all 16 state leaders on Sunday.\n\nThere are few joyful tidings for Germany this Christmas.\n\nThe country, which so successfully brought the first wave of the pandemic under control, is struggling to contain the second.\n\nToday Germans woke up to two miserable new records. The highest daily number of infections and deaths in a 24-hour period.\n\nA so-called \"lockdown light\", which includes the closure of bars, restaurants, leisure and arts facilities but is implemented to different degrees in different parts of the country, may have flattened the curve but it's done nothing to reduce the numbers.\n\nThe days when Germany's relatively low death toll was the envy of other countries are gone; it's rising fast and this week exceeded 20,000. So what's gone wrong?\n\nScientists say that Germans are simply not doing enough to reduce their social contacts. But many also point the finger at regional leaders, who for months have dithered, bickered and resisted Angela Merkel's calls for a tougher, countrywide response to the outbreak.\n\nRussia's pandemic task force says 613 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 45,893. Moscow and St Petersburg were worst hit.\n\nHowever, official data about \"excess\" deaths - those above expected levels - has called this total into question. There were nearly 50,000 more \"excess\" deaths in October 2020 than in the same month last year.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In December the BBC's Sarah Rainsford went to a Moscow clinic where the Sputnik V vaccine was being given to patients\n\nStatistics service Rosstat said 22,761 of the October deaths were either confirmed or suspected Covid cases.\n\nOfficial health figures were less than a third of that, but only count deaths listed by a post mortem examination as having coronavirus as the main cause.\n\nRussia began using its Sputnik V vaccine on doctors, teachers and social workers last weekend and claims that some countries have been resorting to \"not very pleasant\" methods to discredit it. In a boost for Sputnik's producers, UK and Russian scientists are to trial a combination of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines to see if protection against Covid-19 can be improved.\n\nSputnik's backers claim it offers 95% protection against the coronavirus, but data released so far is based on interim results only. Russia previously mocked the AstraZeneca jab as a \"monkey vaccine\" - referring to its use of a modified common cold virus that infected chimpanzees, rather than one that affects humans, to elicit an immune response.", "Windsor arriving for a court case involving her husband Ronnie Knight in 1980 (left). He was tried and acquitted of murder. Windsor is pictured, right, holding a rose after his release", "Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in the Albanian capital, Tirana, on Wednesday after the police allegedly killed a man for breaking a coronavirus curfew.\n\nThe demonstrators chanted at riot police and tore down Christmas trees and other decorations around the city.\n\nThe officer accused of killing the 25-year-old man has been arrested and an investigation has been launched.", "The Duke of Cambridge paid tribute to Dame Barbara Windsor during a trip with his family to watch a special pantomime put on to thank key workers for their efforts during the pandemic.\n\nPrince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis watched a performance of Pantoland at the London Palladium with their parents in the royal box.\n\nIn a speech before the show, the duke called Dame Barbara \"a legend\".\n\nIt was the Cambridges' first red carpet engagement as a family of five.\n\nTheir visit followed the news that the actress, best known for her roles in EastEnders and the Carry On films, had died aged 83.\n\nWhen the Cambridges first arrived at the Palladium, George, seven, Charlotte, five, and two-year-old Louis stopped briefly to watch actors dressed as elves entertaining the guests on the red carpet.\n\nBefore the show, Matt Ridsdale, executive director of National Lottery operator Camelot, which has supported the pantomime, introduced Prince William and quipped: \"As this is panto, I'm very conscious of who's behind me.\"\n\nPrince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis stopped to watch actors dressed as elves on the red carpet\n\nThe royal children watch the National Lottery's Pantoland with their parents from the royal box\n\nThe duke said: \"Before I go on, I want to pause and pay tribute to a true national treasure, Dame Barbara Windsor, who so sadly passed away last night.\n\n\"She was a giant of the entertainment world, and of course a legend on pantomime stages across the country, including here at the London Palladium.\n\n\"And I know we'll all miss her hugely.\"\n\nThe Duke of Cambridge made a speech to thank key workers ahead of the performance\n\nThe show at London's Palladium stars Julian Clary and Elaine Paige\n\nThe duke said it was a \"very special performance\" because of the key workers in the audience.\n\n\"You include community workers, volunteers, teachers, NHS staff, representatives from the emergency services and military, researchers working on the vaccine, people helping the homeless, those manning vital call centres, and staff from a wide range of frontline charities - to name but a few,\" he said.\n\n\"You have given your absolute all this year and made remarkable sacrifices.\"\n\nEarlier this week the duke and duchess travelled around Great Britain on the royal train to thank key workers for their efforts during the pandemic.", "Jen Scott's view from Beinn Mhor in Argyll. She said: \"It was such a magical morning - everything was sparkling with frost, and as we climbed we saw the mist creep into the valley below where a herd of highland cows were grazing.\"", "The UK has been in a transition period with the EU since last January, during which rules and trade have stayed the same. But all of this will come to an end on 1 January 2021.\n\nWith just a few weeks left for the UK and the EU to negotiate a trade agreement, both sides are now talking about the prospect of a no-deal outcome. If there's no trade agreement in place, they will have to adjust quickly to doing things very differently.\n\nSo how are both sides preparing?\n\nFor the first six months from 1 January, the British government will bring in only minimal checks on goods coming in to the UK, but the EU will have full border checks on goods coming into the EU from the UK straight away.\n\nThe UK government has warned that a reasonable worst-case scenario could see queues of 7,000 trucks clogging up the roads around Dover and the Channel Tunnel.\n\nThe UK government has two contingency plans for this: Operation Brock and Operation Fennel.\n\nOperation Brock is a traffic management plan, which it is hoped will prevent more than 10,000 lorries a day from clogging up roads in Kent.\n\nUnder the scheme, drivers of very large lorries will need to get a special permit - a Kent Access Permit - before they enter the county, and permits will only be issued if they have completed the correct paperwork for exporting goods.\n\nOther traffic will be kept flowing around them, in what is known as a contraflow system. Highways England is trialling the moveable road barrier, which makes the contraflow system possible, on the M20 over four nights from 11 December.\n\nIf there are more than 2,000 lorries queued up, the government has made plans for several temporary lorry parks - it bought a 27-acre site in Ashford in Kent. There is also a plan called Operation Fennel in which as many as 7,000 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) could be diverted to the disused Manston airfield, near Ramsgate.\n\nThis is part of the government's plans for building facilities away from ports.\n\nIf further capacity is needed, a \"last resort\" would be to turn the 10-mile M26 motorway into a temporary lorry park.\n\nThe UK government has also set up the Border Operations Centre to co-ordinate the response to any further disruption.\n\nQueuing at ports is not the only problem for lorry drivers.\n\nIf no further steps are taken, UK lorry drivers would need to apply for documents called ECMT permits to be allowed to enter EU countries. The European Commission has warned that there are not enough of these permits available, which would mean not enough UK lorries being able to travel to the EU to pick up goods to bring back to the UK.\n\nThe European Commission said this could result in serious disruptions, \"potentially even threatening public order\".\n\nTo prevent this, it proposed allowing UK lorries and buses into the EU for six months without special permits, as long as EU drivers are also allowed into the UK.\n\nThe proposals would also allow regular bus services that pick up and drop off passengers on either side of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to continue to do so.\n\nThe UK has not been clear yet on whether it plans to continue to allow EU operators to enter the country.\n\nA similar proposal is on the table for aviation. In the event of no deal, the UK would no longer be a member of the European Common Aviation Area, which allows British airlines to fly to destinations in the EU, and vice versa.\n\nThe European Commission is proposing a six month regulation to allow flights to continue until a new agreement is in place, but it would require the UK government to offer the same to operators from EU countries. The UK has not yet responded to the proposal.\n\nThe UK government has told pharmaceutical companies to stockpile and plan alternative supply routes in case of border problems. It has also arranged extra freight capacity for pharmaceutical companies should they need it.\n\nIn a memo, seen by the BBC in June, pharmaceutical companies warned the government that some stockpiles of medicines have been \"used up entirely\" by the coronavirus pandemic and said these could not be replenished in time for the UK's exit from the EU.\n\nThe head of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry warned that not having any sort of deal would cause \"increased complexity, duplication and cost\" in the middle of a pandemic. The government insisted, however, that \"robust contingency plans are in place\".\n\nFor the coronavirus vaccine, the government says there are contingency plans for making sure the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine made in Belgium can be shipped to the UK if border problems arise. These include alternative sea routes and the use of freight or even military aircraft.\n\nThe European Commission has also proposed extending the deadline to reach an agreement on fishing until the end of December 2021.\n\nThis would allow European fishing vessels to continue fishing in British waters and vice-versa for another year, or until an agreement is reached.\n\nBut a Downing Street spokesman said the UK \"would never accept arrangements and access to UK fishing waters which are incompatible with our status as an independent coastal state\".\n\nThe Ministry of Defence has said it will make four patrol boats available to monitor UK waters and added that it would have \"robust enforcement measures in place\".\n\nAs things stand, if nothing is agreed then non-UK boats will not be allowed to fish in UK waters from January.\n\nBut without a deal, the UK fishing industry would find its extensive exports to EU countries being hit by tariffs (import taxes) and regulatory hurdles.\n\nThe French government has said it would hand out compensation to trawlers if they were not able to fish in UK waters.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Frank Atherton: \"The reality is we are in a difficult position in Wales\"\n\nAuthorities have \"reached the limit... [of] telling people what to do\", Wales' top doctor has said, warning of a \"perilous\" rise in coronavirus cases.\n\nHowever, chief medical officer Frank Atherton said ministers were considering whether more restrictions would be needed in the coming weeks.\n\nAsked if that could happen before Christmas, he said: \"That's something ministers are considering.\"\n\nThe first minister Mark Drakeford had appeared to rule that out on Tuesday.\n\nFacing the same question, in the Senedd, Mr Drakeford said: \"I don't think that means that we will be taking further measures this side of Christmas.\"\n\nSpeaking to Dot Davies on BBC Radio Wales on Thursday, Dr Atherton urged people to think about their behaviour to keep themselves safe.\n\nHe has previously said he will not be visiting relatives in Northern Ireland and England over Christmas.\n\nThere will be a time lag before officials know the effect of the current rules, including the ban on serving alcohol in hospitality venues.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\n\"Ministers are considering what to do in the period immediately after Christmas to try to give us some headroom into January,\" Dr Atherton said.\n\n\"But the reality is we are in a difficult position in Wales. We are in a difficult position in the UK, but Wales has the highest rates at the moment of the four nations.\n\n\"And so it's down to all of us to think about what we can do to keep ourselves safe.\n\n\"I really believe that we have reached the limit of what we can do through legislation, through telling people what to do.\"\n\n\"We have to say to the people of Wales, 'Look at the situation we are in'.\n\n\"It really is quite perilous.\"\n\nDr Atherton also warned parents should not be talking at school gates, because of the risk of Covid-transmission, and \"we need to have as little contact as possible\".\n\n\"Even that kind of level of human contact in the winter with the level of virus transmission that we have in Wales can pass [on] the virus\", he said.", "A man dubbed Osama Bin Laden's spokesman in Europe has returned to the UK after being released from a US jail.\n\nAdel Abdul Bary was deported after a senior New York judge concluded the prisoner had a high risk of contracting Covid-19, partly because of his weight.\n\nIn 1998, Bary was the Europe-based publicist for al-Qaeda leaders and told journalists that the terror group had bombed US embassies in east Africa.\n\nMI5 and counter-terrorism police are reviewing his return and resettlement.\n\nIn 1999, Scotland Yard detectives arrested Bary as a co-conspirator to the embassy attacks. More than 200 people were killed in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam - al-Qaeda's then biggest single attack against American targets.\n\nThat arrest - and those of other major UK-based suspects - triggered a mammoth extradition battle that lasted until 2012, when he was eventually flown to the US.\n\nHe went on to admit helping to plan the bombings.\n\nHis confession to a federal court in Manhattan confirmed that, working out of London, he had sent messages from journalists to Osama bin Laden - and also faxed news organisations confirming al-Qaeda had been behind the embassy attacks.\n\nIn October this year, US authorities approved Bary's release after he had served 21 years of his 25-year sentence.\n\nHis release had been pencilled in for the end of the year, after US authorities took into account the 14 years he had spent in prison in the UK before his extradition and his good behaviour since then.\n\nThe US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, was targeted by a bomb in August 1998\n\nBut it was brought forward slightly after a court heard evidence that he had a high risk of catching and dying from Covid, if he was kept in prison any longer.\n\nIn the October ruling sanctioning Bary's release, US federal Judge Lewis Kaplan said that mercy should allow the offender to be with his family, given it may be the final period of his life.\n\n\"The [US] government concedes that the defendant has provided extraordinary and compelling reasons for his release,\" said the judge.\n\n\"The government notes that the defendant was diagnosed as obese in 2019 and that, as of April 2020, his body mass index was 36, which is well above the threshold for obesity.\n\n\"On that basis, the government concedes that defendant has presented an extraordinary and compelling circumstance [for release].\n\nFollowing his release from a federal jail, US immigration officials took him to a detention centre before putting him on a flight to the UK on Tuesday.\n\nAfter arriving in London, Bary - who is Egyptian - is believed to have been taken to his family home.\n\nThe now 60-year-old's US lawyer previously told journalists his client now wished to live a quiet life.\n\nWhen prisoners convicted of terrorism offences are released from jail in the UK, the case for continuing to monitor them is considered by a team of police and probation officers, who also take into account intelligence from MI5.\n\nSome offenders quietly get on with their lives and are eventually placed on the Security Service's massive list of former terrorism suspects. Others who have maintained ties with extremists - or try to resurrect them after years in jail - are subject to ongoing investigations.\n\nNext year, inquests will be held into how one released offender went on to murder two people in London in 2019.", "Hospitals such as the Royal Gwent in Newport have seen a surge in Covid cases\n\nAn under-pressure health board says it has been forced to postpone all non-urgent care as Covid cases increase.\n\nThe Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said it was halting outpatient appointments and non-urgent planned surgery from Monday.\n\nThe weekly infection rates across the five south Wales counties in the health board are averaging 534 cases for every 100,000 people.\n\nThe health board also has the highest number of patients with Covid, at 586.\n\nNewport has the third highest weekly infection rate for Covid-19 in Wales, at 634.9 cases for every 100,000.\n\nBoth Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent both just tip over the 600 cases per 100,000 mark.\n\nPublic Health Wales recorded eight deaths of people with Covid on Friday, the highest for the day in Wales.\n\nIn a statement health board officials said: \"This decision has not been made lightly, however, the increasing transmission of Covid-19 within our communities, together with the usual winter demand on our emergency care is having a significant impact on our ability to provide normal services.\"\n\nFrom Monday, it said it would be making the following changes to services:\n\nThe health board stressed that cancer services and clinically urgent patients will continue to be seen, and cancer surgery and operations for clinically urgent conditions will continue.\n\nRadiology and endoscopy services will continue unchanged, as will heart condition services.\n\nOfficials said the Covid-19 programme that is now underway will also continue.\n\n\"Our child and adult mental health services will not be affected by these changes,\" they added.\n\nThe announcement follows a warning from First Minister Mark Drakeford that stricter restrictions will be introduced if Covid cases continue to rise.\n\n\"Our NHS will not be able to cope if we continue to see this level of coronavirus-related admissions in the coming weeks, on top of the normal winter pressures,\" he said.", "Burley has been one of the faces of Sky News for more than 30 years\n\nSky News presenter Kay Burley is to stay off-air for six months after admitting breaking Covid rules during a night out for her 60th birthday.\n\nPolitical editor Beth Rigby and north of England correspondent Inzamam Rashid, who were among those with her, will be absent for three months.\n\n\"I made a big mistake, and I am sorry,\" Burley wrote on Twitter.\n\nBurley was among 10 people who went to a restaurant on Saturday before she briefly went into another restaurant.\n\nShe then moved on to a private residence where individuals from at least three households mixed, the BBC has been told.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Kay Burley This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n\"I have today agreed with Sky News to step back from my broadcasting role for a period of reflection,\" Burley wrote.\n\n\"It's clear to me that we are all in the fight against Covid-19 and that we all have a duty to stick firmly by the rules.\n\n\"It doesn't matter that I thought I was Covid-compliant on a recent social event. The fact is I was wrong, I made a big mistake, and I am sorry.\n\n\"Some dear friends and colleagues - some of the most talented and committed professionals in our business - have been pulled into this episode and I regret this enormously.\n\n\"I was one of the founding presenters on Sky News. No one is prouder of our channel's reputation, the professionals on our team, and the impact we make.\n\n\"I very much look forward to being able to continue my 32-year career with Sky when I return.\"\n\nThe channel said it had completed an \"internal review into the conduct of a small number of team members who attended a social event\" on Saturday.\n\n\"Over the course of the evening, Covid guidelines were breached,\" a statement said. \"Sky News expects all team members to fully comply with the COVID restrictions. All those involved regret the incident and have apologised.\n\n\"Following our review of what took place on 5th December, we have agreed with Beth Rigby (Political Editor) and Inzamam Rashid (News Correspondent) that they will not be on air for three months, and we have agreed with Kay Burley (Breakfast Show Presenter) that she will not be on air for six months.\"\n\nThe channel did not say whether they would still be paid while off air.\n\nSky added that presenter Sam Washington, who was also off-air while the internal review took place, will be back at work next week.\n\nBurley, who joined Sky News in 1988 and has hosted the breakfast show since October 2019, first offered an apology on Monday, saying she had been \"at a Covid-compliant restaurant\" but \"inadvertently broke the rules\" by popping to the toilet in the second restaurant.\n\nLondon is under tier two restrictions, which means people are not allowed to socialise with anyone from outside their household or support bubble indoors, either in a private home or a public place.\n\nSome venues have outdoor seating and you are able to meet in a group of up to six people outside, including in a garden or in a public place.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Self-isolation for contacts of people with confirmed coronavirus will be shortened from 14 to 10 days across the UK from Monday.\n\nThe change will also apply to people instructed to quarantine after returning from high-risk countries.\n\nAnd it means anyone who has been self-isolating for 10 days or more will be able to end their quarantine on Monday.\n\nThe announcement comes as data shows Covid cases falling in most of England and Northern Ireland.\n\nBut the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that in the week to 5 December, there were increases in coronavirus case numbers in London and the east of England.\n\nMeanwhile, new data shows the virus's reproduction or R number is back at levels seen two weeks ago (0.9 - 1) meaning the epidemic is not growing, but it's not really shrinking either.\n\nAccording to the latest government data, there have been a further 424 deaths within 28 days of a positive test in the UK and another 21,672 coronavirus cases.\n\nOn Thursday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced mass testing would be rolled out for secondary school children, their families and teachers in the worst-affected areas of London, Kent and Essex where cases are rising.\n\nThe change in self-isolation rules was announced in a statement from the four UK chief medical officers (CMOs) said: \"After reviewing the evidence, we are now confident that we can reduce the number of days that contacts self-isolate from 14 days to 10.\n\n\"People who return from countries which are not on the travel corridor list should also self-isolate for 10 days instead of 14 days.\"\n\nEach of the four nations has its own lists of \"travel corridor\" countries which are exempt from the quarantine rules. While in the main, they include the same countries, they can differ slightly.\n\nThe change to self-isolation rules has already been announced in Wales, but this new announcement will apply to all four nations.\n\nThose with symptoms or a positive test are already expected to isolate for 10 days.\n\nThe CMOs added that self-isolation was \"essential to reducing the spread of Covid as it breaks the chains of transmission\".\n\nThe NHS app in England will not update its 14-day counter until next Thursday.\n\nBecause there will be a time-lag before it updates, anyone who has been advised to isolate by the app can leave isolation if their countdown timer hits three days between Monday and Thursday.\n\nPeople are most infectious around the time they first develop symptoms and, 10 days into an infection, only about 2% will still be capable of passing on the virus to others.\n\nThe change in the rules reflects this low risk, which was judged not to justify asking people to self-isolate for longer periods.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Covid symptoms: What are they and how long should I self-isolate for?\n\nDeputy Chief Medical Officer for England Dr Jenny Harries said the science was based on \"a continuous accumulation of evidence through the pandemic\".\n\nShe said the \"tail end\" of an infection was the period someone was least likely to transmit infection.\n\nThe latest estimate of the R number for the UK is 0.9 and 1 - up very slightly on the previous week. This means that the epidemic is still shrinking after lockdown but very slowly.\n\nThis is borne out by the latest Office for National Statistics infection survey. It indicates that cases continued to fall in most of England and Northern Ireland last week. But the view of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) is that the situation is fragile.\n\nCases are increasing in London and the East of England - especially among secondary school age children - and previous experience indicates that a surge among older age groups will inevitably follow.\n\nThe government's scientific advisers believe that it will be important to keep infection levels as low as possible in the run up to the holidays.\n\nThat's because the relaxation of restrictions that permit families to meet over Christmas will accelerate any increase in cases - and lead to another spike in infections early in the New Year.\n\nOne study suggested that less than 20% of people fully complied with self-isolation - although it's been pointed out this doesn't distinguish between people breaking the rules slightly by going for a walk on their own, and those who ignore it entirely.\n\nEconomic hardship has been identified a key factor in people not being able to isolate.\n\nBut it is understood the main aim of the change was not to encourage more people to comply.\n\nInstead, the chief medical officers, say it reflects the highest-risk period, when people are most likely to be infectious.\n\nA pilot in Liverpool is looking at testing the contacts of an infected person every day for a period after exposure, and not asking them to isolate unless they test positive.\n\nThis will be seen as the most attractive option as, if it doesn't increase infections, it will prevent significant numbers of people including school children from having to stay at home.\n\nBut it's not thought this will be able to be rolled out until early next year, provided the results of the pilot are positive.", "Royal Mail has acknowledged delays to its deliveries amid \"exceptionally high volumes\" of post and anti-Covid measures.\n\nDespite \"exhaustive planning\", some customers may be experiencing \"slightly longer delivery timescales\" than normal, the postal group said.\n\nIt came as people complained of late or missed deliveries.\n\nRetailers including John Lewis, Boots and HMV have also blamed Royal Mail for delivery delays.\n\nOn Thursday, online shoppers messaged Royal Mail, as well as contacting retailers directly, to complain about parcels failing to arrive in time - in some cases weeks after they were expected.\n\nPeople also complained their post was arriving less frequently.\n\nOthers expressed sympathy for postal workers having to meet a surge in demand during the pandemic.\n\nMariusz Luczakowski runs a small chocolate company in Worcestershire and uses Royal Mail to send out orders to customers via first class delivery. Over the past few days he says he has received emails from customers complaining of delays - sometimes of seven or more days.\n\n\"I am feeling frustration, but at least it's not only me,\" he told the BBC.\n\n\"It is a really scary and uncertain time for a small business owner and so easy to destroy the reputation of your own company by not delivering on time as promised.\"\n\nBusiness owner Mariusz Luczakowski says he is frustrated with Royal Mail after customers complained about not receiving their deliveries on time\n\nNeil Watts, 58, from Edinburgh, told the BBC he ordered a Christmas present online for his wife on 27 November and he still has not received it despite paying for next day special delivery.\n\n\"It's the frustration of trying to resolve it,\" Mr Watts said. \"Tomorrow is two weeks before Christmas. Do I cancel the order or wait?\"\n\nA postman from Manchester, who did not want to be named, said their delivery office was short-staffed and had lost \"around 20 staff\" over the last two years.\n\n\"On top of that we're also receiving a far greater number of both parcels and letters than normal even for the time of year and are being told to prioritise tracked packets over everything else,\" the postman said.\n\n\"Everyone I speak to in the office feels awful that people aren't getting their Christmas cards and presents and many of us are working several hours overtime every day to try and prevent things backing up too much.\"\n\nIn a statement, the postal group said there had been a \"greatly increased uptake of online Christmas shopping\", driven \"in no small part\" by the lockdown.\n\nThis meant all delivery companies were experiencing \"exceptionally high volumes\" of post, it said.\n\nThe company said it had hired about 33,000 temporary workers to support its 115,000 permanent postmen and women and had expanded its seasonal sites to help manage the anticipated growth in parcel volumes.\n\nCoronavirus-related absences had also affected services, the Royal Mail's customer service account said.\n\n\"Despite our best efforts, exhaustive planning and significant investment in extra resource, some customers may experience slightly longer delivery timescales than our usual service standards.\n\n\"This is due to the exceptionally high volumes we are seeing, exacerbated by the coronavirus-related measures we have put in place in local mail centres and delivery offices.\n\n\"In such cases, we always work hard to get back to providing our usual level of service as quickly as we can.\"\n\nThe company advised customers to visit the service update page of its website.", "The court ruled that the law was aimed at Muslim schoolgirls and was unconstitutional\n\nAustria's constitutional court has struck down a law prohibiting primary school children from wearing specific religious head coverings.\n\nIt said the law was aimed at the Islamic headscarf and breached rights on religious freedom.\n\nThe law was passed during the previous coalition government in which the conservative People's Party was allied with the far-right Freedom Party.\n\nThe court said the law could lead to the marginalisation of Muslim girls.\n\nIt also rejected the government's argument that the prohibition could protect girls from social pressures from classmates, saying it penalised the wrong people.\n\nIt said, if necessary, the state needed to draw up legislation to better prevent bullying on the grounds of gender or religion.\n\nThe legislation, which came into force last year, did not specify that headscarves were banned but instead proscribed the wearing of \"religious clothing that is associated with a covering of the head\" for children up to the age of 10. The government had itself said that head coverings worn by Sikh boys or the Jewish skullcap would not be affected.\n\nThe court decided that the ban was in fact aimed at Muslim headscarves.\n\n\"The selective ban... applies exclusively to Muslim schoolgirls and thereby separates them in a discriminatory manner from other pupils,\" court President Christoph Grabenwarter said.\n\nEducation Minister Heinz Fassman said he took note of the judgment but added: \"I regret that girls will not have the opportunity to make their way through the education system free from compulsion.\"\n\nAustria's Islamic Faith Community, which represents the country's Muslims and brought the legal challenge, welcomed the ruling.\n\nThe wearing of Islamic headscarves has been a controversial topic in Austria\n\n\"Ensuring equal opportunities and self-determination for girls and women in our society is not achieved through bans,\" it said in a statement.\n\nWhen the legislation was first proposed in 2018, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the goal was to \"confront any development of parallel societies in Austria\".\n\nVice-Chancellor Heinz Christian Strache, of the Freedom Party, said the government wanted to protect young girls from political Islam.\n\nThe ban came into force in May 2019, just days after Mr Strache was forced to resign after being secretly filmed offering public contracts to a woman posing as a Russian oligarch's niece.\n\nThe People's Party is now in coalition with the Green Party, but the government had still intended to extend the headscarf ban up to the age of 14.\n\nThe coalition's current programme stipulates that children should grow up \"with as little coercion as possible\". The only example it gives is the wearing of headscarves.", "Harrison Ford first played Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, in 1981\n\nUS actor Harrison Ford is to reprise his role as adventurer Indiana Jones in the Disney movie franchise.\n\nThe film, to be directed by James Mangold, is to be the 78-year-old actor's fifth and final instalment as Indy.\n\nDisney made the announcement in a virtual presentation to investors where it also unveiled plans for Star Wars series spin-offs and Marvel series.\n\nThe film is due for release in July 2022.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Disney This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nIn a 2013 interview, Harrison Ford said it was \"perfectly appropriate\" for him to return as the adventurer.\n\n\"We've seen the character develop and grow over a period of time and it's perfectly appropriate and OK for him to come back again with a great movie around him,\" he said at the time, stressing that Indiana Jones did not have to be so action-orientated.\n\n\"To me, what was interesting about the character was that he prevailed, that he had courage, that he had wit, that he had intelligence, that he was frightened and that he still managed to survive. That I can do.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Harrison Ford on returning as characters Han Solo and Indiana Jones (interview from 2016)\n\nFilm producer Frank Marshall recently told Den of Geek he had no intention of replacing the actor in his iconic role.\n\n\"We are working on the script,\" he said. \"There will only be one Indiana Jones, and that's Harrison Ford.\"\n\nThe actor first appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), followed in 1984 by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, then Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989, and in the fourth instalment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in 2008.\n\nThe fifth instalment has long been in the making, with several screenwriters coming and going, and was further slowed down by the outbreak of the global Covid pandemic.\n\nAt the Disney Investor Day announcement, the company also said it had plans for 10 Star Wars series spinoffs and 10 Marvel series to launch on Disney+. Also to debut directly on the subscription streaming service would be 15 live-action, Pixar and animated movies, it said.\n\nDisney+ subscribers worldwide had reached 86.8 million, exceeding most forecasts when it was launched in November last year, it added.", "Black workers at Lloyds Bank are paid a fifth less than their white colleagues, the company has disclosed.\n\nThe discrepancy is because they \"are disproportionately under-represented at senior levels\" the bank said.\n\nBlack staff make up 1.5% of Lloyds' total workforce and 0.6% of its senior management.\n\n\"That's not good enough - which is why we have resolved to take action,\" said the bank's chief executive António Horta-Osório.\n\nLloyds has pledged to increase the number of black staff in senior roles to at least 3% by 2025 to bring it into line with the black population in England and Wales.\n\nLloyds is the first major UK bank to reveal its ethnicity pay gap.\n\nIts figures, which were compiled in April, showed the median pay gap between black staff and their colleagues was 19.7%, while the bonus gap stood at 37.6%.\n\nBlack, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) workers account for 10.3% of all staff at Lloyds, and 7.3% of senior management.\n\nThe median pay gap between BAME staff and colleagues was 14.8%, while the bonus pay gap stood at 32.5%.\n\nFor Asian employees, the median pay gap stood at 15.7% and the bonus pay gap at 34.2%.\n\n\"These figures serve as a wake-up call that we must do better. No excuses,\" said Fiona Cannon, director of group sustainable business at Lloyds.\n\n\"They highlight the urgent need for us to increase representation at senior grades, which will not only improve our ethnicity pay gap, but also make us better colleagues, better employers and a better bank.\"\n\nAlongside the publication of its first Ethnicity Pay Gap Report as part of its part of its Race Action Plan, Lloyds launched a black business advisory committee.\n\nIt will be led by former Cabinet Office adviser and social entrepreneur Claudine Reid MBE to investigate the barriers to growth for the black business community.\n\n\"Disappointingly, the number of Black FTSE 100 chief executives, chief financial officers or chairs has fallen to 0.7%,\" said Ms Reid.\n\n\"I've taken on this role to help the UK's largest financial services group on its journey of change and transformation.\"\n\nMr Horta-Osório, who will step down from his role as chief executive next year, said: \"We want to be clear that we are an anti-racist organisation - one where all employees speak up, challenge, and act to take an active stance against racism. In doing so, our colleagues will help break down the barriers preventing people from meeting their full potential.\"\n\nFinancial services union Accord, said; \"The harsh reality is that race still plays a significant role in determining pay and career progression.\n\n\"The problem isn't going to magic itself away but we stand ready to work with employers on practical steps to tackle inequality and discrimination in the workplace in a meaningful and enduring way.\"\n\nIt said Lloyds should be \"commended\" for publishing the information. \"Other companies should do so too and government needs to step up too by introducing mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting as a first step,\" it added.\n\nMost minority ethnic groups earned less on average than white British people in 2019, according to official figures published by the Office for National Statistics.\n\nThe median hourly pay gap was worse for Pakistanis at 16%, while it stood at 15% for Bangladeshis and African workers.\n\nHowever, the median hourly pay gap between ethnic minorities and white British workers stood at 2.3%, its narrowest level since 2012, after having risen to 8.4% in 2014.", "Actors Ross Kemp and Steven McFadden, who played the sons of Dame Barbara Windsor's EastEnders matriarch Peggy Mitchell, have paid tribute following the star's death at the age of 83.\n\nKemp, who played Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap, said she was \"the woman who always had time for everybody\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Ross Kemp This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nMcFadden, who played Phil, said: \"I truly loved Barbara and, like everyone, I am going to miss her terribly.\"\n\nHe added: \"She was everything you would hope she would be, and more.\"\n\nJune Brown, who played Dot Cotton in the soap for 35 years, said when she first met the actress she was \"tiny, bright, bubbly, pretty and friendly to everyone - she soon became loved by all the cast\".\n\nAdding the pair became \"great friends\" who shared coffee and gossip in their dressing rooms, she said: \"I wished we'd had more scenes together but our only one was in her last episode, when Dot said goodbye to Peggy, knowing she was dying.\"\n\nDame Barbara starred in EastEnders with June Brown, as Dot Cotton\n\nBrown also praised Dame Barbara's \"very loving\" husband Scott Mitchell, adding: \"They had such a happy marriage - they were like two children, always laughing together.\"\n\nPam StClement and Barbara Windsor would share coffee and gossip between EastEnders takes\n\nPam St Clement, who played Peggy's friend and sometime rival Pat Butcher, told BBC News: \"She was a brilliantly vivacious, joyful person, and a light's gone out today I'm afraid.\"\n\nThe real Dame Barbara \"wasn't as fierce as Peggy,\" she said, adding: \"We loved working together. We sparked off each other. She had star quality. She gave out, she took back.\n\n\"You could best describe it by seeing her with the public, with her fans. She just gave. She loved it.\"\n\nLarry Lamb and Barbara Windsor played a couple in EastEnders in 2009\n\nOther former co-stars also fondly remembered the actress. Larry Lamb, who played Peggy's controlling husband Archie, described her as \"an extraordinary woman\".\n\n\"The word 'star' gets a little bit over-used, and if you're going to be a star you've kind of got to learn out to be one,\" Lamb told BBC Radio 5 Live.\n\nShe knew how to carry herself on set, he said. \"You know what it means to be the top of the bill, to have the responsibility of carrying the show and and looking after everybody all around you, helping you to move it along and keep it up to scratch, and she had to do it.\n\n\"Everybody looked up to her - which physically wasn't the easiest thing to do, she was so tiny!\n\n\"But she was an extraordinary woman and a great loss.\"\n\nTracy-Ann Oberman joined the Albert Square cast in 2004, playing Chrissie Watts, the wife of \"Dirty\" Den. She told 5 Live Dame Barbara was \"like showbusiness's fairy godmother\".\n\n\"She was a wonderful, wonderful woman, because not only was she excellent at her work, she was also a really good human being,\" she said.\n\nPeggy and Chrissie fought at EastEnders' funeral of Den Watts in 2005\n\nOberman recalled how welcoming the star had been when she first arrived into the \"whirlwind\" of the \"fast-moving\" show, despite Dame Barbara having been absent from EastEnders for a couple of years due to ill health.\n\n\"She got my number and she rang me up and she said, 'Hello darling. This is Barbara here. I just want to let you know that I've been watching you on screen and you're fantastic, and if there's anything you need call me',\" Oberman said.\n\nFellow soap star Danny Dyer, who played Mick Carter, posted on Instagram that Dame Barbara was \"the only one Dame in my eyes\".\n\n\"So grateful to have known ya. You was a beautiful rare one,\" he wrote.\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by officialdannydyer This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAdam Woodyatt, who plays Ian Beale, said it was \"a privilege and honour\" to work with Dame Barbara, having watched her in the Carry On films during his youth.\n\n\"I have so many happy memories and moments that I will always cherish, even when Peggy floored Ian with a punch,\" he said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Some of Dame Barbara Windsor's highlights as Peggy Mitchell\n\nFormer EastEnder Shane Richie said he was \"absolutely devastated\" at the news because \"Barbara was a friend as well as my TV boss in the Queen Vic\".\n\nThe actor, who played Alfie Moon and was recently in ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, wrote on Instagram: \"She will always be my Duchess.\"\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post 2 by theshanerichie This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nLetitia Dean, who plays Sharon Mitchell, said the actress \"will be missed beyond measure\", adding: \"They broke the mould when they made Dame Barbara Windsor. There will never be another like that incredible woman. Everyone who met her loved her.\"\n\nElsewhere in the TV world, Phillip Schofield called the actress \"gorgeous\", adding that she was \"a real icon, showbiz lost a lot of sparkle today\".\n\nSheridan Smith called her \"one of my idols\", having met her through David Walliams, who told BBC Radio 4's World at One: \"I grew up watching Carry On films on television, for a lot of boys my age it was like a first crush because she was one of the first beautiful, funny dazzling women you ever saw.\n\n\"We became friends nearly 20 years ago - she was very kind to everybody... she would immediately make everyone feel at ease, immediately make everyone feel happy. Everyone who comes and talks to her she's got time for, she was just absolutely golden to spend time with.\n\n\"I sat on the sofa blushing as red as a tomato as I had never seen anyone as beautiful, funny or adorable as Barbara Windsor and I still never have.\"\n\nFellow Little Britain star Matt Lucas said \"it's not an overstatement to say I think the whole country is in mourning today\" and praised Dame Barbara for working \"tirelessly\" for charity \"even when her own health was failing her\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by MATT LUCAS This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAmanda Holden wrote on Instagram: \"I was a big fan and was thrilled to meet Barbara on several occasions... she was an absolute joy.\"\n\nTV presenter Jonathan Ross tweeted: \"Barbara Windsor in real life was everything you might have hoped for. So warm, so funny, so kind. Goodnight sweetheart x.\"\n\nDanniella Westbrook, who played Dame Barbara's on-screen daughter Sam Mitchell in EastEnders, tweeted: \"My heart is broken. Bar, you will always [be] in my heart forever.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 3 by BBC Breakfast This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nPatsy Palmer, who played Bianca Jackson, said on Instagram: \"I'm sitting here thinking of the 100s of memories we shared.\n\n\"Too many to comprehend. We were like family for a long time, ups, downs, ins and outs but you will never meet a more professional actress than Babs.\"\n\nLucy Benjamin, who played Lisa Fowler, added: \"You were a true star in every sense\", while Tamzin Outhwaite, who played Mel Owen, described the actress as an icon and national treasure. \"All I can hear is 'ello darlin',\" she added in reference to Peggy Mitchell's cockney catchphrase.\n\nNitin Ganatra, who played Masood Ahmed, said it had been \"a privilege and honour to work with this remarkable, sparkling, funny, straight talking, generous woman... and what a giggle!! I will never forget the kindness she showed me\".\n\nCraig Fairbrass, Dame Barbara and Mike Reid as Frank in EastEnders in 2002\n\nCraig Fairbrass, who left EastEnders in 2001 having played Dan Sullivan, tweeted that she was a \"larger than life proper legend\", while Diane Parish, who played Denise Fox, said she would remember \"her kindness, and of course laughter\".\n\nCulture Secretary Oliver Dowden added his voice to the tributes, telling BBC Breakfast she was \"the greatest landlady Albert Square ever saw\".\n\nDiane Parish was in EastEnders in 2007\n\nDoctor Who star John Barrowman, who was interviewed by Dame Barbara on BBC Radio 2 in 2011, said in a Twitter video that the star would be \"sorely missed\".\n\n\"She was a small woman but feisty, and she had the biggest, biggest heart in the business,\" he said. \"And she was a genuine, lovely, warm, caring person and she will be sorely missed by the film, television, radio and theatre worlds.\"\n\nVeteran broadcaster Tony Blackburn added that she was a \"lovely lady who was always such fun\".\n\nDame Barbara was pictured with EastEnders' cast in 1997\n\nFollow us on Facebook or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Adam Price says something \"new and better\" should come out of the Covid crisis\n\nA vote for Plaid Cymru is now a vote for an independence referendum in Wales, the party has said.\n\nLeader Adam Price has pledged that Plaid would offer a referendum if it formed a government and got a Senedd majority to back it.\n\nIt is a first for the party, which has never previously promised to offer an independence vote in the first term of a Plaid government.\n\nBut the power to call a vote would still lie with the UK government.\n\nIt allowed one to take place in Scotland in 2014 after the SNP won a majority in the Scottish Parliament elections three years earlier.\n\nIn a speech in Cardiff Bay, Mr Price said something \"new and better\" must come out of the Covid crisis.\n\n\"Independence is the most radical idea in Welsh politics today,\" he said.\n\nMr Price told an audience watching via social media that devolution was \"under attack\" from Boris Johnson's UK government and that Scottish demands for a second independence referendum were \"unstoppable\".\n\n\"Wales is in real danger of being left behind as part of a rump United Kingdom, in a new England-and-Wales formation - which would be the ultimate worst of all worlds,\" he said.\n\n\"It is for these reasons that I pledge today that, subject to party approval, a Plaid Cymru government, able to command a majority in the Senedd, will offer a referendum on independence for Wales in its first term.\"\n\nPreviously Mr Price had said a referendum would take place in the second term of a Plaid government and before 2030.\n\nThe change in policy comes in response to a report commissioned by the party which recommended two referendums on independence.\n\nThe first was proposed as \"multi-choice\" exercise to gauge opinion, and the second a vote on the preferred option in the referendum.\n\nNow Mr Price is promising one single vote offering a choice between independence and the status quo.\n\nThe political impasse over Brexit in 2019 saw a variety of pro-independence marches around Wales, organised by non-party political groups and attended by thousands of demonstrators.\n\nReferencing those events, Mr Price made a direct pitch to those who attended for their support.\n\n\"Banners and marches fuel our fire, but the Welsh spring will only truly bloom at the ballot box in May. If you want independence, you have to vote for it,\" he said.\n\nAfter the speech the Plaid Cymru leader added: \"I'm the only pro-independence candidate for first minister.\n\n\"If we're able to form a government and get that referendum I think we'll win it.\"\n\nThis is a big move from Adam Price. Even before he became leader he said Plaid should make independence their \"express purpose… sooner, rather than later\" and it's clear he feels the time is right.\n\nBrexit, and more recently the coronavirus pandemic, have moved independence into the mainstream of Welsh political conversation, as the growth of unaffiliated, pro-independence groups attest.\n\nMr Price wants to harness that momentum going into next year's elections, but it's by no means a clear route to electoral success.\n\nOpinion polling does suggest a rise in support for Welsh independence, but it's a very long way from showing a consistent majority in favour.", "Mass testing will be rolled out to secondary school children in the worst-affected areas of London, Kent and Essex, the health secretary has said.\n\nMatt Hancock said \"by far\" the fastest rise in coronavirus infection rates in these areas was in 11 to 18-year-olds.\n\nThis age group in these areas should be tested regardless of symptoms, he said.\n\n\"We need to do everything to stop the spread in school-age children now,\" Mr Hancock said, adding that more details will be set out on Friday.\n\nIt comes after Londoners were urged to \"stick by the rules\" this week amid fears the capital - in tier two - may be put under tier--three restrictions following a rise in Covid-19 cases.\n\nMeanwhile, all secondary schools and further education colleges in Wales will move classes online from Monday, Welsh education minister Kirsty Williams has announced.\n\nSpeaking at a Downing Street press briefing, Mr Hancock said the government was \"particularly concerned\" about coronavirus cases in parts of London, Kent and Essex, which were rising and were often \"already high\".\n\nHe said the government must not wait until the next review of the tiered restrictions on 16 December but must \"take targeted action immediately\".\n\nMr Hancock said \"in particular\" there was a \"very specific rise\" among the secondary school age group and specifically in north-east London, while the rate among adults in London was \"broadly flat\".\n\nHe said: \"We know from experience that a sharp rise in case in younger people can lead to a rise among more vulnerable age groups later.\"\n\nEast London and the parts of Kent and Essex that border it have become one of the major Covid hotspots in England.\n\nRates have been rising in recent weeks with some areas seeing well over 300 cases per 100,000 people in the past week. To put that in perspective, it's close to double the rate seen in Manchester which is currently in tier three.\n\nThe data shows cases are being driven by young people but the concern is that that will then lead to high rates among older age groups who are susceptible to serious illness.\n\nThe government's hope is by flooding the areas with testing they will be able to break the chains of transmission.\n\nBut that will be too late in terms of the difficult call that has to be made by Wednesday when the government decides whether areas move up or down in the system of tiers.\n\nMinisters have wanted to treat London as a whole, but with some of the southern boroughs seeing below average rates there is a growing argument the capital should be split when it comes to restrictions.\n\nThe mass testing plan will apply in the seven worst-affected boroughs of London, plus parts of Essex that border London and parts of Kent.\n\nMr Hancock said it was \"right\" to keep schools open \"for education and for public health\".\n\n\"We are therefore surging mobile testing units and will be working with schools and local authorities to encourage these children and their families to get tested over the coming days,\" he said.\n\nMr Hancock said both PCR (a standard coronavirus test) and lateral flow testing - which takes about half an hour to show a result - would be used.\n\nLondon and Essex are currently in tier two - the second highest level - meaning there is no household mixing allowed anywhere indoors and the rule of six applies outdoors.\n\nKent is in tier three, the highest level, in which you can only meet other households in outdoor public spaces such as parks, where the rule of six applies.\n\nFour London boroughs were among the 20 places with the highest case rates in England in the week ending 6 December, according to Public Health England. They are Havering (400.7 cases per 100,000 people), Barking and Dagenham (333.5), Waltham Forest (327.1) and Redbridge (310.3).\n\nProf Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia's school of medicine, told the BBC it \"does sadly look like\" the capital would be moved into tier three.\n\nMayor of London Sadiq Khan said on Thursday that London was facing \"a tipping point\" - but that placing it under tier three restrictions would be \"catastrophic\".\n\nHowever, Mr Hancock said he \"didn't want to pre-empt\" any decision that might be made about moving London and parts of the South East into tier three.\n\nHe said it was \"not inevitable\" that the capital would have to face tighter rules.\n\nMr Hancock also told the briefing it was important not to \"blow\" the progress made so far in controlling coronavirus and urged everyone to \"stay on our guard now and through Christmas\".\n\nHe said tens of thousands of people had been vaccinated with the Pfzier/BioNTech jab in 73 UK hospital hubs.\n\nGP-led sites will begin vaccinations next week, Mr Hancock said, with jabs administered in some care homes by Christmas.\n\nAsked whether people would be able to spend New Year's Eve with their close family members, he said there would be no special set of rules for the occasion.\n\nEngland's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said a third wave was \"not inevitable\" but warned people must be \"very, very sensible\" over Christmas.\n\n\"The way we prevent it [a third wave] is everybody, all of us, coming together and deciding we want to try and stick to the guidance that's there,\" he said.\n\nLast week, Scotland's education secretary said there would be no extension to the nation's school Christmas holidays, despite talks about potentially shutting all schools on 18 December and reopening them again on 11 January.\n\nMeanwhile, Northern Ireland's education minister has repeatedly said there were no plans to close schools early for the Christmas break.\n\nThe latest coronavirus daily figures show 20,964 new coronavirus infections have been recorded across the UK, and another 516 people have died within 28 days of a positive test, bringing the total to 63,082.", "People are screened at a clinic in Huanggang, in China's central Hubei province (file photo) Image caption: People are screened at a clinic in Huanggang, in China's central Hubei province (file photo)\n\nA number of people in central China have been fined and told to self-isolate after they bought imported pork online that could potentially have been contaminated with Covid-19.\n\nAccording to the national Global Times newspaper, 24 residents in Huanggang, central Hubei province, have been fined 200 yuan (£23; $30.50) for buying imported pork from Brazil via the Meituan shopping platform.\n\nThe pork should have been destroyed rather than sold because, as the newspaper notes, batches had already tested positive for Covid-19 . An investigation is now being carried out into the shopping platform.\n\nOne of the big concerns in China is how imported food might carry the virus, and so the country is stepping up regulation to prevent ordinary consumers from directly getting their hands on such goods.\n\nThis week, China's top court announced that e-commerce platforms could be \"held legally responsible for food safety issues related to products purchased on their platforms\".\n\nChina says that many of its localised Covid-19 outbreaks over the last year have been linked to imported cold-chain goods, and there are regular news stories about coastal regions discovering the virus on overseas goods. Many of the first patients in cities that have experienced outbreaks have been workers who handle such products.", "The global response to the Covid-19 pandemic has driven the biggest annual fall in CO2 emissions since World War Two, say researchers.\n\nTheir study indicates that emissions have declined by around 7% this year.\n\nFrance and the UK saw the greatest falls, mainly due to severe shutdowns in response to a second wave of infections.\n\nChina, by contrast, has seen such a large rebound from coronavirus that overall emissions may grow this year.\n\nThe decline in carbon in 2020 has dwarfed all the previous big falls.\n\nAccording to the Global Carbon Project team, this year saw carbon emissions decline by 2.4 billion tonnes.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Is it possible to reverse the climate crisis? The BBC's Justin Rowlatt explains\n\nIn contrast, the fall recorded in 2009 during the global economic recession was just half a billion tonnes, while the ending of World War Two saw emissions fall by under one billion tonnes.\n\nAcross Europe and the US, the drop was around 12% over the year, but some individual countries declined by more.\n\nFrance saw a fall of 15% and the UK went down by 13%, according to one analysis.\n\n\"The main reason is that these two countries had two waves of confinement that were really quite severe compared with other countries,\" said Prof Corinne Le Quéré, from the University of East Anglia, UK, who contributed to the study.\n\n\"The UK and France have a lot of their emissions come from the transport sector and generally have a bit less coming from industry and other sectors.\n\n\"This is even more true in France, because so much of their electricity production is from nuclear energy, so 40% of their emissions are from the transport sector.\"\n\nThe use of cars fell dramatically during the two national lockdowns observed in the UK\n\nThe drop in emissions from aviation was still large by December\n\nAviation around the world has been badly hit by restrictions and by the end of this year, it's expected that emissions from this sector will still be 40% below 2019 levels.\n\nOne country that may have bucked the trend is China.\n\nOverall, the research team estimates that the country will experience a fall in emissions of 1.7% this year but some analysis suggests that the country has already rebounded enough from Covid-19 that the overall carbon output may have increased.\n\n\"All our datasets show that China experienced a big drop in emissions in February and March, but the datasets differ in the level of emissions towards the end of 2020,\" said Jan Ivar Korsbakken, a senior researcher at CICERO, who was involved in the study.\n\n\"In late 2020, China is at least close to having the same level of daily emissions as in 2019, and indeed some of our estimates suggest Chinese emissions may have actually increased for the year as a whole in 2020 relative to 2019, despite the pandemic,\" he added.\n\nResearchers believe that dramatic drop experienced through the pandemic response might be hiding a longer term fall-off in carbon, more related to climate policies.\n\nThe use of coal for energy has declined over the past decade\n\nThe annual growth in global CO2 emissions fell from around 3% in the early years of this century to around 0.9% in the 2010s. Much of this change was down to a move away from coal as an energy source.\n\n\"An emerging discussion pre-2020 was whether global fossil CO2 emissions were showing signs of peaking,\" said Glen Peters, research director at CICERO.\n\n\"Covid-19 has changed this narrative to one that involves avoiding a rebound in emissions and asking if emissions have already peaked,\" he said.\n\nAll the researchers involved in this project agree that a rebound of emissions in 2021 is almost certain.\n\nTo minimise the uptick in carbon, the scientists are urging a \"green\" rather than a \"brown\" response, meaning recovery funding should be spent on sustainable projects and not on fossil fuels.\n\nThey argue that efforts should also be made to boost walking and cycling in cities and to rapidly deploy electric vehicles.\n\nFactory output has increased in China after Covid-19 and emissions are on the up\n\nWhile 2020's fall of over two billion tonnes of CO2 is welcome, the scientists say that meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement will need cuts of up to two billion tonnes every year for the next decade.\n\n\"Although global emissions were not as high as last year, they still amounted to about 39 billion tonnes of CO2, and inevitably led to a further increase in CO2 in the atmosphere,\" said lead researcher Prof Pierre Friedlingstein from the University of Exeter, UK.\n\n\"The atmospheric CO2 level, and consequently the world's climate, will only stabilise when global CO2 emissions are near zero.\"\n\nThe study has been published in the journal Earth System Science Data.", "The pound has declined this week as hopes of a Brexit trade deal breakthrough waned\n\nThe pound fell against the dollar on Friday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a no-deal Brexit looked \"very, very likely\".\n\nSterling fell nearly 1.2% before clawing back some ground when both the German and Irish foreign ministers said an agreement between the UK and the EU is still possible.\n\nBoth sides have until Sunday to reach a deal on trading from 1 January.\n\nTalks are deadlocked on a handful of key issues, including fishing quotas.\n\nThe pound is trading 0.6% lower against the dollar at $1.3220, while it's down 0.3% against the euro to €1.0915.\n\nThere had been speculation that the UK and the EU were close to a deal last weekend, however since then discussions have reached an impasse.\n\nMr Johnson said: \"It's looking very, very likely we'll have to go for a solution that I think will be wonderful for the UK.\n\n\"If there's a big offer, a big change in what they're saying then I must say that I'm yet to see it.\"\n\nCMC Markets analyst, David Madden, said: \"The UK-EU relationship has gone from bad to worse in the past 24 hours and that goes for sterling too.\n\n\"Traders are turning their back on the pound as the language being used now is more serious and a fears of a no-deal have increased considerably.\n\nBut later on Friday, Germany's foreign minister Heiko Maas said: \"We believe finding a solution in the talks is difficult but possible.\"\n\nHis Irish counterpart Simon Coveney said he believed \"it's possible to get a deal on a future relationship and on a trade agreement.\"", "CCTV footage of Sinaga near his flat was used as evidence at his trials\n\nSerial rapist Reynhard Sinaga is believed to have targeted more than 200 victims, 60 of whom remain unidentified, police have said.\n\nSinaga, described as Britain's most prolific rapist, was found guilty in January of luring 48 men to his Manchester flat and filming himself sexually assaulting and raping them.\n\nHis minimum jail term has been extended from 30 to 40 years at the High Court.\n\nPolice now believe Sinaga committed sexual offences against 206 men.\n\nSinaga, who was a postgraduate student , would wait for men leaving nightclubs and bars before leading them to his Princess Street flat on the edge of the city centre.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Who is Reynhard Sinaga? The BBC's Judith Moritz reports on the case\n\nHe drugged his victims before assaulting them while they were unconscious, often filming his rapes and collecting so-called trophies from them, such as mobile phones.\n\nWhen the victims woke up many had no memory of what had happened.\n\nHe was caught after one victim awoke as he was being abused and defended himself, before reporting the incident.\n\nWhen officers seized Sinaga's phone, they found hundreds of hours of footage of the attacks, a discovery which led to the launch of the largest rape inquiry in British history.\n\nPolice say Sinaga assaulted 206 men, but many have not been identified\n\nSinaga, originally from Indonesia, lived in a rented flat just a few moments' walk from the Factory 251 nightclub.\n\nHis trial was told he typically approached his victims, mostly men in their late teens or early 20s who had been out drinking, in the street and brought them back to his apartment.\n\nMany could not remember what happened, but some recalled being given a drink and then blacking out. Most were unaware they had been raped until they were contacted by police.\n\nSinaga claimed all the sexual activity was consensual and that each man had agreed to being filmed while pretending to be asleep.\n\nIn victim impact statements read out at the trial, one man said Sinaga had \"destroyed a part of my life\", while another said he had \"periods where I can't get up and face the day\".\n\nEvidence given in the trial suggested Sinaga drugged the men by giving them spiked drinks\n\nAssistant Chief Constable Mabs Hussain said as a result of further evidence \"coming to light\" since the trial, investigators had identified a further 23 victims and \"now believe that Sinaga committed sexual offences against 206 men\".\n\n\"We are yet to identify around 60 of these men and would urge anyone who thinks they may have been a victim to please get in touch with us,\" he added.\n\nAfter his trial concluded, Sinaga's case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney General under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.\n\nJudges rejected calls for a whole-life jail term but increased the minimum time he must spend in prison.\n\nThey noted he had not shown any remorse.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The coronavirus which causes Covid-19 makes some people seriously ill while others have no symptoms at all\n\nWhy some people with coronavirus have no symptoms and others get extremely ill is one of the pandemic's biggest puzzles.\n\nA study in Nature of more than 2,200 intensive care patients has identified specific genes that may hold the answer.\n\nThey make some people more susceptible to severe Covid-19 symptoms.\n\nThe findings shed light on where the immune system goes wrong, which could help identify new treatments.\n\nThese will continue to be needed even though vaccines are being developed, says Dr Kenneth Baillie, a consultant in medicine at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, who led the Genomicc project.\n\n\"Vaccines should drastically decrease the numbers of covid cases, but it's likely doctors will still be treating the disease in intensive care for a number of years around the world, so there is an urgent need to find new treatments.\"\n\nScientists looked at the DNA of patients in more than 200 intensive care units in UK hospitals.\n\nThey scanned each person’s genes, which contain the instructions for every biological process - including how to fight a virus.\n\nTheir genomes were then compared with the DNA of healthy people to pinpoint any genetic differences, and a number were found - the first in a gene called TYK2.\n\n“It is part of the system that makes your immune cells more angry, and more inflammatory,” explained Dr Baillie.\n\nBut if the gene is faulty, this immune response can go into overdrive, putting patients at risk of damaging lung inflammation.\n\nA class of anti-inflammatory drugs already used for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis targets this biological mechanism, including a drug called Baricitinib.\n\n“It makes it a very plausible candidate for a new treatment,” Dr Baillie said. “But of course, we need to do large-scale clinical trials in order to find out if that's true or not.”\n\nGenetic differences were also found in a gene called DPP9, which plays a role in inflammation, and in a gene called OAS, which helps to stop the virus from making copies of itself.\n\nVariations in a gene called IFNAR2 were also identified in the intensive care patients.\n\nIFNAR2 is linked to a potent anti-viral molecule called interferon, which helps to kick-start the immune system as soon as an infection is detected.\n\nIt’s thought that producing too little interferon can give the virus an early advantage, allowing it to quickly replicate, leading to more severe disease.\n\nTwo other recent studies published in the journal Science have also implicated interferon in Covid cases, through both genetic mutations and an autoimmune disorder that affects its production.\n\nProf Jean-Laurent Casanova, who carried out the research, from The Rockefeller University in New York, said: “[Interferon] accounted for nearly 15% of the critical Covid-19 cases internationally enrolled in our cohort.\"\n\nInterferon can be given as a treatment, but a World Health Organization clinical trial concluded that it did not help very sick patients. However, Prof Casanova said the timing was important.\n\nHe explained: “I hope that if given in the first two, three, four days of infection, the interferon would work, because it essentially would provide the molecule that the [patient] does not produce by himself or by herself.”\n\nDr Vanessa Sancho-Shimizu, a geneticist from Imperial College London, said that the genetic discoveries were providing an unprecedented insight into the biology of the disease.\n\n“It really is an example of precision medicine, where we can actually identify the moment at which things have gone awry in that individual,” she told BBC News.\n\n“The findings from these genetic studies will help us identify particular molecular pathways that could be targets for therapeutic intervention,\" she said.\n\nBut the genome still holds some mysteries.\n\nThe Genomicc study - and several others - has revealed a cluster of genes on chromosome 3 strongly linked to severe symptoms. However, the biology underpinning this is not yet understood.\n\nMore patients will now be asked to take part in this research.\n\nDr Baillie said: “We need everyone, but we're particularly keen to recruit people from minority ethnic groups who are over-represented in the critically ill population.\"\n\nHe added: “There's still a very urgent need to find new treatments for this disease and we have to make the right choices about which treatments to try next, because we don't have time to make mistakes.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Reynhard Sinaga (left) and Joseph McCann were both given minimum terms of 30 years\n\nTwo serial rapists serving life sentences have had the minimum time they must spend in prison extended from 30 to 40 years by the Court of Appeal.\n\nJoseph McCann, 35, was jailed last year at the Old Bailey for 37 offences involving 11 women and children.\n\nReynhard Sinaga, 37, was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court in January for 159 offences against 48 men.\n\nThe judges rejected calls for whole-life jail terms, never successfully imposed in a non-homicide case.\n\nSuch an order, meaning a life sentence with no minimum term, is usually reserved for certain types of murders, like those involving serial murder, child abduction or a terrorist motive.\n\nThe attorney general referred McCann and Sinaga's convictions to the Court of Appeal after describing their original jail terms as \"unduly lenient\".\n\nPolice now believe Sinaga committed offences against 206 men - 60 of whom remain unidentified.\n\nFive senior judges - including the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and the President of the Queen's Bench Division, Dame Victoria Sharp - heard the appeal in October at the Court of Appeal in London.\n\nTheir judgement, published on Friday, says they are \"unable to accept the submission\" that two offenders should have received a whole-life tariff.\n\nBut, they add, in the \"collective experience of this court the cases of McCann and Sinaga, albeit very different on their individual facts, come within the category of the most serious cases involving a campaign of rape to have been tried in England and Wales.\"\n\nThe judgement then alters the minimum terms for McCann and Sinaga to 40 years each, saying the \"multiple life sentences remain and whether either is in fact ever released will depend upon the assessment of risk by the Parole Board at the end of the minimum terms\".\n\nThe ruling states that \"neither man has shown any remorse and the long-term psychological damage for at least some of the victims in both trials is profound and will only be understood in the years to come\".\n\nThe judgement says it endorses the line of authority that does \"not shut the door\" to a whole-life tariff in a non-murder case.\n\nExamples it gives include a \"bomb planted on a commercial airliner\" that fails to explode or intervention by the authorities that \"prevents an act of mass-murder\".\n\nThe offending of McCann and Sinaga, \"does not, in our judgement, call for either to receive a whole-life tariff\", the ruling states.\n\nIt adds: \"This is not to minimise the seriousness of their offending but instead to ensure that the most severe sentence in our jurisdiction is reserved, save exceptionally, either for the most serious cases involving loss of life, or when a substantive plan to murder of similar seriousness is interrupted close to fulfilment.\"\n\nOne 17-year-old victim says a sentence extension of 10 years \"just isn't enough\".\n\nThe teenager and her 11-year-old brother were raped by McCann after he took them and their mother prisoner in their home.\n\n\"I think for me personally it's the fact that the courts don't think his crimes were serious enough for life without parole because he didn't commit murder,\" she said in a statement.\n\n\"When you're put in a position at such a young age - and not knowing whether you're going to come out of the horrific nightmare alive or dead - it has a different effect on your thoughts of everything.\n\n\"The fear of not knowing his next move or what's going to happen. It makes you think of everything differently.\n\n\"I will have to live with that fear I felt on that day for my whole life, it still haunts me.\n\n\"I was expecting him to get life, therefore I am upset and disappointed with the end decision and I think they will regret this decision in time to come.\"\n\nThe teenager added: \"No-one will ever understand as a victim how it feels for them knowing their offender isn't sorry for what they did, that they don't care about what they did.\n\n\"The victims don't go a day without thinking about what happened, having flash backs, nightmares and other related things.\"\n\nShe said McCann was not \"sorry for what he did\" and did not \"have to live the nightmare of what happened\".\n\nIn a statement after the ruling, Solicitor General Michael Ellis QC said: \"Both offenders carried out some of the most heinous and depraved sexual attacks that shocked the nation.\n\n\"I am grateful for the guidance the court gave about whole-life orders and I am pleased that the court imposed a longer minimum term.\n\n\"I hope this brings some solace to the victims of these despicable crimes.\"\n\nMeanwhile, Greater Manchester Police said it had identified a further 23 people it believed were victims of Sinaga. It said it had yet to identify about 60 of the 206 victims and suspected victims.\n\nSinaga filmed his rapes and collected so-called \"trophies\" from his drugged victims, but officers have not been able to establish the true identities of all the men. The force appealed again for anyone affected to come forward.\n\nThe list of offenders with a whole-life term includes serial killers Rosemary West and Stephen Port.\n\nAs of June this year there were 63 whole-life prisoners and an additional three life prisoners being treated in secure hospitals.", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Friday morning. We'll have another update for you at 18:00 GMT.\n\nNon-essential shops across much of western Scotland - including Glasgow - are reopening for the first time in three weeks. It comes as more than two million people across 11 council areas move from being subject to the country's toughest Covid restrictions under level four to level three in the tiered system. Pubs and restaurants will have to remain closed until Saturday.\n\nNorthern Ireland's non-essential retailers are reopening, along with restaurants, cafes and other venues serving food. There's a limited reopening, too, for hair and beauty salons, gyms and outdoor sports venues. However, pubs that do not serve food must remain shut and Health Minister Robin Swann is warning against a \"festive free-for-all\".\n\nThe mass Covid testing of students before Christmas has so far resulted in just 0.2% testing positive at the University of Portsmouth, says its vice-chancellor. That's fewer than two a day, on average. There are no national figures yet, and it is not known whether early findings are representative, but the University of Cambridge found no positive cases among more than 10,000 students without symptoms screened last week, with nine cases confirmed from 71 who felt ill.\n\nLockdowns and other restrictions on trade and movement around the globe have driven a 7% drop in CO2 emissions, the biggest annual fall since World War Two, a study indicates. The UK has seen the second-largest reduction, measuring 13%, mainly because of measures taken to tackle the second wave of infections, the Global Carbon Project says.\n\nIt's been a tough year for those kept apart from relatives in care homes. So when Jacqueline Mason accidentally got on the wrong bus and faced missing her allocated time-slot for visiting her mum, she broke down in tears. But thanks to an impromptu detour by driver Alec Bailey and the understanding of fellow passengers, all was not lost... she even ended up on TV. Read the heart-warming tale.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jacqueline Mason got to see mother Eileen McGrugan in time\n\n...with restrictions eased in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, you can check the latest rules wherever you are in the UK.\n\nYou can find more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "Levels of positive tests are rising in London and could be on the up in the east of England, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.\n\nFigures for the week to 5 December, as England's second lockdown was ending, suggest infection levels continued to fall in other regions.\n\nInfection rates are still highest in children of secondary school age, the ONS says.\n\nAcross the UK, the picture is mixed, with Wales seeing rising infections.\n\nIn Northern Ireland, the percentage of people testing positive continues to fall - while in Scotland it has stayed the same.\n\nThe R number - or reproduction number - of the virus is now between 0.9 and 1.0 for the UK - slightly up from 0.8-1.0 last week. But in some regions in the south and east it could be above 1, indicating infections are likely to be growing there.\n\nThe ONS figures are one source of data used by the government's scientific advisers to judge the spread of the virus, and take decisions on restrictions on people's daily lives.\n\nThey are based on swab tests of thousands of people in households, whether they have symptoms or not. The estimates are thought to give a more accurate picture of how many people are infected with the virus than data on positive tests alone.\n\nInfection levels in London started to rise sharply before the end of lockdown, according to the ONS, after falling in late November.\n\nIn all other regions, including the North West and North East, and Yorkshire and the Humber, the percentage of people testing positive is decreasing.\n\nBut there are \"early signs\" rates may be increasing in the east of England, the ONS says.\n\nThe latest estimate of the R number for the UK is up very slightly on the previous week, but still just below 1. This means that the epidemic is still shrinking after lockdown, but very slowly.\n\nThis is borne out by the latest Office for National Statistics infection survey. It indicates that cases continued to fall in most of England and Northern Ireland last week.\n\nBut the view of the scientific advisory group is that the situation is \"fragile\". Cases are increasing in London and the east of England - especially among secondary school age children - and previous experience indicates that a surge among older age groups will inevitably follow.\n\nThe government's scientific advisers believe that it will be important to keep infection levels as low as possible in the run-up to the holidays. That's because the relaxation of restrictions that permit families to meet over Christmas will accelerate any increase in cases - and lead to another sharp spike in infections early in the New Year.\n\nData on cases - or confirmed positive tests - suggests areas such as Basildon, Medway and Havering in the south east are now experiencing more than 400 cases per 100,000 people.\n\nEngland's tiers system is due to be reviewed on 16 December and there have been suggestions that London should be moved from tier two to tier three to avoid a spike in deaths over Christmas.\n\nKent is already in tier three while Essex is in tier two.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson says there is a “strong possibility” the UK will not reach a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.\n\nBoris Johnson says there is a \"strong possibility\" the UK will fail to strike a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.\n\nSpeaking for the first time since a crunch meeting in Brussels, the PM said \"now is the time\" for firms and people to prepare for a no deal outcome.\n\nTalks continue between the two sides but Mr Johnson said they were \"not yet there at all\" in securing a deal.\n\nTime is running out to reach an agreement before the UK stops following EU trade rules on 31 December.\n\nWeeks of intensive talks between officials have failed to overcome obstacles in key areas, including competition rules and fishing rights.\n\nMr Johnson met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday, but the pair failed to make a breakthrough.\n\nMr Johnson pledged British negotiators, who earlier resumed talks with their EU counterparts in Brussels, would \"go the extra mile\" to reach a deal.\n\nBut he said the EU wanted to keep the UK \"locked\" into its legal system, or face punishments such as taxes on imports, which had \"made things much more difficult\".\n\nThe PM added that the EU's proposals would mean, despite leaving the bloc earlier this year, the UK would be forced to remain a \"twin\" of the 27-country organisation.\n\n\"At the moment, I have to tell you in all candour, the treaty is not there yet and that was the strong view of our cabinet,\" he said.\n\nMr Johnson said that \"looking at where we are,\" it was vital the UK prepares for the \"Australian-style option\" of not having a free trade deal with the EU.\n\n\"There's a strong possibility that we will have a solution much more like Australian relationship with the EU than a Canadian relationship with the EU,\" he said.\n\nMr Johnson has insisted the country will \"prosper\" on these terms, but former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm said the UK should be \"careful what you wish for\".\n\nMr Turnbull told BBC's Question Time there were some \"very large barriers to Australian trade with Europe\", adding: \"Australians would not regard our trade relationship with Europe as being a satisfactory one.\"\n\nWill there be no deal? Right now it is just too hard to say.\n\nBut is Boris Johnson only trying to send messages to his opposite numbers? The answer is no.\n\nOn Wednesday we saw this whole saga move closer to what both sides would consider a failure - an inability to agree on a trade deal that had been in reach and is still in their mutual interest.\n\nIt may yet come to pass that the prime minster or the EU leadership will have a change of heart.\n\nOf course the rhetoric does not tell us everything that's going on.\n\nBut the PM's warning tonight is far from just a message designed to be heard in EU capitals - whatever the merits of the decision he may take, Downing Street is preparing the ground for a choice to leave the status quo without firm arrangements in place.\n\nAustralia is negotiating a free trade deal with the EU but currently does not have one.\n\nIt largely does business with the EU on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, but has a few arrangements in place, such as co-operation on science and trade on wine.\n\nMoving to WTO rules on 31 December could result in tariffs being imposed leading to higher prices for the goods the UK buys and sells from and to the EU, among other changes.\n\nCanada finalised a deal with the EU in 2017.\n\nMr Johnson said he \"tried very hard to make progress\" at his dinner with Mrs von der Leyen, but the EU was making things \"unnecessarily difficult\".\n\nMeanwhile, the EU has set out the contingency measures it would take in the event of no trade agreement being reached with the UK.\n\nThe plans aim to ensure that UK and EU air and road connections still run after the post-Brexit transition period ends on 31 December.\n\nThey also allow the possibility of fishing access to each other's waters for up to a year, or until an agreement is reached.\n\nEU leaders are meeting in the Belgian capital for a two day-summit of their own, although Brexit will not be the main focus.\n\nA spokesman said they discussed the situation on Friday morning, but only for 10 minutes.\n\nArriving at the summit, Mrs von der Leyen said the conditions for a trade deal would have to be \"fair for our workers and our companies.\"\n\n\"This fine balance of fairness has not been achieved so far,\" she said, adding that a decision would be taken on Sunday.\n\nBBC Europe correspondent Kevin Connolly said the EU leaders had been preoccupied with disputes about their own budget, a maritime row with Turkey in the Mediterranean and coronavirus as they talked into the early hours of Friday morning.\n\n\"Brexit has not been the only priority here - perhaps not even the main one,\" he said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sir Keir Starmer tells Boris Johnson to “get the deal” and his party will then look at it.\n\nBefore the PM's remarks, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged Mr Johnson to \"get on and deliver\" a deal, adding the outstanding issues \"are capable of resolution\".\n\nAsked whether his party would back a deal in a vote in the Commons, he said: \"We will look at it - and we will act in the national interest.\"\n\n\"But on a straight choice between no deal and deal, then deal is clearly in the national interest,\" he added.", "Folklore is the best-reviewed album of Taylor Swift's career\n\nTaylor Swift is releasing her second surprise album of 2020 at midnight, she has revealed on Twitter.\n\nEvermore is described as a \"sister album\" to the delicate, escapist Folklore, which itself arrived out-of-the-blue in July.\n\nRecorded remotely in quarantine, that record topped the US and UK charts and earned Swift nominations for six Grammy awards, including album of the year.\n\nSwift said the new 17-track collection featured songs from the same sessions.\n\n\"To put it plainly, we just couldn't stop writing,\" she said.\n\n\"To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: To turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Taylor Swift This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n\"I've never done this before,\" she continued. \"In the past I've always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released.\n\n\"There was something different with Folklore. In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning. I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales.\n\n\"I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them.\"\n\nAs with Folklore, the new album will contain collaborations with indie artists Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner, as well as female rock trio Haim - who are one of Swift's competitors in the Grammys' album of the year category.\n\nThe star also said she has directed the video for the song Willow, which will also be released at midnight on Friday, 11 December.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Taylor Swift This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nEvermore caps off a busy year for the singer-songwriter, who filled the empty space in her tour diary with a string of musical projects, including a live album and a performance film based on the Folklore sessions, which was released on Disney Plus last month.\n\nThe 30-year-old has also begun re-recording all of the material from her first six albums after the master tapes were sold against her will last year.\n\nShe revealed the first fruits of those sessions - a faithful reproduction of her hit single Love Story - in a TV advert last week.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Travellers returning to the UK from Spain's Canary Islands from Saturday morning must self-isolate for two weeks, the transport secretary has said.\n\nGrant Shapps said this was because of rising infection rates on the islands.\n\nThe Canary Islands are popular with winter holidaymakers, being one of the few parts of Europe warm enough for beach holidays.\n\nTravellers to mainland Spain already have to isolate.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe restrictions will be in place from 04:00 GMT on Saturday 12 December.\n\nIndustry body Airlines UK has previously said the islands were \"hugely important\" for winter travel and represent \"over 50% of bookings for some tour operators\".\n\nMeanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Botswana have been added to the UK's safe travel corridor list, meaning travellers will not need to self isolate if arriving from these places after 04:00 on Saturday.\n\nThe Department for Transport said there had been a \"sharp increase\" in the number of positive coronavirus tests in the Canary Islands, which had been added to the government's safe travel list in October.\n\nMore than 800 people are waiting to find out if their Tui holidays to Tenerife tomorrow morning will be cancelled, because the Foreign Office has not yet decided whether to also advise against travel to the islands.\n\nBetween 06:00 and 11:00 on Friday morning, six flights from various English airports are due to fly out to Tenerife with package holidaymakers.\n\nIf the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against travel to the Canary Islands, Tui will cancel all holidays immediately as this change invalidates travel insurance.\n\nIt also expects to cancel its entire Christmas holiday schedule.\n\nThat would be a blow for the operator which announced losses of €3bn (£2.74bn) on Thursday.\n\nAt the moment, Tui has received no guidance on how to proceed.\n\nFor UK airlines and tour operators, the winter gloom has just deepened.\n\nThe Canary Islands are a vital market for winter travel, a magnet for holidaymakers trying to escape the chill back home.\n\nWith the industry in the throes of an unprecedented crisis that trade is badly needed.\n\nSo the removal of the canaries from the list of safe travel corridors so soon before the Christmas holidays will come as a bitter blow.\n\nReturning passengers will now have to self-isolate.\n\nNew rules that come into force next week will allow them to reduce the isolation period if they take a negative test after five days - but the test will have to be done privately, and will come at a cost.\n\nThe quarantine change comes ahead of the government's new \"Test and Release\" programme next week, which will allow travellers arriving into England to reduce their quarantine by more than half if they pay for a Covid test after five days.\n\nThe rules will come into force from 15 December and the tests from private firms will cost between £65 and £120.\n\nEngland has also introduced a quarantine exemption for certain categories of travellers, including people making high-value business trips, sports stars and performing arts professionals.\n\nThe Canary Islands and the Maldives were added to the government's safe travel list in October.\n\nThe reversal of this decision will come as a blow to UK travel businesses, who have pinned hope on a revival in holidays and revenue for Christmas and winter holidays to the Canaries.\n\nA number of operators saw a large uplift in bookings to places such as Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria when the Canaries were reopened for safe travel.\n\nPaul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: \"It's utterly devastating news for the thousands of British travellers who booked to go to the Canaries for Christmas and New Year.\n\n\"It's also a body blow for travel firms who'd seen an uplift in bookings for the winter after the Canaries were added to the travel corridor list.\n\n\"It now means thousands of refunds and lost bookings for a sector that needed the Canaries to help them recover.\"\n\nAirline Easyjet chief executive Johan Lundgren said that the news would be \"disappointing for many customers booked to travel to the Canary Islands from the UK in the coming weeks.\"\n\nCustomers wishing to transfer their flights without a fee must do so within a week, he said.", "Gabrielle Friel was found guilty of possessing weapons for purposes connected to an act of terrorism\n\nA man has been found guilty under the Terrorism Act of possessing weapons including a crossbow, 15 crossbow arrows and a machete.\n\nHowever, Gabrielle Friel was cleared of another charge alleging he wanted to carry out a \"spree killing\".\n\nA jury at the High Court in Edinburgh found the charge that he was motivated by incel (involuntary celibate) ideology was not proven.\n\nThe 22-year-old had denied both charges.\n\nFriel was accused of having the weapons and a bulletproof vest at various locations including his home, a community justice social work centre and the Royal Edinburgh Hospital between 1 June and 16 August last year.\n\nThe charge stated that he had the weapons in circumstances \"giving rise to the reasonable suspicion\" that it was connected to the \"commission, preparation or instigation\" of an act of terror.\n\nA crossbow, arrows, a scope, a machete and a ballistic vest were among the weapons on Friel's possession\n\nA second allegation that he prepared for terrorist acts by conducting online research in relation to spree killings during this time, particularly those connected with incels, was not proven.\n\nAs part of this charge, Friel was accused of having \"expressed affinity with and sympathy for one incel-motivated mass murderer\" and to have expressed \"a desire to carry out a spree killing mass murder\"\n\nJudge Lord Beckett deferred sentencing until 12 January but told members of the jury it was likely to be a \"substantial prison sentence\".\n\nFriel, a prisoner at Polmont young offenders' institution, denied both charges and gave evidence in his own defence during the trial.\n\nHe told the jury mass shooting was a \"fantasy\" for him and he had empathy for incel mass murder Elliot Rodger.\n\nBut he said he was not an incel and described killers as evil.\n\nHe said he bought the weapons in summer 2019 as he wanted to provoke police to shoot him.\n\nThe court heard Friel had previously been sentenced to 300 hours of community service after pleading guilty to stabbing a police officer at Edinburgh College's Granton campus in 2017.\n\nMr Friel claimed his motivation for taking knives into the college and stabbing the officer was that he wanted police to kill him.\n\nAssistant Chief Constable Patrick Campbell, of Police Scotland, welcomed the verdict in the \"extremely complex\" case.\n\nHe described Friel as a \"dangerous, socially isolated and disaffected individual\" and said the consequences of his actions could have been \"catastrophic\".\n\n\"I sincerely thank the health and social care professionals and the Police Scotland officers involved in what was an extremely complex and challenging investigation,\" he added.\n\n\"Their actions contributed to an early intervention and, undoubtedly prevented him undertaking an act that threatened the safety of our communities.\"\n\nShorthand for involuntary celibacy, incel is an online subculture which, at its extreme, spreads violent misogyny and blames women for depriving men of sex and relationships.\n\nDr Kaitlyn Regehr, senior lecturer in media and digital culture, said the movement tends to attract individuals who are actively seeking companionship to deal with their loneliness.\n\nThey are almost always men in their late teens to late 20s who are socially inadequate and have often been bullied.\n\nDr Regehr told BBC Scotland: \"Incel is an online community of people who perceive that they have an inability to enter romantic relationships and come to the digital space to voice feelings of loneliness, anger and, at times, desire for revenge.\n\n\"This anger tends to be directed at woman and so-called attractive people that are able to find sex and love.\"\n\nThe Kent University academic said they typically employ \"dark, edgy humour\" and \"deify\" those who have carried out atrocities, most notably Californian spree killer Elliott Rodger who murdered six people in 2014.", "Donald Trump may have lost the election but he won a record number of votes, and tightened his grip on states like Ohio. So what can Ohio tell us about the Republican Party's future?\n\nPowell, a suburb of the capital Columbus, has a charming and old-worldly feel.\n\nIts picturesque neighbourhoods with big houses and rolling lawns reinforce the much romanticised pop culture images of the ideal American suburban life. The downtown market is lined with small cafes, handicraft shops, ice-cream parlours and wine stores.\n\nPresident Trump won this county and, though the election is long over, many shops and businesses still have 'Trump-Pence 2020' campaign signs staked in their lawns.\n\nAmong them is a cigar shop called Stogies where a 'TRUMP 2020' banner is the centrepiece, flanking photos of Groucho Marx and Winston Churchill - celebrities of a bygone era - holding lit cigars.\n\nConcentric rings of smoke fill this cosy lounge, which used to be a church in the early 1900s. There is a group of men inside seated on sofas, all smoking cigars. President Trump looks down on them from an autographed photo.\n\nThey are all Trump supporters and part of the electorate that gave him a decisive victory in Ohio. Mostly in their 50s and 60s, they're college educated professionals and businessmen.\n\nNeil Berberick, a retired professional says: \"What Trump has done is that he has gone back to core values. He picked up the people that were forgotten by the Democrats. He was in tune with us. He has changed the Republican party for the good.''\n\nThere is a sense of longing for President Trump - even though they still don't entirely believe he's lost the presidency.\n\nAsked about the future of the Republican party after Trump, Taylor Burkhart, a young mechanical engineer says: \"The party is not just going to dissolve because Trump may not be on their ticket. Someone will fill his shoes. We'll find someone else whose values that we agree with.\"\n\nBut there is also this deep hope in the smoke-filled air that Mr Trump remains a force in Republican politics.\n\nThe owner of the cigar lounge, Hassan Dakhteh, an Iranian immigrant who came to the United States over 40 years ago, says: \"I think he will run in 2024, I hope he runs in 2024.\"\n\nPresident Trump remains a dominant force in Ohio. He won the state's 18 electoral college votes and also the popular vote by more than eight percentage points. According to the AP, he won more votes than any other presidential candidate in the state's history.\n\nIt's a testament to how effectively Mr Trump spoke to rural and working class Ohioans and created a base that adores him.\n\nBut not all Republican voters here endorse Mr Trump.\n\nAbout 14 miles from the cigar lounge, outside a grocery store in Hilliard, Amber Baumgartner is preparing to do some grocery shopping.\n\nShe is a 56-year-old teacher who is passionate about healthcare for ordinary Americans. She leans conservative on most issues but is not a fan of the turn the Republican party has taken in the last four years.\n\n\"I am hoping they are going to learn,\" she says.\n\n\"They are going to see that this extremism, we are going to have to get a clamp on this. I feel that the last four years have been a joke, almost. It's been embarrassing, scary, terrifying actually. I am hoping that the party understands that and I think that they do. Because so many of them have been unwilling to get on the crazy bus.\"\n\nAn autographed photo of President Trump in Stogies cigar lounge\n\nFormer Ohio governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate John Kasich - a vocal critic of Mr Trump - thinks Republicans need to eschew Mr Trump's brand of politics going forward.\n\n\"It should become a party of ideas,\" he says. \"It's been basically an anti-Democrat party. They don't have any ideas on healthcare, environment or the wealth gap.\"\n\nThe Democrats are not in great shape either, he adds, but Joe Biden might be able to appeal to middle America. \"We'll see whether they will do that but Republicans really need to get some ideas otherwise they will wilt away.\"\n\nHowever, Donald Trump remains overwhelmingly popular in Ohio and it's clear he will continue exerting influence on the Republican party even after he leaves the White House.\n\n\"His performance in 2016 and 2020 suggests that he is the most popular Republican in Ohio in quite a long time, maybe since Ronald Reagan,\" says Mark Caleb Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Cedarville.\n\nHis popularity among his base has allowed President Trump to attack senior party leaders who don't agree with him.\n\nAmong them Ohio's governor, Mike DeWine, for not backing his unsubstantiated claims of a rigged election. Mr DeWine, though a supporter of President Trump, was one of the earlier Republicans out of the gate in recognising President-elect Joe Biden's win.\n\nUS President Donald Trump has been critical of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine\n\nEmboldened by Mr Trump's attack, some fellow Republicans are even trying to impeach the governor for enforcing measures to curb Covid-19, which is at a record high in the state.\n\nGov DeWine, who took steps early on to combat the coronavirus and has handled the pandemic very differently to Mr Trump, has hit back at his detractors.\n\nSo how can Republican leaders like him deal with hostility from within his own party going forward?\n\nProfessor Smith says that keeping the deeply conservative base happy could be key.\n\n\"Governor DeWine is willing to sign anti-abortion legislation, for example,\" he says. \"I'd expect that kind of thing to continue.\"\n\n\"His rhetoric on family and marriage will probably ratchet up a bit. Governor DeWine is a staunch Catholic and I would expect him to use that language more frequently about religion and his faith. I think that does quite well with the people who are supportive of the president.\"\n\nMr Trump did very well in Ohio in the rural areas outside of major cities such as Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, where the electorate is predominantly white.\n\nHowever, can the party really sustain itself nationally by focusing on his base?\n\nStudies show that America is getting more diverse and minorities are already a powerful voting bloc, so Republicans will likely need new strategies going ahead.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How are Biden voters in a Trump heartland dealing with the election aftermath?\n\nRepublican strategist Terry Casey says the party will look for new ideas but President Trump could potentially leave a lasting legacy.\n\n\"He has shifted the party somewhat for the good because the Republican party previously had the image of the party of the country club, and the Wall Street rich people. And now it has shifted to issues of the middle class or the working class and a lot of people in the Midwest who have been forgotten.\"\n\nWhether Donald Trump continues to remain a powerful presence in Republican politics will be determined in the months to come. But one thing seems certain, both parties need to make sure that middle America - like Ohio - does not feel ignored.", "Twice as many men die from drug-related deaths, but cocaine deaths among women surged last year\n\nDrug-related deaths reached their highest level for a quarter of a century last year as the number of women who died after using cocaine surged.\n\nFigures showed 4,393 people died in England and Wales from drug poisoning.\n\nCocaine deaths increased for the eighth year running, rising by 7.7% for men and 26.5% for women.\n\nThe Office for National Statistics said the overall death rate for men was twice as high as for women, however.\n\nAbout two-thirds of all deaths from drug poisoning were due to drug misuse, the ONS said - meaning the underlying cause was drug abuse or addiction, or they involved illegal drugs.\n\nOverall, deaths rose only slightly from 4,359 registered in 2018 to 4,393 registered in 2019. But that figure is the highest since records began in 1993.\n\nMen accounted for 2,968 drug-related deaths - more than two out of three - while 1,425 were women.\n\nOpiates such as heroin and morphine were involved in more than half of deaths where the drug type was known.\n\nThe ONS said rates of drug poisoning have been on a \"steep upward trend\" since 2012 due to rises in heroin and cocaine deaths.\n\nIn 2018, there were 637 registered deaths involving cocaine - including 117 women and 520 men. In 2019 there were 708 deaths - 148 women and 560 men.\n\nTaking age into account, the death rate for men declined slightly in 2019, while for women it increased for the tenth consecutive year.\n\nProf Julia Sinclair, chairwoman of the addictions faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said years of cuts had left services ill-equipped to prevent drug deaths.\n\n\"The tragic number of drug-related deaths should be all the evidence the government needs to substantially invest in addiction services, before more lives are needlessly lost,\" she said.\n\nNiamh Eastwood, director of drug policy charity Release, said two Parliamentary committees - the Health and Social Care Select Committee and the Scottish Affairs Select Committee - had called for reform of drug policy to tackle these deaths.\n\nThe health committee recommended \"non-judgemental harm reduction\" policies and called for a consultation on decriminalising drug possession for personal use.\n\nShe said the prime minister and home secretary should \"stop playing politics and listen to the evidence\".\n\nDeath rates were highest in deprived areas, with people in their 40s living in the poorest neighbourhoods at least five-and-a-half times more likely to die from drugs than those in the least deprived, the ONS said.\n\nThe north-east of England had the highest drug-related death rate, almost three times higher than the area with the lowest rate in 2019, the east of England.\n\n\"Investment in these communities, adequate housing, restoring benefits to a decent level, along with drug policy and harm reduction initiatives can save lives,\" Ms Eastwood said.\n\nThe age at which most people died from drug use is increasing, the ONS said, from 20 to 29-year-olds from 1993 to 2002 to 40 to 49-year-olds today.\n\nIt is \"possible\" that a generation born in the 1960s and 1970s, Generation X, has been dying in greater numbers from drug misuse over time, the ONS said.\n\nThe figures include deaths from all drugs, including prescription and over-the-counter medications.\n\nThey also include accidents and suicides involving drugs, as well as complications from injecting drugs such as deep vein thrombosis and blood poisoning.\n\nAbout half of the deaths registered last year will have occurred in previous years, statisticians believe, due to the time it can take for an inquest to be held.", "A cross-party group of MPs has accused the UK government of the almost \"wholesale rejection\" of moves to tackle Scotland's record drug deaths.\n\nIt comes after the Scottish Affairs Committee published a report in November calling for a radical re-think of current drugs policy.\n\nTheir recommendations included decriminalising drugs for personal use and backing consumption rooms.\n\nHowever, the UK government has rejected most of the recommendations.\n\nThey include calls to declare Scotland's record drug deaths - 1,187 in 2018 - a public health emergency.\n\nThe UK government also said a recommendation to reform the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act and decriminalise drugs for personal use would not \"eliminate the crime committed by the illicit trade, nor would it address the harms associated with drug dependence\".\n\nThey added: \"There is a strong link between drugs and crime, which is why we reject the assertion that the Department for Health and Social Care should lead on drug misuse. We know that people who regularly use heroin, cocaine or crack cocaine are estimated to commit around 45% of all acquisitive crime.\"\n\nSince 2008 the Scottish government has treated drug misuse as a health issue rather than a criminal justice issue.\n\nPeter Krykant said he hoped the drug consumption van would cut down on overdoses\n\nOn the idea of consumption rooms, the UK government responded that: \"We want to do all we can to stop people having access to drugs that could ultimately kill them. No illegal drug-taking can be assumed to be safe and there is no safe way to take them.\"\n\nThey added: \"Our approach on drugs remains clear - we must prevent drug use in our communities, support people through treatment and recovery, and tackle the supply of illegal drugs.\"\n\nGlasgow City Council has proposed allowing users to take their own drugs under the supervision of medical staff at a special facility in the city, but the idea has been blocked by the Home Office.\n\nSometimes dubbed \"fix rooms\", the aim would be to encourage users who inject heroin or cocaine on Glasgow's streets to enter a safe and clean environment.\n\nIt was hoped the scheme would encourage addicts into treatment, cut down on heroin needles on city streets and counter the spread of diseases such as HIV.\n\nLast week, a recovering heroin addict launched a drug consumption van in Glasgow despite warnings it could break the law.\n\nPeter Krykant said he hoped it would prevent overdoses and blood-borne viruses among drug users.\n\nThe committee called for Scotland's drugs crisis to be tackled as a public health issue\n\nThe cross-party committee currently comprises chairman, SNP MP Pete Wishart, and includes five Conservatives, two Labour members, two Lib Dems and two other SNP MPs.\n\nMr Wishart said this report, which was worked on by the committee when its membership was made up of MPs from the last parliament, was based on one of the most \"extensive drugs inquiries in Scotland ever conducted\".\n\nFollowing the government's response to the report, he said: \"We are surprised and disappointed by the government's almost wholesale rejection of recommendations by a Westminster Select Committee after collecting a substantial body of evidence from people with lived experience, charities and academics, as well as legal, criminal justice and health professionals…few of these will find comfort in this response.\"\n\nHe also accused the government of providing little evidence to support its stance and called for what evidence there was to be made available following of a drug summit in February.\n\nHe added: \"What is evident is there's little change in the government's drugs strategy despite the death rate in Scotland from problem drug use remaining stubbornly higher than any country in Europe.\n\n\"This fact itself should demonstrate that the current approach isn't working. This is undoubtedly a public health emergency.\"\n\nAll UK drugs misuse legislation is currently reserved to Westminster.\n\nA spokesman for the Home Office said it was committed to preventing drug use, supporting people through treatment and recovery and tackling the supply of illegal drugs.\n\n\"We have no plans to introduce drug consumption rooms or decriminalise drugs. Illegal drugs devastate lives and communities, and dealers should face the full consequences of the law,\" he added.\n\n\"We are committed to tackling drug misuse and held a UK-wide drugs summit in Glasgow earlier this year to discuss the most effect ways to tackle drug misuse and their terrible impact across Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland.\"\n\nThe Scottish government has said it welcomes support for the introduction of a safe drugs consumption room in Glasgow as part of efforts to reduce deaths there.\n\nA spokeswoman said when the report was published in November: \"The outdated Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 should be amended to allow us to implement a range of public health focused responses, including the introduction of safe consumption facilities in Glasgow.\n\n\"We call on the incoming UK government to amend the Act or to devolve those powers to Scotland.\"", "Mass Covid testing of secondary-school pupils in England is to be greatly increased in January, in an attempt to reduce the numbers being sent home.\n\nAny students who have been in contact with a positive case will be offered seven days of daily testing, the Department for Education has announced.\n\nEducation Secretary Gavin Williamson said this \"huge expansion\" of testing would be a \"milestone moment\" in keeping schools open.\n\nHamid Patel, head of an academy trust that had piloted such testing, said it had been a \"game-changer\".\n\nThe announcement comes as attendance figures show more pupils out of school because of Covid outbreaks - with 15% missing last week on average across England and 23% in the West Midlands.\n\nAbsences have been higher in secondary school, with 20% of pupils missing school last week.\n\nAs infection rates have risen many schools have struggled to keep going with so many pupils and staff having to isolate - and mass testing is an attempt to break this cycle.\n\nBut the National Education Union said it was \"ridiculous\" for schools to be told to prepare for testing in the last few days of term with \"almost zero notice\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. BBC Health Correspondent Laura Foster explains what schools are doing to keep pupils safe\n\nInstead union co-leader Kevin Courtney called for the first week of next term to be moved online - allowing schools time to prepare for testing.\n\nThe announcement by the education secretary will make rapid Covid testing available to all secondary schools and colleges in England from the first week in January.\n\nIt will be used to test pupils who have been near a positive case and where otherwise a whole bubble, class or year group might have been sent home.\n\nSecondary school teachers will be offered a test each week - and daily tests if they have had a case in their class, in a bid to reduce the disruption from staff having to isolate.\n\nThe tests will be optional and require the consent of parents - and testing in primary schools could begin later in the term, said the Department for Education.\n\nThe aim is to improve attendance and to reduce the numbers having to go home, by identifying and isolating those who are infected, and allowing those who do not have the virus to stay in school.\n\nAlthough 15% of pupils were out of school last week, the latest figures show 0.2% of pupils were confirmed Covid cases.\n\nUniversity students had mass Covid testing ahead of the Christmas break\n\nMass testing is also designed to stop the virus being spread by those who are infected but have no symptoms.\n\nBut Paul Whiteman, leader of the National Association of Head Teachers, said providing testing kits without trained staff to use them meant the government was in \"danger of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory\".\n\nHe said expecting school staff to run the tests would be \"deeply flawed\".\n\nThere have been pilots for school Covid testing - including schools run by the Star academies trust - and the trust's chief executive Hamid Patel said \"the benefits have been tremendous\".\n\n\"Attendance has improved as fewer close contacts have been required to self-isolate. Parents who may have been wavering have gained confidence to send their children to school, and staff have been reassured by the availability of testing,\" said Mr Patel.", "The Welsh Government has some taxation powers, including over income tax\n\nThe first minister has not ruled out tax rises during the next Senedd term if Welsh Labour is in power.\n\nMark Drakeford said he would focus on jobs rather than increasing taxes in the early period after the 2021 Senedd election.\n\nBut he told ITV Wales that beyond that period \"everybody is entitled to make their decisions based on the facts at the time\".\n\nThe Welsh Government gained powers to vary income tax rates in April 2019.\n\nMinisters have stuck to Welsh Labour's 2016 manifesto commitment not to change the tax rates during the five year term.\n\nCounsel General Jeremy Miles told Welsh Labour's spring conference in April 2019 that the party should campaign \"unashamedly\" to use its income tax varying powers in the next assembly elections.\n\nTaxes are expected to be a more prominent issue in next May's election than in the past\n\nSpeaking on ITV Wales' Sharp End programme, Welsh Labour Leader and First Minister Mark Drakeford set out his stall: \"I don't think increasing taxes in a recession is good economic policy and my anticipation would be that the Labour party will not be proposing that here in Wales.\n\n\"In a buoyant economy there are a different set of arguments but at a time when there isn't money in people's pockets, taking money out of those pockets does not make good economic sense.\n\n\"We will go in to the [2021 Senedd] election at a very difficult time for the economy and the focus of the Labour manifesto will be on jobs here in Wales.\n\n\"Securing jobs that people already have and bringing new jobs for people who would have lost them during the recession. That will be our focus.\"\n\n\"Tax rises, I do not think will be part of our prescription in that period. Beyond that, I think everybody is entitled to make their decisions based on the facts at the time,\" he added.\n\nIn a recent blog on the Gwydir website, Welsh Conservative finance spokesman Nick Ramsay said: \"With the challenges of Covid far from over, and the economic damage yet unknown, it is far too early to make detailed tax and spend commitments for a Welsh Conservative Government.\"\n\n\"Our long term aim will be to reduce income tax when it is prudent to do so,\" he added.\n\nPlaid Cymru told BBC Wales in July it was considering which taxes to raise to pay for some of the policies in their 2021 election manifesto.\n\nThe party is proposing the introduction of free childcare and a weekly £35 support payment for children, as well as a national health and care service.\n\nParty leader Adam Price said: \"It's important that we're open and honest with the people of Wales.\"\n\nBrexit Party leader Mark Reckless said: \"Since Wales never had the promised referendum on these [tax raising] powers, I look forward to Mark Drakeford sending them back to Westminster.\"", "Greenwich Council has asked all schools to move to online learning amid rising Covid cases\n\nThe government has told a London council it must keep schools open or face legal action.\n\nGreenwich Council had written to head teachers asking all schools to move classes online from Tuesday amid rising Covid-19 cases.\n\nOn Monday evening, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson ordered the south-east London council to keep schools open.\n\nHe said: \"Using legal powers is a last resort but continuity of education is a national priority.\"\n\nOfsted said it was right to keep schools open as children were \"suffering\" from \"yo-yoing in and out of school\", while parents criticised the timings of the announcements and questioned the politics behind the move.\n\nLondon, most of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire will move into England's highest tier of Covid restrictions on Wednesday due to a rise in infections.\n\nSchools in England were told they could close a day early for Christmas last week to give staff a \"proper break\" from identifying potential coronavirus cases.\n\nIn Basildon, where the third-highest Covid rate was recorded, schools were also allowed to close early, while London's mayor Sadiq Khan has called on secondary schools and colleges in the capital to follow suit.\n\nBut Mr Williamson said the decision by councils in Greenwich, and also Islington in north London and Waltham Forest in east London, was \"not in children's best interests\".\n\nHe added: \"That's why I won't hesitate to do what is right for young people and have issued a direction to Greenwich Council setting out that they must withdraw the letter issued to head teachers on Sunday.\"\n\nEducation Secretary Gavin Williamson said it was \"vital\" children remained in school until the end of term\n\nHead of Ofsted Amanda Spielman described it as a \"really difficult situation\" in which people were \"weighing up short-term concerns about health risks and long-term concerns about children's education\".\n\nShe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"It's so easy to call for closures and forget the long-term price which children pay which our visits show so clearly.\n\n\"We've had children yo-yoing in and out of school through the autumn and really suffering as a result. We need clarity, consistency, not last minute decisions.\"\n\nIn a letter sent on Sunday, Greenwich Council leader Danny Thorpe asked all schools to move the majority of pupils to remote learning but said buildings would remain open for vulnerable children and those of key workers.\n\nThe regional schools commissioner, who acts on behalf of the education secretary, told the council that new powers introduced under the Coronavirus Act allowed the secretary of state to issue \"directions\" to require schools to enable all pupils to attend school full-time.\n\nThe Department for Education (DfE) said no decisions had been taken yet about what action to take against all three Labour-run councils.\n\nSadiq Khan wants all students to be tested for Covid-19\n\nGreenwich Council had until 10:00 GMT on Tuesday to retract its letter and had said it would seek legal advice before responding.\n\nMr Thorpe previously said changing plans already in place before Tuesday would have been \"impossible\".\n\n\"Schools across the borough have now organised online learning from tomorrow (Tuesday), whilst others are opening their premises to all pupils,\" he said.\n\n\"We have alerted schools and will speak to them tomorrow. But given we received this notification just before 17:00 GMT, it was impossible to ask schools to change any of the arrangements they have in place for Tuesday.\"\n\nThe leader of Islington Council said in a tweet that the authority was recommending moving to online teaching.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Richard Watts #STAYSAFE This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nMr Khan has called for more testing in schools, citing a 75% increase in children aged between 10-19 testing positive for the virus.\n\nHe told the Today programme councils should speak to the DofE to avoid court action and described how parents were pulling children out of school either because they had been part of bubble that had to self-isolate, or because they wanted 10 days to self-isolate before seeing grandparents at Christmas.\n\n\"In the absence of community testing in schools, many children - despite the heroic efforts of teachers - could have the virus and not know about it,\" he said.\n\n\"And these very same children next week will be hugging and kissing granny because the rules are being relaxed so we're going from tier 2, to tier 3, to tier 0, and back to tier 3 in advance of another potentially national lockdown in January.\"\n\nOn Monday, the reaction was mixed among parents outside Robert Owen Nursery School and Christ Church Church of England Primary School, both in Greenwich.\n\nOne mother said: \"It's 2.5 days, so I don't see what difference this is really going to make and I think the timing of it is really, really bad.\n\n\"I'm on maternity at the moment but if I was working, it's just too short notice to get any kind of childcare arrangements in place.\"\n\nAnd a father added: \"I think the timing might be right as a lot of people will be gathering for Christmas and it takes 10 to 14 days to show up so it may be damage limitation.\n\n\"I hope it will have an impact. If not, then it's just political.\"\n\nHave you been affected by the issues raised in this story. You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "The higher numbers of deaths seen in the UK recent weeks may be starting to fall, figures suggest.\n\nIn the week ending 4 December there were 13,956 deaths - 15% above the five-year average.\n\nBut that is down on the previous week when deaths were 20% higher.\n\nJust over 3,100 of the deaths involved Covid - down by 200 on the week before. It brings the total excess deaths seen since the pandemic started close to 80,000.\n\nThese are a measure of all deaths above what would normally be expected.\n\nIt is a different way of measuring the death toll from the pandemic from the daily figures, which look at the numbers of people dying 28 days after a positive Covid test.\n\nPeople dying from Covid in this period are likely to have caught the infection in the first half of November after cases peaked.\n\nSince then cases continued to drop, before starting to climb again over the last week or so, particularly in the south east, which prompted the government to move London and some surrounding areas into tier three.\n\nThat suggests the next few weeks could see Covid deaths going down and then up again in the coming weeks.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nEngland footballer Jack Grealish has been banned from driving and fined more than £80,000 for two motoring offences.\n\nThe Aston Villa captain, 25, previously admitted two counts of careless driving at Birmingham Magistrates' Court.\n\nThe offences relate to a crash in Dickens Heath, near Solihull, on 29 March, and a second incident near Villa's training ground on 18 October.\n\nPrior to the convictions, Grealish already had six points on his licence for a speeding offence in 2018.\n\nHe has been banned from driving for nine months.\n\nGrealish arrived at court on foot while another man driving his car temporarily distracted the media's attention before emerging to hand out Cadbury's Milk Tray chocolate.\n\nDuring a hearing last month, which the midfielder did not attend, the court was told he was spotted in October driving carelessly on Bodymoor Heath Road in north Warwickshire, and tailgating other vehicles on the M42.\n\nOn the same day he was also clocked driving his Range Rover at 98 mph by police observing him in an unmarked vehicle.\n\nTwo vehicles were damaged in the earlier incident in March, with CCTV footage showing the footballer's £80,000 4x4 veering into a wall after clipping parked cars.\n\nGrealish's Range Rover was also damaged in the Dickens Heath crash in March\n\nDistrict Judge John Bristow was told a witness said Grealish, of Barnt Green, Worcestershire, smelled of \"intoxicating liquor\" and was slurring his words after the crash.\n\nThat incident came less than 24 hours after Grealish issued a Twitter video appeal during lockdown that urged people to stay at home to save lives.\n\nHe apologised shortly after for \"stupidly agreeing\" to go to a friend's house.\n\nGrealish's lawyer, John Dye, said the footballer was \"deeply ashamed\".\n\nMr Dye told the court: \"Not just because reputationally this is problematic for him but he is genuinely sorry.\"\n\nFollow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Electors from states across the US cast their votes in the 2020 presidential election, affirming Joe Biden as president-elect.\n\nWhile some votes were conducted virtually, other electors met in state capitols or undisclosed locations due to security risks.", "The LGBT-owned kilt producer pulled the yellow kilts from shelves in response to Proud Boys\n\nA Virginia kilt company is \"disgusted\" that their yellow kilts were worn by the far-right Proud Boys.\n\nMembers of the group were seen sporting the bright garments at a pro-Trump rally this weekend in Washington DC.\n\nThe Proud Boys are an all-male group of self-proclaimed \"Western chauvinists\" with a history of street violence.\n\nVerillas - the LGBT-owned brand - says the \"nightmare scenario\" has forced them to pull the kilts from the shelves.\n\nExtremist groups in the US often adopt or appropriate items of clothing as quasi-uniforms that indicate their allegiance and make them recognisable to others.\n\nOver the weekend, videos on social media showcased a row of Proud Boys in bright yellow Verillas kilts mooning the crowd gathered around them, with \"[expletive] antifa\" written on their bare bottoms.\n\nAntifa is a group of mostly far-left activists who have repeatedly clashed with the Proud Boys.\n\nVerillas owner Allister Greenbrier - a bisexual entrepreneur of Scottish descent - expressed shock and dismay that his brand was associated with the group.\n\n\"I was appalled, angry and frustrated because they are the opposite of everything our brand stands for,\" he told the BBC, noting that the men had initially claimed to be a metal band looking for kilts.\n\n\"I was quite angry. I had to calm down a bit, but we decided we really didn't want their money.\"\n\nIn a message on Twitter, Verillas announced a donation of $1,000 (£745) - a sum exceeding the Proud Boys' purchase - to the anti-racism organisation National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Verillas This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAside from pulling the offending garment off its racks, the company is also offering free colour exchanges for anybody who had previously purchased its yellow kilts.\n\nMr Greenbrier says his brand is going to attach charitable donations to their product lines moving forward.\n\n\"I can't control who buys my product, but if they're buying our product, they're putting their money towards a good cause and I think they won't be too happy when they find out they accidentally bought from a company that's really fighting for the opposite of what they believe in,\" he says.\n\n\"We want to turn hate into love,\" Mr Greenbrier added.\n\n\"The loud outpouring of support we've gotten has really turned around a nightmare scenario and shown that a lot of people support the same message we believe in.\"\n\nIt is not the first time the Proud Boys have caused trouble for a clothing brand.\n\nEarlier this year, British clothing company Fred Perry halted US sales of its polo shirts after the clothing item became a regular part of the Proud Boys' \"uniform\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Trump: \"I don't know who the Proud Boys are\"", "Michel Barnier is leading the EU's negotiating team in Monday's talks\n\nUK and EU negotiators have restarted talks over a post-Brexit trade deal in hope of securing an agreement.\n\nIt comes after the two sides confirmed on Sunday there had been enough progress for negotiations to continue.\n\nEU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday there had been \"movement\" in the talks and negotiators had not exhausted all options.\n\nBut a UK government source later said there had not been \"significant progress in recent days\".\n\nTime is fast running out to finalise an agreement before the UK's Brexit transition ends in just over two weeks.\n\nThe decision to keep talking came after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson discussed the main sticking points with President Von der Leyen on Sunday.\n\nNegotiations will continue in Brussels on Tuesday, but a new deadline for a decision has not been set.\n\nThe ultimate deadline comes on 31 December, however, when the UK stops following EU trading rules.\n\nWithout a trade deal in place by then, the two sides would begin trading on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms, meaning taxes - or tariffs - would be introduced, potentially raising the cost of imported goods such as food.\n\nFishing rights, \"level playing field\" rules on how far the UK should be able to diverge from EU laws, and how any agreement should be policed remain the major stumbling blocks.\n\nThe EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier has resumed talks with his UK counterpart Lord Frost, after briefing ambassadors of EU member states.\n\nAccording to an EU source, Mr Barnier is believed to have told them talks over a level playing field remained hard, but were moving towards an agreement.\n\nHe is also said to have told them a wider deal could fall into place if a route towards an agreement on fishing rights can be identified.\n\nBut a UK government source later downplayed progress, saying: \"Talks remain difficult and we have not made significant progress in recent days, despite efforts by the UK side to bring energy and ideas to the process.\"\n\nLord Frost has said a deal is only possible if it \"fully respects UK sovereignty\".\n\nSpeaking at an event on Monday, Mrs von der Leyen said the issue of the level playing field was the \"one and only important question\" if UK should continue to have access to the EU's single market.\n\nThe EU Commission president added: \"They have either to play by our rules, because this is a matter of fairness for our companies... or the other choice is there is a price on it, and the price is border and tariffs.\"\n\nLabour's shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves welcomed the continuation of the talks and said the worst outcome would be to \"crash out with no deal whatsoever on 1 January\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ursula von der Leyen: \"We want a level playing field not only at the start, but also over time\".\n\nThis new phase of the talks is expected to focus on how close the UK should stick to EU economic rules in the future.\n\nThe EU is determined to prevent the UK from gaining what it sees as an unfair advantage of having tariff-free access to its markets - not paying taxes on goods being bought and sold - while setting its own standards on products, employment rights and business subsidies.\n\nThe EU is reported to have dropped the idea of a formal mechanism to ensure both sides keep up with each other's standards and is now prepared to accept UK divergence - provided there are safeguards to prevent unfair competition.\n\nFishing rights is another major area of disagreement, with the EU warning that without access to UK waters for EU fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nBut the UK argues that what goes on in its own waters, and its wider business rules, should be under its control as a sovereign country.\n\nWhat does it mean in Brexit trade deal terms \"to go the extra mile\"?\n\nThat's the distance the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, have promised to travel over the next days.\n\nBut will the road take them to deal or no-deal? And who will compromise on what to get there?\n\nEU contacts close to the talks say both sides are being constructive. They insist negotiations aren't simply continuing because neither the EU, nor the government want to be blamed in a no-deal scenario and prefer not to walk away first.\n\nRemember: what's said in front of the cameras is only part of the picture.\n\nWe aren't behind the scenes in the negotiating room or on the closed calls between Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen.\n\nBut however long these talks rumble on, ultimately neither the government, nor the EU, will sign up to a deal if they can't claim it as a victory.\n\nThe National Farmers' Union has warned there will be \"significant disruption\" to the sector if the UK fails to reach a trade deal with the EU.\n\nAnd the British Retail Consortium warned the public would face \"over £3bn in food tariffs [meaning] retailers would have no choice but to pass on some of these additional costs to their customers\".", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "McLaughlan arrived in Ramsey on Friday afternoon and then walked to Douglas\n\nA man who crossed the Irish Sea from Scotland to the Isle of Man \"on a jet ski\" to visit his girlfriend has been jailed for breaching Covid-19 laws.\n\nDouglas Courthouse heard 28-year-old Dale McLaughlan took four-and-a-half hours to travel from the Isle of Whithorn to Ramsey on Friday.\n\nMcLaughlan, from North Ayrshire, made the crossing despite having never driven a water scooter before.\n\nHe admitted arriving unlawfully on the island and was jailed for four weeks.\n\nUnder the island's current laws, only non-residents given special permission are allowed to enter the Isle of Man.\n\nMcLaughlan, of Warrix Avenue in Irvine, was previously given permission to work as a roofer on the island for four weeks in September and, after isolating for 14 days, met his girlfriend on a night out.\n\nThe court heard his subsequent applications to return had been rejected.\n\nProsecutors said the 28-year-old bought the vehicle and set off on the journey of about 25 miles (40km), which he had expected to take 40 minutes.\n\nAfter he arrived in Ramsey at about 13:00 GMT, he walked another 15 miles (25km) to his girlfriend's home in Douglas, who believed he had been on the island working for several weeks, the court was told.\n\nThe following afternoon, he gave a police officer her address as his own and that evening, the couple went to two busy nightclubs.\n\nFollowing identification checks, police arrested him on Sunday evening.\n\nIn mitigation, the 28-year-old's defence advocate said he suffered from depression and was not coping with being unable to see his partner.\n\nSentencing him, Deputy High Bailiff Christopher Arrowsmith said McLaughlan had made a \"deliberate and intentional attempt to circumnavigate\" the border restrictions, potentially putting the community at risk.\n\nHe said the \"carefully planned\" journey had also put the 28-year-old \"at very real risk\" of harm.\n\nSpeaking after the hearing, a government spokesman said following an investigation, public health officials were \"satisfied\" there was \"no wider risk to the public\".\n\nWhy not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and Twitter? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The former president posts that he has been told to report to a grand jury, \"which almost always means an Arrest\".", "Some patients were being treated in ambulances outside Antrim Area Hospital\n\nAmbulances queued outside all NI hospital emergency departments on Tuesday as they struggled with covid pressures, the ambulance service said.\n\nDoctors treated patients in ambulances outside Antrim Area Hospital due to the hospital operating beyond capacity.\n\nAt 17:00 GMT on Tuesday, 17 ambulances were queued outside, although this had dropped to four by 20:45.\n\nBy 22:30 the ambulance service said it was not experiencing any major problems.\n\nAmid the pressure, politicians were urged to urgently rethink loosening covid rules over Christmas.\n\nNorthern Health Trust operations director Wendy Magowan said it was the first time she had witnessed such a situation at Antrim Hospital.\n\nSpeaking on Tuesday evening, Dr Nigel Ruddle, medical director of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, said: \"All of the emergency departments in Northern Ireland are seeing ambulances queued outside to various degrees.\n\n\"We are seeing the pressures right across Northern Ireland.\"\n\nHealth minister Robin Swann confirmed he would bring new proposals about restrictions to Thursday's executive meeting.\n\nThe meeting will see ministers look at options to manage the spread of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland.\n\nA further six Covid-19 related deaths were reported in Northern Ireland by the Department of Health, taking its total to 1,135.\n\nThere have been 59,121 positive tests after another 486 were recorded.\n\nThere are 87 outbreaks of the virus in NI care homes, while hospital occupancy levels are at 104%.\n\nThe reproduction rate of the virus in Northern Ireland remains at or slightly above 1, according to health chiefs.\n\nNorthern Trust executive Ms Magowan said: \"This has never happened in Antrim hospital before in my memory, never.\n\n\"We got to a situation last night that we had so many people waiting in ED to get into beds that we simply had no room left.\n\n\"We haven't got out of the second surge, in fact, our numbers are rising. We have the highest number of inpatients today that we've ever had with Covid.\n\n\"If this doubles, I don't know how we're going to make it through.\"\n\nThere were 17 ambulances queued at Antrim Hospital at 17:00 GMT on Tuesday\n\nPat Cullen from the Royal College of Nursing told the BBC's Evening Extra programme that nurses were exhausted from working \"excessive hours\".\n\nShe said hospital nurses were treating patients in the back of ambulances and along corridors as well as on the wards and in the emergency departments, while the district nurses were trying to cope with \"60% vacancies\" in their workforce.\n\nShe said: \"Speaking to many of our nurses today, there's no doubt that this is the closest I've ever seen nurses to being totally burnt out.\n\n\"Exhausted isn't even a word to describe how the nurses feel.\n\n\"At this moment in time, a 12-hour shift almost seems a luxury to them - they're working well beyond that.\"\n\nAt a briefing on Tuesday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride and Chief Scientific Adviser Prof Ian Young told journalists that numbers were not where they would like them to be.\n\nThey also gave a stark warning that any third wave would come on top of already \"stubbornly high\" hospital in-patient numbers.\n\nProf Young said: \"The position is very different to what it was first wave and second wave of this virus.\n\n\"At the beginning of the first wave we had no hospital in patients with Covid.\n\n\"At the beginning of the second wave the numbers about 20.\n\n\"If we see an increase in numbers again as a consequence of the current position, then it will be an increase of numbers on top of a baseline of 300-400 people in hospital. And the numbers will only rise from there.\"\n\nI was at Antrim Area Hospital this morning until about midday and what I witnessed was a system that is clearly just hanging together.\n\nI saw staff clearly exhausted and anxious and they were the staff who were outside in the ambulance bay.\n\nThe problem is that the ambulances had nowhere to go, they couldn't unload their patients inside, so I also watched as doctors stepped inside ambulances, wearing their PPE, triaging those patients inside the ambulances, making decisions about who should be taken in first.\n\nThe picture was a really sorry one, a stark one and this is really at the start of what could become an incredibly busy period.\n\nProf Young urged people to stick with the guidelines over the festive period and said anyone who was forming a Christmas bubble should not see anyone else for the next 10 days.\n\nDr McBride revealed he would not be hosting family or friends this Christmas - having discussed the issue with elderly parents and children.\n\nHe said now was the \"best time for the virus\" but worst time for the health service.\n\nDr McBride said he will not be hosting family this Christmas\n\nHealth minister Robin Swann told the assembly the two-week limited lockdown which ended on 10 December had seen a \"stabilisation\" of the virus but the figures were still too high.\n\nHe said he would not pre-empt Thursday's executive meeting and provide details of suggestions he would put forward.\n\nDeputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said Sinn Féin \"will support any proposals brought forward by the health minister to tackle the current situation.\"\n\nShe added: \"It is clear we are facing a very dangerous situation with the spread of Covid-19, the rise in hospitalisations and, sadly, people losing their lives.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Michelle O’Neill This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nFurther talks over whether to revise Covid rules over Christmas will take place between the UK government and the devolved governments on Wednesday.\n\nCabinet minister Michael Gove discussed the issue with senior politicians in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales on Tuesday, but no final decision was made.\n\nIt also emerged on Tuesday that vaccinators have been in all five health trusts.\n\nMr Swann told the assembly the Covid-19 vaccine had now been delivered in up to 54 care homes, starting with those with the largest numbers of residents.\n\nAbout 4,000 people in NI have been vaccinated so far.\n\nIf you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.\n\nA second delivery of the vaccine arrived in Northern Ireland at the weekend, meaning around 50,000 doses are now available.\n\nThe vaccine requires two doses to be given, three weeks apart, to be effective.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Keir Starmer says Dominic Cummings lockdown breach journey was the \"tipping point\" for a loss trust over Covid.\n\nBoris Johnson's former chief aide Dominic Cummings, who left No 10 last month after an internal power struggle, enjoyed a bumper pay rise earlier this year, new figures have revealed.\n\nHis basic salary rose by about £45,000 to between £140,000 and £144,999.\n\nThe PM stood by Mr Cummings this summer when he was embroiled in controversy over a trip to Durham during lockdown.\n\nLabour said the rise was an \"insult\" to millions of workers whose pay is being frozen due to the Covid crisis.\n\nSeparately, it has emerged that Boris Johnson ignored the advice of the chief of the civil service in relation to a legal case brought by a special adviser sacked by Mr Cummings.\n\nSir John Manzoni urged the PM to reach a negotiated settlement with Sonia Khan, who was led out of No 10 by police in August 2019 following a reported row with Mr Cummings.\n\nNo reason was given for her sacking as an adviser to Chancellor Sajid Javid and before that Philip Hammond.\n\nIn a letter to the PM in March 2020, Sir John raised concerns about the cost to the taxpayer of fighting the case.\n\nHe sought a written instruction known as a \"ministerial direction\" - a specific order sought by civil servants in instances where they have reservations over a particular course of action.\n\nIn response, the PM said he fully understood concerns over the use of public money but he believed \"wider considerations\" took precedence in the case.\n\nHe said he wanted to \"test in litigation\" his belief that individuals should not receive more compensation than they are entitled to under their contract.\n\n\"The legal position is clear that the prime minister can withdraw consent for the appointment of any special adviser,\" he wrote. \"That is the reason for the termination of employment.\"\n\nMs Khan settled her case last month, shortly before it was due to go before an employment tribunal.\n\nSonia Khan worked for Philip Hammond in the Treasury and was kept on by his successor, Sajid Javid\n\nMr Cummings is still on the government payroll but is working his notice at home, having left Downing Street in November following a bitter row over the running of Mr Johnson's office.\n\nFigures released by the Cabinet Office show his salary rose during 2020 from between £95,000-£99,999 to £140,000-£144,999, making him among the highest-earning special advisers in government.\n\nIt is not clear when the increase, revealed in an annual report on the pay of special advisers, came into effect.\n\nWhile Mr Cummings was in the highest salary band when he was first taken on by Boris Johnson in July 2019, his pay was considerably lower at the time than other senior political advisers in Downing Street.\n\nThe pay rise brought Mr Cummings, whose Brexit strategy was credited with helping Mr Johnson win a thumping victory in the 2019 election, into line with other key figures such as Sir Eddie Lister, Lee Cain and Munira Mirza.\n\nThe most senior advisers to previous prime ministers, such as Theresa May and David Cameron, have typically also earned between £140,000 and £144,999.\n\nThe PM stood by Mr Cummings after he was accused of breaching coronavirus guidelines when he travelled 250 miles to stay on his parents' farm in County Durham in early April and later drove to Barnard Castle.\n\nDurham Police said Mr Cummings might have broken lockdown rules with his trip to Barnard Castle but it would not be taking any action.\n\nMr Cummings said he had made the 50-mile round-trip to the beauty spot, with his wife and child, to test his eyesight before embarking on the longer journey back to London.\n\nLabour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said the pay increase was a slap in the face to the public.\n\n\"Dominic Cummings' bumper bonus is an insult to key workers denied the pay rise they deserve,\" she said.\n\n\"It's another example of how under this government it is one rule for the Tory Party and their friends and another for the rest of us.\"\n\nThe figures show that while the overall pay bill for special advisers remained the same at £9.6m, having risen sharply the year before, the number of advisers earning more than £100,000 doubled on the year before.\n\nThose earning six-figure salaries included Allegra Stratton, the PM's new press secretary and Dan Rosenfield, the newly appointed No 10 chief of staff.", "Redbridge Council has asked schools to shut classrooms and move to online learning\n\nRedbridge Council has become the latest local authority in London to suggest schools move to online teaching amid a rise in coronavirus cases.\n\nIt comes after Greenwich and Islington Council backed down from a similar decision when the government threatened legal action.\n\nSchools minister Nick Gibb has also written to Waltham Forest Council after it asked schools to close.\n\nHe said he was \"deeply disappointed\" by the councils' choices.\n\nBBC Newsnight's Lewis Goodall said 7,000 pupils in Redbridge were self-isolating as of Monday.\n\nRedbridge Council said it believed schools should now consider whether they could remain open for all pupils or move to remote learning if absences were high enough.\n\nA total of 32 schools in the borough will close on Wednesday and move online, the council said.\n\nAnother 25 will stay open - 12 of which are taking an extra day to decide if they will close their classrooms.\n\nIn a letter seen by the BBC, council leader Jas Athwal said: \"Unfortunately, cases of Covid-19 continue to rise across the borough, and as a result, some of our schools are struggling to continue to provide the high-quality in-person teaching our children deserve.\n\n\"It is not the role of the council to close schools, but today we want to be absolutely clear - we will support our local schools if they choose to move to online learning.\"\n\nGreenwich Council was the first to ask all schools to move to online learning amid rising Covid cases\n\nLondon, most of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire will move into England's highest tier of Covid restrictions on Wednesday due to a rise in infections.\n\nSchools in England were told they could close a day early for Christmas last week to give staff a \"proper break\".\n\nIn Basildon, where the country's third-highest Covid rate was recorded, schools were also allowed to close early, while London's mayor Sadiq Khan has called on secondary schools and colleges in the capital to follow suit.\n\nThe Association of School and College Leaders said the government \"may find it has won a hollow victory in its squabble with Greenwich council\"\n\nEarlier the leader of Greenwich Council said he had \"no choice\" but to ask schools to remain open after threats of legal action from the government.\n\nThe authority wrote to head teachers asking for classes to move online from Tuesday amid rising Covid-19 cases, but Education Secretary Gavin Williamson ordered the council to keep all schools open until the end of term.\n\nOn Tuesday morning two other local authorities - Islington and Waltham Forest Councils - advised schools to move to online learning for the last few days of term amid rising Covid-19 rates in other parts of the capital.\n\nBut, by the evening Islington Council's leader Richard Watts had backtracked on this decision.\n\nHe said: \"After discussion today with the Department for Education, we have now advised our schools to open as usual to pupils on Wednesday, and advised our schools that they are able to arrange an INSET day on Thursday. Friday was to be an INSET day already.\"\n\nSchools Minister Mr Gibb had written to Islington and Waltham Forest asking them to reconsider their decisions to close schools and stating legal action would be considered if they did not.\n\nHowever, Waltham Forest Council's leader Clare Coghill said she had \"received no correspondence\" from Mr Gibb.\n\nThe decision to remain open or closed was left to individual schools in Waltham Forest, she added.\n\n\"We are confident that schools in Waltham Forest have made their decisions on the basis of their own individual risk assessment and with pupil safety at their heart.\n\n\"It is disappointing that, during a year when teachers, pupils and parents have made extraordinary efforts to ensure education continues through a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, the Minister has chosen to write to our schools threatening them with potential legal action.\n\n\"We will continue to do all we can to support schools to make the decisions that will safeguard the health and safety of pupils, teachers and their families and ensure children continue to be educated.\"\n\nHave you been affected by the issues raised in this story. You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "About half of proposed redundancies were in manufacturing, wholesale and retail\n\nMore than 10,000 redundancies have been proposed by Northern Ireland firms since March, according to official statistics.\n\nThat is the highest number ever recorded.\n\nNorthern Ireland's unemployment rate is now 3.9% - 1.6% more than the same time last year and an increase of 0.9% over the quarter.\n\nCompanies proposed 1,370 lay offs in November, which is an increase on the previous month.\n\nThe total number of proposed redundancies for the last 12 months was 10,720 - more than double the number recorded in the previous 12 months.\n\nAbout half of proposed redundancies were in manufacturing, and wholesale and retail.\n\nThe number of people claiming benefits primarily for the reason of being unemployed also increased to 59,900.\n\nEmployee jobs fell to 775,020 in September, marking the third quarterly decrease in a row.\n\nThe decline was driven by decreases within manufacturing, services and 'other' industry sectors.\n\nOn Tuesday, Ulster Bank published its latest PMI; the monthly survey is generally viewed as a reliable indicator as to how the economy is performing.\n\nIt said Covid-19 restrictions in November resulted in a decline in new orders and output, with the retail and services sectors hit hardest.\n\nConstruction posted the fastest rate of output growth of all sectors\n\nRichard Ramsey, the bank's chief economist said both those sectors were particularly affected by Covid-19 restrictions and recorded rapid rates of decline in output, orders and employment.\n\n\"Once again construction posted the fastest rate of output growth of all the sectors, marginally ahead of manufacturing,\" he said.\n\n\"However, the rates of expansion were modest and represented a marked slowing from construction's recent spurt of activity.\n\n\"Local construction firms continue to experience the steepest rises in input costs and as a result are raising prices at their fastest pace since January 2019.\n\n\"While business conditions remain challenging, the latest survey highlighted that there is some optimism returning.\n\n\"Manufacturing firms are the most bullish about output growth in 12 months' time, followed by construction.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Priti Patel says she “always promised to listen and act” and that it was her mission to “correct the wrongs of the past”.\n\nThe government is to give more money to victims of the Windrush scandal, which saw hundreds of people wrongly threatened with deportation.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel announced that the minimum payment will rise from £250 to £10,000, and the maximum from £10,000 to £100,000.\n\nThe figure will be higher still in \"exceptional\" circumstances, with money coming through quicker than before.\n\nThe Windrush scandal mainly affected UK citizens originally from the Caribbean.\n\nThey were granted indefinite leave to remain in 1971, but thousands were children who had travelled on their parents' passports.\n\nBecause of this, many were unable to prove they had the right to live in the country when \"hostile environment\" immigration policies - demanding the showing of documentation - began in 2012, under then Home Secretary Theresa May.\n\nThe scandal broke in 2018, including the revelation that many of those affected had lost homes and jobs and had been denied access to healthcare and benefits.\n\nThe BBC's Westminster Hour reported last month that at least nine people had died while awaiting payments under the compensation scheme set up for victims.\n\nCampaigners for the Windrush victims are likely to ask why this announcement by the home secretary didn't come sooner.\n\nThe government acted quickly in setting up the Windrush Compensation Scheme when the scandal became public in 2018, but that scheme has long been criticised for being too slow and resulting in offers some say are too low.\n\nThe speed at which claims are processed and money is offered is seen as being particularly crucial, given that many of those affected are elderly.\n\nThe additional announcement that the compensation process for loss of earnings will also change could potentially lead to even larger payouts for victims.\n\nEarly responses from claimants suggest a sense of cautious optimism at the latest announcement, with one person telling me they won't believe it until a cheque is in the post.\n\nThe Windrush Compensation Scheme will be updated following consultation with the Windrush Working Group, chaired by Bishop Derek Webley.\n\nMs Patel told the House of Commons there would be \"substantial changes\".\n\nShe added that these would \"make a real difference to people's lives\", saying: \"I've always promised to listen and act to ensure that the victims of Windrush receive the maximum amount of compensation they deserve.\n\n\"It's my mission to correct the wrongs of the past and I will continue to work with the Windrush Working Group to do exactly that.\"\n\nThe changes to the scheme will apply retrospectively, meaning those previously given less than £10,000 will receive top-up payments.\n\nThe Home Office is also removing the 12 months' salary limit on compensation for earnings lost by people forced out of their jobs.\n\nIt will start letting those affected by the changes know from next week.\n\nBishop Webley said: \"Many will benefit from the relief that these new payments will provide, and begin to move forward with their lives with hope and determination.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Explained: What is the 'hostile environment' policy?\n\nAn estimated 500,000 people living in the UK make up the surviving members of the Windrush generation.\n\nAn Equality and Human Rights Commission report last month said government action taken to \"record and respond to negative equality impacts\" of hostile environment immigration policies had been \"perfunctory, and therefore insufficient\".\n\nIt called for a plan\" of \"specific actions\" to \"avoid a future breach\", with the commission's interim chair, Caroline Waters, describing the treatment of the Windrush generation as \"a shameful stain on British history\".\n\nThe Windrush compensation scheme came into force last year, with £2m being paid out so far and a further £1m offered.", "Across the UK there are now 1,692,000 people unemployed\n\nWales experienced the steepest rise in unemployment between August and October of any nation or region of the UK.\n\nThe rate of unemployment is now 4.6% in Wales and 4.9% across the UK as a whole, according to the latest official figures. Unemployment in Wales rose by 22,000 compared with the previous three months.\n\nThe Office for National Statistics' UK payroll data showed the hospitality sector had been the most severely affected, followed by wholesale and retail and manufacturing.\n\nThe rate of people not available for work is now at 24% - these are working age people who may be full-time carers or students, on long-term sick or have taken early retirement.\n\nThis is compared with 20.8% for the UK.\n\nThat means there were 459,000 \"economically inactive\" people in Wales, 8,000 more than in July, and 22,000 more than the same time last year.\n\nBefore the pandemic, Wales had seen low levels of unemployment.\n\nAcross the UK there are now 1,692,000 unemployed, which is 411,000 more than the same period a year ago.\n\nHospitality and food has been the most severely affected sector\n\nThe Office for National Statistics said the latest figures for the numbers of people paying tax in the UK showed there were 800,000 fewer on the payroll in November than in February, and one third of those people had been working in the hospitality sector.\n\nThis is the first time there has been a sector breakdown for the number of people on company payrolls.\n\nFurloughed workers are counted as employed in the statistics.\n\nThis latest set of labour market figures are for August to October, during which the UK government's Covid-19 pandemic furlough scheme was reducing the amount given to employers to pay workers.\n\nThe Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS) - known as furlough - was brought in on 20 March to help employers keep on staff during lockdown.\n\nThe scheme meant the Treasury originally paid 80% of an employee's wages while they were not working, up to a maximum of £2,500 per person per month.\n\nThe scheme was due to be replaced by the Job Support Scheme on 1 November.\n\nOn 31 October the chancellor announced the JRS was instead being extended to 31 March and made more generous again, with the UK government paying 80% of employee wages, but with the employer covering pension and National Insurance contributions.\n\nFirms made more workers redundant in anticipation of the end of the furlough scheme, which was originally supposed to finish at the end of October.\n\nThe Treasury said the number of jobs furloughed in Wales reached a peak in July of 378,400 - roughly 29% of eligible jobs.\n\nFrom 1 July, employers could apply for flexible furlough, meaning an employee could be furloughed for part of their time employed.\n\nBy the end of August, more than 130,000 were on some form of furlough. That represented around 10% of eligible Welsh employees, according to the latest Treasury statistics.\n\nThese latest figures make grim reading and are a reminder of the extent to which Covid-19 has hit families' living standards.\n\nWhile some may be relieved the unemployment rate in Wales is still lower than for the UK as a whole, it is concerning that in the three months to October unemployment grew more steeply here than any other nation or region of the UK - in other words a greater proportion of people living in Wales lost their jobs.\n\nWhen comparing areas it is important that we look at proportions not absolute numbers because they have different-sized populations.\n\nIt is interesting the latest figures from the ONS show that of the 819,000 jobs lost across the UK since February, one third of them have been in accommodation and hospitality.\n\nThese sectors, along with their suppliers, are very important to the Welsh economy.\n\nIt is also important to remember that the furlough scheme has been highly effective in terms of keeping people on the payroll and it is still in operation.\n\nEven after that scheme ends it will take several months before we know the full extent of job losses across Wales.", "At least 10 cases of the new variant have been identified in Wales\n\nA new strain of coronavirus which was found to be circulating in England is already present in Wales, the Welsh Government has confirmed.\n\nOn Monday, the UK government said the variant \"may be associated\" with a faster spread in south east England.\n\nThe Welsh Government said there were at least 10 confirmed cases in Wales and more were expected to be identified.\n\nAn expert who helps track mutations of the virus said he was \"not especially concerned\" and urged calm.\n\nMore than 1,000 cases have been recorded across 60 English council areas.\n\nMatt Hancock, the UK government minister in charge of the NHS in England, said there was \"nothing to suggest\" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.\n\nAnnouncing tougher restrictions in London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire, he said: \"We've currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant predominantly in the south of England, although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas.\n\n\"We do not know the extent to which this is because of the new variant, but no matter its cause we have to take swift and decisive action which unfortunately is absolutely essential to control this deadly disease while the vaccine is rolled out.\"\n\nHe said the World Health Organization had been notified of the new variant and UK scientists were doing detailed studies.\n\nCardiff University Professor Tom Connor, bioinformatics lead at Public Health Wales, said: \"We see numerous numbers of variants accumulating in the population.\n\n\"The virus is continually introducing these changes as it progresses.\"\n\nMost mutations to the genetic code of the virus will have no impact on its risk to the public, he explained, but said it was important to monitor because an increase in the prevalence of a variant could be for a \"biological reason\" such as increased transmissibility.\n\nProf Connor said the new variant - called N501Y - could plausibly reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine because the mutations \"fall within the spike proteins\".\n\n\"That's the protein on the outside of the virus that helps it get into cells and actually cause the infection,\" he explained.\n\nWales has seen a rise in cases ahead of Christmas\n\nBoth the Moderna and Pfizer/Biontech vaccines rely on spike proteins, Prof Connor said.\n\nHe urged people not to be alarmed and to carry on following advice to observe social distancing, wash your hands and wear a face covering.\n\nHe added: \"We are potentially moving towards the point where we go from this being a pandemic to an endemic - so a disease which is circulating in the human population and we vaccinate against it every year, for example like we do with influenza.\"\n\nThe Welsh Government reiterated it was \"natural for the virus to mutate\", adding that further sequencing and tracking was taking place.\n\nDr Gill Richardson, who is senior responsible officer for the Covid-19 vaccine in Wales, said: \"Viruses are living beings that change and adapt, and we know that since the original Wuhan virus there [have] actually been 25 mutations.\n\n\"It's important to say that at the moment it is not thought to affect the behaviour of the virus at all, and it's not thought to affect the effectiveness of the vaccine.\"\n\nThere is a simple rule for understanding all \"new strain\" or \"new variants\": Ask whether the behaviour of the virus has changed.\n\nThis is crucial as viruses mutate all the time, it's just what they do. And so far we've been given the \"scare\" but not the \"answer\".\n\nMatt Hancock said the new variant of coronavirus \"may be associated\" with the faster spread in the south-east of England.\n\nThis is not the same as saying it \"is causing\" the rise and Mr Hancock did not say this virus has evolved to spread from person-to-person more readily.\n\nNew strains can become more common for reasons that have nothing to do with the virus.\n\nOne explanation for the emergence of the \"Spanish strain\" over the summer was tourism.\n\nSo at the moment there are scary headlines everywhere, but still no scientific detail to know how significant this is.\n\nThe news of the new variant comes as cases continue to rise in Wales.\n\nOn Monday it was revealed Wales was already breaching some of the key indicators used to determine if the country goes into lockdown.\n\nFirst Minister Mark Drakeford said a lockdown could be introduced after Christmas if rates do not begin to fall.\n\nPublic Health Wales figures on Monday showed Merthyr Tydfil had the highest case rate in the UK, with 870.3 cases per 100,000 people over the most recent seven days.\n\nEight Welsh counties were among the 10 areas with the highest case rates in the UK.\n• None 'New variant' of coronavirus identified in England", "I have one simple rule for making sense of \"new variant\" or \"new strain\" coronavirus stories.\n\nAsk: \"Has the virus's behaviour changed?\"\n\nA mutated virus sounds instinctively scary, but to mutate and change is what viruses do.\n\nMost of the time it is either a meaningless tweak or the virus alters itself in such a way that it gets worse at infecting us and the new variant just dies out.\n\nOccasionally it hits on a new winning formula.\n\nThere is no clear-cut evidence the new variant of coronavirus - which has been detected in south-east England - is able to transmit more easily, cause more serious symptoms or render the vaccine useless.\n\nHowever, there are two reasons scientists are keeping a close eye on it.\n\nThe first is that levels of the variant are higher in places where cases are higher.\n\nIt is a warning sign, although it can be interpreted in two ways.\n\nThe virus could have mutated to spread more easily and is causing more infections.\n\nBut variants can also get a lucky break by infecting the right people at the right time. One explanation for the spread of the \"Spanish strain\" over the summer was simply people catching it on holiday and then bringing it home.\n\nIt will take experiments in the laboratory to figure out if this variant really is a better spreader than all the others.\n\nThe other issue that is raising scientific eyebrows is how the virus has mutated.\n\n\"It has a surprisingly large number of mutations, more than we would expect, and a few look interesting,\" Prof Nick Loman from the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium told me.\n\nThere are two notable sets of mutation - and I apologise for their hideous names.\n\nBoth are found in the crucial spike protein, which is the key the virus uses to unlock the doorway into our body's cells in order to hijack them.\n\nThe mutation N501 (I did warn you) alters the most important part of the spike, known as the \"receptor-binding domain\".\n\nThis is where the spike makes first contact with the surface of our body's cells. Any changes that make it easier for the virus to get inside are likely to give it an edge.\n\n\"It looks and smells like an important adaptation,\" said Prof Loman.\n\nMass vaccination will put a different kind of pressure on the virus because it will have to change in order to infect people who have been immunised\n\nThe other mutation - a H69/V70 deletion - has emerged several times before, including famously in infected mink.\n\nThe concern was that antibodies from the blood of survivors was less effective at attacking that variant of virus.\n\nAgain, it is going to take more laboratory studies to really understand what is going on.\n\nProf Alan McNally, from the University of Birmingham, said: \"We know there's a variant, we know nothing about what that means biologically.\n\n\"It is far too early to make any inference on how important this may or may not be.\"\n\nMutations to the spike protein lead to questions about the vaccine because the three leading jabs - Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford - all train the immune system to attack the spike.\n\nHowever, the body learns to attack multiple parts of the spike. That is why health officials remain convinced the vaccine will work against this variant.\n\nThis is a virus that evolved in animals and made the jump to infecting people around a year ago.\n\nSince then it has been picking up around two mutations a month - take a sample today and compare it to the first ones from Wuhan in China and there would be around 25 mutations separating them.\n\nCoronavirus is still trying out different combinations of mutations to properly nail infecting humans.\n\nWe have seen this happen before: The emergence and global dominance of another variant (G614) is seen by many as the virus getting better at spreading.\n\nBut soon mass vaccination will put a different kind of pressure on the virus because it will have to change in order to infect people who have been immunized.\n\nIf this does drive the evolution of the virus, we may have to regularly update the vaccines, as we do for flu, to keep up.", "A new variant of coronavirus has been found which is growing faster in some parts of England, MPs have been told.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said at least 60 different local authorities had recorded Covid infections caused by the new variant.\n\nHe said the World Health Organization had been notified and UK scientists were doing detailed studies.\n\nHe said there was \"nothing to suggest\" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A new variant of Covid could be speeding up the spread of cases in parts of south east England, says Matt Hancock.\n\nHe told MPs in the House of Commons that over the last week, there had been sharp, exponential rises in coronavirus infections across London, Kent, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire.\n\n\"We've currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant predominantly in the South of England although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas.\n\n\"We do not know the extent to which this is because of the new variant but no matter its cause we have to take swift and decisive action which unfortunately is absolutely essential to control this deadly disease while the vaccine is rolled out.\"\n\nEngland's Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris Whitty said current coronavirus swab tests would detect the new variant that has been found predominantly in Kent and neighbouring areas in recent weeks.\n\nThe changes or mutations involve the spike protein of the virus - the part that helps it infect cells, and the target Covid vaccines are designed around.\n\nIt is too soon to know exactly what this will do to the behaviour of the virus.\n\nProf Alan McNally, an expert at the University of Birmingham, told the BBC: \"Let's not be hysterical. It doesn't mean it's more transmissible or more infectious or dangerous.\n\n\"It is something to keep an eye on.\n\n\"Huge efforts are ongoing at characterising the variant and understanding its emergence. It is important to keep a calm and rational perspective on the strain as this is normal virus evolution and we expect new variants to come and go and emerge over time.\"\n\nDr Jeremy Farrar, Director of Wellcome, said it was potentially serious. \"The surveillance and research must continue and we must take the necessary steps to stay ahead of the virus.\"\n\nThere is a simple rule for understanding all \"new strain\" or \"new variants\": Ask whether the behaviour of the virus has changed.\n\nThis is crucial as viruses mutate all the time, it's just what they do. And so far we've been given the \"scare\" but not the \"answer\".\n\nMatt Hancock said the new variant of coronavirus \"may be associated\" with the faster spread in the south-east of England.\n\nThis is not the same as saying it \"is causing\" the rise and Mr Hancock did not say this virus has evolved to spread from person-to-person more readily.\n\nNew strains can become more common for reasons that have nothing to do with the virus.\n\nOne explanation for the emergence of the \"Spanish strain\" over the summer was tourism.\n\nSo at the moment there are scary headlines everywhere, but still no scientific detail to know how significant this is.\n\nProf Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology at Nottingham University, said: \"The genetic information in many viruses can change very rapidly and sometimes these changes can benefit the virus - by allowing it to transmit more efficiently or to escape from vaccines or treatments - but many changes have no effect at all.\n\n\"Even though a new genetic variant of the virus has emerged and is spreading in many parts of the UK and across the world, this can happen purely by chance.\n\n\"Therefore, it is important that we study any genetic changes as they occur, to work out if they are affecting how the virus behaves, and until we have done that important work it is premature to make any claims about the potential impacts of virus mutation.\"\n• None 'Mutant coronavirus' seen before on mink farms", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith gets the coronavirus vaccine\n\nThe Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith has become one of the first people to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.\n\nThe 80-year-old posted an image on Twitter of her receiving the vaccination while wearing a mask.\n\n\"Who wouldn't want immunity from Covid-19 with a painless jab??\" she asked in the tweet.\n\nThe rollout of the vaccine began in the UK last week, with healthcare workers, people living in care homes and the elderly being prioritised.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Prue Leith This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nLeith was also filmed receiving the vaccine, asking afterwards: \"Have you done it? I didn't even feel it.\"\n\nShe added the process was \"amazing\" and \"so efficient\".\n\nNoel Fielding, who co-hosts Bake Off, reacted to the news of his colleague being among the first wave of people in the world to be vaccinated against coronavirus.\n\n\"Always the most classy glamorous person in the room. Love you Prue x\", commented Fielding on Instagram.\n\nPrue Leith replaced Mary Berry on The Great British Bake Off when it moved to Channel 4\n\nFormer Bake Off winner Dr Rahul Mandal, wrote: \"Yes!! You just look as gorgeous in the tent as when you are taking your jab!!\"\n\nLeith joined Bake Off in 2017, replacing Mary Berry, when it moved from the BBC to Channel 4.\n\nPrior to joining the series, Leith appeared on BBC Two's Great British Menu for 11 years.\n\nThe latest series of Bake Off was initially halted by the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\nFilming was completed at the end of the summer, with the cast and crew following strict health protocols.\n\nThe series saw 20-year-old Peter Sawkins triumph - making him the youngest winner to date.\n\nThe first vaccine to be declared safe and effective and approved for mass use by UK regulators is made by Pfizer-BioNTech.\n\nThe company has manufacturing sites in Europe and the US. Initial vaccine doses for the UK are being produced at Pfizer's site in Puurs, Belgium.\n\nThe military have been called on to help, and some sports stadiums and conference centres are being converted into temporary vaccination centres.\n\nThe aim is to inoculate tens of millions of UK residents within months, with those in the higher risk health categories going first.\n\nThose receiving it will be given a booster jab 21 days after their first dose.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Greenwich Council has asked all schools to move to online learning amid rising Covid cases\n\nThe leader of Greenwich Council has said he has \"no choice\" but to ask schools to remain open after threats of legal action from the government.\n\nThe authority wrote to head teachers asking for classes to move online from Tuesday amid rising Covid-19 cases.\n\nEducation Secretary Gavin Williamson ordered the council to keep all schools open until the end of term.\n\nCouncil leader Danny Thorpe said he could not justify using public funds to fight the decision in the courts.\n\nIn a statement, the Labour councillor said he did not agree that it was right to keep schools open but he had \"no choice but to ask our schools to keep their doors open to all students, rather than just continuing with online learning\".\n\nParents told the BBC it was an odd and confusing time for schools and families in the borough.\n\nLondon, most of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire will move into England's highest tier of Covid restrictions on Wednesday due to a rise in infections.\n\nSchools in England were told they could close a day early for Christmas last week to give staff a \"proper break\" from identifying potential coronavirus cases.\n\nIn Basildon, where the third-highest Covid rate was recorded, schools were also allowed to close early, while London's mayor Sadiq Khan has called on secondary schools and colleges in the capital to follow suit.\n\nImagine how baffling it's been for parents in Greenwich and other London boroughs caught up in this end-of-term playground power struggle - which has become a microcosm of the uncertainty about whether children should be in school this week.\n\nOn Sunday night Greenwich council told parents schools were moving online - and then on Monday, the Department for Education issued legal threats saying they would have to stay open.\n\nAnd now on Tuesday, the council has backed down and says schools will have to stay open for Wednesday and Thursday.\n\nIt's added confusion to an already worrying time. Although parents will still be wondering what to believe when they're also being told to stay apart because of London's surge in Covid cases.\n\nIt might appear an unnecessary tussle about a couple of days in school. But it's been about who is in control and the government's determination not to see its biggest red line crumbling away - and that's keeping schools open.\n\nLeaders at two other Labour-run local authorities - Waltham Forest and Islington - have also advised schools to move to online learning for the last few days of term amid rising Covid-19 rates in the capital.\n\nBoth councils told BBC London they were sticking by their decisions.\n\nSchools Minister Nick Gibb has written to Islington and Waltham Forest asking them to reconsider. The BBC understands no legal action has been taken against the local authorities.\n\nMr Thorpe said on Friday there were 3,670 children self-isolating and 314 teaching staff, then on Monday an additional 580 children had to self-isolate.\n\nThis \"exponential growth\" in Covid-19 cases was the basis of his decision to ask schools to move to online teaching, he said.\n\n\"We are in a situation where the virus has been spreading quicker in Greenwich than it has done in other parts of London,\" he said.\n\n\"We had to make this call based on the data available to us. I find it regrettable the Secretary of State has pursued a legal route, as fundamentally my decision has been based solely on what is based for families here in Greenwich and not a courtroom battle.\n\n\"It shows the government think you can manage the pandemic response entirely from Whitehall and what we are saying is that we have different parts of London and different parts of the country that are experiencing difficult challenges.\"\n\nMr Thorpe said he made the decision \"in the best interests of the people of Greenwich\" but recognised the disruption that had been caused.\n\nOne mother, who has two children at Halstow Primary School in Greenwich, said: \"I really, really feel for schools because they've all worked so hard since September to have schools open to maintain education and that normality for kids.\n\n\"I don't know what the school is going to do now, whether they're going to say pupils need to go in or leave it for parents to make the decision. It's another day of poor schools making lots of decisions rather than focusing on our kids.\"\n\nA father, whose children attend a different school in the borough, added: \"It seems so odd that remote learning suddenly is no longer acceptable.\n\n\"I understand that some families will really struggle if parents cannot work from home. In Greenwich, we have never had numbers as bad as they are right now - I don't understand why relatively low impact options, such as online learning, are being taken off the table by the government.\"\n\nHead of Ofsted Amanda Spielman described it as a \"really difficult situation\" in which people were \"weighing up short-term concerns about health risks and long-term concerns about children's education\".\n\nShe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"It's so easy to call for closures and forget the long-term price which children pay which our visits show so clearly.\n\n\"We've had children yo-yoing in and out of school through the autumn and really suffering as a result. We need clarity, consistency, not last minute decisions.\"\n\nThe Association of School and College Leaders said the government \"may find it has won a hollow victory in its squabble with Greenwich council\"\n\nMr Thorpe added that the Department of Health & Social Care had agreed that any resident could access a Covid-19 test, whether they were showing symptoms or not.\n\n\"This is a real step change from the current position and one that will benefit all of us locally,\" he added.\n\nA head teacher's union has said many parents could still keep their children at home this week despite the government's stance.\n\nGeoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: \"The government may find it has won a hollow victory in its squabble with Greenwich council over end-of-term arrangements.\n\n\"It has compelled direct classroom teaching for the last few days of term, but we would not be surprised if many parents simply keep their children at home given the evident concern over Covid infection rates.\n\n\"It has been an unseemly end to a gruelling and exhausting term when schools at the very least deserved some flexibility over their end-of-term arrangements in the best interests of their pupils and staff, but instead have been met with legal threats from the government.\"\n\nHave you been affected by the issues raised in this story. You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Tuesday evening. We'll have another update for you tomorrow morning.\n\nPlans to allow people to mix indoors over Christmas are under scrutiny following rising case numbers around many parts of the UK. The Health Service Journal and British Medical Journal say the easing of restrictions would be \"a major error\" that would \"cost many lives\", and Labour has joined their call for a review of the proposals. No 10 said the rules were \"under constant review\", but it still intended to allow families to meet up. The PM's spokesman said the government had been clear that people needed to \"remain cautious and vigilant\" during the five days of relaxed rules from 23 to 27 December. After Cabinet minister Michael Gove discussed the issue with leaders in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales this afternoon, a source told the BBC: \"There was broad recognition commitment has been made to people and they will expect us to honour it - but there is a need to be stronger and clearer in guidance and messaging\". BBC political correspondent Nick Eardley said the issue of people travelling between high and low tier areas had been discussed, but nothing had been decided. More talks are expected tomorrow. You can read more about the current plans for Christmas mixing in the UK here, and you can read tips on how to be safer at Christmas here.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The government needs to \"review\" and \"toughen up\" the planned Christmas virus restrictions, says Sir Keir Starmer.\n\nMass testing of secondary-school pupils in England is to be greatly increased in January, in an attempt to reduce the numbers being sent home. Any students who have been in contact with a positive case will be offered seven days of daily testing, while teachers can have weekly Covid tests. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said this \"huge expansion\" of testing would be a \"milestone moment\" in keeping schools open. Hamid Patel, head of an academy trust that had piloted such testing, said it had been a \"game-changer\". The aim is to improve attendance and to reduce the numbers having to go home, by identifying and isolating those who are infected, and allowing those who do not have the virus to stay in school. Although 15% of pupils were out of school last week, the latest figures show 0.2% of pupils were confirmed Covid cases. You can read more about Covid safety measures for schools here.\n\nThree Scottish council areas are to have tougher coronavirus restrictions imposed from Friday in a bid to reverse a rising number of cases. Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and East Lothian will all move from level two to level three of the five-level system. It means people will no longer be allowed to travel outside of their own council area unless it is essential. Pubs, cafes and restaurants will have to stop serving alcohol and must shut at 6pm, and indoor entertainment venues such as cinemas, bingo halls and amusement arcades will also have to close. All the country's other 29 council areas will remain in their current levels, including Edinburgh - which had been pushing to be downgraded from level three to level two. You can read more about Scotland's Covid restrictions here.\n\nA new system meant to cut quarantine times for travellers arriving in England has been beset with problems on its first day. Travellers are allowed to end self-isolation early if they pay for a coronavirus test and test negative five days after arriving. The government picked 11 firms to carry out the private tests - but a number of them have hit problems. One said it could neither provide any more tests nor even answer queries. The government approved the list of companies allowed to provide the Test to Release scheme on Monday night. One company, SameDayDoctor, has asked to be withdrawn from the programme. It posted a message on its website stating: \"Unfortunately we have been so overwhelmed with requests for Test and Release that we cannot answer any more emails nor take any more bookings.\" You can read more about the UK's current Covid travel rules here.\n\nThe Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith has shared a photo of her being vaccinated against coronavirus. The 80-year-old posted the image on Twitter after she received the vaccine on Tuesday, while wearing a mask. \"Who wouldn't want immunity from Covid-19 with a painless jab?\" she asked. The rollout of the vaccine began in the UK last week, with healthcare workers, people living in care homes and the elderly being prioritised. You can see when you will be in line for a vaccine here, and you can read about the safety of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine being rolled out in the UK here.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Prue Leith This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, our lives have changed dramatically this year in so many ways. In twelve charts, and with the help of four of our correspondents, we set out some of them.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "Nine cases of a new variant of Covid-19 first identified in England have been reported in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.\n\nThe cases were all detected in the Greater Glasgow area, and date back to the end of November.\n\nThe World Health Organisation has been notified about the new strain of the virus, with detailed studies ongoing.\n\nMs Sturgeon said there is nothing to suggest it causes a more severe illness in people, but it may spread faster.\n\nShe said people should not \"prematurely overreact\" to the development.\n\nUK Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed on Monday that the new variant of coronavirus had been recorded in at least 60 different local authority areas.\n\nThese cases were found predominantly in Kent, but it has now been confirmed that they have spread as far as Glasgow.\n\nNine cases have been identified in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, dating back to the end of November - although almost 15,000 new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Scotland overall across that period.\n\nThere is, as yet, \"nothing to suggest\" that the new strain causes more severe illness, or that it could prove resistant to vaccines.\n\nMs Sturgeon was briefed by the chief medical officer on Monday, and will take part in a four-nation call with other UK leaders later on Tuesday.\n\nShe told MSPs: \"It is important to stress there is no evidence at this stage that this new variant is likely to cause more serious illness in people.\n\n\"And while the initial analysis of it suggests that it may be more transmissible, with a faster growth rate than existing variants, that is not yet certain.\n\n\"It may instead be the case that it has been identified in areas where the virus is already spreading more rapidly.\"\n\nScottish Conservative group leader Ruth Davidson said the new strain was \"a cause of great concern\", asking what was being done \"to assess the virulence of the strain\" and its transmission rate.\n\nMs Sturgeon said analysis was being undertaken by Public Health England, but said people should not \"prematurely overreact\".\n\nShe added: \"It is important to say that none of what is currently known about this yet is absolutely certain.\"", "Farmed mink are known to escape into the wild\n\nThe first known case of coronavirus in a wild animal has been reported, leading to calls for widespread monitoring of wildlife.\n\nThe US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said a wild mink had tested positive around an infected mink farm in Utah.\n\nCoronavirus outbreaks at fur farms in the US and in Europe have killed thousands of the animals.\n\nAs a consequence, millions of farmed mink have had to be culled across Europe.\n\nThe USDA said it had found one positive case in \"free-ranging, wild mink\" in Utah as part of wildlife surveillance around infected farms.\n\nSeveral animals from different wildlife species were sampled and all tested negative, the agency added.\n\nIt said it had notified the World Organisation for Animal Health, but there is no evidence the virus has been widespread in wild populations around infected mink farms.\n\n\"To our knowledge, this is the first free-ranging, native wild animal confirmed with Sars-CoV-2,\" the USDA said in an alert to the International Society for Infectious Diseases.\n\nThe discovery raises concerns that the infection could spread between wild mink, said Dr Dan Horton, a veterinary expert at the University of Surrey, UK.\n\nThe case \"reinforces the need to undertake surveillance in wildlife and remain vigilant\", he added.\n\nMink are known to escape from mink farms and become established in the wild. In the UK, there is a population that is thought to have arisen from animals that escaped from fur farms many years ago, Dr Horton added.\n\nThe virus has also been found in zoo tigers, lions and snow leopards in the US, and in a small number of household cats and dogs.\n• None What's the science behind mink and coronavirus?", "A-level students in NI will take fewer exams next summer, Education Minister Peter Weir has confirmed.\n\nHe insisted exams will not be cancelled, but said they would be \"underpinned by contingencies for all scenarios\".\n\nThe content of many GCSE courses and the number of GCSE exams has already been reduced due to the pandemic.\n\nThe number of A-level exam papers a pupil will have to take in each subject will also be reduced.\n\nMr Weir told the assembly that students would have the opportunity to omit up to 60% of their AS or A-level assessments, meaning for a \"significant\" number of subjects, this would mean taking only one exam.\n\n\"At the centre of this reduction is choice - our schools and colleges will choose which unit or units of assessment their pupils will take,\" he said.\n\n\"Our young people will be assessed on topics and content in which they feel most confident and well prepared, allowing them to demonstrate their skills and knowledge to the highest possible level.\"\n\nMr Weir also reiterated that the examinations board in NI, CCEA, will delay the start of the summer exam series by one week to provide more time for preparation.\n\nHe told the assembly that he had decided grading should \"carry forward the overall generosity and standards of 2020\", which saw students awarded teacher-predicted grades after examinations were cancelled.\n\n\"This will ensure the 2021 cohort are treated fairly, relative to their 2020 peers. Students will be awarded more generous grades, in line with last summer's significantly improved results,\" he added.\n\nMr Weir has faced calls to cancel exams, but said approaches in other parts of the UK were \"confusing\".\n\nThe Scottish government has decided to cancel Higher exams in 2021, meaning that pupils' final grades will be based on the judgement of their schools.\n\nIn Wales, pupils will face exams in class in the spring rather than the summer.\n\nExams are also set to go ahead in England in 2021 and measures like more generous grading and advance notice of topics have already been announced.\n\n\"I have also heard the quieter voices of those who are equally anxious that exams should go ahead, and have urged me to stand firm on this,\" said Mr Weir.\n\n\"Cancelling exams would undoubtedly lead to different sorts of anxieties for young people, and would put incredible additional pressures on schools.\"\n\nMr Weir said he was considering a Covid exam allowance for young people who miss a significant amount of school due to the pandemic\n\nThe minister, who has already announced changes to 2021 GCSE exams, added that students taking GCSE Mathematics exams next year will be given \"additional support materials\".\n\n\"These support sheets will relieve candidates of the burden of memorising all of the information they would normally have to,\" he said.\n\n\"I hope they will feel more prepared and more confident as a result. This aligns with recent announcements in England.\"\n\nMr Weir said he recognised some young people had missed significant amounts of school while others had missed none, due to the pandemic.\n\nHe said he wanted to reassure students who had to take time off that there would be special consideration for those candidates.\n\n\"I also will explore the possibility of a Covid allowance or tariff for young people who have missed a significant number of days face-to-face teaching due to self-isolating,\" he said.\n\n\"This would allow for specific account to be taken of the variations in disrupted learning since September,\" he added, stating it would be separate from the existing special consideration scheme.\n\nMr Weir said his priority was to ensure students in NI were not at a disadvantage from other parts of the UK, and that \"fairness\" would continue to be his priority.\n\nSchools were closed to pupils from mid-March until the end of August 2020, although some online teaching took place.\n\nSome pupils have also missed time in class since schools reopened as they have had to self-isolate after being identified as a close contact of a positive Covid case.", "\"Unconscious bias training\" is being scrapped for civil servants in England, with ministers saying it does not work.\n\nThe training, intended to tackle patterns of discrimination and prejudice, is used in many workplaces.\n\nThe government says there is no evidence it changes attitudes - and is urging other public sector employers to end this type of training.\n\nBut race equality campaigner Halima Begum said the government \"mustn't backtrack on anti-racism training\".\n\nLucille Thirlby, assistant general secretary of the FDA civil servants' union, called on ministers to say \"what are you going to replace it with\".\n\n\"How will they ensure people are not discriminated against? It's easier to attack something than do something positive about it,\" she said.\n\nUnconscious bias training is an attempt to challenge prejudiced ways of thinking that could unfairly influence decisions - such as who might get a job or a promotion.\n\nIt can be prejudiced behaviour, based on assumptions about others, that people are not aware of themselves.\n\nBut the government says there is no proof that such training changes behaviour - and that it can \"backfire\" and create a negative response.\n\nA written ministerial statement from Cabinet Office minister Julia Lopez will announce \"unconscious bias training does not achieve its intended aims. It will therefore be phased out in the civil service\".\n\n\"We encourage other public sector employers to do likewise,\" she says, urging the end to training which has been widely used to address bias in race, gender and sexuality.\n\nBut it has also been caught up in \"culture war\" arguments and accusations over \"political correctness\".\n\nThe government says it is \"determined to eliminate discrimination in the workplace\", but unconscious bias training is the wrong approach.\n\nThe Government Equalities Office says there has been \"no evidence\" that the training improved workplace equality.\n\nAmong the researchers cited is psychologist Patrick Forscher, who examined more than 400 studies on unconscious bias.\n\nHe said that few studies measured changes over time, and among \"the most robust of those that did\", the findings suggested \"changes in implicit bias don't last\".\n\nDr Forscher said such training had too often been used by employers as a \"catch all\", which failed to really tackle the specific barriers for different groups.\n\nHalima Begum, chief executive of the Runnymede Trust race equality think tank, said unconscious bias training is not always effective - and recognised the dangers of a corporate \"diversity industry\" wanting to have \"off the shelf\" training.\n\nBut she warned the government would have to replace it with something better and further reaching - which addressed bias and \"ingrained views\" at a more \"fundamental level\".\n\nMs Begum said there needed to be structural changes about fair pay, progression and work practices, rather than courses which \"make your boss feel better, but is not going to change the system\".\n\nThe value of such training was defended by Jane Farrell, chief executive of the EW Group, a diversity and inclusion consultancy.\n\n\"There is a misconception that unconscious bias training is guilt inducing and tells people off for who or what they are, which is simply not true,\" she said.\n\n\"Great unconscious bias training provides a positive and supportive environment to think through how to ensure we recruit the best staff rather than inadvertently clone ourselves,\" said Ms Farrell.\n\nPsychologist and author Stuart Ritchie said even though many staff might be required to take such unconscious bias training there was \"nowhere near robust evidence\" that it was able to change minds or behaviour.\n\nDr Ritchie said firms might use this training to \"placate worries\", but there was a lack of evidence that it would really reduce prejudice.\n\nJonny Gifford, who has worked with firms on diversity and inclusion, said unconscious bias had to be recognised as a \"massive problem\".\n\nBut Mr Gifford, adviser to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, warned the shortcomings of unconscious bias training should not be used to stop trying to \"make the workplace more inclusive and to reduce barriers to inequality\".\n\n\"To dismiss this as political correctness or being 'woke' is a very shaky place to be,\" said Mr Gifford.", "More than 1,200 people in Scotland died of drug misuse last year, new figures show.\n\nThe much-delayed figures show a record number of deaths for the sixth year in a row and the highest total since records began in 1996.\n\nThe figure of 1,264 is a 6% increase on 2018 and more than double the number of deaths in 2014.\n\nIt is the worst rate recorded in Europe and about three and a half times the rate for England and Wales.\n\nThe National Records of Scotland statistics are six months late after a huge backlog in processing toxicology results and delays due to Covid-19.\n\nThey show that two-thirds of those who died were aged 35 to 54.\n\nThe report said the median average age of drug-related deaths had gone up from 28 to 42 over the past two decades.\n\nHowever, there was also an increase in deaths among 15 to 24 year olds - from 64 in 2018 to 76 in 2019.\n\nThree-quarters of the deaths occurred in five health board areas.\n\nGreater Glasgow and Clyde had 404 deaths, Lanarkshire 163, Lothian 155, Tayside 118 and Ayrshire and Arran 108.\n\nHere we are again. For the sixth year running, Scotland has seen a record total of drug deaths. We are once again the worst in Europe.\n\nIt shouldn't come as a surprise. While the UK and Scottish governments organised competing summits to showcase their vision of how to tackle the problem, frontline workers warned that the death rate was accelerating.\n\nThis year, the mountain of toxicology reports into drug deaths needed £300,000 of extra funding to be cleared and, still, the figures were five months late.\n\nMuch of the focus of this issue has been on the Misuse of Drugs Act, which is reserved to Westminster.\n\nThe Scottish government argues that it needs more control over the law to trial initiatives such as safer injecting facilities; the UK government argues the opposite, and that instead there needs to be more investment in rehab beds.\n\nThose in the sector say these arguments only serve to simplify an issue that is so intractable, so huge.\n\nAlready identified as issues to tackle are punitive regimes that saw users kicked off methadone prescriptions for missing appointments. Those hoping for methadone were, in some cases, waiting up to five weeks for a prescription.\n\nWhile the death toll climbed, funding to frontline services was cut by the Scottish government. In 2016, treatment was only reaching 40% of those who needed it.\n\nThe drug-taking trends are also shifting under our feet - as older heroin users die, a younger generation have taken to injecting cocaine, supercharging an HIV epidemic in Scotland's largest city.\n\nMeanwhile, so-called street Valium - or etizolam - has a grip on the drug-using population.\n\nScotland's Drug Death Task Force is trying to turn the tide. They have encouraged same-day prescribing and the expansion medical assisted treatment, along with programmes to distributed the life-saving drug Naloxone.\n\nEven with these efforts though, this problem will take years to stabilise.\n\nScotland's \"polydrug\" habit - mixing dangerous street drugs with alcohol and prescription pills - caused many of the deaths.\n\nThe report said 94% of all drug-related deaths were of people who took more than one substance.\n\nHeroin and morphine were implicated in more deaths than in any previous year - more than half of the total.\n\n\"Street\" benzodiazepines (such as etizolam) were named in almost two-thirds of deaths, more than in any previous year.\n\nThere was also a big rise in cocaine being reported as taken by people who died (365) as well as gabapentin and pregabalin, which are used to treat nerve pain.\n\nIn September, a report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said Scotland had the highest recorded drug death rate in Europe, far ahead of Sweden in second place.\n\nIt highlighted the problem of benzos, saying: \"In Scotland, criminal groups are known to be involved in the large-scale illicit manufacture and distribution of fake benzodiazepine medicines.\"\n\nThe fake Valium - that sells for as little as 50p - is many times stronger than prescription drugs.\n\nThe new breed of benzodiazepines are often taken alongside other drugs such as heroin.\n\nScottish Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said the Scottish government was doing \"everything in its powers to tackle rising drug deaths\".\n\nMr FitzPatrick said the Drug Deaths Taskforce, which was established after a public health emergency was declared last year, was continuing its \"urgent work\" and there was a new sub-group looking at the issue of benzodiazepines.\n\nHe said: \"These deaths stem from a longstanding and complex set of challenges, and there is no shortcut that will suddenly solve this.\"\n\nScottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said the statistics were \"dreadful and heart-breaking in equal measure\".\n\n\"It is appalling that drug deaths have doubled in a decade, and there's no doubt that this government's cuts to drug rehab and addiction programmes have a large part to play in this awful trend,\" he said.\n\n\"The Scottish Conservatives have backed calls from rehab organisations - including Favor Scotland, Jericho House and Phoenix Futures - for a £20m Scottish Recovery Fund.\n\n\"We need to start helping people to get off drugs and get well, we can't simply try to manage addictions and leave it there.\"\n\nScottish Labour's Monica Lennon called on Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick to resign over the record levels of drug deaths.\n\nShe said: \"Time and time again, the Scottish government was warned by dozens of organisations to properly fund treatment and recovery services, but instead we got real terms cuts.\n\n\"Calls for bold and urgent action have not been acted on.\n\n\"The public needs to have confidence in the public health minister to lead us out of this human rights tragedy - these shocking statistics and his woeful response give us none.\"\n\nScottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said lives were being lost on an \"unprecedented and unparalleled scale\".\n\nHe said: \"Too often services simply aren't there, either through a lack of resources or a lack of political will.\"\n\nMr Cole-Hamilton called for more funding for drug services and sending people to treatment instead of prison.\n\nScottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie accused both the Scottish and UK governments of \"a shameful failure of leadership\".\n\nHe said criminalisation of drugs had caused more harm than it has prevented.\n\n\"Addiction is better tackled by trained medical professionals than the strong arm of the law,\" he said.\n\nHowever, decriminalisation has been ruled out by the UK government, which controls drugs law.\n\nDavid Liddell, the chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said the number of preventable deaths was \"a national tragedy and disgrace\".\n\n\"We need people to be in high quality treatment that protects them from overdose and death,\" he said.\n\nHe said the Drug Taskforce's plans for treatment standards, which would mean people gained quick access to drug services and have a choice of medication that best suits them, were a step forward.\n\nHe also called for drug consumption rooms, heroin-assisted treatment and assertive outreach.\n\nMr Liddell said there needed to be an end to \"the alienation, marginalisation and stigmatisation of people with a drug problem\".\n\n\"As part of this approach, we should decriminalise the possession of all drugs and extend the current recorded police warning for cannabis possession to apply to all other drugs,\" he said.", "Edinburgh remains in level three despite lower levels of positive Covid tests than nearby areas\n\nThe latest review of Scotland's Covid-19 restriction levels will be announced at Holyrood later.\n\nAll 32 local authority areas will have their situation assessed by politicians and public health officials.\n\nIt could be the last review before the five-day Christmas easing of restrictions begins on 23 December.\n\nFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon said levels for all areas including Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire would be considered.\n\nMs Sturgeon said last week she expected it to be the last review until 5 January although a parliamentary update on levels is scheduled for next week.\n\nThe first minister said she wanted to provide consistency and stability over the Christmas period but would not rule out action if a particular area saw a surge in cases.\n\nEdinburgh is currently in level three, which means tough restrictions on hospitality and limits travel into and out of the local authority area.\n\nThe decision to keep Edinburgh in level three last week was controversial because positive Covid rates in the city were lower than surrounding areas.\n\nBut at the daily coronavirus briefing on Monday, the first minister said a 33% spike in cases in the past week showed it was the right one.\n\nMs Sturgeon said moving the capital to level two would have been like \"pouring petrol on smouldering embers.\"\n\nAberdeen has the second highest weekly rate of positive tests of all local authorities in level two and cases have continued to rise since the last weekly review.\n\nAny changes agreed will come at the same time as the government is advising people to cut down on contacts before Christmas.\n\nAt Monday's briefing, the first minister said people in Scotland should \"think really carefully\" about gathering indoors, adding that the \"best Christmas gift we can give family and friends\" is to \"keep our distance and keep them safe\".\n\nIn last week's review, it was announced that 11 council areas that were subject to the highest tier of restrictions would move down to lower levels.\n\nThe toughest restrictions were imposed to bring down case numbers in Scotland's Covid hotspots - but they came at a cost, with hospitality and non-essential shops required to close, among other measures.\n\nSpeaking on BBC Scotland's Coronavirus Update programme, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross called on all the evidence behind the Scottish government's decisions on restriction levels to be made available, following the row over Edinburgh remaining in level three.\n\nThe Scottish Conservative leader reiterated the call for people to be sensible over the Christmas period, but said the government must be honest with the public about the science behind its decisions.\n\nVaccinations for care home staff and residents have started in Scotland\n\nMs Sturgeon told MSPs last week that she considered moving Edinburgh down to level two - but the closeness to the Christmas period meant that this did not happen.\n\nOn Friday, Scotland's highest civil court ruled the decision to keep Edinburgh under level three Covid restrictions was lawful, with the judge deciding the Scottish government had a right to consider factors other than data.\n\nThe court heard there was \"no simple algorithm\" to determine levels and the indicators used \"may change over time\".\n\nThe judge highlighted that in level two people could travel around Scotland freely - except for entering level three or four areas - whereas those in level three could not leave the local authority area, limiting the potential for viral spread in the capital city.\n\nThe assessment of restriction levels for each area come as vaccinations are rolled out for frontline health workers and care home residents.\n\nVaccinations for health staff began last week, and the first vaccines for care home residents, who are considered the most vulnerable to Covid-19, were administered on Tuesday.", "Test to Release, a new system meant to cut quarantine times for travellers arriving in England, has been beset with problems on its first day.\n\nTravellers are allowed to end self-isolation early if they pay for a coronavirus test and get a negative result five days after arriving.\n\nThe government picked 11 firms to carry out the private tests.\n\nBut some of the largest Covid test providers were not included and many on the list have hit problems.\n\nAirlines UK, the trade body for airlines, admitted there had been \"teething problems\", but said these would be resolved. \"Today is only the start - the end goal is the removal of quarantine altogether - but it's a positive beginning to what we hope will be the recovery of our sector,\" the group said.\n\nWhen the scheme launched on Tuesday morning, some test providers were overwhelmed with the sheer volume of demand from the public. One supplier has pulled out completely.\n\nSameDayDoctor asked to be withdrawn from the programme after being inundated with requests for tests.\n\nIt posted a message on its website stating: \"Unfortunately we have been so overwhelmed with requests for Test to Release that we cannot answer any more emails nor take any more bookings.\"\n\nAnother approved provider, Axiom, said it couldn't take bookings but an update would be available \"soon\", while another, Medicspot, told visitors to its website to register their interest.\n\nDr Laurence Gerlis, chief executive of SameDayDoctor, said he was initially delighted to have made the approved list.\n\n\"Getting on that list was the hardest thing I have ever done,\" he said. \"The paperwork was so thorough it took a full week. I was so proud to have been accredited and to be able to help. We went live at 7pm on Monday but were so overwhelmed it was clear we would struggle.\n\n\"Four hours later I emailed the government and asked to be taken off the list. We were inundated.\n\n\"I actually ended up in tears. We had to let so many people down. People had been relying on getting the test in order to come out of quarantine for all sorts of reasons. One of the most upsetting things I heard was a patient saying they needed the test because they knew this Christmas visit would be the last one they would be able to spend with their mother.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How do I quarantine after returning from abroad?\n\nCollinson, which has had testing set up at Heathrow and Manchester Airport for months, was not put on the list until later on Tuesday. The firm had initially told the BBC it was \"surprised and disappointed\" not be on the government's list of private providers.\n\nThe Department for Transport later confirmed that Collinson was now on the list. The company's joint chief executive David Evans said Test to Release \"is a significant positive step forward that will help the aviation sector open up travel safely\".\n\nPeople arriving in the UK from destinations on the government's travel corridors list are exempt from the 10-day self isolation requirement.\n\nThe Test to Release programme was designed to benefit people arriving from other locations.\n\nPaul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, told the PA news agency: \"It's a chaotic start for a system that was flagged as a solution to recovery in the travel sector, but it's been weeks in planning and has taken minutes to fall apart.\n\n\"I think most people just won't pay for a test because they can't guarantee they're going to get the results quickly, so they may as well just opt to spend two or three more days in quarantine and save the money.\"\n\nRichard Burge, chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce, said: \"It defies belief that the Government's long-awaited aviation Test To Release scheme has, within hours, proved to be unworkable.\"\n\n\"The return of international business travel and tourism is critical to London and the UK's economic recovery. This requires competent and proven testing companies.\n\nThe Prime Minister's official spokesman told the Press Association: \"We have made this option available to international travellers and we are working to approve more test providers.\"", "Barclays has been fined £26m for the way it treated customers who fell into debt or experienced financial problems.\n\nAmong those poorly treated were bereaved people whose financial issues should have been better assessed.\n\nThe City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said Barclays' poor treatment of its customers \"risked making these difficulties worse\".\n\nThe bank has compensated those affected, paying over £273m to 1.53 million customer accounts since 2017.\n\nThe FCA said Barclays knew about many of the shortcomings in its systems and controls as early as 2013, but failed to adequately resolve them until late 2018.\n\n\"Firms must treat consumer credit customers fairly, including when they find themselves in arrears,\" said Mark Steward, of the FCA.\n\n\"We will take action against unfair treatment, or where firm systems expose customers to the risk of unfairness. While this case predates the pandemic, this message is especially important as the impact of coronavirus continues to affect household incomes and budgets.\"\n\nThe problems affected individual current account holders and small business customers between April 2014 and December 2018.\n\nThe regulator found these people had been poorly treated when they fell behind on credit repayments.\n\nThey included people whose loved ones had died, who were not given sustainable or affordable debt repayment plans.\n\nThe bank failed to contact people quickly enough, leading to more debt charges.\n\nStaff did not have appropriate conversations with people in order to understand why they were facing financial problems.\n\nThen, when they put repayment plans in place, they were delayed, included errors, had mistakes with payments, and charged interest or fees during a breathing space hold on payments, the FCA said.\n\nThe bank also missed signs that some of these customers were in a vulnerable situation \"in a significant number of cases\".\n\nA Barclays spokeswoman said: \"Barclays is a responsible lender and we strive to achieve good outcomes for our customers.\n\n\"We would like to apologise to those customers for not providing the level of service we should have.\"\n\nShe added that the bank had made changes to its systems, processes, and training to correct the issues and that \"the vast majority of customers who were impacted have already been contacted\".\n\nAny firm offering credit should properly understand customers' financial difficulties and show forbearance to those in arrears or in financial trouble.\n\nOtherwise, they could end up trying to pay their debt to the bank instead of a priority debt, such as a mortgage, council tax, child support and utility bills.", "A man has been charged with murdering his four-month-old daughter.\n\nWillow Lee was found seriously injured at a house on Onslow Road in Layton, Blackpool, on 3 December.\n\nShe was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital and transferred to Alder Hey Children's Hospital but died on 6 December.\n\nJordan Lee, 28, of Onslow Road, has been charged with her murder and is due to appear at Preston Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.\n\nLancashire Police said a post-mortem examination had been carried out but further expert analysis was needed to establish a cause of death.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Big tech firms face yearly checks on how they are tackling illegal and harmful content under new rules unveiled by the European Commission.\n\nFresh restrictions are also planned to govern their use of customers' data, and to prevent the firms ranking their own services above competitors' in search results and app stores.\n\nThe measures are intended to overhaul how the EU regulates digital markets.\n\nLarge fines and break-ups are threatened for non-compliance.\n\nIt is proposed that if companies refuse to obey, they could be forced to hand over up to 10% of their European turnover.\n\nAnd \"recurrent infringers\" are warned that they could be made to divest \"certain businesses, where no other equally effective alternative measure is available to ensure compliance\".\n\nThe two new laws involved - the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act - have yet to be passed, so would only come into force after the Brexit transition period has ended.\n\nThe European Commission's press conference was scheduled for the afternoon to allow tech leaders on the US's West Coast to watch live, but began later than originally advised.\n\nCompetition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager described the two laws as \"milestones in our journey to make Europe fit for the digital age... we need to make rules that put order into chaos\".\n\nInternal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton added that the laws had been designed to be applied \"very quickly\" once they came into effect.\n\nThe focus of the Digital Services Act is to create a single set of rules for the EU to keep users safe online, protect their freedom of expression and help both them and local authorities hold tech companies to account.\n\nIt introduces a sliding scale, under which firms take on more obligations the larger and more influential they are.\n\nSo, for example, all internet companies must provide users with a way of getting in touch and the means to see their terms and conditions.\n\nCommissioner Thierry Breton said the new laws would benefit online shoppers\n\nThe operators of online platforms - such as social media apps and video-sharing sites of any size - must prioritise complaints raised by \"trusted flaggers\", who have a track record of highlighting valid problems.\n\nLikewise, all online stores must be able to trace traders selling goods via their platforms, in case they are offering counterfeit items or other illegal products.\n\n\"[It] will require online marketplaces to check their sellers' identity before they are allowed on the platform, which will make it so much more difficult for dodgy traders to do their business,\" commented Mr Breton.\n\nBut the biggest players must also subject themselves to further scrutiny, including an annual independent audit to check they are following the rules.\n\nIn addition, once a year they must publish a report into their handling of major risks, including users posting illegal content, disinformation that could sway elections, and the unjustified targeting of minority groups.\n\nSuggested counter-measures include preventing abusive users earning money from ads, and checking moderator guidelines is kept up-to-date.\n\nFurthermore, the law specifies that local officials can send cross-border orders to make tech firms remove content or provide access to information, wherever their EU headquarter is based.\n\nThe law would give local officials a way to ask Airbnb and other apps to hand over information or remove listings\n\nA commission spokesman gave the example of Amsterdam's local government being able to ask a service like Airbnb, which is based in Dublin, to remove a listing of a non-registered apartment and share details about a host suspected of not paying taxes.\n\nThe Digital Markets Act centres on the regulation of \"gatekeepers\" - those behind \"entrenched\" services that other businesses use to provide their own products.\n\nThis covers the operators of search engines, social networks, chat apps, cloud computing services and operating systems, among others.\n\nThey are likely to include Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.\n\nThe idea is to prevent the firms gaining unfair advantages via their elevated positions.\n\nThe new rules include obligations to:\n\nThe commission would be able to issue fines of up to 10% of a firm's annual turnover in Europe under the Digital Services Act, and 6% under the Digital Markets Act.\n\nFacebook was one of the first to respond, saying it thought the laws were \"on the right track to help preserve what is good about the internet\".\n\nBut it also took the opportunity to call attention to one of the other US tech giants.\n\n\"We hope the Digital Markets Act will set boundaries for Apple,\" said a spokesman.\n\n\"Apple controls an entire ecosystem from device to app store and apps, and uses this power to harm developers and consumers, as well as large platforms like Facebook.\"\n\nFacebook took the opportunity to take a pot shot at its Silicon Valley neighbour Apple\n\n\"We are concerned that [the laws] appear to specifically target a handful of companies and make it harder to develop new products to support small businesses in Europe,\" said Karan Bhatia, its vice president of government affairs.\n\nThe DigitalEurope trade association also voiced concern about whether the commission had got the balance right between privacy and preventing harmful activities, but said it needed more time to read the details.\n\nThe tech giants and digital rights campaigners are among those likely to try to influence their final shape of the two laws.\n\nBut if passed, they should update current rules, which date back to 20 years ago when some of the tech firms affected did not exist.\n\nAnd they may influence other regulators - in the US and elsewhere - which are also planning to introduce new restrictions of their own.", "The plan to ease Covid rules over Christmas in the UK is a \"rash decision\" that will \"cost many lives\", two leading medical journals have said.\n\nThe Health Service Journal and British Medical Journal said people might see the lifting of restrictions \"as permission to drop their guard\".\n\nCabinet minister Michael Gove has held talks on the issue with leaders in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.\n\nNI said scientific advisers would be consulted ahead of any decision.\n\nIt comes after Labour called on ministers to hold an emergency review of the plans.\n\nEarlier, No 10 said the rules were \"under constant review\" but it still intended to allow families to meet up.\n\nThe prime minister's spokesman said the government had been clear that people needed to \"remain cautious and vigilant\" during the five days of relaxed rules from 23 to 27 December.\n\nThe BBC's Nick Eardley said one possible change being discussed was a limit on how far people can travel, but he stressed that no decisions had been taken.\n\nIt comes as millions of people in London and parts of Hertfordshire and Essex prepare to move into England's toughest tier of coronavirus rules at 00:01 GMT on Wednesday.\n\nMeanwhile, another 18,450 cases and 506 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported in the UK on Tuesday, government figures showed.\n\nIn a joint editorial criticising the UK's Christmas rules, the editors of HSJ and BMJ wrote: \"We believe the government is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives.\n\n\"If our political leaders fail to take swift and decisive action, they can no longer claim to be 'protecting the NHS'.\"\n\nThey stressed that demand on the NHS was increasing, and added that a new strain of coronavirus \"has introduced further potential jeopardy\".\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to convene an emergency Cobra meeting to review the Christmas rules.\n\nIn a letter, he acknowledged that people \"want to spend time with their families after this awful year\", but said \"the situation has clearly taken a turn for the worse since the decision about Christmas was taken\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The government needs to \"review\" and \"toughen up\" the planned Christmas virus restrictions, says Sir Keir Starmer.\n\nAt the end of November, the leaders of the four UK nations agreed to allow some coronavirus rules to be temporarily relaxed over the festive period.\n\nTravel restrictions will be eased to allow up to three households to form a bubble and stay overnight at each other's homes.\n\nAhead of the latest talks, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said there was \"a case\" for tightening planned rules over the Christmas period - \"both in terms of duration and numbers of people meeting\".\n\nShe said coming to a four nations agreement \"would be preferable\", but added: \"If that is not possible then of course we will consider within the Scottish government what we think is appropriate.\"\n\nWales' First Minister Mark Drakeford said he would not \"lightly\" put aside the agreement the four nations have reached, while Northern Ireland's health minister would not speculate on potential rule changes ahead of the call.\n\nAccording to a YouGov poll, a majority of people (57%) in Great Britain believe the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions over Christmas should be scrapped.\n\nSome 31% said the easing should go ahead as planned, while 12% said they were unsure.\n\nWhen the government announced the relaxation of rules for Christmas, it was hoped cases would be falling right up to the festive period.\n\nIt was mid-lockdown and with the new tougher system of regional tiers in the pipeline, the hope was that the virus could be contained.\n\nThat has not turned out to be the case - hence the moving of London and some of the surrounding areas into tier three.\n\nAs always, the bottom line is the risk to the NHS - so it's worth pointing out that for all the pressure at the moment hospitals still have more beds free than this time last year.\n\nThe full impact of the festive relaxation is, of course, impossible to predict. The UK's chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty has called it a \"modest\" relaxation - after all, in tier three areas hospitality will still be closed for all but takeaways.\n\nThe judgement that has been made is that the benefits outweigh the costs.\n\nAllowing families to come together will be an important boost after such a difficult year, the government believes. What is more, there was a fear the public would just ignore pleas not to mix.\n\nBut it clearly comes with risks - that's why the public is being asked to exercise caution.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What can I do under tier 3 restrictions in England?\n\nIf the UK's Christmas plans are not changed, BMJ editor in chief Fiona Godlee said \"we will have people sitting in ambulances, we will have people in corridors\" as hospitals become overwhelmed with a surge in Covid patients.\n\nSpeaking to BBC News, she said: \"On the current trend, if nothing is done, by New Year's Day there will be as many people in hospital with Covid-19 as there were at the peak of the first phase in April.\n\n\"That's even without the Christmas relaxation - so if you add that on top, and then on top of that the winter pressures that we always see in the NHS at winter, you will see a worrying scenario of people not being able to get the care they need.\"\n\nShe also said England's tiered system is \"not succeeding in what it set out to do\", as case numbers have continued to increase in some areas in the top tiers.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Londoners on tier three restrictions and Christmas\n\nA review of which areas of England are in which tier is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.\n\nIt has already been announced that some 10.8 million people across London, Essex and Hertfordshire will join tier three on Wednesday, bringing the total number of people living under the toughest restrictions to 34 million people - or 61% of England's population.\n\nUnder tier three - very high alert - rules, pubs and restaurants must close, except for takeaway and delivery, and indoor entertainment venues such as theatres, bowling alleys and cinemas must remain shut.", "England footballer Jack Grealish has been banned from driving for nine months and fined £82,499 for two motoring offences.\n\nCCTV footage from an incident on 29 March shows the Aston Villa captain crashing into parked vehicles after disobeying lockdown rules to meet friends.\n\nThe video shared by West Midlands Police also shows Mr Grealish driving carelessly on 18 October.", "Advice around celebrating Christmas safely across the UK is expected to be significantly strengthened in the coming days, the BBC has been told.\n\nPeople are likely to be urged to think carefully about travelling and to stay local where possible.\n\nHowever, it is unlikely the agreed rules - allowing up to three households to mix for five days - will change.\n\nOfficials from all four nations held talks on Tuesday - and more are scheduled to take place on Wednesday.\n\nIt comes amid concern that relaxing the restrictions will fuel a further surge in Covid-19 case numbers.\n\nTwo leading medical journals described the current rules as \"rash\".\n\nA source said no final decisions had been taken but people are likely to be told that the relaxations are limits not targets and that they should be cautious when forming household bubbles.\n\nIt is still hoped a common approach can be agreed across the four nations.\n\nUnder the agreed Christmas rules, travel restrictions will be eased from 23 to 27 December to allow up to three households to form a bubble and stay overnight at each other's homes.\n\nA spokeswoman for Northern Ireland's government said scientific advisers would be consulted ahead of any decision, while a Welsh government spokesman said talks on Wednesday would \"confirm the position\".\n\nAhead of the talks, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon argued there was a \"case\" for tightening the planned freedoms to combat a rise in infections and indicated she could break with the four-nations approach.\n\nMeanwhile, another 18,450 cases and 506 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported in the UK on Tuesday, government figures showed.\n\nThe four nations have been taking very different approaches to restrictions in the last few months, so agreeing a common approach to Christmas was no small ask.\n\nBut there are big questions now about what changes should be made given the rising number of Covid cases in many areas.\n\nI understand there are no plans to make changes to the restrictions in England; meaning it's unlikely the legal rules will change.\n\nHowever, we can expect firmer guidance in the next few days. One source on the call with the four nations told me there was an acceptance tougher messaging was needed.\n\nThere has been discussion about travel. Some are particularly worried about people moving from areas where the virus is spreading fast, to areas where it's fairly rare, and taking the virus with them. The new guidance could cover that - as well as reminding people the rules are a maximum, not a target.\n\nIt's not impossible that different parts of the UK will take different decisions. But there is still hope they can agree when talks reconvene on Wednesday morning.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on ministers to hold an emergency review of the plans.\n\nEarlier, No 10 said the rules were \"under constant review\" but it still intended to allow families to meet up.\n\nThe prime minister's spokesman said the government had been clear that people needed to \"remain cautious and vigilant\" during the five days of relaxed rules.\n\nAccording to a YouGov poll, a majority of people (57%) in Great Britain believe the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions over Christmas should be scrapped.\n\nSome 31% said the easing should go ahead as planned, while 12% said they were unsure.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The government needs to \"review\" and \"toughen up\" the planned Christmas virus restrictions, says Sir Keir Starmer.\n\nIn a joint editorial criticising the UK's Christmas rules, the editors of British Medical Journal and Health Service Journal wrote that the government was \"about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives\".\n\nThey stressed that demand on the NHS was increasing, and added that a new strain of coronavirus \"has introduced further potential jeopardy\".\n\nIf the UK's Christmas plans are not changed, BMJ editor in chief Fiona Godlee said hospitals could become overwhelmed with a surge in Covid patients.\n\nShe told BBC News: \"On the current trend, if nothing is done, by New Year's Day there will be as many people in hospital with Covid-19 as there were at the peak of the first phase in April.\n\n\"That's even without the Christmas relaxation - so if you add that on top, and then on top of that the winter pressures that we always see in the NHS at winter, you will see a worrying scenario of people not being able to get the care they need.\"\n\nShe also said England's tiered system was \"not succeeding in what it set out to do\", as case numbers have continued to increase in some areas in the top tiers.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What can I do under tier 3 restrictions in England?\n\nA review of which areas of England are in which tier is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.\n\nIt has already been announced that some 10.8 million people across London, Essex and Hertfordshire will join tier three from 00:01 GMT on Wednesday, bringing the total number of people living under the toughest restrictions to 34 million people - or 61% of England's population.\n\nUnder tier three - very high alert - rules, pubs and restaurants must close, except for takeaway and delivery, and indoor entertainment venues such as theatres, bowling alleys and cinemas must remain shut.", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Tuesday morning. We'll have another update for you at 18:00 GMT.\n\nEducation Secretary Gavin Williamson has told a London council it must withdraw its advice to schools to close early for Christmas or face legal action. Greenwich Council had told heads to switch to online learning from today given the surge in infections in the capital, and two other boroughs had followed suit. But Mr Williamson said such moves were not in the best interests of children and therefore, he had to act. It comes as watchdog Ofsted has voiced concern about the impact of isolation due to Covid on children's wellbeing.\n\nMr Williamson's intervention comes as the whole of Greater London - Greenwich included - prepares to enter the highest level of coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday, along with parts of Essex and South Hertfordshire. Our charts show area-by-area what's going on with infections, and our health correspondent explains what a new strain of the virus might have to do with the spike. All of this is raising questions about the relaxation of rules over Christmas. Scientists are very worried people from hotspot areas will spread the virus when they travel. Pressure is beginning to build on the government to review the plans, but No 10 says it doesn't intend to do that.\n\nFigures released this morning show redundancies rose to a record high of 370,000 in the three months to October. The unemployment rate rose to 4.9% for the same period. It comes as BBC analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics show women under the age of 30 have been hit especially hard by the economic impact of coronavirus. That age group has seen the sharpest increase in unemployment benefit claims. Our business reporter Lora Jones has spoken to some of them, including Rosalyn Jackson, an actress, who told us she felt guilt for turning to universal credit. We've also heard from some of the youngest workers - apprentices who were just starting out when the pandemic hit.\n\nRosalyn Jackson wasn't eligible to be furloughed and had to use up all of her savings\n\nVaccination programmes are under way in the UK and elsewhere, but the approval of a second jab, particularly the one being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, would give that mission a big boost - as we explain. Regulators are currently assessing its safety and efficacy - this is how - and hopes are high that they'll give the green light soon. BBC medical editor Fergus Walsh has followed the Oxford vaccine's journey. Bogus reports, accidental finds... read the story of the jab and the people behind it.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Elisa Granato was the first volunteer to be injected\n\nCharlie Mackesy is a cartoonist and author of the book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. During lockdown, he began creating drawings to cheer on key workers and his messages of hope captured the public's imagination. They've been displayed in hospital wards, on garden gates, and in school corridors, and turned into t-shirts for Comic Relief. Charlie tells us about his year and gives one more message: \"Remember that the storm ends.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Cartoonist Charlie Mackesy dedicated his drawings to the people on the front line against Covid\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, our lives have changed dramatically this year in so many ways. In twelve charts, and with the help of four of our correspondents, we set out some of them.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "A woman who called 999 while being attacked by her boyfriend used a silent code to tell police she needed help but was unable to speak, a court heard.\n\nEmma Parkinson raised the alarm when she was kicked in the face by Alexander Boy at her home in Exeter.\n\nBoy, 25, of Station Road, Keswick, admitted battery and was jailed for 16 months at Exeter Crown Court.\n\nMiss Parkinson pressed 55 during the 999 call. This told the operator she was too scared or unable to speak.\n\nThe system, called the Silent Solution helps call handlers distinguish between nuisance and genuine calls.\n\nThe attack happened on 13 September after Boy had been drinking, the court heard.\n\nHe woke Miss Parkinson up at 04:00 GMT by sitting at the end of her bed and playing loud music on his phone.\n\nWhen she kicked him off the bed, he pulled her to the ground before kicking her in the face.\n\nBoy was arrested as he fled Miss Parkinson's flat and officers found her injured in her bedroom.\n\nMiss Parkinson was left with bruising all over her face and head, the court was told.\n\nAlexander Boy was jailed for 16 months at Exeter Crown Court\n\nAt the time of the attack, Boy was serving a suspended sentence for two previous attacks on Miss Parkinson.\n\nJudge Timothy Rose told Boy: \"You have a very worrying inability to control yourself in matters of domestic violence.\n\n\"This assault occurred when you were under the influence of alcohol, which makes it worse rather than better.\"\n\nHe imposed a seven-year restraining order banning any further contact with Miss Parkinson.\n\nIn a victim impact statement, Miss Parkinson said she was being treated for depression and felt embarrassed for ignoring advice from friends who warned her against resuming the relationship.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Elizabeth has enjoyed getting \"glammed up\" for date nights Image caption: Elizabeth has enjoyed getting \"glammed up\" for date nights\n\nAll day, on BBC Radio 5 live, listeners are sharing their stories about Covid.\n\nElizabeth Blythe is 29 and lives in Stoke-on-Trent. She and her husband are 999 call assessors at West Midlands Ambulance Service.\n\nShe has had a tough year. As well as grieving for her dad who died last November, she had to postpone her honeymoon to New York because of Covid. Work has been challenging too.\n\n\"When coronavirus first hit the UK, it was pandemonium,\" she said. \"The phone was going constantly, you didn't get a break between calls.\n\n\"But as people got used to the 'new normal', the calls decreased quite a bit and it almost seemed that people were scared to call for an ambulance because they didn't want to go anywhere near where they thought coronavirus would be.\"\n\nTo make up for missing her honeymoon, Elizabeth and her husband have been having \"date nights\" to cheer themselves up.\n\n“I get myself all glammed up, he puts on nice clothes and we have a date night in the house,\" she said.\n\nHow has coronavirus impacted your life this year?\n\nText 5 Live on 85058 [Texts will be charged at your standard message rate. Check with your network provider for exact costs] or use #MyCovidYear on social media.\n\nWant to listen in? Head to BBC Sounds.", "A man is in a critical condition after a triple shooting in Hackney, east London.\n\nTwo other men were taken to hospital with \"gunshot injuries\" after shots were fired at about 21.45 GMT in Middleton Road.\n\nThe Metropolitan Police has launched an inquiry. No arrests have been made.\n\nA police cordon has been set up at the crime scene. Witnesses are asked to call 101, using reference 7439, the force said.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Aberdeen has seen a sharp rise in cases over the past week\n\nThree Scottish council areas are to have tougher coronavirus restrictions imposed from Friday in a bid to reverse rising numbers of cases.\n\nAberdeen, Aberdeenshire and East Lothian will all move from level two to level three of the five-tiered system.\n\nIt means people will no longer be allowed to travel outside of their own council area unless it is essential.\n\nPubs, cafes and restaurants will have to stop serving alcohol and must shut at 18:00.\n\nAnd indoor entertainment venues such as cinemas, bingo halls and amusement arcades will also have to close.\n\nAll of the country's other 29 council areas will remain in their current levels, including Edinburgh - which had been pushing to be downgraded from level three to level two.\n\nIt means that 80% of Scotland's population - about 4.35 million people - across 21 local authorities will be living under the level three rules when the changes come into force at 18:00 on Friday.\n\nThey include the 11 areas in western and central Scotland which were downgraded from the highest level four category last week.\n\nOnly four - Angus, Argyll and Bute, Falkirk and Inverclyde - remain in level two.\n\nHowever, Argyll and Bute is likely to move down to level one next week - and people living on the outer Argyll islands such as Islay, Mull and Iona will be able to meet in houses in groups of up to six from two households from Friday of this week.\n\nThe Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Highland, Moray, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are all already in level one, with no councils currently in the lowest level zero tier.\n\nAll of the levels will be reviewed again next Tuesday as a precaution ahead of the festive period.\n\nCase numbers in Aberdeen have increased from 76 cases per 100,000 to 122 over the past week, and in East Lothian from 69 per 100,000 people to 116.\n\nThe increase in Aberdeenshire has not been quite as sharp, but cases there are also rising.\n\nAlexander Burnett, the Scottish Conservative MSP for Aberdeenshire West, said it was \"extremely disappointing\" that the area had been moved to level three so close to Christmas, and called for extra financial support to be put in place by the Scottish government.\n\nHe added: \"Our hospitality sector has been decimated by repeated closures and this is likely to hurt even more during what is supposed to be one of their busiest periods.\"\n\nEast Lothian Council said its move to level three was disappointing but understandable given the high infection rates in the area in recent weeks.\n\nTory councillor Douglas Lumsden, the co-leader of Aberdeen City Council, said he was \"not too surprised\" by the decision to move the area up to level three, but questioned role of the hospitality sector in spreading the virus.\n\nAnd the Scottish Licensed Traders Association said continual uncertainty over the levels was \"hugely unfair\" on businesses which were being expected to \"switch on and off like a tap\".\n\nIt added: \"It's not just a case of opening the doors - premises have to order supplies and organise staff rotas. Many have already taken the decision to remain closed until 2021 because of this uncertainty.\"\n\nSpeaking as she announced the changes, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon acknowledged that the level three restrictions would cause \"real and continued difficulties for many businesses\", particularly in the hospitality sector.\n\nBut she insisted that the move was essential to bring the virus under control again.\n\nNine cases of a new strain of the virus have now been detected in Scotland after emerging in the south of England\n\nMs Sturgeon said Angus and Falkirk would both be monitored \"very carefully\" over the next week after a rise in cases in both areas, with a move to level three not being ruled out.\n\nCases have also \"increased quite sharply\" in East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and Fife, she said, adding: \"While the changes in these areas do not warrant a move to level four at this stage, we will be monitoring the situation very closely over the next few days.\"\n\nAnd she said it would be \"deeply irresponsible\" to ease restrictions in Edinburgh or neighbouring Midlothian as cases were rising sharply in both.\n\nThe rate in Edinburgh has increased from 70 to 100 per 100,000 over the past week, and in Midlothian from 88 to 147 per 100,000, with test positivity rates also increasing in both areas.\n\nMs Sturgeon took part in a four-nation call with leaders from around the UK later on Tuesday, which she told MSPs she had requested after a new strain of the virus was identified in England.\n\nNine cases of the new strain have now been confirmed in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, the first minister confirmed.\n\nThe talks were aimed at examining whether changes should be made to the planned relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions across the UK over Christmas, which will allow eight people from three households to mix indoors between 23 and 27 December.\n\nThey broke up with no decision being reached, although further discussions have been scheduled for Wednesday.\n\nSpeaking ahead of the meeting, Ms Sturgeon said: \"I do think there is a case for us looking at whether we tighten the flexibilities that were given any further, in terms of duration and numbers of people meeting.\"\n\nThe first minister said she would prefer to come to an agreed position across the UK, but said the Scottish government would \"consider what we think is appropriate\" if this was not possible.\n\nThe planned relaxation of the rules at Christmas has been described as a \"rash decision\" that will \"cost many lives\" by the both the Health Service Journal and British Medical Journal.\n\nScottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said the rising number of cases across many parts of Scotland ahead of the festive break showed that the journals were right.\n\nHe added: \"It is rather concerning that the first minister was unable to tell parliament what position she would be advocating on behalf of Scotland in intergovernmental discussions planned for this afternoon.\"\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on ministers to hold an emergency review of the Christmas plans.", "People are being warned to watch out for parcel delivery scams during the Christmas postal rush.\n\nCriminals are looking to defraud consumers by posing as well-known delivery companies, the banking trade body UK Finance has warned.\n\nFraudsters have been sending emails saying they have not been able to deliver goods, and then ask for a fee to rearrange the delivery.\n\nThey then try to extract financial details which are used to commit fraud.\n\nCustomers are typically tricked into clicking on links to seemingly genuine websites requesting personal and financial information such as their address, date of birth, mobile number or bank details.\n\nIn some cases, victims receive a call from the criminal later pretending to be from their bank's fraud team, trying to persuade them to move their money to a safe account or reveal their pass codes.\n\nUK Finance says the public should also be aware of an increased risk of scam phone calls and fake delivery notices posted through letterboxes.\n\nThese notices will ask for advance payment or for customers to provide information that is later used to defraud them.\n\n\"Unscrupulous criminals will stop at nothing to commit fraud and that includes exploiting the festive season to target their victims,\" said Katy Worobec, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance.\n\n\"We are urging people not to give a gift to fraudsters this Christmas and to follow the advice of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign. Always take a moment to stop and think before parting with your information or money and avoid clicking on links in an email or text message in case it's a scam.\"\n\nOne IT worker, who didn't want to give his name, told the BBC he received an email earlier this month purporting to be from the delivery firm DPD. It asked him to pay £2 for re-delivery.\n\nHe entered his bank details, but when he checked his account balance two days later he discovered a new purchase from Apple UK for £409.\n\n\"I fell for it without thinking as I have a lot of deliveries at the moment,\" the IT worker said.\n\nThe man's bank refunded the full amount and promised to investigate the fraud.\n\nBut not all victims will be so lucky. Some banks refuse to refund money that's been lost when victims volunteer information such as bank details, even though they've been duped.\n\nUK Finance says people should watch out for mis-spelled names, or cards and communication without your name specifically on them.\n\nIf you are asked to contact the delivery firm, copy and paste any web address into a new browser, rather than clicking straight onto a link and phone numbers should be checked against the company's own listed numbers.\n\nThe Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign is urging people to:\n\nHave you been the victim of a parcel fraudster? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Nelson said it was time to \"embark on a new chapter\"\n\nJesy Nelson has left Little Mix, saying being part of the pop group had \"taken a toll on my mental health\".\n\nShe explained: \"I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard.\"\n\nWriting on Instagram, the 29-year-old said being in the band had been \"the most incredible time\" but it was now time to \"embark on a new chapter\".\n\nHer former bandmates said it was \"an incredibly sad time for all of us but we are fully supportive of Jesy\".\n\nThe news comes a month after Nelson said she was taking an \"extended\" break from the pop group for \"private medical reasons\".\n\nLeigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall performed as a trio on Strictly Come Dancing at the weekend.\n\nLittle Mix formed on The X Factor in 2011\n\nIn her statement, Nelson said she had made her decision \"after much consideration and with a heavy heart\".\n\n\"I need to spend some time with the people I love, doing things that make me happy,\" the singer continued.\n\nThe remaining members added: \"We know that Jesy leaving the group is going to be really upsetting news for our fans.\n\n\"We love her very much and agree that it is so important that she does what is right for her mental health and well-being.\"\n\nThey said they were \"still very much enjoying our Little Mix journey\" and would continue as a trio.\n\nLittle Mix formed on The X Factor in 2011 and have gone on to record six UK top 10 albums and four number one singles. They are currently number five in the chart with their hit Sweet Melody.\n\nLast year, Nelson was widely praised for discussing her mental health struggles in a BBC Three documentary.\n\nThe group were recently seen looking for a new backing band to join them on tour in the BBC One talent show Little Mix: The Search.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.\n• None BBC Three - Jesy Nelson: 'Odd One Out'", "A court sketch of Ghislaine Maxwell appearing at her arraignment hearing in July\n\nGhislaine Maxwell has asked a US judge to release her under a proposed $28.5m (£21.4m) bail package as she awaits trial on sex crime charges.\n\nThe British socialite is accused of helping the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein groom young girls.\n\nA court filing released on Monday said Ms Maxwell \"vehemently maintains her innocence\" and asked to be freed from jail until her trial.\n\nShe wants instead to be confined to her home and protected by armed guards.\n\nJudge Alison Nathan could rule on this latest bail request in New York by the end of the year.\n\nMs Maxwell's previous request for bail when she was arrested in July was denied.\n\nMs Maxwell was in a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in the 1990s. The financier died in a prison cell in August last year as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges, more than a decade after he was convicted for soliciting prostitution from a minor.\n\nFour of the charges against Ms Maxwell relate to the years between 1994 and 1997, when prosecutors say she helped Epstein groom girls as young as 14. The other two charges are allegations of perjury in 2016.\n\nShe faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted in her trial, which is scheduled to begin next July.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. New York attorney: Ghislaine Maxwell \"helped exploit girls as young as 14-years-old\"\n\nThe court filing released on Monday said that Ms Maxwell's husband would post a bond to support her bail application. Financial documents within the filing said they had been married since 2016, but do not name her partner.\n\nHer lawyers said the multi-million dollar bail proposal represents all of their joint assets, including three homes.\n\n\"Ms Maxwell wants to stay in New York and have her day in court so that she can clear her name and return to her family,\" the filing reportedly said, adding that the 58-year-old was \"not the person the media has portrayed her to be\".\n\nOfficials denied her initial request for bail when she was first arrested in July. At the time the court deemed she was a flight risk, despite her defence team denying this and alleging that she was at \"serious risk\" of contracting Covid-19 during her detention.\n\nJeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in New York in 2005\n\nShe was quarantined at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn last month after a staff member tested positive for the virus. Prison officials say she is treated like other inmates and that she remains in good health, despite her defence team saying she has suffered hair and weight loss.\n\nThe daughter of a late British media mogul, Ms Maxwell was in a relationship with Epstein. She allegedly introduced him to wealthy and powerful figures.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ros Atkins has taken a look at the many remaining questions for Ghislaine Maxwell", "Les Miserables: The Staged Concert opened on 5 December in the West End\n\nLondon theatres have been given the \"devastating news\" that they must shut again as the city moves into England's highest tier of Covid-19 restrictions.\n\nA number of West End shows had restarted over the last two weeks.\n\nThe Society of London Theatre said the move would cause \"catastrophic financial difficulties\" for venues, producers and thousands of workers.\n\nCulture Secretary Oliver Dowden said he knew it would have a \"huge impact\" but that the government \"must act quickly\".\n\nThe measures mean Tuesday night will see the last live performances in London for an indefinite period.\n\nThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Pantoland at the London Palladium on Friday\n\nSocially distanced performances to smaller audiences had been allowed in London since the last national lockdown ended.\n\nShows that had opened included Six the Musical, Love Letters, Everybody's Talking About Jamie and a concert version of Les Miserables starring Michael Ball and Alfie Boe.\n\n\"It was nice while it lasted,\" tweeted Carrie Hope Fletcher, who was also part of the Les Miserables cast at the Sondheim Theatre.\n\nProducer Sir Cameron Mackintosh, whose shows include Les Miserables, said the government's \"sudden volt[e] face\" was \"devastating for both the theatre and the economy\".\n\n\"The constant changes of rules and advice we have received is impossible for any business to react to,\" he continued. \"Where is the leadership this government promised?\"\n\nHe now had \"no idea when theatres are to be allowed to reopen\", he added.\n\nAndrew Lloyd Webber, who owns the London Palladium, said it seemed \"arbitrary and unfair\" that theatre performances were being banned while shopping could continue. But he said he \"reluctantly\" agrees with the decision to put London into tier three.\n\nPantoland at the Palladium, starring Julian Clary, Elaine Paige, Ashley Banjo and Nigel Havers, was among the other shows to have opened. On Friday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took their three children to a special performance of the production.\n\nProducer Michael Harrison announced on Twitter that its \"final\" two performances would take place on Tuesday and criticised the government's \"yo-young approach on advice\".\n\nHe said: \"It is not possible for any business to function in an environment where our leaders seem to have no idea how our country will look from one week to the next.\"\n\nThe National Theatre will also have to close Dick Whittington, only the second pantomime it has ever staged.\n\nActress Elaine Paige said she was disappointed that the theatre has to close, asking in a tweet why it was theatres were closing when Tube journeys and flights were still allowed.\n\n\"These rules are illogical,\" she said. \"The audience response shows how desperate they are for 2hrs of escapism. If its so terrible - cancel Christmas!\"\n\nThe Society of London Theatre's chief executive Julian Bird said the announcement was \"devastating news for the city's world-leading theatre industry\".\n\n\"The past few days have seen venues beginning to reopen with high levels of Covid security, welcoming back enthusiastic, socially distanced audiences,\" he said.\n\n\"Theatres across London will now be forced to postpone or cancel planned performances, causing catastrophic financial difficulties for venues, producers and thousands of industry workers.\"\n\nDeath Drop at the Garrick Theatre is another show affected\n\nHe urged the government to \"recognise the huge strain this has placed on the sector and look at rapid compensation to protect theatres and their staff over Christmas in all areas of the country\" that are in tier three.\n\nMr Dowden said the rules had been tightened because the capital's rising coronavirus figures were \"deeply concerning\".\n\nThe remaining £400m from the government's Culture Recovery Fund would \"be there to help those affected by [the] changes\", he promised.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Oliver Dowden This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nJon Morgan, director of the Theatres Trust, called London's move into tier three \"a disaster\" for the sector.\n\n\"Theatres have worked incredibly hard to create safe environments for audiences and through no fault of their own will now face enormous financial losses,\" he said.\n\nHe called for a government-backed insurance scheme for theatres, a request that was echoed by Sonia Friedman, producer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and other shows.\n\nShe said: \"London going into tier three is yet another blow for British theatre - one it simply cannot afford after a brutal year, and one that both could and should have been avoided.\n\n\"This feels like a final straw,\" she said of the latest measures, calling them \"proof that this government does not understand theatre and the existential crisis it is facing\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Behind the scenes at the Arts Theatre in London to meet the sassy women in King Henry VIII's life\n\nThe producers of Six the Musical said it was \"frustrating that our industry has been sidelined once again and an already hard hit sector will have to try and survive with no income for a further period of uncertainty\".\n\nAndy Barnes and Kenny Wax said they and their fellow producers were \"being penalised for reopening the sector and rejuvenating the West End\".\n\nThe move into tier three will also see cinemas and other entertainment venues forced to close their doors.\n\nThe measures will have an impact on the UK release of Wonder Woman 1984, which is due to hit cinemas on Wednesday.\n\nA government spokesperson pointed to its £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund and said it remains \"completely committed\" to supporting the arts industry during the pandemic.\n\nThey added: \"We held back £400m of contingency funding so we could respond to the changing public health context and will now use it to support organisations facing financial distress as a result of closure, as well as helping them transition back to fuller opening in the spring.\"\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Having to isolate because of Covid-19 is having a detrimental effect on children's education and well-being, particularly the most vulnerable, warns England's chief inspector of schools.\n\nAmanda Spielman says periods of repeated isolation have \"chipped away\" at progress since September's return.\n\nShe also warns that those arriving at secure children's homes have in effect been put in \"solitary confinement\".\n\nMinisters say it a \"national priority\" to keep schools and colleges open.\n\nIn a set of reports looking at the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on children, the Ofsted boss said: \"Remote education is better than nothing, but it's no substitute for the classroom.\n\n\"The problem that schools are continuing to grapple with is how to provide meaningful remote education under two distinct circumstances: bubble isolation and individual isolation.\n\n\"Many schools are making real progress with remote provision for bubbles - including live or recorded online lessons - but individuals who are isolating for a fortnight at a time often have a poorer experience.\n\n\"Whole bubbles can make some progress through the planned curriculum while they work from home, but many isolated individuals are provided with work that consolidates previous lessons, rather than new material.\n\n\"For these children, the loss of learning they experienced in the summer is being repeated.\"\n\nMs Spielman says many children are at least six months behind where they should be\n\nMs Spielman said many children are thought to be \"at least six months behind where they should be\".\n\n\"And for a significant number of pupils, repeated periods of self-isolation have chipped away at the progress they have been able to make since September.\"\n\nOfsted also found that the number of children being home schooled has risen again, with almost three-fifths of schools telling inspectors they had at least one pupil whose parents had removed them from school to be home educated.\n\nThe watchdog also warns that children with special educational needs and disability often struggled with the restrictions placed upon them, with many not attending school full-time.\n\n\"Remote education was a challenge for some of these children, particularly if their parents were unable to support them,\" said Ms Spielman.\n\n\"And when vulnerable children are not at school and are out of sight, they may be at risk of abuse or neglect.\"\n\nMs Spielman said youngsters who live in secure children's homes have had a difficult year, as they are \"vulnerable and many are at risk of self-harm\".\n\n\"The guidance on Covid security has added another layer of pressure to an already pressurised system. Children arriving at the homes were put into isolation for 14 days.\n\n\"In effect, this created a form of solitary confinement - and we learned that this removal from contact had resulted in greater anxiety, an increase in self-harm and, in some cases, physical attacks on staff.\"\n\nThe chief inspector said that while homes were working hard, the use of temporary workers to cover staff having to self-isolate meant there was \"not always the consistency of support that these children need\".\n\nA Department for Education spokeswoman said it remained a \"national priority\" to keep schools and colleges open for all.\n\n\"Schools and colleges have gone above and beyond to make high-quality remote education available for those times when self-isolation is unavoidable and we remain on course to deliver, by Christmas, half a million devices to schools and councils.\n\n\"We have also allocated £1bn to schools to support all children to catch up and are offering high-quality tuition - proven to help catch up on three to five months' lost learning - to those who need it most through the National Tutoring Programme.\"\n\nOfsted says remote education is no substitute for the classroom\n\nMs Spielman said that while \"there is real optimism that the end is finally in sight for the sort of restrictions that we currently live under\", there is a long way to go before education and social care return to normal.\n\nShe added: \"Faced with all of these pressures, the education and social care sectors are showing considerable resilience and creativity to provide children and learners with the best experience they can.\n\n\"And all of this is being done against the most challenging backdrop for staff in recent times.\n\n\"I would like to record my appreciation for everyone working in education and social care - from child-minders and social workers to teachers and college tutors.\"", "A speeding driver who killed a 13-year-old girl and seriously injured her sister and mother has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.\n\nIngrid Messenger was in the rear seat of a Citroen C4 hit by Tony Packenham's Land Rover Defender near Carlisle on 18 February 2019.\n\nThe 47-year-old was \"absolutely flying\" at almost 80mph (128kmh) prior to the crash, the city's crown court heard.\n\nAt a previous hearing, he admitted causing death by dangerous driving.\n\nWitnesses said the Land Rover was speeding before the crash at a crossroads between Stoneraise and Ivegill on the C1036.\n\nIngrid's mother, Catriona Messenger, suffered a broken pelvis, ruptured diaphragm and spinal fractures, and was unable to walk unaided for three months.\n\nHer eldest daughter - front-seat passenger Erikka, then aged 15 - suffered a broken shoulder blade and bleeding on the brain.\n\nTony Packenham had been warned he faced prison at a previous hearing\n\nProsecutor Brendan Burke told the court the crash at 14:30 GMT would have been averted had Packenham not been driving \"well over\" the 60mph speed limit and \"in disregard\" of the wet road surface, warning signs before the crossroads and hazards created by two other vehicles.\n\nVideo footage from his dashcam captured the crash and police recovered a memory stick he had thrown into bushes.\n\nPackenham, of Station Hill, Wigton, also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and admitted his dangerous driving caused serious injury to Mrs Messenger and Erikka.\n\nIn an impact statement, Mrs Messenger had spoken of the \"devastating and irreparable loss\" of her daughter and said her heart was \"forever broken\".\n\nThe court was told Packenham had been \"in a hurry\" to get home and was remorseful having \"devastated\" the lives of the Messengers and his own family, with his elderly parents being unable to visit him in prison.\n\nJudge Nicholas Barker said Packenham's speeding had been \"excessive\" with \"catastrophic and tragic consequences\".\n\nFollow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Tourists and scientists gathered at an observation site in Argentina's Neuquen province to watch a total solar eclipse.\n\nThe spectacle was visible from a 90km corridor spanning Chile's southern Pacific coast, across the Andean mountain range, and into Argentina.\n\nThe eclipse is the second to be visible in South America in 18 months, though poor weather conditions in Chile affected the visibility of the phenomenon when the moon passes between the sun and Earth.", "File photo of healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic in Paris\n\nHundreds of immigrants in France working on the coronavirus frontline have had their service to the country recognised with fast-track citizenship.\n\nThe interior ministry invited residents helping with efforts against Covid-19 to apply for accelerated naturalisation.\n\nMore than 700 have already been granted citizenship or are in the final stages of receiving it.\n\nFrontline workers around the world have been exposed to Covid-19 at a high rate with many dying from the disease including doctors and nurses.\n\nFrance is in the top 10 countries worst hit by coronavirus infections, with more than 2.5 million confirmed cases and close to 62,000 deaths.\n\nThe expediated citizenship initiative was first announced in September. Seventy-four people have already been granted a French passport and another 693 are in the final stages. A total of 2,890 people have applied so far.\n\n\"Health professionals, cleaning ladies, childcare workers, checkout staff: They all proved their commitment to the nation, and it is now the turn of the republic to take a step towards them,\" the office of Marlene Schiappa, junior minister for citizenship, said on Tuesday.\n\nNormally a successful applicant must have been resident in France for five years with a stable income and demonstrated integration into French society.\n\nBut the government has said frontline Covid workers must only live in France for two years to be eligible for citizenship in recognition of their \"great services rendered\".\n\nIn 2017 France's immigrant population was 6.4 million, including a significant number from former colonies including in north and west Africa, but becoming a citizen can be a fraught and slow process. The number of people granted naturalisation is decreasing, with 10% fewer in 2019 than in 2018.\n\nIt isn't the first time that France has recognised bravery and contributions to the nation with citizenship.\n\nIn 2018, Malian man Mamoudou Gassama was awarded French citizenship after he was dubbed \"spiderman\" for rescuing a small boy dangling from a Paris balcony.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.", "Hauliers will have to prove they have tested negative for coronavirus before travelling\n\nThousands of drivers are facing another night in their lorries, despite France reopening its border with the UK.\n\nLorries began boarding ferries at Dover on Wednesday after travel restrictions were lifted by the French government on the condition of a negative Covid test.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps said the government was using \"every tool we can\" to clear the backlog.\n\nAround 170 army personnel are helping to conduct tests, but police and weary drivers have clashed over long waits.\n\nAt the temporary lorry park at Manston airfield, drivers complained of limited food supply and inadequate bathroom facilities.\n\nMr Shapps warned of \"a lot of congestion and some, I'm afraid, anti-social behaviour around the ports that the police have been dealing with\".\n\nHe said 6,000 lorries were in the area and the government had called in the Army to assist with getting the hauliers who had tested negative on their way - but added it was \"not something that could be done instantaneously\" and said people should stay away from Kent and the ports.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Some drivers complained about unsanitary conditions and a lack of food\n\nFrance closed its border to arrivals from the UK late on Sunday amid concern over a highly-transmissible virus variant that was spreading in the UK.\n\nLatest measures allow French citizens, British nationals living in France and hauliers to travel - if they test negative less than 72 hours before departure.\n\nAll drivers, regardless of nationality, are required to take a rapid lateral flow test - with the results sent by text within 30 minutes. Drivers who test positive will be offered Covid-secure accommodation to self isolate, government minister Robert Jenrick said earlier.\n\nTesting will also take place on the French side for hauliers entering the UK.\n\nSome frustrated drivers staged a protest outside the port earlier in the day\n\nMr Shapps said the NHS Test and Trace team were conducting \"roving tests of hauliers\".\n\nHe added: \"They have to do that in many different languages because almost all the hauliers, I think well over 95%, are not UK hauliers. So they're having to deal with a lot of different things.\"\n\nEurotunnel said around around 700 cars, 50 vans and 20 trucks have been able to cross the Channel since this morning, and a \"flow\" of trucks has arrived at the British terminal since 16:00 GMT.\n\nKent County Council leader Roger Gough said tensions between police and drivers had calmed down but added the situation remained \"quite fragile\".\n\nHe told BBC Radio Kent that the \"most difficult\" challenge is clearing a route from Manston Airport to Dover, around 20 miles south, because of standing traffic.\n\n\"Whilst we're able, for instance, to get some progress in terms of people travelling via the Eurotunnel, it's much harder to get vehicles to the port in the current situation,\" he said.\n\nOne lorry driver complained to the BBC: \"Police three days ago told us that testing will start soon, but they don't know when and that's why people are protesting.\n\n\"We just want to do the test and just go straight home.\"\n\nOne driver told the BBC he is tired and does not have much food.\n\nRod McKenzie of the Road Haulage Association described the situation as \"chaos\", saying information given to lorry drivers had been \"extremely poor\".\n\n\"They're tired, frustrated, desperately wanting to get home for Christmas,\" he said.\n\nA government statement said they were \"working tirelessly to provide support to hauliers awaiting testing at Manston and the M20\" and free food and water was being provided.\n\nTypically around 10,000 lorries a day travel between Dover and Calais at Christmas, bringing in the fresh produce and the British Retail Consortium has warned the border closure may lead to some temporary food shortages.\n\nIt comes as a further 39,237 people in the UK tested positive for virus - an all-time high - and there were 744 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to government figures.\n\nAre you a lorry driver? Have you been affected by the delays? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Communal signing isn't allowed in the UK under coronavirus guidelines but researchers are hoping to find the evidence needed to bring it back.\n\nUniversity College London has been analysing how wearing a face mask could make communal singing safe enough.", "Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has said that \"for the first time ever\" she will not cook a Christmas turkey this year.\n\nInstead, she told the BBC's Newscast podcast, she would be cooking pork.\n\nWhile restrictions have been eased for some parts of the UK over Christmas, millions of people will not be allowed to see their loved ones.\n\nAnd Lawson, 60, said she felt following a traditional path while not having \"a family Christmas\" would make her \"feel what's missing\".\n\n\"I actually - and I only made the decision a couple of days ago - for the first time ever, I am not going to do a turkey - and I always do,\" she said.\n\n\"It's not going to be a normal family Christmas, therefore I think I will feel less sad doing something that is just a lovely lunch, that takes in a few Christmas traditions from elsewhere that interest me, but [does] not... make me feel what's missing.\"\n\nShe added: \"One of the things I think we've all realised is how we miss having people round our table, and therefore all that worrying over 'is this perfect, should we do this or that', you realise that is actually secondary to the feeling of eating with other people.\"\n\nHowever, Lawson believes many people will see things differently.\n\n\"I would have thought, for many people, the strange conditions under which we live will make them want to cleave to the traditions, and not add new and different things,\" she said.\n\nThe former journalist also revealed that, despite the difficulties of social distancing, she had coped well during the pandemic.\n\nAsked about spending time by herself, she said: \"I haven't been lonely once.\n\n\"I have been very happy. I'm almost afraid to say it as it makes me sound pathologically unsociable, but I've rather enjoyed it.\"", "Tesco has introduced purchasing limits on some products including eggs, rice, soap and toilet roll.\n\nThe move is to make sure everyone has access to the products, it said in an email to customers.\n\nCustomers are allowed to buy up to three of each item.\n\nThe move comes as almost 3,000 lorries remain stranded in Kent after restrictions on travel and freight between the UK and France were introduced.\n\nThe supermarket giant also encouraged customers to shop alone to ensure social distancing in stores.\n\nTesco said it has \"good stock levels\" and customers should \"shop as you normally would\".\n\nTesco introduced limits on some products in September in a bid to prevent a repeat of the panic-buying that led to shortages in March.\n\nFrance shut its UK border for 48 hours on Sunday amid fears of a new coronavirus variant.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps has since announcedthat some travel can resume, although lorry drivers are still advised not to travel to Kent after days of disruption.\n\nDozens of other countries have banned UK arrivals, including India, Iran and Canada.\n\nAny solution would probably include testing for lorry drivers, BBC Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield said.\n\nFrench authorities say some journeys will be allowed for residents and nationals with a recent negative test. Hauliers are expected to be updated later on Tuesday.\n\nMeanwhile, the EU Commission has urged other countries to drop their travel bans.\n\nIn a recommendation to all member states, it said flight and train bans should be discontinued to avoid supply chain disruption.\n\nPeople should be allowed to travel to their country of residence, provided they take a Covid-19 test or self-isolate, it said.\n\nBut the commission added that non-essential travel should still be discouraged.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nOn Monday, Tesco and Sainsbury's warned that some fresh items could run short if no way is found to get freight moving again.\n\nMuch of the UK's fresh vegetable stock comes from continental Europe in the winter, including tomatoes and cabbages.\n\nTesco anticipated that produce such as lettuces and citrus fruit could be hit.\n\nSainsbury's told the BBC that it did not currently have any product caps in place, and said it had \"good availability\".\n\nAndrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, pointed out that retailers have stocked up on goods ahead of Christmas, which should prevent immediate problems.\n\nHowever, he said that if testing is required to reopen borders \"we need to ensure it is quick to avoid adding friction to the supply chain.\n\n\"We have stressed to government there is no alternative to reopening the channel ports, given that it is a key supply route for fresh produce at this time of year.\"\n\nThe Channel is a vital trade route, with about 10,000 lorries a day travelling between Dover and Calais at Christmas, often bringing in the freshest produce.", "Posh cars on the driveway of his suburban house gave clues to Maher's lifestyle\n\nA UK-based haulier shipped drugs for gangs across Europe from his Warrington living room in lockdown.\n\nThomas Maher, originally from Ireland, has been sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to more than 14 years in jail after pleading guilty to drugs and money-laundering charges.\n\nHe made thousands of pounds a week, using an encrypted Encrochat phone to fix the movement of drugs and money.\n\nHe is the first major crime boss jailed using messages obtained when French police cracked the Encrochat network.\n\nThe phones were considered mandatory for high-end organised crime, and more than a thousand suspects have been arrested on the strength of the evidence their messages contain.\n\nMaher, 39, used the Encrochat handles \"Satirical\" and \"Snacker\" as he did deals with organised crime networks in the UK, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and Bulgaria.\n\nThe National Crime Agency says he was \"hugely influential\" among Europe's drug cartels.\n\nSentencing him, Judge Aubrey QC said Maher was \"a high-ranking facilitator... a go-between for criminal networks needing to transport their drugs between Holland and Ireland\".\n\nPassing a sentence of 14 years and eight months, the judge told Maher: \"You were an extremely important cog in the wheel of a sophisticated network.\"\n\nMaher would arrange for lorries to move massive loads of drugs hidden alongside legitimate cargoes such as fruit or wine in one direction and then to bring cash in the other direction.\n\nThe NCA kept Maher under surveillance after French police passed on details of his activities\n\nPolice found out about his operation after he was arrested in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants while they were being transported to the UK in October 2019. He had previously owned the trailer in which they were found.\n\nThe NCA put him under surveillance in an attempt to identify the scale of his criminal activities.\n\nHowever, the cracking of the Encrochat network by French intelligence and the Gendarmerie provided the National Crime Agency with thousands of his encrypted messages.\n\nThey were able to watch, almost in real time, as he did deals with crime bosses around Europe.\n\nMartin Clark, from the NCA, said he posed as an \"honest haulier\", but was in fact \"very much a professional facilitator and he's done it all remotely sitting in his living room\".\n\n\"He's never personally been anywhere near any of it.\"\n\nIn fact, the NCA said he had been scrupulous about social distancing during the pandemic while communicating via Encrochat with dozens of criminals.\n\nThe evidence the agency has uncovered shines a new light on the way in which a smuggling network operates.\n\nMaher would be contacted by clients wanting to move hundreds of kilos of drugs.\n\nThe messages were written in criminal slang. He would discuss deals involving shipments of \"tops\" (top shelf drugs such as cocaine), or \"Colo\" (the purest form from Colombia).\n\nHeroin, which he deemed a more downmarket drug, was known as \"bottoms\".\n\nShipments might come from \"The Flat\" (The Netherlands) and the lorry returned with \"paper\" (cash).\n\nOfficers working on Encrochat cases are having to develop skills in understanding the slang suspects are using in their messages. In this message Thomas Maher (Satirical) is telling an alleged co-conspirator that they're not doing too badly despite the lockdown.\n\nHelpfully for police he sets out the network of drug transportation routes he is currently operating:\n\n\"Taxi ways are working out OK at the minute with this fella from flat to ours and Belgium to ours am other that's two - and plus a driver with [redacted] for Poly's sun to flat and we still have [redacted] turk to flat and and his men [redacted] to here where I am. Once we get this travel ban lifted m8 we be on the pigs bk that alone is a lot of taxi plus we have the receiver here from Asia so m8 we have a lot more than others... that's why I'm not stressing yet\n\nThe police translation reads: \"Our HGV drug courier business is working out OK at the moment. Someone is bringing shipments from Holland and Belgium to the UK. There's a driver for ecstasy from Spain to Holland, and we still have Turkey to Holland, and [redacted] is bringing shipments to the UK. Once the travel ban is lifted we will be doing rather well. That alone is a lot of shipments plus we have someone bringing drugs in from Asia. So, we have a lot more than other gangs... that's why I'm not stressing yet.\n\nHowever, like many users of the Encrochat network, Maher believed his messages could not be read, so he didn't bother trying to communicate in code.\n\nCrucial evidence was obtained from pictures on his phone. His drivers would photograph the shipments to prove they had been picked up.\n\nThey would sometimes use a \"token\" during the handover.\n\nThis involved showing a particular Euro bank note, with digits previously agreed as evidence of identity.\n\nWhen Maher was moving drugs he would earn around £3,500 each time. For money, transported for laundering in consignments of 300,000 euros at a time, he would \"skim\" 1% of the total as his payment\n\nHe was \"always showing £50 notes in the pub\", Martin Clark said, and people were suspicious that he was a criminal.\n\nMaher lived in a \"fairly modest\" Cheshire home, but police surveillance spotted luxury cars including a Range Rover, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes GLS and Corvette parked on the drive.\n\nWhen they raided his house they found evidence he had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on Rolex and Hublot watches.\n\nHe had taken holidays in Dubai, Mexico and New York where he liked to buy pricey modern art, including a map of the world created from bullets.", "Residents of care homes have been given a higher priority than other older people\n\nOlder people in Wales should be told when to expect a Covid vaccination, a commissioner representing them says.\n\nHelena Herklots says more clarity on the plan for over-80s in Wales would be \"helpful\" in light of different approaches elsewhere in the UK.\n\nFormer MP Ann Clwyd said many feared they were missing out as jabs were being given out in parts of England.\n\nThe Welsh Government says health boards are beginning to invite some people over the age of 80 for vaccination.\n\nThe priority list puts vulnerable people into nine groups. Priority one is care home residents and staff, with priority two being people over 80 along with front-line health and care workers.\n\nDefending the Welsh Government's handling of the vaccine rollout, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said on social media the vaccine programme is \"not stuttering in Wales\" and was ahead of England per-head of population.\n\nMr Gething said: \"I appreciate some people will be concerned but I can say categorically that people in Wales are not being left behind.\"\n\nHelena Herklots said there was \"potential confusion\" because of reports of vaccination rollouts elsewhere\n\nMs Herklots said older people wanted the vaccine as soon as possible and \"a great deal of work\" was going into to rolling out the vaccine \"quickly and effectively\".\n\n\"Given reports in the past few days about the different approaches being taking to deliver the vaccine in different parts of the UK, and the potential confusion this could cause, it would be helpful for the Welsh Government to provide further information to older people about its plans, clearly setting out what the arrangements will be and when they can expect to be vaccinated,\" the commissioner said.\n\nMs Clwyd, 83, who was Labour MP for Cynon Valley for 35 years, has also called for clarity.\n\n\"People are very afraid and they want assurances. They want to know what is happening,\" she told BBC Wales.\n\nAnn Clwyd: \"They think everybody's getting the vaccine apart from them\"\n\n\"I know people around me who are more elderly than I am, and ill, and they've had no notification at all.\n\n\"They're hearing what's happening in England and they think everybody's getting the vaccine apart from them.\"\n\nA Welsh Government spokesperson said: \"The safety and protection of the most vulnerable people is at the heart of our response to the pandemic.\n\n\"Health boards are starting to invite some people over 80 for vaccination now. We are hoping the second vaccine - the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine - will be approved by the UK regulator as this will help us accelerate our vaccination programme and provide more clinics in primary care settings, like GP practices.\"\n\nAcross Wales more than 25,000 people have received the first of two doses of the vaccine.\n\nCurrently only one vaccine, BioNTech/Pfizer, has been approved for use in the UK.\n\nWe can now see for the first time the breakdown of the numbers of people in Wales on the priority list for vaccines.\n\nThey include more than 40,000 people living or working in care homes, thousands of front-line NHS and social care staff and the 174,000 people aged over 80.\n\nMore than 1.4 million people in all belong to one of the nine priority groups - including the overlap of about 192,000 people who may belong to more than one group.\n\nThis leaves another one million or so people under 50, without a risk condition, who will be in line eventually to receive a vaccine.\n\nWelsh Conservative health spokesman Andrew RT Davies called on the Welsh Government to \"get a grip\".\n\n\"The vaccination programme is stuttering into life in Wales with some real concerns around lack of access for care homes and the over 80s compared to other parts of the UK,\" he said.\n\n\"To keep confidence Welsh Labour ministers need to get a grip. Otherwise, there is a risk, given the scale of the vaccination programme, the public will lose confidence in the Welsh Government's ability to deliver it, replicating their shambolic handling of the virus to date.\"\n\nPlaid Cymru Member of the Senedd Dai Lloyd also criticised \"a dearth of information about vaccine rollout for the over-80s, which only adds to the anxiety people are facing over this Christmas\".\n\nDr Lloyd, who is a GP, added: \"Reports suggest that other UK nations are well ahead of us in Wales, which is an unacceptable situation.\n\n\"To reflect Wales's older population, Plaid Cymru had called for vaccines to be allocated according to need, not simply allocated by population. The UK and Welsh Government must urgently reassess whether Wales is getting its fair share.\"", "A man who rode from Scotland to the Isle of Man by jet ski to see his girlfriend has left the island by ferry upon his release from jail.\n\nDale McLaughlan made the four-and-a-half hour crossing from the Isle of Whithorn to Ramsey on 11 December.\n\nHe then walked another 15 miles (25km) to his girlfriend's home in Douglas.\n\nThe 28-year-old - who served part of a four-week sentence for the Covid-19 border control breach - told the BBC he was \"happy to be going home\".\n\nUnder current Isle of Man coronavirus laws McLaughlan, from Irvine in North Ayrshire, was required to leave the island after his release or face further prosecution.\n\nSpeaking to Isle of Man Newspapers, his girlfriend Jessica Radcliffe said: \"I don't understand why he's been told to leave when he's isolated for two weeks before he came over with a negative test.\n\n\"He had a negative test in jail, he didn't put any of the public at risk, and he's done isolation in jail.\n\n\"That's four weeks already, so why does he need to leave the island? To punish him this much, they shouldn't be doing that.\"\n\nMcLaughlan was arrested two days after his arrival, having spent time mixing with people in two busy nightclubs, his court case heard.\n\nDouglas Courthouse heard it was the first time he had used a jet ski.\n\nOnly non-residents given special permission are currently allowed to enter the island.\n\nMcLaughlan's defence advocate said he suffered from depression and was not coping with being unable to see his partner.\n\nChief Minister Howard Quayle said the sentence sent \"a strong signal\" to potential lawbreakers.\n\nWhy not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and Twitter? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The UK has detected two cases of another new variant of coronavirus, the health secretary Matt Hancock says.\n\nThe cases in London and north west England are contacts of people who travelled to South Africa, where the variant was discovered.\n\nTravel restrictions with South Africa have been imposed.\n\nAnyone who has travelled there in the past fortnight, and anyone they have been in contact with, are being told to quarantine immediately.\n\nThe variant has been causing mounting concern in South Africa, where health minister Zweli Mkhize warned that \"young, previously healthy people are now becoming very sick\".\n\nHe said the country \"cannot go through what we went through in the early days of the Aids pandemic\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Dr Zweli Mkhize This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nScientists in South Africa say the variant has \"spread rapidly\" and became the dominant form of the virus in parts of the country.\n\nThe variant is still being analysed, but the data are consistent with it spreading more quickly.\n\nIt was detected for the first time in the UK on Tuesday.\n\nThis variant shares some similarities to the one that has already been detected in the UK, although they have evolved separately.\n\nBoth have a mutation - called N501Y - which is in a crucial part of the virus that it uses to infect the body's cells.\n\nProf Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, said: \"I think the greatest concern of ours at the moment is the South African one.\n\n\"There's certainly anecdotal reports of explosive outbreaks for that virus and very steep increases in case numbers.\"\n\nAt the Downing Street press briefing, Mr Hancock said the new variant was \"highly concerning\" and that anyone told to quarantine must avoid \"all contact with any other person whatsoever\".\n\nAt the same briefing, he announced millions more people were being moved to Tier 4 on Boxing Day in an effort to control the virus.\n\nDr Susan Hopkins, from Public Health England (PHE), said \"both look like they are more transmissible\" but said they were \"still learning\" about the variant imported from South Africa.\n\nShe said she was \"pretty confident\" the quarantine and travel rules would control the spread of the new variant.\n\nProf Lawrence Young, from Warwick Medical School, said: \"The standard measures to restrict transmission (hands, face, space) will prevent infection with this variant.\n\n\"The move to harsher levels of restriction across the country is inevitable. \"\n\nThe government tightened restrictions for the festive season, including closing beaches along the famous Garden Route in Western Cape province.\n\nIt faced resistance from the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), and some lobby groups, who challenged the decision in the courts, arguing that the closure of beaches would have a devastating effect on small businesses.\n\nBut judges upheld the restrictions, saying the government had a duty to protect the health of people.\n\nWestern Cape premier Alan Winde said hospitals in the province were under \"severe strain\". The province had more Covid-19 cases this time around than during the first wave.\n\nSouth Africa has so far recorded about 950,000 cases and more than 25,000 deaths - the highest in Africa.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Some drivers complained about unsanitary conditions and a lack of food\n\nLorry drivers who have tested negative for coronavirus have begun boarding ferries at the port of Dover after France reopened its border with the UK.\n\nSome 3,800 lorries have been parked up in Kent after France closed its UK border on Sunday amid concern over a fast-spreading variant of the virus.\n\nFrance ended its ban on UK arrivals on Wednesday, on the condition that people were tested before travelling.\n\nEarlier, police clashed with drivers who have spent days in their cabs.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps warned there were \"severe delays\" and urged people to avoid travelling to Kent.\n\nAround 50 countries imposed a ban after the UK warned of a new, fast-spreading variant of coronavirus.\n\nThe French government's ban, introduced on Sunday, has now been eased to allow French citizens, British nationals living in France and hauliers to travel - if they test negative less than 72 hours before departure.\n\nSoldiers have joined NHS Test and Trace staff in Kent to carry out rapid tests on thousands of stranded lorry drivers.\n\nBut Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said it could take \"a few days\" to clear the backlog.\n\nLorry drivers will have to prove they have tested negative for coronavirus before travelling\n\nA number of drivers clashed with police this morning, with officers trying to push back a small crowd trying to enter the Port of Dover.\n\nKent Police said one man is in custody after being arrested for obstructing a highway in Dover and there have been disturbances at Manston Airport, where a lorry-holding facility run by the Department for Transport is now full.\n\nThe entrance to the Port of Dover is currently closed with a line of police officers blocking it, BBC reporter Amanda Akass said.\n\nThey told her they will not start allowing vehicles through until \"protesters\" - several dozen drivers - move from the roundabout at the entrance.\n\nBut the drivers have said they will not move as they do not want to go to the back of the queue and cannot move as the road is blocked in both directions.\n\nOne driver told the BBC he is tired and does not have much food.\n\n\"We are very tired. We're staying in cars, we don't have a lot of food, no money,\" one driver told the BBC.\n\n\"Police three days ago told us that testing will start soon, but they don't know when and that's why people are protesting,\" another said.\n\n\"We just want to do the test and just go straight home.\"\n\nRod McKenzie of the Road Haulage Association described the situation as \"chaos\" as lorry drivers headed to ports thinking the borders would be open.\n\n\"They're tired, frustrated, desperately wanting to get home for Christmas,\" he said.\n\nHe said the information given to them has been \"extremely poor\", while food provision, toilets and washing facilities were \"inadequate\".\n\nRichard Lloyd, director of a British firm that imports farm machinery from Poland, said he had been called by the family of a driver who was stuck without food, asking whether he could get a loaf of bread to the lorry.\n\n\"He didn't want to go anywhere because of the security of the truck, and obviously a place in the queue, so it was a desperate situation,\" Mr Lloyd said.\n\nThe government says free food and water is being provided. A statement said there are 12 food trucks at Manston Airport and eight more arriving, and more than 200 toilets. It also said there are toilets stationed every kilometre between parts of the M20.\n\n\"We are working tirelessly to provide support to hauliers awaiting testing at Manston and the M20,\" it said.\n\nBy Simon Jones, BBC reporter at the scene\n\nFrustrated lorry drivers have confronted the police as tensions over their continuing confinement threatened to boil over.\n\nSome hauliers marched out of the Manston lorry park, where they've been forced to sleep in their cabs, demanding to know when they'll be allowed to go home.\n\nThere's a huge backlog of traffic to clear. Some hauliers said they'd been told the testing on the site was initially delayed because the tests got held up in traffic.\n\nManston is now full - so there'll be some pressure on the authorities to get as many tests done as quickly as possible to clear space for any new arrivals.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Aerial views of the thousands of lorries stuck in Kent since the border shut\n\nEurotunnel said around around 700 cars, 50 vans and 20 trucks s have been able to cross the Channel since this morning, and a \"flow\" of trucks has arrived at the British terminal since 16:00 GMT.\n\nRoger Gough, leader of Kent County Council, told BBC Radio Kent that the \"most difficult\" challenge is clearing a route from Manston Airport to Dover, around 20 miles south, \"to be able to get those lorries onto the ferries\".\n\n\"Whilst we're able, for instance, to get some progress in terms of people travelling via the Eurotunnel, it's much harder to get vehicles to the port in the current situation,\" he said.\n\n\"The problem is also that - particularly for the non-HGV traffic, the families and so on - you have some really quite worrying welfare situations,\" he said.\n\nHe added that the British authorities are in a \"race against time\" because the last ferry leaves on Christmas eve, and are trying to persuade the French to \"keep things running on the Calais side over Christmas day\".\n\nMore than 5,000 lorries are being held in Kent, according to the Department for Transport.\n\nOfficials have been going from lorry to lorry to provide tests.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel urged hauliers \"not to travel to Kent as we work to alleviate congestion\" as \"travelling now will slow things down\".\n\n\"Tourist travellers who are not French residents should not travel,\" she tweeted.\n\nThe Port of Dover also urged passengers not to turn up without a negative coronavirus test.\n\nNHS Test and Trace staff have been going from vehicle to vehicle with tests at Dover.\n\nMr Jenrick told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it is likely to take \"a few days\" to clear the backlog of lorries that have built up.\n\nHe said there would be \"multiple testing sites\" at Manston Airport and elsewhere.\n\nRapid \"lateral flow\" tests will be used, which can detect the new variant and work like a pregnancy test to give a result in about 30 minutes.\n\nFreight drivers will receive their test result by text, and a negative result gives them the right to cross the Channel.\n\nIf they test positive they will be offered Covid-secure hotel accommodation nearby where they will have to self isolate.\n\nTesting will also take place on the French side for hauliers entering the UK.\n\nGermany's Lufthansa airline is airlifting fresh fruit and vegetables to the UK on Wednesday as firms seek to beat the lorry chaos at sea ports.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Lufthansa News This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe British Retail Consortium also warned there may be shortages of some fresh goods until the backlog is cleared.\n\nThe Road Haulage Association said: \"Even if the border is opened up, a short delay in the process is going to mean huge delays in the supply chain.\"\n\nNormally, about 10,000 lorries a day travel between Dover and Calais at Christmas, largely bringing in the freshest produce.\n\nMore than 50 other countries, including Germany, Italy, India and Pakistan, are continuing to block travellers from the UK.\n\nThe Netherlands and Belgium have also now lifted their ban, but will only accept people if they have a recent negative result.\n\nThe Netherlands has demanded UK arrivals use so-called PCR tests, which can take over 24 hours to turn around as they require a lab.\n\nThe European Commission has urged other EU member states to lift travel bans affecting the UK - but said non-essential travel should be discouraged.\n\nOn Tuesday, a further 36,804 people in the UK tested positive for coronavirus and there were 691 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to government figures.\n\nIt was the largest daily number of cases recorded yet, though it is thought the infection rate was higher during the first peak in spring when testing was much more limited.\n\nAre you a lorry driver? Have you been affected by the delays? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Men who became fathers during the pandemic lockdown have been talking about how coronavirus left them unable to go maternity appointments and be present during their partner's labour.\n\nThe three fathers met through online group Music Football Fatherhood, which has been supporting dads throughout the pandemic on parenting dilemmas.\n\nAt the start of lockdown hospitals put restrictions in place on people allowed in hospitals, but the NHS has now revised the rules.\n\n\"Pregnant women value the support from a partner, relative, friend or other person through pregnancy and childbirth as it facilitates emotional wellbeing,\" it now says.\n\n\"It is therefore our aim, further to a risk assessment, that a woman should have access to support from a person of her choosing at all stages of her maternity journey and that all trusts should facilitate this as quickly as possible.\"", "Joe Biden will have to build up his official Twitter followers from scratch\n\nTwitter has confirmed that the official US presidential accounts will be wiped of their millions of followers before being transferred to the Biden administration.\n\nMr Biden's team \"fought\" the plan, but the social media giant said its decision was \"unequivocal\".\n\nThe move marks a reversal from the last transition.\n\nTwitter agreed to Donald Trump's request in 2016 to inherit Barack Obama's millions of followers.\n\n“In 2016, the Trump administration absorbed all of President Obama's Twitter followers on @POTUS and @WhiteHouse - at Team 44's urging,” Rob Flaherty, the president-elect's digital director, tweeted on Monday.\n\n“In 2020, Twitter has informed us that as of right now the Biden administration will have to start from zero.”\n\nIt affects followers of government-led accounts such as @POTUS and @FLOTUS.\n\nTwitter said those who follow the current presidential accounts will be notified that they are being archived, and will be given the choice to follow the Biden administration's new accounts.\n\nMr Biden’s personal account, @JoeBiden, has 21.7 million followers, and will be unaffected by the move.\n\nPresident Trump has famously used his Twitter accounts, both professional and personal, to engage with voters.\n\nDuring his time in the White House, he has tweeted more than 50,000 times.\n\nHowever, according to Factbase, a website that tracks tweets and follower counts, Mr Trump has lost 369,849 followers on his personal account since November.\n\nIn the same timeframe, President-elect Joe Biden has gained 2,671,790 followers.\n\nThe decision from Twitter comes just days after chief executive Jack Dorsey unfollowed numerous political figures on the platform, including Mr Trump, Mr Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris.\n\nMarketing specialist Rebecca Lodge, from Start Up Disruptors, said of Twitter's decision: \"With millions of people following an account and Donald's 'fans' being quite fanatical, it could be a clever move by Twitter to ensure that any potential negative and hate-fuelled tweets are neutralised before the new president-elect takes up his position.\"", "No lorries are leaving the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel for France\n\nChaos at ports caused by EU border closures has set back the UK's efforts to reassure foreign customers post-Brexit, the food industry has said.\n\nFood and Drink Federation boss Ian Wright said UK exporters wanted to make sure foreign firms could rely on their supply chains after 1 January.\n\nBut the current crisis had harmed their cause, he told MPs.\n\n\"We've just proved... that you can't trust British products,\" he said. \"And that's really unhelpful.\"\n\nMr Wright was giving evidence to an emergency hearing of the Commons business committee, called to examine the impact of the border delays on UK business and security of supply.\n\nFrance shut its UK border for 48 hours on Sunday amid fears of a new coronavirus variant in the UK. More than 50 countries have now banned UK arrivals.\n\nAt the same time, UK-EU talks on a post-Brexit trade deal are continuing, with nine days left to reach and ratify any agreement.\n\nMr Wright said the current scenes at Dover, where the number of lorries stranded and unable to cross to France has continued to rise, could be \"replicated at any point\".\n\n\"I think we will see this happen particularly if we get a no-deal Brexit,\" he added.\n\nMr Wright said there were thought to be 4,000 trucks on their way to Dover at various points. He warned that the number could grow by the end of the day to possibly as high as 6,000 or 7,000.\n\nHe also criticised the government's handling of the announcement at the weekend and urged it to compensate those who had lost out.\n\nThe committee also heard that there were concerns over the welfare of lorry and van drivers caught up in the disruption, as the facilities provided for them are considered inadequate.\n\n\"We have no confidence, we have never had any confidence drivers will be looked after,\" said Duncan Buchanan of the Road Haulage Association.\n\n\"This is a very serious problem - whether you have moved trucks from one place to another, it is irrelevant.\"\n\nMr Buchanan said it was the start of supply chain disruption \"of the like we have probably never experienced\".\n\n\"Many of the retailers are saying that we are up until Christmas, we will be fine until Christmas at least, but we must recover very fast to keep the shops fully stocked after Christmas. It's a big worry,\" he added.\n\nAndrew Opie, of the British Retail Consortium, agreed, saying that if lorries were not moving within 24 hours, there could be problems with the availability of fresh food products from 27 December.", "Peter Cruddas won a libel case against the Sunday Times in 2013\n\nBoris Johnson has nominated businessman Peter Cruddas for a peerage, despite his rejection by the honours watchdog.\n\nThe Lords Appointments Commission did not support ennobling the businessman, who quit as Tory co-treasurer in 2012 following cash-for-access allegations.\n\nMr Cruddas later won a libel case against a newspaper over its claims.\n\nMr Johnson rejected the commission's recommendation, becoming the first PM to ignore its advice on a nomination since it was set up in 2000.\n\nLabour accused Mr Johnson - who received £50,000 from Mr Cruddas for his campaign to become Conservative leader in 2019 - of \"cronyism\".\n\nFormer Archbishop of York John Sentamu and ex-MI5 boss Sir Andrew Parker are also among those given peerages in the political honours list.\n\nMr Cruddas, who has donated more than £3m to the Conservatives since 2007, resigned as party co-treasurer in 2012 after a newspaper story suggested he was offering access to then Prime Minister David Cameron for a donation of £250,000 a year.\n\nBut the following year he won £180,000 in damages in a libel victory against the Sunday Times, which had published the claims. The damages were later reduced to £50,000 on appeal.\n\nIn a letter to the Lords appointment commission, Mr Johnson said its rejection of Mr Cruddas's nomination for a peerage related \"to historic concerns in respect of allegations\" made during his time as co-treasurer.\n\nBut he added that these had been found to be \"untrue and libellous\" and that an internal Conservative Party investigation had discovered \"no intentional wrongdoing\" on Mr Cruddas's part.\n\nMr Johnson also said the committee had found \"no suggestion of any matters of concern\" before or since the 2012 allegations.\n\nFormer Archbishop of York John Sentamu is among those honoured\n\nMr Cruddas, the founder of financial services company CMC Markets and a prominent Brexit supporter, had a \"long track record of committed political service\" and was one of the UK's \"most successful business figures\", the prime minister argued.\n\nThe commission provides advice but appointments to the Lords are ultimately a decision for the prime minister.\n\nLabour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: \"After months of revelations about the cronyism at the heart of this government, it's somehow appropriate the prime minister has chosen to end the year with a peerage to Peter Cruddas.\"\n\nShe added that there was \"one rule for the Conservatives and their chums, another for the rest of the country\".\n\nFormer environment minister Sir Richard Benyon; former MEPs Dame Jacqueline Foster, Syed Kamall and Daniel Hannan; Cerebral Palsy Scotland chief executive Stephanie Fraser; and Dean Godson, director of the Policy Exchange think tank, have also been nominated for Conservative seats in the Lords.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer chose Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake; former MPs Vernon Coaker and Jennifer Chapman, who chaired his Labour leadership campaign; former MEP Wajid Khan; and Gillian Merron, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and a former Labour MP.\n\nAs well as Mr Sentamu and Sir Andrew, the nominations for crossbench - non-party - peerages are former judge Sir Terence Etherton and Sir Simon McDonald, former permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office.\n\nThe Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, criticised the number of new peers, which will bring the total membership of the House of Lords to more than 830, accusing Mr Johnson of a \"massive U-turn\" on his predecessor Theresa May's policy of reducing it in size.\n\nIt added \"insult to injury\" that the appointments had been announced while Parliament was in recess, he said.\n\n\"It may also now be the time to review the role and the powers of the House of Lords Appointments Commission,\" Lord Fowler added.", "British model Stella Tennant has died at the age of 50, her family have said.\n\nThe Scot made her name in the early 1990s on catwalks for designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Versace, and on the covers Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.\n\nHer family said: \"Stella was a wonderful woman and an inspiration to us all. She will be greatly missed.\"\n\nThey said her death was \"sudden\", and police said there were \"no suspicious circumstances\". Her death came five days after her 50th birthday.\n\nThe family statement said: \"It is with great sadness we announce the sudden death of Stella Tennant on 22nd December 2020...\n\n\"Her family ask for their privacy to be respected. Arrangements for a memorial service will be announced at a later date.\"\n\nTennant made her name in the 1990s, when she was in her 20s\n\nTennant shot to fame after being photographed for British Vogue at the age of 22 in 1993, and went on to work with designers and fashion houses including Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein, Jean Paul Gaultier and Burberry.\n\nVersace paid tribute to Tennant on Twitter, saying she was \"Gianni Versace's muse for many years and friend of the family\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by VERSACE This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nTennant was known for her androgynous sultry looks and aristocratic heritage, being the granddaughter of the 11th Duke of Devonshire, Andrew Cavendish, and Deborah Mitford.\n\nShe also starred in the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games alongside fellow British models like Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.\n\nTennant (left) with Kate Moss (centre) and Naomi Campbell at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony\n\nBefore becoming a model, she studied at Winchester School of Art and embarked upon a career in sculpting, which she described as \"my first love\".\n\nEven after being spotted by Vogue photographer Steven Meisel, she wasn't sure if she wanted a career in modelling.\n\n\"I didn't know if I wanted to be objectified,\" she told The Evening Standard in 2016. \"I thought it was a big, shallow world and I wasn't really sure if I liked the look of it.\"\n\nBut she did join the fashion world, and said the 90s were \"a great time to start modelling\".\n\nIn the late 90s, Lagerfeld unveiled her as the new face of Chanel, noting her resemblance to Coco Chanel.\n\nTennant (right) with designer Karl Lagerfeld and fellow models Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Kate Moss in 1996\n\nTennant retired from the catwalk in 1998 as she was pregnant with her first child, but later returned.\n\nShe married French-born photographer David Lasnet in the small parish church of Oxnam in the Scottish Borders in 1999. They had four children.\n\nShe also worked on campaigns to promote using less energy and to reduce the environmental impact of fast fashion.\n\n\"It's going to take us a long time to change our habits, but I think that this is so obviously a step in the right direction,\" she told The Guardian last year.\n\nShe walked the runway during the Valentino Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week in January\n\nShe said at the time that she was reusing clothes she has had since the 90s and only buying about five new items a year.\n\n\"At my age I think it's probably quite normal you're not that interested in consuming, [and not] loving shopping as much as when you're much younger. We all need to think a little bit harder.\"\n\nIn 2012, she was inducted into the Scottish Fashion Awards Hall of Fame.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "The changes apply to people buying second homes in Wales\n\nAn increase in land transaction tax for second homes in Wales has begun with just a few hours' notice, causing \"chaos\" according to a solicitor.\n\nSecond home-owners must now pay an additional 4% levy when they buy properties up to £180,000, rising to 16% for homes worth at least £1.6m.\n\nBut solicitors said they were \"dismayed\" at being given just hours' notice of the changes.\n\nThe Welsh Government says they could help raise £13m for social housing.\n\nA spokeswoman added: \"As with any budget announcements, these changes were not shared in advance.\"\n\nThe Law Society says the changes only applying in Wales but not England may mean solicitors over the border handling purchases in Wales may not be aware until they do a final calculation upon completion.\n\nDavid Greene, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, said solicitors were dismayed when the changes were announced on Monday to come into effect on Tuesday, adding: \"These last-minute changes come at a time when solicitors are under enormous pressure.\"\n\nIn the village of Abersoch, Gwynedd, a beach hut can cost as much as an affordable home\n\nProperty solicitors were already dealing with Wales adopting stricter lockdown measures and people seeking to move before the 31 March tax holiday deadline, Mr Greene said.\n\nThey are dealing with \"record numbers of transactions, which are being hit by delays in searches\", he added.\n\n\"They now have clients who face paying thousands of pounds more if they are unable to proceed with their transaction within the very short notice period given.\"\n\nEdward Friend, director of Carreg Law in Carmarthenshire, said five of his clients due to complete on Monday or Tuesday were affected - with some managing to do so before the tax hike came in and others now having to pay extra money they had not anticipated.\n\n\"It amounted to four working hours' notice, so yes it has been chaotic.\n\n\"If you own a property and you buy another, it could be for your son or daughter or you're working somewhere, a holiday home or because you're separating - it catches you and you have to pay an increase.\n\n\"Yesterday we had transactions that were going to be completed yesterday and today, mirroring each other, and clients completing today are paying a significant amount more.\n\nMr Friend said his firm was now having to go through every file it has open, and inform clients they will have to pay more land tax than in the quote originally given.\n\n\"You tend to report how much it costs at the beginning so they're budgeting from the moment they put the offer in, the finances for a transaction take place a week before so they have to pay that difference on the spot.\n\n\"The reason it's chaotic is we have to go through the files we've opened and inform all the clients, and that's had to be done at the busiest time of the year.\"\n\nMr Friend added he had been contacted by firms in England asking for clarity.\n\n\"Every solicitor is unlikely to be aware, one English firm last night at 5:25 emailed me asking if their transactions are affected. It shows the pressure they are under.\n\n\"In my experience they've never been this last minute, they normally give you notice of the change.\"\n\nMr Friend added people who have exchanged but not yet completed are exempt from paying the extra tax - which he said was \"unfair and unjust\" as the exchange date is often beyond the client's control.\n\nThe changes to land transaction tax are part of the Welsh Government budget\n\nThe move comes as part of the Welsh Government's budget for 2021-22.\n\nFinance Minister Rebecca Evans said the budget would mean \"difficult choices\" as extra Covid-19 funding dries up.\n\nOpposition parties have said Wales needs a Covid-19 recovery plan.\n\nWhile Wales received an extra £5bn in funding from the UK government this year to deal with the pandemic, this will fall to £766m in 2021-2022.", "A child under the age of one has died with Covid-19 in Scotland, official figures show.\n\nThe death of the baby girl is the youngest Covid death in Scotland and the only one under the age of 15.\n\nNational Records of Scotland (NRS) counts all death certificates that mention Covid-19, even if the person has not been tested for the virus.\n\nThe baby's death was registered between 14 and 20 December along with 202 others that week.\n\nIn total, 6,298 death certificates in Scotland have mentioned Covid-19 since the outbreak began in March.\n\nAbout 75% of all these deaths are of people aged 75 or over, with 15% in the 65-74 age group.\n\nThe latest NRS figures also show that the total number of \"excess deaths\" in 2020 is now the highest for at least 40 years.\n\nExcess deaths are counted above an average from the last five years.\n\nThere have been 62,415 deaths from all causes so far this year, compared with a five-year average of 57,760 - an excess of 4,655.\n\nThere were 58,108 deaths in Scotland last year, with 1,122 excess deaths.\n\nSince the first Covid-19 deaths were registered in Scotland on 17 March there have been 6,399 excess deaths, but the number of deaths in the first weeks of 2020 was below average which makes the overall figure lower.", "Ministers are deciding whether more areas of England should be placed under the toughest coronavirus restrictions in a bid to contain the spread of a new variant of Covid-19.\n\nCabinet minister Robert Jenrick said No 10 would make a judgement on whether the current rules were strong enough.\n\nHe said there was no immediate plan to widen curbs on Boxing Day but \"the number of cases is rising\".\n\nHe will be joined by England's deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries and Dr Susan Hopkins of Public Health England.\n\nThe Covid operations committee, chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has been discussing the tiered system - earlier than the 30 December official review date - amid concern over the rapid spread of the new variant.\n\nThe latest change to restrictions placed London and large parts of south-east England under new tier four rules, as millions saw their festive plans scrapped or severely restricted.\n\nIt comes as the UK's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance previously warned that extra curbs were likely to be needed in more areas of England to control the new variant.\n\nHe told a Downing Street briefing on Monday that measures could \"need to be increased in some places, in due course, not reduced\".\n\nMr Jenrick said earlier that ministers were \"trying to retain the robust tiered system\" which takes a \"proportionate approach\" across the country, but said it had been designed before the new Covid variant became apparent.\n\nHe said the variant - which could be up to 70% more transmissible than previous strains - was now present in other areas of the country, albeit to a \"lesser extent\" than in London, south-east and the east of England.\n\nHe said: \"The tiered system was designed before we knew the full ferocity of the new variant, and so we have to make sure it's sufficiently robust to be able to withstand this and to stop cases rising at the very worrying levels they are now in parts of the country.\"\n\nProf Neil Ferguson, whose scientific modelling led to the March lockdown, said the variant is \"everywhere now\" but said he anticipated that tier four restrictions and stricter rules over Christmas elsewhere could have a beneficial impact.\n\nHe told the Commons Science and Technology Committee: \"Schools are now shut, we are in a near-lockdown situation across the country. Contact rates are lower over Christmas.\n\n\"I expect, though I hesitate to make any sort of predictions, we will see a flattening of the curve in the next two weeks. We will see at least a slowing of growth.\n\n\"The critical question is what happens in January and the extent we want to make public health measures more uniform across the country if the new variant is everywhere.\"\n\nThe UK's R value - the number of people that one infected person will pass on a virus to, on average - is thought to have risen slightly to between 1.1 and 1.3 - up from 1.1 and 1.2 the week prior, according to the latest data published by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).\n\nOn Tuesday, a further 36,804 people in the UK tested positive for the virus and there were 691 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to government figures.\n\nIt is the largest daily number of cases recorded yet, though it is thought the infection rate was higher during the first peak in spring when testing was much more limited.\n\nMr Jenrick said decisions from the committee would be communicated \"as soon as we can\" and that there was \"absolutely no plan\" at the moment to change restrictions before Christmas Day.\n\nUnder the revised Christmas rules for England, only people living in tiers one to three are permitted to socialise in a bubble of three households on 25 December.\n\nThose in tier four areas must only celebrate Christmas with members of their own household and support bubble. They will not be allowed to travel to other tiers to see family and friends.\n\nMr Jenrick said the PM had been \"very clear\" that even outside of tier four, there was a \"strong degree of personal judgment to be exercised here\".\n\nHe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"It's still up to people to come to a conclusion as to how many members of their family or other households they want to bring together on Christmas Day.\n\n\"The strong advice is to keep it small, to keep it short and therefore to be safe.\"\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has written to Mr Johnson to say his party will back any government moves to tighten restrictions if that is what scientists recommend.\n\nOn Wednesday, Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth urged the prime minister to act before it's too late.\n\nHe told BBC Breakfast: \"What we're saying to Boris Johnson is, last time you received advice from the scientists for tougher restrictions, you sat on it, you dithered, you delayed.\"\n\nHe urged the PM not to \"sit on the advice this time\", adding \"we know delaying has devastating consequences.\n\n\"If you're advised to take tougher action, take it, do it, act with speed, don't be behind the curve again.\"\n\nThe Labour leader of Crawley Borough Council, which is currently in tier two but bordering tier four areas, has said the area would be hit hard by a potential tightening of restrictions, and accused the government of failing to provide support.\n\nCllr Peter Lamb told BBC News that Crawley \"might\" be placed in a higher tier, adding that case numbers there \"would suggest that if it's not going in now, it will be going in at some point in the near future\".\n\nHe said there had been \"no coming back\" for Crawley - which includes Gatwick airport - since the March lockdown, and it was \"still waiting\" for the government to \"give us some support to get through this\", adding that more businesses would be impacted if the area was placed under the toughest measures.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Covid in Scotland: Advice moving to 'stay local, stay at home'\n\nThe top level of Covid-19 restrictions in Scotland may need to be strengthened further to contain the new strain of the virus, Nicola Sturgeon has warned.\n\nThe whole Scottish mainland is to move into level four from Boxing Day due to concerns about the new Covid variant.\n\nThe first minister said this was \"essential\" to protect the NHS and contain the faster-spreading virus.\n\nAnd she said consideration must be given to whether the current level four rules were sufficient to do the job.\n\nThe government is to narrow the definition of \"essential retail\" - forcing homeware shops and garden centres to close - while guidance urging people to stay at home as much as possible may be put down in law.\n\nMs Sturgeon told MSPs that the current rate of new cases in Scotland was currently \"significantly lower\" than in other parts of the UK, but said the new variant of Covid-19 necessitated \"real action\" and \"significant countermeasures\".\n\nThe move to level four will see blanket travel restrictions in place between every council area in Scotland, with people barred from leaving their local area other than for essential reasons.\n\nHospitality venues will have to close, as will \"non-essential\" shops - with this definition being expanded to include even more premises.\n\nSchools are to stay closed until 11 January, and most pupils will learn from home until at least 18 January - a situation Ms Sturgeon said would remain \"under review\".\n\nThe government is also examining whether the current level four measures will be enough to contain the new strain of the virus, which studies suggest can spread up to 70% faster than previous variants.\n\nMs Sturgeon said a decision on whether this was necessary would be taken as more evidence about the new variant became available.\n\nShe said: \"The current level four restrictions are not as stringent as the March lockdown, and up to now that has been a good thing.\n\n\"However it seems we may be facing a virus that spreads much faster now than in March, so we must consider whether the current level four restrictions are sufficient to suppress it in the weeks ahead.\"\n\nThe first minister said failing to take strong action quickly would see \"another period of exponential growth\" of the virus in the new year.\n\nShe said: \"This is preventative action, because we see a train coming rapidly down the track at us and we're trying to get out of its way.\"\n\nScottish Conservative group leader Ruth Davidson said \"most people understand\" the need for tighter curbs, but said \"in return they are demanding as much clarity from government as conceivably possible\".\n\nShe said people were tired of \"supposedly time-limited firebreaks stretching into months\", asking whether parents should start \"preparing now for a long haul of blended learning at home\".\n\nMs Sturgeon hinted that tighter measures might be introduced in a bid to see schools open again full time, saying that \"continues to be a priority\" for the government.\n\nShe said the intention was to reopen schools fully on 18 January \"if it is at all possible\", adding: \"If that means the rest of us living under more severe restrictions we will not shy away from that.\"\n\nScottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie also asked about schools, calling for \"widespread routine testing\" for teachers and expanded use of remote learning.\n\nMeanwhile Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said the government had \"abandoned\" the levels system for a blanket lockdown, saying that \"three weeks does not sound like three weeks, but considerably longer\".\n\nHe said if the new strain of the virus was 70% more transmissible, the government should commit to a 70% increase in business support and virus testing and a similar acceleration of the vaccination programme.\n\nMs Sturgeon said she would seek to get back to the local levels system \"as quickly as possible\", adding that the vaccine was being rolled out as quickly as possible and there were no \"simple equations\" around boosting support.\n\nLib Dem leader Willie Rennie voiced concerns about NHS boards cancelling \"ever greater numbers\" of non-urgent procedures, with the first minister saying the return of elective treatment relied on suppressing the virus as far as possible.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Heavy rain brings flooding and road closures two days before Christmas\n\nFirefighters have dealt with 500 flooding calls following heavy rain across south and mid Wales.\n\nHomes in Cardiff, Newport, Vale of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire have been flooded, two days before Christmas, South Wales fire service said.\n\nThe heavy rain has also caused travel chaos with roads closed and train services cancelled across Wales.\n\nA Met Office weather warning covering all but north Wales counties is in force until early on Christmas Eve.\n\nForecasters said up to 70mm (2.8in) of rain could fall throughout Wednesday into Thursday.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Anthony Lock 🎅 This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nNewport council officials said they have been dealing with \"significant levels of flooding\".\n\n\"The sheer volume of rain that has fallen over a short time has caused considerable flooding across the city. The teams are out responding as quickly as they can,\" said council officers.\n\nMotorists on Cowbridge Road in Cardiff have experienced difficulty\n\nCardiff council said teams were dealing with surface water flooding across the city and asked residents to help clear clear drains of debris or leaves.\n\nA spokesman said: \"The rain has filled up the brooks and streams which are now higher than the outfalls. This means the drains can't empty and are consequently backing up.\"\n\nFire crews have had a busy day, including in Undy, Monmouthshire\n\nRail services across the region have been badly affected.\n\nFlooding on the line between Abergavenny and Pontypool has led to services traveling towards Shrewsbury from Newport being suspended.\n\nSome lines between Gloucester, Newport and Cardiff Central stations are closed due to flooding, with long delays on revised service.\n\nThe railway at Llanharan, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and the Vale of Glamorgan line is also flooded, with delays and cancellations also on Valley Line services.\n\nNetwork Rail also reports disruption to services on the line to and from Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire.\n\nFlooding on Van Road, Caerphilly, has caused difficulty for motorists\n\nThe M4 motorway has been closed for parts of the evening between Newport and Magor due to flooding, from junction 24 Coldra through to junction 23A.\n\nThe M48 has also been shut at junction 23 of the M4, through to junction 2 at the A466 Wye Valley Link Road, in Chepstow, Monmouthshire.\n\nThe A48 at Penhow in Newport, and at Ringland Way westbound were also closed by flood water.\n\nIn Newport city centre, the A4042 is shut, and also at Usk Road northbound, at Pontypool, Torfaen.\n\nGwent Police said Crickhowell Lane in Gilwern, Monmouthshire, was blocked due to flooding.\n\nIn Cardiff, the A4050 Port Road at Culverhouse Cross has also been flooded and shut.\n\nParts of the Kiln Park caravan site in Tenby have flooded\n\nThere are 9 flood warnings in force across south-east Wales.\n\nFlood warnings have been issued for Dinas Powys, Vale of Glamorgan, with roads already affected by downpours\n\nTwo flood warnings have been issued by Natural Resources Wales for the Lower Dee Valley from Llangollen to Trevalyn Meadows, Wrexham and the river Ritec at Tenby, Pembrokeshire.\n\nThere were 19 flood alerts - meaning flooding is possible and people should be prepared - issued throughout Wednesday.\n\nWelsh Water said it had been monitoring the weather forecast over the past few days and \"have taken additional steps to prepare for heavy rainfall to minimise the impact on services to customers\".\n\n\"Our teams across the south east of Wales are busy responding to calls from customers reporting flooding,\" said an official.\n\nOn Saturday, parts of Carmarthen flooded after the River Towy burst its banks and there was a landslip at Wattstown in Rhondda Cynon Taf following heavy rain.\n\nThe Met Office warned the heavy rain would be accompanied by strong winds during Wednesday evening and overnight into Thursday.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "130,000 people in Wales were asked to shield and isolate in the first Covid wave\n\nThose asked to shield against Covid during the first wave of the pandemic in Wales have been advised to avoid leaving home for work or school.\n\nAbout 130,000 people deemed extremely vulnerable due to underlying health conditions were originally advised to stay at home and isolate from others.\n\nNow a rise in cases possibly linked to a new variant of the virus has prompted the Welsh Government to tell those affected not to attend work or school.\n\nHealth Minister Vaughan Gething wrote in a statement that the advice, which is effective immediately, was particularly relevant to those whose work required them to be in regular or sustained contact with people, or who shared a poorly ventilated workspace for long periods.\n\nMr Gething wrote: \"This decision has been taken based on number of factors but has been influenced most recently by the significant recent growth in rates of infection, possibly due to the new variant of the coronavirus.\n\n\"We have also taken account of the pressures we see on our health service with increasing hospitalisations.\"\n\nLetters will be sent from the chief medical officer (CMO) and can be used as evidence to claim statutory sick pay.\n\nPeople shielding can still go out to exercise and attend medical appointments, and are able to remain part of a support bubble.\n\nMr Gething added: \"We have been clear that the safest option for people within this group is not to be part of a Christmas bubble.\n\n\"However if they choose to do so they should follow the advice provided on our website which includes keeping contacts to an absolute minimum, meeting for short periods in well ventilated areas, maintaining strict hand and surface hygiene and staying two metres away from others.\"\n\nHe acknowledged that letters informing people of the change were likely to be delayed because of the Christmas period.\n\nThe Welsh Conservatives had urged the government to introduce \"a compassionate shielding process\", which would include food boxes, dedicated supermarket home delivery shopping slots and financial support for those who are unable to work.\n\nThe Welsh Conservatives had called for new measures to help the most vulnerable to shield again\n\nThe party's health spokesman, Andrew RT Davies, said: \"I'm pleased that the Welsh Government has thought about the most at risk in our communities however, today's announcement does not go far enough.\n\n\"What this pandemic has shown is that half measures are not good enough, especially when there are reports today that Wales has the highest rate of Covid-19 infections per 100,000 people in the world.\"\n\nPlaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for Rhondda Leanne Wood said she welcomed the decision.\n\n\"I have had people in Rhondda Cynon Taf tell me they were put in a terrible position of having to choose between risking their lives in work or staying at home and facing poverty because they had no right to stay at home,\" she said.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The deepfake Queen looks very like the real one\n\nThis year's Channel 4 alternative Christmas message will be delivered by a deepfake of the Queen.\n\nWhile the Queen is delivering her traditional message on the BBC and ITV, her digitally created doppelgänger will be sharing its \"thoughts\" on Channel 4.\n\nBuckingham Palace told the BBC it had no comment on the broadcast.\n\nChannel 4 said the intention was to give a \"stark warning\" about fake news in the digital age.\n\nDeepfake technology can be used to create convincing yet entirely fictional video content, and is often used to spread misinformation.\n\nIn the message, the deepfake will try its hand at a TikTok viral dance challenge.\n\nThe five-minute message will refer to a number of controversial topics, including the decision by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to leave the UK. It will also allude to the Duke of York's decision to step down from royal duties earlier this year after an interview he gave to the BBC about his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.\n\nThe BBC's royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell was not impressed: \"There have been countless imitations of the Queen. This isn't a particularly good one.\n\n\"The voice sounds what it is - a rather poor attempt to impersonate her. What makes it troubling is the use of video technology to attempt to sync her lips to the words being spoken.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: Channel 4 says its deepfake video of the Queen is meant to act as a warning\n\nSome members of the public have also suggested the video is \"disrespectful\" via posts on social media.\n\nThe media watchdog Ofcom said it had received \"a small number of complaints\", but because it is a post-transmission regulator could not consider them at this time.\n\nWhile current technology does allow for voice deepfakes, the voice of this deepfake will be dubbed by British actress Debra Stephenson.\n\nThe TV star was previously the voice of a puppet of the monarch in the 2020 revival of satirical sketch show Spitting Image.\n\nStephenson said: \"As an actress it is thrilling but it is also terrifying if you consider how this could be used in other contexts.\"\n\nThe deepfake has been created by Oscar-winning VFX studio Framestore.\n\nDeepfakes first rose to prominence in early 2018.\n\nAt the time, a developer adapted cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques to create software that swapped one person's face for another.\n\nHowever, the process has since become much more accessible.\n\nThere are now numerous apps that require just a single photo in order to substitute a Hollywood actor for that of the user.\n\nEarlier this year, Microsoft unveiled a tool that can spot deepfakes.\n\nThe firm said it hoped to help combat disinformation, but experts warned it was at risk of becoming outdated due to advances in technology.\n\nNina Schick, author of Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse, told the BBC there was growing concern about the other malicious ways deepfake technology could be used.\n\n\"While it offers tremendous commercial and creative opportunities, transforming entire industries from entertainment to communication, it is also a technology that will be weaponised.\n\n\"Used maliciously, AI-generated synthetic media, or deepfakes, are sophisticated forms of visual disinformation.\"\n\nThe Alternative Christmas Message will be shown on Channel 4 at 15:25 GMT on 25 December.", "Just as we’ve got used to the idea of one worrying variant of this coronavirus, another one comes along.\n\nThe newest one, which has been brought from South Africa in recent weeks and infected two people in the UK, is “highly concerning”, says Health Secretary Matt Hancock.\n\nIt comes hot on the heels of the discovery of another variant in Kent causing sharply rising cases in the south and east of England, which will mean strict tier four restrictions being introduced in more areas of England on Boxing Day.\n\nThese are two different variants, but they have some similarities and share a mutation.\n\nCrucially they are both concerning, leading to large increases in cases in South African and the UK.\n\nUK scientists are skilled at genomic sequencing - the technique used to track mutations of the virus. That’s the main reason these variants have been found quickly and acted upon, but just because other countries haven’t detected them yet doesn’t mean they aren’t present.\n\nThe faster they can be found, the more quickly they can be squashed. With hospital admissions rising to near levels of the spring peak and deaths increasing daily, ministers have no choice but to act quickly.\n\nCutting social contact between people, tighter rules on travel and rapid testing – which is being rolled out to workers in care homes and is planned in schools and many local authorities – are the tools they are using to fight the virus on all fronts.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. More tier 4 areas, a new variant and a message of hope - three things from the Downing Street press conference\n\nSix million more people in the east and south east of England are to enter tier four on Boxing Day, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced.\n\nThe places moving into the highest level of restrictions - which include a \"stay at home\" order - border the areas already in tier four.\n\nA number of areas will also move up into tiers three and two.\n\nMr Hancock also revealed that another new coronavirus variant from South Africa has been detected in the UK.\n\nHe said anyone who had been there in the last two weeks must quarantine immediately.\n\nOn Wednesday, a further 39,237 people in the UK tested positive for virus - an all-time high - and there were 744 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to government figures.\n\nHowever, cases were thought to be higher in the UK during the spring peak when testing was much more limited.\n\nThe health secretary told the Downing Street briefing the old tiering system was not enough to control the new variant of the virus.\n\nAcross the country, cases have risen 57% in the last week, he said, and hospital admissions are at their highest level since mid-April.\n\nThe rises have been in places neighbouring areas already in tier four, he said, adding that East Anglia had seen a \"significant number\" of cases caused by the new fast-spreading variant.\n\nAreas moving to tier four are: Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, with the exception of the New Forest, and the parts of Essex and Surrey not already in the toughest restrictions.\n\nThe additional six million going into tier four takes the total number of people under the toughest restrictions to 24 million, or 43% of England's population. A further 24.8 million will be in tier three.\n\nMr Hancock said: \"This Christmas and the start of 2021 is going to be tough. The new variant makes everything much harder because it spreads so much faster.\n\n\"But we mustn't give up now, we know that we can control this virus, we know we can get through this together, we're going to get through it by suppressing the virus until a vaccine can make us safe.\"\n\nUnder tier four, non-essential shops, gyms, hairdressers and indoor entertainment venues must close.\n\nPeople in these areas also cannot meet other people indoors, unless they live with them or they are part of their support bubble, even on Christmas Day, when rules on household mixing are relaxed across the rest of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.\n\nMr Hancock also announced that other areas would move into higher tiers.\n\nAreas moving to tier three are: Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, including the North Somerset council area, Swindon, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest and Northamptonshire as well as Cheshire and Warrington.\n\nCornwall and Herefordshire will move into tier two.\n\nThe British Medical Association union said the new restrictions in England were a \"necessary step to control the virus and prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed\".\n\nBut the British Retail Consortium called on the government to extend the business rates holiday for retailers and the hospitality sector beyond April next year.\n\nThe trade body also said testing should be increased and the vaccination programme \"stepped up\".\n\nAnyone singing In the Bleak Midwinter may want to write another verse.\n\nIt's likely the NHS will soon be dealing with more Covid patients than at the peak in April.\n\nThe new variants are causing concern - especially as the one detected first in the UK continued to spread even during the November lockdown.\n\nAnd cases, numbers in hospital and deaths are all going up.\n\nVaccines will be the solution, but they take time to roll out and until then it is going to be rough.\n\nThe only other tool we have to stop the virus spreading is reducing our contacts with other people.\n\nThat's why millions more of us are moving up the tiers on Boxing Day.\n\nThe hope is that come spring the virus's grip on our lives will start to ease.\n\nThe health secretary also said two cases have been detected of another new variant of the coronavirus in the UK.\n\nBoth were contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks, he said.\n\nHe said: \"This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK.\"\n\nThe health secretary said both cases and close contacts of the cases have been quarantined.\n\nThere are immediate restrictions on travel from South Africa and the government is telling those who have been in contact with anyone who has been in South Africa in the last fortnight that they must quarantine.\n\nThe measures were temporary, he said, while the new variant was analysed by scientists at the government's research centre at Porton Down.\n\nThe health secretary also announced an expansion of mass testing and the vaccination programme.\n\nCommunity testing will carried out in areas with the highest infection rates, he said, with 116 areas signing up.\n\nVaccinations have now begun in care homes, Mr Hancock said, with Chelsea pensioners among those set to receive the jab.\n\nMr Hancock also revealed the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has now submitted full data to the regulator for approval.\n\nHe said: \"Amid all this difficulty, the great hope for 2021 is of course the vaccine.\n\n\"The vaccine is our route out of all this and however tough this Christmas and this winter is going to be, we know that the transforming force of science is helping to find a way through\", he said.\n\nIt comes as the first trucks began leaving a temporary lorry park in Kent, where they had been stuck since France closed its UK border on Sunday amid concern about the new variant.\n\nFrance has ended its ban on UK arrivals on condition of them having a negative coronavirus test less than 72 hours before departure.\n\nOn Wednesday, Northern Ireland became the latest country to confirm the presence of the new strain. It has already been detected in England, Scotland and Wales, as well as a number of countries on the continent.\n\nHave you been affected by the issues raised in this story? You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n• None UK has two cases of variant linked to South Africa", "Marston's is to take over the running of Brains pubs in a bid to save 1,300 jobs in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThe pub operator will take over the running of all 156 of the brewer's pubs, mainly in Wales.\n\nBrains said restrictions during the pandemic had put the business under \"significant financial pressure\".\n\nUnder the agreement, Marston's will pay rent for the entire estate but keep the Brains name while running the pubs as a tenant.\n\nAll pubs in Wales have been forced to close as the country battles the pandemic\n\nBrains closed more than 100 of its pubs after the Welsh Government announced an alcohol ban in pubs and restaurants at the start of December in a bid curb the spread of the virus.\n\nOn Saturday all pubs were forced to close their doors in the final days before Christmas as Wales entered a level four national lockdown.\n\nLast month the 138-year-old firm suggested the previous firebreak lockdown had cost it £1.6m.\n\nThe deal, which is expected to close in February, will add to Marston's 1,368 pubs in the UK, including 106 in Wales.\n\nBack in March, Brains announced plans to sell 40 of its pubs with workers warned of potential job losses due to economic uncertainty caused by Brexit.\n\nRalph Findlay, Chief Executive of Marston's, said the pubs were a \"great fit\" within the operator's existing estate.\n\n\"We look forward to the pub teams joining us and to welcoming guests and the communities which they serve, back into these pubs as the country emerges from the pandemic over the weeks and months ahead,\" he said.\n\nThe Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) said the deal brought hope the pubs would survive, but added it would be disappointed if it marked steps towards closing the Cardiff brewery.\n\n\"It will be interesting to see what the details of this deal are, how the Marston's beer will sit alongside the Brains beer, and what the future is for the brewery itself,\" said CEO of CAMRA Tom Stainer.\n\nHe added: \"This is good news, as we were worried that these pubs would be closed permanently, or sold for property development or non-pub use.\"\n\nThere is currently no suggestion the brewery is affected by the plans.", "President Emmanuel Macron said the nation shared the grief of the families of the police officers\n\nA gunman has shot dead three police officers who were called to a domestic violence incident in central France.\n\nThe suspect, 48, said to be known to authorities on child custody issues, was later found dead, officials said.\n\nA woman had fled to the roof of a house in a remote village near Saint-Just in the early hours of Wednesday.\n\nThe gunman killed one officer and wounded another. He then set fire to the house and killed two more officers who arrived. The woman was rescued.\n\nPresident Emmanuel Macron said the nation shared the grief of the families of the police officers.\n\nElite tactical police officers were at the scene on Wednesday in the village in the Puy-de-Dôme department, in France's Massif Central mountain region.\n\nAs the sequence of events became clear, prosecutor Eric Maillaud described the scene as a \"real war zone\" as he described a man who had been in conflict with his wife and had an arsenal of weapons. \"What's certain is that he was totally battle-hardened in handling weapons,\" he told reporters.\n\nThe mayor of Saint-Just, François Chautard, said initially that the house had burned down but it took police time to confirm that the suspect was dead, and the prosecutor said an initial examination of his body suggested he had taken his own life.\n\nPolice told French media that he had been found dead in his car nearby. He was named locally as Frédéric Limol and described as a shooting enthusiast with a disturbing profile.\n\nInterior Minister Gérald Darmanin visited the scene and named the first officer who died as Brig Arno Mavel, 21, and the two who died in the second incident as Lt Cyrille Morel, 45, and Adjutant Rémi Dupuis, 37.\n\nThe incident began late on Tuesday when the suspect's new partner raised the alarm with a friend shortly before 21:00 (20:00 GMT). She was bleeding and had fled to the roof of the building. Soon afterwards a gendarme patrol arrived, realised the man was dangerous and called for help.\n\nThe first shots were fired at around 22:30. The youngest of the three gendarmes was killed but a colleague was saved by his bulletproof vest.\n\nThe man then set fire to his home and shot dead the two other gendarmes. It later emerged he was wearing a bulletproof vest and had a gun equipped for night-vision. The gunman's partner was led to safety.\n\nThe man eventually fled in his car but crashed into a tree and was found with a Glock pistol in his hand.\n\nMr Darmanin expressed his profound sadness at the gendarmes' deaths and extended his condolences to their family, friends and colleagues. He said the deaths showed once more the risks that police officers were exposed to in their daily duties.\n\nIn his tweet, Mr Macron said the security forces put their lives at risk to protect the public and were \"our heroes\":\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Emmanuel Macron This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nIn another tweet, Prime Minister Jean Castex said the tragedy touched the whole country. He said he shared the grief of the officers' relatives and sent his unwavering support:\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Jean Castex This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe wounded officer was shot in the leg and his life is not in danger.\n\nGun attacks on police in non-terror-related incidents are relatively rare in France.\n\nTwo women police officers were shot dead during a dispute with a burglary suspect in the village of Collobrières, near Toulon, in 2012.", "The EU and UK appear close to striking a post-Brexit trade deal, with Boris Johnson briefing his cabinet on the progress of talks in Brussels.\n\nDisputes over fishing rights and future business competition rules have been the major hurdles to agreement during months of often fraught talks.\n\nBut BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Downing Street now seemed \"very confident\" of a deal.\n\nNegotiators are now thought to be thrashing out the final details.\n\nThe official announcement of a deal is expected on Thursday morning.\n\nThe document is thought to be around 2,000 pages long, with both sides having until 31 December - when the UK leaves EU trading rules - get it approved by parliamentarians.\n\nA deal would end the prospect of the two sides imposing widespread import taxes - tariffs - on each other's goods from 1 January, which could have affected prices.\n\nEU sources said the UK prime minister and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had been in contact in an attempt to break the deadlock before the expected pause in negotiations for Christmas.\n\nThe UK has insisted on having control over fishing in its waters from 1 January and retaining a larger share of the catch from them than under the current quota system.\n\nBut the EU wanted to phase in a new fishing system over a longer period and retain more of its access to UK waters for boats from France, Spain and other member states.\n\nThe sides also disagreed over whether UK firms should continue to follow the same rules as companies within the EU - and on how future trading disputes should be resolved.\n\nUK ministers have repeatedly ruled out any extension to the transition period, under which the UK has continued to follow Brussels's trade rules since it left the EU on 31 January.\n\nThe European Research Group of Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs has promised to reconvene its \"star chamber\" of lawyers - which was highly critical of previous Prime Minister Theresa May's withdrawal agreement with the EU - to analyse any deal that is reached.\n\nChairman Mark Francois and deputy chairman David Jones said it would \"scrutinise it in detail, to ensure that its provisions genuinely protect the sovereignty of the United Kingdom\".", "Hotel and restaurant group Whitbread has asked landlords for a 50% rent cut for the next three months as pandemic restrictions continue to hit trading.\n\nThe owner of the Premier Inn, Beefeater and Brewers Fayre brands said in a letter to landlords they must \"share some of the pain\" of lockdown.\n\nBritain's biggest hospitality group, with 800 hotels in the UK and Ireland, had already warned of big job cuts.\n\nLandlords and commercial property investors will likely resist rent cuts.\n\nThey have seen their own finances depleted by rent cuts and restructurings across the hospitality sector. Unlike many rivals, Whitbread had continued to pay rent in full.\n\nAndrew Jones, chief executive of LondonMetric, a FTSE 250 property company with a Premier Inn tenant, said Whitbread has \"behaved impeccably\" towards to landlords \"and so we will look to help them with their cash flow whilst the business recovers\".\n\nBut he added: \"A permanent transfer of value from our shareholders to theirs is not appropriate for a company still valued at over £6bn.\n\n\"There are no contractual provisions for landlords to share gains in the good years and so sharing pain in the tough years seems inequitable. After all, you can't un-sign a contract.\"\n\nDeferring rent payments for a period would be more \"equitable\", he said.\n\nWhitbread also owns the Beefeater chain of restaurants\n\nLaura Lambie, senior investment director for Investec, told the BBC's Today Programme that the letter, first reported by property news publication CoStar, was “worrying from the landlord’s point of view, not just Whitbread”.\n\nA Whitbread spokesperson said that since the start of the pandemic the business \"has taken decisive action to ensure that our cost base reflects the low levels of demand\".\n\nThe company added: \"Throughout the pandemic to date, we have paid our rent commitments in full, even when our hotels and restaurants were forced to close.\n\n\"With ongoing government restrictions expected to result in subdued market demand into the first half of 2021, we are now asking our landlords to support us, as other stakeholders have during the pandemic, through a reduction in rent for the December quarter in recognition of the current environment.\"\n\nIn September, Whitbread warned that 6,000 of its workers could be laid off. The company also scrapped its dividends to shareholders, while directors and senior management took pay cuts. More than 27,000 staff were furloughed under the Job Retention Scheme.\n\nThe company recently invested $40m (£30m) in new German hotels which it planned to open by December, despite reporting a £725m loss for the six months to the end of August.\n\nThe UK government has extended eviction protection for retailers and restaurants until the end of 2020, and has also renewed a business rate holiday for the current financial year.", "Actress Eileen Pollock, best known for playing Lilo Lil in 1980s TV sitcom Bread, has died at the age of 73.\n\nPollock, from Belfast, played Freddie Boswell's brassy mistress in the hit comedy about a large Liverpool family.\n\nShe also had a long stage career and appeared in such films as Far and Away, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, and Mike Leigh's Four Days in July.\n\nHer agents said she was \"truly a powerhouse of an actor, with huge generosity and spirit\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by ANA This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nPollock trained as a translator, once joking that she \"could have been a Eurocrat with a Porsche in every European capital city\".\n\nBut her first love was theatre. After moving to London, she worked backstage at the Bush Theatre, getting her break when an actress announced she would not be able to go on the following night.\n\nPollock was sent home with the script to learn the part. \"It was really scary - but I did it,\" she said.\n\nWhen she auditioned for Bread, the producers wanted the character to be from Liverpool - but Pollock convinced them she should be Irish.\n\n\"The reason I said that was because I had been trying out my Liverpool accent on the taxi driver on the way to the audition and he asked me which part of Australia I came from. I thought then that I'd be better off sticking to what I knew.\"\n\nShe got the part, and Bread ran from 1986-91, attracting 21 million viewers at its peak in 1988.\n\nPollock (left) with Jean Boht (right) in Bread\n\nShe said she didn't mind being associated with the character. \"I disbelieve actors who say 'I want rid of that image',\" she told the Northern Echo in 2004.\n\n\"People will always remember me as Lilo Lil and it's wonderful. I like it when someone says in a supermarket, 'You know who you remind me of, don't take offence, that tart from Bread'.\"\n\nWhen she got her first Hollywood role, it was as brothel keeper Molly Kay in 1992's Far and Away.\n\n\"It amused Jean Boht [Nellie Boswell] from Bread,\" the actress recalled. \"She said I had been promoted from a tart in the TV series.\"\n\nHer other film credits included 1999's Angela's Ashes, and she played the title role in BBC Radio 4 comedy The Pamela Myers Show in 1995.\n\nFollow us on Facebook or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Police said they were investigating a report of an assault that took place in August at Cygnet Woodside\n\nA hospital for men with learning disabilities has been placed in special measures after there were \"serious risks to patient safety\".\n\nThe Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected Cygnet Woodside, in Bradford, in September following allegations of abuse by staff towards a patient.\n\nPolice said they were investigating a report of an assault at the hospital on 31 August and had arrested two men.\n\nThe mental health hospital said it was taking action to address improvements.\n\nDr Kevin Cleary, CQC deputy chief inspector of hospitals and lead for mental health, said: \"Our latest inspection of Cygnet Woodside found that the hospital was not ensuring its patients' safety.\"\n\nHe said there were \"inherent risk factors and warning signs\" including a high turnover of employees and an inadequate number of skilled staff looking after patients, which compromised care.\n\n\"The service showed warning signs that increased the likelihood of a closed culture developing. This would have put people at serious risk of coming to harm if we didn't take action,\" he said.\n\nThe CQC said senior leaders were not always fully aware of concerns in the service and \"this included the concern relating to the allegations of abuse toward a patient which is being investigated by police\".\n\nFollowing the unannounced inspection, the commission also suspended the nine-bed hospital's current \"good\" rating for caring.\n\nIt has been given an overall rating of \"inadequate\" after a strong odour of urine, damaged walls and peeling paint on wards were also found.\n\nCygnet Woodside said it was \"disappointed\" with the CQC's assessment, that their report was \"disproportionate\" and \"does not provide an entirely accurate representation\" of the hospital.\n\nA spokeswoman said it reported to police a \"single safeguarding concern that was raised against a member of staff\".\n\nThe hospital \"immediately suspended two employees\", she added.\n\nDr Cleary said there would be \"further action to keep people safe\" if inspectors saw insufficient improvement.\n\nWest Yorkshire Police said the arrested men were subsequently released under investigation but did not disclose the offence they had been held under.\n\nMencap, a learning disability charity, said the CQC report highlighted yet more concerns of inpatient units and called on the government for \"the right support and housing in the community\".\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Marie McCourt had hoped her daughter's killer would never get parole\n\nKillers who refuse to reveal where they hid a body could still be freed despite new laws aimed at denying them parole.\n\nParole Board chief executive Martin Jones said even when Helen's Law starts next year the board was obliged to free inmates who pose no risk to the public.\n\nHelen's Law is named after Helen McCourt, from Merseyside, whose killer Ian Simms was freed from jail without disclosing the location of her remains.\n\nHer mother Marie McCourt said the law could have \"gone further\".\n\nMr Jones said prisoners would be questioned and failure to co-operate may not work in their favour.\n\nBut he said it was a \"really difficult area\" and the legislation does not simply mean \"no body, no parole\".\n\nFailure to co-operate and reveal such information is \"frowned upon\" by the board and could see a prisoner having requests for parole denied in the first instance, Mr Jones said.\n\nHowever, he added: \"What it cannot do is act as a complete block on your release.\n\n\"Ultimately if someone is no longer a risk, we must release them.\"\n\nHelen McCourt was murdered by Ian Simms in 1988\n\nHelen McCourt, a 22-year-old insurance clerk, vanished on her way home from work in 1988. Her body has never been found.\n\nHer killer Ian Simms was released from prison earlier this year after Mrs McCourt lost a legal bid to keep him behind bars.\n\nMrs McCourt, 77, from St Helens, said Mr Jones's comments had \"belittled Helen's Law\".\n\nShe said it was \"upsetting to hear the law may not have helped our case\" and that it was \"a very cruel time to put something like that in the papers\", causing her \"great distress.\"\n\nShe added: \"Simms has a violent history. How can they say a man like that - who also won't reveal information - is safe to be released?\n\n\"But they have to make sure Helen's Law makes it harder and makes it far more difficult than it has been.\"\n\nMrs McCourt said: \"I acknowledge this is not a 'no body, no parole law'… I respect people's lives.\"\n\nBut to conceal where victims' remains are located is \"an offence against humanity\" and \"every family should have a chance to say a last goodbye\", she added.\n\nThe timing of Mr Jones's comments \"just days before Christmas, is hugely insensitive to victims [and] has deeply upset Marie McCourt and many families\", said her MP, Conor McGinn.\n\nThe Labour representative for St Helen's North wrote in a Tweet: \"The will of Parliament on Helen's Law is clear [and] so is the duty of the Parole Board.\"\n\nMs McCourt's family spent five years calling for legislation to help give grieving relatives closure.\n\nThe Prisoners (Disclosure Of Information About Victims) Bill finally gained Royal Assent last month after a series of political and constitutional setbacks.\n\nThe law sets out to toughen up existing guidelines, making it a legal requirement for the Parole Board to take into account a killer's failure to disclose the location of their victim's remains when considering them for release.\n\nIt will also apply to paedophiles who refuse to identify those they abused.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "A farming community of 50 people who all live together said their way of life had \"come into its own\" during the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThe group, which dates back to 1974, share a house in East Bergholt, Suffolk, where they live off 70 acres (28 hectares) of land.\n\nThey said they had seen a large rise in applications to join them recently.\n\nCommunity member David Hodgson said it had been a \"blessing\" to live there and share their skills during the crisis.\n\n\"Within our group we have an incredible set of skills that are put to use for the benefit of us all,\" the 71-year-old added.\n\nThe house was a convent, an Army barracks and then a friary before it was bought in 1974 by a group of families who wanted to form a community\n\nThe community had managed to stay Covid-free by working together and being \"careful and vigilant\", he said.\n\nSeveral of its members are classed as vulnerable, including one resident who is 99 years old.\n\nThey decided to introduce their own social restrictions early in March, ahead of the national lockdown later that month, and have held regular meetings to work out how best to protect themselves.\n\nSinging, yoga and philosophy groups which are usually open to the public have all been paused and they have imposed a strict cleaning rota.\n\nSocial distancing had been relatively easy due to the amount of space they have, with their self-sufficient lifestyle well suited to a lockdown, David said.\n\nThey said there had been a 300% increase in applications to join the community during the pandemic.\n\nMembers buy a share and pay an annual charge to live there. Most also have part-time jobs in the outside world, but must commit to about 15 hours of work a week in the house and its grounds.\n\nThey breed sheep and pigs, grow fruit, vegetables and wheat for bread, milk their own cows and make butter, cheese and yoghurt.\n\nThey also generate their own heat and electricity.\n\nThe community has enjoyed many socially-distanced campfire meals this year\n\nDuring the first lockdown, the members made face masks and opened their own tuck shop, while holding meditation sessions and enjoying socially-distanced campfire meals and maypole dancing.\n\n\"If something is needed from the shop or the pharmacy in the village then the request goes out on social media and someone in the community will take up the action,\" David noted in his blog about life there during the first lockdown.\n\nThe community said it kept tight rules in place throughout the summer, despite the national easing of restrictions.\n\nDavid said: \"We cautiously allowed some potential members to visit the community and some friends and family between lockdown one and two.\n\n\"To accommodate this, we cleared a sheltered area under some trees, constructed a compost toilet and a temporary field kitchen so that our families could camp.\n\n\"Stays were limited to three nights. This enabled us to see family without letting them into the building.\"\n\nThe 16th Century manor house, which has more than 100 rooms, has also been a convent, an army barracks and a Franciscan friary before it was bought in 1974 by 14 families who formed the community.\n\nDavid Hodgson worked in the architectural profession before he moved to the community in 1989\n\nDavid worked in architecture before he moved there in 1989. He brought up two children and worked locally three days a week as a design lecturer to supplement his lifestyle.\n\nHe retired early to spend most of his time working in the orchards and vegetable gardens.\n\nHe said members were looking forward to Christmas, and would have a socially-distanced meal on Christmas Day.\n\n\"The children here are enjoying daily advent activities running up to Christmas. Anything from a treasure hunt to biscuit-making to decoration-making workshops,\" he said.\n\nHe said they would not let their guards down over the festive period and would continue to protect each other, acknowledging that Covid was \"by no means over\" despite the start of the national vaccination programme.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair is urging the government to give as many people as possible an initial dose of a Covid vaccine - rather than preserving stocks so there is enough for second jabs.\n\nThe Pfizer-Biontech and Oxford University-Astrazeneca vaccines require two doses to be fully effective.\n\nMr Blair said his idea would speed up the vaccine programme so the country could come out of lockdown sooner.\n\nIn the Independent, he argued the roll-out must be \"radically accelerated\".\n\nThe UK has pre-ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 100 million of the Oxford University Astrazeneca vaccines.\n\nMore than 500,000 people in the UK have now been given their first dose of the vaccine.\n\nThe two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are administered around 21 days apart.\n\nIn a statement, Pfizer said this was needed \"to provide the maximum protection\", adding: \"Health professionals are advised to continue to follow the official guidance on administration of the vaccine.\"\n\nMr Blair told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that although \"you really need the two doses… the first dose gives you substantial immunity\".\n\nHe argued there was a \"strong case for not holding back the second doses of the vaccine\" and instead using those batches to give a greater number of people the first dose.\n\nHis proposal was backed up by Professor David Salisbury, the man in charge of immunisation at the Department of Health until 2013.\n\nHe told Today the numbers were \"straightforward\".\n\n\"You give one dose you get 91% [protection] you give two doses and you get 95% - you are only gaining 4% for giving the second dose,\" he said.\n\n\"With current circumstances, I would strongly urge you to use as many first doses as you possibly can for risk groups and only after you have done all of that come back with second doses.\"\n\nHowever, he acknowledged this would be harder to do with the Oxford University vaccine, where the efficacy of two doses is 60%.\n\nPfizer has not tested their vaccine as a single dose so where have the numbers come from?\n\nThe large clinical trial using two jabs showed 52% protection in the time between the first and second jabs.\n\nBut it takes time for the immune system to fully respond, so that figure will include the time when there is no protection from the vaccine.\n\nAnd this is true of the second jab; it's not an instantaneous response.\n\nData in the New England Journal of Medicine says there is 90.5% protection in the six days after the second jab.\n\nProf Salisbury's argument is this is all down to the first jab, as the second has not kicked in yet.\n\nProfessor Wendy Barclay, from the department of infectious disease at Imperial College London, said Mr Blair's idea was interesting but agreed it was \"too risky\" to try without further evidence.\n\nAnd Professor Neil Ferguson, also from Imperial, added that the UK regulator had authorised the vaccine on the basis that people would receive two doses.\n\nAdministering one dose only would require \"an entirely different regulatory submission\", he told a Commons committee.\n\nA Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: \"Over the coming weeks and months, the rate of vaccinations will increase as more doses become available and the programme continues to expand.\"\n\nMargaret Keenan became the first person in the UK to receive the Pfizer/BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at University Hospital, Coventry\n\nMr Blair's suggestion is part of a seven-point plan he has drawn up, which also includes a plea to the government to start preparing \"health passports\".\n\nThe former Labour prime minister, who was in power between 1997 and 2007, predicted that in six months, countries would only allow travellers to visit if they could give proof of their disease status.\n\nHe also said it was important to \"have the best data systems in the world available to us\".\n\n\"Collecting this data in one place, with one patient record, is going to be absolutely vital - testing, vaccinations, every single thing to do with the development of this disease,\" he added.\n\n\"You need to record every single piece of data you can lay your hands on because we will be adjusting our vaccination programme as we go - we may even have to adjust the vaccine itself.\"\n\nMr Blair also said that while it was important to prioritise the vulnerable and health care staff, this should not delay vaccinating those who were more likely to spread the disease, such as students.\n\nTony Blair's theory about making vaccines go further is grabbing the headlines but the former prime minister's thoughts on health passports could prove even more controversial.\n\nHe's confident that within six months no country in the world will allow travellers in without proof of their disease status - and wants the UK government to get ahead of the curve, building a vast database of patient records, tests and vaccinations.\n\nIt would seem inevitable that any health passport would end up being used not just for foreign travel but at home, with restaurants, shops and even employers demanding to know about an individual's virus status.\n\nThe national ID card that Tony Blair's government proposed in the teeth of fierce opposition would finally become a reality.\n\nBut civil liberties and data rights campaigners have already raised concerns about issues such as the data collected by the NHS Covid-19 contact tracing app, and about the role in building a virus dashboard the government has given to the controversial American firm Palantir.\n\nThey can be expected to mount a vigorous fight against any attempt to create a national \"Covid passport\" - and many MPs across the political spectrum will share their unease.\n\nBut not everyone will reject the idea out of hand. Some whose freedoms to leave their house or to welcome family at Christmas have been curtailed may think that giving away some of their data is a price worth paying for a return to normality.", "Octopuses throw punches at fish and it could be out of spite, scientists say.\n\nMarine biologists filmed these interactions in the Red Sea but it has also been captured elsewhere. It's not entirely clear why they lash out but scientists say it may be a way of keeping the fish in line.\n\nFish and octopuses are known to hunt prey together and their interactions will continue to be analysed.", "Truckers have been stranded in Kent since France imposed a cross-Channel travel ban\n\nTeams of volunteers have delivered hundreds of meals to lorry drivers stranded in Kent.\n\nMembers of Maidenhead's KhalsaAid travelled 80 miles (130km) to take food to drivers hit by the travel ban between the UK and France.\n\nOn Tuesday, some of the Sikh charity's LangarAid members travelled almost double the distance, from Coventry, to take water and food.\n\nVolunteers from KhalsaAid provided more than 800 meals to stuck truckers\n\nRail, air and sea services between the two countries have resumed after France eased its travel ban.\n\nFrench citizens, British nationals living in France and hauliers are among those now able to travel - if they have a recent negative test.\n\nBut the delays will take some time to clear, with drivers remaining in need of help from the armies of volunteers.\n\nSome European nationals living in England have come to the aid of their compatriots who are stranded in Kent.\n\nMembers of a Facebook page for Hungarians in the UK helped to organise food donations.\n\nIvett Hidvegi said drivers were \"in a really bad situation\" with limited access to food and toilets.\n\nVolunteers were prevented from delivering food at Manston Airport on Tuesday, so handed donations to drivers on the roadside, she said.\n\nExtra toilets were delivered to Manston Airport on Wednesday\n\nSikhs from Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Gravesend, Kent, helped cook the meals before volunteers were given a police escort along the M20 to deliver them.\n\nMr Singh added: \"It's horrible for [the drivers], there's nothing here - no food, no shops - it's like a prison for them. We can't sit back and do nothing.\"\n\nThe Salvation Army has been giving out food and drink to drivers stuck on the M20\n\nThe Salvation Army has also provided 1,000 packs of sandwiches for lorry drivers on the M20.\n\nCapt Marion Rouffet said: \"We worked from 8:30 last night until midnight, and the sandwiches were stored by the pub next door.\n\n\"The shop owner next door offered anything we need, and Pret A Manger gave us lots of sandwich fillings.\n\n\"People will always rally when necessary.\"\n\nRamsgate FC was giving out pizzas to drivers as they arrived at Manston Airport\n\n\"We are a community club and we want anyone in the community or who passes through to know we will always look after them,\" chairman James Lawson said.\n\n\"We gave pizzas to the lorry drivers as they were driving into Manston Airport. We have a pizza kitchen and we can't play football at the moment, so we had a lot of stock which was starting to go out of date, so it seemed a perfect opportunity to help out.\n\n\"It was a lot of work over a few hours,\" he said.\n\nAshford International Truckstop said it was providing 1,000 food bags, prepared by staff who had volunteered to work at its sister hotel in Hythe and pub in Alkham.\n\nToby Howe, senior highways managers at Kent County Council, said: \"For those on the M20 there have been facilities - toilets have been provided - and we've had really good support from communities around the place to provide food.\n\n\"We're really appreciative of those who have brought food.\n\n\"There's been a lot of positives from this - people coming together to give support.\"\n\nFollow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer have thanked the armed forces and NHS staff for their work in dealing with Covid-19.\n\nIn a video call with troops in the UK and abroad, the PM saluted those who had helped build hospitals, deliver equipment and organise testing.\n\n\"You represent in my view the very best of our country,\" he said.\n\nIn his Christmas message, Sir Keir said the pandemic had shown the values of \"generosity and kindness\" in abundance.\n\nWhile it had been tough year for everyone and a traumatic one for many, the Labour leader said \"in every village, every town and every city, we have seen the very best of Britain\".\n\nHe paid tribute to the \"key workers who have been our country's rock, the servicemen and servicewomen who have stepped up, and the incredible scientists who have discovered a vaccine\".\n\nWhile there was \"light at the end of the tunnel\" in the country's fight against the virus, he acknowledged the difficulties many families face with \"an empty space around the Christmas table\" this year.\n\n\"I know it hasn't been easy. I know for many of our key workers they will have to step up again, one more time, this Christmas, as will our armed forces, who have deployed here and across the overseas,\" he said.\n\n\"Christmas is a time for us to be thankful for what we value most and to care for those who have lost so much.\"\n\nAnd he urged people to capture the spirit shown during the crisis to \"rebuild a better future for our country\".\n\nAddressing troops stationed in Mali, Estonia, Somalia and Afghanistan, as well as those deployed in the UK, Mr Johnson thanked them all for being \"our number one export\".\n\n\"You represent in my view the very best of our country, the thing people really want to see around the world.\n\n\"It's not just abroad that this has been an amazing year for the armed services. So many of you have been responsible for doing extraordinary things here at home, thousands of you helping to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.\n\n\"Building the Nightingales, delivering PPE, testing people, and now leading the way and helping the country to get vaccinated.\n\n\"Thank you for your sacrifice and your effort. You're bringing hope and encouragement to the entire country.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"I am kicking myself very hard\" - Nicola Sturgeon apologises for mask rule breach\n\nScotland's first minister has apologised for breaching Covid rules by taking her face mask off at a wake.\n\nThe Scottish Sun has published a photograph of Nicola Sturgeon standing talking to three people at a social distance, but with her face uncovered.\n\nShe was attending a wake after the funeral of a Scottish government civil servant who died with Covid.\n\nMs Sturgeon had been wearing a tartan mask and is said to have taken it off briefly as she was leaving the venue.\n\nThe Scottish government's Covid regulations say that customers in hospitality venues must wear a face covering except when seated - including when they are entering, exiting and moving around.\n\nAnyone who breaches the face covering rules can be punished by a fixed penalty notice of £60.\n\nHowever Police Scotland said they would not be taking any action, saying the first minister had apologised and \"acknowledged this inadvertent breach\" of the regulations.\n\nIn a statement, Ms Sturgeon said she had \"briefly\" removed her face mask while attending a wake, calling it a \"stupid mistake\".\n\nAddressing MSPs at Holyrood, the first minister said she wanted to express \"how sorry I am for my breach of rules that I ask all of us to follow\".\n\nMs Sturgeon said: \"I want to be clear that regardless of the circumstances, I was in the wrong. There are no excuses.\n\n\"These rules do apply to me, just as they do to everyone else, and the rules really matter.\n\n\"I am kicking myself very hard - possibly harder than my worst critic ever could - but more importantly I'll be making sure I don't drop my guard again.\"\n\nMs Sturgeon is understood to have been at the wake in the Stable Bar and Restaurant in Edinburgh after attending a service at nearby Mortonhall Crematorium.\n\nThe first minister regularly uses her daily coronavirus briefings to remind people to cover their faces to limit the risk of spreading the virus.\n\nScotland's national clinical director Jason Leitch told Good Morning Scotland he had spoken to Ms Sturgeon last night and she was \"furious with herself\".\n\n\"She is absolutely mad at this little lapse in concentration - it's so easily done,\" he said. \"We live in a completely different world from a year ago.\n\n\"She was leaving a funeral of a colleague of ours - a wonderful, wonderful individual who did a huge amount of work during the pandemic. It was an awfully sad day for many of us in the government who knew him and his family well.\n\n\"It just reinforces again to all of us, the nature of these instructions and this virus.\"\n\nWhen you make and promote coronavirus rules, it is not a good idea to break them.\n\nNo-one understands that better than Nicola Sturgeon, who has already parted company with an MP and a medical adviser for past breaches.\n\nThe first minister has not taken a train journey having tested positive for the virus as MP Margaret Ferrier did.\n\nShe had not made unnecessary trips to a holiday home during lockdown as her former chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, did.\n\nNor has she taken a drive to Barnard Castle as the prime minister's former adviser Dominic Cummings did.\n\nNicola Sturgeon's breach - removing her face mask briefly to talk to people at a funeral wake - is relatively minor. But it is a breach.\n\nThat's why the first minister has put her hands up and apologised for what she calls a \"stupid mistake\".\n\nIt is a mistake that anyone could make but when you're fronting the campaign to get the public to obey coronavirus rules, it does not make that job any easier.\n\nA Scottish Conservative spokesman said: \"The first minister should know better. By forgetting the rules and failing to set a proper example, she's undermining essential public health messaging.\n\n\"It's a blunder that an ordinary member of the public wouldn't get away with. There cannot be one rule for Nicola Sturgeon and another for everyone else.\"\n\nScotland's Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said in a tweet that Ms Sturgeon had been \"upfront\" from the very beginning of the pandemic.\n\n\"She has apologised for [the] accidental lapse (which I suspect most of us have had one over last 9 months),\" he wrote.\n\nHe said the FM was her own harshest critic and that \"most people\" would accept her apology and move on.\n\nJillian Evans, head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian, said high-profile breaches of Covid rules \"matter a lot\" to the public.\n\nShe told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: \"There are clear breaches and then there are indiscretions.\n\n\"I'm not passing comment on anyone in particular, but some of us are prone to lapses now and again.\n\n\"The main thing is how honest and trustworthy our leaders are. I don't doubt anyone in Scotland's dedication to the cause but it really does matter, because everybody must follow the rules at all times as much as they possibly can.\"", "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nDiego Maradona's autopsy has revealed that the Argentina legend had no signs of alcohol or narcotics consumption at the time of his death.\n\nThe 1986 World Cup winner died of a heart attack on 25 November at the age of 60.\n\nThe autopsy said Maradona had problems with his kidneys, heart and lungs.\n\nIt had been ordered as part of an investigation into Maradona's death to see if there was any negligence in the healthcare he was provided.\n\nMaradona, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, had a successful operation on a brain blood clot earlier in November and had been due to be treated for alcohol dependency.\n\nA first autopsy carried out on the day Maradona died found that the former Boca Juniors and Napoli player had died from \"acute pulmonary edema secondary to exacerbated chronic heart failure with dilated cardiomyopathy\".\n• None Who are the greatest Premier League captains?\n• None The best Christmas songs performed by the biggest artists", "An \"amazing\" new type of mineral has been discovered by scientists analysing a rock mined in Cornwall about 220 years ago.\n\nThe dark green mineral has been named kernowite after Kernow, the Cornish language word for Cornwall.\n\nA group led by Natural History Museum (NHM) mineralogist Mike Rumsey made the discovery while studying a rock taken from Wheal Gorland mine in St Day.\n\nMr Rumsey said: \"It's amazing that in 2020 we are adding a new mineral.\"\n\nFor centuries, mineralogists believed the green crystals to be a variation of another mineral, liroconite, but Mr Rumsey and his team found it has a different chemical composition.\n\nBlue liroconite is highly prized by collectors around the world, and the majority of it comes from the Wheal Gorland site.\n\nThe mineral was discovered within a rock specimen that has been at the Natural History Museum in London since 1964\n\nCornwall has a rich mining history with Unesco world heritage status and is known globally for the discovery of minerals.\n\nMr Rumsey, principal curator of minerals at the NHM in London, said: \"A lot of these discoveries happened over 100 years ago when the mines were still active, so the discovery of a new mineral from Cornwall, particularly one that is related to the region's most famous mineral, is really quite amazing.\n\n\"Considering how many geologists, prospectors and collectors have scoured the county over the centuries in search of mineral treasure, it's amazing that in 2020 we are adding a new mineral.\"\n\nMike Rumsey is principal curator of minerals at the Natural History Museum, which has one of the most important collections in the world\n\nA new mineral is discovered in the UK every three or four years on average, according to the NHM\n\nThe new description has now been approved by the International Mineralogical Association and the new type will be published in Mineralogical Magazine next year.\n\nMr Rumsey said most liroconite comes from Wheal Gorland, adding: \"The mine was used between around 1790 and 1909, but it has been demolished now.\n\n\"There is a housing estate on it and there is nothing left. It's an extinct locality, we can never go back.\"\n\nThe mine where it was discovered has now been built over\n\n\"What we've got is a bit like a little time capsule,\" Mr Rumsey said.\n\n\"The fact that this sample was preserved in a museum means that we can do this kind of research because we'd never be able to go back and collect any more.\"\n\nThe structure of the crystals is the same as liroconite, but kernowite contains iron instead of aluminium, creating the different colour\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday morning.\n\nRail, air and sea services between Britain and France have resumed, with French citizens, British nationals living in France and hauliers among those able to travel if they have a recent negative coronavirus test. The military is being deployed to help carry out rapid tests on thousands of stranded lorry drivers. Clearing the backlog of freight will take time and the crisis has highlighted the importance of the Dover-Calais route for food supplies, as we explain. More than 50 other countries are continuing to block UK travellers, including almost all of the EU 27. That's despite a call from the European Commission for nations to drop blanket bans.\n\nFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon has apologised for breaching Covid rules by taking her face mask off at a wake. The Scottish Sun published a photograph of her standing talking to three people indoors at a social distance, but with her face uncovered. In a statement released to the BBC, the first minister said it was \"a stupid mistake\". \"I was in the wrong, I'm kicking myself, and I'm sorry,\" she added. The Scottish Conservatives accused her of \"undermining essential public health messaging\".\n\nRapid testing will be rolled out to another 17 local council areas across England, from Lincolnshire to Bristol, to try to stem rising infection rates - here's how the system works. It comes amid suggestions more areas could be moved up to tier four as early as Boxing Day after a meeting between ministers and public health officials on Tuesday. Sources say it's likely those would be places immediately adjacent to current tier four areas. Stricter rules are due to come into force across the whole Scottish mainland on Boxing Day, while Wales is already in another national lockdown, with those asked to shield during the pandemic's first wave advised to do so again.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dads share their fatherhood experience of not being there for their partners and wives because of coronavirus\n\nIn other, slightly brighter news, British employers planned the lowest number of redundancies in November since the start of the pandemic. The figure was still more than 36,000, but that compares with a peak of 156,000 in June. Experts say the decision to extend the furlough scheme until the spring helped to prevent a bigger wave of job cuts. Read more on how furlough works and whether you could be eligible.\n\nAll in all, it's going to be a tough Christmas for many, but hopefully we can lift your spirits this morning with some stories of kindness. They include Jessica Rixon, who brought together friends to prepare Christmas dinner for 14 families who've been badly affected by the pandemic. And Callum Williamson, whose generous neighbour Rebecca has offered to cook him lunch after his plans fell through. Speaking of lunch, if you've found yourself unexpectedly cooking the Christmas meal for the first time, let us offer some tips. - or if you're going to be alone on the day, here are some suggestions for how to cope - or even thrive.\n\nJessica raised more than £1,000 to pay for the ingredients\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, there is mounting pressure on hospitals, with growing numbers being admitted each day. So will the Nightingales be used? Our health correspondent Nick Triggle has more.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "Buckingham Palace's Masterpieces exhibition was forced to shut after less than two weeks\n\nThe two men in charge of the Queen's art collection have left and won't be replaced \"for the time being\" because of Covid's impact on royal finances.\n\nDesmond Shawe-Taylor, the Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures - a post that was created in 1625 - has taken redundancy.\n\nRufus Bird, the Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art, has also left.\n\nThe Royal Collection Trust has said it expects to lose £64m in income this year because Buckingham Palace and other sites have been shut to visitors.\n\nThat has forced the Trust, one of the the royal household's five departments, into carrying out a restructure and staff cuts.\n\nWriting in the Trust's latest annual report, the Prince of Wales, its chairman, said: \"We are now facing by far the greatest challenge in the charity's history and have had to take many hard decisions in order to adjust to the new economic realities.\"\n\nThe Trust looks after the Queen's vast and distinguished art collection, which includes masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Rubens, Titian and Reynolds.\n\nThe post of Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures was created by Charles I, and previous holders include Anthony Blunt, who was later revealed to have been a Russian spy. Mr Shawe-Taylor had been in the job since 2005.\n\nThe Trust is also responsible for opening the Queen's official residences to visitors. Its latest exhibition, Masterpieces from Buckingham Palace, opened on 4 December but was forced to close less than two weeks later, when London's coronavirus restrictions were tightened.\n\nA statement from the Trust said: \"As part of the Royal Collection Trust restructure, Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures and Chief Surveyor, and Rufus Bird, Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art, will leave the organisation under the Voluntary Severance Programme.\n\n\"The posts of Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures and Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art will for the time being, be lost and held in abeyance.\n\n\"The Director of the Royal Collection, Tim Knox, will assume overall responsibility for the curatorial sections, supported by the Deputy Surveyors of Pictures and Works of Art.\"", "The EU and UK are making a \"final push\" for a post-Brexit trade deal, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said.\n\nBut he told diplomats from the bloc's 27 member states there was little time left to reach agreement before the 31 December deadline.\n\nThe UK will leave the EU trading rules at that point.\n\nTalks have been taking place round the clock to try to settle differences over fishing, competition rules and how future disputes will be resolved.\n\nIf there is no trade deal by 31 December, both sides could place import taxes on each other's goods, potentially affecting prices.\n\nSpeaking in Brussels, where the talks are happening, Mr Barnier said: \"We are really in a crucial moment and we are giving it a final push. In 10 days, the UK will leave the single market.\"\n\nOne EU diplomat told the BBC Mr Barnier had said that, while most issues had been agreed or were close to being settled, differences on fishing access and quotas \"remain difficult to bridge\".\n\nHe said the EU thought the UK was \"not moving enough yet to clinch a fair deal on fisheries\".\n\nWhile progress on other issues has been made in recent days, there has been little sign of a breakthrough on fish.\n\nThe UK insists that, as a sovereign state, it must have control of its waters from 1 January and retain a larger share of the catch from them than it does under the current quota system.\n\nThe EU wants to phase in a new system over a much longer period and retain significant access to UK waters for boats from France, Spain and other countries with large fleets.\n\nDowning Street sources said Boris Johnson was in \"close contact\" with European President Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the pair were \"speaking from time to time\".\n\nBut, on Monday, the prime minister said the state of the talks remained \"unchanged\" and there were still \"problems\".\n\nEU diplomats have suggested the bloc would be willing to continue negotiations beyond 1 January if necessary.\n\nMr Johnson suggested the UK would \"prosper mightily\", whatever the outcome of the talks.", "After months of talks, UK cabinet ministers are understood to be gathering on a conference call to discuss a Brexit deal with the EU.\n\nOur political editor Laura Kuenssberg says that “wouldn’t happen in No 10 wasn’t by now very confident that a deal is shortly to be finalised”.\n\nAt the same time in Brussels, the UK and EU negotiating teams are still locked in discussions.\n\nIt’s understood they are talking about specific details for future fishing rights – on catches of specific species of fish.\n\nEarlier, EU sources said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had also been in contact in an attempt to break the deadlock.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nFrance is starting to let traffic from the UK back in after the nations reached agreement over their shared border, closed amid concerns over a new coronavirus variant.\n\nFreight drivers and some passengers, including EU citizens, will be among those allowed to return - if they have a recent negative test for the virus.\n\nSome 2,850 lorries have been stuck in Kent since the border shut on Sunday.\n\nNHS Test and Trace staff and the military will be deployed for testing.\n\nPlanes, boats and Eurostar trains are due to resume on Wednesday morning.\n\nUnder the agreement between the two countries, admittance to France will be granted to those travelling for urgent reasons, including hauliers, French citizens, and British citizens with French residency.\n\nBut in order to travel, they will need to have received a negative test result less than 72 hours before departure.\n\nRapid lateral flow tests, which can detect the new strain and give a result in about 30 minutes, will be used rather than the 24 hours required for so-called PCR tests.\n\nThe drivers will receive the result by text message, and this message would give them the right to cross the Channel.\n\nA \"protocol is still being finalised\" to work out what to do with those drivers who test positive, a government source told the BBC.\n\nIn an interview with broadcasters, Mr Shapps said enough tests had been sent to Kent to test all those who wanted to return by Christmas, but suggested it could take until Christmas for congestion to be relieved near ports.\n\nMr Shapps warned hauliers against travelling to Kent until further notice to alleviate congestion at ports.\n\nHe said: \"I am pleased that we have made this important progress with our French counterparts this evening. This protocol will see the French border reopen to those travelling for urgent reasons, provided they have a certified negative Covid test.\n\n\"We continue to urge hauliers not to travel to Kent until further notice as we work to alleviate congestion at ports.\"\n\nThe arrangement agreed with the French government will be reviewed on the 31 December, but could run until 6 January, the Department for Transport said.\n\nThe French government will also carry out sample testing on incoming freight to the UK.\n\nThe announcement comes after the EU Commission urged member states to drop their travel bans to avoid supply chain disruption.\n\nMore than 50 countries have banned UK arrivals following widespread concern about the spread of the new variant.\n\nNo lorries have been leaving the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel to France.\n\nKent County Council leader Roger Gough told the BBC on Tuesday afternoon that 2,220 vehicles were at the temporary lorry park at Manston, while 632 were still being held on the M20.\n\nIt comes as Tesco said it would be reintroducing temporary purchasing limits on some essential products, including toilet rolls, eggs, rice and hand wash.\n\nThe British Retail Consortium warned that trucks needed to be able to start travelling again in the next 24 hours to \"avoid seeing problems on our shelves\".\n\nAndrew Opie, its director of food and sustainability, told the Commons business, energy and industrial strategy committee: \"What we've been told by members is that unless those trucks can start travelling again and go back to Spain and Portugal and other parts of Europe, we will have problems with fresh produce from 27 December.\"\n\nThe Channel is a vital trade route, with about 10,000 lorries a day travelling between Dover and Calais at Christmas, largely bringing in the freshest produce.\n\nA further 36,804 people in the UK have tested positive for coronavirus and there were 691 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to Tuesday's government figures.\n\nIt is the largest daily number of cases recorded yet, though it is thought the infection rate was higher during the first peak in spring when testing was much more limited.\n\nMeanwhile, truck drivers stranded in Kent have called for immediate help from the government, with hundreds facing a third night sleeping in their cabs.\n\nTruck driver Laszlo Baliga, 51, from London, spent Tuesday delivering food and water to those lined up at Manston Airport, a disused airfield.\n\nHe began taking supplies after Hungarian drivers stranded in the lorry park posted on Facebook asking for help, with one telling him the only toilet on the site had been blocked.\n\nHe said he and friends had so far spent more than £500 on food and water for drivers at the site.\n\nMr Baliga said: \"We have got ready-to-eat sausages, bread, tomatoes, lettuce, coffee. Basic foods for now for the drivers.\n\n\"We like to help because this is a difficult time.\"\n\nRonald Schroeder, 52, from Hamburg in Germany, said: \"I am now staying in a hotel, but in front of the hotel there are thousands of people without any rooms waiting to come over the Channel crossing.\n\n\"I feel a little bit like Robinson Crusoe on an island.\"\n\nThe government defended the facilities for stranded drivers, saying there were \"more than adequate health and welfare provisions available\".\n\nAre you a lorry driver? Have you been affected by the restrictions? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "A shortlist of six contenders has been announced for the 2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.\n\nThe nominees are cricketer Stuart Broad, jockey Hollie Doyle, boxer Tyson Fury, Formula 1's Lewis Hamilton, footballer Jordan Henderson and snooker star Ronnie O'Sullivan.\n\nVoting will be open to the public during the Sports Personality programme on BBC One on Sunday, 20 December.\n\nThe show is being broadcast live from Media City in Salford.\n• None How the Sports Personality contenders were revealed\n\nFootball pundit Alex Scott will join the presenting line-up alongside Gary Lineker, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan to look back on a truly unusual year of sport in front of a huge virtual audience and millions of BBC One viewers.\n\nThe ceremony will champion the teams that triumphed despite the pandemic, sports stars that achieved greatness even with interrupted schedules and the coaches and local heroes that made it possible.\n\nThe public can vote by phone or online on the night for the main award, with full details announced during the show.\n\nOther awards to be announced include Team and Coach of the Year, World Sport Star of the Year and Unsung Hero, while Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford will receive a special award in recognition of his work to raise awareness of child food poverty in the UK.\n\nWho are the Sports Personality contenders?\n\nAfter being dropped for the opening match of the summer series against West Indies, the Nottinghamshire fast bowler returned for the final two Tests - both won by England - and took 16 wickets at an average of 10.93 to pass 500 for his career. He is seventh in the list of all-time Test wicket-takers.\n\nBroke her own record for the number of winners ridden by a British woman in a year, rode a historic double on British Champions Day, became the first woman to ride five winners on the same card and claimed her first victory at Royal Ascot. Doyle was named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year.\n\nThe self-styled 'Gypsy King' became a two-time world heavyweight champion with a devastating defeat of Deontay Wilder to claim the WBC title in their Las Vegas rematch in February. Victory for the Manchester-born fighter marked another stage in his remarkable comeback after a battle with depression and drugs.\n\nOne of F1's all-time great drivers, he equalled Michael Schumacher's record of seven world titles with his fourth consecutive championship in 2020. En route, the Stevenage-born driver - who holds the record for most pole positions - surpassed the German's total of 91 grand prix victories.\n\nCaptained runaway leaders Liverpool to win their first league title since 1990, by a margin of 18 points, a year after lifting the Champions League trophy. The Sunderland-born midfielder, who has been capped 58 times by England, was also named the Football Writers' men's player of the year.\n\nWon his sixth world title at the Crucible to become the oldest champion for more than 40 years and cement his place as one snooker's greatest players. 'The Rocket' has secured more events (37) and Triple Crown event titles (20) than anyone else in history. The Essex potter is nominated for the BBC award for the first time in his 28-year career.", "Phèdre with Dame Helen Mirren was the first National Theatre Live broadcast in 2009\n\nThe National Theatre has launched a streaming service for its archive of filmed plays, which feature stars like Dame Helen Mirren and Olivia Colman.\n\nNational Theatre at Home will make plays available for either a one-off payment or a subscription.\n\nThey include Dame Helen's Phèdre, Medea starring Helen McCrory and Michaela Coel, and Adrian Lester's Othello.\n\nMany have previously been shown in cinemas, and some were streamed for free during the first lockdown.\n\nProductions staged by the National's partner theatres can also be viewed, including the Young Vic's Yerma with Billie Piper and the Donmar Warehouse's Coriolanus starring Tom Hiddleston.\n\nThe first tranche of productions also include plays that have not previously been shown in cinemas or online - such as Mosquitoes, a 2017 play by Lucy Kirkwood in which Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams play sisters.\n\nLisa Burger, the National's executive director, said the venture would \"continue to provide audiences with the power and joy of theatre for as long as it is needed\".\n\nNew titles will be added each month. They will available online and on smart TV and mobile apps, with payment options including an annual subscription costing £100.\n\nThe London venue is currently closed but will reopen on 11 December with a socially-distanced production of Dick Whittington, only the second pantomime the venue has ever staged.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "Business periodically throws up pantomime villains who vault from the financial pages to the front of the tabloids and become the subject of public vilification.\n\nEdward Heath called Tiny Rowland, the corporate raider, \"the unacceptable face of capitalism\", Robert Maxwell was excoriated for raiding the Mirror Group pensions, and more recently Jeffrey Skilling, the chief executive of Enron, went to jail for 12 years for enriching himself at the expense of shareholders and suppliers.\n\nSir Philip Green, the boss (but not the owner) of Arcadia Group, is the latest business leader to be put in the pillory.\n\nIt began with his sale of the department store BHS to Dominic Chappell for a token sum in 2015. BHS, which was part of Arcadia, collapsed a year later, leaving a big hole in the pension fund.\n\nSir Philip sold BHS for £1 in 2015, a year before it went bust with a £571m pension deficit, to little-known businessman Dominic Chappell\n\nSir Philip was accused of having sold the company to Mr Chappell deliberately to avoid the retirement plan liability, a claim he vigorously denied. He later paid £363m to make good the scheme.\n\nThe looming administration of Arcadia puts Sir Philip in the firing line again. He will face calls to repair any deficit in the Arcadia scheme, despite he and the company's owner, his wife Lady Cristina Green, having put substantial additional sums into the pension in recent years.\n\nThere will also be accusations of his having been a poor manager. While the rest of the fashion retail world was getting out of the High Street and moving online as quickly as possible, Sir Philip was reluctant to take the plunge, and eventually laid low by the fatal combination of the internet and pandemic-related shop closures.\n\nBut has he actually done anything wrong? Lawyers will argue that the company - not its owners - is the legal entity responsible for maintaining the financial health of the pension scheme.\n\nSir Philip - who runs Arcadia - and Monaco-based Lady Cristina Green - who owns it\n\nAs far as is known, Arcadia did not ignore any directions from the pension regulator to mend the pension, and indeed received an endorsement from the Pension Protection Fund for a company voluntary arrangement - a form of insolvency that allows a business to restructure its finances - in June last year.\n\nSeveral prominent retail businesses have gone into administration in the past two years, but in no case has there been an outcry for the owners to finance pension deficits personally.\n\nThere may be no infringement of the law, but what attracts attention to Sir Philip's case is that he and his wife have become immensely rich on Arcadia's back.\n\nIn 2005 the company paid Lady Green a £1.2bn dividend, the foundation of the Green fortune. Now that the company has fallen on hard times, should there be a moral duty on the family to help those thrown out of work?\n\nThe relevant example here is not Robert Maxwell or Tiny Rowland, but a group of businessmen who were also vilified for their management of a British icon. John Towers, Peter Beale, Nick Stephenson and John Edwards were the \"Phoenix Four\", who bought MG Rover from BMW in 2000 with the implicit backing of the Labour government and a hefty dowry from the German carmaker.\n\nThe Phoenix Four bought MG Rover which collapsed in 2005 with the loss of 6,000 jobs\n\nThey proceeded to enrich themselves to the tune of several million pounds apiece while the company slowly spiralled downwards and eventually collapsed. They did nothing wrong - a government report into the collapse found their behaviour \"inappropriate\" - but they quietly volunteered to be banned as directors in future.\n\nWhat the inquiry into MG Rover's demise showed was that ownership means just that. Once sold to the Phoenix Four, the once-great Birmingham carmaker became a piece of personal property to be used as the Phoenix Four saw fit.\n\nThe same is true of the Greens and Arcadia. Yet even if there is no legal claim for them to refill the Arcadia pension, they might consider the wider court of public opinion, which is much less forgiving than any judge.\n\nSir Philip can contemplate whether he wants to be remembered as the man who enriched his family, but left others out of pocket, or as the retail tycoon who put his staff first, even when his empire ran out of steam.\n• None The 'king of the High Street's' biggest challenge", "The former president posts that he has been told to report to a grand jury, \"which almost always means an Arrest\".", "The UK prime minister’s recent 10-point climate plan won’t do enough to achieve his goal of curbing the country's greenhouse emissions, a report says.\n\nA consultancy has calculated that the UK will need to go further and faster to achieve its commitment of net zero emissions by mid-century.\n\nUN scientists say massive emissions cuts are needed immediately to stop CO2 accumulating in the atmosphere.\n\nSo, the year 2030 is a key date for avoiding dangerous climate change.\n\nThe analysis by Cambridge Econometrics suggests Mr Johnson’s plan will reduce emissions 59% per cent by 2030, based on 1990 levels. It says they should really fall by 70% by that date.\n\nIt’s rumoured that government advisers the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) will tell ministers that a percentage target reduction in the upper 60s will be needed.\n\nThe analysis released on Monday was commissioned by the Prince of Wales Corporate Leaders Group – a network of business heads concerned about climate change. Sixty of them have written to the PM to urge him to reduce emissions further still by 2030.\n\nThe intervention comes at an important time, because the UK is set next month to declare its 2030 climate target to other nations in the hope of persuading them all to do more.\n\nThe formal announcement will come at a special global meeting called by Mr Johnson for 12 December, but it’s believed that the UK’s 2030 target will be unveiled in coming days, in order to encourage other countries to raise their ambition.\n\nNations' climate commitments will come in the form of what’s known as an NDC – a nationally determined contribution towards the world goal of keeping temperature rise as close as possible to 1.5C.\n\nThe business leaders’ letter states: “As the UK calls on other governments to set their own increased NDCs, it has a unique opportunity to catalyse action globally and lead the way for other countries to reflect this level of ambition.\n\n“We hope you will announce an ambitious UK (target) before the end of the year.”\n\nEliot Whittington, director of the group, urged the government to go further in order to generate British jobs in “green” industries.\n\nHe told BBC News: “There’s a major problem with plans to decarbonise Britain’s buildings. It’s a huge challeng, but the government has only committed £1bn for next year. The scheme is barely off the ground, and one year doesn’t offer enough longevity to let industries get up and running.”\n\nOne signatory to the letter, Keith Anderson, who is chief executive of Scottish Power, said: “Setting an ambitious target of 70% by 2030 would be a clear signal to investors that the UK is ready to build back greener and that it’s happening now.”\n\nSarah Bentley, chief executive of Thames Water, said: “Setting an ambitious NDC will help to stimulate low carbon innovation, solutions and actions across the economy.”\n\nScotland has confirmed that it will aim for a 75% emissions cut by 2030.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The scene in Trier after a car ploughed through a pedestrian area of the western German city of Trier\n\nA car has ploughed through a pedestrian area in the western German city of Trier, killing five people including a nine-week-old baby girl, police say.\n\nThe driver, a 51-year-old local man, has been arrested. The prosecutor said the suspect had drunk a significant amount of alcohol.\n\nAuthorities said they were not working on the assumption that the incident was politically or religiously motivated.\n\nThe city's mayor described the scene as \"horrible\".\n\nWitnesses said people screamed in panic and some were thrown in the air by an SUV travelling at high speed in Trier's Brotstrasse and Simeonstrasse streets towards the city's famous Roman gate, the Porta Nigra.\n\nThe incident happened at around 13:45 local time (12:45 GMT), and the suspect drove for 1km (0.62 miles) \"hitting people at random on his way\" before being stopped by a police car, Trier police spokesman Karl-Peter Jochem said earlier.\n\nThe victims were three women, aged 25, 52 and 73. Police said the 45-year-old father of the baby was also killed. His wife and one-year-old son were injured and admitted to hospital.\n\nThe flashing blue lights of dozens of police vehicles compete with the Christmas illuminations in front of the Porta Nigra, the famous Roman gate. Tonight it is an entrance to a large crime scene.\n\nThe city, often claimed as Germany's oldest, is the now the latest to experience a horrific and fatal incident involving a vehicle and pedestrians so close to Christmas.\n\nArmed police stand guard at the edge of the cordon, which marks the point at which the suspect drove away from the scene.\n\nTwo friends, Stacy and Karolina, told me they had come to light candles and remember those who had been killed. \"This is just a small place\", said Stacy. \"You never imagine this could happen.\"\n\nFootage posted on social media appeared to show the presumed driver being held by several officers next to the damaged car. Police have been questioning the suspect, who was alone, and has been identified by German media as Bernd W.\n\nInitial indications \"suggest that psychiatric problems possibly played a role\", prosecutor Peter Fritzen told reporters. The man did not have a criminal record, had no fixed address and was living in the car, which had been lent to him by someone else.\n\nThe incident happened in the centre of Trier\n\nEarlier, Mayor Wolfram Leibe said up to 15 people had been injured, some of them seriously.\n\n\"We [had] a driver who ran amok in the city... I just walked through the city centre and it was just horrible. There is a trainer lying on the ground, and the girl it belongs to is dead,\" he told a news conference.\n\nChancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement: \"The news from Trier is very sad. My sympathy goes to the relatives of people who were torn from their lives so suddenly and forcibly. I also think of those who have suffered severe injuries and I wish them much strength.\"\n\nThe prosecutor said the suspect had drunk a significant amount of alcohol\n\nThe incident has shocked Trier, a medieval city of around 110,000 people and 720km west of Berlin, near the border with Luxembourg. A Christmas market that is usually held in the area was cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but shops were open.\n\nBollards that would usually be in place to protect the pedestrianised area because of the Christmas market were therefore not put up.\n\nThe case brought back memories of the 2016 attack in Berlin when an Islamist militant drove a hijacked truck into a Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others. He was shot dead by Italian police four days later.", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Tuesday morning. We'll have another update for you at 18:00 GMT.\n\nMPs are expected to give the go-ahead later to a stricter three-tier system of restrictions in England. Boris Johnson insists it's needed to keep infections under control, but a sizeable chunk of his own backbenchers are broadly against tighter controls. Labour won't endorse the new system, but won't reject it either. Sir Keir Starmer says he has \"serious misgivings\" and wants his MPs to abstain, but it isn't \"in the national interest\" to block it. The SNP will also abstain because the plans only apply to England. The upshot of all that is more than 55 million people are therefore set to enter the two toughest tiers from 00:01 GMT on Wednesday - a reminder of what that means.\n\nEngland's chief inspector of schools says the \"invisibility of vulnerable children\" during the pandemic should be a \"matter of national concern\". In her annual report, Amanda Spielman warns long absences from school mean signs of abuse may have been missed and it should now be a priority to find overlooked cases. She also raises concerns about the pressures on families of children with special educational needs. It's the latest in a long line of warnings about the impact of coronavirus on already disadvantaged groups. BBC's special correspondent Ed Thomas witnesses the struggles first hand in one town.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A church in Burnley has seen an \"unprecedented need\" for help during the pandemic\n\nCovid-19 alert levels are to be reviewed later\n\nCovid-19 could be causing lung abnormalities still detectable more than three months after people catch the disease. The damage emerged in scans of 10 patients at Oxford University and researchers now plan a larger study to find out more. The risk of severe illness and death from Covid-19 increases markedly for the over 60s, but if the trial discovers that lung damage occurs across a wider age group - even in those not requiring hospital treatment - \"it would move the goalposts\", says Prof Fergus Gleeson, who is leading the work.\n\nChristmas tree growers across the UK say they're having a bumper year - potentially selling two million more specimens than normal. Pete Hyde, owner of Trinity Street Christmas Trees in Dorset. told the BBC his sales were up by nearly a third. It could be that some sales are coming earlier as people look to scratch a shopping itch while other stores are closed. Or it could be households are desperately looking for some festive cheer and an \"authentic\" Christmas experience after so much hardship this year.\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, with a number of potential vaccines now on the way, there are increasing concerns that misinformation online could put some people off being immunised. Our global health correspondent Tulip Mazumdar looks at the efforts being made to combat that.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch the moment it was revealed that MPs approved the new tiered system\n\nA new tougher tier system of coronavirus restrictions for England will begin on Wednesday after the plan was approved by MPs.\n\nThe measures, which will come into force at 00:01 GMT, were supported by 291 votes to 78.\n\nThe new system will see more than 55 million people in the country placed into the top two strictest tiers.\n\nBut 55 Tory MPs voted against the government plan - the largest rebellion of Boris Johnson's premiership.\n\nA further 16 Conservatives abstained, with many of them having expressed concerns about the tougher tiers in the Commons debate that led up to the vote. The 55 Tory rebels included two MPs who acted as tellers.\n\nThe new tier system came into force when England's current lockdown ended in the early hours of Wednesday.\n\nEvery area of the country is in one of three tiers - medium (one), high (two) and very high (three) - with the vast majority of the population in the higher two tiers.\n\nThey are tougher than the previous tier system the country was under, before its second lockdown began in November, the government says.\n\nIn tier two, people are not allowed to mix with anyone outside their household or support bubble indoors, although they can socialise in groups of up to six outdoors.\n\nAnd in tier three, people must also not mix with anyone outside their household or support bubble indoors, or at most outdoor venues.\n\nConservative Mark Harper, who chairs the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, urged the government to listen to the warnings from its opponents about the \"cycle of repeated restrictions\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The health secretary tells MPs his step-grandfather died of Covid-19 in November\n\nHe said they \"very much regret that in a moment of national crisis so many of us felt forced to vote against the measures that the government was proposing\".\n\nBut he added that the government \"must find a way to... end this devastating cycle of repeated restrictions, and start living in a sustainable way until an effective and safe vaccine is successfully rolled out across the population\".\n\nSir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, voted against the plans, saying: \"If government is to take away fundamental liberties of the people whom we represent, they must demonstrate beyond question that they're acting in a way that is both proportionate and absolutely necessary.\n\n\"Today, I believe the government has failed to make that compelling case.\"\n\nAnd former cabinet minister, Damian Green, whose Kent constituency is in the highest tier, also said the plans lacked public support, adding: \"I've had the most angry emails over a weekend since the Dominic Cummings trip to Barnard Castle.\"\n\nBut Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the new tiered system would help \"avoid another lockdown\", and \"help the UK bridge into the spring, where we hope a vaccine will move us into a whole different place\".\n\nIt's not even a year since Boris Johnson was carried to a thumping victory on the back of months of agonising parliamentary fiasco over Brexit.\n\nAnd it should, theoretically, have given Boris Johnson the kind of comfortable cushion in the Commons that no prime minister had had since the days of Tony Blair.\n\nThat has hardly gone according to plan.\n\nDespite the prime minister making appeals in person to MPs tonight, although Downing Street had moved over the last few days to meet some of their unhappy MPs demands by publishing documents, and promising more votes in the near future, 55 Tory MPs banded together to give the Boris Johnson his biggest Parliamentary kicking yet.\n\nWith more abstaining, the message from the backbenches to the government's front row was clear - right now, Downing Street should not feel able to rely completely on their support.\n\nRemember, the vote did actually pass. But this is a notable political moment too.\n\nRead more from Laura here.\n\nLabour MPs were ordered to abstain in the vote, with party leader Sir Keir Starmer saying he recognised restrictions needed to continue, but he was \"far from convinced\" the new system would work.\n\nHe also said help for businesses moving into the toughest tiers was \"nowhere near sufficient\".\n\nBut 15 Labour MPs defied Sir Keir to vote against the changes.\n\nThe tiers will be reviewed every two weeks and Mr Johnson has promised MPs a vote on whether to keep the system before 2 February.\n\nOpening the debate in the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Johnson urged MPs to support his proposals - offering an additional £40m for some pubs in tiers two and three.\n\nHe also said he appreciated the \"feeling of injustice\" many felt at their tier allocation, and pledged to \"look in granular detail\" at the \"human geography\" of the virus when the tiers are reviewed.\n\nClosing the debate for the government, an emotional Matt Hancock described how he had been personally affected by the virus, after his step-grandfather died from Covid-19.\n\n\"We can afford to let up a little, we just can't afford to let up a lot,\" he told MPs.\n\n\"Let that be the message that goes out from this House. We know through repeat experience what happens if this virus gets out of control.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Laura Foster explains the new three tier system for England\n\nDespite the appeals, the government faced its largest rebellion of Mr Johnson's tenure.\n\nThe last time the number got close was when 44 Tory MPs voted against the government's 10pm curfew for pubs, although it was still approved by the Commons.\n\nA government spokesman said they welcomed the result of the vote, which will \"help to safeguard the gains made during the past month and keep the virus under control\".\n\nBut they also said the government would \"continue to work with MPs who have expressed concerns in recent days\".", "News that tests are to be sent to care homes to allow relatives to visit over Christmas will be welcome for those in England who have waited a long time to visit loved ones and friends inside care homes, rather than trying to communicate through windows or on videolinks.\n\nBut therein lies the problem. The danger is that expectations will be raised of visits before Christmas which cannot all be fulfilled.\n\nThe biggest care home operators have been sent rapid testing kits but the smaller providers have not yet heard details about how they can obtain them. One told me that, while welcoming the initiative, he was concerned at the level of administration which would be required to book in visits and organise the testing and this might mean taking on more staff.\n\nSome doubts have been raised about the effectiveness of the rapid testing technology with a relatively high number of false negatives if administered by less trained staff.\n\nThe scheme will not be fully rolled out by Christmas but officials hope it will be more accessible to a wider public early in the new year.", "Many holiday destinations have been hit by the coronavirus crisis due to travel restrictions\n\nHoliday firm Lastminute.com has agreed to repay more than £7m owed to customers whose package holidays were cancelled due to the Covid-19 crisis.\n\nMore than 9,000 customers are waiting for refunds, and the move follows pressure from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).\n\nThe watchdog is currently chasing more than 100 package holiday firms to get refund commitments.\n\nThe travel sector has been deeply affected by the coronavirus crisis.\n\nLastminute.com was told to repay customers after hundreds of complaints that it was dragging its heels over refunds.\n\nThe firm has agreed to repay at least half of customers by 16 December and the rest by no later than 31 January 2021.\n\nAnyone entitled to a refund for cancellations on or after Thursday 3 December will be paid within 14 days, the CMA added.\n\n\"Online travel agents have a legal responsibility to provide prompt refunds to customers whose holidays have been cancelled due to coronavirus - irrespective of whether the agent received refunds from airlines and accommodation providers,\" said Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA.\n\n\"Our action today means that customers whose holidays were cancelled by Lastminute.com will receive their money back without undue delay.\"\n\nLastminute.com has been approached for comment.\n\nIn October, the CMA received a commitment from Virgin Holidays to refund all customers \"without undue delay\" after hundreds of complaints were made over delayed payments.\n\nThe watchdog also wrote to more than 100 package holiday firms in July to remind them of their refund obligations, and got commitments from Tui, Sykes Cottages and Vacation Rentals to repay customers.\n\nPackage holiday customers are legally entitled to refunds within 14 days for cancelled trips.\n\nBut many people have been left waiting months for a pay-out during the pandemic as travel firms face a cashflow crisis.\n\nMany airlines, including KLM, have parked planes due to the coronavirus crisis\n\nThe travel and aviation industries have been hit by the coronavirus crisis in most parts of the world, with the International Air Transport Association warning in September that hundreds of thousands of jobs were at risk without more state aid.\n\nThe industry body said in November that London, which was previously the world's most connected city, had seen a 67% fall in connectivity in air travel.\n\nLondon was overtaken by Shanghai, with the world's four most connected cities now all in China, where the coronavirus was first detected.\n\nAir travel within China has broadly recovered and during its Golden Week holiday season 425 million people travelled around the country, according to the Chinese tourism ministry.", "An ex-manager of an insulation maker whose product was used on Grenfell Tower has apologised for dismissing fire safety concerns and threatening legal action in internal emails.\n\nPhilip Heath, who works for Kingspan, forwarded a customer's fire test query and wrote that they were \"getting me confused with someone who gives a dam\".\n\nThe inquiry heard last week the firm \"stretched the truth\" on fire safety.\n\nOn Monday, the inquiry heard that Mr Heath used strong language in an internal email response.\n\nEx-employee Ivor Meredith, who was the firm's technical director, told the inquiry last week that Kingspan fire-tested its cladding in 2005, but changed the formulation the next year.\n\nThe first phase of the Grenfell inquiry concluded that cladding put on the west London tower block during its refurbishment fuelled the fire in June 2017 in which 72 people died.\n\nKingspan K15 insulation was used in the flammable cladding system mounted on to Grenfell Tower, alongside Celotex RS5000.\n\nIn October 2008 emails, an employee of facade engineers Wintech asked Kingspan for clarity on what basis its Kooltherm K15 insulation was suitable for buildings taller than 18 metres.\n\nA Kingspan employee said it was \"getting tricky what to write\" without \"putting ourselves in a legal situation\".\n\nIn an internal email, Mr Heath responded using strong language: \"Wintech can go f'#ck themselves, and if they are not careful we'll sue the a'#se of them\".\n\nInquiry lawyer Kate Grange QC challenged Mr Heath on his comment, saying: \"Can you explain why you wrote that, given Wintech were giving entirely accurate advice to their customers?\"\n\nHe replied: \"It was totally unprofessional and on reflection I wouldn't have said that. I think it was frustration we were going around in circles with them.\"\n\nHe was asked if it reflected a \"culture\" within Kingspan \"in terms of its response to these kinds of requests\".\n\nMr Heath said: \"I don't believe so. Like in any organisation, you have your good times and your difficult times.\n\n\"We were just going around in circles and a bit of frustration came out there on a Friday.\n\n\"I think we did take life safety seriously. We provided Wintech with the data we had for them to make the appropriate analysis.\"\n\nMr Heath, now divisional business development director at Kingspan, also apologised after reacting to a similar query by writing that the firm making the request was \"getting me confused with someone who gives a dam\".\n\nHe added in the forwarded email: \"I'm trying to think of a way out of this one, imagine a fire running up this tower !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\"\n\nMr Heath told the inquiry he had forwarded the email to a terminally ill friend, adding: \"I can only apologise for the contents of this email at the time made in 2008.\n\n\"Keith was a dear friend of mine who was terminally ill at the time. I was just forwarding him an email to give a snapshot of some of the work I was working on.\n\n\"It had no reflection on how I felt, I was just trying to lighten his load and lighten my load.\"", "Page was the star of the 2007 film Juno\n\nThe Oscar-nominated star of Juno has announced that he is transgender, introducing himself as Elliot Page in a social media post.\n\nThe Canadian-born actor, formerly known as Ellen Page, said he could not \"begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self\".\n\n\"I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer,\" he wrote on Twitter.\n\nPage also used the post to address discrimination towards trans people.\n\n\"The truth is, despite feeling profoundly happy right now and knowing how much privilege I carry, I am also scared. I'm scared of the invasiveness, the hate, the 'jokes' and of violence,\" the 33-year-old wrote.\n\n\"To be clear, I am not trying to dampen a moment that is joyous and one that I celebrate, but I want to address the full picture. The statistics are staggering.\"\n\nAddressing the trans community, Page said he would \"do everything I can to change this world for the better\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Elliot Page This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nPage received international acclaim for starring as a pregnant teenager in the 2007 film Juno.\n\nOther major films include Inception and the X-Men series, while the actor has more recently starred in Netflix series The Umbrella Academy.\n\nPage came out as gay in 2014, telling an audience in Las Vegas: \"I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission.\"\n\nThe actor, who is married to choreographer Emma Portner, has been a prominent advocate for LGBT rights.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Page tells 5 Live's Must Watch marriage equality shouldn't have even been a debate.\n\nTrans people across the UK have told me that Elliot Page's coming out has happened at a \"much needed time\".\n\nThis news, from one of Hollywood's biggest stars, who now becomes one of the world's most famous transgender stars, has happened on a big day for trans rights in the UK.\n\nToday, a legal case about puberty-blocking drugs concluded, with leading charities calling it a \"rolling back\" of trans rights, and \"a catastrophic moment\" for trans people.\n\nIn Elliot Page's statement, he referenced how he will now fight for better trans healthcare.\n\nSince coming out as gay in 2014, Page has become known as one of Hollywood's most outspoken LGBT actors. In his viral speech in 2014, he said \"I suffered for years because I was scared to be out… And I'm standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of all that pain.\"\n\nToday's coming out has triggered another huge international wave of support.\n\nMany praised Page following his announcement on Tuesday.\n\n\"Elliot Page has given us fantastic characters on-screen, and has been an outspoken advocate for all LGBTQ people,\" said Nick Adams, director of transgender media at advocacy group GLAAD.\n\n\"He will now be an inspiration to countless trans and non-binary people. All transgender people deserve the chance to be ourselves and to be accepted for who we are. We celebrate the remarkable Elliot Page today.\"\n\n\"So proud of our superhero,\" Netflix wrote on Twitter.", "Fifteen further coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded in Northern Ireland bringing the Department of Health's recorded total to 1,011.\n\nSeven of the deaths occurred within the current reporting period, with eight outside it.\n\nHealth Minister Robin Swann said Tuesday's death toll was a \"sad milestone\" for Northern Ireland.\n\nHe also says the health service is \"primed\" and \"ready\" to deliver a vaccination safely and systematically.\n\nMr Swann said an effective vaccine was the biggest breakthrough since the pandemic began but that delivery will not be fast.\n\n\"There is no way around this and there is no quick fix,\" he said.\n\n\"We expect it to take many months before the vaccination programme is complete and we need to recognise that we are not through this yet.\"\n\nHealth service staff will begin receiving a vaccine later this month.\n\nPatricia Donnelly, head of the Covid-19 vaccine programme, says Northern Ireland is \"good to go\" from 14 December, pending the necessary approval of vaccines.\n\nThe department's daily figure is based on a positive test result having been recorded in the previous 28 days.\n\nA further 391 people tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours.\n\nMr Swann said the new death toll was another \"harsh reminder\" of the threat of coronavirus and said people should not \"delude themselves\" by thinking otherwise.\n\n\"We always have to remember that we are not talking about statistics but much-loved people who are desperately missed.\n\n\"No-one should underestimate the virus, or delude themselves that it could never affect them.\"\n\nHe said a \"small and vociferous minority\" continued to try and play down its risk.\n\nDeputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and First Minister Arlene Foster met Mr Swann on Tuesday, ahead of an executive meeting on Thursday.\n\nMs O'Neill said they were working through detail of plans for the Christmas period and this needed to include plans for visiting arrangements at care homes.\n\n\"It won't be a normal Christmas and our guiding principle should be what is the advice of health officials,\" she added.\n\nPeople from three households in Northern Ireland will be allowed to meet indoors for five days over the Christmas period.\n\nNI's chief medical officer says surpassing a death toll of 1,000 is a \"grim reminder\" that Covid-19 is a \"very serious infection\".\n\nAlthough Dr Michael Bride described the prospect of a vaccine as \"encouraging\", he also warned members of the public not to become complacent.\n\n\"That will not begin to do the heavy lifting until the spring,\" he said.\n\n\"It is only when we have those who are extremely clinically vulnerable, those older people vaccinated in sufficient numbers, that we will see the reduction on pressures on our health service, reduction in deaths and that we can begin to, with some confidence, look back to restrictions as increasingly a thing of the past.\n\n\"But, that is not today, that is not tomorrow, not next month.\"\n\nOn Tuesday Northern Ireland hospitals were at 100% occupancy, with 419 inpatients with Covid-19, of whom 38 are in ICU, according to the Department of Health.\n\nThere have been 52, 856 positive cases in Northern Ireland since the pandemic began, with 2,523 people testing positive in the last seven days.\n\nTougher lockdown measures came into force across Northern Ireland on Friday 27 November, which are set to expire on 11 December.\n\nIn the Republic of Ireland, another 18 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 2,069, according to the Irish Department of Health.\n\nA further 269 new cases of Covid-19 were also recorded in the country, bringing the total number to 72,798.", "The Queen and other members of the royal family usually attend a Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham\n\nThe Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will spend Christmas at Windsor Castle and not Sandringham as is their usual tradition, Buckingham Palace has said.\n\nA spokeswoman said after considering \"all the appropriate advice\" the royal couple had opted to celebrate \"quietly\" at their Berkshire residence.\n\nThey usually spend Christmas with other royals at the Queen's Norfolk estate.\n\nThe Queen, 94, and the duke, 99, have been living at Windsor during the pandemic with a small household staff.\n\nIt is thought to be the first time the couple have not spent Christmas at their Sandringham home since the mid 1980s.\n\n\"Like everyone they hope things will get back to normal in 2021,\" a palace spokesman said.\n\nThe announcement follows earlier speculation about where the Queen and the duke would spend the festive period, in light of Christmas coronavirus guidance that people should form \"bubbles\" of three households over a five-day period.\n\nThe Queen and other members of the Royal Family usually attend a Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham, where large crowds gather to greet them.\n\nLast year, Prince George and Princess Charlotte went to the service for the first time.\n\nThe Queen will not be attending church on Christmas Day to avoid large crowds of well-wishers gathering, it is understood.\n\nThe Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will spend 25 December at Highgrove, their estate in Gloucestershire, but are expected to see the Queen and Prince Philip at Windsor over the festive period. The duchess will also visit her family.\n\nLast month, the Queen and Prince Philip, who has retired from public duties, marked their 73rd wedding anniversary by releasing a photograph showing them opening a card from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's children.", "People living in care homes in England will be able to have visits from family and friends by Christmas if the visitors test negative for Covid-19, the government has said.\n\nMore than a million coronavirus tests will be sent to care homes over the next month to allow safe indoor visits.\n\nVisits will be allowed across all tiers of coronavirus restrictions.\n\nThe health secretary said the move was possible due to \"unprecedented strides\" in testing technology and capacity.\n\nMatt Hancock said: \"The separation has been painful, but has protected residents and staff from this deadly virus.\n\n\"I'm so pleased we are now able to help reunite families and more safely allow people to have meaningful contact with their loved ones by Christmas.\"\n\nStrict restrictions have been placed on visits to care homes during the last eight months because of the pandemic.\n\nIn new guidance, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) says the \"default position\" is now that visits should be enabled to go ahead in all tiers - unless there is an outbreak in the care home.\n\nIt adds that hand holding and hugging may be possible if other infection control measures are followed.\n\nIt stresses the importance of visitors minimising contact as much as possible and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) to help protect their loved ones.\n\nCare homes will manage the number of visits that take place, which must be arranged in advance, with visitors urged to be mindful of the additional workload for the care home.\n\nEach care home is responsible for setting the visiting policy in that home, it says.\n\nThis will be welcome news for families in England who have waited a long time to be given the chance to visit loved ones and friends inside care homes, rather than trying to communicate through windows or on video calls.\n\nBut therein lies the problem.\n\nThe danger is that expectations will be raised of visits before Christmas which cannot all be fulfilled.\n\nThe biggest care home operators have been sent rapid testing kits but the smaller providers have not yet heard details about how they can obtain them.\n\nOne told me that, while welcoming the initiative, he was concerned at the level of administration which would be required to book in visits and organise the testing and this might mean taking on more staff.\n\nSome doubts have been raised about the effectiveness of the rapid testing technology with a relatively high number of false negatives if administered by less-trained staff.\n\nThe scheme will not be fully rolled out by Christmas but officials hope it will be more accessible to the wider public early in the new year.\n\nMore than a million quick-turnaround or \"lateral flow\" tests, which provide results in about 20 minutes without the need for a lab, are being sent out to England's 385 biggest care homes as part of the first phase of the rollout.\n\nThe guidance says the number of test kits will allow up to two visitors per resident, based on them visiting twice a week, by Christmas.\n\nAs well as the tests, an extra 46 million items of PPE will be sent to Care Quality Commission (CQC)-registered care home providers.\n\nThe Alzheimer's Society urged the government to ensure care homes do not struggle with extra administrative costs so that visits can continue.\n\nThe National Care Forum, a member association for not-for-profit social care providers, applauded the announcement, calling it a \"game-changing moment for visits\".\n\nBut executive director Vic Rayner said recognition of what the sector needs to put the policy into practice \"remains an inherent weakness\".\n\nShe added: \"It is essential that the government addresses this immediately, or else risks setting in train huge expectations around visiting, with no meaningful ability for care homes to deliver at the scale and pace required to make visiting a reality for all by Christmas.\"\n\nAnd Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said it was good news that the government has \"significantly shifted\" its position on care home visiting.\n\nBut she cautioned: \"The government has promised that everyone will be able to visit their loved one by Christmas and, while this is a laudable aim, it is also very ambitious, so we remain worried that practical difficulties of various kinds could get in the way for some.\"\n\nProf Martin Green, chief executive of Care England - the largest representative body for independent care providers - said: \"In order for these promising plans to land successfully, the sector must now be adequately supported by the government.\n\n\"We appreciate the continued risks associated with visits, but this represents a positive step forwards.\"\n\nSeparately, the government has published new guidance that may allow for some residents under the age of 65 to spend time with their families at Christmas outside of care homes - if their provider agrees and carries out risk assessments.", "Pubs will have to close to customers at 18:00, and will not be able to serve alcohol on the premises\n\nNew rules for pubs are \"insulting\" and \"a huge slap in the face\" for the sector, said the boss of Wales' biggest brewers.\n\nAlistair Darby of Brains called on politicians to \"stop changing their mind\" on what is required.\n\nWelsh pubs, restaurants and cafes will be banned from selling alcohol from Friday and will be unable to open to customers beyond 18:00 GMT.\n\nMark Drakeford said the new rules will tackle a rise in coronavirus cases.\n\nHealth Minister Vaughan Gething said he understood why companies in the industry are upset, but admitted there is \"no perfect balance\" between protecting public health and businesses.\n\nSpeaking on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast with Claire Summers, he added: \"What we can do is make sure more of us will be here in the future to celebrate life events.\"\n\nHowever Mr Darby said the move suggests pubs and restaurants are areas of \"high transmission\".\n\n\"It's hugely frustrating and a bit insulting. It says people are not making the effort being asked of them,\" he said.\n\nPubs will not be able to serve alcohol from Friday\n\nUK government Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said restrictions had been lifted too quickly after Wales' 17-day firebreak.\n\nHe told BBC Breakfast he sympathised with the Welsh Government, but added: \"As a result of doing that, the virus once more got out of control, so they've had to slam the brakes on again.\n\n\"The example of Wales shows what can happen if you lift the restrictions in too blanket a way too soon.\"\n\nThe Welsh Conservatives have accused the Welsh Government of putting jobs at risk with the new rules.\n\nBrains employs 1,400 people and has 104 pubs, but Mr Darby said the move will be felt by many thousands of other workers who supply the industry, such as electricians, plumbers and caterers.\n\n\"It will have an impact on a huge number of people who make a living from the sector and our communities who, I fear, will be deprived the opportunity to visit a pub this Christmas.\"\n\nMr Drakeford said new measures are necessary or there could be between 1,000 and 1,700 preventable deaths this winter.\n\nThe Brains boss said: \"The sector has done more than its fair share to ensure those potential deaths are avoided.\n\n\"And at the end of this, we will be asking, if lives aren't saved, what the answer will be?\"\n\nThe first minister said firms hit by the restrictions would be offered £340m in support which he claimed was \"the most generous package\" anywhere in the UK.\n\nHowever Mr Darby said the support \"would not touch the sides\".\n\nAs an £80m turnover business, Brains spent £500,000 in personal protective equipment (PPE) and digital technology for pre-booking, while it has \"surrendered\" huge capacity and lost summer trading, Mr Darby added.\n\nHe said: \"My message to politicians is 'you have to stop changing your mind on what is required in the sector'.\n\n\"We have done more than our fair share to ensure potential deaths are avoided at the end of this.\"\n\nDavid Cattrall of Harlech Foodservice said businesses need an exit plan and support\n\nDavid Cattrall, managing director of Harlech Foodservice, warned that many hospitality businesses would not survive the latest round of restrictions.\n\n\"There is a palpable sense of frustration, bewilderment and anger at the restrictions being placed upon the hospitality sector in north and mid Wales,\" he said.\n\n\"The rate of the virus is lower here than in south Wales so it defies logic that we are being subjected to this damaging one-size-fits-all policy.\n\n\"The run-up to Christmas is when the sector makes enough money to keep them going through the quiet months of January and February but it's clear now that Christmas has been cancelled as far as the hospitality sector is concerned.\"\n\nBusinesses need an exit plan and reassurance they will be able to open at Easter \"as a matter of urgency\", he added.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. An Irish bar has been \"turned into a coffee shop\" by the new rules, its owner says\n\nKelly Jolliffe, owner and landlady of The Greyhound Inn in Usk, Monmouthshire, said she was \"gutted\" about the new restrictions.\n\n\"I was expecting it, I was hoping that it would only be shutting at 6pm, which I think we could all have managed with and could have all worked around,\" she said.\n\n\"But when he banned the alcohol, I just thought there's no point really - we're a pub!\"\n\nShe told Radio Wales Breakfast she has decided to close, despite having got the pub ready for the Christmas trade.\n\n\"We were all decked out, all socially distanced, bookings coming in, everybody working around the regulations,\" she said.\n\nTory covid recovery spokesman Darren Millar said the restrictions could affect jobs across Wales.\n\nHe added: \"With one in 10 of the Welsh workforce employed by hospitality enterprises and with so many relying on pre-Christmas trade, the Welsh Government is now putting tens of thousands of jobs and livelihoods at risk.\"", "UK house prices are 6.5% higher than a year ago - the sharpest rise for nearly six years, the Nationwide has said.\n\nThe acceleration came as the housing market remained \"robust\" despite the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the lender said.\n\nHouse prices were 0.9% higher in November than in October, with the average property valued at £229,721, the Nationwide said.\n\nBut it added that property price growth was expected to slow.\n\nHouse prices have risen at a relatively rapid rate in many parts of the UK in the late summer and autumn as some people sought a change in lifestyle, or more space to work from home.\n\nThere was also some pent-up demand from the first period of lockdown, and some buyers have been looking to take advantage of stamp duty - or its equivalent - tax breaks in different parts of the UK.\n\nHowever, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said the economic fall-out from the Covid crisis would eventually be felt in the housing market.\n\n\"The outlook remains highly uncertain and will depend heavily on how the pandemic and the measures to contain it evolve as well as the efficacy of policy measures implemented to limit the damage to the wider economy,\" he said.\n\n\"Housing market activity is likely to slow in the coming quarters, perhaps sharply, if the labour market weakens as most analysts expect, especially once the stamp duty holiday expires at the end of March.\"\n\nAnalysts say a change in working trends post-vaccine could also affect the market.\n\nSamuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said: \"A relatively narrow cohort of well-off households, who already own their homes with little debt, seem to be driving the market with the savings that they have realised this year from working from home.\n\n\"House prices remain vulnerable to fall next year, when the trend towards working from home will be going into reverse, stamp duty will be higher, and mortgage rates still will be above their pre-Covid level, due to the weakened labour market.\"\n\nThe Nationwide also said its research suggested properties in national parks carried a 20% premium when sold, with homes on the outskirts of these areas also selling for 6% more than the equivalent property elsewhere.", "There were fears that Debenhams would have to close its stores if it didn't strike a rescue deal by the end of September. The department store chain is in administration and is looking for a buyer.\n\nBut chairman Mark Gifford told the BBC's Emma Simpson the group has enough cash to keep going long after the end of this month while a sale is negotiated.", "Scientists say the Amazon has suffered losses at an accelerated rate since Jair Bolsonaro took office\n\nDeforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has surged to its highest level since 2008, the country's space agency (Inpe) reports.\n\nA total of 11,088 sq km (4,281 sq miles) of rainforest were destroyed from August 2019 to July 2020. This is a 9.5% increase from the previous year.\n\nThe Amazon is a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warming.\n\nScientists say it has suffered losses at an accelerated rate since Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019.\n\nThe Brazilian president has encouraged agriculture and mining activities in the world's largest rainforest.\n\nThe Amazon is home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people.\n\nThe latest data marked a major increase from the 7,536 sq km announced by Inpe in 2018 - the year before Mr Bolsonaro took office.\n\nThe new figures are preliminary, with the official statistics set to be released early next year.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A section of the Amazon forest is systematically removed over a three-year period\n\nBrazil had set a goal of slowing the pace of deforestation to 3,900 sq km annually by 2020.\n\nIn addition to encouraging development in the rainforest, President Bolsonaro has also cut funding to federal agencies that have the power to fine and arrest farmers and loggers breaking environmental law.\n\nMr Bolsonaro has previously clashed with Inpe over its deforestation data. Last year, he accused the agency of smearing Brazil's reputation.\n\nIn a statement, Brazilian non-governmental organisation Climate Observatory said the figures \"reflect the result of a successful initiative to annihilate the capacity of the Brazilian State and the inspection bodies to take care of our forests and fight crime in the Amazon\".\n\nBut some officials said the fact that the rate of increase was lower than that recorded last year was a sign of progress.\n\n\"While we are not here to celebrate this, it does signify that the efforts we are making are beginning to bear fruit,\" Vice-President Hamilton Mourão told reporters.\n\nThe scale of destruction in the Amazon rainforest is hard to comprehend.\n\nLast year I experienced the silent aftermath of deforestation where huge trees had been bulldozed and would later be burned.\n\nThis is done to create fields for cattle grazing and soya cultivation - big earners for Brazil.\n\nAt the time it was said that an area of forest the size of a football pitch was cleared every single minute.\n\nBut soon that calculation was overtaken, and this year has seen the largest fires for a decade.\n\nNone of this should be a surprise: Jair Bolsonaro, was elected on a promise of development.\n\nKeen to promote mining as well as agriculture, he described the Amazon as \"a periodic table\" of valuable minerals, and he resents what he sees as outside interference.\n\nBut climate scientists say the billions of trees are a vast store of carbon and, without them, the rise in global temperatures will accelerate.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How is the rainforest helping to limit global warming?", "Debenhams has appointed a firm to draw up contingency plans for a possible liquidation of the department store.\n\nThe company, which is in administration, has hired Hilco Capital, a firm that specialises in winding up struggling retailers.\n\nDebenhams said it was \"trading strongly\" and Hilco's appointment did not mean a liquidation was likely.\n\nLast week Debenhams said it would axe 2,500 more jobs, on top of 4,000 cuts it announced in May.\n\nDebenhams filed for administration in April - the second time in a little over a year - and is examining options to exit the process.\n\nThese include the current owners continuing to run the business, a sale of Debenhams or a joint venture with new or existing investors.\n\nBut if the administrators, FRP Advisory, fail to find a buyer or new investment, Debenhams faces liquidation - putting 14,000 jobs at risk.\n\nA spokesperson for the department store said: \"Debenhams is trading strongly, with 124 stores reopened and a healthy cash position.\"\n\nDebenhams began reopening its shops in June after being closed since lockdown in late March to stop the spread of the coronavirus.\n\nSince lockdown started, it has announced store closures and job cuts.\n\nHowever, the company was struggling before the pandemic, including issuing a string of profit warnings.\n\nPrior to last year's administration, Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley had proposed injecting £200m into Debenhams.\n\nThe offer from Mr Ashley, who also owns House of Fraser, was rejected and Debenhams entered a pre-pack administration which allowed it to keep trading.\n\nHilco has worked on a number of high-profile liquidations in the retail sector including BHS, electronics specialist Maplin and Woolworths.", "Gwilym Owen has been given 250 hours of unpaid work and order to pay a total of £380 in costs\n\nA man who pulled plastic sheets off clothes in a supermarket during Wales' \"firebreak\" lockdown has been told to compensate Tesco over his protest.\n\nGwilym Owen was filmed pulling off the sheeting in Bangor on the first day of Wales' 17-day autumn lockdown.\n\nSupermarkets had been told they were not allowed to sell \"non-essential\" items during the firebreak period.\n\nOwen, of Holyhead Road in Gaerwen, Anglesey, pleaded guilty to damaging the sheeting and disorderly behaviour.\n\nHe was sentenced at at Caernarfon Magistrates' Court to 250 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £200 to Tesco in compensation and £180 in costs.\n\nFootage of Owen damaging the sheeting went viral after he uploaded it to Facebook.\n\nOwen uploaded the footage to his Facebook page\n\nGilly Harradence, defending, told the court Owen had not entered the store with the intention of causing trouble.\n\n\"He just wanted to highlight the unfairness and illogicality of the regulations,\" she said.\n\nMagistrates' chairman Alastair Langdon said Owen entered the shop to \"maliciously\" disrupt the running of the business and had used \"very nasty and abusive language\".\n\n\"You had no regard to the safety and welfare of staff or customers at the store,\" he said.\n\n\"Your actions must have been frightening and worrying to a number of people in the immediate vicinity.\"\n\nThe Welsh Government banned the sale of non-essential items, such as clothes, during Wales' 17-day firebreak lockdown which ran between 23 October and 9 November.\n\nMore than 60,000 people signed a Senedd/Welsh Parliament petition calling for the ban to be reversed, the largest ever submitted.", "The cost of a first class stamp will rise by 9p to 85p on 1 January, Royal Mail has announced.\n\nA second class stamp will also go up in price, rising by 1p to 66p on the same day.\n\nPrices were raised to their current levels in March. Royal Mail said the latest move was \"necessary to help ensure the sustainability\" of the universal service.\n\nIt said 2020 had been a \"challenging year\" for the business.\n\nThe company added that it had \"considered any pricing changes very carefully\" owing to the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThe move comes shortly after it revealed letter volumes had fallen 28% in the six months to September 27, compared with a year earlier and that revenue from parcel deliveries has surpassed letters for the first time, fuelled by a surge in online shopping during the pandemic.\n\nRoyal Mail said: \"The reduction in letter volumes has had a significant impact on the finances of the universal service which lost £180m in the first half of the year.\n\n\"This demonstrates the need for change in the universal service. We are working tirelessly to deliver the most comprehensive service we can in difficult circumstances as the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact our operation.\"\n\nDefending the price rises, the company added that the Covid-19 pandemic had cost it £85m during the period on protective equipment, covering absences, overtime and agency staff.\n\nNick Landon, chief commercial officer at Royal Mail, said: \"Like other companies, 2020 has been a challenging year for Royal Mail.\n\n\"Our people have worked tirelessly to keep the UK connected throughout the pandemic and associated restrictions.\n\n\"These price increases will help us continue to deliver and sustain the Universal Service in challenging circumstances.\"\n\nRegulator Ofcom said last week that Royal Mail would be able to cut Saturday letter deliveries and still meets the needs of most customers.", "Esther Dingley sent this photo of her at the top of a mountain nine days ago\n\nPolice searching for a British hiker missing in the Pyrenees are \"looking at other options\" beyond an accident, her partner has said.\n\nEsther Dingley, 37, last messaged her partner Dan Colegate via WhatsApp on 22 November, when she was on top of Pic de Sauvegarde on the France-Spain border.\n\nShe had been due to return from her solo walking trek on 25 November.\n\nMr Colegate said after extensive searches the \"prevailing opinion\" is she is not in the mountains.\n\nIn a post on Facebook, he praised the French and Spanish search and rescue teams' efforts, but said: \"Taking into account Esther's high level of experience, the nature of the terrain, the good weather she would have had, the fact she had a clearly defined route for Sunday evening and Monday, and various other factors, both search coordinators have essentially told me that the prevailing opinion in the search teams is that she isn't there.\n\n\"If she had fallen from one of the paths, they really would have expected to find her given the intensity, the closeness of the search and the fact most of the trails are really quite straightforward across open ground.\"\n\nDan Colegate and Esther Dingley had always been keen travellers\n\nMr Colegate said Ms Dingley is now listed as a national missing person in Spain and her case has been passed to a \"specialised judicial unit in France\".\n\n\"This means they will be looking at other options beyond a mountain accident,\" he said.\n\nMr Colegate said: \"While this is a terrifying development in many ways, I'm trying to focus on the fact that it leaves the door open that Esther might still come home.\n\n\"She was so utterly happy and joyful when we last spoke, I'd do anything to see her face and hold her right now.\"\n\nMs Dingley had been travelling in the couple's camper van while Mr Colegate stayed at a farm in the Gascony area of France.\n\nThe weekend she set out on the trek, the couple's story about their adventures around Europe in the camper van since 2014 was published by BBC News.\n\nMs Dingley had started walking from Benasque in Spain on Saturday and had planned to spend Sunday night at Refuge de Venasque in France, Mr Colegate said.\n\nThe couple had lived in Durham before deciding to pack up their lives and go travelling after Mr Colegate nearly died from an infection.\n\nFollow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Coronavirus: Shops, hairdressers, and museums reopen in Republic of Ireland\n\nAll retail outlets, hairdressers, museums and libraries have reopened in the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday in an easing of Covid-19 restrictions.\n\nIreland had been in lockdown for nearly six weeks, with rules similar to those in spring, except schools stayed open and construction continued.\n\nIt is now moving from the most severe level five restrictions to level three.\n\nPeople will now also be able to attend religious services and play golf and tennis again.\n\nGatherings of 15 people can take place outdoors and gyms and swimming pools can reopen, as can hotels and guesthouses, with services limited to residents only.\n\nHowever, people will not be allowed to leave their county except for essential reasons such as work, education or a medical appointment.\n\nA number of other sectors will also reopen as the country moves out of lockdown\n\nHouseholds have been told not to mix with other households outside their bubble until Christmas week.\n\nPeople are still advised to work from home where possible, and a face covering should be worn outdoors on busy streets, inside crowded workplaces and in places of worship.\n\nFrom Friday, restaurants and pubs that have a kitchen and serve food will reopen.\n\nHowever, pubs that do not serve food will remain closed except for delivery or take-away services.\n\nShoppers queue outside Penneys in Dublin before it opened on Tuesday morning\n\nFrom 18 December until 6 January, people will be allowed to travel outside of their county and up to three households will be allowed to meet indoors.\n\nNon-essential shops in Northern Ireland are currently closed until 11 December.\n\nSome shoppers queued outside Penney's in Dublin from 04:30 local time on Tuesday ahead of it reopening.\n\nLeonard Watson, who is the owner of a menswear clothing business in Letterkenny, County Donegal, has said it has been a long six weeks but he is delighted to be reopening again.\n\n\"It is great to get the doors open again in the run up to Christmas,\" Mr Watson said.\n\nSpeaking to BBC Radio Foyle, the business owner said, if given the option, he would much rather have been closed for the past five weeks if it meant he could be open for the next two weeks in December.\n\n\"It is the golden quarter, December is the month for us as independent retailers to make most of our money that covers us through the quiet months of January and February.\n\n\"We are still here, people need the high streets and we just hope people will continue to shop local.\"\n\nMr Watson said he accepted that shops being open was conditional on coronavirus case numbers remaining low, but said he was hopeful local retailers would be able to get at least some Christmas trade.\n\nPaddy Malone, from Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, said more than 300 shops in the Dundalk area had availed of financial assistance from the Irish government to help them go online during the lockdown.\n\n\"The local office did more in the past four months than they did over the past five years of getting businesses to switch online,\" he said.\n\nLast month, it was reported that Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar had advised against cross-border travel to Northern Ireland at Christmas, but he later said that was not the case.\n\nSpeaking on BBC Radio Ulster on Monday, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said no-one in the Irish government was suggesting that people could not cross the border.\n\n\"What needs to happen north and south is for people to respect the restrictions that are in place,\" Mr Coveney said.\n\nSimon Coveney told the BBC 'we're trying to contain a killer disease here and so people need to be responsible in how they travel'\n\n\"We are seeing strong advice coming from the executive in the north and the government in the south that there should be no non-essential travel.\n\n\"So in other words if people need to see a relative, if people need to travel for work or for study or medical reasons or other essential reasons, of course they are allowed to travel.\n\n\"But we're trying to contain a killer disease here and so people need to be responsible in how they travel, how they move around so we can limit the spread of this disease.\"", "Facebook will begin paying UK news publishers for some articles with the launch of Facebook News in January.\n\nThe feature adds a dedicated news tab to the Facebook app, and has already launched in the United States.\n\nFacebook said it will \"pay publishers for content that is not already on the platform\" and prioritise original reporting.\n\nIt comes after years of tension between Facebook and news publishers, who have often accused it of \"stealing\" content.\n\nBut hundreds of UK news outlets are already signed up to deals for the new feature, Facebook said.\n\nThey include publishers such as Hearst (Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire); the Guardian Media group; regional newspaper giant JPI Media; and the Midland News Association.\n\nFacebook said it expects more publishers to join after the launch.\n\nThe news tab is only available on the mobile app - not in a web browser.\n\nBut Facebook said its launch in the US has shown it that 95% of the traffic to Facebook News publishers through that tab, are new readers who \"have not interacted with those news outlets in the past\".\n\nThat may sound promising for news outlets trying to increase their audience on Facebook, as news accounts for only about 4% of a user's main \"news feed\".\n\nThe deals struck between Facebook and publishers are not public, so it is not known how lucrative they could be for struggling news outlets.\n\nBut previous efforts to bring publishers into the fold have not always been a success.\n\nOver the years, Facebook has encouraged news publishers to produce video for its platform and has changed the algorithms that govern its main user feed at the expense of news.\n\nIt has also tried to drive publishers to use its instant articles feature, which limits advertising and other features of the publisher's website.\n\nFacebook has always insisted it doesn't want to make editorial decisions. It outsources fact-checking to organisations like Full Fact, and will outsource curation of this news service to an organisation called Upday, tasked with surfacing \"reliable\" and \"relevant\" news, whatever an on-the-day editor decides that means.\n\nThis initiative crosses a commercial rubicon. The company has always directed traffic back to publishers, but this is the first time that Facebook will pay news publishers for their work.\n\nFor more than a decade, the likes of Rupert Murdoch's News UK - as well as many local publishers - have argued that big tech companies carry their content without paying for it, and so act as leeches.\n\nThis move will begin to weaken that argument. Some of the publishers paid by Facebook will be struggling local titles, dependent for their future on the flattering interest of a Californian tech giant.\n\nYet, as recently as 2018, Mark Zuckerberg said he wouldn't pay publishers for content.\n\nThis new move is a loud gesture to British regulators, saying Facebook will invest in public goods such as journalism, provided the regulatory environment is favourable.", "Covid-19 could be causing lung abnormalities still detectable more than three months after patients are infected, researchers suggest.\n\nA study of 10 patients at Oxford University used a novel scanning technique to identify damage not picked up by conventional scans.\n\nIt uses a gas called xenon during MRI scans to create images of lung damage.\n\nLung experts said a test that could spot long-term damage would make a huge difference to Covid patients.\n\nThe xenon technique sees patients inhale the gas during a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.\n\nProf Fergus Gleeson, who is leading the work, tried out his scanning technique on 10 patients aged between 19 and 69.\n\nEight of them had persistent shortness of breath and tiredness three months after being ill with coronavirus, even though none of them had been admitted to intensive care or required ventilation, and conventional scans had found no problems in their lungs.\n\nThe scans showed signs of lung damage - by highlighting areas where air is not flowing easily into the blood - in the eight who reported breathlessness.\n\nThe results have prompted Prof Gleeson to plan a trial of up to 100 people to see if the same is true of people who had not been admitted to hospital and had not suffered from such serious symptoms. He is planning to work with GPs to scan people who have tested positive for Covid-19 across a range of age groups.\n\nThe aim is to discover whether lung damage occurs and if so whether it is permanent, or resolves over time.\n\nHe said: \"I was expecting some form of lung damage, but not to the degree that we have seen.\"\n\nThe risk of severe illness and death increases markedly for the over 60s. But if the trial discovers that the lung damage occurs across a wider age group and even in those not requiring admission to hospital \"it would move the goalposts,\" according to Prof Gleeson.\n\nIn the scarred lungs, on the right, there are much larger areas of darkness, representing parts of the lungs that are having difficulty transporting oxygen into the blood stream\n\nHe believes the lung damage identified by the xenon scans may be one of the factors behind long Covid, where people feel unwell for several months after infection.\n\nThe scanning technique was developed by a research group at the University of Sheffield led by Prof James Wild who said it offered a \"unique\" way of showing lung damage caused by Covid-19 infection and its after-effects.\n\n\"In other fibrotic lung diseases we have shown the methods to be very sensitive to this impairment and we hope the work can help understand Covid-19 lung disease.\"\n\nDr Shelley Hayles is a GP based in Oxford involved in helping set up the trial. She believes that up to 10% of those who have had Covid-19 might have some form of lung damage which is leading to prolonged symptoms.\n\n\"We're now at more than one and a quarter million who have been infected - and 10% of that is a lot of people,\" she said.\n\n\"When medical staff tell patients that they don't know what's wrong with them and they don't know how to sort the symptoms out, it's very stressful.\n\n\"With most patients, even if the news isn't great, they want the diagnosis.\"\n\nThat is true of Tim Clayden, who spent his 60th birthday at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford with Covid symptoms that were so severe he believed that he would die. Fortunately he recovered but remains weary to this day. Tim was frustrated not knowing why he wasn't recovering to full health.\n\nHe said that he was simultaneously concerned and relieved when he received one of Prof Gleeson's scans which showed that his lungs were damaged.\n\n\"It does help knowing that there is an issue with your lungs,\" he says.\n\n\"I now know what it is. I know the origin of it. What I don't know, because no one does, is whether it is permanent or if it will pass. But I'd rather know than not know.\"\n\nDr Samantha Walker, director of research and innovation at Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, said: \"This is an interesting investigation and it's important that post-Covid lung damage is looked into further and on a larger scale so we can better understand the longer term damage caused.\n\n\"If further investigation shows that lung damage occurs, it could enable the development of a test that can measure lung damage caused by Covid-19 which would make a huge difference to many people with 'long covid' respiratory issues and also allow specific treatments to be developed.\"", "JD Sports has pulled out of talks over a rescue deal for department store chain Debenhams.\n\nIt was the last remaining bidder for the firm, which is in administration, and up until the end of last week had been closing in on a deal.\n\nBut retail giant Arcadia is the biggest concession operator in Debenhams and its collapse is understood to have been a factor in JD Sports' decision.\n\nWithout a buyer, Debenhams could be wound down, risking thousands of jobs.\n\nThe company had already cut about 6,500 jobs since May, and now has 12,000 workers.\n\nThe 242-year-old retailer had been considering a potential sale since the summer after it went into administration in April for the second time in a year.\n\nThe news that Arcadia has collapsed into administration, after the Covid-19 pandemic hit trading, has further complicated matters.\n\nThe downfall of the Arcadia group puts 13,000 jobs at risk. The group, which runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas, currently has 9,294 employees on furlough.\n\nArcadia's brands, such as Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins, are sold across Debenhams stores. They account for about £75m of sales.\n\nFormer Debenhams chairman Sir Ian Cheshire told the BBC he felt \"desperately sorry\" for the thousands of employees who were worried about their jobs.\n\nHe said that Debenhams had been \"caught in a straitjacket\" with too many High Street outlets on long leases.\n\n\"You've got to be so much faster and so much more online,\" he said, adding that the chain would have been better off with about 70 stores instead of the 130 it currently operates.\n\nShareholders in JD Sports had reacted badly to the news of the potential purchase of Debenhams, with the sports retailer seeing a sharp fall in its share price last week.\n\nThat rebounded on Monday after weekend reports claiming that it was reconsidering its move.\n\nJD Sports was widely seen as the last chance to save the beleaguered British chain.\n\nBut in a short statement issued on Tuesday, JD Sports said that \"discussions with the administrators of Debenhams regarding a potential acquisition of the UK business have now been terminated\".\n\nIf a buyer is not found for Debenhams, the firm could go into liquidation, or face being wound down. During that process, buyers would be sought for its shops and the business's other assets, like stock.\n\nHilco Capital, a firm that specialises in winding up struggling retailers, was appointed by Debenhams in August to draw up contingency plans.\n\nDebenhams said at the time that it was \"trading strongly\", despite having issued a string of profit warnings even before the pandemic hit.\n\nIn recent years several big High Street names have struggled including Thomas Cook, Mothercare and Bonmarche as retailers try to adapt to the rise of online shopping and changing consumer habits.\n\nAre you a Debenhams employee? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "The poorest communities have been hit hardest during the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\nBBC analysis shows the death rate from all causes between April and June this year in the most deprived areas was nearly double that of deaths in the least deprived parts of England.\n\nThe majority of the top 10 cities and towns with the highest death rates were in the north of England.\n\nThe BBC’s special correspondent Ed Thomas spent four days with a community in Burnley facing severe economic hardship.\n\nThe government says it's providing funding for local authorities to deliver services, including £170m to help families stay warm and well fed, millions for food aid charities and £220m for children through the Holiday Activities and Food programme.\n\n\"We recognise how difficult restrictions can be, particularly for those areas that have been under restrictions for so long,\" a spokesperson said.\n\nFilmed and edited by Phillip Edwards. Produced by Louise Martin.", "Knockwellan Park is a residential area and police said the \"reckless\" pipe bomb attack \"could have injured or killed\"\n\nA pipe bomb has exploded in a van in Londonderry in what police have described as a \"reckless attack\".\n\nPolice were called to Knockwellan Park in the Waterside area just before 22:00 GMT on Saturday after a report that the vehicle was in flames.\n\nOn arrival, \"it became clear that the cause of the fire had been the detonation of a pipe bomb-type device,\" said PSNI Det Sgt Richard Donnell.\n\nThere were no reports of any injuries.\n\nHowever, parts of the device remained at the scene after the fire so the area was cordoned off and Army experts were deployed to make it safe.\n\nThey recovered the remnants of the device and took them away further forensic examination.\n\nThe operation continued until 02:00 GMT on Sunday.\n\n\"This was a reckless attack carried out in a residential area with no consideration given as to who this device could have injured or killed,\" said Det Sgt Donnell.\n\nHe said those responsible were \"a danger to us all\" and he appealed anyone with information about the incident to contact police.\n\nFoyle MP Colum Eastwood said the attack was a \"moronic\" attempt to \"intimidate and kill in our community\".\n\nIn a tweet, the SDLP leader added: \"The people of Derry do not want this mindless violence. Stop now.\"\n\nSinn Féin's Martina Anderson said it was the latest in \"a series of attacks\" in the area this year, and PSNI should \"step up its effort to bring these criminal gangs to book\".\n\nThe Foyla MLA added: \"Those behind this attack have nothing to offer the community and need to end these reckless actions immediately.\"", "Adamo Canto admitted stealing medals and photographs from the Palace\n\nA Buckingham Palace catering assistant has admitted stealing medals and photographs from the Queen's residence.\n\nAdamo Canto, 37, pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court to three counts of theft between 11 November 2019 and 7 August 2020.\n\nPolice found a \"significant quantity\" of stolen items at his quarters at the Royal Mews in Buckingham Palace.\n\nCanto, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court at a later date.\n\nDuring the Covid-19 pandemic, Canto's role was changed to include more cleaning which offered him access to offices and other areas he would not normally have been given, the court was told.\n\nSome of the stolen goods, worth between £10,000 and £100,000, were listed for sale on eBay, prosecutor Simon Maughan said.\n\nA total of 37 items were offered for sale \"well under\" their true value on eBay, Mr Maughan said, with Canto making £7,741.\n\nOne item was a royal state banquet photo album of US President Donald Trump's visit to the UK, worth £1,500.\n\nCanto also took official signed photographs of the Duke of Sussex and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.\n\nSome 77 items were taken from the palace shop, while others were stolen from places such as staff lockers, the Queen's Gallery shop and the Duke of York's storeroom, the court heard.\n\nCanto admitted stealing a Companion of Bath medal belonging to the Master of the Household, which was sold online for £350.\n\nIn a statement, Vice Admiral Master Tony Johnstone-Burt said he first realised the medal was missing because he needed to wear it for the Queen's Trooping the Colour and was later told by staff that stolen items were for sale online.\n\nCanto also stole a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order medal from the locker of former British Army officer Maj Gen Richard Sykes, which was given to him by the Queen in 2010.\n\nDistrict Judge Alexander Jacobs released Canto on conditional bail and warned he faced a possible jail sentence.\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Thousands of people have fled after Indonesia's Ile Lewotolok volcano erupted, spewing ash high into the air.\n\nAuthorities have warned people of \"lava streams and poisonous gas\".\n\nIndonesia has the world's most active volcanoes.", "Artwork: The mission hopes to pick up a couple of kilos of surface materials\n\nChina has successfully put another probe on the Moon.\n\nIts robotic Chang'e-5 mission touched down a short while ago with the aim of collecting samples of rock and dust to bring back to Earth.\n\nThe venture has targeted Mons Rümker, a high volcanic complex in a nearside region known as Oceanus Procellarum.\n\nThe lander is expected to spend the next couple of days examining its surroundings and gathering up surface materials.\n\nIt has a number of instruments to facilitate this, including a camera, spectrometer, radar, a scoop and a drill.\n\nThe intention is to package about 2kg of \"soil\", or regolith, to send up to an orbiting vehicle that can then transport the samples to Earth.\n\nIt's 44 years since this was last achieved. That was the Soviet Luna 24 mission, which picked up just under 200g.\n\nThe probe casts its shadow on to the surface of the Moon\n\nUnlike the launch of the mission a week ago, the landing was not covered live by Chinese TV channels.\n\nOnly after the touchdown was confirmed did they break into their programming to relay the news.\n\nImages taken on the descent were quickly released with the final frame showing one of the probe's legs casting a shadow on to the dusty lunar surface.\n\nThe US space agency congratulated China. Nasa's top science official, Dr Thomas Zurbuchen, said he hoped the international research community would eventually get the chance to analyse any samples sent home.\n\n\"When the samples collected on the Moon are returned to Earth, we hope everyone will benefit from being able to study this precious cargo that could advance the international science community,\" he tweeted.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Jonathan Amos This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe 8.2-tonne Chang'e-5 spacecraft \"stack\" was launched from the Wenchang spaceport in southern China on 24 November (local time). It arrived above the Moon at the weekend and then set about circularising its orbit before splitting in two.\n\nOne half - a service vehicle and return module - stayed in orbit, while a lander-ascender segment was prepared for a touchdown attempt.\n\nAnother frame from Chang'e-5's camera on the descent\n\nThe Chinese space agency said this lander-ascender element put down at 15:11 GMT (23:11 China Standard Time). The precise position was reported as 51.8 degrees West longitude and 43.1 degrees North latitude.\n\nChang'e-5's success follows China's two previous Moon landings - those of Chang'e-3 in 2013 and Chang'e-4 last year. Both of these earlier missions incorporated a static lander and small rover.\n\nChina has previously put two static landers and rovers on the Moon\n\nA total of just under 400kg of rock and soil were retrieved by American Apollo astronauts and the Soviets' robotic Luna programme - the vast majority of these materials coming back with the crewed missions.\n\nBut all these samples were very old - more than three billion years in age. The Mons Rümker materials, on the other hand, promise to be no more than 1.2 or 1.3 billion years old. And this should provide additional insights on the geological history of the Moon.\n\nThe samples will also allow scientists to more precisely calibrate the \"chronometer\" they use to age surfaces on the inner Solar System planets.\n\nThis is done by counting craters (the more craters, the older the surface), but it depends on having some definitive dating at a number of locations, and the Apollo and Soviet samples were key to this. Chang'e-5 would offer a further data point.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Thomas Zurbuchen This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nReports from China suggest the effort to retrieve surface samples may last no longer than a couple of days. Any retrieved materials will be blasted back into orbit on the ascent portion of the landing mechanism, and then transferred across to the service vehicle and placed in the return module.\n\nThe orbiter will shepherd the return module to the Earth's vicinity, jettisoning it to make an atmospheric entry and landing in the Siziwang Banner grasslands of the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. This is where China's astronauts also return to Earth.\n\n\"Chang'e-5 is a very complex mission,\" commented Dr James Carpenter, exploration science coordinator for human and robotic exploration at the European Space Agency.\n\n\"I think it's extremely impressive what they're trying to do. And what I think is fascinating is you see this very systematic, step by step approach to increasing their exploration capabilities - from the early Chang'e missions to this latest one.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nJonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos", "Children have not had the help they need in the pandemic, says Ofsted\n\nThe \"invisibility of vulnerable children\" during the pandemic should be a \"matter of national concern,\" says England's chief inspector of schools.\n\nAmanda Spielman warns when many pupils were out of school in the lockdown, teachers might not have picked up early warning signs of abuse or neglect.\n\nThe chief inspector says such children, at risk of harm, slipped out of sight.\n\nLaunching her annual report, Ms Spielman says it should now be a priority to find such overlooked cases.\n\nThe NSPCC has raised concerns about risks to vulnerable children during the lockdown. Here are some snapshots from calls to the charity.\n\n\"My uncle is touching me sexually. He did it today and it has been happening for a few months now. He is still visiting us and sleeps over despite the government lockdown and I don't feel safe at home. Nobody else knows and I don't know if I could tell my parents, it would destroy my dad.\"\n\nSchools remained open during the first lockdown for the children of key workers and for vulnerable children - but many eligible families did not send their children to school.\n\nMs Spielman says pupils not being in school and a lack of access for health visitors had a \"dramatic impact\" - with a reduction in concerns over neglect or abuse being referred to local authorities.\n\nThe Local Government Association says referrals to children's social care teams were down by about a fifth, to 41,000 cases between April and June, resulting in about 1,600 children being looked after, a third below previous years.\n\nThere will now need to be \"urgent\" co-ordinated action to identify children whose problems were missed during the pandemic, warns the chief inspector.\n\n\"I'm very worried about a young girl who is being physically abused by her mother. We are close family friends and I used to babysit her. She has told me her mother used a shoe to hit her across the face and arms while she was doing her homework. I feel like the situation has exacerbated due to the coronavirus restrictions.\"\n\nThe report also raises wider concerns about the mental health and well-being of pupils, after the pandemic, in which children could have faced isolation, anxiety, loneliness or even bereavement.\n\nThe Ofsted chief also raises concerns about the pressures on families of children with special educational needs - saying many were \"struggling to cope\".\n\nMany apprentices have faced disruption to their training\n\nThey faced a reduction in support services and specialist activities as well as time in school for those who were shielding - which might have provided respite for parents, as well as educational opportunities.\n\nSuch families were \"hidden victims\" of the pandemic, says Ms Spielman.\n\n\"Covid-19 has exposed an already crumbling infrastructure that fails to meet the needs of our most vulnerable children all too often,\" says the chief inspector.\n\nOfsted suspended regular inspections during the pandemic, but the watchdog's report says the disruption to lessons has seen many pupils slipping back - and it says it is likely that the attainment gap between rich and poor children will get wider.\n\n\"I've become increasingly disturbed by the noises coming from one of one my neighbours - it's been getting worse since the lockdown. I can hear the mother shouting and swearing at her two little ones, it sounds vengeful and aggressive. Sometimes the mother locks her kids out in the front garden as punishment - the youngest was crying hysterically for half an hour, it was awful.\"\n\nThe quality of online learning was \"variable\", says the report, with some children lacking access to technology and others lacking motivation to learn at home.\n\nThe annual report highlights weaknesses with apprenticeships - saying they had the \"least effective\" education providers.\n\nAnd it warned almost two thirds of apprentices had either been furloughed, been made redundant or had their off-the-job training suspended.\n\nThe gap in results between rich and poor pupils is likely to get wider in the pandemic, says Ofsted\n\nPaul Whiteman of the National Association of Head Teachers said school leaders shared concerns about vulnerable children in the pandemic.\n\nBut he said budgets for child support services have been \"slashed\" and \"10 years of government neglect has left vulnerable children and families on the edge - and Covid has nudged many of them over\".\n\nMr Whiteman warned schools were already under great pressure - and he called on Ofsted not to resume regular school inspections in the new year.\n\nGeoff Barton, head of the leaders' union ASCL said Ms Spielman was highlighting \"an important issue\".\n\n\"Schools worked very hard to reach out to families with vulnerable children and bring these pupils into the emergency provision in schools during the first national lockdown,\" he said.\n\n\"Schools have been highly focused on addressing any problems with the wellbeing of students since full reopening in September, and they are very relieved to have vulnerable pupils back in school where they can make sure they have the support they need.\"\n\nA Department for Education spokeswoman said: \"The safety and well-being of the most vulnerable children has always been our focus, which is why we kept nurseries, schools and colleges open for those children throughout the pandemic.\n\n\"It remains a national priority to keep full-time education open for all,\" she said.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson says the “plan through to Easter” would see areas “come down in the tiers they are in”.\n\nNo 10 has published data behind its decisions over England's new tier system as it tries to win MPs' support.\n\nDowning Street's report said it sought to \"balance the many complex impacts\" of restrictions and keep them in place \"for as short a time as possible\".\n\nIt said allowing the virus to spread exponentially \"would lead to impacts... considered intolerable for society\".\n\nBut senior Tory MP Mark Harper said the \"wheels are coming off the government's arguments\".\n\nMPs will vote on the plans on Tuesday.\n\nThe government announced its tougher three tiers to tackle the virus last week, with Boris Johnson telling reporters on Monday: \"We can't afford to take our foot off the throat of the beast... to let it out of control again.\"\n\nBut a number of Tory backbenchers have threatened to vote against the motion when it comes to the Commons, including the Covid Recovery Group (CRG) of MPs - chaired by Mr Harper.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party would abstain on the vote, saying he had \"serious misgivings\" about the measures.\n\nBut he said it was \"in the national interest\" to let the restrictions pass through the Commons without Labour's opposition to ensure some measures were in place.\n\nA No 10 spokesman accused Sir Keir of \"playing politics in the middle of a global pandemic, instead of working with the government to find a way through this difficult time for the British people\".\n\nEngland's current lockdown will end in the early hours of Wednesday 2 December and will see the country placed into one of three tiers: medium (one), high (two) and very high (three).\n\nHowever, the majority of the country, over 55 million, will be under the strictest two sets of measures.\n\nThe announcement led to criticism from some Tory MPs, who were concerned about the impact in their constituencies.\n\nMr Johnson wrote to his party twice over the weekend to appeal for their backing and to grant some of the CRG's demands.\n\nThey included the publication of the data on the health, social and economic impact of the tiers, and the promise MPs could vote again on the measures in January - with the possibility the tier system could end on 3 February.\n\nBut the government report - published on Monday - said it was \"not possible to forecast the precise economic impact of a specific change to a specific restriction with confidence\".\n\nThe document is largely made up of information already available.\n\nIt said the challenge of balancing health and societal impacts was not straightforward, but the government would continue to pursue the best overall outcomes.\n\nThe chair of the Treasury select committee, Tory MP Mel Stride, condemned the report as \"a rehashed document [that] offers very little further in economic terms\".\n\nHe told the BBC he would support the government to ensure there were some restrictions in place, but added: \"It's frustrating that there is little here that sets out how the different tiers might impact on the specific sectors and regions across the country.\n\n\"Those looking for additional economic analysis of the new tiered system will struggle to find it in this document.\"\n\nThe CRG chair, Mr Harper, said the report \"seems to be collapsing under the glare of scrutiny\".\n\nHe repeated accusations that the government's modelling on deaths and hospital capacity had been wrong, adding: \"We have asked repeatedly for the information that vindicates these hospital projections and they have not been forthcoming.\"\n\nWhile Labour will abstain, the Liberal Democrats have said they will not back the plan - although it is not clear whether they will vote against or abstain.\n\nThe SNP will abstain in the vote, as it only covers restrictions in England.\n\nWith many of the opposition MPs abstaining, it would take a huge Tory rebellion for the measures to fall, which is unlikely.\n\nAt first glance there doesn't appear to be much, if any, new information in this document.\n\nThe government's analysis draws on studies and data already in the public domain to try to assess the impact of the tiered system of restrictions.\n\nSo will it convince Conservative MPs sceptical about the need for tighter restrictions that they are, in fact, necessary?\n\nSome Tory backbenchers may be satisfied the government has at least attempted to provide further evidence that tougher measures are needed. They've made their point.\n\nOthers will flick through the 48 pages and discard it, knowing all along that without some elusive magic formula the government could provide, they would never have been convinced.\n\nThe government is likely to win Tuesday's vote, but as the pandemic wears on, it is having to go to greater and greater lengths to keep its own MPs on side.\n\nSpeaking shortly before the data was published, Mr Johnson said he \"understood people's frustration\" with the stricter tiers.\n\nHe said: \"The tiering system is tough, but it is designed to be tough to keep [the virus] under control.\"\n\n\"What we can't do is forsake and abandon all the gains we have made now just when we are starting to see real progress in the science.\"\n\nIn the report, the government pointed to data from the Office for National Statistics, showing a rapid increase in people testing positive for the virus between September and November - from 59,800 a week to 633,000 a week.\n\nIt said the new \"strengthened\" tier system was \"designed to keep R [the infection rate] below one so that prevalence continues to fall, the significant impacts of the virus are reduced, and so that, ultimately, fewer restrictions are required.\"\n\nIt added that a \"stable and fully functioning health system is one of the pillars that underpins our society and our economy\", with the government's view being \"the severe loss of life and other health impacts of allowing the NHS to be overwhelmed would be intolerable for our society\".\n\nThe document also pointed to the economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility - which were published alongside Chancellor Rishi Sunak's spending review last week - predicting the value of the economy will fall by 11.3% by the end of the financial year.\n\nBut, while the report conceded there would be \"major impacts\" on the economy from the restrictions, it added: \"Any attempt to estimate the specific economic impacts of precise changes to individual restrictions for a defined period of time would be subject to such wide uncertainty as to not be meaningful for precise policy making\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Laura Foster explains the new three tier system for England\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir defended his party's decision to abstain on the vote for measures, saying it was \"better that these regulations can be amended and put in place than if there are no regulations\".\n\nHe said the \"serious misgivings\" he had included over the performance of the test and trace system and \"real concerns\" over the level of economic support for those in the highest tiers.\n\nBut, Sir Keir added: \"Although the number of cases is coming down as a result of lockdown, the virus is still a significant risk and in principal we accept there is going to have to be continued restrictions.\"\n\nHowever, one Labour MP, Richard Burgon, has already said he will vote against the tier system, arguing that it will fail to lower the infection rate and make another lockdown more likely.\n\nLiberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey described the system as \"chaotic\" and said his party would not back the measures until the prime minister addressed their concerns - such as working with local authorities and supporting pubs.", "The Mail Force campaign has donated face masks - similar to the one in this picture - to the NHS and care workers\n\nA charity set up by the Daily Mail to buy protective equipment for NHS staff donated 100,000 face masks suspected of being made by workers in a controversial Chinese labour programme.\n\nThe masks were flown in from China by the paper's Mail Force campaign, which was launched in April to buy PPE.\n\nThey were bought from Medwell Medical Products, a firm suspected of using Uighur Muslims in the labour scheme.\n\nMail Force said it had been unaware of allegations about Medwell at the time.\n\nA spokesperson for the charity said: \"The masks in question represent 0.2% of the 42 million items of PPE we delivered to the UK. We are implacably opposed to forced labour of any kind.\"\n\nIn April, amid reports of PPE shortages in the UK, the Daily Mail newspaper and owners General Trust launched the Mail Force charity, to source and provide equipment for NHS and care workers.\n\nThe registered charity - which has a separate board of trustees - has since provided millions of items of PPE, as well as testing equipment to hospitals such as London's Great Ormond Street, as well as care homes, and charities such as Mencap.\n\nMore than £11m has been donated by readers, the Daily Mail, partner businesses, and from the paper's owner, Viscount Rothermere\n\nJust a few days after the charity was set up, it delivered 100,000 masks and 50,000 coveralls to NHS workers, bought through a third-party agent in China. The Daily Mail then published two videos showing reporters delivering boxes of PPE. The boxes of disposable masks are clearly marked \"Medwell\".\n\nIn fact, Medwell's factory, in the town of Fenglin, in Jiangxi province, eastern China, was identified by the New York Times in July as using suspected forced labour from the country's Uighur minority.\n\nAccording to the paper, Uighur Muslims make up 25% of the workforce at the factory.\n\nChina is facing global political criticism over its alleged persecution of the Uighurs - a Muslim minority group that lives mostly in Xinjiang province, north-west China.\n\nIt is believed that the Chinese government has detained up to a million Uighurs over the past few years, in what the government defines as \"re-education camps\". China has also been accused of a programme of forced sterilisation against Uighur women.\n\nMedwell makes a variety of PPE and ships its products around the world, including to the US, where it is registered with the regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).\n\nAt least some of the firm's masks have ended up at the NHS supply warehouse, based in Daventry, Northamptonshire, the centre from which the NHS supplies Britain's hospitals and care homes with PPE.\n\nEarlier this month, health minister Lord Bethell confirmed an investigation of stocks at the warehouse did \"show a record of receiving PPE masks produced by Medwell Medical Products\".\n\nThe BBC understands that those masks were supplied by the Mail Force charity.\n\nThe Department of Health and Social Care said: \"These masks were donated through an intermediary and only represent a tiny proportion of the overall PPE supplied. The masks have been removed entirely from the distribution chain.\n\n\"We expect all suppliers to the NHS to follow the highest legal and ethical standards and proper due diligence is carried out for all government contracts.\"\n\nA spokesperson for the Mail Force charity added: \"Working with relevant government departments, we ensured that all items met the relevant procurement standards.\n\n\"Every batch was approved by Department of Health inspectors prior to being bought and prior to delivery. Despite this, we became aware in November that part of one consignment of PPE may have originated in one factory in China, where it has since been suggested that forced labour has been used.\"\n\nThe charity said more than 60% of the PPE it has supplied was manufactured in the UK.\n\nIn a statement, China's UK embassy said workers of all ethnic groups have \"the freedom to choose their jobs and locations of work with zero restriction on their personal liberty\". It said there was \"no such thing\" as forced labour in China.\n\nThe BBC has asked Medwell Medical Products for comment.", "Rita Ora says she's \"deeply sorry\" for breaking English lockdown rules to celebrate her 30th birthday.\n\nThe singer says she attended a party at a restaurant in west London on Saturday.\n\n\"Given the restrictions, I realise how irresponsible these actions were and I take full responsibility,\" she wrote in a statement.\n\nIt's reported up to 30 people were at the party, although she describes the event as a \"small gathering\".\n\nShe says it was a \"spur of the moment\" decision.\n\nLondon's Metropolitan Police confirmed officers went to the Casa Cruz restaurant after a report about a potential breach of Covid lockdown regulations.\n\n\"I'm deeply sorry for breaking the rules and in turn understand that this puts people at risk,\" she posted.\n\n\"This was a serious and inexcusable error of judgement.\"\n\nRita Ora wrote an apology and posted it on her Instastory\n\nCurrent lockdown regulations in England mean you can only meet one other person outside.\n\nPubs and restaurants are currently closed (although they can serve non-alcoholic takeaways) and you shouldn't be with people from outside your house or support bubbles indoors.\n\nPolice have the power to break up groups larger than six and those who ignore officers could be fined £100, doubling with each offence to a maximum of £3,200.\n\nSo far, the singer has not been fined.\n\nKensington and Chelsea Council, which is responsible for issuing Covid fines against businesses in the area, says it is still investigating what happened at Casa Cruz.\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by ritaora This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe singer's not the first high-profile public figure to admit breaching lockdown. In October, Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham apologised \"for the naivety shown\" in attending a party for his 23rd birthday.\n\nIn May, Manchester City's Kyle Walker wrote to the club's supporters after breaching coronavirus restrictions.\n\nListen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.", "Education has been \"completely disrupted\" by the sheer scale of Covid absences in some schools in some areas, Ofsted regional bosses have warned.\n\nThe regional directors for North-West England and the West Midlands say the impact of rules around self-isolation has significantly impacted attendance.\n\nThey highlight areas where hundreds of pupils are absent and self-isolating at a time, some again and again.\n\nOfsted says some areas will have seen relatively little impact this term.\n\nThe latest official figures for overall attendance in England show 22% of pupils in secondary schools were absent last Thursday.\n\nThis was the same as the previous week, when figures also showed at least some pupils being sent home in 75% of schools.\n\nThe comments from these regional directors working with schools in hard-hit areas, come days before England's ministers are due to set out plans for public exams in the summer of 2021.\n\nJames McNeillie, who oversees West Midlands for Ofsted, meets regularly with groups of head teachers.\n\nHe said: \"I had one head teacher with schools in Dudley and Sandwell. Across three schools, there were 1,000 pupils self-isolating and 14 members of staff self-isolating.\n\n\"And he told me he had dealt with four Covid cases by 10 in the morning.\n\n\"That's the kind of messages we are getting about the impact on pupils and teachers.\"\n\nAndrew Cook, who overseas North-West England which has had some of the highest Covid rates in the country, said there were significant concerns about attendance in areas around Liverpool. Oldham and Greater Manchester.\n\n\"There are schools where 40% of staff are off - either self-isolating or having tested positive. The huge impact of self-isolation has a significant impact on attendance.\n\n\"Schools are struggling because the number of staff they have had to send home - that impacts their ability to keep schools open.\n\n\"Attendance was fairly stable at the beginning of term but its started to decline,\" he said.\n\nMr Cook added that there was one local authority where the whole of Year 11 (GCSE year) had only been in school for two weeks before half term because they were repeatedly having to isolate as a bubble.\n\nIt would be extremely difficult to keep lessons flowing in such a situation, he said.\n\nHe added that those pupils who were persistently absent - often those who were most vulnerable before the pandemic - were starting to stay away again.\n\nAnd that parental confidence in school safety was often being shaken when cases or suspected cases emerged.\n\nHe added: \"The impact on education is going to be significant. There will be some schools that have been hit hardest and with repeated episodes and that is going to completely disrupt their learning.\"\n\nBut he said schools had worked incredibly hard to provide learning online.\n\nLooking forward to the way public exams are to be held this year, both directors said it had to be fair.\n\nMr McNeillie said: \"Whatever it is that's decided by central government and Ofqual [the exams watchdog] - it has to be something that is fair for all.\"\n\nMr Cook agreed, adding that schools and head teachers were very focussed on exam groups and were trying to support them as much as possible.\n\nBoth directors paid tribute to teaching staff and heads, saying they had been doing an amazing job.\n\nData which I've seen exclusively suggests that even across the north of England some areas are recovering better than other.\n\nSo the proportion of schools with cases is lower in Blackpool at below 30%, than Oldham or Rochdale where it remained above 40% last week.\n\nOther places have suddenly been hit by the impact of the virus, with 16 schools in Kent reported closed recently. All of this makes it much harder to find a way of recognising lost learning for those facing exams.\n\nGeoff Barton, head of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: \"The health secretary yesterday said the national lockdown had helped to bring coronavirus back under control.\n\n\"It will not feel like that in many schools which continue to operate under very difficult circumstances because of the impact of the pandemic.\n\n\"We are particularly concerned about the final week of term when any positive cases will result in many children and staff having to self-isolate over Christmas in line with Covid protocols.\n\n\"We are pressing the government to allow schools to move to partial or full remote learning during that week if they feel this would help address the situation.\"\n\nBut a Department for Education spokesperson said it was a national priority to keep education settings open full-time.\n\nThis was supported by the Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, who has highlighted the damage caused by not being in education to children's learning, development and mental health, he said.\n\n\"Schools, colleges and early years settings across the country have worked extremely hard to remain open, implementing safety measures and scaling up remote education provision for those children who are self-isolating, with approximately 99% of schools open each week since the start of term.\"\n\nHowever, National Association of Head Teachers general secretary Paul Whiteman said pupils and teacher attendance figures was fluctuating massively and head teachers were doing their best to help pupils catch up whilst keeping their schools running.\n\nBut he said they were \"operating largely in the dark\" because the government was dragging its heals on crucial announcements.", "Could we be on the verge of a vaccine announcement in Wales\n\nWales is ready and waiting to roll out a Covid vaccination programme within days, say officials in Wales.\n\nIt follows mounting speculation that UK regulators are ready to approve at least one of the vaccines being reviewed.\n\nThey have been reviewing data on three vaccines for emergency approval for use.\n\nA decision could come as early as Wednesday and First Minister Mark Drakeford said Wales was prepared.\n\nSpeaking at a Covid briefing, Mr Drakeford said: \"Last week, the NHS in Wales carried out a large and successful test of all the practical things, which will need to be in place once a vaccine is given the go-ahead.\"\n\nHe added that this \"could be as early as this week and we will be ready for it\".\n\nBoris Johnson saw one of the vaccine labs for himself in Wrexham on Monday\n\nOn Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited a laboratory in Wrexham, which is gearing up to produce the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine if it is approved.\n\nThe Wockhardt UK lab has the capability to produce around 300 million doses of vaccine a year and preparations to produce 150,000 vials a day of the vaccine have been under way for weeks.\n\nMr Johnson said it could provide \"salvation for humanity\" when it starts producing coronavirus vaccines.\n\nTrials have shown the Wrexham vaccine to be between 62% and 90% effective in protecting against Covid-19.\n\nIt is the cheapest of the vaccines being considered, and can be stored at normal fridge temperatures.\n\nBut the vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech is also being scrutinised by regulators, and could also get early approval.\n\nModerna are also hoping to get the go-ahead in the US and Europe for its vaccine.\n\nThe UK has already pre-ordered doses of all three vaccines:\n\nTwo full doses of the Oxford vaccine gave 62% protection, a half dose followed by a full dose was 90% and overall the trial showed 70% protection.\n\nOlder, more vulnerable people and care home staff will be amongst the first to receive the vaccines when they are approved.\n\nThe Welsh Government will split the population into age groups to determine priority:\n\nThe priority 10 groups represent 60% of the population but also 99% of all deaths linked to Covid-19.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Plans have been made for a public information campaign about the vaccine\n\nA mass Covid-19 vaccination programme will need the full support of the executive in order to be delivered, the Ulster Unionist Party leader has said.\n\nSteve Aiken urged the first and deputy first ministers to present a united front on the importance of the vaccine.\n\nMr Aiken said Northern Ireland was moving to \"a critical stage\" of the pandemic.\n\nOn Sunday, the Department of Health reported three more coronavirus-related deaths and 351 new cases in NI.\n\nIt brings the department's overall death toll, which is based on deaths from any cause within 28 days of a positive test, to 986.\n\nGPs in NI are preparing for a mass vaccination programme to begin next month.\n\nSpeaking on BBC One's Sunday Politics Mr Aiken said: \"All of the executive should be working together and getting the same message out.\n\nMr Aiken called on Stormont to focus on recovering the economy and dealing with the pandemic\n\n\"Now is not the time for backbiting but what we must be doing is supporting [Robin Swann] because we must support our health service to get through this stage.\"\n\nMr Aiken said he would \"love\" the first and deputy first ministers to \"keep coherent with the message they have come out with in the past week\", saying \"they must do that because we're moving to a critical stage\" of the pandemic.\n\nSpeaking about the vaccines, Mr Aiken said: \"I really do hope that the various vaccines, their efficacy will be proved and they will be given the approval for their rollout to start.\"\n\nHe called on Stormont to focus on helping the economy to recover and dealing with the pandemic in the new year.\n\n\"We need to be doing this to be able to make sure we can come out the other side and make sure our health service isn't overwhelmed,\" he said.\n\nThe UUP leader added that the \"most important thing\" for the people of Northern Ireland to doing was to support the health minister.\n\nOn Saturday, the Department of Health reported nine more coronavirus-related deaths and 315 new cases of the virus in Northern Ireland.\n\nIt brings the department's overall death toll, which is based on deaths from any cause within 28 days of a positive test - to 983.\n\nMeanwhile, it emerged that GPs in Northern Ireland are planning to deliver Covid-19 vaccines for people aged over 80 who do not live in care homes from 4 January.\n\nVaccine approval is expected in the next two weeks\n\nDoctors have been advised to \"assume\" the GP vaccination programme will begin on that date.\n\nApproval is anticipated for two vaccines in the coming weeks.\n\nThe JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) group will decide on who should be first in line to receive it, but it has been widely reported that care home residents and health and social care workers will be the first priority groups.\n\nGPs will be central to the programme's roll-out, with Northern Ireland relying on them along with health trusts to \"urgently\" begin administering the doses once the drugs are licensed, according to a letter from the Health and Social Care Board sent to GP practices.\n\nThe initiative is a \"major undertaking\" by GP practices to \"help bring the pandemic under control\" according to the head of general medical services at the HSCB, Dr Margaret O'Brien.\n\n\"Whilst clarity is still required on a number of issues, including the date of approval and delivery of the vaccine, the exact storage requirements and priority groups, the situation is developing at pace and there is a need to plan for the earliest possible commencement of the vaccination programme,\" said Dr O'Brien.\n\n\"We do however have enough information to be able to start to plan for a Covid-19 vaccination programme.\"\n\nPlans from the executive include a public information campaign to encourage take up of the vaccine among the public\n\n\"This is the light at the end of the tunnel that so many of us have been waiting for,\" said Dr Alan Stout, chair of the GP committee at the British Medical Association.\n\nDr Stout said the intention is \"to get started this side of Christmas\" but acknowledged the rollout will be \"massively challenging\".\n\nHealth and social care frontline workers are expected to be vaccinated in the first phase, followed by residents and staff of care homes and the clinically vulnerable.\n\nWithout regulatory approval, plans for vaccine delivery are at this stage provisional.\n\nThe vaccination programme will be on a phased basis, and will run well into 2021, according to the Department of Health.\n\nPlans include a public information campaign to encourage take up among the public.", "Arcadia is \"an object lesson in what happens if you don't stay relevant\", said Lord Rose\n\nBreaking up the Arcadia retail empire, which includes Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins, is \"the only way\" forward as it faces collapse, its former chief executive said.\n\nLord Rose, now chairman of Ocado, said \"people will come and pick over the carcass\" but not all the brands and infrastructure are likely to sell.\n\n\"If you aren't relevant, you're probably going to die,\" he said.\n\nAdministrators could be appointed on Monday, putting 13,000 jobs at risk.\n\nLord Rose, who was chief executive of Arcadia until it was bought by retail tycoon Sir Philip Green in 2002, said the company had been \"caught out\" by the \"relentless pace of change\" in retail, which was only made worse by the Covid-19 crisis.\n\n\"Sadly what will happen is people will come and pick over the carcass,\" he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, adding that there were \"some tastier bits of the carcass\" - such as Topshop - and \"some less tasty bits of the carcass\".\n\n\"I just hope that someone will pick up some of the pieces, that some jobs are salvageable,\" he said.\n\nArcadia would be the biggest British corporate collapse of the pandemic if it enters voluntary liquidation, analysts said.\n\nThey said that if a large part of its 500 shops were forced to close, it would hollow out a huge swathe of the UK High Street.\n\nBut the shops are expected to continue to trade if administrators are called in, as buyers are sought for the company or its individual brands.\n\nLord Rose said he did not want to \"demonise\" Sir Philip, but said the controversial businessman had \"not moved from an analogue world to a digital world fast enough\", blaming that on a likely lack of investment over 10 or 15 years.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Monaco, models and money – who is retail mogul Sir Philip Green?\n\n\"It's a very, very tough place out there in the retail high street at the moment,\" said Lord Rose, who also led Marks & Spencer for more than six years.\n\n\"There is very little room for manoeuvre, we've got a whole load of pressures in the sector and I'm afraid if you aren't relevant, you're probably going to die.\"\n\nBBC business editor Simon Jack said that while Topshop is deemed to have some value as a brand, insiders are less optimistic about the appeal of Wallis Evans, Dorothy Perkins and Burton to buyers.\n\nMike Ashley, founder of Sports Direct and owner of House of Fraser, has been suggested as one possible buyer for some of the brands, he said.\n\nAccording to a report from Sky News, Mr Ashley's Frasers Group offered a £50m loan to Arcadia on Saturday.\n\nBut the BBC understands that Arcadia has not yet received a direct approach and a source close to the situation described the offer as a \"non-starter\".\n\nIf part or all of the company is sold, the proceeds would be likely to end up in the Arcadia pension fund, which is hundreds of millions of pounds in deficit and would have a priority claim on the company's assets.\n\nLord Rose said Arcadia teetering on the brink of collapse was jut one aspect of a \"sector-wide malaise that's been accelerated by the problems with Covid\".\n\nThere are forecasts of 20,000 shops closing and 250,000 retail jobs being lost, he said.\n\nMenswear retailer Moss Bros launched a restructuring of its business on Friday and earlier this month fashion chains Peacocks and Jaeger were placed into administration after owner Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group failed to find a buyer.\n\n\"If we don't get back to normality we're going to have more than 2.5m people unemployed, we're going to have really difficult times on the high street, and that is a real, real problem,\" Lord Rose said.\n\nRetail consultant Kate Hardcastle said Arcadia's brands had been \"suffering for years through under-investment\" while paying out large dividends.\n\nShe told the BBC that store closures could have a \"knock-on effect\" which \"casts a shadow\" on other high street retailers by reducing the overall footfall.\n\nThe future of the Arcadia brands is in developing an e-commerce presence \"rather than just bricks-and-mortar stores\", Ms Hardcastle said.\n\nArcadia has acknowledged that the pandemic had \"a material impact on trading across our businesses\".\n\nSir Philip had been in talks with potential lenders about borrowing £30m to help the business get through Christmas.\n\nThose talks collapsed and the company said it was \"working on a number of contingency options to secure the future of the group's brands\".\n\nBut Arcadia had also been struggling against online competition from companies such as Asos, Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing, as well as high street brands such as Zara which have invested heavily in their digital business.\n\nIn its most recent accounts for the year to 1 September 2018, Arcadia reported a £93.4m pre-tax loss compared with a £164.6m profit in the previous 12 months.\n\nIt also said sales fell 4.5% to £1.8bn.\n\nAre you an Arcadia employee? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "US President Donald Trump's controversial special adviser on the coronavirus, Scott Atlas, has resigned.\n\nThanking Mr Trump for the honour of serving the American people, Dr Atlas said he had \"always relied on the latest science and evidence without any political consideration or influence\".\n\nDuring his four months in the role, Dr Atlas questioned the need for masks and other measures to control the pandemic.\n\nHe also repeatedly clashed with other members of the coronavirus task force.\n\nThe radiologist and senior fellow at Stanford University's conservative Hoover Institution joined the task force in August. As well as questioning the usefulness of masks he was against lockdowns and supported herd immunity as a strategy to deal with the outbreak.\n\nHe sparked further controversy last month when he tweeted \"people rise up\" in response to new restrictions imposed in Michigan.\n\nHis tweet came just weeks after it emerged the state's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, was the subject of an alleged kidnapping attempt by militia members opposed to virus mitigation efforts.\n\nPublic health officials - including top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci - had accused Dr Atlas of giving President Trump misleading information about the spread of the virus.\n\nAfter Dr Atlas' resignation, Dr Fauci told the BBC that the current situation in the US was worse than at any time since the start of the outbreak. \"The slope of our curve is very steep so that every day it seems we almost break a new record,\" he said.\n\nAs of Sunday, the number of Covid-19 cases recorded in November in the US surpassed four million, double the figure recorded in October.\n\nAcademics at Stanford University welcomed Dr Atlas' resignation, saying it was \"long overdue and underscores the triumph of science and truth over falsehoods and misinformation\".\n\nFox News said Dr Atlas had joined the administration on a 130-day contract, which was set to expire this week.\n\nIn his resignation letter, carried by Fox, he said his advice had \"always focused on minimising all the harms from both the pandemic and the structural policies themselves, especially to the working class and poor\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"We're at war with a virus, not with one another\": President-elect Biden calls on Americans to unite against Covid-19\n\nHe also spoke of the \"free exchange of ideas that lead to scientific truths\", adding: \"Indeed, I cannot think of a time where safeguarding science and the scientific debate is more urgent.\"\n\nPresident-elect Biden has taken a markedly different stance to his predecessor, urging everyone to wear masks and pledging a \"bedrock of science\" to his policy on tackling the pandemic.\n\nThe US has recorded more than 13 million coronavirus cases and more than 266,000 people have died.\n\nMillions failed to heed scientists' appeals to stay at home during the Thanksgiving holiday, prompting Dr Fauci to warn the US could see \"surge upon surge\" of cases as people travel back.\n\nThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to discuss the rollout of a vaccine with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices this week, a move which Dr Fauci said offered a \"light at the end of the tunnel\".", "Salesforce has agreed to buy workplace messaging app Slack for $27.7bn (£20bn) in what would be one of the biggest tech mergers in recent years.\n\nMarc Benioff, boss of the business software giant, called the deal a \"match made in heaven\".\n\nHe has been pushing to expand the company's software offerings and fend off rivals such as Microsoft.\n\nThe acquisition comes as the pandemic has increased the focus on remote work and tools, like Slack, which enable it.\n\nTech analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities called it a \"now or never\" purchase for Mr Benioff.\n\n\"If Salesforce wants to expand beyond its core gold mine of sales and marketing departments … this was the moment and thus represents a major shot across the bow against Microsoft,\" he wrote in a note to investors after the deal was announced.\n\nSlack, founded in 2009, has won a following with its group chats, which offer an alternative to email.\n\nWhen it listed its shares publicly in 2019, it was valued at roughly $20bn.\n\nHowever, its shares sank after the launch and have missed out on the stratospheric rise enjoyed by other tech firms this year.\n\nThe company, which had about 12.5 million users as of late March, has had difficulty making inroads against Microsoft Teams, a similar product that the tech giant unveiled in 2016 and now has more than 100 million users.\n\nThe deal never happened and Microsoft instead focussed on developing its own platform. Microsoft Teams was created - a clear rival to Slack.\n\nWhen a trillion dollar company like Microsoft looks to move into your business - you should be worried.\n\nInitially, Slack was confident of the challenge, even taking out a full page advert in the New York Times welcoming the competition in 2016.\n\nLooking back on it, it's hard to see that advert as any more than hubris.\n\nBig Tech can kill smaller companies. Their sheer size and dominance in the market makes them very hard to compete with.\n\nMicrosoft started flexing its muscle. It started bundling in Microsoft Teams with its Office Software.\n\nMicrosoft Teams is now used by nearly 10 times as many people as Slack.\n\nIf Slack thought it was fun to have Microsoft as a competitor in 2016, it definitely didn't in 2020.\n\nIts legal challenges claim that Microsoft uses its heft to unfairly bully the competition.\n\nSo, this acquisition should be seen in that context. Slack was being slowly squeezed.\n\nIt has now been bought by a much bigger fish - it will be better placed to compete with Microsoft.\n\nBut, there will be many who will use this case to lament the plight of smaller tech companies, who simply can't compete with a handful of tech giants.\n\nThe two companies hope that the tie-up will put them in a better position to take on a number of enterprise software competitors, and in particular Microsoft.\n\nMicrosoft's business applications have seen a massive surge as large numbers of people shifted to work-from-home arrangements due to the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\nMicrosoft's business suite includes features that are similar to Slack's messaging service.\n\nThe tech giant' CEO Satya Nadella remarked earlier this year that \"We've seen two years worth of digital transformation in two months\"\n\nBoth Salesforce and Slack have had previous run-ins with Microsoft.\n\nIn 2016, Salesforce lost out to its bigger rival when it attempted to buy the business-focused social media service LinkedIn.\n\nThis summer, Slack brought a competition complaint against Microsoft in the European Union, saying the firm was abusing its market dominance by bundling Teams into its other products.\n\nUnder the terms of the Salesforce deal, Slack shareholders are to receive $26.79 in cash per share - roughly what they were worth at the beginning of November, before rumours of the acquisition pushed the price per share to more than $43 as of Tuesday. They will also receive some shares in Salesforce.\n\nThe deal, which will be reviewed by Slack shareholders, is expected to close next year.", "A public inquiry into state collusion in the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane will not take place at this time, the government has said.\n\nMr Finucane was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries from the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in February 1989.\n\nHis family had fought a long campaign, involving numerous legal actions, in a bid to have London fulfil a commitment given 20 years ago to hold an inquiry.\n\nSeveral examinations of the case found state forces colluded in his murder.\n\nNI Secretary Brandon Lewis said he had taken the decision due to other review processes needing to run their course.\n\nHe discussed the outcome with Mr Finucane's family, shortly before outlining the details in the House of Commons.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\n\"I am not taking the possibility of a public inquiry off the table at this stage, but it is important we allow ongoing PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) and Police Ombudsman processes to move forward,\" he said.\n\nBut Mr Finucane's widow Geraldine said the government's decision \"makes a mockery\" of previous rulings.\n\n\"The proposal falls so far short of what it required in this case that it beggars belief,\" she said in a statement on Monday.\n\n\"It makes a mockery of the decision by the UK Supreme Court and the forthright comments of Belfast High Court.\n\n\"It is yet another insult added to a deep and lasting injury.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHer son, John Finucane, who is the Sinn Féin MP for North Belfast, said his family was angry and upset at the decision.\n\n\"To sit in a room with us today and present this as something credible, and ask for us to support that, it was astonishing,\" he said.\n\n\"I thought it was exceptionally arrogant and cruel of the secretary of state on behalf of his government.\n\n\"The British government, at every opportunity, will continue to make the wrong decision, and will put all of their efforts into ensuring that the truth as to what happened with the murder of my father - the full truth - will not see the light of day.\"\n\nBut Mr Lewis said while he understood the family's disappointment, he believed his approach was the \"right way forward\".\n\nThe government had been forced into taking a decision following two legal actions - one involving the UK Supreme Court in February last year.\n\nThe Supreme Court found there had never been an adequate investigation into the murder, but stopped short of directing a public inquiry, ruling it was entirely a matter for the government.\n\nFurther government information including details that were not presented during the Supreme Court case have now been published, said Mr Lewis.\n\nMr Lewis said the PSNI also intends to begin a process of review into the murder of Mr Finucane early next year.\n\nThis was an important development and a factor in determining the next steps in the case, he said.\n\nPSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne said it was his organisation's view that there were \"currently no new lines of inquiry\", and would now determine if a further review was merited given previous investigations.\n\nAny review would need to be conducted independently, he added.\n\n\"A review itself is not an investigation. Any decision to investigate would only be made following the review process,\" Mr Byrne said.\n\nThis was a decision the Finucane family has heard before - but their anger has been compounded by how they say the government has handled the matter this time.\n\nClearly the government says it is something that can be revisited, but the process has already lasted decades.\n\nIt is not clear how long the PSNI and Police Ombudsman reviews will take - it does not seem like they will be resolved quickly.\n\nWill this Conservative government end up having to address the matter again, or could it end up in the hands of a Labour administration, who have expressed support for a public inquiry?\n\nThere are also wider questions now about where this leaves the current government's handling of legacy issues in Northern Ireland more generally, let alone in handling the Finucane case.\n\nThe government said it will determine at the end of these current processes whether further investigation would be required, to ensure it has complied with its legal obligations.\n\nIn his role as a defence solicitor, Mr Finucane had represented both loyalists and republicans, including prominent members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).\n\nThe claim made by his killers, that he was a member of the IRA himself, was rejected by the police and strongly denied by his family.\n\nGeraldine Finucane has long maintained that a public inquiry into her husband's death is the only way to establish the full truth\n\nThe 39-year-old was shot 14 times by two gunmen who burst into his north Belfast home during a family dinner in February 1989.\n\nThey have claimed that collusion went to the top of government and maintain only a public inquiry can bring full disclosure.\n\nIrish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said he was disappointed by the decision and would study the detail of the announcement in full.\n\nLabour's Shadow NI Secretary Louise Haigh criticised her Conservative counterpart's approach, and said confidence in his handling of legacy issues was \"in short supply amongst victims\".\n\nSinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said only a full public inquiry would get to the truth, and accused the government of being \"determined to hide the story of collusion\".\n\nSDLP leader Colum Eastwood described the outcome as a \"disgraceful\" attempt to bury the truth, and said the British government was \"unilaterally dismantling the agreed approach to legacy\".\n\nAlliance MP Stephen Farry said Mr Lewis had failed miserably and expressed concerns that the government was \"turning back the clock\" on historical legacy investigations.\n\nBut the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) welcomed Mr Lewis's decision.\n\nDUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said what was needed was a \"holistic approach\", and a wider legacy process to deal with all outstanding cases.\n\nUUP assembly member (MLA) Doug Beattie said there could not be a \"hierarchy of victims\".\n• None A murder with 'collusion at its heart'", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Arla's UK managing director said it faces filling in an extra 30,000 pieces of paperwork from next year\n\nThe head of the UK's largest dairy farmers' co-operative has warned that prices may rise sharply in the event of a \"no-deal\" Brexit.\n\nArla is behind brands such as Cravendale Milk and Lurpak and imports about 15% of its products.\n\nIts UK boss told the BBC that if the UK could not strike a free trade deal with the EU, tariffs could add as much as 30% to their prices.\n\nA government spokesperson said it was working closely with the food industry.\n\nAfter the Brexit transition period expires at the end of December, dairy goods are amongst those which could face the highest increase in such taxes.\n\nIn theory, that could add about 40p to the price of a pack of imported butter or mozzarella, if passed on to consumers in full.\n\nResearch commissioned by Arla, from the London School of Economics, claims that 40% in total of food and agricultural products used by British households and businesses come from the European Union (EU). The study calculated that without a deal, foods imported from the EU could face charges of nearly 18%.\n\nArla imports about 15% of its products, in line with others in the dairy sector\n\nPassing a free trade deal by 1 January would take away the risk of those tariffs. But the extra border checks and other formalities that would still apply could still raise costs for businesses, and potentially disrupt imports.\n\nArla's UK managing director, Ash Amirahmadi, said his organisation faced filling in an extra 30,000 pieces of paperwork from next year. He estimated that grappling with new measures could add as much as 10% to costs.\n\nDescribing his collective of 2,300 UK farmers as a \"low margin business\", he said they would have no choice but to pass on increased costs to retailers.\n\nWith supermarkets commonly having very low profit margins themselves, he was concerned that those prices might be passed on to shoppers.\n\nAnd the cost of change could be more than financial. Mr Amirahmadi claimed dairy products are the way \"many people get their essential nutrients....and we're very concerned if we have to increase our prices.\"\n\nA government spokesman said: \"The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain and there will not be an overall shortage of food, regardless of what trading arrangements we agree with the EU.\n\n\"We are in regular contact with the food industry to support its preparations for a range of scenarios, and will continue to work closely with them to ensure people across the country have the food and supplies they need.\"\n\nBut Mr Amirahmadi pointed out that it would take years, and more investment, before the industry could source solely from the UK.\n\n\"What we're looking for is for the government to support the industry and to enable us to be competitive on the world stage.\n\n\"That includes making sure we protect our standards on foods.\"", "Last updated on .From the section Formula 1\n\nWorld champion Lewis Hamilton will miss this weekend's Formula 1 Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain after testing positive for coronavirus.\n\nHis team, Mercedes, said the Briton woke with mild symptoms on Monday and returned a positive result at a subsequent test and again at a retest.\n\nHamilton, who is now self-isolating, won the Bahrain Grand Prix at the same circuit on Sunday.\n\nThe 35-year-old said he is \"devastated\" to miss Sunday's race.\n\n\"I'm gutted not to be able to race this weekend but my priority is to follow the protocols and advice and protect others,\" he wrote in a post on Instagram.\n\n\"I am really lucky that I feel OK with only mild symptoms. Please look after yourselves out there. You can never be too careful.\"\n• None Grosjean wants to return for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix\n• None Russian Mazepin to race for Haas in 2021\n\nHamilton, 35, clinched his record-equalling seventh world title at the Turkish Grand Prix on 15 November.\n\nSunday's race will be the first Hamilton has missed since his F1 debut at the 2007 season-opening race in Australia.\n\nHe must return a negative test before returning to the paddock and therefore is a doubt for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi on 13 December.\n\nMercedes said Hamilton was tested three times last week, including on Sunday at the Bahrain International Circuit, and returned a negative result on each occasion.\n\nHowever, as well as waking with mild symptoms on Monday, he was also informed that a contact \"prior to arrival in Bahrain\" had tested positive.\n\nHamilton is the third F1 driver to test positive for coronavirus this season following Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll.\n\nWho will fill in for Hamilton?\n\nMercedes have not said who will replace him but Belgian reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne - the former McLaren F1 driver - will travel to Bahrain as planned after Tuesday's Formula E test in Valencia.\n\nVandoorne, who raced for McLaren in 2017 and 2018, is the obvious option for Mercedes but the team are also expected to explore the possibility of using Williams driver George Russell.\n\nThe 22-year-old Briton is a Mercedes protege and is being prepared for a potential switch to the factory team in F1 at some point in the future.\n\nAs a result, Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff could be tempted by the idea of giving Russell a one-off drive - which could stretch to two races if Hamilton is not free of Covid before the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix the following weekend.\n\nHowever, Russell is under contract to Williams until the end of next season and the British team would have to agree to release him temporarily before Mercedes could put him in Hamilton's car.\n\nWhen Mercedes were exploring their contractual options for 2021 earlier this year, they asked Williams whether they would be prepared to release Russell for next season, to see where they stood prior to confirming Valtteri Bottas. Williams said at the time that they were not prepared to release him from his contract a year early.\n\nWilliams are last in the constructors' championship but only three points behind Haas and, as Russell is their lead driver who has comprehensively out-performed team-mate Nicholas Latifi this season, they may not be keen on releasing him.\n• None How the John Terry incident drove him to tackle the problem in the game\n• None Follow a behind the scenes look at their return tour down under", "The charity is now providing a service throughout the night\n\nWales Air Ambulance has started providing a service around the clock for the first time.\n\nThe charity has introduced a new double-pilot crew so it can get anywhere across Wales overnight.\n\nThe decision to expand the service followed research showing it could have been deployed to nearly 1,000 more emergency calls over the past year.\n\nHowever the charity will now need to raise an additional £1.5m in donations every year to meet the extra costs.\n\n\"In 2021, the charity will mark 20 years of service and what better way to acknowledge that milestone than the introduction of a 24/7 air ambulance operation,\" said the chairman of Wales Air Ambulance, David Gilbert.\n\n\"This has been two decades in the making and we would not be here without the people of Wales and their incredible generosity, as well as our staff and volunteers.\"\n\nIt means the charity will have to find £8m a year to run the expanded services, with pilots, paramedics and doctors working out of four airbases across Wales, in Cardiff, Caernarfon, Llanelli and Welshpool.\n\nThe service effectively brings an emergency medical room to the patient, with critical trauma care not normally available outside of hospital, including surgical procedures, blood transfusions and emergency anaesthesia.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The family of Ellie Harris have been campaigning for a round-the-clock service - after it saved her life\n\nThe medical teams are provided through a partnership between the charity, Welsh Government and NHS Wales.\n\n\"The introduction of the overnight helicopter will provide emergency air cover to more people who have a clinical need for immediate treatment across Wales,\" said Health Minister Vaughan Gething.\n\n\"The work of the charity and its hardworking staff and volunteers has helped Wales to lead the way in best practice, clinical excellence and innovation and contributed to the charity becoming the largest air ambulance operation in the UK.\"\n\nSince the service began in 2001, it has carried out more than 37,000 missions, and each year its specialist children's service airlifts about 400 children with life-threatening emergencies or to children's hospitals across the UK.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "England's new tiers system has started, but many are complaining areas with lower than average rates of infection have been unfairly put in high tiers.\n\nIn the summer, action was supposed to be hyper-local, sometimes with different rules in the same local authority.\n\nBut now, tiers have been applied in broad areas, generally matching counties or city regions.\n\nAnd in those larger areas, the case rates were all higher in tier three than in tier two in the week to 19 November.\n\nThe modellers advising government say working on a broader scale \"may make measures more effective\" since it reduces the chances of people travelling across tier boundaries.\n\nThe only exception to the \"bigger regions\" approach is Slough.\n\nThe surrounding parts of Berkshire are all in tier two - but Slough, with a higher rate of infection, has been put into tier three.\n\nThe price of this approach is low-Covid areas can be swept up into county-wide restrictions.\n\nFor example, Tunbridge Wells and Ashford, in tier-three Kent, had about 120 cases per 100,000 in the week to 19 November.\n\nBut most local authorities in England saw more than 180 cases per 100,000 people that week.\n\nThe document describing the government's rationale for each decision lists four factors on top of the main case rates, however:\n\nTunbridge Wells and Ashford have seen rising rates in recent weeks, while the rates in the rest of England have been falling.\n\nAnd with hospitals in Kent already under pressure, the worry is the high rates of infection in Swale and Medway spread out into the rest of Kent.\n\nBut many MPs are still unsatisfied with the government's explanations.\n\nConservative MP Damian Green, who represents Ashford, asked the government to apply rules at \"a local level, districts rather than counties or regions\" as \"restrictions which people feel are unfair to their particular community will simply not be respected or obeyed\".", "Dave Ackerman (left) and Colin Griffiths questioned whether pubs could afford to stay open\n\n\"It does not seem to make sense,\" said one customer enjoying a drink at the Gold Cape pub.\n\nRetired Dave Ackerman was chatting with a friend over coffee a day after it was confirmed Wales' pubs and restaurants will have to stop serving alcohol on their premises from Friday and have to close after 18:00 GMT.\n\nFriend Colin Griffiths, a part-time taxi driver, doesn't think it will be viable to keep bars open if they don't sell food.\n\nBut at a nearby table, two more customers believe stopping alcohol sales on the premises, and shutting early, could help reduce the spread of Covid-19, as \"everyone mixes when they have had a few drinks\".\n\nTheir comments come after First Minister Mark Drakeford said the new rules would tackle a rise in coronavirus cases.\n\nMr Ackerman, from Northop, near Mold, said: \"Are they doing this because of Christmas parties in pubs? It does not seem to make sense.\"\n\nHe thinks more people are at risk of catching coronavirus in other public places with high footfall, like supermarkets, and said pubs have become quieter during the pandemic.\n\n\"A lot of the older ones have been staying away. Maybe they don't think it's safe. But you are more likely to catch something in the supermarket,\" he added.\n\nThe pub has introduced a one-way entrance system among its Covid-19 safety measures\n\nMr Griffiths, from rural Graianrhyd, in Denbighshire, said: \"There are a few pubs in Mold that don't sell food. It won't be viable to keep it open.\"\n\nHe was concerned there could be a \"free-for-all over Christmas\" with people mixing at home amid UK-wide rules over the festive period which allow up to three households to meet.\n\n\"I can see another lockdown. We will be back to this situation in January,\" he said.\n\nBefore lunch time, the tables looked busy with customers - fewer than four to a table to comply with regulations - using disposable menus and some seated between safety screens - at the bar run by JD Wetherspoon.\n\nThe Gold Cape takes its name from a Bronze Age artefact unearthed in the town more than 180 years ago by quarrymen.\n\nEileen Dulson (left) and Brenda Milner agree with the alcohol rules, if it helps to cut Covid-19 cases\n\nBrenda Milner, from Rossett, near Wrexham, who has relatives working in the health service, said she supported the new rules: \"If you want this virus to go you would give everything up.\n\n\"Everyone gets mixing when they have had a few drinks.\"\n\nFriend Eileen Dulson, from Wrexham, agreed: \"I want them to get the numbers dying in the hospital down. It's frightening.\"\n\nHer husband Ron said: \"I don't think everybody understands the rules. Wales is different from England. It would make it more understandable if the same rules apply.\"\n\nShoppers queue outside a newsagent on Mold High Street on Tuesday morning\n\nSitting beneath the pub's wall-mounted big screen TV, David Maher, 48, from Mold, called the alcohol rules a \"nightmare\" for drinkers who want to sit in.\n\nHe and partner Jane Parker, 50, questioned whether there should be regional differences in Covid rules according to the number of cases in an area, similar to the tier system over the border.\n\n\"Everyone has been careful in Mold. Every shop I have been in there are people in masks,\" he said.\n\nThe couple agreed the pub was a \"safe\" place to socialise and staff had been \"brilliant\" providing table service to customers.\n\n\"Sometimes you just want to get out of the house,\" said Ms Parker.\n\nMold student Ella Dokk-Olsen, 16, questioned the reason behind the 18:00 closing time, saying \"coronavirus doesn't know the time\".\n\nShe is concerned about people's mental health, saying closing bars reduced people's ability to socialise in a safe place.\n\nFellow sixth former Amelia Cole-Jones, also 16, said closing at 18:00 could \"drive people into houses\" to mix.\n\n\"In a pub the environment is safer, especially over Christmas when people want to meet up,\" she said.\n\nFellow student Megan Hughes, 16, said pubs were an important meeting place for people: \"For some people it is the only time they come out of the house.\"", "Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins owner Arcadia has gone into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk.\n\nThe High Street giant has hired administrators from Deloitte after the pandemic \"severely impacted\" sales across the group.\n\nNo redundancies would be announced immediately, it said in a statement.\n\nAnd Arcadia's stores will continue to trade as Deloitte considers all options available to the group.\n\nAll orders made over the Black Friday weekend will also be honoured, the administrators added.\n\nSir Philip Green's retail empire had failed to secure extra funding to pay its debts after sales slumped during the pandemic.\n\nThe group, which runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas, said 9,294 employees are currently on furlough.\n\nThe administration will give Arcadia breathing space from creditors, such as landlords for its shops or clothing suppliers, while a buyer is sought for all or parts of the company. Arcadia executives will still hold day-to-day control over the business.\n\nIan Grabiner, the boss of Arcadia, said it marked an \"incredibly sad\" day for the group.\n\n\"The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods, has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands,\" he said.\n\n\"Throughout this immensely challenging time our priority has been to protect jobs and preserve the financial stability of the group, in the hope that we could ride out the pandemic and come out fighting on the other side.\n\n\"Ultimately, however, in the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe.\"\n\nMatt Smith, joint administrator at Deloitte, said that it would be working with Arcadia management to assess all of the options available to the group's brands, which also include Evans and Outfit.\n\nHe said Deloitte would rapidly seek expressions of interest and expected to identify one, or more, buyers to hopefully ensure the future of the businesses.\n\nFashion retailer Boohoo is seen as a potential buyer for some of Arcadia Group's big name brands, such as Topshop. In the past it has bought struggling brands Oasis, Warehouse, Karen Millen and Coast.\n\nThe prospects for the 13,000 workers look very challenging. There is a lot of industry chatter that online-only retailers might want to snap up the names that still have some consumer power - such as Topshop and Topman.\n\nBut while the likes of Boohoo and Asos may want the brands, they will not want to take on a portfolio of physical stores - which is where most of the jobs are. Other brands like Wallis, Evans, Dorothy Perkins and Burton are not considered very relevant to a new generation of consumers.\n\nAnd what of Sir Philip? His gruff and combative style belies - or is perhaps explained by - the fact he is much more thin-skinned and sensitive than you might think. He will feel this failure personally - but that will be little comfort to the thousands of employees facing an uncertain future with Christmas round the corner and rising unemployment limiting their other job options.\n\nHe is also very stubborn. That resistance to change, and insisting he knew best, was at the heart of Arcadia's demise. It's hard to see another act in what has been a career full of drama and controversy.\n\nAs many have said, at heart he was not really a retailer - he was a shrewd financier - a money man. The future of retail requires a very different skill-set.\n\nArcadia was once a darling of the High Street, but long before coronavirus, Sir Philip's brands were struggling against newer, online-only fashion retailers such as Asos, Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing.\n\nJulie Palmer, partner at professional services firm Begbies Traynor, said: \"While the Covid-19 crisis has undoubtedly accelerated the company's decline, in reality, the writing had been on the wall for Arcadia for some time.\n\n\"Its competitors forged ahead with high-profile online propositions that it simply failed to match.\"\n\nIn its most recent accounts for the year to 1 September 2018, Arcadia reported a £93.4m pre-tax loss compared with a £164.6m profit in the previous 12 months. It also said sales fell 4.5% to £1.8bn.\n\nThe pandemic did also lead to a huge drop-off in sales as stores had to shut for long stretches.\n\nWhile the business persuaded its landlords to lower its rents in June, it was not enough to steady the ship.\n\nArcadia's 13,000 workers now face an anxious wait. One store manager told the BBC they felt \"angry, sad and disappointed\" on Monday.\n\n\"I've now got a large team that's all terrified of what's going to happen to them and their futures\", they said.\n\n\"I am just hoping that something can be done to preserve the brands and the employees' jobs.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Monaco, models and money – who is retail mogul Sir Philip Green?\n\nDave Gill, from retail trade union Usdaw, said: \"It is crucial that the voice of staff is heard over the future of the business.\n\n\"We are seeking urgent meetings [with the administrators] and need assurances on what efforts are being made to save jobs, the plan for stores to continue trading and the funding of the pension scheme.\"\n\nAdding to the uncertainty facing the thousands of Arcadia staff is an estimated £350m hole in the company's pension fund, which has 10,000 members.\n\nStephen Timms, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, called on Sir Philip to cover a shortfall in the pension scheme and urged the pension watchdog to fight on behalf of the group's workers.\n\nBusiness Secretary Alok Sharma tweeted on Monday that the independent Pensions Regulator \"has a range of powers to protect pension schemes\", and that he would be keeping a \"very close eye\" on the administrators' report on director conduct.\n\nSir Philip previously faced controversy for selling off BHS, the former department store chain, for £1 to businessman Dominic Chappell. The following year, BHS went bust with the loss of 11,000 jobs and a pension deficit of £571m.\n\nSir Philip reached a deal with the Pensions Regulator to inject £363m into that scheme. Meanwhile, Mr Chappell was recently sentenced to six years for tax evasion.\n\nArcadia is the latest major retailer to have been hammered by store closures during the pandemic.\n\nCompetitors Debenhams, Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, Oasis and Warehouse have all slid into insolvency since lockdown measures were first imposed in March.\n\nThe collapse of Arcadia could also affect Debenhams as it is feared it could scupper a sale of the department store chain to JD Sports.\n\nArcadia is the biggest concession in Debenhams, accounting for about £75m of sales. It sells brands such as Miss Selfridge and Evans across the department store chain.\n\nJD Sports had been closing in on a rescue deal to buy Debenhams, which is currently in administration for the second time in a year.\n\nDebenhams has already cut about 6,500 jobs since May, and now has about 12,000 employees across 124 stores.\n\nAre you an Arcadia employee? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "England and Wales' contact-tracing app is to add a Self-Isolation Payment feature as soon as next week.\n\nThe version 4 update will address a discrepancy that currently exists.\n\nThose told to stay at home by human contact-tracers can qualify for £500 of support.\n\nBut privacy safeguards built into the NHS Covid-19 app had complicated making the same offer to those who had received an automated self-isolate notification.\n\nIt is hoped the move will encourage more people to install the app and follow its guidance over the Christmas period, when there are concerns that cases of the coronavirus could spike again.\n\nThe charity Citizens Advice has warned that many people ordered to stop work by the app have faced an \"impossible choice\", as they can experience a big drop in income if they act to help stop the spread of the virus.\n\nEngland's NHS Test and Trace scheme and Wales's NHS Test, Trace, Protect counterpart both allow affected people on low incomes, who cannot work from home, to apply for financial help.\n\nChecks can be made against a register to prevent fraud.\n\nBut because the app keeps the identity of users who have received self-isolation alerts secret, the process had to be adapted.\n\nLast week Labour had called on the government to address this issue.\n\nAt present, users of the app cannot claim a support grant if told to self-isolate\n\nShadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said: \"Many people will be astonished to find that people using the Covid-19 app can't access support to self-isolate - even if they're eligible for the payment.\"\n\nThe team behind the app is aware that many of those instructed to self-isolate for up to 14 days are not doing so.\n\nIt is thought the absence of a financial incentive is an important factor.\n\nBefore the version 4 release, there will be another update this week to show users what restrictions are being enforced in their local authority, rather than their post code.\n\nThis has been timed to coincide with England's switch from national rules to a tier-based approach on 2 December, which will be based on council boundaries.\n\nLonger-term, there is speculation that vaccination records could be a further feature to be added.\n\nThis has been sparked by remarks made by the head of Test and Trace, Baroness Dido Harding.\n\nSpeaking to a private meeting organised by the Health Service Journal and first reported by the Times newspaper, she said work was going on to help people log both tests and their vaccinations.\n\nThe first Covid-19 vaccines should be administered in the UK next month\n\nThe idea would be \"to have a single record as a citizen of your test results and whether you've been vaccinated.\"\n\nIt is not clear whether such a record would be stored in the NHS Covid-19 app or elsewhere.\n\nFor months, all kinds of companies have been touting so-called immunity passports, which would allow people to get on a plane or visit a pub by showing proof that they were not infectious.\n\nThe trouble with all of these schemes was that without official approval from a government body, nobody would trust them.\n\nI spoke to one person who played a leading role in the early development of the NHS Covid-19 app.\n\nHe remembered that building this kind of immunity ID card into it had been considered. But he said it was deemed an unnecessary complication at that early stage, and the idea was handed to a separate group to consider.\n\nThe idea is not without controversy.\n\nPrivacy experts warned early on in the app's development that using it to display a user's vaccination status might lead to employers or public places making its use compulsory.\n\nNow, though, the government seems keen to press ahead.\n\nMr Zahawi has been made responsible for the deployment of the coronavirus vaccine in England\n\nEngland's new vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC: \"We are looking at the technology\".\n\nSpeaking on Radio 4's The World at One, he added: \"I think you'll probably find restaurants and bars and cinemas and sports venues will probably also use that system, as they've done with the app.\"\n\nHe pointed out that the QR barcode feature of the app - which registers visits to pubs, cafes and other businesses - had helped drive uptake.\n\nBut with vaccinations due to start as early as next week, it appears unlikely that any immunity passport will be ready by then.\n\nComplex decisions will be involved, such as whether the app simply records immunisation or the results of later immunity tests proving that the user is no longer capable of spreading the virus.\n\n\"At present we do not have an authorised vaccine and we do not know if a vaccine will impact transmission of the disease,\" said a spokesman from the Department of Health and Social Care, when asked about the matter.\n\n\"Should a vaccine pass our rigorous safety standards the NHS stands ready to immediately deploy it to those most at risk and this will allow us to see what impact a vaccine has on the epidemic as a whole.\n\n\"Then we will have the information needed to decide the next steps to a path back to normality.\"", "The UK's high level of obesity has fuelled a much-increased death rate from Covid-19, says the former chief medical officer for England.\n\nProf Dame Sally Davies said high obesity rates - and high levels of deprivation and overcrowded housing - had cost lives.\n\nThe poor state of public health meant it was not surprising that the UK had struggled during the pandemic.\n\nShe said: \"The fact that we are one of the fattest nations in the developed world has undoubtedly led to more deaths than we should have had.\n\n\"Our poor public health - whether it is deprivation, overweight, or other chronic illnesses, alongside crowding in urban areas - have led to a much increased death rate over what we could have had if we had a healthier basic population.\"\n\nThe UK became the first country in Europe to pass 50,000 coronavirus deaths earlier this month.\n\nDame Sally said stricter recent restrictions had reduced social encounters and so brought down coronavirus infections.\n\nBut she added that she expected a third wave of the virus, possibly in the New Year, and that it was going to be a difficult winter.\n\nDame Sally left her role as the government's chief medical adviser to become head of Cambridge University's Trinity College a few months before Covid-19 struck.\n\nShe has co-authored a book arguing for more effective measures to promote healthier living. Among the measures she supports are taxes on foods high in salt or sugar.\n\nShe said: \"It is incontrovertible that if you are overweight - particularly if you are obese - you increase your risk of death.\n\n\"All of the diseases associated with overweight, whether it is hypertension, diabetes or others, increase the risk of getting very ill.\n\n\"Clearly it is terribly important that we sort out obesity and overweight to improve the health of the nation.\"\n\nShe said that while average life expectancy in the UK had increased, the average number of years of healthy life had not, and among the most deprived sections of the population it had come down.\n\nThe UK government unveiled a plan to tackle rates of obesity in July, which included a ban on \"buy one get one free\" deals on unhealthy food in England, restrictions on where foods high in fat and sugar can be promoted in-store, and new rules for displaying calories on menus.\n\nThere will also be a national campaign to help people lose weight and eat more healthily, a consultation on whether to stop fast food adverts online altogether, and a review of traffic light labelling on food and drinks sold in shops.\n\nDame Sally Davies has made very few comments about the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\nShe has been understandably keen not to tread on the toes of her successor Chris Whitty.\n\nShe knows that any future review of the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis will partly cover her time as chief medical adviser.\n\nBut she has always been passionate about the need to improve health and wellbeing and implement tough anti-obesity policies.\n\nSo her broader arguments about the vulnerability of the UK population to Covid because of long-standing structural health inequalities is consistent with her stated views when in Whitehall.\n\nIt is a sobering thought that more people died in the UK with coronavirus than in many other leading industrialised nations because of poor underlying health.\n\nDame Sally has the issue out there for others to consider as they look for lessons to be learned. With her put stature and experience, the message cannot be ignored.", "Debenhams is set to close all of its 124 stores after last-ditch efforts to rescue the department store chain failed.\n\nIt looks like it is finally the end for the 242-year-old business.\n\nIt reached its position as a lynchpin of the UK retail landscape by 1950, when Debenhams became the largest department store group in the UK, with 110 stores.\n\nAnd in 2006 it joined the stock market - for the third time - with a worth of £1.7bn - a price tag it has never topped since.\n\nOver the last decade, it started its descent, as its profits fell and debts became unmanageable.\n\nThe chain has been placed in administration twice over the last two years, with the pandemic proving to be the final straw.\n\nSo how did things go so wrong for Debenhams?\n\nDebenhams has faced competition in areas like beauty\n\nExperts say Debenhams has fallen behind with fashion trends over the last decade, a problem familiar to other mid-market High Street retailers such as M&S.\n\nMaureen Hinton of retail consultancy GlobalData says it lacked products that differentiated it, which left it exposed when dynamic new brands, many of them operating purely online, started breaking through.\n\n\"Back in the 1990s they had Designers at Debenhams, where designers like Ted Baker or Jasper Conran would do in-house ranges for them. That was a good differentiator but they never moved on,\" she says.\n\n\"They also filled their stores with concessions that weren't anything you couldn't buy anywhere else on the High Street.\"\n\nIt made it very hard to compete against newer fashion retailers such as Primark, Boohoo and Asos, which also branched into other areas that Debenhams did well, such as beauty.\n\nDebenhams also failed to adapt quickly enough as more and more shopping moved online, says veteran retail analyst Richard Hyman.\n\nBut he caveats: \"It is no good having a good website if the product isn't right. The bigger problem was the brand became irrelevant.\"\n\nDebenhams had already begun shutting stores such as this one in Folkestone\n\nOver the years, Debenhams expanded at a rapid rate. In 2006 it announced plans to double its number of stores to 240 and was opening new shops as recently as 2017.\n\nAt the same time, shopping habits shifted and consumer spending was squeezed - firstly because of Brexit uncertainty, and then by the pandemic.\n\nDebenhams was left with many underperforming shops which came with high costs, including rising rents, business rates, wages and maintenance.\n\nThose liabilities got harder to cover, as revenue began to fall and the retailer booked a record £491.5m loss in 2018.\n\nSir Ian Cheshire, Debenhams' former chairman, told the BBC that its shops became a \"straitjacket\" and the retailer would have been better off with just 70.\n\nMs Hinton says this made turning the business around almost impossible when coronavirus hit.\n\nAnd Mr Hyman says a lack of strong leadership in previous years added to the problem. \"In order to arrest the decline there was an even greater need for top talent. But those people tended to avoid Debenhams.\"\n\nAs a by-product of its expansion, Debenhams also ended up shouldering unsustainable debts - something some experts blame on poor financial decisions.\n\nBack in 2005, the retailer sold 23 shop freeholds to property investment company British Land for £495m and then leased them back.\n\nThis locked the chain into costly leases of up to 35 years, with average annual rent rises guaranteed at 2.5%.\n\nThe short-term cash benefit was soon outweighed by the costs, says Ms Hinton, and by March this year the business was shouldering £720m of debt.\n\nIn a desperate bid to restructure its finances, Debenhams was put into administration in 2019, wiping out its shareholders. It then secured a so-called company voluntary arrangement (CVA) with its landlords, enabling it to cut its rent bill and embark on plans to close 50 of its 166 stores.\n\nBut the damage was already done and it was placed back in administration in April 2020.\n\nMr Hyman says: \"Its fate was sealed by the private equity-style of swapping assets for large amounts of debt, which might just about work in a growing economy and a growing retail market.\n\n\"Instead it left Debenhams fighting with one arm behind its back.\"", "Cole (left) and Walsh (centre) appear in a promotional image for Revolution of the Daleks\n\nBradley Walsh and Tosin Cole will make their final appearances as the Doctor's companions in the Doctor Who special on New Year's Day, the BBC has revealed.\n\nWalsh said viewers should \"expect a lot of poignancy\" from the episode.\n\nThe pair have been at Jodie Whittaker's side since 2018. Cole said it had been \"an honour\" to play Ryan opposite Walsh's Graham and Whittaker's Doctor.\n\nTitled Revolution of the Daleks, the special will also see John Barrowman return as Captain Jack Harkness.\n\nBarrowman said it was \"great being back\" and that returning to the show had been \"like going home\".\n\nBarrowman first appeared as Captain Jack in 2005\n\nWalsh and Cole made their Doctor Who debuts at the start of Whittaker's first full series as the time-travelling Time Lord.\n\nThey went on to appear in two series as well as the 2019 special Resolution, which also featured the villainous Daleks.\n\nWalsh said it was \"amazing\" to be \"only one of a few people on the planet\" to have battled the Doctor's long-time robotic nemeses.\n\nThe comedian and host of game show The Chase said he had \"absolutely loved\" being on the long-running sci-fi programme and would miss \"everyone and everything\" involved.\n\nMeanwhile, Cole said filming his last scene had been \"emotional\".\n\nBradley Walsh, Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole made their Doctor Who debuts in 2018\n\nBarrowman, who has played Captain Jack in both Doctor Who and its spin-off Torchwood, said the Daleks were the show's \"quintessential\" villains.\n\n\"They are never to be underestimated as they will always find a way to survive, which is exactly why they have survived over centuries,\" he added.\n\nCole said: \"Working with the Daleks is sort of like working with Doctor Who royalty. You have to respect them because they are so iconic.\"\n\nThe Christmas special will see Mandip Gill resume her role as companion Yasmin, while Chris Noth returns as business tycoon Jack Robertson.\n\nIt will also see Dame Harriet Walter make her Doctor Who debut alongside Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, of Utopia and Misfits fame.\n\n\"We've crammed this year's Doctor Who festive special with an explosion of extraordinary acting talent,\" executive producer Chris Chibnall said.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was head of Iran's Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research\n\nSome of the individuals involved in the assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist have been arrested, an Iranian parliamentary adviser has said.\n\nHossein Amir Abdollahian told Al-Alam TV he was unable to share the details for security reasons, but that the perpetrators would not escape justice.\n\nHe also said there was evidence proving Israeli involvement. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.\n\nThe scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed near Tehran on 27 November.\n\nThe Iranian authorities have put out conflicting accounts of how he was shot dead as he travelled in a convoy through the town of Absard.\n\nOn the day of the attack, the defence ministry said there was a gunfight between Fakhrizadeh's bodyguards and several gunmen. An Iranian report also cited witnesses as saying that \"three to four\" assailants had been killed.\n\nA remote-controlled machine-gun fired 13 bullets at Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's car, according to Brig-Gen Ali Fadavi\n\nBut on Sunday, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander said a satellite-controlled machine-gun with \"artificial intelligence\" had fired at Fakhrizadeh's car.\n\nBrig-Gen Ali Fadavi told local media that the weapon, mounted in a pick-up truck, was able to \"zoom in\" on the scientist's head and shoot him without hitting his wife beside him.\n\nThe claim could not be independently verified and was greeted with scepticism by experts in electronic warfare.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was buried in Tehran following his assassination two weeks ago\n\nIn an interview with Al-Alam TV, Iran's state-run Arabic-language channel, Mr Abdollahian said: \"Some of the individuals involved in the execution of this assassination have been identified by our security apparatuses and even arrested.\"\n\nHe also said that, in his personal opinion, there were various pieces of evidence \"about those who planned and carried out the assassination that prove the Zionists [Israelis] were involved\".\n\n\"But whether the Zionists did so on their own and without the co-operation of, for example, the American [intelligence] service or another service? For sure, they could not have done so on their own,\" he added, without elaborating.\n\nThe Israeli government has not commented on Iran's assertion that it was behind the assassination, although one unnamed official told Israeli TV two days afterwards that \"Fakhrizadeh's activities had to be stopped\" and that \"the world is a safer place without him\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In 2018, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled what he claimed to be Iran's secret atomic archive\n\nIsraeli and Western security sources say Fakhrizadeh, the head of Iran's Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), was instrumental in the Iranian nuclear programme.\n\nThey believe the physics professor led \"Project Amad\", a covert programme that Iran allegedly established in 1989 to carry out research on a potential nuclear bomb.\n\nThe project was shut down in 2003, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.\n\nHowever, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said in 2018 that documents obtained by his country showed Fakhrizadeh had led a programme that was secretly continuing Project Amad's work.\n\nIran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and that it has never sought a nuclear weapon.", "Japanese carmaker Honda has warned that production at its Swindon plant will be disrupted, after transport problems caused a shortage of parts.\n\nThe plant operates on a \"just in time\" production system, where parts arrive at the factory when they are needed.\n\nHonda has told employees that it is currently experiencing vessel delays and congestion at UK ports.\n\nIt will pause production on Wednesday \"due to transport-related parts delay\", the car giant said.\n\n\"The situation is currently being monitored with a view to restart production as soon as possible,\" Honda said.\n\nIt is looking at other arrangements such as air freight.\n\nCongestion at UK container ports has been building up in recent weeks, causing problems initially at Felixstowe, but recently at Southampton and London Gateway as well.\n\nThe backlog has built up as companies increased orders after the initial pandemic lockdown, while some have looked to stockpile goods before the end of the Brexit transition period.\n\nProblems at the UK's container ports have been building up for weeks. Businesses have been complaining about consignments being delayed, or even ending up on the wrong side of the channel. Now a major manufacturer has admitted production will be disrupted.\n\nSo what's gone wrong? Issues at Felixstowe, Britain's biggest container port have been evident for some time - blamed by hauliers on a vehicle booking system that they claimed simply didn't work, preventing them getting into the port.\n\nThe Covid outbreak has also caused problems - which were exacerbated when thousands of containers of PPE imported on behalf of the government were simply left within the port for weeks, adding to the gridlock. And after the lockdown in the first half of the year, the volume of goods being imported has been much higher than normal.\n\nCongestion at Felixstowe has pushed more container traffic to Southampton and London Gateway - and now the situation in both of those ports is also reportedly getting worse.\n\nHonda is looking at air freight to ease its supply problems. The chances are other businesses may have to do the same.\n\nCongestion at England's ports is now so bad that some shipping firms have limited the amount of cargo they will bring to the UK.\n\nConsignments have reportedly been offloaded at continental ports such as Antwerp, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge.\n\nIn a statement, Honda said: \"Honda of the UK Manufacturing has confirmed to employees that production will not run on Wednesday 9 December due to transport-related parts delays.\"", "The inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire has been suspended for over a month after a member of staff tested positive for Covid-19.\n\nIts chairman, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, said a number of staff needed to self-isolate and there would not be enough to continue hearing evidence.\n\nIt was due to break for Christmas on 17 December, but hearings will now not resume until at least 11 January.\n\nSir Martin said it was \"extremely disappointing\".\n\nSpeaking at the end of the hearing on Wednesday, he said he learnt \"earlier on today that one of the members of the inquiry team has tested positive for Covid-19\".\n\n\"As a result a number of members of the inquiry team and support staff are going to have to go into self-isolation for a couple of weeks,\" he said.\n\nStaff had tried to work out a way for witnesses to continue giving evidence, he said, \"but we've come to the conclusion that that simply is not possible\".\n\n\"Regrettably at this point we're going to have to close the hearings for the time being, we shall not be able to sit tomorrow and we shall not be able to sit next week,\" he said.\n\n\"So that means that we're going to have to close down the inquiry at least as far as hearings are concerned until January 11, when we shall resume.\"\n\nSir Martin added: \"It's extremely disappointing, I'm very sorry to have to give you all this news but we feel that there is nothing we can do to keep ourselves going in the interim.\"\n\nThe Grenfell inquiry has been running with fewer people than normal in attendance since it reopened in the summer, having closed during the first lockdown.\n\nIts first phase concluded that cladding put on the west London tower block during its refurbishment fuelled the fire in June 2017 in which 72 people died.\n\nThe inquiry is now examining how the blaze could have happened in the first place.\n\nLast month, an ex-manager of an insulation maker whose product was used on the tower apologised for dismissing fire safety concerns and threatening legal action in internal emails.", "\"Very large gaps remain\" between the UK and EU, despite a meeting between Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen aimed at breaking the Brexit trade deadlock, No 10 has said.\n\nAnd Mrs von der Leyen said the two sides were still \"far apart\".\n\nTalks between the UK's chief negotiator Lord Frost and the EU's Michel Barnier will resume in Brussels.\n\nBut Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was \"unlikely\" the negotiations would be extended beyond Sunday.\n\nAfter their meeting, the prime minister and European Commission president \"agreed that by Sunday a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks\", a No 10 spokesperson added.\n\nAnd on Thursday morning, the EU set out the measures it would implement in the event of a no-deal scenario.\n\nThe plan includes allowing aviation safety certificates to continue to apply to avoid the grounding of aircraft.\n\nThe BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said the evening discussions between Mr Johnson and Mrs von der Leyen had \"plainly gone badly\" and the chances of the UK leaving the post-Brexit transition period at the end of the year without a firm arrangement was a \"big step closer\".\n\nTime is running out to reach a deal before 31 December, when the UK stops following EU trading rules.\n\nMajor disagreements remain on fishing rights, business competition rules and how a deal will be policed.\n\nThe dinner was seen as a last-ditch opportunity to work through the main sticking points and for the two sides to try and find some common ground.\n\nIf at first you don't succeed you can try and try. But eventually, sometimes failure is what follows.\n\nThat now seems the likely outcome of months of talks designed to create a smooth path for the country towards a different future - a deal that, in theory, would ease the junction from membership of a huge trading bloc to a world outside.\n\nThere is a chance still that a couple of frantic days could result in a change.\n\nThe prime minister could decide that after all, the potential disruption of no deal is just too great to risk.\n\nThe EU president might be able to persuade continental leaders to budge, as they gather in Brussels today.\n\nBut the chance of reassessing and refreshing the efforts seem now remote.\n\nIn a statement, the UK side said there had been \"a frank discussion about the significant obstacles which remain in the negotiations\".\n\n\"Very large gaps remain between the two sides and it is still unclear whether these can be bridged,\" a No 10 spokesperson said.\n\nThey said the two sides had agreed to further discussions over the next few days, and the PM did \"not want to leave any route to a possible deal untested\".\n\nThe two negotiators, Lord Frost and Mr Barnier, also attended the three-hour dinner meeting between the two leaders.\n\nMrs von der Leyen said the discussions had been \"lively and interesting\", and the two sides fully \"understand each other's positions\" but they \"remain far apart\".\n\n\"We will come to a decision by the end of the weekend,\" she said.\n\nMeanwhile the UK has signed a free trade deal with Singapore. The agreement is broadly similar to the Southeast Asian country's current arrangement with the EU and will cover a trade relationship worth more than £17bn.\n\nInternational Trade Secretary Liz Truss is now travelling to Vietnam to conclude a trade agreement with that country.\n\nThe EU, taken as a whole is the UK's largest trading partner, with UK exports to the EU totalling £294bn - or 43% of all UK exports - in 2019.\n\nDinner between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen ended as predicted in Brussels - with neither a breakdown, nor a breakthrough in the trade talks impasse.\n\nEU diplomats say the bloc is ready to go the extra mile during the next days of negotiations but contrary to the UK government view, the EU thinks the decision - deal or no deal - lies primarily in Downing Street.\n\nBrexit isn't on the official discussion agenda at an EU summit starting in Brussels later today, though leaders will be briefed on the negotiations.\n\nAttitudes seem to be hardening.\n\n\"No deal is better than a bad deal\" is a sentiment you hear both sides of the Channel now.\n\nSpeaking to the BBC, Mr Raab said: \"I think we are rapidly approaching the point where we need some finality.\"\n\nAsked if talks would go beyond Sunday, he said it was \"unlikely\" but added \"never quite say never when you are negotiating with the EU\".\n\nResponding to a warning from the Tesco chair that food prices could rise were a deal not to be agreed, Mr Raab acknowledged there could be \"some bumps along the road\" but said he was \"not concerned about either supermarket cupboards running bare or food prices\".\n\nThe Confederation of British Industry said the cost of no deal was \"significant\".\n\nIts director-general, Tony Danker, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"The difference between a deal and no deal is incredibly real in GDP [gross domestic product] terms, it's incredibly real for businesses - particularly in certain sectors - so we have to be in 'getting to yes' mode.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dominic Raab says it's 'unlikely' negotiations will be extended beyond Sunday\n\nLabour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said the prime minister had \"completely failed\" to deliver the \"oven-ready\" deal he had promised at the last election.\n\n\"The failure to deliver the deal he promised is his and his alone,\" she said.\n\nEarlier this week, Mr Johnson said the oven-ready deal he was referring to was the withdrawal agreement, or divorce deal, rather than a trade deal.\n\nSNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford tweeted: \"A no deal would be a massive failure of diplomacy and leadership which Boris Johnson has to take ownership of.\"\n\nMeanwhile, Tory Brexiteer MP John Baron said the PM deserved praise for \"standing firm\" rather than compromising in a rush to agree a deal. \"We must remember a trade deal is for keeps, not just for Christmas,\" he said.\n\n\"We all want a deal, but it has to be a good deal because as we've said many times before, no deal is better than a bad deal.\"\n\nSpeaking before he left for Brussels, Mr Johnson said the EU was insisting on terms \"no prime minister could accept\" in relation to access to UK fishing waters and retaliatory measures if the UK diverged from EU standards.\n\nAny deal also has to be ratified by the European Parliament and win the backing of MPs at Westminster.\n\nThe House of Commons could sit as late as Christmas Eve should it be required to look at a Brexit deal, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said.\n\nUnder current plans, the Commons will stop sitting on 21 December, but he told Sky News the recess could be delayed.", "Much of Venice was left under water on Tuesday, as unexpectedly severe weather caused flooding in the city.\n\nA new system of 78 flood gates, known as Mose, guard the entrance to the Venetian lagoon and were designed to protect the city from tides of up to 3 metres (10 ft), however, they require 48 hours notice to be activated.", "Ride sharing business Uber has sold off its flying taxi unit Elevate to California-based electric aircraft developer Joby Aviation.\n\nElevate is the second business Uber has sold off this week as the company seeks a path to profitability.\n\nOn Monday, Uber announced the sale of its self-driving unit to autonomous vehicle start-up Aurora.\n\nJoby and Uber, however, described the latest transaction as an \"expanded partnership\".\n\n\"This deal allows us to deepen our partnership with Joby, the clear leader in this field, to accelerate the path to market for these technologies,\" Uber's chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement.\n\nUnder the deal, Uber will also invest and additional $75m (£56m) in Joby Aviation.\n\nElevate began in 2016 and, until earlier this year, its team had promised the launch of flying taxi services in Los Angeles, Dallas and Melbourne in 2023.\n\nJoby was a partner in Elevate before taking over the business, and the two companies said they would each integrate the other company's services into their own app.\n\n\"These tools and new team members will be invaluable to us as we accelerate our plans for commercial launch,\" said Joby founder JoeBen Bevirt in a statement.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nJoby said its \"zero emissions\" aircraft will seat four passengers and will feature vertical take-off and landing.\n\nIt will have a range of up to 241km and a top speed of 321kmh, the company said.\n\nThe company is currently still testing the aircraft.\n\nThe latest move comes as Uber tries to cut costs in an effort to become profitable.\n\nAlthough Uber had promised investors that it will achieve profitability by the end of 2021, the company still reported a $625m loss last quarter.\n\nUber was initially hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, with rides - its main source of income - plummeting by about 80% in April, before rebounding.\n\nIn order to reach profitability, the company has vowed to focus on its core ride-hailing and food delivery platforms, while cutting costs.\n\nIn May, the company said it would slash thousands of jobs, while closing or consolidating more than 40 offices.\n\nIn addition to selling off Elevate, Uber also sold off its driverless car subsidiary to Aurora Technologies on Monday, while taking a 26% stake in the driverless start-up.\n\nDriverless technologies were once seen as a key priority for Uber, but the program has faced numerous setbacks.\n\nOne of its cars was involved in a deadly crash in Arizona, though officials blamed human error for the accident and declined to bring criminal charges against the company.\n\nThe driverless car unit was also tangled up in legal fights over allegations of technology theft.", "The Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine must be stored at a temperature of -70C\n\nUS regulators have confirmed the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine is 95% effective, paving the way for it to be approved for emergency use.\n\nThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found no safety concerns to stop approval of the vaccine.\n\nIt is the first time this level of detail for the jab, which the UK has already started using for mass vaccination, has been published.\n\nThe FDA will meet on Thursday to make a formal decision.\n\nThe agency is yet to approve the vaccine, but has published a document stating the trial data was \"consistent\" with the recommendations set out in its emergency use guidance.\n\nThe UK's regulatory body, the MHRA, approved the vaccine last week.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Fauci: 'We need to be transparent and articulate on the vaccine'\n\nBoth countries have had advanced rolling access to the information on the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.\n\nLast week Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, apologised for remarks that seemed to criticise the UK's vaccine approval process.\n\nHe told the BBC then that the US process was \"one that takes more time than it takes in the UK. And that's just the reality. I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way.\"\n\nEven at the time of his original remarks, he had said the US was only \"a couple of days\" behind.\n\nThe in depth material, published by the FDA, shows the vaccine is 95% effective against Covid-19, in keeping with the headlines published by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.\n\nAlthough two doses are needed to offer full protection, the first jab prevented 89% of the most severe cases.\n\nAnd the vaccine gave similar levels of protection to people who had already had a Covid infection.\n\nThe document, published ahead of the FDA's meeting on Thursday, stated the most common side effect experienced by people who received the vaccine was pain, redness or swelling at the injection site (generally the arm).\n\nThat was followed by short-term fatigue, headache and muscle-pain.\n\nBut beyond these mild effects, there was no notable difference in health conditions between the vaccinated and control groups during the study period.\n\nPregnant women and under-16s were not included in those studied, and so the vaccine will not yet be approved for these groups.\n\nUK and US regulators have slightly different approval procedures for new vaccines.\n\nBoth complete an internal assessment and consult an advisory board, but the FDA also looks at raw figures as well as trial write ups.\n\nUsing these raw figures it has come to more or less the same conclusion as the pharmaceutical company.\n\nIf the vaccine is authorised in the US, it will continue to be monitored for safety.\n• None Pfizer- One of the world's premier biopharmaceutical companies The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Mrs Whitehead died at a care home just days before her husband received the vaccine\n\nA man has been given the Covid vaccine, days after his wife died after contracting the virus.\n\nRae Whitehead, 79, died on 1 December after testing positive for Covid-19 at her care home in East Yorkshire.\n\nOn Tuesday her husband Edward, 84, was one of the first to receive the jab at Middlesbrough's James Cook Hospital.\n\nThe couple's surgeon son Dr David Whitehead, 49, said he felt relief his father had had the jab but \"heartbreak\" his mother could not be saved.\n\nMr Whitehead, 49, an ENT consultant in Middlesbrough, who also received the jab with his father, who is also a retired ENT surgeon, said: \"It's heartbreaking on the one hand and also potential relief on the other.\n\n\"My father and I are deeply saddened that, had we not put my mother in a nursing home, she would maybe be alive today and could have had the vaccine.\n\n\"Her life slipped away - a week later the vaccine is being rolled out.\"\n\nDr Whitehead said his mother, who had worked as a civil servant before having children, had spent her life \"looking after us and the family\".\n\nHe said he had contracted coronavirus himself in March, and had a temperature and a \"sensation as if my head was being boiled alive\".\n\nHe said the NHS rollout of the vaccine had made him proud.\n\n\"This is the good thing about the NHS - because it's nationalised we have this ability and power to have these interactions with the large pharmaceutical companies so that this sort of thing can happen,\" he said.\n\n\"I feel quite proud that we've managed to approve it, a vaccine from a trial, so quickly.\"\n\nOn Tuesday UK grandmother Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, became the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.\n\nFollow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Elisa Granato was one of the volunteers given the Oxford vaccine\n\nThe Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is safe and effective, giving good protection, researchers have confirmed in The Lancet journal.\n\nMost in the study were younger than 55, but the results so far indicate it does work well in older people too.\n\nThe data also suggest it can reduce spread of Covid, as well as protect against illness and death.\n\nThe paper, assessed by independent scientists, sets out full results from advanced trials of over 20,000 people.\n\nRegulators, who will have seen the same data, are considering the jab for emergency use.\n\nBut there are still important questions about what dose to give, as well as who it will protect.\n\nWhen the interim trial results were made public in a press release about a fortnight ago, the researchers reported three efficacy levels for the vaccine - an overall effectiveness of 70%, a lower one of 62% and a high of 90%.\n\nThat's because different doses of the vaccine were used in one part of the trial. Some volunteers were given shots that were half the strength than originally planned.\n\nYet that \"wrong\" dose turned out to be a winner - giving 90% protection - while two standard doses gave 62%.\n\nThe Lancet report reveals 1,367 people - out of many thousands in the trial - received the half dose followed by a full dose, which gave them 90% protection against getting ill with Covid-19.\n\nThe relatively small numbers in this group mean it is hard to draw firm conclusions.\n\nNone of that group were over the age of 55 though - and experts know it is older people who are most at risk of severe Covid illness.\n\nIn terms of safety, there was one severe adverse event potentially related to the vaccine and another one - a high temperature - that is still being investigated.\n\nBoth these participants are recovering and are still in the trial.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe study also measured protection against asymptomatic infection by asking volunteers to do regular swabs to check if they had Covid without feeling unwell.\n\nMore of these cases were seen in the group that did not receive the vaccine.\n\nPascal Soriot, chief executive officer for AstraZeneca said: \"The results show that the vaccine is effective against Covid-19, with in particular no severe infections and no hospitalisations in the vaccine group, as well as safe and well tolerated.\n\n\"We have begun submitting data to regulatory authorities around the world for early approval and our global supply chains are up and running, ready to quickly begin delivering hundreds of millions of doses on a global scale at no profit.\"\n\nDr Charlie Weller, head of vaccines at Wellcome, said: \"Today marks another key milestone in the Covid-19 vaccine journey.\n\n\"Although we await the trial completion and full data, it is highly encouraging to see the data behind the interim results announced last month, including an analysis of the different dosing regimens. This suggests that this vaccine could prevent asymptomatic disease.\"\n\nBut some experts said the data could present regulators with a dilemma, with a relatively small cohort in the trial - which didn't contain any over-55s - getting a half-dose, which produced the best results.\n\nDr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health, from the University of Southampton, said the researchers \"were not yet able to fully assess how effective this vaccine is in elderly populations\" and this could have implications for the roll-out in older age groups.\n\nAstraZeneca executive vice-president Sir Mene Pangalos said adults of all ages needed to be vaccinated to make a \"dent\" in the pandemic.\n\n\"I realise the people that are most severely impacted by disease are the over-65s, over-75s, over-85s, but the reality is we need to actually have vaccines that immunise everyone from adolescence to the oldest adults to really dent the pandemic around the world,\" he said.\n\nMeanwhile, the UK has started a mass vaccination campaign with another Covid jab made by Pfizer/BioNTech.\n\nOn Tuesday Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother, became the first person in the world to get the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme..\n\nThe Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine could also play a major role in fighting the pandemic if it is approved soon.\n\nIt is cheaper than some of the other Covid vaccines and easier to store and distribute.\n\nThe UK government has pre-ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, which uses a harmless virus altered to look a lot more like the virus that causes Covid-19.\n\nAstraZeneca says it will make three billion doses for the world next year.", "Last updated on .From the section European Football\n\nParis St-Germain's Champions League game against Istanbul Basaksehir will resume on Wednesday after it was abandoned on Tuesday with a match official accused of using a racist term towards one of the away side's backroom staff.\n\nIstanbul allege fourth official Sebastian Coltescu used the language towards their assistant coach Pierre Webo.\n\nFormer Cameroon international Webo was shown a red card in an exchange on the touchline.\n\nIstanbul players walked off the pitch in protest, with PSG players following.\n\nThe incident happened just 14 minutes into the Group H tie, which was still goalless.\n\nThe match will recommence on Wednesday from the 14th minute. Kick-off will be at 17:55 GMT.\n\nA new set of officials will be in charge, with Dutchman Danny Makkelie appointed referee.\n\nCompatriot Mario Diks and Marcin Boniek of Poland are the assistant referees with another Pole, Bartosch Frankowsky, named fourth official.\n\nPSG are already through to the last 16 after Manchester United's defeat by RB Leipzig.\n\nIn a statement, Uefa said: \"Uefa has - after discussion with both clubs - decided on an exceptional basis to have the remaining minutes of the match played tomorrow with a new team of match officials.\n\n\"A thorough investigation on the incident that took place will be opened immediately.\"\n\nIstanbul forward Demba Ba, who was a substitute, could be seen on the touchline asking the official: \"Why, when you mention a black guy, do you have to say this black guy?\"\n\nTV footage also showed PSG defender Presnel Kimpembe saying: \"Is he serious? We are heading in. We're heading in. That's it, we're heading in.\"\n\nThere followed a wait of around two hours before official confirmation the game would not be finished on Tuesday. During that period, PSG players could be seen warming up in the tunnel awaiting a resumption, but their opponents did not re-emerge.\n\nPSG forward Kylian Mbappe later tweeted : \"Say no to racism. Webo we are with you.\"\n\nRecep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, said he believed Uefa would \"take the necessary steps\".\n\n\"We are unconditionally against racism and discrimination in sports and in all areas of life,\" he wrote on Twitter.", "Buildings and roads make up the majority of human-made mass\n\nScientists say the weight of human-made objects will likely exceed that of living things by the end of the year.\n\nIn other words, the combined weight of all the plastic, bricks, concrete and other things we've made in the world will outweigh all animals and plants on the planet for the first time.\n\nThe estimated weight of human-made objects is about one teratonne.\n\nFor every person in the world, more than their body weight in stuff is now being produced each week.\n\nThese astonishing figures have been calculated by a team at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Rehovot, Israel, to show how our species is transforming the Earth.\n\n\"The significance is symbolic in the sense that it tells us something about the major role that humanity now plays in shaping the world and the state of the Earth around us,\" Dr Ron Milo, who led the research, told BBC News.\n\n\"It is a reason for all of us to ponder our role, how much consumption we do and how can we try to get a better balance between the living world and humanity.\"\n\nSince the first agricultural revolution, humans have halved plant biomass\n\nThe scientists worked out the combined mass of all human-made stuff from 1900 to the present day and compared this with the weight of all the living things on the planet (known as biomass).\n\nFrom plastic bottles to the bricks and concretes we use for buildings and roads, the weight of all the things we produce has been doubling every 20 years recently.\n\nAt the same time, the weight of living things has been falling, mainly due to the loss of plant life in forests and natural spaces.\n\nThe scientists knew at some point we would reach a crossover point. And according to their estimates, 2020 is the year when human-made mass from the likes of roads, buildings and machines, will likely overtake that of all the living things in the world.\n\nThe exact timing is sensitive to definitions, so there may be some variability in the estimates by a few years either side, they say.\n\nBut if we continue as we are, by 2040, the weight of all human-made stuff will have almost tripled from 1.1 teratonnes (1,100,000,000,000 tonnes) to about three teratonnes.\n\nBuildings and roads make up the majority of human-made mass\n\nThis means humanity is now producing stuff at a rate of more than 30 gigatonnes (30,000,000,000 tonnes) per year.\n\nThe research, published in Nature, is further evidence that we have entered a new geological age, known as the Anthropocene, where humanity's impacts on Earth will be visible in sediments and rocks millions of years into the future.\n\nThe formal start date could be the 1950s, which marks the beginning of the \"Great Acceleration\", when the human population and its consumption patterns suddenly speeded up.\n\nIt coincides with the spread of ubiquitous materials, such as aluminium, concrete and plastic.", "The firm says it experienced record demand on 27 November\n\nCurrys PC World has said that customers who lost out on Black Friday deals because it cancelled their orders will be able to buy the goods again at the same discounted prices.\n\nThe electronics retailer has blamed a website glitch for causing it to lose at least some of the sales involved.\n\nIts pledge comes after the BBC reported cases of shoppers being told they would have to reorder and pay the full cost.\n\nThe firm said it had yet to quantify how many people had been affected.\n\n\"We will be honouring promotional prices for any customer who placed an order between 25 November and 1 December and received an email confirmation of purchase but then had the order cancelled,\" a spokeswoman told the BBC.\n\n\"If we are out of stock on their item of choice we will give the customer a 10% discount off a similar product.\"\n\nShe added that a form would be added to the store's website by the end of Thursday to help those who qualify resolve the matter.\n\nCurrys PC World - which is owned by Dixons Carphone - said it had experienced an \"unprecedented volume of customers\" on 27 November, which had caused its site to fail.\n\nThe outage led it to lose details of transactions made via gift cards as well as some Order and Collect purchases.\n\nIn addition, it said, some users who bought goods for home delivery via debit or credit cards had their orders cancelled for other reasons.\n\nMany of the firm's stores were closed because of coronavirus restrictions, putting more pressure on the website\n\nMany customers did not suspect there was an issue as they had been sent an order confirmation email.\n\nAnd they only discovered there was a problem after the sale ended when they contacted the firm to chase up undelivered items or arrived to pick up goods.\n\n\"I waited in all day [for the delivery], rang them up and they said it had been cancelled,\" one Surrey-based shopper who had ordered two computers told the BBC.\n\n\"It was very disappointing. I could have obtained the laptops from Amazon, and like my son said I probably should have.\"\n\nAnother from North Ayrshire who had tried to buy a discounted television said: \"I had to take it upon myself to contact them to find out what was happening with my order just to be told that due to their own fault I wouldn't be receiving [the TV] for the price I had ordered it for - I was very angry.\"\n\nThe store has now told its customer service team to honour the original sales prices and it intends to contact shoppers who had previously been given different advice.\n\nThe law does not oblige retailers to honour discounts on cancelled orders so long as money is not taken from customers' accounts.\n\nHowever, the consumer rights group Which? had earlier suggested Currys PC World's reputation was on the line.\n\n\"The tech retailer has earned itself a poor reputation for customer service and in a recent Which? survey received just two stars for its after-sales service,\" said the organisation's consumer rights expert Adam French.\n\n\"The company must up its game or customers will rightly go looking elsewhere for a good deal.\"", "Do you need to wear a mask if you're vaccinated?\n\nOne of the big unknowns about the vaccines that are being developed is whether they prevent people from passing on the virus. The trials that have taken place have only established that they stop people getting ill. But it is quite possible that someone who is vaccinated could still infect others. The assumption is vaccination will at least disrupt this to some extent - but it may not end transmission completely. For that reason, those who are vaccinated will still be expected to wear masks and self-isolate if they are a close contact of someone who is infected. That does not mean these precautions can never be lifted. Once all the vulnerable people are immunised, there will be a strong case that these steps are not needed – or at least not needed on the scale they are currently being used. However, it will take many months to get to that point. Masks, self-isolation and social distancing are here for a while.", "The International Criminal Court says it will not take action against the UK, despite finding evidence British troops committed war crimes in Iraq.\n\nA 180-page report says hundreds of Iraqi detainees were abused by British soldiers between 2003 and 2009.\n\nBut the ICC could not determine whether the UK had acted to shield soldiers from prosecution.\n\nThe MoD said the ICC report \"vindicates our efforts to pursue justice where allegations have been founded\".\n\nThe ICC told the BBC: \"It is without dispute there is evidence war crimes were committed.\"\n\nIts report said there was a reasonable basis to conclude that at least seven Iraqis were illegally killed while in British custody between April and September 2003.\n\nThe ICC report refers to evidence of a pattern of war crimes carried out across a number of years by soldiers from several British regiments. Some detainees were raped or subjected to sexual violence. Others were beaten so badly they died from their injuries.\n\nThe Iraqi individuals, many of them civilians, were unarmed and in British custody at the time.\n\nThe UK government has repeatedly accused human rights lawyers of bringing vexatious claims, but the ICC says it is \"disingenuous to describe the entire body of claims, involving hundreds of claimants, as baseless or spurious\".\n\nA BBC Panorama investigation last year revealed that British detectives had also found credible evidence of war crimes committed in Iraq.\n\nBut the programme discovered that despite this, not one of the cases was taken forward by the army's prosecution service.\n\nBritish army base Camp Stephen in Basra, Iraq, where numerous detainees were alleged to have been abused and killed\n\nThe ICC said it took Panorama's findings very seriously, and that on the whole the information it received was consistent with the reports in the programme.\n\nIt could \"not rule out\" that there had been a cover up on the part of the British authorities.\n\nIts report concluded that investigations by the Royal Military Police had been \"inadequate\" and were \"marred by a lack of independence and impartiality\".\n\nHowever, it could not make a determination as to whether the UK had acted to shield soldiers from prosecution.\n\nThe ICC said it will reopen its examination of the UK's conduct in Iraq \"should new facts or evidence\" come to light.\n\nThe UK government is currently seeking to introduce a controversial new law which will make it harder to prosecute British soldiers.\n\nIt says the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill, if passed, \"delivers on the government's manifesto commitment to tackle vexatious claims and end the cycle of re-investigations against our brave Armed Forces\".\n\nAfter scrutinising the proposed legislation, Parliament's Joint Human Rights Committee has said: \"We found that the real problem is that investigations into incidents have been inadequate, insufficiently resourced, insufficiently independent and not done in a timely manner.\n\n\"The government is effectively using the existence of inadequate investigations as a reason to legislate to bring in further barriers to bringing prosecutions or to providing justice for victims\".\n\nThere is a palpable sense of relief inside the Ministry of Defence that the International Criminal Court will not be pursuing a case against the UK government over allegations that British forces in Iraq committed serious war crimes against Iraqi detainees.\n\nThat said, there's still the potential that the ICC report will cause the government problems.\n\nThe publication comes as the government tries to pass new legislation aimed at protecting troops from what it calls \"vexatious claims\" by lawyers against British troops over allegations of abuse.\n\nAmong the proposals of the Overseas Operations Bill is a presumption against prosecution five years after any alleged abuse, unless there's compelling new evidence.\n\nThe legislation, which has already passed its first stages in the Commons, has been widely criticised by opposition parties, human rights groups, lawyers and some former senior military commanders.\n\nThe ICC report also raises concerns about the legislation.\n\nThe Ministry of Defence says the ICC has brought no new evidence to light.\n\nBut the ICC prosecutor says: \"The fact the allegations investigated by the UK did not result in prosecutions does not mean that these claims were vexatious.\"\n\nThose words will be seized upon by the bill's critics.\n\nOne of the investigations by the Royal Military Police, featured in last year's Panorama, was into the death of Radhi Nama in British custody.\n\nThe Royal Military Police concluded he had died of a heart attack - even though his body and face showed signs he had been beaten.\n\nTo date, no one has been prosecuted in connection with Radhi Nama's death.\n\nHis daughter, Afaf Radhi Nama, told Panorama: \"I saw torture signs on his body.\n\n\"They covered his head and tied his hands, he could not defend himself, and they killed him. It is my wish to see the soldiers who committed this crime put on trial and facing justice.\n\n\"If I was a British citizen my rights would be respected, but because I am an Iraqi citizen, it seems I have no rights.\"\n\nDefence Secretary Ben Wallace said the ICC review \"confirms that the UK is willing and able to investigate and prosecute claims of wrongdoing by armed forces personnel\".\n\nHe said it had brought to light \"no new evidence\" and the ICC statement \"vindicates our efforts to pursue justice where allegations have been founded\".\n\n\"I am pleased that work we have done, and continue to do, in improving the quality and assurances around investigations has been recognised by the ICC,\" he said.\n\n\"The Service Justice System Review and the appointment of Sir Richard Henriques to provide assurance of our investigative processes are all steps towards making sure we have one of the best service justice systems in the world.\"", "A vote on free speech at Cambridge University has strongly rejected guidelines requiring opinions to be \"respectful\" - after warnings this could limit freedom of expression.\n\nInstead the policy on free speech will support \"tolerance\" of differing views.\n\nThe proposed rules would have required staff, students and visiting speakers to remain \"respectful\" of the views and \"identities\" of others.\n\nBut there were claims this would block controversial ideas and debates.\n\nThe university's governing body, the Regent House, has voted by a big majority in support of amendments from those worried about a threat to academic freedom, introducing a commitment to \"tolerance\" rather than \"respect\".\n\nThe revised wording on free speech ensures the right to express \"controversial or unpopular opinions within the law, without fear of intolerance or discrimination\".\n\nThe guidelines, adopted after the vote, will expect \"staff, students and visitors to be tolerant of the differing opinions of others\".\n\nThere is also an assertion of the need to hear from outside speakers, even if controversial, as long as they remain within the law.\n\nThe row at Cambridge, which gained attention in terms of wider \"culture wars\" and a so-called \"cancel culture\", was prompted by the university's plan to update a statement on how it upholds free speech.\n\nThe proposal that views would have to remain \"respectful\" prompted complaints from some academics, who argued that controversial opinions or subjects could be blocked if they were accused of being disrespectful or causing offence.\n\nThere were also concerns about having to be respectful to claims or concerns, regardless of their merit.\n\nThe academics, headed by reader in philosophy Arif Ahmed, put forward an amendment saying that free speech should operate without \"fear of intolerance\".\n\nThis was backed by Professor Ross Anderson who argued that requiring \"respect\" would undermine the \"freedom to question\", with academics being afraid to examine controversial views in case they were reported for being disrespectful to the opinions of others.\n\n\"It's our duty to tolerate colleagues even when they say things that we consider foolish, when we find their views offensive we should point that out politely. We should not be running to the vice chancellor asking him to censor them,\" said Prof Anderson.\n\nThe actor Stephen Fry was among those worried about the threat to free speech - saying calls for \"respect\" might have been well-intentioned, but people could not \"demand\" that their views would always be respected by others.\n\nThe university's vice chancellor, Stephen Toope, said the aim had been to protect the \"core values\" of freedom of speech, but also \"recognising the need to maintain civility in debate\".\n\nThe outcome of the vote was an \"emphatic reaffirmation of free speech in our university,\" said Prof Toope.", "Rich countries are hoarding doses of Covid vaccines and people living in poor countries are set to miss out, a coalition of campaigning bodies warns.\n\nThe People's Vaccine Alliance says nearly 70 lower-income countries will only be able to vaccinate one in 10 people.\n\nThis is despite Oxford-AstraZeneca pledging to provide 64% of its doses to people in developing nations.\n\nSteps are being taken to ensure access to vaccines is fair around the globe.\n\nThis vaccine commitment, known as Covax, has managed to secure 700 million doses of vaccines to be distributed between the 92 lower-income countries that have signed up.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Five challenges of distributing a Covid-19 vaccine around the world.\n\nBut even with this plan in place, the People's Vaccine Alliance - a network of organisations including Amnesty International, Oxfam and Global Justice Now - says there is not enough to go round, and drug companies should share their technology to make sure more doses are produced.\n\nTheir analysis found that rich countries have bought enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations three times over if all the vaccines are approved for use.\n\nCanada, for example, has ordered enough vaccines to protect each Canadian five times, it claims.\n\nAnd even though rich nations represent just 14% of the world's population, they have bought up 53% of the most promising vaccines so far, according to data from eight leading vaccine candidates in Phase 3 trials that have done substantial deals with countries worldwide.\n\n\"No-one should be blocked from getting a life-saving vaccine because of the country they live in or the amount of money in their pocket,\" said Anna Marriott, Oxfam's health policy manager.\n\n\"But unless something changes dramatically, billions of people around the world will not receive a safe and effective vaccine for Covid-19 for years to come.\"\n\nThe People's Vaccine Alliance is calling on all pharmaceutical corporations working on Covid-19 vaccines to openly share their technology and intellectual property so that billions more doses can be manufactured and made available to everyone who needs them.\n\nThis can be done through the World Health Organization Covid-19 technology access pool, it says.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 90-year-old woman first to get Pfizer vaccine\n\nThe Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has already received approval in the UK and the most vulnerable are starting to be vaccinated this week. It is likely to receive approval from regulators in the US and Europe soon.\n\nTwo other vaccines, from Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca, are awaiting regulatory approval in a number of countries.\n\nThe alliance says that, so far, all of Moderna's doses and 90% of Pfizer/BioNTech's have been acquired by rich countries.\n\nAstraZeneca, the company manufacturing the Covid vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, has committed to making it available on a not-for-profit basis to the developing world.\n\nIt is cheaper than the others and can be stored at fridge temperatures, making it easier to distribute across the globe.\n\nWhile the alliance called this \"a welcome contrast\", it said Oxford/AstraZeneca could \"still only reach 18% of the world's population next year at most\" and \"demonstrates that one company alone cannot hope to supply the whole world\".\n\nThe Russian vaccine, Sputnik, has also announced positive trial results, and four other vaccines are going through late-stage clinical trials.\n\nMeanwhile, shipments of Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac's Covid-19 vaccine Coronavac have arrived in Indonesia in preparation for a mass vaccination campaign, even though it is yet to finish its late-stage trials. The firm has also secured deals with Turkey, Brazil and Chile.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Quote Message: The prime minister and President von der Leyen met for dinner in Brussels this evening. The leaders had a frank discussion about the state of play in the negotiations. They acknowledged that the situation remained very difficult and there were still major differences between the two sides. They agreed that chief negotiators would continue talks over the next few days and that a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks by Sunday. The prime minister is determined not to leave any route to a fair deal untested, but any agreement must respect the independence and sovereignty of the UK. from Downing Street spokesman\n\nThe prime minister and President von der Leyen met for dinner in Brussels this evening. The leaders had a frank discussion about the state of play in the negotiations. They acknowledged that the situation remained very difficult and there were still major differences between the two sides. They agreed that chief negotiators would continue talks over the next few days and that a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks by Sunday. The prime minister is determined not to leave any route to a fair deal untested, but any agreement must respect the independence and sovereignty of the UK.", "The four workers died after an explosion in a biofuel silo\n\nThe families of three men and a teenage boy who died in last week's explosion near Bristol have paid tribute to them.\n\nLuke Wheaton, 16, Ray White, 57, Brian Vickery, 63, and Mike James, 64, died in the incident at the Wessex Water site on 3 December.\n\nLuke's family described him as \"the most gorgeous, loving, happy, talented, perfect son\".\n\nAvon and Somerset Police said a cordon at the site was removed on Tuesday evening, but investigations continued.\n\nIn a statement, Luke's family said: \"Luke knows how much he is loved and will be dearly missed by everyone.\n\n\"We just wish we could bring him back.\"\n\nMr James' family said he was a brother, husband, father and grandfather who would be missed while Mr White's family described him as a \"wonderful son, brother and father to his two sons\".\n\nMr Vickery's family said he \"brightened everyone's lives with his cheeky and wicked sense of humour\".\n\nLuke, of Bradley Stoke, Mr White, of Portishead, Mr Vickery, of Clevedon and Mr James, of Bath, were killed by the explosion in a biosolids storage silo.\n\nWessex Water's chief executive Colin Skellett said the company had been \"absolutely devastated\" by the deaths\n\nMore than £143,000 has been donated to a crowdfunding page set up by Wessex Water to support the families of the four workers.\n\nA separate fundraiser started by Stoke Lane Football Club, where Luke played for the under-18s, has raised more than £15,000 towards funeral costs.\n\nIt is understood Mr James was a contractor working at the site, while Mr Vickery and Mr White were employees of Wessex Water, which owns the plant, and Luke was an apprentice at the firm.\n\nWeston College, which Luke attended as part of his course, said it was \"shocked and saddened\" to hear of his death.\n\nIt said in a statement: \"We have extended our deepest condolences to Luke's family at this incredibly sad time and are providing support to students and staff here at the college.\n\n\"We also offer our heartfelt condolences to the other families who have lost their loved ones.\"\n\nFlowers were left outside the plant over the weekend\n• None Cause of blast that killed four investigated", "Supporters of Donald Trump demonstrated outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday\n\nThe US Supreme Court has rejected a challenge against President-elect Joe Biden's victory in Pennsylvania.\n\nRepublicans in the state wanted to overturn certification of the result, but justices rejected the request in a one sentence ruling.\n\nIt is a blow to President Donald Trump, who has previously suggested without evidence that the election result would be settled in the Supreme Court.\n\nMr Trump lost his bid for re-election last month.\n\nSince then he and his supporters have launched dozens of lawsuits questioning the vote results. None have come close to overturning Mr Biden's victory.\n\nThe Democratic candidate defeated Mr Trump by a margin of 306 to 232 votes in the US electoral college, which chooses the US president. Mr Biden won seven million more votes than the president nationwide.\n\nPennsylvania's Governor Tom Wolf has already certified Mr Biden's victory in the state. Under the rules of the electoral college, the state's 20 electors will meet on 14 December to officially cast their votes for the president-elect.\n\nRepublicans in the state however wanted to overturn Mr Wolf's certification. The state's top court had rejected their bid last week, which made them appeal to the US Supreme Court in Washington.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How are Biden voters in a Trump heartland dealing with the election aftermath?\n\nLawyers for the state and Governor Wolf criticised the case as \"fundamentally frivolous\".\n\n\"No court has ever issued an order nullifying a governor's certification of presidential election results,\" they wrote.\n\nAnd on Tuesday the Supreme Court dismissed the suit. The one-sentence ruling did not even cover the Republicans' allegations, reading simply: \"The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied.\"\n\nBefore, during and after the election, Mr Trump has made unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud and suggested that the result would eventually be decided in the Supreme Court.\n\nThe president appointed three of the court's justices during his single term in office. Most recently he controversially placed conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett on the bench after the death of the court's most liberal justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, just weeks before the election.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Judge Barrett, in her confirmation hearing in October, said she hadn't discussed the elections with President Trump\n\nThis is not the end of legal challenges to Mr Biden's victory. Republicans in the state of Texas filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court on Tuesday accusing four other states of election irregularities - a challenge legal experts have sharply criticised.\n\nPlaintiffs want the court to stop the use of \"unlawful election results without review and ratification by the defendant states' legislatures\".\n\nOne law professor at the University of Texas tweeted that this was \"a new leader in the 'craziest lawsuit filed to purportedly challenge the election' category\", while another law professor at the University of California dismissed it as a \"press release masquerading as a lawsuit\" in a blog post.\n\nLast week US Attorney General William Barr said his justice department had found no proof of mass fraud in the 2020 election.", "Zara and Mike Tindall have two daughters, Mia, six, and Lena, two\n\nThe Queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall is expecting her third child, her husband has announced.\n\nFormer England rugby player Mike Tindall revealed a \"third Tindall\" is \"on its way\" in a podcast he co-hosts.\n\nThe couple have two daughters, Mia, six, and Lena, two, and Mr Tindall said he \"would like a boy\".\n\nThe Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, who already have eight great-grandchildren, were \"delighted\" to hear the news, Buckingham Palace said.\n\n\"It's been a good week for me, had a little scan last week - third Tindall on its way,\" Mr Tindall, 42, said during an episode of The Good, The Bad and The Rugby.\n\n\"I'd like a boy this time, I've got two girls, I would like a boy,\" he added.\n\n\"I'll love it whether a boy or a girl - but please be a boy.\"\n\nFormer equestrian champion Mrs Tindall, 39, has spoken about suffering two miscarriages before having her second child.\n\nShe said for a time \"you don't talk about it because it's too raw\" but \"as with everything, time's a great healer\".\n\nMr Tindall said: \"Z is very good, always careful because of things that have happened in the past, and really looking forward to it.\"\n\nLast month, the Duchess of Sussex also revealed she had a miscarriage in July.\n\nMrs Tindall, who is the daughter of the Queen's only daughter, the Princess Royal, married Mr Tindall in 2011. They live at Princess Anne's estate in Gatcombe, Gloucester.\n\nAs a member of the Great Britain eventing team, Mrs Tindall won the Eventing World Championship in 2006 and was named BBC Sports Personality later that year, before securing a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics.\n\nMr Tindall - who won the 2003 Rugby World Cup with England - does not hold a royal title and is not an HRH.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nMore than 50% of students say their mental health has declined since the Covid pandemic began, says a survey for the National Union of Students (NUS).\n\nMany of the 4,241 students surveyed in November say they have suffered stress, loneliness, anxiety and depression.\n\nStudents have seen most face-to-face teaching and social events cancelled.\n\nAnd the drop-off in interaction with other students appears to hit some students hard, with some finding themselves living completely alone.\n\nDespite these difficulties, only a fifth of the students surveyed had sought mental health support. That rose to 29% for those who reported worsening mental health, the survey found.\n\nLoneliness and isolation appear to have had a huge impact on wellbeing and mood, with many students socialising and meeting others far less after term began.\n\nShaakir, a second-year journalism student at South Bank University, lives alone in a studio flat in London and is one of those who did not seek support.\n\nHe has had no face-to-face lessons, and is living in a \"bubble of one\". He often walks the streets just to get out of his room, he says.\n\n\"I don't get to socialise with anyone, as my accommodation - and government - rules are that my bubble is myself.\n\n\"I'm not allowed to speak to anyone apart from reception, if I'm collecting a parcel. And I'm not allowed to socialise with any of my neighbours.\"\n\nShaakir passes the time by walking the streets alone\n\nShaakir describes himself as having \"zero motivation\" - a common symptom of depression.\n\n\"On the bad days, usually I'll just stay in bed, stay under the covers, and just sleep as I scroll through my phone, on Twitter or Instagram, whatever it is, and then just go back to sleep.\"\n\nHe adds: \"I think at its worst, it's been like three days of just lights out, blinds down. And just the only time I ever leave bed is to go to the bathroom.\"\n\nBut he feels cheated, as he had been expecting in-person teaching once a week.\n\nA South Bank university spokesman said almost all of its courses had face-to-face teaching, and it was made clear at the start of the year if that was not happening.\n\n\"If it hasn't happened in this case we apologise,\" the spokesman added.\n\nHe said students had been offered comprehensive mental health support, and those who found themselves living alone had been offered the chance to change accommodation.\n\nBut Shaakir feels his university could have done more to reach out to students like him who are struggling, rather than just sending emails, many of which he could not face opening because of his mental state.\n\nThe NUS is calling for more investment in student counselling and wellbeing services, as well as individual student unions for the support they offer.\n\nKlaudia says her lecturers are supportive\n\nKlaudia, a first-year student at Liverpool Hope University who suffers with anxiety, found herself being forced to isolate within a few days of arriving.\n\nThe philosophy student knew no-one, had no face-to-face teaching scheduled - despite that being promised - and was completely alone in her room for days at a time.\n\nShe describes how she was not even allowed to move freely in the communal areas of where she was living.\n\n\"Every sort of fire door's shut, and everything was cut off .... the living room - where the shared area was - was completely shut off.\"\n\nKlaudia says she fell into \"a very depressing state of mind\" in which she felt that everything was \"hopeless\".\n\nShe reached out to university counselling services, which offered her some sessions, but she found it difficult to engage and open up to \"strangers\".\n\n\"It was really hard to discuss the amount of overwhelming things that were happening in my mind at that time,\" she says.\n\nBut she says she survived with the support of her parents, her boyfriend and the kindness of her lecturers..\n\nEventually she took the tough decision, following advice from her counsellor, to return home to Newcastle to study.\n\n\"It was whether I wanted to fall down a hole by myself, or try and fight through it but lose out on things,\" she says.\n\nKlaudia also says the students stuck inside were monitored by security guards, which she found frightening and led to her feeling like \"a criminal in isolation\".\n\n\"With the rising [Covid] cases and the thinking that there'll be another lockdown, I didn't want to stay there, you know, through that.\"\n\nA spokesman for Liverpool Hope University said it took the wellbeing of its students extremely seriously, and worked tirelessly to offer mental health and other support.\n\nThis includes a team of pastoral advisers who make daily contact with those isolating, mental health and well-being advisers, a laundry service and food deliveries\n\nHe added: \"Students had access to outside space in a regulated manner according to guidelines.\n\n\"Security personnel worked diligently to ensure the safety of both the Hope family and the wider community, in line with government policy.\"\n\nNUS president Larissa Kennedy said it was no surprise students had experienced deteriorating mental health as a result of the pandemic.\n\n\"It is deeply troubling that students are not getting the support that they need, with only 29% of those reporting worse mental health accessing services.\n\n\"Students deserve better than their treatment this term. It is time for governments to fund university, college and NHS mental health services to ensure all students can get the support they require.\n\n\"Students' unions also need greater investment to continue to provide essential services to students.\"\n\nA Department for Education (DfE) spokesman said it recognised it had been a very difficult time for students, and protecting their mental health and wellbeing continued to be a top priority.\n\n\"We encourage students to contact their university's support and welfare team if they are struggling with their mental health. Many universities have adapted their resources to better support students online and at distance.\"\n\nThe DfE had provided up to £3m to fund the mental health platform Student Space, designed to work alongside university and NHS services, he added.\n\nSupport and information on mental health is available on the BBC Action Line page.", "Joe Biden (right) is \"deeply proud\" of Hunter Biden (left), the president-elect's transition team says\n\nUS President-elect Joe Biden's son Hunter has said his tax affairs are under investigation.\n\nThe investigation is being conducted by federal prosecutors in Delaware. US media quote sources saying it relates to business dealings with foreign countries including China.\n\nHunter Biden said he was confident he would be shown to have done no wrong.\n\nThe Biden-Harris transition team said the president-elect was \"deeply proud of his son\".\n\nA statement from the team said Hunter had \"fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger\".\n\nThe 50-year-old said he had learned of the investigation on Tuesday. He did not disclose any further details.\n\n\"I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisers,\" he said.\n\nReports say the investigation was begun in 2018, before Joe Biden announced his bid for the presidency.\n\nHunter Biden was a frequent target of Republican criticism during the 2020 election campaign, focusing on his business dealings in Ukraine and China when Joe Biden was vice-president in the Barack Obama administration.\n\nLast December, President Donald Trump was impeached by the Democratic-run House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress stemming from his attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.\n\nBut Mr Trump was cleared by the Republican-held Senate in February.\n\nThe new investigation into Hunter Biden's tax affairs comes as his father assembles his cabinet. If the case is still ongoing when Mr Biden is sworn into office next month, his pick for attorney general could have oversight of the investigation, AP notes.\n\nThe presidential election is over, but it seems President-elect Joe Biden's son Hunter - a regular target of Republican attacks during the campaign - is going to stay in the news.\n\nThe revelation that Hunter is under tax investigation is not entirely surprising. There have been hints of such an inquiry for months. With official confirmation, however, comes further scrutiny - and potential political headaches for the president-elect.\n\nIf Republicans maintain control of the US Senate, hearings into Hunter's finances - and any ties to President Biden - are a foregone conclusion. And if the investigation turns into formal charges, political concerns for the Biden family could turn into very real legal ones.\n\nWhile Donald Trump's critics will be quick to accuse the outgoing president of orchestrating this investigation as political reprisal, the US attorney behind it - David Weiss of Delaware - is a veteran prosecutor. Although he was appointed by the current president, Weiss also worked as a deputy in the office, and as interim US attorney, during Democrat Barack Obama's presidency.\n\nHunter Biden, in a statement, says he acted \"legally and appropriately\". If so, this matter will eventually fade from view. Being under the federal criminal microscope, however, is never a pleasant affair.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"Masking, vaccinations, opening schools\": Joe Biden's key goals for his first 100 days\n• None What was Hunter Biden doing in China and Ukraine?", "Phone calls between Mr Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen have so far failed to find a way through\n\nBoris Johnson will fly to Brussels later for talks on a post-Brexit deal with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.\n\nTime is running out to reach a deal before 31 December, when the UK stops following EU trading rules.\n\nThe pair will hold talks over dinner, after negotiations between officials ended in deadlock.\n\nMajor disagreements remain on fishing rights, business competition rules and how a deal will be policed.\n\nAt the dinner, expected to begin at 19:00 GMT, the prime minister will work through a list of the major sticking points with Mrs von der Leyen, who is representing the leaders of the 27 EU nations.\n\nA UK government source said progress at a political level may allow the negotiations - between the UK's Lord Frost and EU's Michel Barnier - to resume over the coming days.\n\nBut the source added that it was important to be \"realistic\" that an agreement might not be possible.\n\nSpeaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Johnson said \"a good deal is still there to be done\", but stressed that the EU's position was to have an \"automatic right to punish us\" if the UK's rules and regulations didn't move in step with the EU in the future.\n\nMeanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said a Brexit deal was still possible but insisted that the integrity of the EU single market must be respected.\n\nEU sources told the BBC that Mr Barnier briefed the bloc's Europe ministers that talks were tilting towards no deal being reached before the deadline.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A deal with the EU can't come \"at any price,\" says Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove\n\nBBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says that the purpose of the dinner is not to call a halt or to proclaim that a deal's been done.\n\n\"The reason for the meeting is to see if both sides are willing in principle to tolerate the notion of budging, after the negotiations, and frankly negotiators, have been exhausted,\" she says.\n\nEU leaders are due to meet for a summit of their own on Thursday.\n\nIt comes as no surprise at all that EU-UK talks have gone down to the wire.\n\nThat was widely predicted. As was the \"both making last-minute political compromises\" part, believed to come right at the end, after the two sides abandon their high-stakes game of chicken.\n\nBut tonight's dinner is far more complex than the prime minister declaring \"OK, Ursula, we'll give you your level playing field, if you (EU) give us our fish.\"\n\nThe clash of ideologies, clear from the start, is still very much present.\n\nWe have the government's determination to protect its post-Brexit sovereignty, and not sign up to another Brussels rule book on the one side and on the other, the EU focus on protecting its single market a) from what it views as potentially unfair competition from the UK and b) in terms of global reputation.\n\nBrussels believes compromising single market rules for a UK deal, would weaken it in the eyes of other future trade partners.\n\nConclusion: As much as Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, say they still hope for a deal, 'no deal' is still very much on the table tonight, alongside dinner.\n\nIn separate talks on Tuesday, the UK and EU reached an agreement on specific trade arrangements for Northern Ireland - including on post-Brexit border checks and trading rules for NI, and how the new Irish Sea border will work.\n\nIt means the UK has now dropped plans to override sections of its EU exit agreement signed last year, which would have potentially broken international law.\n\nDetails of the NI agreement have not yet been published, but Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove is making a statement in the Commons on Wednesday.\n\nThe agreement was an important moment for businesses, said BBC Northern Ireland political reporter Jayne McCormack. \"But some firms and political parties may be less receptive when they see the finer details of what's been decided,\" she said.\n\nSpeaking to the BBC, Mr Gove confirmed that EU officials would be present in Northern Ireland \"to make sure the processes, that we are in control of, will be running appropriately\".\n\nFormer Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said there would be a need \"for some explanation\" from the government because MPs had been \"assured by the government that there were would be no customs officials sitting around\".\n\nThe UK and EU are at loggerheads over the so-called \"level playing field\" - a set of shared rules and standards to ensure businesses in one country do not have an unfair advantage over their competitors in others.\n\nBrussels wants the UK to follow EU rules closely in areas such as workers' rights and environmental regulations, but the UK says the goal of Brexit is to break free from following common rules and reassert national sovereignty.\n\nAnd the two sides disagree on how any future trading disputes should be resolved.\n\nOn fishing, the two sides continue to haggle over how much access European fishing boats should have to British waters, and how much they would be allowed to catch from next year.", "A landmark report says the UK can make major cuts to carbon emissions more cheaply than previously thought.\n\nThe Climate Change Committee says that, for less than 1% of national wealth, the UK can reduce 78% of emissions by 2035, based on 1990 levels.\n\nThis brings forward the UK’s clean energy timetable by 15 years - a previously unimaginable leap.\n\nThe report says the low costs for the transformation are due to new clean technologies also being more efficient.\n\nThe authors say people can play their part by eating less red meat, curbing flying, driving less and installing low-carbon heating.\n\nThey estimate the costs of the low-carbon revolution will scale up to an annual £50bn by 2030 from around $10bn today, with most being private investment.\n\nBy 2030, they estimate that some of these costs will be offset by fuel savings of £18bn.\n\nProf Euan Nisbet from Royal Holloway, University of London, who was not involved with the report, said: \"This is a massively important report that maps out a whole new economy for Britain to create a better country.\n\n“This shows it can be done. It can be afforded. This is world-leading, and it’ll persuade other countries also to follow the path.“\n\nBut sceptics say that the committee, which advises the government on climate matters, has underestimated the eventual bill and overestimated the government’s ability to deliver change on the scale projected.\n\nSome experts believe that dangerous climate change may already have occurred\n\nBut the committee, also known as the CCC, says: “The message to the government is clear: the 2020s must be the decisive decade of progress and action on climate change”.\n\nIf its recommendations are carried out, the CCC says the UK will achieve its share of the UN target agreed under the Paris agreement drafted five years ago. This international deal aims to keep the global temperature rise well below 2C and “pursue efforts“ to keep it under 1.5C.\n\nSo far, temperatures have increased around 1.1C and are contributing to devastating forest fires and ice loss at the poles. As a result, some scientists believe dangerous climate change may have already begun.\n\nCCC members say the targets proposed for the UK's “carbon budget” period of 2033-2035 are definitely achievable, so long as the government moves urgently.\n\nThe advisory body says the shift to electric vehicles will prove cheaper than sticking with petrol cars because the former is about three times more efficient.\n\nThat means the government may need to claw back tax income by imposing pay-as-you-drive schemes.\n\nBut the committee warns that ministers will need to shield the poorest in society.\n\nIt will cost, for instance, an average of £10,000 to insulate a home and install low-carbon heating such as heat pumps. The report says the government must find £3-4bn a year to support households make the transition.\n\nMinisters will also need to cushion low-income households from what’s estimated to be a £100-a-year rise in electricity bills by 2030, although the report says this cost may be reduced by making appliances more efficient.\n\nEnvironmental campaign groups have expressed delight that the costs of a clean society will be cheaper than previously thought, although they need convincing that the government will grasp the challenge.\n\nThey point out that recently the Chancellor committed just £1bn to insulating homes to save emissions, whilst pledging £127bn to HS2 and new roads that will increase emissions.\n\nLarge infrastructure projects funded by the Treasury could undermine efforts to cut carbon, say campaigners\n\nThe report says to get the best results, the UK government must start cutting emissions aggressively, to prevent them accumulating in the atmosphere.\n\nIt sets out the following conditions for success:\n\nThe report says: “Many people can make low-carbon choices, about how they travel, how they heat their homes, what they buy and what they eat.”\n\nIt also includes a measure of popular opinion, gleaned through the recent UK Climate Assembly – where members of the public participated in sessions with climate experts to establish a dialogue on the best ways to cut emissions.\n\nThe assembly called for a tax on frequent flyers, a ban on selling polluting sports utility vehicles (SUVs), and a cut in meat consumption - although it stressed that people shouldn’t be coerced into changing behaviours.\n\nThe CCC estimates that 16% of the effort to achieve the targets will come from behaviour change, such as shifts in diet or flying less. Another 41% will come from painless improvements in low carbon technology, and 43% will be a combination of technology and behaviour change.\n\nThere will be a revolution in homes and how they're heated. This will involve insulating many more homes, making all new gas boilers hydrogen-ready - able to use cleaner hydrogen as a fuel - and making greater use of heat pumps.", "Currys PC World said its website was processing about six orders per second at times on Black Friday\n\nCurrys PC World is facing a growing number of complaints about cancelled Black Friday purchases, which customers only learned about after the sales period was over.\n\nThe firm has blamed a technical fault for causing some orders to fail even though it had sent confirmation emails.\n\nThe electronics retailer has apologised for \"the inconvenience caused\".\n\nBut many of those involved want it to go further and to honour the discounts it had offered.\n\nA spokeswoman for the company - which is owned by Dixons Carphone - was unable to say how many people had been affected.\n\nBut she indicated the firm would treat complaints on a case-by-case basis.\n\nThe issue follows reports of a related problem involving customers being left out of pocket after failed gift card payments to Currys PC World on Black Friday, which was revealed by MoneySavingExpert's news site last month.\n\nIn those cases, the company has allowed goods to be repurchased at their discounted prices.\n\nHowever, it has subsequently emerged that other types of purchases were also affected.\n\nDeals for reduced-priced televisions, computers and speakers are among those shoppers have complained of missing out on.\n\n\"I had ordered a 65in TV in the Black Friday sale,\" Iain Fairfield from Kilwinning told the BBC.\n\n\"But it never arrived, so I went onto live chat with Currys and they said that due to a technical glitch the order hadn't gone through properly, even though I had confirmation of it.\n\n\"They then informed me that I would have to pay full price for the TV again even though it was a Black Friday deal.\n\n\"I was very angry with this as they wouldn't be honouring the original price I had got the item for. And at no point did they ever inform me, from purchase point until delivery day, that the order had been cancelled.\"\n\nCharlie, another shopper who asked that his surname not be published, said he had a similar experience after a laptop he had ordered was not delivered.\n\n\"Glitches happen, everyone understands that. But not offering the goods now at [what was] the advertised price seems wrong,\" he said.\n\n\"What's most irritating is that I would have carried on shopping around on Black Friday had I known the sale hadn't gone through.\"\n\nIn some cases Currys did email users to inform them of the cancellations, but it appears not others.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Sarah Boyd This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Maggie This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe company is now working through complaints, but the extent of the problem is still unclear.\n\n\"Due to the unprecedented volume of customers shopping online with Currys PC World on Black Friday, our website experienced a temporary outage,\" said a spokeswoman.\n\n\"We can confirm that transactions made by gift cards and some Order & Collect purchases were affected, but home delivery was not.\n\n\"Any customer who paid by gift card had funds put back in full by 20:00 on Wednesday 2 December.\n\n\"Those customers whose Order & Collect purchases were cancelled were informed as soon as possible, and they were able to replace their order the same weekend and still take advantage of our Black Friday promotions.\"\n\nHowever, the BBC has spoken to four customers who said they were affected after trying to buy products for home delivery without using a gift card.\n\nThe firm said it was still looking into the matter and urged all those affected to contact customer services if they still had a proof of purchase.\n\nConsumer rights group Which? has said the electronics store is not legally compelled to offer the cancelled goods at their sales prices, but suggested the firm's reputation was on the line.\n\n\"This is the latest in a long list of complaints we've heard about Currys PC World, and customers will be understandably frustrated that their Black Friday purchases could not be fulfilled,\" commented its consumer rights expert Adam French.\n\n\"The tech retailer has earned itself a poor reputation for customer service and in a recent Which? survey received just two stars for its after-sales service.\n\n\"The company must up its game or customers will rightly go looking elsewhere for a good deal.\"", "Last updated on .From the section European Football\n\nParis St-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe said he was proud his team-mates and Istanbul Basaksehir players had walked off the pitch during their Champions League tie on Tuesday night.\n\nThe match was abandoned at 0-0 after the fourth official was accused of using a racist term towards Basaksehir assistant Pierre Webo.\n\nPlayers took a knee around the centre circle before the restart on Wednesday.\n\n\"We are tired, we don't want to go through this again,\" said Mbappe.\n\n\"Of course, I am proud of what was done. We were not disappointed not to play. We made that decision. We were proud.\n\n\"A lot of things were said but, in fact, there's nothing better than actions.\"\n\nMbappe scored twice after the game resumed in the 14th minute, and PSG ran out comfortable 5-1 winners.\n\nWebo - who had been sent off - was allowed to take his place on the away bench, with his red card suspended while Uefa investigates the incident.\n\nBasaksehir coach Okan Buruk said: \"The referee should have dealt with the situation but he didn't and we had to show that we stood with Webo.\n\n\"The decision was made by the players. Some wanted to go back to the pitch but we stuck together as a team and it was eventually a team decision.\n\n\"We showed the entire world that we are united.\"\n\nWinger Nacer Chadli, who came on as a substitute in Wednesday's game, told the BBC's World Football programme: \"We're in 2020 now and that kind of incident is very hurtful for all of us.\n\n\"I was feeling very sad, like the other players in the dressing room. That hurt us deep because we love football and we were there to play a game and something happened that we didn't expect.\n\n\"We were talking, and sometimes it was very quiet. We wanted to make a decision: we go altogether outside or if one or two want to stay, we don't go out, we just have to stick together.\"\n\n\"They made a strong decision, they stuck with the other team and made a brave decision,\" he said.\n\n\"In the dressing room it was clear that they wanted to show that reaction.\"\n\nMidfielder Marco Verratti added: \"It was tough for everyone - for us on the pitch, for everyone watching the match - it was something that shouldn't happen.\n\n\"We should be examples, especially because we are followed by millions of people.\n\n\"That's why we did a strong gesture and decided, with the other team, not to play.\"\n\nA new set of officials took charge on Wednesday, with Dutchman Danny Makkelie appointed referee.\n\nBoth sets of players and the officials - who also took a knee during the Champions League anthem - wore 'no to racism' T-shirts in the warm-up, with anti-racism banners in the stands.\n\nWhen the game restarted, Neymar starred with his third Champions League hat-trick.\n\nHe opened the scoring by nutmegging a defender and curling home, before finishing off a counter-attack and getting his third from 20 yards.\n\nMbappe scored twice, including a penalty won for a foul on Neymar.\n\nVictory for PSG means they top the group ahead of RB Leipzig, who qualified and eliminated Manchester United with a 3-2 win over the English side on Tuesday.\n• None Attempt missed. Giuliano (Istanbul Basaksehir) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right following a set piece situation.\n• None Timothee Pembele (Paris Saint Germain) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.\n• None Attempt blocked. Neymar (Paris Saint Germain) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.\n• None Attempt saved. Deniz Türüç (Istanbul Basaksehir) left footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo.\n• None Attempt saved. Neymar (Paris Saint Germain) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Idrissa Gueye.\n• None Timothee Pembele (Paris Saint Germain) wins a free kick on the right wing. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None The Amazon founder has strong beliefs and big plans\n• None Listen along to a playlist of the greatest Christmas No 1s", "The US Army has fired or suspended 14 commanders and lower-level leaders at the Fort Hood base in Texas over a pattern of violence there, including murder, sexual assaults and harassment.\n\nAn investigation into problems at the base was launched following the killing of soldier Vanessa Guillen this year.\n\nArmy Secretary Ryan McCarthy said the \"issues at Fort Hood are directly related to leadership failures\".\n\nThe army has also ordered a new policy on dealing with missing soldiers.\n\nThe firings and suspensions announced on Tuesday include major generals Scott Efflandt and Jeffery Broadwater.\n\nMr McCarthy said Ms Guillen's murder \"shocked our conscience and brought attention to deeper problems\" at Fort Hood and in the US Army more widely.\n\nIt \"forced us to take a critical look at our systems, our policies, and ourselves\", he told reporters.\n\nMs Guillen, 20, was missing for about two months before her remains were found in late June. Investigators say she was bludgeoned to death at Fort Hood.\n\nThe suspect in her death, Specialist Aaron Robinson, took his own life on 1 July as police were trying to take him into custody.\n\nMs Guillen's family allege that she had been harassed by Mr Robinson, but officials say they have no report to indicate she was sexually harassed or assaulted.\n\nThe case is still under investigation.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Vanessa Guillen family: \"My sister is a human being, and I want justice\"\n\nThe action by the US Army on Tuesday follows a year that saw 25 soldiers assigned to Fort Hood die as a result of suicide, homicide or accidents, according to the Associated Press news agency.\n\nA statement from the US Army said \"when a senior leader loses trust and confidence in a subordinate commander or leader, it is appropriate and necessary to relieve that person.\"\n\nMr McCarthy also announced on Tuesday a new policy aimed at ensuring that the army \"maximises efforts to find missing soldiers\".\n\nThe policy requires commanders to classify missing soldiers as \"absent-unknown\" for up to 48 hours, while doing everything they can to locate the soldier and determine if their absence is voluntary before declaring them Awol, or absent without leave.\n• None 'My sister is a human being, and I want justice' Video, 00:01:17'My sister is a human being, and I want justice'", "Mahalia won Best R&B/Soul and Best Female at this year's awards\n\nAfter a two-year break, the MOBO Awards have returned with a socially-distant show.\n\nThe ceremony was hosted by Maya Jama and Chunkz and broadcast on YouTube.\n\nMahalia and Nines both won two awards, with Mahalia taking home Best R&B/Soul and Best Female and Nines winning Best Album and Best Hip Hop act.\n\nMahalia told Newsbeat: \"As a young black artist at the MOBOs, everything it stands for and holds is really special.\"\n\nThe pandemic \"put a stop\" to a lot of Young T and Bugsey's plans\n\nYoung T and Bugsey were awarded Best Song for Don't Rush.\n\nThe Nottingham duo said the viral Don't Rush challenge helped it become such a staple sound of 2020.\n\nBugsey said: \"Day by day it was just growing and getting bigger and bigger, we had no idea that would happen.\n\n\"I was a big wrestling fan as a kid, so when I saw that the whole WWE lot did the challenge I was like 'yeah, we're doing something'.\"\n\nThe pair released their mixtape at the start of the year, with plans for tours and other live performances.\n\n\"All artists have had to learn how to manoeuvre through it, hopefully next year shows will be back again.\"\n\nIn a year filled with \"way too many Zoom calls\", the Best Newcomer award is some good news for Aitch\n\nAitch, who picked up Best Newcomer, said the event was a good end to a bad year.\n\nHe told Newsbeat: \"It's sick to be recognised for what I'm doing.\"\n\nIn a year like no other, Aitch says time away from touring and performances has had some advantages.\n\n\"Some things have happened that wouldn't have happened if I was out on the road.\"\n\nAlthough he's done \"way too many Zoom calls\".\n\nIt was Maya's second time hosting the show\n\nChunkz won Best Media Personality up against names including Clara Amfo, Mo Gilligan and co-host Maya Jama.\n\nWith social-distancing measures in place, it might not have been the best year to host such a big event. But, after the MOBOs were cancelled in 2018 and 2019, founder Kanya King said she \"felt like she had to\" bring them back.\n\nShe said: \"2020 has been such a unique year and MOBO has always a spotlight for talent to shine.\n\n\"Entertainment and activism have always gone hand in hand, and we're using the power of black culture to empower and uplift people.\"\n\nThis year's ceremony also included a one-off category to retrospectively award the best albums released between September 2017 and August 2019, which was won by Ella Mai.\n\nNines won two awards, and gave his acceptance speech via video\n\nFor a lot of artists, the pandemic was a chance to get creative.\n\nMahalia released her EP Isolation Tapes in May, made up of songs she previously hadn't found time to finish.\n\n\"If isolation hadn't happened, I might never have seen those songs again,\" she says.\n\nAlthough it's been a \"confusing and stressful\" year, Mahalia said ultimately she learned to \"be present and full of energy online\".\n\n\"I think a lot of us artists in that time realised how important social media platforms are,\" she says.\n\n\"It's a gateway to be able to speak to fans. I wasn't very good at that before so this has been a learning curve for sure.\"\n\n\"It made you interact with fans more and people who support you more because you can be connected,\" Young T said.", "Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson and seven other former players claim the sport has left them with permanent brain damage - and are in the process of starting a claim against the game's authorities for negligence.\n\nEvery member of the group has recently been diagnosed with the early signs of dementia, and they say repeated blows to the head are to blame.\n\nThompson, 42, played in every England match when they won the 2003 World Cup, but says: \"I can't remember any of those games. It's frightening.\"\n\nIt is understood a letter of claim, amounting to millions of pounds in damages, will be sent next week to the governing bodies for English and Welsh rugby and World Rugby - and a group class action could follow.\n\nIt is the first legal move of its kind in world rugby and, if successful, could force change to the way the game is played.\n\nLawyers for the group suggest another 80 former players between the ages of 25 and 55 are showing symptoms and have serious concerns.\n\nGlobal governing body World Rugby told BBC Sport: \"While not commenting on speculation, World Rugby takes player safety very seriously and implements injury-prevention strategies based on the latest available knowledge, research and evidence.\"\n\nThe Rugby Football Union (RFU), which runs the sport in England, said: \"The RFU has had no legal approach on this matter. The Union takes player safety very seriously and implements injury prevention and injury treatment strategies based on the latest research and evidence.\n\n\"The Union has played an instrumental role in establishing injury surveillance, concussion education and assessment, collaborating on research as well as supporting law changes and law application to ensure proactive management of player welfare.\"\n\nThe Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) said it \"supported and endorsed the World Rugby comment on the subject\".\n• None 'I don't want to be a burden' - how a 41-year-old ex-international is dealing with early onset dementia\n\nWorld Cup memories have just gone - Thompson\n\nFormer hooker Thompson played 195 times for Northampton Saints before moving to France to play for Brive. He won 73 England caps, and three for the British and Irish Lions, in a nine-year international career.\n\nHe first retired in 2007 because of a serious neck injury but was given the all-clear to return, before being forced to retire again in December 2011 with the same problem.\n\nThompson, former England team-mate Michael Lipman, ex-Wales international Alix Popham and five other retired players are the first group to agree to - and have - testing.\n\nThompson says his condition is so progressed he cannot remember anything that happened in those 2003 World Cup games.\n\n\"It's like I'm watching the game with England playing and I can see me there - but I wasn't there, because it's not me,\" he said.\n\n\"It's just bizarre. People talk about stories, and since the World Cup I've talked to the lads that were there, and you pick up stories, and then you can talk about it, but it's not me being there, it's not me doing it, because it's just gone.\"\n\nThompson is convinced constant head knocks during matches and training are to blame.\n\n\"When we first started going full-time in the mid-1990s, training sessions could quickly turn into full contact,\" he said.\n\n\"There was one session when the scrummaging hadn't gone quite right and they made us do a hundred live scrums. When it comes to it, we were like a bit of meat, really.\n\n\"The whole point of us doing this is to look after the young players coming through. I don't want rugby to stop. It's been able to give us so much, but we just want to make it safer. It can finish so quickly, and suddenly you've got your whole life in front of you.\"\n\nThompson, who has four children, is frank about his fears for the future and open about some dark thoughts.\n\n\"When you are there alone, the number of times you just think to yourself it's probably easier if you go, if I'm not here,\" he said.\n\n\"You start to think, it's not right to put them through that. That's the difficult side to it.\"\n\nWhat is CTE & how can it be diagnosed?\n\nAll eight players to have come forward so far have been diagnosed by neurologists at King's College, London, with early onset dementia and probable Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).\n\nCTE is the disease discovered by Dr Bennet Omalu in American football player Mike Webster, and the subject of the film Concussion starring Will Smith. In 2011, a group of former American football players started a class action against the NFL and won a settlement worth about $1bn (£700m).\n\nCTE can develop when the brain is subjected to numerous small blows or rapid movements - sometimes known as sub-concussions - and is associated with symptoms such as memory loss, depression and progressive dementia.\n\nThe disease can only be diagnosed in a brain after death, but some experts believe if history of exposure is evaluated, it is reasonable to conclude that the risk increases. The embryonic nature of the science around the issue could play a key part in the success or failure of the overall case.\n\nIt has been found in the brains of dozens of former NFL players, as well as a handful of deceased footballers, including former West Bromwich Albion and England player Jeff Astle. A re-examination of his brain in 2014 found he had died from CTE.\n\nSub-concussions cannot be detected on the pitch or in any post-match examination.\n\nDr Ann McKee, from Boston University, is the leading neurologist in CTE and was instrumental in bringing about change in the NFL.\n\nShe and others have faced scepticism within sport, from those who believe more research is needed before further changes are introduced.\n\n\"There's clearly a problem,\" she told the BBC.\n\n\"We don't know the magnitude of the problem, but as long as we insist that there is no problem, we'll never get to the bottom of it.\n\n\"We're just denying it and prolonging it and making sure that as many rugby players as possible get CTE.\"\n\nSo how could the claim be proved?\n\nIf the case progresses to court, the group must prove the governing bodies have been guilty of negligence.\n\nRichard Boardman, from law firm Rylands, is leading the action.\n\n\"We are now in a position where we believe the governing bodies across the rugby world are liable for failing to adequately protect their players on this particular issue,\" he said.\n\n\"Depending on how many people come forward, the case could be worth tens of millions, maybe even hundreds of millions.\n\n\"Right now we're representing over 100 former players but we expect many more to get in contact.\"\n\nDr Willie Stewart, who with his team at Glasgow University has been leading research around dementia in football, is confident there is an issue in rugby union.\n\n\"There is no question if you look at the data across all the sports in all the regions whether they be football, rugby, American football, I've looked at brains from people from all these different sports.\n\n\"The difficulty we have is gathering enough experience from former rugby players to be able to say with certainty, but I think you would be foolish to ignore it. \"\n\nThe issue of concussion in sport has been debated extensively over the past few years. The links between heading a football and degenerative brain disease have even forced rule changes at youth level.\n\nIn England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, children aged 11 and under are no longer allowed to head the ball in training. There are also limits to heading frequency at higher age group levels.\n\nAt senior level, former professionals have called for more research and better player welfare after the recent death of England World Cup winner Nobby Stiles, and following the news that Stiles' 1966 team-mate and Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton is suffering from the disease.\n\nMore information about dementia and details of organisations that can help can be found here.", "Burley has been one of the faces of Sky News for more than 30 years\n\nSky News presenter Kay Burley and three colleagues have been taken off air while an investigation into breaches of Covid guidelines is carried out.\n\nPolitical editor Beth Rigby, north of England correspondent Inzamam Rashid and presenter Sam Washington are also off air while the inquiry takes place.\n\nBBC media editor Amol Rajan said Burley's job is hanging in the balance.\n\nIt follows her admission that she \"broke the rules\" while celebrating her 60th birthday at the weekend.\n\nThe journalist said she could \"only apologise\" for her \"error of judgment\".\n\nWriting on Twitter on Monday, Burley said she had been at a \"Covid compliant\" restaurant on Saturday and had later \"popped into another\" venue to use the toilet.\n\nAmol Rajan said she was one of a party of 10 people at the Century Club, a private members' club on London's Shaftesbury Avenue. Her group took up two tables, with six people on one and four on the other.\n\nBurley then went onto Folie restaurant, where she used the toilet, before moving on to a private residence where individuals from at least three households mixed, Rajan said.\n\n\"This is a source of deep anxiety among Sky News bosses,\" Rajan said. \"There is fury within the Sky News newsroom at the compromising of the brand, especially after Sky News has had a strong year.\"\n\nRigby, Rashid and Washington are reported to have been present during the evening, although it's not known which parts they attended.\n\nBurley was absent from her daily breakfast show on Tuesday and Wednesday, and fellow presenter Niall Paterson said he would be taking over her slot until Christmas.\n\nIn a tweet that was subsequently deleted, Burley said she had always planned to take time off this month to visit her \"beloved Africa\".\n\nSharing a video from a safari trip, she said she would be leaving on Friday to go \"sit with lions\", adding: \"They kill for food not sport.\"\n\nBurley, who joined Sky News in 1988 and has hosted the breakfast show since October 2019, offered an apology to her 519,000 Twitter followers on Monday.\n\n\"On Saturday night I was enjoying my 60th birthday at a Covid compliant restaurant,\" she wrote. \"I am embarrassed to say that later in the evening I inadvertently broke the rules.\n\n\"I had been waiting for a taxi at 11pm to get home. Desperate for the loo I briefly popped into another restaurant to spend a penny. I can only apologise.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Kay Burley This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nLondon is under tier two restrictions, which means people are not allowed to socialise with anyone from outside their household or support bubble indoors, either in a private home or a public place.\n\nSome venues have outdoor seating and you are able to meet in a group of up to six people outside, including in a garden or in a public place.\n\nOn Monday, a spokesman for Sky said: \"We place the highest importance on complying with the government guidelines on Covid, and we expect all our people to comply.\n\n\"We were disappointed to learn that a small number of Sky News staff may have engaged in activity that breached the guidelines.\n\n\"Although this took place at a social event in personal time, we expect all our people to follow the rules that are in place for everyone.\"\n\nBurley's apology followed those of pop star Rita Ora, who said sorry for failing to self-isolate following a trip to Egypt and for throwing a birthday party at a London restaurant.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove starts by saying the UK government has worked this year to ensure that the Northern Ireland Protocol can be agreed with the EU.\n\nThe protocol was a section of the Brexit withdrawal deal to protect trade across the border in Northern Ireland and the UK mainland.\n\nIt said that goods will not need to be checked along the Irish border when the new UK-EU relationship begins on 1 January.\n\nMr Gove starts by explaining that the Protocol set out objectives on trading.\n\nMr Gove says yesterday the UK reached a deal in principle which allows the UK to reach those commitments, and which puts the people on Northern Ireland first.\n\nHe says there will be no additional checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, unless it is rare and endangered species of animals.\n\nNorthern Ireland businesses selling to consumers or trading between businesses will face no tariffs, he adds. This will happen whether there is a deal or not.\n\nThere are additional flexibilities to protect supermarkets. There will be a grace period for supermarkets to implement new rules and trades.\n\nHe says this is three commitments the UK government has held.", "The bronze statue was thrown into Bristol harbour after being pulled down and rolled through the streets in June\n\nFour people have been charged with criminal damage over the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston.\n\nRhian Graham, 29, Milo Ponsford, 25, Jake Skuse, 32, and Sage Willoughby, 21, are all due to appear at Bristol Magistrates' Court on 25 January.\n\nThe 17th Century slave trader's statue was pulled down on June 7 during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol.\n\nSix people have already accepted conditional cautions for criminal damage for their part in the incident.\n\nThe CPS said it had authorised charges following a review of a file of evidence from Avon and Somerset Police.\n\nThe bronze memorial to the controversial figure was dumped in Bristol harbour by protesters after it was pulled down.\n\nThe statue of Edward Colston was erected in 1895\n\nIt was recovered four days later by Bristol City Council and assessed to have suffered £3,750 worth of damage.\n\nThe city council carried out preservation work on the statue and it is expected to be given a new home in a city museum.\n\nColston made his fortune in the slave trade and bequeathed his money to charities in Bristol, which led to many venues, streets and landmarks bearing his name.\n\nFollowing the toppling of the statue, Colston's Girls School changed its name to Montpelier High School and the city's Colston Hall music venue is now known as the Bristol Beacon.\n\nA statue of a Black Lives Matter protester was placed on the empty plinth without permission in July and was removed shortly afterwards.\n\nThe plinth remains vacant and mayor Marvin Rees has previously said it will be up to the people of Bristol to decide what would replace Colston's statue.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday evening. We'll have another update for you on Thursday morning.\n\nPeople with a history of significant allergic reactions should not have the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid jab, regulators have said, after two NHS workers had allergic reactions on day one of the vaccination programme. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said the advice applied to those who have had reactions to medicines, food or vaccines. The two people who had a reaction are both fine now but have a history of serious allergies and carry adrenaline pens with them. We look here at what you need to know about vaccine safety.\n\nPeople should not mix with others outside their household in Wales between now and Christmas if they can avoid it, the country's chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton has urged. \"The best present we can give our families this year is a coronavirus-free Christmas,\" he said. Currently, groups of four people from different households are allowed to meet indoors at pubs, cafes and restaurants, and outdoors, away from home. Your questions on what you can and cannot do under the rules are answered here.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'Don't mix' outside your household bubble was the message from Dr Frank Atherton\n\nLondon could become a \"super spreader, sending coronavirus to other parts of the country over Christmas and making a third wave of infections likely in January\", according to one scientist. Prof John Ashton, a former public health director and author of Blinded by Corona, wants the capital placed in tier three now to avoid a rise in deaths during and after the festive season. New figures show the city saw a spike in Covid-19 cases at the end of England's lockdown on 2 December. Government officials will meet on 16 December to review what tier each area should be in.\n\nWe heard earlier about the tough time endured by students confined to halls this term and the effect on their mental health. Here, BBC Three talks to the families and friends of two students who have died while studying, and tells of the impact coronavirus restrictions had on their lives.\n\nAnd finally, it's that time of year when Google releases its list of the most commonly searched terms. And the pandemic has put a certain twist on the genre. How to make hand sanitiser? How to cut your own hair? and When will pubs reopen? were suddenly the questions on everyone's fingertips. From Joe Wicks to the Tiger King, find out what people most wanted to find out here.\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, with the global race to develop a vaccine making great strides, we take a closer look at China's version - Sinovac.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "Pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops have been closed across much of the west of Scotland since 20 November\n\nAll 11 areas living under Scotland's toughest level four coronavirus restrictions are to be downgraded to level three, it has been confirmed.\n\nThe move means that non-essential shops and many other businesses across much of western and central Scotland will be able to reopen from Friday.\n\nMore than two million people have been subject to the level four restrictions since 20 November.\n\nInfection rates in all 11 council areas have fallen since then.\n\nIt has also been confirmed that three level three areas - Inverclyde, Falkirk and Angus - will move down to level two.\n\nAnd both Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders will move to level one from level two.\n\nAll of the country's other council areas will remain in their current levels.\n\nRetail premises which have been closed under the level four restrictions will be allowed to re-open from 06:00 on Friday, with the other restrictions being eased from 18:00 on the same day.\n\nBut hospitality businesses in level three areas must close their doors by 18:00 - meaning they will have to wait until Saturday to welcome back customers for food and non-alcoholic drinks.\n\nAnnouncing the changes in the Scottish Parliament, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged people to \"continue to exercise care and caution\".\n\nAnd she said that travel restrictions will remain in place, meaning that people should not travel in or out of level three areas unless it is essential.\n\nPeople living outside of Glasgow should therefore not travel to the city for Christmas shopping when stores reopen on Friday, for example.\n\nMs Sturgeon added: \"As we know from our experience of Covid so far, progress can very easily go into reverse.\n\n\"So please continue to abide by the rules. That means, in particular, not visiting other people's houses.\"\n\nThe first minister also told MSPs that she considered moving Edinburgh down to level two - but the closeness to the Christmas period meant that this did not happen.\n\nShe also said the government was closely monitoring Clackmannanshire, which is remaining in level three for now despite having the highest number of confirmed cases per 100,000 in the country.\n\nMs Sturgeon said it was thought that the sharp rise in case numbers could be attributed to a mass testing pilot that is being carried out there, adding: \"The issue is more cases being identified rather than a rise in transmission.\"\n\nThere had been concern that Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire could move from level two to level three - but Ms Sturgeon said cases in both areas had dropped slightly in recent days.\n\nHowever, she said the situation would be monitored very carefully, with a move to level three not being ruled out in the weeks ahead.\n\nThe first minister said further support for businesses affected by the restrictions would be announced on Wednesday.\n\nScottish Conservative group leader Ruth Davidson said businesses in areas such as Edinburgh, which have relatively low case numbers, would find it a \"bitter pill to swallow\" that restrictions would not be eased because \"ironically they might get too much trade\" ahead of Christmas.\n\nScottish Labour leader Richard Leonard also criticised the decision not to move Edinburgh down to level two when the data appeared to show the infection was under greater control there than in other parts of the country.\n\nThe first vaccinations against the virus started on Tuesday morning\n\nThe announcement on the country's restriction levels came as vaccinations began at sites across Scotland.\n\nAn initial batch of 65,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine arrived in Scotland at the weekend - with those who will be giving the vaccine to others being the first to be injected with it.\n\nMs Sturgeon said the vaccination programme presents the \"beginning of the end\" of the pandemic.\n\nBut she urged people to continue to think about how to keep themselves and others safe in the meantime.\n\nThe deaths of a further 33 people who had tested positive for the virus have been recorded in the past 24 hours, alongside an additional 692 positive tests.", "Could it be the last supper?\n\nBoris Johnson will travel to Brussels for the first time in months on Wednesday night to sit and break bread with the EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.\n\nIt is more than a standard diplomatic dinner.\n\nIt is possible that the encounter could be the moment at which the UK and the EU conclude that there cannot be a trade deal now, and that after decades of political and economic ties, efforts to say a polite political farewell have failed, with all the consequences that might entail.\n\nThe purpose of the dinner however is not to call a halt. But nor is the purpose to proclaim that a deal's been done.\n\nThe reason for the meeting is to see if both sides are willing in principle to tolerate the notion of budging, after the negotiations, and frankly negotiators, have been exhausted.\n\nIf the prime minister and Mrs von der Leyen can look each other in the eye and agree that there are still compromises to be had, then a deal is still possible.\n\nIf they are willing to make that kind of pact - to say privately to each other, I'm willing to budge if you are too - then that would in theory allow technical talks to get going again.\n\nThis wouldn't be any kind of changes to the formal mandates - the boundaries the negotiators have been set.\n\nBut it could reset the dial, sending Lord Frost and Michel Barnier back to the table in the understanding that their political bosses might just be a touch more wiling to be flexible after all.\n\nIn turn, that doesn't mean that a deal is going to be achieved.\n\nBut it could tip the balance back towards the overall political imperatives of making this happen, and away from both sides' commitment to stick so closely to their principles.\n\nHere, the government's actions on the Northern Ireland protocol on Tuesday are a hint that they just might be willing to bend a little further.\n\nEqually however, settling the joint protocol makes it easier for the government to minimise disruption if it walks away. So beware wise sages claiming it's definitive proof either way!\n\nDon't forget too, it's only this time last week that there was a sense we were moving towards a conclusion on both sides.\n\nBut that was before some member states, with France as the hard man, toughened their approach, surprising the UK and setting the process back - although any change is still denied officially by the EU side.\n\nWhat we just can't know, however, is whether the leaders will be able to find common cause when they meet on Wednesday.\n\nThere has been a real sense of \"you first\" in the last 24 hours, with both sides waiting to see what the other's next move would be.\n\nIf there is a chance that a deal can be done, tomorrow night's dinner needs to produce at the very least a metaphorical statement of intent.\n\nBut if the two leaders just aren't prepared to make a leap, it could yet be the last supper after all.\n\nP.S. It's interesting to note that when Theresa May was trying to manage these processes, she sometimes dashed off to see the individual leaders of the member states, or held phone calls with them, as did Boris Johnson sometimes.\n\nThere was one notable explosion with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a call last year, which now seems a century ago.\n\nIt's understood that this time Boris Johnson's team was interested in the possibility of talking to Mrs Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in these vital few days themselves.\n\nBut I'm told the EU wanted to keep everything channelled through one point of contact.\n\nDowning Street has denied the suggestion this afternoon that he wanted them to be on the call when he rang Mrs von der Leyen on Monday.\n\nBut it seems there have been discussions about whether to have those separate discussions that have then not (so far) taken place.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Addressing trade talks with the EU, Boris Johnson has “absolutely no doubt this country is going to prosper mightily”.\n\nBoris Johnson has said the EU is insisting on terms \"no prime minister could accept\" in UK-EU trade talks.\n\nThe PM told MPs \"a good deal is still there to be done\", ahead of post-Brexit deal negotiations with the European Commission president.\n\nBut he said the EU was seeking an \"automatic right\" to retaliate against the UK if its labour and environmental standards diverged from theirs.\n\nHe is in Brussels for talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.\n\nThe prime minister also suggested the EU could not accept the UK having sovereign control over its fishing waters after Brexit, as he answered questions at Prime Minister's Questions.\n\nTime is running out to reach a deal before 31 December, when the UK stops following EU trading rules.\n\nMajor disagreements remain on fishing rights, business competition rules and how a deal will be policed.\n\nAt the dinner, expected to begin at 19:00 GMT, the prime minister will work through a list of the major sticking points with Mrs von der Leyen, who is representing the leaders of the 27 EU nations.\n\nA UK government source said progress at a political level may allow the UK's negotiator Lord Frost and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier - who will both also attend the dinner - to resume their work over the coming days.\n\nBut the source added that it was important to be \"realistic\" that an agreement might not be possible.\n\nMeanwhile, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove outlined details on post-Brexit border checks and trading rules for Northern Ireland, after agreement was reached with the EU.\n\nSpeaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Johnson warned that a deal would not be possible if the EU continued to insist that if it was to pass a new law in the future - and the UK did not follow suit - it wanted the \"automatic right punish us and retaliate\" with tariffs on goods.\n\nHe also claimed that the EU wanted the UK to become the \"only country in the world\" not to have \"sovereign control\" over its fishing waters.\n\n\"I don't believe that those are terms that any prime minister of this country should accept,\" he said.\n\nGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel has said a Brexit deal was still possible but insisted that the integrity of the EU single market must be respected.\n\nThe UK and EU are at loggerheads over the so-called \"level playing field\" - a set of shared rules and standards to ensure businesses in one country do not have an unfair advantage over their competitors in others.\n\nBrussels wants the UK to follow EU rules closely in areas such as workers' rights and environmental regulations, but the UK says the goal of Brexit is to break free from following common rules and reassert national sovereignty.\n\nBBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says that the purpose of the dinner is not to call a halt or to proclaim that a deal's been done.\n\n\"The reason for the meeting is to see if both sides are willing in principle to tolerate the notion of budging, after the negotiations, and frankly negotiators, have been exhausted,\" she says.\n\nEU leaders are due to meet for a summit of their own on Thursday.\n\nIt comes as no surprise at all that EU-UK talks have gone down to the wire.\n\nThat was widely predicted. As was the \"both making last-minute political compromises\" part, believed to come right at the end, after the two sides abandon their high-stakes game of chicken.\n\nBut tonight's dinner is far more complex than the prime minister declaring \"OK, Ursula, we'll give you your level playing field, if you (EU) give us our fish.\"\n\nThe clash of ideologies, clear from the start, is still very much present.\n\nWe have the government's determination to protect its post-Brexit sovereignty, and not sign up to another Brussels rule book on the one side and on the other, the EU focus on protecting its single market a) from what it views as potentially unfair competition from the UK and b) in terms of global reputation.\n\nBrussels believes compromising single market rules for a UK deal, would weaken it in the eyes of other future trade partners.\n\nConclusion: As much as Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, say they still hope for a deal, 'no deal' is still very much on the table tonight, alongside dinner.\n\nIn separate talks on Tuesday, the UK and EU reached an agreement on specific trade arrangements for Northern Ireland - including on post-Brexit border checks and trading rules for Northern Ireland.\n\nFrom 1 January, Northern Ireland will stay in the EU single market for goods as the rest of the UK leaves.\n\nThat means a proportion of food products arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain will need to be checked under arrangements known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.\n\nSpeaking in the Commons, Mr Gove said it would ensure the smooth flow of trade \"on which lives and livelihoods depend....with no need for new physical customs infrastructure\" on the island of Ireland.\n\n\"The deal protects unfettered access for Northern Ireland businesses to their most important market,\" he said.\n\nHow will Brexit affect you? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Three generations of royals gathered at Windsor for a festive carol service\n\nThe Queen has appeared alongside several other senior royals for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began.\n\nThe monarch, 94, welcomed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Windsor Castle following their royal train tour.\n\nPrince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall also attended the socially-distanced Christmas carol concert within the castle's grounds.\n\nThe Earl and Countess of Wessex and Princess Anne were also there.\n\nIt was confirmed last week that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will spend Christmas \"quietly\" at Windsor, rather than Her Majesty's private estate at Sandringham in Norfolk.\n\nAnd rather than a gathering of senior royals as is traditional, the Queen and Prince Phillip, 99, will spend the festive period alone after considering \"all the appropriate advice\", according to Buckingham Palace.\n\n\"Like everyone they hope things will get back to normal in 2021,\" a palace spokesman said at the time.\n\nThe Cambridge's trip on the royal train saw them thank key workers, volunteers and communities in Scotland, England and Wales.\n\nWhile there was veiled criticism from Welsh and Scottish ministers over its timing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the tour as a \"welcome morale boost\", No 10 said.\n\nOn Tuesday, Prince William and Catherine told students in Cardiff they were still wrestling with their Christmas plans and had yet to decide where or with whom they would be.\n\nThe couple have previously spent the festive period with Catherine's parents at their home in Berkshire.\n\nOn the final day of their zig-zag three-day tour of Britain, the couple met undergraduates to hear about their mental health challenges during the pandemic in Wales, and they spoke with NHS workers in Reading.\n\nThe Queen thanked the Salvation Army and other local volunteers at Tuesday evening's service at Windsor Castle\n\nAt the end of Tuesday's performance, the Queen, chatted to her family in turn and as she turned to walk up the steps back inside the castle, Prince William said: \"Bye gran.\"\n\nCommissioners Anthony and Gillian Cotterill, territorial leaders for The Salvation Army in the UK and Republic of Ireland, also came forward to speak to the Queen, who told them \"nobody's allowed to sing anymore\".\n\nChoirs are allowed to perform in the open air and Princess Anne told her mother: \"Oh, we can sing outside.\"\n\nThe Queen spoke animatedly to Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall\n\nMr Cotterill said afterwards: \"The Queen was saying she was just so happy we were able to play some carols because she thinks this will be the only time she'll be able to hear carols, and she was disappointed we didn't sing. \"\n\n\"Sometimes we're playing musicians and other times we're a choir. At an event like this, it's better to have the band as you can hear it for miles.\"\n\nThe Salvation Army's Regent Hall Band, based in London's busy Oxford Street, played Hark The Herald Angels Sing and The First Noel for the royal family.\n\nMrs Cotterill added: \"I did see the Queen mouthing some of the words - so that was nice.\"\n• None Queen and Philip to spend Christmas at Windsor", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mr Giuliani asked a witness to remove her mask at a hearing on alleged election fraud last week\n\nPresident Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has revealed in a call to his own radio show that he is being treated for coronavirus with the same drug cocktail his boss received when he was ill with Covid-19.\n\nHe was admitted to hospital on Sunday after becoming the latest official close to Mr Trump to test positive.\n\nMr Giuliani, 76, told the show he expects to leave hospital on Wednesday.\n\nHe has been treated with Remdesivir and Dexamethasone, he explained.\n\nMr Trump tweeted on Sunday that his ally, who has been leading the Trump campaign's legal challenges to the November election outcome, had been diagnosed with the virus.\n\n\"I am doing fine. Pretty much all the symptoms are gone. The minute I took the cocktail I felt 100% better. It works very quickly, wow,\" he told his colleagues on his weekly show with 77 WABC radio from the Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC.\n\nMr Trump has strongly praised the experimental combination of drugs he received when he spent three nights in hospital with Covid-19 in October.\n\nDozens of people in Mr Trump's orbit are said to have tested positive for Covid-19 since October.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Four Covid rules broken by Trump and the White House\n\nMr Giuliani said the president's doctor had urged him to go to hospital where he could \"get it [Covid-19] over with in three days\".\n\nMr Giuliani's son Andrew tweeted that his dad had \"improved significantly\" adding \"I can't seem to get him off the phone for the last day\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Andrew H. Giuliani This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nReferring to his prior diagnosis of prostate cancer, Rudy Giuliani suggested \"You don't screw around your whole life because of an illness. I'd rather face risks than live in a basement my whole life.\"\n\nDuring the election campaign earlier this year, Mr Trump's campaign attacked his rival Joe Biden for \"hiding in his basement\" during the pandemic.\n\nMr Giuliani, a former mayor of New York City, had been on a cross-country tour in an effort to convince state governments to overturn the results of the November election vote when he contracted the disease.\n\nHe had criticised face masks and was frequently pictured at indoor events without a face covering.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. One travel nurse's journey to US Covid hotspots\n\nLast Wednesday, President Trump's lawyer appeared at a hearing on alleged election fraud in Michigan where he asked a witness beside him if she would be comfortable removing her face mask.\n\n\"I don't want you to do this if you feel uncomfortable, but would you be comfortable taking your mask off, so we can hear you more clearly?\" said Mr Giuliani, who was not wearing a face mask. The witness chose to keep her mask on after asking the panel if she could be heard.\n\nThe US has recorded more than 15 million cases so far and 285,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University research, which are both global highs. Many parts of the country are seeing peak infections, with record numbers of people in hospital.\n\nCorrection: an earlier version of this story wrongly stated that Regeneron made Remdesevir, a drug developed by Gilead.", "UK scientists are planning trials to see if giving people two different types of Covid vaccine, one after the other, might give better protection than two doses of one jab.\n\nThis mix-and-match approach can go ahead only if another jab is approved by regulators, as has already happened with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.\n\nThe head of the UK's vaccine task force said trial designs were being prepared.\n\nThe news comes as the NHS starts its Covid mass vaccination programme.\n\nA 90-year-old woman, Margaret Keenan, has become the first person to be given the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as part of the rollout across the UK.\n\nMs Keenan, who is originally from Enniskillen, said: \"I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19. It's the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year.\"\n\nThat vaccine, given as two doses a few weeks apart, offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness, according to data.\n\nAlthough that is a very impressive figure, experts want to explore whether the immune response can be strengthened further and made more durable with a mix-and-match \"heterologous boost\" approach.\n\nKate Bingham, who chairs the vaccine task force, said: \"It's an established process.\n\n\"It's not being done because of supplies.\"\n\nThere is another Covid jab that could soon be approved by regulators - the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.\n\nThis works in a slightly different way to the Pfizer jab which could make it a good companion for pairing, say scientists.\n\nThe Pfizer vaccine uses a small amount of genetic code from the pandemic virus to teach the body how to fight off an infection, while the Oxford one is a genetically modified virus that has been altered so it won't cause infection but does carry information on how to beat Covid.\n\nThe idea is to give people a shot of the Pfizer vaccine followed by a dose of the Oxford one a few weeks later or vice versa, rather than two doses of the same vaccine.\n\nThe hope is that it will make the immune system produce two responses strongly - antibodies and T-cells - to combat Covid.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Margaret Keenan was given the vaccine by May Parsons, at University Hospital in Coventry\n\nA UK grandmother has become the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.\n\nMargaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said the injection she received at 06:31 GMT was the \"best early birthday present\".\n\nIt was the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be dispensed in the coming weeks.\n\nUp to four million more are expected by the end of the month.\n\nHubs in the UK are starting the rollout by vaccinating the over-80s and some health and care staff.\n\nSenior NHS sources told the BBC \"thousands of vaccinations\" had taken place across the UK on Tuesday.\n\nDubbing the day \"V-day\", Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was \"a tribute to scientific endeavour and human ingenuity and to the hard work of so many people.\n\n\"Today marks the start of the fightback against our common enemy, the coronavirus,\" he said.\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson, on a visit to a London hospital to see some of the first people getting the jab, said getting vaccinated was \"good for you and good for the whole country\".\n\nScotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: \"Today we should all allow ourselves a smile - but we must not drop our guard.\"\n\nOn Tuesday, the UK government reported a further 616 people had died within 28 days of a positive test, taking the total, by that measure, to 62,033. A further 12,282 people tested positive for the virus.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How the vaccine rollout unfolded – and how a certain William Shakespeare was involved\n\nAt University Hospital, Coventry, matron May Parsons administered the very first injection to Ms Keenan.\n\n\"I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19,\" said Ms Keenan, who is originally from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.\n\n\"It's the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year, after being on my own for most of the year.\n\n\"My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it. If I can have it at 90, then you can have it too,\" she added.\n\nProf Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, who witnessed the \"historic moment\", said: \"We couldn't hug her but we could clap, and everybody did so in the room.\"\n\nAn emotional Sister Joanna Sloan said she had been looking forward to the vaccine for so long\n\nThroughout the day, patients and health workers at some 50 hospitals around the UK have been getting the jab:\n\nThe UK is the first country in the world to start using the Pfizer vaccine after regulators approved its use last week.\n\nOn Tuesday, US regulators confirmed the vaccine is 95% effective, paving the way for it to be approved for emergency use.\n\nThe Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has also been found to be \"safe and effective\", according to a paper published on Tuesday and assessed by independent scientists.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Matt Hancock says he is thrilled but warns that people must still stick to the rules\n\nSpeaking in the Commons, the health secretary stressed people did not need to apply for the vaccine. He said the NHS would be in touch with those eligible and urged them to \"please step forward for your country\".\n\nMr Hancock went on to warn that there was \"still a long march ahead\", saying there were \"worrying signs\" of the virus growing in Essex, London and Kent.\n\nNew data released by national statisticians for the week ending 27 November showed that of the 14,106 deaths registered in the UK, nearly 3,400 involved Covid. This is 20% higher than the five-year average but similar to the percentages seen in the past two weeks.\n\nNHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens called the first vaccinations \"remarkable achievement\", but cautioned it was a \"first step\" and \"incredibly important\" people continued to act sensibly.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson: 'It will gradually make a huge, huge difference... but we haven't defeated this virus yet\"\n\nOn a visit to London's Guy's Hospital, the prime minister spoke to 81-year-old Lyn Wheeler, who was the first to receive the vaccine there.\n\n\"It is really very moving to hear her say she is doing it for Britain, which is exactly right - she is protecting herself, but also helping to protect the entire country,\" Mr Johnson said.\n\nEarlier, he thanked the NHS, volunteers and \"all of the scientists who worked so hard to develop this vaccine\".\n\nLabour's shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said it was \"absolutely fabulous\" to see people getting the vaccine and thanked everyone involved in making it happen.\n\nSome 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been secured by the government to be administered in the coming weeks - although vaccination is not compulsory.\n\nOrders have been placed for 40 million in total - enough for 20 million people, as two courses are needed. However, most supplies are not expected to become available until next year.\n\nMr Hancock said he expected it to take \"several weeks\" to get the first group of health workers, care staff and over-80s vaccinated.\n\nThis is a momentous day, but make no mistake the NHS faces a huge task in rolling out this vaccine.\n\nFirst, there needs to be a smooth supply - and already there are reports of manufacturing problems, which means the UK is expecting less than half of the 10 million doses of the Pfizer jab it was planning for by the end of the year.\n\nThe fact it needs to be kept in ultra-cold storage and in batches of 975 units is an added complication that has meant it cannot yet be taken into care homes to vaccinate residents - the very highest priority group - or sent out to GPs to run vaccination clinics in the community.\n\nNHS bosses hope to receive guidance from the regulator next week on how to get around this.\n\nBut these factors illustrate why the UK is still pinning its hopes on a second vaccine developed by Oxford University.\n\nThat one can be kept in fridges and so is easier to distribute, is British-made and - what is more - there is an ever-growing stockpile ready to use.\n\nIf that vaccine gets the green light from regulators, there will be a genuine hope the first few months of 2021 will see rapid progress in offering jabs to the most vulnerable people, so the UK can return to something closer to normality.\n\nAre you receiving the Covid-19 vaccine today? Or do you have any questions? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "The European Medicines Agency (EMA) says it has been hit by a cyber-attack and documents relating to a Covid-19 vaccine have been accessed.\n\nBioNTech, which makes one of the vaccines in partnership with Pfizer, said its regulatory submission was accessed during the attack.\n\nThe EMA is working on approval of two Covid-19 vaccines, which it expects to conclude within weeks.\n\nThe cyber-attack was not expected to impact that timeline, BioNTech said.\n\nThe EMA did not provide any details on the nature of the cyber-attack in a brief statement on its website, beyond saying a full investigation had been launched.\n\nA spokesperson for the agency said it was still \"functional\".\n\nBut BioNTech, in a statement published on its website, said it had been told its documents had been accessed.\n\n\"Today, we were informed... that the agency has been subject to a cyber-attack and that some documents relating to the regulatory submission for Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, which has been stored on an EMA server, had been unlawfully accessed,\" it said.\n\n\"EMA has assured us that the cyber-attack will have no impact on the timeline for its review,\" it added.\n\nIt said it had made the details of the hack public \"given the critical public health considerations and the importance of transparency\".\n\nAnd it also said it was \"unaware\" of any personal data of participants in its medical studies being compromised.\n\nThe EMA authorises the use of medicines across the European Union.\n\nIt is trying to decide if the Pfizer/BioNTech jab - which has just begun being rolled out in the UK - and another made by Moderna are safe for use in EU countries.\n\nIt is not clear if the Moderna documents have also been accessed.\n\nThe cyber-attack is the latest in a string of attacks and warnings about hacking threats against vaccine-makers and public health bodies.\n\nThe use of cyber-attacks against bodies involved in the vaccine rollout has been a feature of recent months.\n\nSecurity services warned in the summer that Russian intelligence had been targeting organisations attempting to develop a successful vaccine.\n\nIn October, a pharmaceutical company based in India was the victim of a significant cyber-attack.\n\nAnd in recent days, IBM said the cold storage supply chain used to transport viable vaccines had come under cyber-attack - probably by a nation state.\n\nThe cyber-attack comes the day before the agency is due to update the European Parliament on the progress of the vaccine assessments.\n\nEuro-MPs on the Public Health Committee are due to quiz the agency's executive director \"on how close the most advanced vaccines are to receiving authorisation\" on Thursday.\n\nThe UK's National Cyber Security Centre, meanwhile, said there was no indication the cyber-attack would affect the rollout of the vaccine in the UK.\n\n\"We are working with international partners to understand the impact of this incident affecting the EU's medicine regulator, but there is currently no evidence to suggest that the UK's medicine regulator has been affected,\" it said.", "St Leonard's Tower is a well-preserved example of a small, free-standing Norman tower keep.\n\nA key which opened the doors of an 11th Century tower has been returned almost 50 years after it disappeared.\n\nThe brass key to St Leonard's Tower in West Malling, Kent, was sent along with an anonymous note to English Heritage.\n\nThe mystery sender, who said they \"borrowed\" the key in 1973 wrote: \"Sorry for the delay.\"\n\nEnglish Heritage properties curator Samantha Stone said the sender was not in trouble and hoped they would get back in touch to give more information.\n\n\"Sorry for the delay\", wrote the sender, after having the key for almost 50 years\n\nThe key - thought to have been made at some point in the 19th Century - still fits in the keyhole of the doors to the Norman tower keep, although it no longer rotates.\n\nVery little is known about the history of the building or its original purpose.\n\nSome believe the tower was once part of a castle, built by Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, while others say the builder was Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the half-brother of William the Conqueror.\n\nThe key fits in the lock, but no longer works as the locks were changed\n\nSpeaking to BBC's Today programme, Ms Stone said: \"There is no evidence of latrines or fireplaces, or anything that would suggest a domestic purpose, so its purpose has always been slightly mysterious.\n\n\"We assume it was for the administration of the bishop's manor.\n\n\"So the mystery of the key is very fitting in the wider history of the tower.\"\n\nShe said the sender had \"kept it safe all this time, which shows some care and dedication\" and English Heritage was \"very grateful\" and intrigued by the unusual story.\n\nShe urged the sender to get back in touch, saying she would like to offer them English Heritage membership.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "More than 127,000 people in the UK who contracted coronavirus have lost their lives - with the pandemic claiming more than 3.4 million deaths worldwide. As the UK marks a year since the first coronavirus lockdown was called, it's a time for reflection.\n\nWe have gathered tributes to more than 770 of those who have died. Below are words of remembrance from friends, family and colleagues.\n\nPlease enable JavaScript or upgrade your browser to see this interactive\n\nThe tributes are displayed at random, which means that you will see different faces each time you visit this page.\n\nIf we have used your tribute to your friend or family member, it will appear in the carousel above, or you can find it by entering their name in the search box below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. Enter a name to search the tributes\n\nFor more on NHS and healthcare workers, please see this page dedicated to 100 people who died while helping to look after others.\n\nFor more on how it has affected people's lives, from family tragedy to its impact on everyday life, we have a collection of personal stories about life in lockdown.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Louise Smith had moved in with her aunt who is married to Shane Mays\n\nA man has been jailed for life for murdering his teenage niece in woodland and violating and burning her body.\n\nLouise Smith, 16, was found dead at Havant Thicket, Hampshire, on 21 May - 13 days after she went missing.\n\nHer uncle Shane Mays, 30, was previously found guilty of murder by a jury at Winchester Crown Court.\n\nImposing a minimum term of 25 years, the judge, Mrs Justice May, said he had committed \"the most gross abuse of trust\".\n\nShane Mays was jailed for a minimum of 25 years\n\nLouise went to live with her aunt and Mays, who was her uncle through marriage, in late April after an argument with her mother.\n\nMays \"flirted\" with the \"anxious and vulnerable\" teenager, including by tickling her feet in a video found on her phone, his trial was told.\n\nThe defendant, who had admitted manslaughter, told the jury the teenager lured him to woods to \"bond\" with him.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nGiving evidence, Mays said he became enraged when she hit him with a stick during an argument over drugs.\n\nHe told the court he did not know how many times he punched her as she lay on the ground, only stopping when he heard her moaning.\n\nThe defendant, of Ringwood House, Leigh Park, said someone else must have later interfered with and burned her body.\n\nLouise's father Bradley Smith said he was \"tortured by nightmares\" while her mother Rebbecca Cooper described Mays as a \"monster\"\n\nLouise suffered \"repeated, heavy blows\" to the head but the cause of death could not be determined due to the fire, the jury was told.\n\nMays, who was assessed by a psychologist as having an extremely low IQ of 63, said he forgot what he had done until he was in prison on remand in June.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The last known footage of Louise Smith was shown in court\n\nIn a victim personal statement read out in court, Louise's mother Rebbecca Cooper said her \"strong-willed, happy, smiley\" daughter had \"the whole world to look forward to\".\n\nAddressing Mays, she said: \"You killed her in such a traumatic way and what you did afterwards is beyond words. You are a monster...\n\n\"You damaged her so bad that I didn't have a chance to say goodbye, hold her hand or even kiss her. I will never forgive you for this.\"\n\nA statement from the teenager's father, Bradley Smith, said he was \"tortured by nightmares\" and felt he might \"never recover\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nRejecting a whole life term for Mays, the judge said she could not be sure that the murder was \"sexually motivated\".\n\n\"Shane Mays was in a position of trust in relation to Louise; theirs was like a father-daughter relationship,\" she said.\n\n\"That being, he committed the most gross abuse of trust.\"\n\nShe added: \"Louise had all her life before her. Her death was bleak, dreadfully so... She was grotesquely and cruelly injured and her body defiled.\"\n\nDet Insp Adam Edwards, of Hampshire Constabulary, said: \"Mays has shown no remorse throughout this case, and has lied to police in a bid to deflect any blame for Louise's murder away from himself.\n\n\"I am pleased that the jury were able to see through these lies.\"\n\nHampshire Safeguarding Children Partnership said it was reviewing how authorities had cared for Louise, who had an allocated social worker.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Jessica Watkins is a member of the most recent astronaut class, selected for training in 2017\n\nNasa has announced 18 astronauts who will travel to the Moon under the agency's Artemis programme.\n\nThey include individuals who have already travelled to the International Space Station, as well as new recruits who have never flown in space.\n\nThe group includes the next man and first woman who will walk on the lunar surface in 2024.\n\nThe cadre of nine women and nine men were announced by US Vice-President Mike Pence at an event in Florida.\n\nHe said: \"My fellow Americans, I give you the heroes of the future who will carry us back to the Moon and beyond.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"The Moon will help teach us about deep space survival\"\n\nStephanie Wilson, who has flown into space three times aboard the space shuttle, Christina Koch, who holds the record for the longest continuous time in space for a woman, and Victor Glover, who recently launched to the ISS aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon, are among those who will fly to the Moon in coming years.\n\nJonny Kim is a doctor and a former Navy Seal. Now he'll be flying to the Moon as well\n\nSpeaking at the eighth National Space Council meeting at Kennedy Space Center, Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said: \"This is the first cadre of our Artemis astronauts. I want to be clear, there's going to be more.\"\n\nThe US space agency plans to send a man and woman to the Moon's south pole in 2024 for the first crewed landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Engineers test one of the RS-25 engines used by the SLS\n\nBut this will be followed by further flights by astronauts travelling in a spacecraft called Orion, which will be launched by a huge rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS).\n\nBridenstine has said that Nasa wants to establish a \"sustainable\" programme of lunar exploration, including the construction of a lunar base.\n\nAstronaut Kate Rubins has been to the space station twice, and is there now\n\nThe astronauts announced on Wednesday are:\n\nNine of the astronauts have already flown in space; eight are members of the most recent astronaut class - selected in 2017. One, Nicole Aunapu Mann, was selected in 2013, but has not yet flown on a mission.", "Helen Barker says she felt boxed in by the fraudsters\n\nAt a difficult time in her life, Helen Barker was desperate for a job - and fraudsters tried to take advantage.\n\nThe 29-year-old, who has since been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was looking for work in the care sector.\n\nShe sent off an application form and other details, only to be told that she had to pay for a DBS check - ensuring she had no criminal convictions - and training.\n\n\"They were asking for £250 for the training,\" she said. \"It all seemed above board and I thought it must be company policy.\n\n\"I felt boxed in and thought I had to do it to get a job.\"\n\nShe had already sent a copy of her passport, but was now being hassled for bank card details to pay.\n\n\"They were convincing, but I managed to step out of my desperation for a minute, and knew I should think about it first,\" she said.\n\nShe talked to people she trusted, realised it was a scam, and managed to avoid losing the money.\n\nSince then, she has secured a job managing volunteers, and is warning others that if anyone gets \"pushy\" in that kind of situation, the alarm bells should ring.\n\nOn top of that, she knows that her mental state at the time made her more vulnerable.\n\nPeople with mental health issues are three times more likely to fall victim to a scam, according to a report by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute.\n\nIts survey and research suggested that 23% of those with mental health problems had been duped by an online scam compared with 8% of the general population.\n\nThe institute wants more protection written into the forthcoming Online Harms Bill, with online technology companies required to do more to police and prevent harmful content.\n\nMartin Lewis, who founded the institute, said vulnerable people were \"easy prey\" for online criminals, particularly during the pandemic.\n\n\"The UK already faced an epidemic of scams, but now lockdown has accelerated it, especially online,\" he said.\n\n\"These vicious criminals are exploiting the fact that more people are stuck at home, spending more time online, and potentially struggling with their mental health - all of which increase the risk of falling victim to these schemes.\"\n\nThe fight against scams has also been hit by trading standards officers - the front line against fraudsters - being transferred from their normal duties to other coronavirus-related work, according to the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers.\n\nIt said officers had been moved to local authority work ensuring businesses were complying with restrictions, had been seconded as Covid marshals, or had been helping the distribution of food and supplies to people who had been shielding or were vulnerable.\n\n\"Rogue traders, scammers and those who sell dangerous products haven't stopped because of Covid-19, but the reality is that many trading standards officers are being pulled away from their usual work tackling criminal activity,\" said Steve Ruddy, who chairs the association.\n\n\"It is right that as a country we all pull together to combat this pandemic, but the danger of leaving some of society's most vulnerable people exposed to criminals is something that must be addressed.\"", "Epstein was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges when he was found dead in his cell last year\n\nA former associate of deceased US financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been placed under formal investigation and remanded in custody in France on suspicion of sex crimes.\n\nFrench modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel is accused of sexual harassment and the rape of minors aged between 15 and 18.\n\nEpstein died in a New York prison last year as he awaited trial over allegations he ran a network using underage girls for sex.\n\n\"This is what the victims have been waiting for for many years,\" said lawyer Anne-Claire Le Jeune, who is representing Mr Brunel's accusers.\n\nMr Brunel was detained at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday as he was preparing to board a flight to Senegal.\n\nHe co-founded French modelling agency Karin Models in 1977, and MC2 Model Management in the US with funding from Epstein.\n\nUS court documents allege that Mr Brunel procured girls for Epstein, flying them from France to the US and promising them modelling contracts.\n\nVirginia Giuffre, one of the main complainants in Epstein's prosecution, also claims to have been forced into sex with Mr Brunel.\n\nEpstein had an apartment on Paris's exclusive Avenue Foch, near the Arc de Triomphe\n\nHis arrest is the result of an inquiry by French prosecutors into rape and sexual assault allegations against Epstein, focusing on potential crimes committed against French victims and suspects who are French citizens.\n\nFrench police last year raided the offices of Karin Models and a flat near the Arc de Triomphe owned by Epstein.\n\nBefore his death, Epstein was charged in New York with sex trafficking and conspiracy and was awaiting trial.\n\nHe was already a convicted sex offender, having pleaded guilty to prostitution charges involving a minor in Florida in 2008.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ros Atkins has taken a look at the many remaining questions for Ghislaine Maxwell", "Lateral flow testing will be rolled out in secondary schools and colleges from January\n\nSchool staff feel \"broken\" by last minute demands for them to run testing schemes in secondary schools in England, a head teacher has said.\n\nNicola Mason, a Staffordshire school head, said she was staggered to hear, as the term ends, that heads have to set up testing for pupils next term.\n\nIt meant staff would be working through Christmas to get ready for January.\n\nBut Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the idea was to get pupils back safely when they returned to school.\n\nA joint statement from teachers' unions and the National Governance Association, representing school governors, says schools should not feel under pressure to carry out the testing, if it is not a realistic possibility in the time available.\n\nThe advice, also signed by the Association of Colleges and the Church of England education service, says the announcement of the programme has been \"chaotic and rushed\".\n\nIt also says the plan in its current form will be inoperable for most schools and colleges, and stresses that the Department for Education guidance refers to an \"offer\" of testing rather than a requirement for schools to test.\n\nGeneral secretary of the ASCL head teachers' union Geoff Barton said the scheme was \"undeliverable\" in the timescale set out.\n\n\"It is beyond belief that they were landed on school and college leaders in such a cack-handed manner,\" he said.\n\n\"It is not possible to recruit and train all the people needed to carry out tests, and put in place the processes that would be necessary, over the Christmas period.\"\n\nNational Association of Head Teachers general secretary Paul Whiteman said the government was \"in danger of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory once again\".\n\nThe plan involves using the first week of term to test pupils as they return gradually to classrooms in a staggered way.\n\nThose in exam years, Years 11 and 13, would return first for face-to-face teaching, while the rest would be taught online.\n\nMs Mason, head teacher at Chase Terrace Academy in Burntwood, said: \"The government at the very last minute again have literally broken the teachers.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Head teacher Simon Uttley: \"The rhetoric is very much Battle of Britain, the reality I'm afraid feels a bit more like Dad's Army.\"\n\nShe said local public health teams already had plans in place to phase tests in next term which were now not valid.\n\n\"Leaders are confused at best,\" she said. \"The guidance is way too late to plan effectively, there are still a number of things we don't know.\n\n\"We found out through BBC News, we weren't even told directly that this was being put into place. Frankly I am staggered.\"\n\nAnother head teacher, Simon Uttley, of Blessed Hugh Faringdon School in Reading, said he also first heard of government plans from the BBC News app.\n\n\"The rhetoric is very much Battle of Britain, the reality, I'm afraid, feels a bit more like Dad's Army,\" he said.\n\nBut the prime minister told reporters that in terms of \"social justice\" it was important to make sure as many children as possible were in school.\n\n\"Everybody in the country agrees this is a massive priority. If you listen to the Chief Medical Officer, for the health and well-being of young people, they have to receive their education,\" said Mr Johnson.\n\nHead teacher Ms Mason said already exhausted staff now had to use the Christmas holidays to plan for remote lessons, recruit volunteers, do safe-guarding checks, and organise the logistics of the testing and gain consent from parents.\n\nParent of two Ian Ahern from Sandymoor, Cheshire, said: \"What ridiculous timing!\n\n\"My two children are in Year 11 and 8. They have just finished for Christmas.\n\n\"My wife is a teacher and finishes school today. How are parents, teachers and staff supposed to organise this?\"\n\nHe added that as a school governor, he knew how hard schools have been working to organise for the next term.\n\nAnother parent, from Altrincham, Mark Simpson, said: \"It's ridiculously last minute to announce something like this on what for many schools in England is the last day of term, it seems nonsensical.\"\n\nThe late notice for the plan to test \"millions of pupils\" meant it was not going to work, he said.\n\nMr Gibb defended the plans, saying fuller guidance would be published next week filling in any gaps.\n\nHe said: \"This is a fast-moving pandemic, we have to take action at pace.\n\n\"We do have to take swift action, we've been testing these tests in schools over the last several weeks.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHe said the programme would be a national effort supported by the Ministry of Defence and that schools would have the costs of agency staff covered - but it was not clear whether these staff would be health professionals or supply teachers.\n\n\"It is very important that we are testing 5.5 million students twice, three days apart, to make sure we are breaking the transmission of the virus after the increased mixing over the Christmas holidays,\" he said.\n\n\"It's all about making sure we have more young people in the classroom over the spring and summer term as we go forward, and this is an amazing initiative to get these tests into schools.\"\n\nThe Department for Education guidance says schools would have to provide one to two members of staff and several volunteers (for example governors) to organise and run the testing.\n\nAgency staff may be used and schools would be reimbursed, but it is not clear if this means teaching staff or health care professionals.\n\nAnd armed forces personnel are to support the scheme directly by planning with schools and colleges.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nUS Vice-President Mike Pence has received the coronavirus vaccine live on TV, telling the audience and doctors: \"I didn't feel a thing.\"\n\nThe White House said the aim of the move was to \"promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and build confidence among the American people\".\n\nMr Pence's wife and Surgeon General Jerome Adams also received the jab at the televised White House event.\n\nOn Monday the US began rolling out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.\n\nThe first vaccine to be approved in the US, it offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19.\n\nThe first three million doses are being distributed to locations across the 50 US states.\n\nPresident-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, will receive the vaccine on Monday, a spokesperson told US media.\n\nAlso on Friday, a second vaccine, developed by Moderna, received emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration after it was endorsed by a panel of experts.\n\nAs Mr Pence was receiving his jab, Mr Trump incorrectly said on Twitter that the Moderna vaccine had been \"overwhelmingly approved\" with \"distribution to start immediately\". It is still awaiting final approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).\n\nMore than 310,000 people have died with coronavirus in the US, which has recorded more infections and fatalities than any other country. More than 17 million cases have been recorded in the country since the start of the pandemic.\n\nMr Pence, 61, received the first of two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab at 08:00 local time (13:00 GMT), along with his wife Karen and Dr Adams. He is the most senior US official to be vaccinated so far.\n\n\"We gather here today at the end of a historic week to affirm to the American people that hope is on the way,\" he told the crowd, after the number of newly recorded US coronavirus deaths surpassed 3,000 for the third day in a row.\n\n\"Karen and I were more than happy to step forward before this week was out to take this safe and effective coronavirus vaccine that we have secured and produced for the American people,\" he continued, calling it \"a truly inspiring day\".\n\nTop infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield were in the audience to observe the doctors from Walter Reed hospital perform the injections.\n\nBoth men elbow-bumped Mr Pence and his wife after their jabs. Mr Trump did not attend the event.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\n\"We want virtually everyone eligible to get this vaccine ultimately,\" Dr Fauci said in brief remarks. \"By the time we get to several months into this [coming] year we will have enough people protected that we can start thinking seriously about the return to normality.\"\n\nSpeaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the most senior Democrat in Congress, and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had also received the vaccine on Friday.\n\n\"As the vaccine is being distributed, we must all continue mask wearing, social distancing & other science-based steps to save lives & crush the virus,\" tweeted Mrs Pelosi, alongside pictures of herself getting the jab.\n\n\"Just received the safe, effective Covid vaccine following continuity-of-government protocols,\" tweeted Mr McConnell, sharing a photo of his vaccination card. \"Vaccines are how we beat this virus.\"\n\nEarlier this week, President Donald Trump reversed a plan for senior members of his administration to be among the first to receive the vaccine \"unless specifically necessary\".\n\nThe president, who contracted coronavirus in October and recovered after hospital treatment, said he was not scheduled to take the jab but looked forward to doing so \"at the appropriate time\".\n\nMany of his support base have doubts about the efficacy and safety of vaccines.\n\nPresident-elect Biden, who at 78 is in a high-risk group from Covid-19, has set a goal of administering 100 million vaccination shots in the first 100 days after he takes office on 20 January.", "Alex Rodda was killed in woodland in Cheshire\n\nA teenager who beat a schoolboy to death with a spanner has told a court he did not think his friends would accept him if he was gay.\n\nMatthew Mason, 19, admits killing 15-year-old Alex Rodda in woodland in Ashley, Cheshire, on 12 December last year but denies his murder.\n\nChester Crown Court has heard Mr Mason paid Alex £2,000 to stop him revealing their sexual relationship.\n\nHe said he asked his friends for money but did not tell them what it was for.\n\nMr Mason told the court he was \"embarrassed and worried\" and feared the friendship would end \"because they would not accept me for what happened\".\n\nAsked by prosecutor Ian Unsworth QC what he meant, he said: \"Because of what me and Alex had done together, like if I was to speak to someone about it they wouldn't understand why it had happened and they wouldn't accept me if I was gay or bisexual.\"\n\nMr Mason, of Ash Lane in Ollerton, admitted having sex with Alex but said he thought it was wrong, adding: \"For one, because he was a male and, secondly, his age.\"\n\nHe told the jury he did not hate Alex for blackmailing him but he thought he was \"being a bit of a bully\".\n\nThe court heard Mr Mason had searched the internet for phrases including \"what would happen if you kicked someone down the stairs\" and \"everyday poison\".\n\nHe told jurors he felt depressed and suicidal after his girlfriend broke up with him when Alex contacted her and told her about an explicit photo and video he had sent him.\n\nMr Mason told the court he worked at a plant hire firm, attended Reaseheath College and was rehearsing for the Young Farmers' Club's Christmas play.\n\nHe accepted he hit Alex at least 15 times on the head with the spanner after driving to remote woodland.\n\nHe said when he drove away from the scene he threw Alex's phone out of the car.\n\nThe jury was told before giving evidence he had not previously admitted disposing of the phone.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The Boeing 737 Max was grounded in March 2019 following two deadly crashes\n\nUS Senate investigators say that Boeing officials \"inappropriately coached\" test pilots during efforts to recertify the company's 737 Max aircraft.\n\nThe planes were grounded in March 2019 following two deadly crashes.\n\nInvestigators accused Boeing and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials of \"attempting to cover up important information\".\n\nBoeing said it was reviewing the findings and took them \"seriously\", while the FAA defended its conduct.\n\nThe FAA said the Senate Commerce Committee's report contained \"a number of unsubstantiated allegations\", and that its review of the 737 Max had been thorough. It said it was confident that safety issues with the aircraft had been addressed.\n\nThe crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia came within five months of each other and together killed 346 people. They have been attributed to flaws in automated flight software called MCAS, which prompted the planes to nosedive shortly after take-off.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Zipporah Kuria's father Joseph Waithaka was one of 157 people killed when a Boeing 737 Max crashed in March 2019\n\nA simulator test was conducted as part of the FAA's efforts to ensure that the aircraft could be made safe to fly again. The test was designed to see how quickly pilots could react to the faulty software.\n\nIn its report on Friday, the Senate committee said that based on \"corroborated whistleblower information and testimony during interviews of FAA staff\", it concluded that FAA and Boeing officials involved in the test had \"established a pre-determined outcome to reaffirm a long-held human factor assumption related to pilot reaction time\".\n\n\"Boeing officials inappropriately coached test pilots in the MCAS simulator testing contrary to testing protocol,\" it said. \"It appears, in this instance, FAA and Boeing were attempting to cover up important information that may have contributed to the 737 Max tragedies.\"\n\nThe report cited a whistleblower who claimed that Boeing officials prompted test pilots to use a particular control immediately before an exercise.\n\nIt comes after the FAA last month cleared Boeing's 737 Max plane to fly again. It said existing aircraft would need to be modified before going back into service, with changes to their design, while pilots would need retraining.\n\nThe FAA said the design changes it had required had \"eliminated what caused these particular accidents\".\n\nEarlier this month Brazil's Gol became the first airline to resume commercial flights with the Boeing 737 Max. American Airlines said it expected its first 737 Max flights in the US to resume on 29 December.", "Last updated on .From the section Watford\n\nWatford have sacked head coach Vladimir Ivic after four months in the role.\n\nThe Hornets, who have won nine of their 20 Championship games this season under Ivic, are fifth in the table, four points off second-placed Bournemouth and nine off leaders Norwich.\n\nThe 43-year-old signed a one-year deal in August, succeeding Nigel Pearson who was sacked shortly before the club were relegated from the Premier League.\n\nIt means Watford are looking for a fifth manager in just over a year.\n\nThe Serb's sacking came after his side were beaten 2-0 at mid-table Huddersfield Town on Saturday -just their second defeat in 11 games - a spell in which they have also had four draws.\n\nIvic rested club captain Troy Deeney for the match, despite scoring in Watford's last three games.\n\nDeeney was on the bench but Ivic said that he did not use him as a substitute, even when his side were losing, because of a \"discipline issue\".\n\nYet another managerial change at Vicarage Road\n\nWatford are now looking for their fifth main charge since the start of last season.\n\nJavi Gracia was replaced in September 2019 by former boss Quique Sanchez Flores.\n\nWith the club still at the bottom of the Premier League, Flores then lost his job after just two wins in 12 games after which Nigel Pearson took over in December.\n\nHe turned Watford's fortunes around and got them out of the relegation zone, as well as inflicting the first league defeat on eventual runaway champions Liverpool, 3-0 at Vicarage Road on 29 February, just before the Coronavirus lockdown.\n\nBut Pearson was sacked after losing 3-1 at West Ham with the club still three points above the drop with two games to go.\n\nUnder caretaker manager Hayden Mullins, the Hornets then lost their last two games, to be relegated back to the Championship after five seasons in the top flight.\n\nIn a short statement the club confirmed Ivic's departure and that of his coaching team.\n\n\"The Hornets thank Ivic and his staff for their efforts this season,\" the statement added. \"We wish them well for future success elsewhere.\"\n\nSince Watford's Italian owners the Pozzo family, who also own Udinese and Granada, took control of the club in June 2012 there have been 13 changes of manager.\n\nAmong the shortest tenures was Oscar Garcia's spell in September 2014 which lasted just 27 days after he stepped down due to ill health.\n\nHis replacement Billy McKinlay was in charge for just eight days and two games after a change of heart by the owners who installed Slavisa Jokanovic as his replacement.\n\nOnly two managers have lasted more than a year in the role under the Pozzo's - Gianfranco Zola was in charge from July 2012 until December 2013 while Javi Gracia, who led the Hornets to the 2019 FA Cup final, was at the helm from January 2018 to September last year.", "An Asian police officer is suing the Met Police for sexual harassment and discrimination after receiving \"hundreds\" of racist and sexist messages from a senior colleague.\n\nThe woman said she felt \"groomed and violated\" after Stephen Redgewell sent her sexual images over two years.\n\nDet Sgt Redgewell represented her through his role as deputy general secretary of the Met Police Federation.\n\nThe Met said it had \"zero tolerance\" for racist and sexist behaviour.\n\nMr Redgewell, now 54, resigned from the force in 2018 following separate reports that he had had sex with a \"dominatrix\" in the headquarters of the Met Police Federation.\n\nOn Wednesday, an independent panel set up by the Met Police found he had pursued an \"inappropriate relationship\" with the female officer he was supporting about a work issue between 2015 and 2017.\n\nThe Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said Redegewell behaved in a \"predatory manner\", following a three year investigation.\n\nThe Met said, had he not resigned, he would have been dismissed for gross misconduct.\n\nSome of the messages sent by Mr Redgewell\n\nBBC News has seen dozens of the 2,000 text messages sent between Mr Redgewell and the officer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, which were examined as part of the IOPC's investigation.\n\nThe messages were found to be sexual, anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic and sexist.\n\nMr Redgewell had repeatedly sent the officer highly-sexualised photos of the comic book characters Catwoman and Batman, including a mask and \"raunchy mug\" with her name on it.\n\nIn the exchanges, he described her as his \"Asian chippy bird\", a \"bossy Muslim woman\" and suggested she should leave her husband.\n\n\"I felt dirty, really dirty, like I literally had a lot of dirt on me,\" she told the BBC.\n\n\"I wanted to rip my skin out, it was disgusting. I felt so violated and degraded.\"\n\nMr Redgewell sent a fetishised picture of a woman dressed liked a baby to the officer\n\nThe officer, who has post-traumatic stress disorder owing to a separate event while on the job, said she had become so ill her weight had plummeted to an unhealthy size.\n\nMr Redgewell had been assisting her application for medical retirement as part of his role in the Met Police Federation, a staff association representing officers of senior rank.\n\nWhen she raised her ill health, he told her she had \"serious Stevie withdrawal symptoms\" and said she looked like an \"Asian babe drug addict\".\n\nOn one occasion, Mr Redgewell replied saying he should buy her nappies and sent a fetishised picture of a woman dressed like a baby.\n\nThe officer said in her police victim statement, seen by BBC News, that Mr Redgewell had used his high status in the police to \"groom me, manipulate me, use me and emotionally abuse me\".\n\n\"I always felt like I couldn't challenge him,\" she wrote. \"I felt trapped by him [and] imprisoned in this situation. He held a lot of power and…made sure I knew it.\"\n\nMr Redgewell sent the victim a mask and \"raunchy mug\" with her name on it\n\nThe woman, in her 30s, has since retired from the force and is taking legal action against the Met, including Mr Redgewell, over racial discrimination and sexual harassment.\n\nIn her victim impact statement and claim, she accuses the force of not taking the messages seriously at the time and believed his behaviour had been allowed to continue because of \"internal corruption, racism, and homophobic support\".\n\n\"[They] had very strong, photographic and electronic evidence yet they sat on it for two months, ignoring me, and refusing to contact me,\" she wrote in her complaint.\n\nShe had asked the police for safety measures to be put in place for her after Mr Redgewell had called her twice in the middle of the night, but says she was ignored.\n\n\"Throughout this whole process, I felt worthless,\" she wrote. \"It is no longer my shame or burden to carry, it is these people who facilitated this, it is for them to carry this.\"\n\nMr Redgewell repeatedly sent sexualised photos of the comic book characters Catwoman and Batman\n\nLawrence Davies, of Equal Justice Solicitors, representing the officer, said: \"Despite excellent work by the IOPC, former sergeant Redgewell was permitted to retire by the Met Police prior to the gross misconduct hearing despite abusing his office by his horrendous harassment of our very vulnerable female client.\"\n\nIOPC regional director for London Sal Naseem said Mr Redgewell had \"abused his position by behaving in a predatory manner\" and was now barred from the profession.\n\n\"This type of appalling behaviour corrodes the public's trust in policing and I have no doubt [it] will appal fellow officers, the wider policing community and members of the public,\" he said.\n\nCommander Paul Betts, of the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards, said the force had a \"zero tolerance policy for any behaviour that is racist, sexist or homophobic\".\n\nThe Met Police said it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings and was awaiting a date for the final employment tribunal hearing.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the changes to restrictions in the wake of a new faster-spreading variant of Covid\n\nCovid restrictions will only be relaxed on Christmas Day and mainland Scotland will then be placed under the tightest restrictions from Boxing Day.\n\nFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon said \"firm preventative action\" was needed after the emergence of a faster-spreading strain of coronavirus.\n\nIt had been planned to ease the rules between 23 and 27 December - but that will now only apply on Christmas Day.\n\nA ban on travel to the rest of the UK will apply over the festive period.\n\nScotland's toughest level four rules will come into effect across mainland Scotland from 26 December.\n\nUntil then, local authority areas are expected to remain under their current level of restrictions.\n\nSchools will return later than originally planned after the Christmas holidays.\n\nMs Sturgeon said they should resume from 11 January, with learning taking place online until at least 18 January.\n\nThe level four restrictions - which mean the closure of non-essential shops, pubs, restaurants and gyms - will last for three weeks.\n\nThey will apply across Scotland, with the exception of Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and other island communities where restrictions have recently been reduced. These areas will be placed in level three.\n\nThe first minister said decisive action was required because of a new strain of Covid which public health officials believe could be 70% more transmissible than previous strains.\n\nAt this stage she said there was no evidence to suggest the new strain made people sicker than earlier variants, or that it would change the effectiveness of the vaccine.\n\nThe new variant was first seen in mid-September in London and Kent - but by December it had become the \"dominant variant\" in London.\n\nGovernment advisers believe the new variant could increase the R number - or reproductive rate of the virus - by 0.4 or more.\n\nMs Sturgeon said the speed at which it could spread meant this was \"probably the most serious and potentially dangerous juncture we have faced\" in the pandemic. But, she said Scotland still had the opportunity to act on a preventative basis.\n\nSo far 17 cases of the new strain had been identified in Scotland through genomic sequencing.\n\n\"We do not yet know how widely this new strain of virus is circulating in Scotland, but I think we have to be realistic that that is likely to be an understatement of its true prevalence right now,\" she added.\n\nThere was a \"concern\", however, that this strain may be driving what appears to be faster transmission of Covid in some hospitals and care homes.\n\nCovid figures published at 14:00 on Saturday showed Scotland had recorded 41 new deaths and 572 positive tests over the previous 24 hours.\n\nThe first minister said Scotland's case numbers did not look as bad as those elsewhere in the UK, and that she understood why people might not understand that these steps were necessary.\n\nBut she said the new strain of the virus could very quickly \"overwhelm us\".\n\n\"Please believe me when I tell you... I would not be standing here on the Saturday before Christmas announcing this if I did not think this was necessary,\" Ms Sturgeon added.\n\nScotland has the lowest case rate in the UK, with 112.6 cases per 100,000 of the population.\n\nThis compares with 571.7 in Wales, 219.6 in England and 174.9 in Northern Ireland.\n\nRestrictions have also been tightened up over the Christmas period in England and Wales.\n\nThe planned relaxation of the rules has been scrapped for large parts of south-east England, and cut to just Christmas Day for the rest of England and Wales. A fourth tier has also been created for some of the worst affected areas in England.\n\nThe first minister said maintaining a \"strict travel ban\" would prevent more of the new strain entering Scotland from other parts of the UK, and reduce the risk of it spreading further within Scotland.\n\nThis ban will remain in place throughout the festive period, meaning that cross-border travel will only be allowed for essential purposes.\n\nMs Sturgeon said she would be asking the police to consider how the enforcement of the ban could be strengthened.\n\nIndoor mixing will be allowed on Christmas Day only. A maximum of eight people from three households will be allowed in law but the advice is to keep numbers to a minimum, celebrate in your own home, and meet others outdoors.\n\nBut Ms Sturgeon said: \"If you can't make it there and back in the same day, please don't go - and we're asking you not even to do that unless you feel there is genuinely no alternative.\"\n\nPolice Scotland said they would not be routinely stopping vehicles or setting up road blocks.\n\n\"However, officers may in the course of their duties come across people who are travelling from one local authority area to another,\" said Assistant Chief Constable Alan Speirs.\n\n\"Where travel restrictions apply, officers will continue to use the common sense, discretion and excellent judgement that they have applied since the crisis began.\"\n\nScottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said families would be \"devastated\", but that he understood why the restrictions were necessary.\n\n\"None of us want this, but these sacrifices will save lives,\" he said.\n\nScottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said the Scottish government needed to publish \"persuasive evidence\" to avert a \"heightened risk of non-compliance\".\n\nThe Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens both backed the moves, while calling for schools to close early for Christmas.", "Sony has pulled Cyberpunk 2077, one of the year's most-anticipated games, from its store and offered refunds to all players.\n\nThe unprecedented move follows complaints that the game has been riddled with bugs and glitches, and is prone to crashes.\n\nMicrosoft later said it would also refund any dissatisfied Xbox players.\n\nDeveloper CD Projekt Red has promised to issue patches to improve the game for those who do not return it.\n\nIt’s unclear when Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) plans to return the game to the PlayStation Store.\n\n“SIE strives to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction, therefore we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased Cyberpunk 2077 via PlayStation Store,” the company said.\n\nA Microsoft spokesperson said Xbox players would also get refunds - but is not pulling the game from sale.\n\n\"We know the developers at CD Projekt Red have worked hard to ship Cyberpunk in extremely challenging circumstances,\" a spokesperson said.\n\n\"However, we also realise that some players have been unhappy with the current experience on older consoles.\"\n\nTo rectify the situation it said it was issuing refunds to customers who have already requested one and would be expanding refunds to \"anyone who purchased Cyberpunk 2077 digitally from the Microsoft Store, until further notice\".\n\nTo request an Xbox refund, users needed to follow the steps listed on the Xbox refund page .\n\nSome Sony users reported being unable to request the refund, even after the announcement - something Sony said it was working \"to get up and running as soon as possible\".\n\nIt can still be bought on PCs - and gamers who do not want be reimbursed for their copies can still play the game and receive updates.\n\nIn Cyberpunk 2077, players live in a criminal world where they can pay to upgrade their bodies with technology.\n\nThe action role-playing game was originally \"announced\" in 2012, but then re-announced in 2018 and then showcased with huge fanfare - and an appearance by Keanu Reeves - in June 2019.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe game reviewed well, with critics praising its gameplay and visuals - despite many visual glitches and bugs, which are common in large open-world games and often patched after launch day.\n\nBut on release it became clear that versions of the game for older consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One ran poorly, with hitching, visual quality drops and slowdown that many players said made the game unplayable.\n\nThose with the newest versions of consoles, or a high-end gaming PC, have not experienced the same level of issues.\n\nCD Projekt Red, which traditionally has focused on the PC market, had already acknowledged it \"should have paid more attention to making it play better\" on those consoles.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Cyberpunk 2077 This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe company says it will release patches to solve the problems in January and February.\n\n“They won’t make the game on last-gen look like it’s running on a high-spec PC or next-gen console, but it will be closer to that experience than it is now,” the company said in a statement on its website.\n\nIt also encouraged users to use refund systems on the Sony and Xbox stores if they were unhappy.\n\nHowever, PlayStation's policy is to usually not offer refunds if the game has been downloaded and played, \"unless the content is faulty\".\n\nThat led to much confusion among players seeking refunds as directed by CD Projekt Red, who were refused such refunds by Sony.\n\nIt is not clear if the removal of the game from the PlayStation store means that Sony has decided the game is \"faulty\" under its rules.\n\nHours after PlayStation's announcement that it was pulling Cyberpunk 2077 from sale, CD Projekt Red said the game was \"temporarily\" suspended \"following our discussion with PlayStation\".\n\nIt said the game would \"return as soon as possible\" - but gave no date.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Cyberpunk 2077 This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nXbox users also reported trouble with refunds, with many saying refund requests have been refused, despite an apparently flexible refund policy.\n\nMicrosoft says that while it considers all sales final, \"we understand there may be extenuating circumstances\" and it considers several factors for refund requests.\n\nBut the firm announced it was expanding its refund to cover all digital sales of Cyberpunk 2077 about half a day after Sony.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nCD Projekt Red also came under fire from fans when it announced staff would have to work overtime to finish the game - a process known in the industry as \"crunch\".\n\nIt had previously promised not to impose that kind of demand on its staff.\n• None Cyberpunk 2077: The story behind the video game. Video, 00:08:30Cyberpunk 2077: The story behind the video game", "The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said it was \"the moment of truth\" for the talks\n\nThere will be no post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and EU unless there is a \"substantial shift\" from Brussels in the coming days, a government source has told the BBC.\n\nIt is understood there is likely to be a decision before Christmas on whether or not a deal can be reached.\n\nThe two sides have been in negotiations about how many years it will take to phase in new fisheries arrangements.\n\nThe EU's Michel Barnier said any deal must be \"balanced and reciprocal\".\n\nThe talks are expected to continue on Monday, a UK government source has said.\n\nWriting on Twitter on Sunday, Mr Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, said the talks were at a \"crucial moment\" and the two sides were working \"hard\" to try to narrow their differences.\n\n\"We respect the sovereignty of the UK and we expect the same. Both the EU and Britain must have the right to set their own laws and control their own waters. And we should both be able to act when our interests are at stake.\"\n\nWhitehall sources say it is increasingly likely the UK will end its post-Brexit transition period without a free trade agreement with the EU, meaning that on 1 January the two sides will rely on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules to govern exports and imports.\n\nThis could see tariffs introduced on goods being sold and bought - which may lead to increased prices for certain products.\n\nA government source told the BBC the EU was \"still struggling to get the flexibility needed from member states\" to make a deal possible.\n\n\"We need to get any deal right and based on terms which respect what the British people voted for.\n\n\"We're continuing to try every possible path to an agreement, but without a substantial shift from the [European] Commission we will be leaving on WTO terms on 31 December.\"\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said an agreement was in both sides' interests \"given all the problems that are going on on the continent as well as here\" with Covid, but the EU needed to give ground.\n\n\"I hope the EU moves on its unreasonable demands, that I don't think anybody could reasonably accept, and then we can get a trade deal,\" he told the BBC's Andrew Marr.\n\n\"But we are ready, whatever's necessary.\"\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to keep talking, but warned gaps had yet to be bridged.\n\nSenior MEPs in the European Parliament have said they will not be \"rushed\" into signing off a deal on their side and want to see the text of any agreement by Sunday if they are to approve it by the end of the year.\n\nA senior EU source told the BBC's Brussels correspondent Nick Beake: \"The Member States are the EU. And as a former member state, the UK knows well that the EU negotiator is there to protect the interest of Europeans.\n\n\"We believe it is in both sides' interest to reach a fair deal, which cannot be the case without a level playing field and sustainable arrangements for fisheries.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michel Barnier says negotiations have \"just a few hours\"\n\nThe two sides have been at odds over the length of time it will take to introduce new arrangements once the UK leaves the bloc's Common Fisheries Policy.\n\nThe UK, led by its chief negotiator, David Frost, has insisted its sovereign rights over its waters must be respected from day one and its fleets must be able to keep a much larger share of their own catch.\n\nThe EU is insisting on a much longer transition period, with guarantees on access and how catches are distributed.\n\nThe two sides are reported to have made progress in recent days on the issues of fair competition and what to do if the UK is deemed to get an unfair competitive advantage by moving away from EU rules and standards.\n\nIf a deal is reached between the two sides, it would need to be agreed by parliaments in the UK and the European Union's member states.\n\nUK MPs have now finished for the Christmas break, but Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Thursday that they could be called back to ratify a deal in the coming days, were one to be agreed.", "Last updated on .From the section Darts\n\nDeta Hedman's PDC World Darts Championship debut ended in a 3-1 defeat by Andy Boulton in the first round.\n\nHedman, 61, started nervously and missed six darts to win the opening leg before Boulton, 47, took control of the first set.\n\nBoulton then won the second set but a resurgent Hedman took the third.\n\nIt set up for a tense fourth set but Boulton was back to his ruthless best, as Hedman's challenge faded.\n\nHedman, who has won 215 titles, is the first black woman to compete at the tournament and qualified at the expense of Fallon Sherrock.\n\nWorld number one Michael van Gerwen of the Netherlands beat Scotland's Ryan Murray 3-1 in the last contest of the day, as Australia's Damon Heta lost to 3-2 American Daniel Baggish in the other late match.\n\nIn Saturday's earlier ties, Ireland's Steve Lennon beat Daniel Larrson of Sweden 3-1 and England's Scott Waites beat Canada's Matthew Campbell 3-2, while there were also wins for England's Mervyn King and Belgium's Kim Huybrechts.\n• None Hedman's story: From a Jamaican childhood to becoming a British darts star\n\nFind out how to get into darts with our special guide.", "Jane Griffiths and her family have been hit hard by the pandemic\n\nA mother says one of her children has been asking if he is going to die, as a survey shows almost half of children are struggling with anxiety.\n\nJane Griffiths, 47, said her four children had all been affected by the stress of the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nIt comes as research for a children's charity showed more than half of children believe their parents are worried about making Christmas nice.\n\nMore than a third were worried about getting Covid-19 and dying.\n\nOf the 1,000 children asked, 47% said they were experiencing anxiety.\n\nMs Griffiths, from Connah's Quay in Flintshire, said her children's stress increased after her husband Deion lost his job at the local paper mill and money became tight.\n\n\"My husband was laid off and we weren't entitled to furlough because he was with an agency,\" she said.\n\n\"It has been difficult... you have to cut back and not take the children to as many places.\n\n\"They know they won't get the same [for Christmas].\n\n\"Christmas is all about family anyway. That's the main thing.\"\n\nBrigitte Gater, director of Action for Children Wales which conducted the research with YouGov, said the pandemic has plunged new families into poverty.\n\n\"Where children were used to seeing their parents going to work, that new wave of parents are spending their first Christmas on Universal Credit and really struggling with making ends meet,\" she said.\n\n\"Making sure that there's toys, presents, Christmas is going to be ok, at the same time as utilities, rent having to be paid, so there's a lot of anxiety about eviction and borrowing money over this time, just to make it a nice time for children.\n\n\"Some of the parents we surveyed said that if they could, they would cancel Christmas this year.\"\n\nFather Dominic Cawdell runs a weekly food club which also helps buy Christmas presents for children\n\nFather Dominic Cawdell, of St Peter's Church in Holywell, runs a weekly food club where people can buy up to 15 items for £2 and helps find Christmas presents for children.\n\nHe said people were \"anxious about getting sick, they're anxious about their children getting sick, they're anxious about their finances because many people who only work occasionally or whose work isn't particularly secure haven't been able to take advantage of government schemes\".\n\n\"Children are amazingly perceptive and they pick up on their parents' anxieties... it's even bigger for them, they don't understand it, they just know their whole world has changed,\" he added.\n\nAnita Igbinoba lost her job in a holiday camp as a result of the pandemic\n\nOne of the food club customers, Anita Igbinoba who has two young daughters, said there was a lot of worry in her household after her job in a holiday camp ended.\n\n\"Panicking, pressure, children asking... I can't get them as much, they feel the anxiety and the pressure of it. It is upsetting really,\" she said.\n\n\"When they're handwashing, sanitising, it's become a big control thing.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The UK's R - or reproduction - number is now estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.2, meaning the coronavirus epidemic is growing once again.\n\nCovid-19 cases have risen to an estimated 660,000 infections across the UK between 6-12 December.\n\nIn England, the rise was driven by sharp increases in London, plus rises in the South East and East Midlands.\n\nBut the proportion of people testing positive in the North West and Yorkshire has continued to fall.\n\nRoughly one in every 95 people had the virus across Britain last week.\n\nThe previous week's figures suggested about 560,000 people had the virus across the UK - one in 115 people in England, one in 120 in Scotland, one in 175 in Wales and one in 235 in Northern Ireland.\n\nSo weekly cases have gone up by about a fifth.\n\nCovid cases are broadly stable in Northern Ireland with about one in every 215 people testing positive, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates.\n\nThe R number tells you how fast the epidemic is growing or shrinking.\n\nAnything above one - indicating that each infection leads to more than one extra infection - means the epidemic is growing.\n\nProf Neil Ferguson, the influential epidemiologist from Imperial College London, told Radio 4's the World at One any future lockdown may have to be tougher than the one seen in England in November.\n\nHe said he was \"more concerned about what we're going to be facing in early January than I am over the Christmas period itself.\n\n\"We're facing very rapid increases in case numbers over time and we have very little headroom - we've heard reports today that local hospitals that really are at their limits at the moment - as is typically the case in winter. So we just won't be able to allow case numbers to rise much further.\"\n\nIn England, there were increases in people testing positive in all age groups apart from 17-24-year-olds and 50-69-year-olds.\n\nThe figures suggest infections maybe levelling off in teenagers and young adults.\n\nThe highest proportions of Covid cases are now found in London and the East Midlands, followed by the North East and North West of England.\n\nAcross the UK, restrictions are about to be loosened over the Christmas period.\n\nProf Linda Bauld, Professor of Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, said this policy, \"increasingly looks like the wrong decision at the wrong time.\n\n\"By allowing travel around the UK and changing guidance to allow household mixing indoors we are setting ourselves up for a miserable January with tough restrictions.\"\n\nWales and Northern Ireland have already announced new lockdowns to come into force immediately after this period of relaxation.\n\nSimilar arrangements for England and Scotland have not been announced, but they also haven't been ruled out.\n• None What is happening to the UK's R number?", "East Cornwall Search and Rescue rescued a trapped driver and helped people evacuate their homes\n\nFire crews were pumping water out of houses through the night after flooding forced people to evacuate their homes.\n\nSeveral people in Lostwithiel, Cornwall, had to spend the night in a community centre, while 18 people had to abandon their caravans at Notter Bridge, near Saltash.\n\nThe fire service called in \"water rescue units\" from Devon after 35mm (1.4 in) of rain fell in just 24 hours.\n\nThe flood risk is reducing over the weekend.\n\nSaltash Community Fire Station said both of its pumps were sent to two separate incidents on Friday, with both appliances pumping water until 04:00 GMT on Saturday.\n\nWater levels in Cornwall have been close to breaching flood defences\n\nEast Cornwall Search and Rescue were sent out near Golitha Falls at 19:00 GMT on Friday after reports of a driver trapped by floodwater.\n\nThey also helped evacuate residents in Lostwithiel and Notter Bridge.\n\n\"Fortunately there were no injuries reported, but there is still a lot of floodwater around this morning so please take extra care especially if you are on the roads,\" it added.\n\nEnvironment Agency workers have been trying to clear rivers and screens through the night\n\nEnvironment Agency teams are clearing screens to keep rivers flowing and local Coastguard Rescue Teams have also been involved in the overnight operations.\n\n\"At about 06:30 we were called to a property at the end of Lostwithiel which was flooding,\" said firefighter Steve Strauss.\n\n\"Two people were taken out of there with two dogs, and we've now been pumping out ever since,\" he added.\n\n\"We are short of field operatives tonight to help keep the screens clear and rivers flowing,\" said Nick Ely, from the Environment Agency.\n\n\"I'm not needed at the moment in my normal duty role, so I'm out with the team tonight helping and just cleared a tree trunk,\" he added.\n\nFirefighters have been pumping water out of homes\n\nAreas hit by downpours on Friday are set to face lighter rain over the weekend, with the flood risk reduced.\n\nThe Met Office said this band of wet weather would gradually make way for sunshine and lighter showers across the whole nation throughout the weekend.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Bailey has become the oldest ever winner, while Mabuse is the first pro to win in two consecutive years\n\nStrictly Come Dancing 2020 concluded on Saturday after a shorter but largely successful series amid the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nBill Bailey fended off competition from HRVY, Maisie Smith and Jamie Laing to be crowned this year's winner with his partner Oti Mabuse.\n\nAged 55, he has taken the title of the oldest Strictly winner from Joe McFadden, who won in 2017 aged 42. Mabuse also becomes the first professional to triumph two years in a row.\n\nThe final featured music from Robbie Williams and a group performance from the show's professional dancers.\n\nIt has been an eventful and unusual series. Here are seven of the most memorable moments:\n\nAnton had to be dragged kicking and screaming on to the judging panel\n\n\"After much persuasion, Anton has reluctantly agreed to step in,\" joked Claudia Winkleman when Motsi Mabuse had to take two weeks off from judging to self-isolate.\n\nIt's no secret that Anton is keen to join the Strictly panel after clocking up more than 15 years as one of the show's pro dancers, but so far he hasn't made the leap.\n\nThat finally changed this year and many viewers were surprised that he was actually rather good, if a little generous with his scores.\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by BBC Strictly Come Dancing This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. End of youtube video by BBC Strictly Come Dancing\n\nBill and Oti's dance to Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang was the biggest viral moment of this series by some distance - it was the only routine to cross the million mark on YouTube, with several million more watching it on Twitter.\n\nIt's easy to see why - Bailey could easily have fallen into the trap of embarrassing dad dancing, but instead he fully committed to a routine which packed in lots of content and detail. He even found time to rap along with the lyrics at one point. His dancing wasn't perfect, but it didn't matter. This was a turning point for both him and the series.\n\n\"All three members of the actual Sugarhill Gang sent me a personal video message of congratulations, and thanks for using their song,\" Bailey wrote in The Telegraph afterwards. \"I am still a little dazed by it all to be honest, but in a good way. I've even become a Gif.\"\n\nThe year is 2039. Coronavirus is long eradicated. Humans travel by hovercraft. All parcels are delivered by drones. And Jamie and Karen have survived another week in Strictly's bottom two.\n\nLast week's semi-final saw Ranvir Singh eliminated despite never previously being in the dance-off, much to the bafflement of viewers who had also just put Jamie there for the fourth time.\n\nThis marked the first time in Strictly history a couple had survived the dance-off four times, overtaking even Mike Bushell last year, who was eliminated on his fourth bottom two appearance.\n\n\"I know a lot of people think dance-offs are really bad, but for us they've been one of the best things ever,\" Karen said earlier this week, \"because during a dance-off [Jamie] completely just goes for it, and I've never seen that ever before. Usually people get scared in a dance-off but for us, it was like, 'Come on, let's bring it, we deserve to be here.'\"\n\nThe Wanted's Max George may not have lasted long in the competition, but this Simpsons routine from Movie Week will last long in the memories of Strictly viewers, for better or worse.\n\nWe loved it, lots of people hated it, but either way, full marks for creativity.\n\nThe blaze of publicity surrounding the first same-sex couple on Strictly was swiftly extinguished after Nicola Adams wound up in the bottom two early in the series, and then had to drop out entirely.\n\nHer partner, Katya Jones, tested positive for Covid-19, which meant both she and Nicola had to go into self-isolation for two weeks, making their continued participation in the show unviable.\n\nBut fortunately that was the only coronavirus casualty of the series, with HRVY just managing to return in time for the show's launch after testing positive during rehearsals.\n\nThe Strictly team overbooked this series to allow for a few celebrities to pull out due to Covid, but as only one has, we were left with an unusual (although not unprecedented) four-way final.\n\nAway from the competitive dancing, there were plenty of notable group and guest performances this year.\n\nThe group dances were all filmed in advance so the professionals could knock them all off in one go while isolating together in a hotel. Plus, we had guest performances on the results shows from The Vamps, Gary Barlow and the cast of & Juliet.\n\nBut the BBC received more than 150 complaints after pro dancers Gorka, Johannes and Giovanni appeared in drag during a Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert routine in Musicals week.\n\nIt's actually not the first time the show has dabbled in drag. Although, to be fair, Craig Revel Horwood's drag performance in last year's series was so impressive and convincing we bet a lot of viewers didn't even realise it was him.\n\nSocial distancing meant the contestants couldn't all cuddle up with Claudia as usual, so the upstairs area's informal name changed from the already brilliant Clauditorium to the possibly-even-better Chatterpillar.\n\nOther changes this year included the dramatically increased use of CGI. From Bill kneeling in front of a huge digital elephant to Clara Amfo dancing on a gigantic virtual record player, it added a new dimension to the dancing, although not all viewers were keen on it.\n\nAnd finally, this was the year that street dancing really reigned supreme. Having only been introduced in 2018, it's basically become the default option for Couple's Choice. That has sparked disapproval from traditional ballroom fans, but we're totally here for it.\n\nEarlier this week, the four finalists spoke to BBC News and other outlets about their experiences on this year's show.\n\nOne of the most noticeable things for HRVY is how much the experience has aged him. \"It's a really weird thing, I'm doing what my dad and granddad do now, which I really hate: every time I get up and down I make noises, it's just because my body and my knees are in agony,\" he says.\n\nHRVY says he hopes he has inspired other young people to take up dancing\n\nDespite his aching muscles, the 21-year-old's participation in the series has prompted interest in dancing from younger viewers. \"I've had so many comments and DMs from younger people who have watched the show saying they want to dance. And not just cool street dancing, the Latin stuff, the salsa and the cha-cha, that whole generation of dance is coming back round again. So hopefully we can inspire younger people to dance because we have so much fun.\"\n\nWhile HRVY might have inspired other young people to take up dancing, another contestant has the other end of the spectrum taken care of.\n\n\"Blokes sometimes feel a bit self conscious, particularly blokes of my age, they feel like they're going to be called the dad dancer,\" Bill Bailey says. \"And I think if me showing I can get out there and look a little bit more than somebody shuffling about, then why not?\" On the subject of encouraging older people to try dancing, he adds: \"If that is the consequence of me being on the show then that's wonderful.\"\n\nHis partner Oti Mabuse revealed: \"I had a conversation with Rob Brydon, and he said he's always watched Strictly, and he always sees the older gentleman being a comedic act. But for the first time, when he saw Bill, he thought, 'Oh my goodness, when I watch Strictly, there's a possibility I can go far.' It's just a different take, because he's a respected man and is a respectable character in English society if he ever came on to Strictly he would be taken seriously.\"\n\nSmith said being in the bottom two gave her and her partner Gorka Marquez extra motivation\n\nJamie Laing has made it to the finale in spite of struggling any time he hasn't had Karen Hauer by his side. \"If I'm by myself on the dancefloor, that is a no-no, I have to be connected with Karen most of the time, because if I'm by myself doing a solo dance, that is when things go wrong,\" he laughs.\n\nLaing has landed in the dance-off several times, as has fellow finalist Maisie Smith. But, she says, that has only served to motivate her. \"Being in the bottom two, it kind of made me realise how much this meant to me, and it did give me a massive push to just keep working as hard as I can,\" she says. \"And I think that was the turning point for me that made me just think, 'I've got to put my all into this,' and I think it's been paying off ever since.\"\n\nThe dances and songs in Saturday's final were:", "From Boxing Day the whole of mainland Scotland will be in the country's toughest tier of restrictions for at least three weeks. So what can you do - and not do - in level four?\n\nIf you want to delve deeper into the Scottish government's level four rules, click here.", "Three quarters of employers want large firms to be forced to release data on the pay gap between staff of different ethnicities, a leaked report shows.\n\nThe findings, seen by the BBC, came from a consultation exercise on ethnicity pay gap reporting launched by Theresa May in October 2018.\n\nThe then PM promised to \"help employers identify the actions needed to create a fairer and more diverse workforce\".\n\nBut two years later, the government has yet to respond.\n\nLabour has urged Boris Johnson to \"get on with it\", as it was clear the business community and unions backed the policy.\n\nThe Business Department said it would respond to the consultation in due course.\n\nThe document obtained by the BBC shows there were 321 responses to the consultation, including from 93 private sector employers, 42 public sector employers and 67 business organisations.\n\nOf these groups, 73% supported compulsory ethnicity pay gap reporting for organisations with more than 250 staff.\n\nA similar requirement is already in place for reporting of firms' gender pay gap, although it has been lifted this year because of coronavirus.\n\nA petition calling for the introduction of the policy gained more than 130,000 signatures earlier this year - meaning the issue should be debated in Parliament.\n\nResponding to the petition in July, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it was still analysing the consultation and promised to respond by the end of the year at the latest.\n\nIt highlighted what it called \"genuine difficulties in designing a methodology that produces accurate figures, that allows for interpretation and action from employers, employees and the wider public\".\n\nA spokesperson for the department said: \"We are working closely with businesses to consider what steps can be taken to build more inclusive workplaces.\"\n\nOfficial guidance to departments carrying out consultations says the government should respond within 12 weeks of the consultation or provide an explanation for why this is not possible.\n\nShadow women and equalities secretary Marsha De Cordova said: \"Labour has long been calling for the introduction of mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting.\n\n\"The business community and trades unions are all calling for it. It is time the government get on with it as they are the only one behind the curve on this.\"\n\nThe consultation summary document seen by the BBC said respondents had mixed views on whether pay gap reporting should be between white and all black, Asian and ethnic minority staff, or a breakdown of ethnic groups.\n\nA number of businesses already voluntarily publish their data - including professional services firm Deloitte, whose latest figures show a 14.5% mean gap.\n\nConsultant Nadine Dyer, the chair of Deloitte's Multicultural Network, is working with leaders at the company to reduce inequality.\n\n\"As a black woman, it's not fair that I could be sitting next to someone in the office and they're earning more than me just because of the colour of my skin,\" she said.\n\n\"If you really think about it, it can be heartbreaking. I use that to drive me forward.\"\n\nIn October, 30 business leaders wrote to Boris Johnson calling for the mandatory duty to be introduced - saying \"we don't see it as a burden\".\n\nCBI president Lord Karan Bilimoria told the BBC the move \"makes business sense and it's the right thing to do\".\n\n\"What gets measured gets done,\" he said. \"Our members want to disclose their ethnicity pay gap because they know this is such an important issue\n\n\"If they address this issue, they will have companies that are more diverse, more inclusive, more profitable, more innovative.\"\n\nA major review of race in the workplace in 2017, led by Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, recommended that employers with more than 50 staff should be subject to the legal disclosure requirement.", "Ministers have met to discuss how to contain the rising number of coronavirus infections in England.\n\nIt comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was \"hoping to avoid\" another national lockdown in England.\n\nFormer Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the government needed \"to respond to what is happening on the ground\" with hospital admissions rising.\n\nMeanwhile, millions more people in southern England are now living under the toughest Covid restrictions.\n\nGovernment scientists are continuing to evaluate the spread of a new variant of Covid in south-east England as there are \"growing concerns\" about its transmission.\n\nHospitals in Kent are postponing non-urgent procedures as coronavirus cases in the county rise beyond figures seen in the spring.\n\nEwan Birney, deputy director general of European Molecular Biological Laboratory, said the new Covid variant had been growing \"very strongly in the south of England\" but it was not possible to say definitively that it was transmitting faster than others or whether it was because the number of cases in general was growing.\n\nHowever, he added most scientists \"think it is going faster - that it really is a property of the virus\".\n\nHe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"I must stress how complicated it is to work out, in a situation where things might be growing for other reasons, to really put your finger on that it's actually the virus which is doing it but the evidence is pointing in that direction.\"\n\nOn Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the variant may be associated with the faster transmission of the virus in the South East but there was \"nothing to suggest\" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.\n\nDr Birney said it was too soon to know whether the variant caused worse disease but scientists should start to get a good idea \"in a matter of weeks\", adding that other viruses had tended to mutate to become faster transmitters but less harmful.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"You don't have to cancel Christmas, just postpone it\", says Chris Lea, who's in hospital with Covid-19\n\nMinisters met on Friday to discuss what action will be necessary to deal with the new variant, but a Downing Street source said the government is \"not there yet\" on rethinking Christmas plans.\n\nThe decision by all four UK nations to relax restrictions and allow more household mixing for five days over Christmas has prompted concerns about a further surge in case numbers.\n\nAnalysis suggests the R number - which represents how many people each infected person passes the virus onto - has risen above 1 in the UK.\n\nNorthern Ireland and Wales have both announced post-Christmas lockdowns, while the Scottish government has said \"all options\" remain on the table ahead of a review on Tuesday.\n\nHealth bosses have warned the NHS is under significant pressure, with nearly 90% of hospital beds in England full.\n\nMr Hunt, chair of Parliament's health select committee, told the Today programme that the current situation was \"very serious\" and if the government did change its mind about relaxing the rules \"we should certainly not condemn it as a screeching U-turn but the responsible thing to do in a pandemic when the facts change\".\n\nHe cited two big developments - the new Covid variant and hospital admissions \"going up very, very sharply\" - adding that \"we have to look at the changing situation\".\n\nIf ministers did not want to change the law, Mr Hunt said they should consider strengthening the guidance on social distancing, adding: \"It would be an enormous tragedy if we had a spike in deaths at the end of January/February because we took our foot off the pedal this close to having a vaccine.\"\n\nAsked about reports that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine could be approved for use in the UK by the end of the year, Mr Hunt said that would make \"a massive difference\".\n\nHe said the UK had doses of the Pfizer vaccine to \"keep us going until the end of January\" but then there wouldn't be another shipment until March so having the Oxford vaccine in January would mean the UK could \"keep the rollout going at its current pace\".\n\nA spokeswoman for the UK regulator MHRA said its review of the vaccine was \"ongoing\".\n\nCovid rules are due to be relaxed across the UK between 23 and 27 December, with up to three households being able to meet.\n\nBut the prime minister has urged people to think about elderly relatives to \"avoid spreading the disease\" over the holiday period.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for Mr Johnson to \"toughen up over Christmas\", saying the Welsh government's decision to limit Christmas bubbles to two households - instead of three - was a \"step in the right direction\".\n\nLeon Danon - an epidemiologist who sits on the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling which advises the government - has been trying to model the impact on the R number of various households getting together at Christmas.\n\nHe told Today that modelling showed putting three households together had a \"pretty bad\" effect on the R value, however he said over the festive period this would be counterbalanced by schools closing and fewer people going to work reducing people's other contacts.\n\nMeanwhile, tier three Covid rules have come into force for parts of southern England, meaning that 38 million people - more than two-thirds of the nation's population - are now subject to the toughest restrictions.\n\nThe changes, which came into effect at 00:01 GMT, see Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire and parts of Surrey, East Sussex, Cambridgeshire and Hampshire join the list of areas now in the highest level of England's three-tier system.\n\nIn tier three, pubs and restaurants must close and different households cannot mix indoors or in most outdoor venues.\n\nOn Friday, the UK recorded a further 28,507 cases, along with 489 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nOfficial figures show Covid-19 cases have risen in the past week in England, driven by sharp increases in London, as well as rises in the South East and East Midlands.\n\nAverage NHS bed occupancy in England has reached almost 89% for the week ending 13 December, with 59 out of 126 NHS trusts reporting bed occupancy of higher than 90% - which is above the recommended safe level.\n\nThe R number is estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.2, up from between 0.9 and 1 last week.", "PM Boris Johnson says he is \"hoping to avoid\" another national lockdown in England but that Covid-19 cases have increased \"very much\" in recent weeks.\n\nHe chaired meetings on Friday, No 10 sources said, amid \"growing concerns\" about the spread of a new variant of Covid in south-east England.\n\nHealth bosses have warned the NHS is already under significant pressure.\n\nNearly 90% of hospital beds in England are full, with coronavirus adding to normal winter demands.\n\nGovernment scientists are continuing to evaluate the new strain and ministers have been discussing what action will be necessary to deal with this, sources said.\n\nAsked if people were going to be told to re-think their Christmas plans, a Downing Street source said: \"We are not there yet.\"\n\nA separate government source suggested that travel restrictions were discussed, but it is not clear that they have been signed off.\n\nOn Monday Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the variant may be associated with the faster transmission of the virus in the South East but there was \"nothing to suggest\" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.\n\nMeanwhile, the R number - which represents how many people each infected person passes the virus onto - has risen above 1 in the UK.\n\nThe latest figure, calculated by the government's scientific advisers, is estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.2, up from between 0.9 and 1 last week.\n\nThe UK recorded a further 28,507 cases on Friday, along with 489 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nOfficial figures show Covid-19 cases have risen in the past week in England, driven by sharp increases in London, as well as rises in the South East and East Midlands.\n\nThe president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Katherine Henderson, said England and Scotland needed to do \"whatever it takes\" to get a grip of the virus, even if that meant \"full lockdown\".\n\nAsked whether England would end up following Northern Ireland and Wales into lockdown, Mr Johnson said: \"Obviously we are hoping very much that we'll be able to avoid anything like that, but the reality is that the rates of infection have increased very much in the last few weeks.\"\n\nHe said the Christmas rules, which are being relaxed across the UK between 23 and 27 December, were \"very much a maximum\" and \"not a target people should aim for\".\n\nThe prime minister encouraged people to \"think about our elderly relatives\" to \"avoid spreading the disease\" over Christmas.\n\nHe added that he hoped next year, with the rollout of the vaccine, would \"be very different indeed\".\n\nEarlier, he tweeted a message warning people planning to form \"Christmas bubbles\" in the UK to start minimising contact with people from outside their households from today.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer said \"nobody wants a third lockdown\" but England's tiered system was \"not strong enough\".\n\nHe called for the prime minister to \"toughen up over Christmas\", saying the Welsh government's decision to limit Christmas bubbles to two households, instead of three, was a \"step in the right direction\".\n\nProf Neil Ferguson, whose team's modelling led to the original lockdown in March, said he was \"more concerned\" about what the country was going to be facing in early January than over the Christmas period itself.\n\nThe epidemiologist from Imperial College London told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme that very rapid increases in case numbers had left \"very little headroom\", adding that any future lockdown in England may have to be tougher than the one seen in November.\n\nMeanwhile, teaching unions have criticised the government's announcement that the return to secondary school in January will be staggered to allow schools to set up a Covid testing scheme.\n\nThey say the move came too late for them to make the necessary preparations for testing. But Nick Gibb, the schools minister, has defended the plan, saying the government would provide support.\n\nIt comes after a tough new six-week lockdown was announced in Northern Ireland from 26 December.\n\nHealth Minister Robin Swann said the measures were essentially a return to March's sustained restrictions, with non-essential shops and close-contact services such as hair salons having to close.\n\nPubs, cafes and restaurants will be restricted to takeaway services.\n\nThe first week of the restrictions, running until 2 January, will see even tighter measures with essential shops, including supermarkets, having to close each day by 20:00 GMT.\n\nNo sporting events will be permitted at all - even at elite level - with people being urged only to leave their home for essential reasons.\n\nIn Wales, non-essential shops will close from the end of trading on Christmas Eve, with an alert level four lockdown starting four days later.\n\nIn England, some 38 million people will be subject to the nation's strictest measures - tier three - from Saturday.\n\nScotland's Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said the option for a post-Christmas lockdown in Scotland \"remains on the table\".\n\nMeanwhile, documents released by the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) say avoiding social contacts for more than five days before meeting older or vulnerable people at Christmas will reduce the risk of transmitting the virus.\n\nA longer period - of a week or more - would reduce the risk even further. A document dated 26 November says taking a rapid coronavirus test before a multi-day gathering inside a home could also reduce the risk.\n\nSage says mixing between households over the festive period for one or two days would be less risky than multiple households spending the entire time together.\n\nBut the documents warn there may be a higher proportion of cases in more vulnerable age groups during the festive period, which could lead to an increase in hospital admissions.\n\nThe decision by all four UK nations to relax restrictions and allow more mixing for five days over Christmas has prompted concern that it will fuel a further surge in case numbers.\n\nAverage NHS bed occupancy in England has reached almost 89% for the week ending 13 December, with 59 out of 126 NHS trusts reporting bed occupancy of higher than 90% - which is above the recommended safe level.\n\nDr Katherine Henderson told BBC News the UK was at a \"really dangerous point where we could tip into finding it incredibly difficult to manage\" and her colleagues were \"increasingly\" seeing ambulances queuing outside hospitals.\n\nIn Northern Ireland, Dr Martin Kelly, a consultant respiratory physician in Londonderry, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: \"Right in the mouth of Christmas we're seeing a significant further surge in numbers which is already putting the service under significant pressure.\"\n\nAnd Dr Nick Lyons, a health board medical director in south Wales, said things were similar in his region, where non-urgent procedures have been cancelled.\n\nThe intensive care units \"were basically full with Covid patients\" while the area's field hospital was \"roughly at half its total capacity\", he told Today.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"You don't have to cancel Christmas, just postpone it\", says Chris Lea, who's in hospital with Covid-19\n\nA father who is in hospital with coronavirus has urged people not to visit relatives over Christmas.\n\nChris Lea, from Harpenden, Hertfordshire, was taken to hospital on Wednesday as he \"fought for every breath\".\n\nFrom his hospital bed, the 60-year-old said the thought of people travelling around the country visiting family was \"worrying the hell out of me\".\n\n\"It is not worth losing an aunt, an uncle or grandparent,\" he said.\n\nMr Lea is on oxygen and being treated with multiple drugs at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital.\n\nThe father-of-four said he had experienced tiredness for a few days but on Wednesday his situation \"escalated from getting short of breath to fighting for every breath in just a few hours\".\n\n\"The look on my 16-year-old son's face when I was fighting for breath was heartbreaking,\" he said.\n\nMr Lea was admitted to hospital on Wednesday\n\nMr Lea's said his son's year group was sent home from school and told to isolate recently due to two positive cases and he fears this may be how he caught the virus.\n\n\"Sending children to mix with other family members at Christmas is unwise,\" he said.\n\n\"If you saw the look on my son's face when I was fighting for my breath you would not want to be sending these children all over the country to see their family.\n\n\"You don't have to cancel Christmas, just postpone it, we are so close now with this vaccine - have the big family get-together at Easter or in the summer.\"\n\nMr Lea said the care he was receiving was \"phenomenal\" and he had made rapid progress in 48 hours.\n\n\"The doctors, nurses, the porters, everyone is working relentlessly hard, they're working like crazy,\" he said.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michel Barnier says negotiations have \"just a few hours\"\n\nThere are \"just a few hours left\" for the UK and EU to agree a post-Brexit trade deal, says Michel Barnier.\n\nSpeaking in the European Parliament on Friday, the EU's chief negotiator said it was \"the moment of truth\" for the two sides to come to an agreement.\n\nHe said there was still a \"chance\" of a deal, but the \"path is very narrow\".\n\nBoris Johnson said the UK side was willing to \"keep talking\", but added: \"Things are looking difficult and there is a gap that needs to be bridged.\"\n\nTalks are resuming later between the two teams in Brussels after the prime minister and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke on Thursday night.\n\nMrs von der Leyen said bridging \"big differences\", particularly on fishing rights, would be \"very challenging\", while Mr Johnson said a no deal scenario was \"very likely\" unless the EU position changed \"substantially\".\n\nEarlier, Mr Barnier met fishing ministers from EU states to discuss the ongoing division over the issue.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the government of \"dithering over Brexit\", calling for the PM to \"get this deal done\" and \"deliver it for the British people\".\n\nThe UK left the EU on 31 January, but has been following the bloc's trade rules while the two sides negotiate a trade deal.\n\nIf one is not agreed by 31 December, they will go on to trade on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, which could see charges introduced on goods being sold and bought - and could lead to an increase in prices.\n\nMr Barnier said it was the UK that decided on the deadline and the EU would have been willing to extend the so-called transition period into next year so talks could continue.\n\n\"If they should leave with an agreement or without, it is nevertheless the Brits that decided on that deadline,\" he told the European Parliament.\n\nMr Johnson has insisted the UK will \"prosper\" with or without a trade deal with the EU.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson: \"Our door is open\" for post-Brexit trade talks\n\nThe talks taking place in Brussels between Mr Barnier and his UK counterpart, Lord David Frost, are aimed at breaking the deadlock on key issues that remain unresolved.\n\nThey include rights to fishing waters from 1 January and what is known as the \"level playing field\" - where the EU does not want UK businesses to get an unfair advantage by moving away from its rules and standards.\n\nOn fishing, Mr Barnier said if the UK wants to use its \"sovereignty\" over its waters to cut access for EU fisherman, \"then the European Union also has to maintain its sovereign right to react or compensate adjusting conditions [to access the] single market\".\n\nAnd on the level playing field, he said there needed to be \"fair competition\" in place, adding: \"If the sovereign United Kingdom would like to depart from those standards, that is their right, but it brings with it consequences when it comes to access to our markets without tariffs or quotas.\"\n\nSpeaking on a visit to Manchester, Mr Johnson said the UK position was \"always that we want to keep talking if there is any chance of a deal\".\n\nBut he called for the EU to \"recognise the UK has got to be able to control its own laws - that's what people voted for - and we have also got to be able to control our waters and fishing rights\".\n\nThe PM added: \"No sensible government is going to agree to a treaty that doesn't have those two basic things in it as well as everything else.\n\n\"Our door is open, we will keep talking, but I have to say that things are looking difficult and there is a gap that needs to be bridged.\n\n\"The UK has done a lot to try and help and we hope our EU friends will see sense and come to the table with something themselves.\"\n\nWhy, you might ask, if the EU's priority in negotiations was to protect the single market, is Brussels allowing the issue of fish to endanger the whole deal?\n\nThe level playing field is worth a lot more in monetary and political terms to the bloc, but it sounds quite abstract to voters.\n\nHowever, fishermen and women losing their jobs, industries dwindling... that would be very visible, very quickly, elevating the importance of fishing rights.\n\nIt is in coastal countries where governments fear a public backlash if it's perceived they've sacrificed national fishing communities for a deal with UK.\n\nAlthough the majority of EU members are not coastal nations, and although everyone in the bloc would love to finally put this deal to bed - for political and financial reasons, as well as being plain fed up with the process - the EU as a whole won't try to force member states to sign up if they are unhappy.\n\nMichel Barnier spoke to EU coastal countries on Friday to try to find a compromise position but, because of the \"nothing is agreed until everything is agreed\" mantra of negotiations, the EU mood is less optimistic about prospect of imminent breakthrough than it was two days ago.\n\nIf a deal is reached between the two sides, it would need to be agreed by parliaments in the UK and EU.\n\nSenior MEPs in the European Parliament have said they will not be \"rushed\" into signing off a deal on their side, and want to see the text of any agreement by Sunday if they are to approve it by the end of the year.\n\nUK MPs have now finished for the Christmas break, but Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said on Thursday that they could be called back to ratify a deal in the coming days, were one to be agreed.", "Dr Ceri Hayles said she still loved her job, but the strain was taking its toll\n\nOne in 10 staff at some Welsh health boards are off sick or self-isolating, BBC Wales has been told.\n\nThe NHS Confederation said staffing problems were having a \"huge impact\".\n\nIt said the overall NHS Wales absence rate was between 8% and 9%, but some services have up to half their staff absent.\n\nMonthly absence rates in December are usually about 5%, but Aneurin Bevan, Cwm Taf Morgannwg and Betsi Cadwaladr health boards have rates of about 10%.\n\nWelsh NHS Confederation director Darren Hughes told Wales Live the NHS was in \"the same storm but different parts will definitely be in different boats\", with absence rates higher in areas hit hardest by coronavirus.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"Covid patients are sicker during the second wave,\" says consultant\n\n\"We're seeing staff having to self-isolate because family members have got Covid, or people with caring responsibilities for people self-isolating, so it's having a big impact on the front line if you have one in 10 staff roughly off, but in some services a third or half the staff off,\" he said.\n\nThe Welsh Ambulance Service has 12.6% of staff off sick for all reasons. It said its absence rate was always historically higher than other services because of the nature of emergency work and its physical and emotional challenges.\n\nMr Hughes said there had been a \"huge impact\" on NHS activity, with staff shortages making things such as communication with patients' families harder.\n\n\"I think we're running at the moment - because it's much more difficult to provide the services we ordinarily would provide - at about 50 to 60% of capacity,\" he said.\n\n\"The staff would really like to be doing more than they are. But to provide services in this Covid-adjusted way is a huge challenge.\"\n\nOn Monday, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said there were 1,800 Covid-related patients in Welsh hospitals, the highest number recorded.\n\n\"We're seeing infection rates going up, and this is going to have a real serious impact on our ability to care for you at home, for your family,\" Mr Hughes added.\n\n\"But it's also having a big impact on the wellbeing of staff who've been working tirelessly for over eight months in providing care for people across Wales.\"\n\nHelen Whyley, the director of the Royal College of Nursing Wales, called for action following the figures of self-isolating NHS staff\n\n\"It's clearly a very pressurised situation,\" she said.\n\n\"Staff are being asked to move from dealing with the first wave, administering vaccines, then the second wave, covering people, double shifts and they're becoming exhausted.\"\n\nMark Henwood, consultant at Hywel Dda health board, said staff are \"desperate\" for the public to follow coronavirus rules \"certainly over the Christmas period\".\n\nMr Henwood also said people should \"avoid\" coming to hospital if they could, following an appeal from the health board for public support to reduce pressure on hospitals.\n\nLast week, Llandovery community hospital closed after Covid outbreaks meant several staff from there and Amman Valley hospital in Ammanford had to self-isolate.\n\nOn Tuesday, staff at Morriston Hospital said a \"perfect storm\" was developing with the combination of increasing numbers of patients, decreasing capacity and fewer staff.\n\nA photo of Ceri Hayles showing the effects of protective equipment on her face was used in an exhibition\n\nDr Ceri Hayles - a registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran, Torfaen - said staff were \"spread thinner\" than usual.\n\n\"We're sort of backed into a corner where we don't have any option because we never want to put our patients in a position where they're not being looked after safely.\n\n\"The service is still being provided, but there is a little bit less time to do all those extra things you'd want to do for people.\n\n\"Those bits where you go above and beyond for people which we all try and do. It's just draining and we're all exhausted.\"\n\nGail Parry said staffing levels led to poor communication about her husband's care\n\nGail Parry's husband David, 72, has emphysema and was in Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, last week.\n\nMrs Parry, a retired psychiatric nurse, believes staff being overstretched led to poor communication with her about her husband's treatment and the plan for him to return home for palliative care.\n\n\"When he ended up on the ward I tried and tried phoning with no response. I knew very little about what was going on.\n\n\"It's very distressing and it was distressing for him, because he wanted to come home and I felt as if I was doing nothing to help the situation, because I couldn't find anything out.\n\n\"So it was a bit of a black hole as far as knowing things or being able to communicate with him, really.\"\n\nA lack of communication was \"distressing\" for patient David Parry and his wife Gail\n\nAneurin Bevan health board said: \"We would like to apologise to Mrs Parry and her husband for their experience whilst Mr Parry was in Nevill Hall Hospital last week.\n\n\"We appreciate the worry that is caused when a loved one is in hospital and the extra stress that is caused when communication is not as we would expect it to be.\n\n\"The hospital is under significant pressure but the protection of patients and staff is our absolute priority.\"", "Concerns about the virus growing in some areas of the country has prompted the Scottish government to place restrictions on more people ahead of Christmas.\n\nNo local authority is currently in this toughest tier. Rules at this level are similar to the lockdown in March. However, schools - outside scheduled holidays - remain open but all non-essential shops, as well as pubs and restaurants, gyms, libraries and hairdressers, are closed.\n\nThree councils are being moved up from level two, joining the 18 local authorities already in this tier. Rules allow cafes, pubs and restaurants to open until 18:00 to serve food and non-alcoholic drinks to groups of up to six from two households. Alcohol sales are not permitted indoors or outdoors. All leisure and entertainment venues are closed, including cinemas. No non-essential travel is allowed out of a level three area. Indoor exercise, which includes gyms, are restricted to individual and not group exercise. Hairdressers and barbers can open.\n\nIn this tier there is no in-home socialising allowed and up to six people from two households can meet outdoors and in hospitality settings. Licensed premises can only serve alcohol indoors with a main meal - and then only until 20:00. Outdoors, you can be served until 22:30. Most leisure and entertainment premises are closed except gyms, cinemas, bingo halls and amusement arcades. From Friday, 18 December, residents on the outer Argyll islands of Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Ornosay; Coll and Tiree; and Mull, Iona, and the neighbouring islands of Ulva, Erraid and Gometra will be able to meet in houses in groups of up to six from a maximum of two households.\n\nSix people from two households have been able to meet indoors if they are resident in Shetland, the Western Isles, Orkney and some islands (but not ones, like Skye, that are connected to the mainland by road). Level one sees a \"reasonable\" degree of normality. Hospitality has a 22:30 curfew. Events, like weddings, are restricted to a maximum of 20 people. Indoor contact sports for adults are not permitted. Only those unable to work from home should go to their place of employment. Up to eight people from three households can meet outdoors.\n\nNo local authority has been assigned this level. At level zero, hospitality would operate \"almost normally\" - subject to rules on physical distancing, limits on numbers and other rules, such as table service.\n\nUse the form below to send us your questions and we could be in touch.\n\nIn some cases your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions.\n\nIf you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.", "I have one simple rule for making sense of \"new variant\" or \"new strain\" coronavirus stories.\n\nAsk: \"Has the virus's behaviour changed?\"\n\nA mutated virus sounds instinctively scary, but to mutate and change is what viruses do.\n\nMost of the time it is either a meaningless tweak or the virus alters itself in such a way that it gets worse at infecting us and the new variant just dies out.\n\nOccasionally it hits on a new winning formula.\n\nThere is no clear-cut evidence the new variant of coronavirus - which has been detected in south-east England - is able to transmit more easily, cause more serious symptoms or render the vaccine useless.\n\nHowever, there are two reasons scientists are keeping a close eye on it.\n\nThe first is that levels of the variant are higher in places where cases are higher.\n\nIt is a warning sign, although it can be interpreted in two ways.\n\nThe virus could have mutated to spread more easily and is causing more infections.\n\nBut variants can also get a lucky break by infecting the right people at the right time. One explanation for the spread of the \"Spanish strain\" over the summer was simply people catching it on holiday and then bringing it home.\n\nIt will take experiments in the laboratory to figure out if this variant really is a better spreader than all the others.\n\nThe other issue that is raising scientific eyebrows is how the virus has mutated.\n\n\"It has a surprisingly large number of mutations, more than we would expect, and a few look interesting,\" Prof Nick Loman from the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium told me.\n\nThere are two notable sets of mutation - and I apologise for their hideous names.\n\nBoth are found in the crucial spike protein, which is the key the virus uses to unlock the doorway into our body's cells in order to hijack them.\n\nThe mutation N501 (I did warn you) alters the most important part of the spike, known as the \"receptor-binding domain\".\n\nThis is where the spike makes first contact with the surface of our body's cells. Any changes that make it easier for the virus to get inside are likely to give it an edge.\n\n\"It looks and smells like an important adaptation,\" said Prof Loman.\n\nMass vaccination will put a different kind of pressure on the virus because it will have to change in order to infect people who have been immunised\n\nThe other mutation - a H69/V70 deletion - has emerged several times before, including famously in infected mink.\n\nThe concern was that antibodies from the blood of survivors was less effective at attacking that variant of virus.\n\nAgain, it is going to take more laboratory studies to really understand what is going on.\n\nProf Alan McNally, from the University of Birmingham, said: \"We know there's a variant, we know nothing about what that means biologically.\n\n\"It is far too early to make any inference on how important this may or may not be.\"\n\nMutations to the spike protein lead to questions about the vaccine because the three leading jabs - Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford - all train the immune system to attack the spike.\n\nHowever, the body learns to attack multiple parts of the spike. That is why health officials remain convinced the vaccine will work against this variant.\n\nThis is a virus that evolved in animals and made the jump to infecting people around a year ago.\n\nSince then it has been picking up around two mutations a month - take a sample today and compare it to the first ones from Wuhan in China and there would be around 25 mutations separating them.\n\nCoronavirus is still trying out different combinations of mutations to properly nail infecting humans.\n\nWe have seen this happen before: The emergence and global dominance of another variant (G614) is seen by many as the virus getting better at spreading.\n\nBut soon mass vaccination will put a different kind of pressure on the virus because it will have to change in order to infect people who have been immunized.\n\nIf this does drive the evolution of the virus, we may have to regularly update the vaccines, as we do for flu, to keep up.", "The herbal pill is advertised on websites and in-store as helping with Covid-19\n\nFake \"Covid-19 immunity boosters\" are being sold over the counter in London shops, a BBC investigation has found.\n\nCoronil, a herbal remedy from India, was found on sale in shops in predominantly Asian areas across the capital.\n\nTests carried out for the BBC show the pills offer no protection from coronavirus.\n\nA lab test of the drug carried out by Birmingham University for the BBC showed the pills contained plant-based ingredients which cannot protect against Covid-19.\n\nVirologist Dr Maitreyi Shivkumar said the idea of \"boosting\" immunity makes no sense in terms of treating coronavirus.\n\n\"There are lots of nuances in how our immune system responds to the virus. We do not even know that heightening immunity helps,\" she said.\n\n\"It is unclear what Coronil is trying to do to the immune system.\"\n\nPatanjali Ayurved is a multibillion-pound healthcare brand in India, founded by Acharya Balkrishna (left) and Baba Ramdev\n\nSimilar claims are permitted in India, where Patanjali Ayurved has a large following.\n\nOne shop in Wembley advertises Coronil as a \"Covid-19 immunity booster\" both in store and on its website.\n\nThe BBC has located at least four other stores that sell the pills, claiming they treat Covid-19.\n\nOne customer told the BBC: \"I take it because I'm 78.\n\n\"If I go out shopping I could catch coronavirus from anybody. That's why I take it… to protect myself.\"\n\nThere are no authorised health claims in the UK that any substance can \"boost\" immunity, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).\n\nClaims to prevent, treat or alleviate the symptoms of coronavirus cannot be made without a product being licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).\n\nThe MHRA, which has not approved Coronil for any use, said: \"Appropriate action will be taken where any unauthorised medicinal product is offered or sold on the UK market.\"\n\nPatanjali Ayurved founder Baba Ramdev claimed in June that Coronil had cured Covid-19 patients.\n\n\"Our medicine resulted in 69% of coronavirus patients testing negative after three days and 100% after seven days,\" he said.\n\nThe Indian government has said Patanjali Ayurved can market Coronil as an immunity booster but not a cure.\n\nPatanjali Ayurved has now withdrawn its claim that Coronil is a cure for Covid-19.\n\nAccording to Full Fact, an independent fact-checking organisation, \"misinformation like this can cause harm to people's health and finances\".\n\nAbbas Panjwani, a researcher at Full Fact, said: \"During a pandemic, it is natural and perhaps understandable for people to seek out answers.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Strictly winner Bill Bailey: 'I never thought we'd get this far'\n\nComedian Bill Bailey has been crowned the winner of this year's Strictly Come Dancing, becoming the oldest celebrity to lift the glitterball trophy.\n\nThe 55-year-old shared his triumph with partner Oti Mabuse, the first Strictly dancer to win for two years in a row.\n\nBailey beat EastEnders' Maisie Smith and singer HRVY at the end of Saturday's grand final.\n\n\"It feel surreal, it feels extraordinary, it feels wonderful,\" Bailey said as he was named the winner.\n\n\"I never thought we'd get this far, never thought we'd get to the final.\n\n\"But I have had the most extraordinary teacher and the most extraordinary dancer,\" he added, paying tribute to Mabuse. \"Someone who believed in me right from the beginning, and she found something in me and turned me into this, into a dancer.\"\n\nIn response Mabuse told him: \"I think you are amazing, remarkable. You just put your heart and soul into everything. Thank you for being a friend, a father figure to me, a brother, and for this [the glitterball trophy]!\"\n\nActor Joe McFadden had been Strictly's previous oldest winner, having won in 2017 at the age of 42.\n\nBill and Oti performed their showdance to The Show Must Go On by Queen\n\nMabuse, who has danced on Strictly since 2015, also won last year's series with Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher.\n\nAliona Vilani is the only other pro dancer to have triumphed twice, having won with Harry Judd and Jay McGuinness in 2011 and 2015 respectively.\n\nMade in Chelsea's Jamie Laing also made it to this year's final, having survived an unprecedented four dance-offs throughout the series.\n\nBailey is known for his appearances on QI, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and the Channel 4 sitcom Black Books.\n\nSaturday's finale was watched by an average audience of 11.6 million - up from 11.3 million last year.\n\nIn an interview last week, Craig Revel Horwood said he \"really thought Bill Bailey would be the Ann Widdecombe of this series\".\n\nAnd that perfectly sums up the attitude many had towards Bill at the beginning of Strictly 2020. At his age, particularly being a comedian, he would surely fall into the novelty category; hired for entertainment value rather than serious dancing.\n\nBut Bill gradually improved as the weeks went on, with his routine to Rapper's Delight by the Sugarhill Gang (who later praised his performance) proving a turning point. Viewers realised he was focused and really putting in the hours to learn complex routines.\n\n\"It makes me smile to have confounded people's expectations,\" Bailey recently wrote in The Telegraph. \"I always intended to give it my all, perhaps to offset my pantomime horse role - but what I didn't expect was to be able to dance well, certainly not with a degree of confidence.\"\n\nBill Bailey was not the best dancer in this year's Strictly. Until Saturday night's final, he hadn't topped the leaderboard, often trailing behind the younger, more agile, contestants like Maisie and HRVY.\n\nBut that didn't matter. Being the best dancer is actually not what Strictly is about. Much more important is the journey a celebrity goes on over the series; their effort, their commitment, their improvement. Oti's continuing popularity certainly didn't hurt, but ultimately the British public loves an underdog.\n\nBailey became a firm fan favourite during his time on the show, particularly after his and Oti's dance to Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang, which went viral earlier in the series.\n\nTheir Couple's Choice routine was one of three the pair performed on Saturday night.\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by BBC Strictly Come Dancing This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. End of youtube video by BBC Strictly Come Dancing\n\nThe pair also reprised their week two Quickstep to Bobby Darin's Talk to the Animals, as well as a new Showdance to Queen's The Show Must Go On.\n\nSpeaking ahead of the final, Bailey said it was \"wonderful\" if he had come to be seen as a role model for mature would-be hoofers.\n\n\"Blokes sometimes feel a bit self-conscious, particularly blokes of my age,\" the hirsute funnyman told journalists. \"They feel like they're going to be called the dad dancer.\n\n\"I think if me showing I can get out there and look a little bit more than somebody shuffling about, then why not?\"\n\nThis year's series was shorter than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic, though that did not prevent the virus having an impact.\n\nHRVY tested positive for coronavirus 10 days before the launch show was filmed, while boxer Nicola Adams was forced to withdraw when her partner Katya Jones tested positive.\n\nThe Duchess of Cornwall made an appearance on the final to pay tribute to the Strictly cast and crew\n\nThe couple had made Strictly history by becoming the first same-sex duo to compete on the programme. They returned for a special performance in Saturday's final.\n\nThere was also a musical performance from Robbie Williams and an appearance from the Duchess of Cornwall, who paid tribute to the cast and crew of Strictly for \"lifting the whole country's spirits\".\n\n\"I'd like to, on the behalf of everybody who watches Strictly, to say an enormous thank you to everybody,\" she said. \"Everybody who has been involved in this production, in this particularity difficult year, you have given everybody so much pleasure and you've uplifted the nation.\"\n\nConcerns over Transatlantic travel meant Bruno Tonioli could only appear virtually this year, while judge Motsi Mabuse - Oti's older sister - had to take two weeks off in order to self-isolate.\n\nThat was good news for Anton Du Beke who, having been eliminated in week two along with his partner Jacqui Smith, got to sit on the judging panel while Motsi was away.\n\nThe BBC received more than 150 complaints from viewers after three of the other professional dancers appeared in drag during a Priscilla, Queen of the Desert routine.\n\nClaudia Winkleman, meanwhile, was forced to make an on-air apology after The Wanted's Max George was heard uttering a profanity after one of his dance routines.\n\nClaudia and Tess Daly will be back on Christmas Day to present a Strictly special featuring 25 of the BBC One show's most memorable routines to date.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "We can bring you some business reaction to Boris Johnson's announcement of tier four restrictions in the south and east of England, including London.\n\n\"The consequences of this decision will be severe,\" Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium said.\n\nShe said the government’s \"stop-start approach\" to coronavirus restrictions has been \"deeply unhelpful\" for retailers ahead of the usually busy and lucrative Christmas period.\n\nAdam Marshall of the British Chambers of Commerce echoed Dickinson, calling on the government to \"address the economic consequences of its actions\".\n\nHe said that retailers needed extra financial support to get through the winter and beyond.\n\nFederation of Small Businesses vice-chair Martin McTague said tier four restrictions would be a \"hammer blow\" to non-essential retailers.\n\n\"From shops to hairdressers, this would normally the one of the busiest times of the year,\" he said.\n\n\"Many will have bought extra stock and increased staff hours, now their takings are to disappear literally overnight.\"\n\nMichael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, said retailers had \"lost all confidence\" in the UK government's strategy for tackling coronavirus.\n\n\"The unrelenting closing and reopening of businesses is costing owners hundreds of thousands of pounds, and coupled with the erratic decision-making around restrictions, is rapidly destroying the ability of the sector to bounce back,\" he said.", "A fourth tier of coronavirus restrictions is expected to be introduced in London and south-east England, sources have told the BBC.\n\nThere is also expected to be a tightening of the plans to relax the rules around households gathering during the Christmas period.\n\nThe PM is to hold a press conference at 16:00 GMT as concerns grow about the spread of a new variant of the virus.\n\nBoris Johnson hosted a cabinet meeting earlier to discuss what action to take.\n\nChief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said government advisers \"consider the new strain can spread more quickly\".\n\nHe will join the prime minister and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific adviser, at the press conference.\n\nEngland's current three-tier system of coronavirus measures has faced criticism for not being effective in stopping the surge in cases.\n\nThe first ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland held talks with Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove earlier.\n\nScotland's Nicola Sturgeon, who will hold a press conference later, tweeted: \"Cases currently at lower level in Scotland than UK - but preventative action may be necessary to stop faster spreading strain taking hold.\"\n\nWelsh ministers are meeting to discuss \"serious concerns\", while Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster tweeted that the new variant of coronavirus prevalent in south-east England was \"very concerning\".\n\nWales and Northern Ireland have already announced post-Christmas lockdowns. Covid rules were due to be relaxed across the UK between 23 and 27 December, with up to three households being able to meet.\n\nAny change of restrictions for London and the South East would not require MPs' approval in a Commons vote, as they are only held for England or UK-wide measures.\n\nIt was just 72 hours ago that Boris Johnson was resisting pressure to cancel relaxations of restrictions over Christmas. He told a press conference cancelling the festive plans would be \"inhuman\".\n\nBut concern has grown significantly in the last couple of days; both about the rising number of cases and the new variant of the virus disclosed earlier this week.\n\nMinisters met with their scientific advisers on Friday evening - and again on Saturday morning. Things have moved quickly in the last 24 hours.\n\nSources have confirmed a new tier 4 will be introduced in London and the South East of England. That's likely to mean closure of non-essential shops and beauty salons.\n\nThat's likely to have a significant impact of Christmas plans and what people can do in and around the capital.\n\nThere are also conversations taking place in the devolved administrations about whether further restrictions are needed there too.\n\nFollowing concern about the rapid spread of a new variant, Prof Whitty said: \"We have alerted the World Health Organization and are continuing to analyse the available data to improve our understanding.\"\n\nThat came after advice from the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) - the expert committee that advises the government on pandemics.\n\n\"There is no current evidence to suggest the new strain causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments although urgent work is under way to confirm this,\" Prof Whitty added.\n\nChairman of Nervtag, Peter Horby, said they had not found the variant to be more severe but being easier to transmit meant it was harder to control.\n\nPaul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said it was a big concern that the new variant seemed to be \"out-competing the other viruses very fast indeed\".\n\nHe told the BBC News Channel: \"The really worrying thing from my perspective is that this was something we didn't know about at the beginning of this month and it appeared. And from what we hear, it is already becoming one of the dominant strains.\"\n\nAsked if the transmission would move northwards, he said \"almost certainly\".\n\nViruses do mutate - so this development should not come as a complete surprise.\n\nThere's already been thousands of different variants of this coronavirus seen globally.\n\nThere is nothing to suggest this one causes more serious illness or would impact the ability of the vaccines to work.\n\nBut preliminary investigation suggests it is leading to faster transmission, according to the UK's chief medical adviser.\n\nThat's clearly causing concern, especially ahead of Christmas when relaxing restrictions means there is more opportunity for the virus to spread.\n\nIf the preliminary analysis is right it may well explain why infection rates started increasing in London during lockdown - something that has baffled experts.\n\nBut as yet there has been no detailed data published on this so it is hard to know how clear that evidence is.\n\nWhat is certain, however, is that cases are rising in most quickly in the South East - and that is translating to more pressure on hospitals.\n\nWhile the numbers in hospital has remained stable in recent weeks across the north of England and the Midlands, the number of patients in hospital in the South East is rising, especially in London, which has seen close to a 50% increase over the past week.\n\nThat in itself is not unusual - the first wave saw surges at slightly different times. What is happening in the South East could just be a repeat of that.\n\nBut ministers and their officials are clearly not prepared to wait to find out with the country entering such a delicate and potentially risky period with the Christmas relaxations.\n\nShadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth called on the prime minister to set out \"what action he will be taking\" as the virus was \"out of control in parts of the country\".\n\nJeremy Hunt, a former health secretary, said the government needed \"to respond to what is happening on the ground\" with hospital admissions rising.\n\nHealth bosses have warned the NHS is under significant pressure, with nearly 90% of hospital beds in England full.\n\nHospitals in Kent are postponing non-urgent procedures as coronavirus cases in the county rise beyond figures seen in the spring.\n\nAnalysis suggests the R number - which represents how many people each infected person passes the virus onto - has risen above 1 in the UK.\n\nMeanwhile, tier three Covid rules have come into force for parts of southern England, meaning that 38 million people - more than two-thirds of the nation's population - are now subject to the toughest restrictions.\n\nThe changes, which came into effect at 00:01 GMT, see Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire and parts of Surrey, East Sussex, Cambridgeshire and Hampshire join the list of areas now in the highest level of England's three-tier system.\n\nIn tier three, pubs and restaurants must close and different households cannot mix indoors or in most outdoor venues.\n\nOn Friday, the UK recorded a further 28,507 cases, along with 489 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nHow will these latest restrictions affect your plans for Christmas? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "The UK and EU continue to negotiate as talks on a post-Brexit trade deal enter another critical 48-hour period.\n\nTalks in Brussels are understood to be focused on how many years it will take to phase in new fisheries arrangements.\n\nWith the two sides at odds over access to UK fishing waters and quota levels, the EU's negotiator said the \"moment of truth\" had arrived and there were \"only a few hours left\" to seal an agreement.\n\nBoris Johnson has vowed to keep talking but warned gaps had yet to be bridged.\n\nSenior MEPs in the European Parliament have said they will not be \"rushed\" into signing off a deal on their side and want to see the text of any agreement by Sunday if they are to approve it by the end of the year.\n\nThe UK will stop following the EU's trading rules in less than two weeks time.\n\nIf there is no agreement by 1 January, the two sides will rely on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules to govern exports and imports, which could see charges introduced on goods being sold and bought - and could lead to an increase in prices.\n\nSpeaking in the European Parliament on Friday, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said it was \"the moment of truth\" for the talks and while there was still a \"chance\" of a deal, the \"path was very narrow\".\n\nEarlier, he met fishing ministers from EU states to discuss the continuing divisions over the issue.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michel Barnier says negotiations have \"just a few hours\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson: \"Our door is open\" for post-Brexit trade talks\n\nThe two sides have been at odds over the length of time it will take to introduce new arrangements once the UK leaves the bloc's Common Fisheries Policy.\n\nTony Connelly, RTE's Europe editor, said: \"I think we are really in the final stages because it looks like they are just now talking about fish, perhaps state aid as well, but all of the issues have been boxed off and we are now in final hours focusing on fisheries.\"\n\nMr Connelly told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that although fishing only makes up a small part of the UK economy, for fishing communities in Europe, it is a \"moment of real pain.\"\n\n\"They have built up an industry, they have invested in boats and they've had access to these waters for decades, if not centuries and it has been taken away from them and they have not real say in the matter, they had no part in the vote - so feelings are running pretty high,\" he said.\n\nHe added that while both sides would like to come to an agreement this weekend, \"I don't think either side wants to be pressurised into last minute concessions they will regret later.\"\n\nThe UK, led by its chief negotiator David Frost, has insisted its sovereign rights over its waters must be respected from day one and its fleets must be able to keep a much larger share of their own catch.\n\nThe EU is insisting on a much longer transition period, with guarantees on access and how catches are distributed.\n\nMr Barnier warned on Friday that if the UK wanted to reduce access for EU fishing vessels then it would \"maintain its sovereign right\" to impose new conditions on UK firms' access to its common market for goods.\n\nIn response, Mr Johnson said the UK side was willing to keep talking but things were looking difficult and urged the EU to \"come to the table\" with new proposals that recognised the UK's autonomy.\n\nWhy, you might ask, if the EU's priority in negotiations was to protect the single market, is Brussels allowing the issue of fish to endanger the whole deal?\n\nThe level playing field is worth a lot more in monetary and political terms to the bloc, but it sounds quite abstract to voters.\n\nHowever, fishermen and women losing their jobs, industries dwindling... that would be very visible, very quickly, elevating the importance of fishing rights.\n\nIt is in coastal countries where governments fear a public backlash if it's perceived they've sacrificed national fishing communities for a deal with UK.\n\nAlthough the majority of EU members are not coastal nations, and although everyone in the bloc would love to finally put this deal to bed - for political and financial reasons, as well as being plain fed up with the process - the EU as a whole won't try to force member states to sign up if they are unhappy.\n\nMichel Barnier spoke to EU coastal countries on Friday to try to find a compromise position but, because of the \"nothing is agreed until everything is agreed\" mantra of negotiations, the EU mood is less optimistic about prospect of imminent breakthrough than it was two days ago.\n\nThe two sides are reported to have made progress in recent days on the issues of fair competition and what to do if the UK is deemed to get an unfair competitive advantage by moving away from EU rules and standards.\n\nIf a deal is reached between the two sides, it would need to be agreed by parliaments in the UK and the European Union's member states.\n\nUK MPs have now finished for the Christmas break, but Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Thursday that they could be called back to ratify a deal in the coming days, were one to be agreed.", "The \"festive magic\" promised by the organisers did not materialise, according to angry visitors\n\nFamilies have demanded refunds from a \"shambolic\" drive-through Santa's grotto after queuing for hours.\n\nIt opened on Friday night and promised a 1km (0.6 mile) sparkling light trail through the grounds of Taverham Hall, near Norwich.\n\nThe event's Facebook page was later flooded with complaints about traffic chaos, \"creepy\" performers who scared children, and \"Poundland\" gifts.\n\n\"It was an absolute fiasco from start to finish,\" said visitor Louise Purdy.\n\nOrganiser We Make Events has been approached for comment.\n\nPeople commenting on social media said they queued for up to three hours in rush-hour traffic, having bought tickets for a time slot.\n\nA Scrooge character prompted a warning on a parenting site after he gave one young visitor nightmares\n\nMany turned away with tired, upset children, with one parent stating: \"Would've been quicker to get to the North Pole.\"\n\nAnother said: \"Three very grumpy children and four disappointed adults down £110.\"\n\nSome of those who did make it inside were unhappy with what had been billed as \"huge amounts of festive magic\".\n\nA \"scary\" Scrooge-like character prompted one mum to post a warning on a parenting site after her child had nightmares.\n\nLouise Purdy said she told her three-year-old son the inflatables were having a sleep\n\nMs Purdy, who was there with her two-year-old and five-year-old nephews and son, aged three, said the whole thing was comically awful.\n\n\"We wanted the sparkle, the magic of Christmas, but I actually started laughing because I couldn't comprehend how rubbish it was.\n\n\"The Scrooge guy called us all mutants, said Santa has crashed his sleigh and the presents are in the mud, and there was a man in chains by a tree just staring at the car.\n\n\"It was creepy, but was meant to be for little kids.\n\n\"The light tunnel at the end wasn't even switched on and the Santa couldn't be less interested.\"\n\nAnother parent said: \"The gifts were rubbish, not even wrapped, just in brown paper bags and they were things probably bought in Poundland.\"\n\nThe Purdy family queued for almost two hours\n\nKerry Prentice from Norwich, who paid £68 for three tickets, told BBC Radio Norfolk she left after 90 minutes having been told she would probably have to wait a further two hours.\n\n\"We wanted something really nice to do as a family, but it was appalling and we've had no response from the organisers.\"\n\nWe Make Events is yet to respond to complaints but has issued a statement asking visitors to adjust their route \"to ease traffic worries\".\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "Nearly 90% of hospital beds in England are full as hospitals try to cope with the demands of Covid in addition to normal winter pressures.\n\nAmbulances queuing to offload patients, staff sickness and a lack of beds mean hospitals are \"at a really dangerous point\", say emergency doctors.\n\nThis could result in some trusts facing the decision to stop non-Covid work.\n\nRises in hospital admissions are particularly affecting areas in the south.\n\nThe percentage of NHS hospital beds which are occupied is increasing and has reached almost 89% in England for the week ending December 13.\n\nThis is the highest occupancy rate so far this year - it's still lower than the same time last year, although the extra burden of Covid is likely to make hospitals feel they are much busier.\n\nA safe level for bed occupancy is below 90% but nearly half of NHS trusts report a figure currently higher than this - the largest proportion this season.\n\nThe south and east of England are facing the most pressure on beds.\n\nAcross England, individual hospitals and trusts are coping with varying levels of pressure, and these can change daily.\n\nTrusts in and around London make up most of the busiest ranked by beds occupied - all of the top 10 are over 95%, with three running even higher at over 97%.\n\nDr Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told the BBC: \"We are at a really dangerous point which could tip into finding it incredibly difficult to manage.\"\n\nShe said the combination of staff who are tired, unwell or having to isolate, and the additional burden of Covid, was an \"awful situation\" to be in.\n\nShe added that it would be difficult to keep other work going, with pressure \"so tight\" on intensive care beds.\n\n\"We have to get a grip of the virus and do whatever it takes,\" Dr Henderson added.\n\nDr Nick Scriven, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said he suspected \"many, many trusts\" had already cancelled routine clinics or procedures to try to free up staff for the challenges of winter.\n\n\"What we do know is that the country is in the grip of one crisis and is about to embark on another in the coming weeks, and the fact we will see a festive period with families mixing strikes fear into the hearts of clinicians on the frontline,\" he said.\n\nRecent rises in numbers of people admitted to hospital with Covid are putting major pressure on other hospital work.\n\nIt also means critical care is getting busier in England, with three-quarters of of adult critical care beds occupied last week - up slightly from the previous week.\n\nHowever, this figure was higher during the week ending 22 November in the midst of the second lockdown, when it hit 76.4%.\n\nThree NHS trusts reported their critical-care beds were 100% full - Calderdale and Huddersfield, Portsmouth Hospitals University and Sandwell and West Birmingham, in the week to 13 December.\n\nDelays in ambulances transferring patients over to emergency staff when they arrive at hospital are also causing knock-on problems.\n\nOne in seven ambulances faced delays of 30 minutes doing this, affecting more than 13,000 patients. The target is to transfer patients within 15 minutes.\n\nThe highest proportion of ambulance delays occurred in University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (43%), Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (42%) and North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (41%).\n\nHowever, ambulance delays are common during winter and this number is not particularly high for this time of year.\n\nLike most front-line sectors, coronavirus has had an impact on staffing due to illness and self-isolation.\n\nBack in April, when the virus first peaked, the staff absence rate reached 6.2% - the highest on record. This means that more than one in 20 working days were lost to illness.\n\nRoughly a third of these were lost due to coronavirus.\n\nWe don't have data coinciding with the most recent surge in cases , so we can't assess how well Kent and Medway - which is very much at the epicentre of the outbreak at the moment - is dealing with staffing. But when London was the centre of the crisis, sickness rates hit as high as 7.2%.\n\nWith winter coming in, the pressures of coronavirus will add to what is already a difficult time of the year for staffing; over the past five years, January's absence rate has averaged at just under 5%.\n\nNHS Providers has pointed out that this is combined with already high staff vacancies, which stand at 85,000 in England. This is down from 110,000 in 2018.\n\nIt is also worth mentioning that - with the exception of April - coronavirus has not been the leading cause of staff absences throughout the year. Burn-out, anxiety and other mental health issues equate to one in three sick days for NHS staff in most months.", "The Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil is seeing \"unprecedented\" demand\n\nThe number of people in hospital with Covid is the highest since the pandemic began, with a top doctor saying it could get \"significantly worse\".\n\nThere are 2,231 coronavirus patients in hospitals and Wales' lead respiratory doctor said hospital pressures were \"much worse than the first wave\".\n\nIt comes as Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board said Covid patients were occupying all its intensive care beds.\n\nHywel Dda will delay routine care due to a record number of Covid inpatients.\n\nIntensive care units across Wales are treating the highest number of coronavirus patients since April.\n\nThe UK's seven most infected local authorities are all in Wales - Merthyr Tydfil tops the list with 1,128.9 cases per 100,000 people - while Bridgend, in second, has the highest Covid test positivity rate in the country with 28%.\n\nCwm Taf Morgannwg, the health board that covers Merthyr Tydfil, Pontypridd and Bridgend, has suspended some non-emergency services and is treating 500 coronavirus patients in an \"unprecedented demand\" on services.\n\nNow Hywel Dda, the health board that covers parts of west and mid Wales, will temporarily postpone routine appointments from Monday as it is \"treating the highest number of inpatients with confirmed Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic\".\n\nTwo other south Wales health boards - Aneurin Bevan in the south-east and Swansea Bay - have also suspended non-urgent care.\n\nWales has the highest infection rate of the UK nations - 530.2 cases per 100,000 people over seven days - and Dr Simon Barry, the national respiratory lead doctor in Wales, has warned the pressure on Welsh hospitals will get worse.\n\n\"It is fair to say, and this belief is reflected by my colleagues in other parts of Wales, it is exceptionally busy and much worse than it was during the first wave,\" said Dr Barry.\n\n\"The hospitals are full - they are full of general medical patients. The difference with the first wave is that both streams are busy so we basically don't have capacity in the hospitals.\"\n\nAlmost 18,000 of Wales' 117,367 Covid cases have been reported by Public Health Wales in the past seven days and patients with the virus make up 28% of all patients in hospital.\n\nMore than 3,000 people have died in Wales with Covid and Wales' R number has risen to between 0.9 and 1.2 - and Dr Barry believes that is reflected in the number of patients in hospital.\n\nWhile hospitals are filling up, Dr Barry said the impact of staff sickness and isolation was affecting the care that can be delivered, with a shortage of intensive care nurses a \"major issue\".\n\nThe intensive care unit at Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend is also full of Covid patients\n\n\"On intensive care there are a lot of nurses who are sick or are shielding,\" said the consultant chest physician from Cardiff.\n\n\"You have to have one-to-two nursing, and they can't achieve that. Similarly, if you are managing patients on respiratory wards where you have got sick people, and it is essentially a high-dependency ward, we don't have enough nurses.\n\n\"That is reflected across every hospital in Wales. That is the major issue, it is about staffing.\"\n\nCwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board has seen a 28% rise in coronavirus patients over the past week and 42% of all its patients in hospital beds have the virus.\n\nThe numbers of patients with Covid-19 in hospital beds in Wales set another record on Thursday - 2,231 across Wales - up 13% on the week before.\n\nEarlier, Cwm Taf's medical director Dr Nick Lyons said people's behaviour was going to make a bigger difference, especially around Christmas, than the new Welsh Government rules.\n\n\"When I see our hospitals under the pressure they're under, the difficulties that are going to be caused to the population we serve by the decisions made, then I think it's as much making that personal link between what our own actions make as we prepare for Christmas,\" he said.\n\n\"That's going to make the real difference and that's going to save lives.\"\n\nCase rates in the areas which make up the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board also include the two highest in Wales - Merthyr Tydfil and Bridgend.\n\nAneurin Bevan health board has the highest number of Covid patients - 43% of its 1,357 patients - while Hywel Dda is using more of its field hospitals to manage \"patient capacity and flow\" in hospitals.\n\n\"The measures we are taking are intended to protect patients with the most urgent clinical need whilst allowing us to reprioritise staff to mitigate the increasing risk of harm in acute and emergency care, due to the pressures,\" said Hywel Dda operations director Andrew Carruthers.", "A selection of your pictures of Scotland sent in between 11 and 18 December. Send your photos to scotlandpictures@bbc.co.uk. Please ensure you adhere to the BBC's rules regarding photographs that can be found here.\n\nPlease also ensure you follow current coronavirus guidelines and take your pictures safely and responsibly.\n\nConditions of use: If you submit an image, you do so in accordance with the BBC's terms and conditions..\n\nFirst light house: Beautiful sunrise from Aberdeen beach silhouetting the harbour’s south breakwater wall and lighthouse, thanks to David Hughes.\n\nA creel Christmas tree: \"We found this delightful, unusual Christmas tree made out of fishing equipment whilst walking a section of the Moray coastal path at Hopeman Harbour in Moray\", says Wilson Metcalfe.\n\nA grand, national view: \"My wife Mags and I were admiring great views of Arkle and Foinaven - from which Grand National winners took their names - when all of a sudden a Brocken spectre appeared\", says Stephen Wells. \"Our heads were in the middle of theses circular rainbows and our long leg shadows ran all the way back to us!\"\n\nA tree line trip: \"The dappled winter sun through the trees on an early afternoon walk through the grounds of Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire\", courtesy of Matt Donachie.\n\nSun dogs: \"Beautiful morning in Nairn\" says David Clark. \"Chester, Cooper, Parker, Walter and Arthur all decided to have a sit down and watch it after their walk along the beach.\"\n\nWhat Mor could you ask for: Buachaille Etive Mor looking spectacular, courtesy of Karolina Samerek.\n\nShip shape: \"This image is the MV Loch Shira and the MV Caledonian Isles silhouetted under Ailsa Craig, with Great Cumbrae making an appearance\", says Peter Ribbeck. \"Taken from Largs in North Ayrshire\".\n\nStreet art: \"Hope you like Buchanan Street with the low winter sun streaming up the street\", says Jim Johnston in Glasgow.\n\nA frosty reception: The snowman image welcoming entry into this garage in Spean Bridge is courtesy of Mark Reynolds.\n\nNutting to see here: \"I caught this squirrel peeking out at me in Dundee whilst out for a walk\", says Cara Rogers.\n\nJust face it: \"Do you see a man with a Van Dyke beard?\", asks Peter Crane. \"Simply a beautiful sunrise over Glenmore in Cairngorms\".\n\nLoch and quay: \"Loch Lomond, just before sunrise\", says Victor Tregubov.\n\nSwan around: Nicola Thorne captured this \"calm\" scene at Irvine beach, Ayrshire, her hometown.\n\nHeaven sent: \"Spotted this beautifully decorated stone on the footpath from Dornoch to Embo\", says Anne Maclean.\n\nBreakfast club: \"Our especially tame Robin getting its daily morning feed from our eight-year-old daughter\", says Jamie Stoddart in Port of Menteith.\n\nCold snap: \"This is Lochinver Women's Swimming Group\", says Franci Hutchison. \"We swim at the Whiteshore and have nicknamed our group the 'Blue Boobys' after an exotic looking bird with blue feet. We love the sea, wild swimming, a laugh and a good blether!\"\n\nMud bath: Caroline Eadie spotted this very Scottish scene at Pollok Country Park.\n\nSocial bubble: \"I snapped this lucky shot on my phone while my two-year-old daughter and I played in the garden in Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire\", says Rachel Smith.\n\nYou really otter have expected to see me: Richard Melvin sent us this image from Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.\n\nRear window: \"Colours on my car back windscreen as the ice melted on it\" says Bill Crookston. \"It was unexpected and really beautiful\".\n\nSailing into the sunset: \"Watching the Isle of Arran ferry with Ailsa Craig on the Firth of Clyde\", says Patricia Strong.\n\nCity lights: \"I finally completed my Christmas shopping and took this picture of Glasgow City Chambers in George Square on my way home\", says Hannah McLatchie. \"So close to Christmas that even the puddle is festive! Hope you like it and that it was worth squatting for!\"\n\nA pony for your thoughts: \"An Exmoor pony at North Berwick Law looking like he was either admiring the view or snoozing\", says Sylvia Beaumont.\n\nCatch of the day: \"I am a fisherman so get good sunsets and sunrises from the boat and at home around the harbour area where I spend most of my time\", says Rowan Davies from Dunbar, East Lothian.\n\nDecorated hero: \"The WW1 centenary 'Tommy' Maybole silhouetted against the town's Christmas tree\", says Alistair Hastings. \"Reminded me of the Christmas truce in 1914\".\n\nMe and my shadow: \"We're stuck inside with bad weather, so Caty and daddy amused themselves making shadow puppets,\" says Alison Escobar.\n\nFlight of fancy? \"Apparently this plane is flying from Chicago to Baku\", says Gemma Brown from her garden in Insch, Aberdeenshire. \"But I feel it's flying past Cassiopeia, through Perseus on its way to the moon!\"\n\nCast away: Robert Kerr sent this shot of fishing at sunset near Moscow, in Ayrshire.\n\nWhy the long face? \"We had a friendly horse come over to say hello and get some of the nice grass on our side of the fence when out walking by Countesswells woods in Aberdeen\", says Ewan Martin.\n\nGolden wonder: \"I was just heading out of the Botanic Gardens when I noticed the low sun coming down\", says Henry Memmott. \"I waited for a while in the warm sun, and was rewarded with some gorgeous golden colours and beautiful silhouettes, just before the sun disappeared completely\"\n\nSanta claws: Guinea pigs Shakira and Boba getting into the Christmas spirit in Aberdeen. Hats off to Daisy Banks for this one.\n\nPlease ensure that the photograph you send is your own and if you are submitting photographs of children, we must have written permission from a parent or guardian of every child featured (a grandparent, auntie or friend will not suffice).\n\nIn contributing to BBC News you agree to grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the material in any way, including in any media worldwide.\n\nHowever, you will still own the copyright to everything you contribute to BBC News.\n\nAt no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe the law.\n\nYou can find more information here.\n\nAll photos are subject to copyright.", "Ian Hopkins had been on sick leave\n\nGreater Manchester Police's chief constable has stood down after the force was placed into special measures.\n\nThe force was put into an \"advanced phase\" of monitoring on Thursday after inspectors found it had failed to record 80,000 crimes in a year.\n\nIan Hopkins said he would step down with immediate effect.\n\nHome Secretary Priti Patel accused the region's mayor Andy Burnham of throwing the officer \"under the bus to save his own skin\".\n\nHer Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said it was left \"deeply troubled\" over how cases handled by GMP were closed without proper investigation.\n\nIt said about 220 crimes a day went unrecorded in the year up to June 2020.\n\nIn a letter to the chief constable and Mr Burnham last week, Ms Patel said the report \"paints a worrying picture\" and she was \"deeply concerned\".\n\nBut Mr Burnham accused her of failing to give \"a fair and balanced picture\" of GMP.\n\nVictims' Commissioner for England and Wales Dame Vera Baird told BBC Radio 4's PM programme the force's failures were \"outstandingly bad\".\n\nShe said crimes like stalking and coercive control were \"profoundly traumatising\" and victims needed \"not only the support of police to get orders restraining the perpetrator and to take them to court, but they also need to be safeguarded and referred to appropriate victim's services\".\n\nShe added that \"none of that was happening\" and vulnerable people had \"simply been deserted\".\n\nIn a statement, Mr Hopkins, who had been on sick leave, said these were \"challenging times\" for GMP and he believed a chief constable should oversee the force's \"long-term strategic plan\" to address the issues raised from \"start to finish\".\n\nMr Hopkins revealed on Wednesday he had been suffering from labyrinthitis - an inner-ear infection which affects balance - since the end of October.\n\nThe news of the chief constable standing down had barely broken when reporters phones started buzzing with a message from Home Secretary Priti Patel's party political spokesman.\n\n\"It's no surprise that the Labour mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham has thrown a senior police officer under the bus to save his own skin,\" the message said.\n\nLast week, the MP wrote a blistering letter to Mr Burnham about GMP's performance, saying she was \"deeply concerned\".\n\nHer spokesman then sent the letter to journalists saying \"this is exactly what happens when Labour are in power - people are let down by them\".\n\nIn reply, Mr Burnham pointed out Conservative government cuts had lost the force 2,000 police officers and 1,000 police staff.\n\nHe also highlighted Ms Patel's department had failed to deport three members of an infamous Rochdale grooming gang.\n\nThis political tension between populist heavyweights could possibly bring about better policing for the people of Manchester, but it seems more likely that they will lose out as the parties battle over who is responsible for the miserable performance of the force, instead of working together to improve things.\n\nMr Hopkins said given his ill health, he would bring his retirement, which he was due to take in autumn 2021, forward.\n\nHe has been chief constable of GMP since October 2015, leading a force of almost 7,000 officers.\n\n\"Throughout my career, I have been committed to achieving the best outcomes for the people I serve [and] the decision to stand down is not one I have taken lightly, but I feel the time is right,\" he said.\n\nConservative MP for Bolton West Chris Green earlier called for Mr Burnham, who oversees policing in the region, to step down over the HMICFRS findings.\n\nThe Labour mayor said while he had \"a regard\" for Mr Hopkins, \"now is the time for new leadership and a new era in our police force\".\n\n\"At the end of the day, it's public confidence in Greater Manchester Police that matters,\" he said.\n\nHe said Mr Hopkins had led the force during \"one of the most difficult periods in its history\" and had dealt with budget cuts and \"complex threats\", such as the Manchester Arena terror attack, but GMP had not made the progress needed \"in other important areas\".\n\nMr Burnham, who has responsibilities around the force's governance and budgets, said he \"did not run GMP on a day-to-day basis\" and his job was to hold it to account.\n\n\"At times, this essential task has been made too difficult by an overly defensive culture within GMP,\" he said.\n\n\"This needs to change if GMP is to develop the open learning culture that will allow the failures identified to be properly addressed.\"\n\nMr Burnham said deputy chief constable Ian Pilling would assume the operational duties of chief constable ahead of a full recruitment process.\n\nStu Berry, the chairman of Greater Manchester Police Federation, said the issues that had been reported about the force's failures \"should not - and must not - detract from the efforts of our hard working officers\".\n\nHe added that it had been \"an extremely busy, difficult and demanding year for Greater Manchester Police and our members have worked tremendously hard to keep our communities safe during this extraordinary Covid pandemic\".\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The River Towy at Carmarthen flooded on Saturday\n\nA landslip at a coal tip is being investigated by engineers following heavy rain.\n\nRhondda Cynon Taf council leader Andrew Morgan said about a 40-50m section had slipped at Wattstown, although he did not believe it posed a risk to the nearby Rhondda bypass.\n\nElsewhere, parts of Carmarthen have flooded after the River Towy burst its banks.\n\nFlood warnings and alerts remain in place in some parts of Wales.\n\nNatural Resources Wales (NRW) warned people to \"take extra care and keep a safe distance\" from river banks.\n\nMr Morgan said the Wattstown site has been the focus of drone checks every two weeks after a landslip at nearby Tylorstown in February.\n\nNo properties are in the vicinity of the latest landslip, he said.\n\n\"It looks far worse than it is but it's the second landslip this year,\" he said.\n\nEngineers are investigating the landslip at Wattstown\n\nRhondda MP Chris Bryant tweeted that \"everything that needs to be done will be done\".\n\nWales is set to get £31m for essential flood repairs. The money would help repair areas - including coal tips - damaged by Storm Dennis in February.\n\nA Welsh Government spokesperson said it had \"already commissioned work to develop options\" for the Wattstown site and it would work with council and the Coal Authority to provide \"necessary support\".\n\nMore heavy rain is expected following severe flooding in Carmarthenshire\n\nCarmarthenshire was severely flooded by the River Towy on Saturday, with local businesses badly affected.\n\nDafydd Williams, from Llangunnor, said: \"\"High tide was 09:30 GMT this morning and we've got another high tide again around 16:30 GMT, so another coming in this afternoon.\n\n\"Businesses have already been badly hit by Covid and having to close at 18:00 every day, now they're clearing stock from where they've been flooded.\"\n\nParts of the Brecon Beacons had the most rainfall in Wales on Friday - with 98mm falling at Llyn-y-Fan in Carmarthenshire, making it the third wettest place in the UK.\n\nThe village of Tyn-y-Waun in Bridgend county was Wales' second wettest with 82mm (3.2in) on Friday, according to NRW data.\n\nThat compares to Wales' average December rainfall of 166mm (6.5in) for the whole month.\n\nIn Newbridge on Usk, Monmouthshire a delivery driver had to be rescued from flood waters as river levels rose in the heavy rain.\n\nNatural Resources Wales (NRW) warned people to \"take extra care and keep a safe distance\" from river banks.\n\nIt comes after the Met Office issued a weather warning for rain on Friday.\n\nStreets and roads were flooded by the River Towy in Carmarthen\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The Duchess of Sussex has settled a legal claim against a news agency that photographed her and her son, Archie, the High Court has heard.\n\nSplash News and Picture Agency - which is in administration - has agreed not to take photos of her, Prince Harry or Archie, should it resume trading.\n\nMeghan's solicitor said the photos were taken during a \"private family outing\" in a park in Canada.\n\nThe pictures were taken in Horth Hill Regional Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, on 20 January, using a long lens, and showed Meghan walking with her two dogs, with Archie in a baby sling.\n\nThe duke and duchess had set up base in Canada at the time, after announcing their intention to step back as senior members of the Royal Family and divide their time between the UK and North America. They later relocated to Meghan's home state of California.\n\nMeghan brought privacy and data protection claims against Splash in March both in her own right and with her husband, Harry, on behalf of Archie.\n\nHowever, Splash UK went into administration on 1 July, after the claim had been issued and served.\n\nMr Justice Nicklin heard details of the settlement at a remote High Court hearing.\n\nMeghan's solicitor, Jenny Afia, said that in light of the administration the parties had agreed to settle the claim against the agency, with Splash UK agreeing not to take any photographs of the couple or their son, should it come out of administration in the future.\n\nMs Afia told the court the couple's case was that the taking of the photographs was an \"unlawful invasion of privacy\" and their subsequent syndication to the media violated their data protection rights.\n\nShe said the couple held that when the photographs were taken, Meghan and Archie were on \"a private family outing in a remote rural setting and that there was no public interest in the photographs\".\n\nMs Afia added it was the couple's case that, a day before the photographs were taken, a Splash photographer made \"a full reconnaissance inspection\" of their private home, \"walking around it looking to identify entry and exit points and putting his camera over the fence to take photographs\".\n\nNeil Allen, of the administrators of Splash UK, accepted \"all that Ms Afia has said\" on behalf of the agency.\n\nA spokesman for the parent company Splash said: \"Splash confirms that one of its former companies has agreed that, should it begin trading again, it will not take unauthorised photographs of the family of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.\"\n\nA spokesman for Schillings, Meghan and Harry's legal representatives, said the settlement was \"a clear signal that unlawful, invasive and intrusive paparazzi behaviour will not be tolerated, and that the couple takes these matters seriously - just as any family would.\"\n\nA simultaneous and similar claim against Splash US - Splash UK's American sister company - is continuing through the UK courts, the spokesman added.\n\nThe duchess is also suing Associated Newspapers, publisher of The Mail On Sunday and MailOnline, over publication of a letter the duchess wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle.\n\nIn October, she was granted a postponement of the trial, which had been due to be held in January, until autumn 2021.", "Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen when they met earlier this year\n\nThe two sides in this complicated and drawn out process have agreed that it is worth trying one last time to find a way through their profound differences.\n\nBut the statements from the prime minister and the EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen, signal clearly that a trade deal is out of reach right now - spelling out that if no-one budges in the next few days, it's simply not going to happen.\n\nA feature of Brexit negotiations has often been the last minute stand off, the political emergency, before suddenly, lo and behold, a deal emerges from the wreckage.\n\nBy Monday night, that tradition may have been proven again.\n\nYet it seems there is a lot more to be done than ironing out a few last minute glitches.\n\nThe UK believes that after months of talks, the EU - pushed by some member states - has hardened its stance on the same old stumbling blocks.\n\nAnd that's pushed a deal that was in reach just a few days ago, further away.\n\nFor both sides, not reaching a deal would be a political failure.\n\nThe prime minister has warned that it might not come to pass and has tried to assure the public about what would happen if it can't be done.\n\nBut the UK and the EU have both said on repeated occasions that a deal is what they want - eager to avoid the disruption of leaving the transition period at the end of this year without arrangements in place.\n\nAnd their negotiating teams have worked for months on the mechanics of how the conundrums over our departure from the trading bloc could be resolved.\n\nBut the two sides are still stuck over the fundamental, political question - who really calls the shots.\n\nIt was Theresa May who coined the phrase, \"no deal is better than a bad deal\".\n\nIn the next 48 hours, Boris Johnson and the European Union have to decide if they want to test if she was right.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Health Secretary Jeane Freeman says “all options are on the table at this point”\n\nThe health secretary has revised her claim that parts of Scotland could stay in level four when Covid restrictions are reviewed on 11 December.\n\nEleven areas, including most of central Scotland, are currently at the highest alert level.\n\nThe first minister has previously said that the toughest restrictions would be lifted at 18:00 next Friday.\n\nJeane Freeman initially told BBC Scotland that \"all options are on the table\".\n\nBut she later said her comments were meant to be in respect of which levels the 11 areas would drop down to.\n\nThe health secretary said a cabinet decision would be reached on Tuesday morning with Nicola Sturgeon announcing the details later that day.\n\nMs Freeman's earlier comments on the BBC's Politics Scotland programme appeared to contradict what the first minister said at the government's coronavirus briefing on 20 November.\n\nNicola Sturgeon was asked by the BBC's Aileen Clarke whether she could provide reassurances to businesses in level four areas - including hospitality and hairdressers - that they could confidently plan to reopen in December.\n\nMs Sturgeon said: \"Level four restrictions in the areas will be lifted on the 11th of December. Before then we will have to make an assessment based on up-to-date data at the time about what levels these areas then go into.\n\n\"Will they go back to level three or could some of them go to level two? We can't make that assessment right now because we need to wait and see what the data is, but the level four restrictions will be lifted on the 11th of December.\"\n\nMs Freeman was asked on Politics Scotland about the chances of restrictions on nearly 2.3 million people in level four areas remaining - possibly until Christmas.\n\nShe said: \"Right now, as is always the case in advance of these reviews, a great deal of work is going on - analysing the data, talking to colleagues on local authorities, taking senior clinical advice.\n\n\"All of this is designed to help us reach a judgement about what is the right thing to do.\n\n\"All options are on the table just now as you would expect them to be. People shouldn't read from that any decision one way or the other.\n\n\"The work goes on over the weekend so that we have the most up-to-date data, the most up-do-date clinical advice. That's important and it's a big responsibility that we get that right for people across Scotland.\"\n\nMs Freeman later tweeted: \"11 local authorities currently in Level 4 will come out of that level on Friday. That position has not changed.\n\n\"The Cabinet will decide on Tuesday what level below 4 they'll go into. My comments were intended to mean in respect of that decision, all options are on the table.\"\n\nIt comes as a further five people who tested positive for coronavirus were recorded to have died in the past 24 hours.\n\nThere are currently 951 people in hospital with a positive Covid test and 62 of those are in ICU.\n\nThe Scottish Conservatives said the \"mixed messaging\" from the health secretary created uncertainty and was \"extremely unhelpful just days away from the latest review\".\n\nThe party's health spokesman Donald Cameron said: \"The questions she was asked could not have been clearer. These restrictions affect millions of people and they deserve a clear and consistent message from SNP ministers.\n\n\"While it is welcome that the government has eventually confirmed these restrictions will end, there was absolutely no need for this speculation to occur in the first place.\"\n\nLabour's Monica Lennon said: \"It's worrying that the first minister and the health secretary are contradicting each other on something as serious as the level four restrictions, leaving businesses and millions of Scots in limbo.\n\n\"This is no way to handle a pandemic.\"\n\nScottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said ministers had consistently failed to demonstrate the right measures were being put in place to cut infection rates and facilitate an easing of restrictions.\n\nHe said: \"The public need a clear and effective plan of action, not guessing games.\"\n\nThe areas currently under level four restrictions are East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian.\n\nThe rest of the country is in levels one to three of the five-tier system.", "Last updated on .From the section Cricket\n\nThe first match of England's one-day series in South Africa has again been called off because of positive coronavirus tests, this time from two members of hotel staff.\n\nThe game, due to be played on Friday, was postponed after an unnamed South Africa player tested positive.\n\nThe home squad was tested again on Friday and all returned negative results.\n\nSunday's match in Paarl was abandoned 30 minutes before the 08:00 GMT start.\n\nThe England squad were tested on Saturday after the positive tests of the hotel staff, and the ODI was initially delayed as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said it is awaiting \"ratification\" of those results.\n\nThe cancellation was confirmed shortly after, and it was later revealed that two members of the England party had returned \"unconfirmed positive tests\".\n\nIt is unclear whether the games due to be played on Monday and Wednesday will take place. England are scheduled to fly home on Thursday.\n\nThe series is being played in a bio-secure 'bubble', with players only leaving their Cape Town hotel to play and train.\n\nBefore the Twenty20 series last month - which England won 3-0 - two South Africa players tested positive for coronavirus and two others were placed in isolation.\n\nThis series is England's first overseas tour since their trip to Sri Lanka was abandoned in March following the outbreak of the pandemic.\n\nAfter a delayed start to the home summer, the men's team fulfilled all their planned matches, playing matches in a bio-secure environment and without fans in grounds.\n\nFast bowler Jofra Archer was forced to miss the second Test against West Indies after returning home between Tests, but no fixtures were affected.\n\n'It would be a miracle if series is completed' - analysis\n\nBoth teams are staying in the same hotel in South Africa - they are segregated supposedly so I don't know how much contact the England players will have had with these two individuals. It just demonstrates that there has been a breakdown in the bio-secure bubble.\n\nThe England players weren't happy about the security anyway, and they were upset there were breaches during the Twenty20 series.\n\nIt would be a miracle if England were to continue. I suspect those games won't go ahead.\n\nIt's a pandemic, and everyone knows the virus won't just go away so we can play cricket.\n\nIt's not easy to stage these things. It only takes a little breakdown and it can sweep down - and that's what England are desperate to avoid.\n\nMissed out on Saturday's Premier League action? All the goals and highlights are streaming now", "Last updated on .From the section Golf\n\nPeter Alliss, the legendary BBC golf commentator, has died at the age of 89.\n\nAlliss, known as 'the voice of golf' to fans around the world, has been synonymous with the BBC's golf coverage for more than half a century.\n\nHaving first appeared on the BBC in 1961, he was made lead golf commentator in 1978 after retiring as a player.\n\n\"It is with great sadness we announce the passing of golfing and broadcast legend Peter Alliss,\" said Alliss' family.\n\nIn a statement, they described his death as \"unexpected but peaceful\".\n\nThey added: \"Peter was a devoted husband, father and grandfather and his family ask for privacy at this difficult time.\"\n\nAlliss provided the soundtrack to many of golf's most memorable moments, with November's Masters the last tournament he covered.\n\n\"Peter was the voice of golf. He was an absolute master of his craft with a unique ability to capture a moment with a magical turn of phrase that no one else could match,\" said Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport.\n\nAs a player, Alliss won 31 tournaments and he and his father Percy were the first father-son duo to compete in the Ryder Cup, when it was a contest between Great Britain and the United States.\n\nIn 2012, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement category.\n• None Alliss reflects on the tales behind Great Britain's Ryder Cup wins\n\n'One of the greatest broadcasters of his generation' - Alliss as commentator\n\nAfter retiring from playing golf - in a professional sense, at least - Alliss moved into the commentary booth, where his descriptive and dead-pan style became the soundtrack to the BBC's coverage of major golf events.\n\n\"His inimitable tone, humour and command of the microphone will be sorely missed. His often legendary commentaries will be long remembered,\" said the BBC.\n\nAlliss' first experience behind the microphone came at the 1961 Open Championship, remarkably, in the same tournament he was challenging Arnold Palmer on the course.\n\nBetween trying to stop the American great claiming victory, with Alliss eventually finishing seven shots adrift of Palmer, the Englishman also cut his teeth analysing his fellow competitors.\n\nIn 1978 he was appointed the BBC's chief golf commentator following the death of his co-host and great friend Henry Longhurst.\n\n\"I'm there as an old player, a lover of the game and a good weaver of stories,\" is how Alliss once described his television role.\n\nTo the majority of British golf fans - and many more across the world - his soothing voice became synonymous as the audio accompaniment to the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods winning the sport's biggest prizes.\n\nOnly a few weeks ago, Alliss described the moment when world number one Dustin Johnson won the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.\n\n\"After six decades behind the microphone, he was just a month ago at the incredible age of 89 doing what he loved - commentating for the BBC on the Masters,\" said Slater.\n\n\"He transcended his sport as one of the greatest broadcasters of his generation.\"\n• None \"What on earth are you doing? He's gone ga-ga. To attempt to hit the ball out of there is pure madness.\" - his iconic description of Frenchman Jean van de Velde taking off his shoes and socks and wading into the Barry Burn on the final hole of the 1999 Open at Carnoustie.\n• None \"It's like turning up to hear Pavarotti sing and finding out he has laryngitis.\" - reflecting on Tiger Woods shooting a third-round 81 at the 2002 Open.\n• None \"Looks a bit like Jurassic Park in there.\" - describing the rough on the 14th at Royal St George's, host of the 2003 Open.\n• None \"One of the good things about rain in Scotland is that most of it ends up as scotch.\" - on poor weather during a tournament in Scotland.\n• None \"That really is a settler. Better than Alka Seltzer.\" - after watching Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke sink an early final-round putt on his way to winning the 2011 Open.\n\nFollowing in his father's footsteps & teaching James Bond - Alliss as a player\n\nWith his father Percy established as one of England's leading professional players in the 1920s and 1930s, it was perhaps inevitable the golf genes were passed down to Alliss.\n\nAlliss was born in Berlin, where his father was the professional at the glamorous Wannsee club, and apparently weighed a European record 14lbs 11oz when he arrived in 1931.\n\nThose hereditary blessings helped him blossom into a fine ball striker himself, establishing Alliss as one of the brightest young players of the time.\n\nBetween 1954 and 1969, he won 21 professional tournaments - including three British PGA Championships - and was twice winner of the Harry Vardon Trophy, given to the leading European player of the year.\n\nThe biggest title evaded him, however. Alliss came within four shots of lifting the Claret Jug in 1954, one of five top-10 finishes he had at the Open Championship.\n\nPart of the reason he did not claim more of the biggest individual prizes seemed to be his infamously unreliable putting.\n\n\"I began to twitch on the short putts,\" he said after his decision to retire from the international game aged 38.\n\nYet, with the same self-deprecating humour he would bring to his commentary, Alliss made light of his deficiency.\n\nEach of his luxury cars - one of the things his princely golf earnings of £30,000 allowed him to indulge - was said to have been fitted with a personalised number plate: '3 Put'.\n\nHe won more than 30 tournaments at home and abroad including the Spanish, Italian and Portuguese Opens. But it is for his broadcasting skills that he will be most remembered.\n\nGolf gravitas was supplemented by sharp wit and whimsy that made his a uniquely charming voice. It brought him millions of fans on both sides of the Atlantic.\n\nAs golf grew ever more popular, he became one of Britain's most famous figures, hosting the highly successful Pro-Celebrity Golf programme on BBC television and his own chat show 'Around with Alliss', which attracted many of the biggest entertainment stars of the 1970s and '80s.\n\nHis influence on golf stretched far and wide. He had a course architecture business with Dave Thomas that included among its commissions The Belfry, which has hosted four Ryder Cups. Alliss also wrote several books on the game.\n\nHe was a traditionalist who enjoyed the peculiarities of golf club life and he remained a brilliant and buoyant raconteur until the very end. But above all, he was still interested and fascinated by the sport. He was determined to carry on commentating, looking forward to being there for the 150th Open at St Andrews in 2022.\n\n'Golf will never be the same' - Lineker & Cleese among those paying tribute\n\nFollowing the news on Sunday of Alliss' death, tributes poured in from former and current players, golf's governing bodies, celebrities, journalists and fans.\n\nDenmark's Thomas Bjorn, who captained Europe to Ryder Cup victory in 2019, said Alliss was a \"great man\".\n\nFive-time major winner Phil Mickelson, who in 2012 was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame with Alliss and Britain's first Masters champion, Sandy Lyle, paid an affectionate tribute.\n\nThe European Tour said it was \"deeply saddened\" at his death, describing him as \"truly one of golf's greats\".\n\n\"Peter made an indelible mark on everything he did in our game, but especially as a player and a broadcaster, and he leaves a remarkable legacy,\" said Keith Pelley, European Tour chief executive.\n\nMatch of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, who has also fronted the BBC's Masters and Open coverage in the past, and Monty Python actor John Cleese were among the first to mourn Alliss' passing.\n\nBBC director general Tim Davie said Alliss' commentary \"brought the game to life\" for millions of people.\n\n\"Nobody told the story of golf quite like Peter Alliss,\" he added.\n\n\"He captured golf's drama with insight, wisdom, and humanity. He was a legendary commentator.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Fifty hospitals in England have been chosen as hubs for administering the vaccine\n\nThe coronavirus vaccine is the \"beginning of the end\" of the epidemic in the UK, Prof Stephen Powis has said, as vaccinations begin on Tuesday.\n\nBut the NHS England medical director warned the distribution of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would be a \"marathon not a sprint\".\n\nIt will take \"many months\" to vaccinate everybody who needs it, he said.\n\nFrontline health staff, those over 80, and care home workers will be first to get the Covid-19 vaccine.\n\nIn England, 50 hospitals have been initially chosen to serve as hubs for administering the vaccine.\n\nScotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will also begin their vaccination programmes from hospitals on Tuesday.\n\nProf Powis was speaking outside Croydon University Hospital in south London, which became one of the first hospitals in the UK to take delivery of the vaccine on Sunday.\n\nVaccines were delivered to Croydon University Hospital on Sunday\n\nIt comes as a further 231 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported in the latest UK government figures, and a further 17,272 cases.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock described the start of the vaccination scheme as \"a historic moment\".\n\n\"I urge everybody to play their part to suppress this virus and follow the local restrictions to protect the NHS while they carry out this crucial work,\" he said.\n\nRefrigerated containers holding the vaccine doses have been arriving in the UK from Belgium, and are being prepared to be moved from secure locations to the hospitals.\n\nProf Powis said despite \"huge complexities\", the first doses would arrive at hospitals on Monday, to be ready to administer from Tuesday.\n\n\"As a doctor this is a really exciting moment,\" he said.\n\n\"NHS staff around the country at vaccination hubs have been working tirelessly to make sure that we are prepared to commence vaccination on Tuesday.\"\n\nHe added: \"The NHS has a strong record of delivering large scale vaccination programmes - from the flu jab, HPV vaccine and lifesaving MMR jabs.\"\n\nAbout 800,000 doses of the vaccine are expected to be available in the UK from next week.\n\nSo far the government has ordered a total of 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people, with two shots each, 21 days apart.\n\nWith limited quantities initially available, elderly people who are already attending hospital as an outpatient, as well as those who are being discharged home after a hospital stay, will be among the first to receive the jab.\n\nOthers over the age of 80 will be invited to attend the hospital to receive a jab, and care home providers will be able to book their staff into vaccination clinics.\n\nAny appointments not used for these groups will be used for healthcare workers who are at highest risk of serious illness from the virus.\n\nDr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said people could have \"real confidence\" in the vaccine, adding: \"The highest standards of scrutiny, of safety and of effectiveness and quality have been met, international standards.\"\n\nShe also said the MHRA would also be \"following up all the safety issues after rollout incredibly carefully. Our job doesn't end when rollout starts.\"\n\nSpeaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Dr Raine vowed the vaccine will reach everyone in the UK who needs it - whatever the outcome of post-Brexit trade talks, saying officials were \"fully prepared\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will the new Pfizer vaccine work?\n\nBecause the Pfizer vaccine needs to stored and moved carefully each container is being inspected to ensure the vaccine vials have reached the UK in perfect condition.\n\nTracking data covering every box's journey from Belgium is being downloaded to check that the vials have been kept well below freezing.\n\nThe boxes each contain five packs of 975 doses, and will be split into smaller packs to be distributed around the country and defrosted.\n\nThe vaccine is made in Belgium and has to be stored at around -70C\n\nAlthough care home residents and staff are top of the priority list agreed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), they may not get the vaccine first \"for operational reasons\".\n\nProf Anthony Harnden - deputy chair of the JCVI - told the BBC on Friday said the committee would \"closely monitor\" delivery and stressed he still expected care home residents \"to be prioritised\".\n\nMr Hancock said the government was doing everything it could to overcome \"significant challenges\" to ensure care home residents were vaccinated as soon as possible.\n\nSpeaking to the Sunday Telegraph, the health secretary said fast-track approval of the Covid jab meant restrictions might be relaxed before the end of March next year.\n\nAs well as the challenge of delivering the vaccine, health experts are also conscious that the public needs to be educated and persuaded to support the vaccination programme.\n\nA host of famous faces including chat show host Sir Michael Parkinson and the singer Lulu, have told the Sunday Mirror that they will take the coronavirus vaccine without hesitation.\n\nIt follows concerns that online misinformation about vaccines could turn some people against being vaccinated.\n\nThe Mail on Sunday reports that the Queen is expected to receive the vaccine \"within weeks\" before revealing she has had it to boost public take-up of the jab.\n\nThe paper quotes senior sources who say the 94-year-old monarch and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, will not get \"preferential treatment\" and will \"wait in line\" during the first wave of jabs reserved for the over-80s and care home residents.", "Last updated on .From the section Premier League\n\nChelsea went top of the Premier League as they came from behind to beat Leeds United in their first game in front of fans for nine months.\n\nFormer Blues striker Patrick Bamford, who spent five years at Chelsea without making a senior appearance, gave Leeds an early lead at Stamford Bridge after getting between defender Kurt Zouma and keeper Edouard Mendy.\n\nTimo Werner then somehow managed to miss from point-blank range after Olivier Giroud's flicked header from a corner, the Germany forward hitting the underside of the bar before Leeds cleared.\n\nHowever, Giroud marked his first league start of the season with his fifth goal of the week, the scorer of all four of Chelsea's Champions League goals away to Sevilla in midweek poking home from five yards after Reece James' cross.\n\nChelsea, who welcomed 2,000 fans back to Stamford Bridge after coronavirus restrictions were eased, went ahead as Zouma headed in from Mason Mount's corner.\n\nSubstitute Christian Pulisic added a late third from Werner's pass, with the United States winger becoming the 13th different player to score for Chelsea in the Premier League this season.\n\nChelsea, who started the day third, are one point clear at the top.\n• None Bamford returns to Stamford Bridge with point to prove\n\nThere were scenes of celebration after the final whistle as Blues boss Frank Lampard went over to applaud fans inside the ground, who gave the players a standing ovation while they headed for the dressing room.\n\nOne supporter held up a banner which read \"It's great to be back\" and Chelsea certainly relished the occasion as they turned on the style.\n\nWhen they last moved to the summit after a win at Newcastle on 21 November, Lampard said he was not going to \"get excited about being top for five minutes\".\n\nWithin a few hours they had been replaced by Tottenham following a win over Manchester City later the same day.\n\nLampard's side will at least enjoy being top a while longer this time, although they could be overtaken by Tottenham and Liverpool on Sunday.\n\nNevertheless, this was a highly satisfactory victory.\n\nWhile France's World Cup winner Giroud made the most of his first league start of 2020-21, Werner will wonder how on earth he did not score.\n\nAfter his astonishing miss, Werner was thwarted on three occasions by Leeds keeper Illan Meslier, while Kai Havertz headed another chance over.\n\nUnbeaten in nine top-flight games, Chelsea are handling the hectic Champions League-Premier League schedule well.\n\nAfter securing top spot in their European group, Lampard's men are looking down on all the rest in England.\n\nBamford arrived at Stamford Bridge with a point to prove - and, despite his team's defeat, left after once again demonstrating he belongs on the Premier League stage.\n\nThe 27-year-old was overlooked during his time at Chelsea, leaving for Middlesbrough in 2017 after five years in London without playing a competitive senior game.\n\nIn an extraordinary opening, and after the hosts had twice gone close in the first two minutes, Bamford got between Zouma and Mendy to connect with Jack Harrison's threaded pass to fire Leeds ahead.\n\nIt was another classy finish by Bamford, who is now level with Leicester's Jamie Vardy and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah in terms of top-flight goals in 2020-21.\n\nIncredibly, seven of his eight league goals have come away from Elland Road, with Bamford scoring in five of Leeds' six away games this season.\n\nHis side, however, could not capitalise.\n\nHaving beaten former leaders Everton in their previous game, they were unable to stop Chelsea from going top.\n\nBefore this weekend only Liverpool had more attempts in the Premier League than Marcelo Bielsa's side.\n\nThey had another eight against Chelsea but could not respond once Zouma headed the hosts ahead.\n\n'Defeats an opportunity to learn' - what they said\n\nChelsea manager Frank Lampard: \"I was nervous of Leeds. They're a threat until the end if you don't get a cushion.\n\n\"They are pretty unique in their style and they're well coached. We knew it was a big task. Character-wise and performance-wise, on lots of levels, I'm absolutely delighted.\"\n\nLeeds boss Marcelo Bielsa: \"It was difficult for us to stop them playing out from the back with their centre-backs and [midfielder] N'Golo Kante.\n\n\"I never question the refereeing decisions and this game was not decided by the referee. He did not decide the game. Always defeats are an opportunity to learn something.\"\n• None Leeds have conceded five goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) in the Premier League this season, only Leicester have conceded more from such situations (six).\n• None Oliver Giroud has become the first Chelsea player to score in six consecutive Premier League starts since Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in October 2001. At 34 years and 66 days, he is the oldest player to score in six consecutive Premier League starts.\n• None Chelsea have won four of their past five Premier League games (drawn one) - indeed, no current Premier League side is on a longer unbeaten run than the Blues (nine - won five, drawn four).\n• None Leeds have lost three of their past five Premier League games (won one, drawn one), conceding three or more goals in all three defeats.\n• None Marcelo Bielsa's side faced 23 shots in this match, their joint-most in a Premier League game this season (also 23 against Manchester City).\n\nChelsea, who have already sealed top spot, host Russian side Krasnodar in their sixth and final Champions League Group E game on Tuesday (20:00 GMT), while Leeds are back in Premier League action next Friday against West Ham at Elland Road (20:00).\n• None Raphinha (Leeds United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.\n• None Goal! Chelsea 3, Leeds United 1. Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) left footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Timo Werner following a fast break.\n• None Attempt missed. Tammy Abraham (Chelsea) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Timo Werner.\n• None Attempt blocked. Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Timo Werner.\n• None Offside, Leeds United. Stuart Dallas tries a through ball, but Ian Poveda-Ocampo is caught offside.\n• None Attempt missed. Reece James (Chelsea) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Mason Mount with a cross following a corner.\n• None Attempt saved. Ian Poveda-Ocampo (Leeds United) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.\n• None Attempt missed. Olivier Giroud (Chelsea) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Mason Mount with a cross following a corner.\n• None Attempt saved. Timo Werner (Chelsea) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Mason Mount. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None I May Destroy You star Michaela Coel joins for his new series", "Joe Anderson has been mayor since 2012\n\nLiverpool mayor Joe Anderson has been released on bail after being arrested by police investigating claims of bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nHe was held with four other men as part of an investigation into the awarding of building contracts in the city.\n\nThe Labour Party has suspended Mr Anderson pending the outcome of the case.\n\nMerseyside Police said all five people \"have been released on condition bail, pending further inquiries.\"\n\nTheir year-long investigation, Operation Aloft, has focused on a number of property developers.\n\nOn Friday, Mr Anderson, 62, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nIn a statement, he said he was \"interviewed for six hours\" and that he was \"co-operating fully\" with the police.\n\nMr Anderson said he would be \"talking to my cabinet colleagues over the weekend to ensure the challenges our city faces with the Covid pandemic continue to receive the focus they deserve\".\n\nHe also said he supported Labour's decision to suspend him while the police inquiry continues.\n\n\"I have been bailed to return in one month's time. Given the investigation is continuing, and there are bail conditions, I will not be making any further comments.\"\n\nCouncillor Richard Kemp, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group on Liverpool City Council, said that Mr Anderson should follow \"other senior figures in such cases\" and \"step away\" from the council and mayoralty during the legal process.\n\nPolice said they detained two other men, from Liverpool and Ainsdale, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.\n\nTwo more, aged 25 and 72, were arrested on suspicion of witness intimidation.\n\nLiverpool City Council said it was co-operating with Merseyside Police.\n\nFather-of-four Mr Anderson, an ex-social worker and former member of the Merchant Navy, joined the Labour Party in 1980.\n\nHe was elected mayor of Liverpool in 2012, having been on the city's council since 1998.\n\nIn 2016, he vied to become Labour's candidate for the Liverpool City Region mayoral post, but was beaten by then Walton MP Steve Rotheram, who currently holds the position.\n\nMr Anderson recently spearheaded the drive for mass coronavirus testing in Liverpool.\n\nHis brother Bill died in October after contracting the virus.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The market is a popular annual tradition in the city\n\nA Christmas market which sparked concerns over the spread of coronavirus has closed - one day after it opened.\n\nNottingham's Winter Wonderland opened on Saturday despite objections from residents in the city, which is under tier three restrictions.\n\nOn Sunday, the city council said it had made a joint decision with the organisers not to reopen this year.\n\nThe market was set to run from 10:00 to 21:00 GMT every day until Christmas Eve.\n\nCrowds forced it to close at 18:00 on Saturday.\n\nSimilar annual events in cities including Birmingham and Manchester were cancelled this year due to the pandemic.\n\nConcerns have been raised over the levels of social distancing observed at the Christmas market in Nottingham\n\nJo Cox-Brown, from Night Time Economy Solutions, said she had been in the city centre to support Small Business Saturday and witnessed crowds where people were close together and not wearing masks.\n\nShe said she worried the market could cause a spike in local coronavirus cases.\n\n\"It wasn't being well-managed it wasn't being very well-controlled,\" she said.\n\n\"People were defecating in doorways because there's no toilets open.\"\n\nMs Cox-Brown said many people who had been in touch were \"really angry\" the event went ahead and felt organisers were \"putting their Christmas at risk\".\n\nSimon Bonsai said he was \"hugely disappointed\" to see the market closed\n\nTrader Simon Bonsai said he was \"hugely disappointed\" by the closure after a brisk day of trading on Saturday, but said the decision was \"obvious\".\n\n\"It was so busy last night, there were too many people about,\" he said.\n\nIn a joint statement, Mellors Group and the city council said it implemented a \"wide range of measures\" to ensure compliance with tier three restrictions.\n\n\"However, numbers were too large to implement these effectively,\" they said.\n\n\"We're sorry it has not worked out.\"\n\nMellors previously said there had been \"pent-up demand\" for city-centre shopping after the second nationwide lockdown, which ended on Wednesday.\n\nFollow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The witness chose to keep her face mask on after Mr Giuliani made the request\n\nPresident Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has tested positive for Covid-19 and is being treated in hospital.\n\nMr Giuliani, who has led the Trump campaign's legal challenges to the election results, is the latest person close to the president to be infected.\n\nSince November, he has been on a cross-country tour in an effort to convince state governments to overturn the vote.\n\nLike other Trump officials, he has been criticised for shunning face masks.\n\nMr Trump, who was ill with the virus in October, announced the diagnosis in a tweet, writing: \"Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!\"\n\nMr Giuliani, 76, was admitted to the Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC on Sunday.\n\nThe news came after Mr Giuliani had visited Arizona, Georgia and Michigan all in the past week - where he spoke to government officials while not wearing masks.\n\nFollowing news of Mr Giuliani's diagnosis, the Arizona legislature announced sudden plans to shut down for one week. Several Republican lawmakers there had spent over 10 hours with the former New York mayor last week discussing election results.\n\nFollowing Mr Giuliani's visit to Phoenix, Arizona, the state's Republican party tweeted a photo of him with other mask-less state lawmakers.\n\nIn a tweet, Mr Giuliani thanked well-wishers for their messages, and said he was \"recovering quickly\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Rudy W. Giuliani This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nHis son, Andrew Giuliani, who works at the White House and tested positive for the virus last month, tweeted that his father was \"resting, getting great care and feeling well\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Andrew H. Giuliani This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nIt is not clear if Mr Giuliani is experiencing symptoms or when he caught the virus.\n\nNearly 14.6 million people have been infected with Covid-19 in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University, and 281,234 people have died - the highest figures of any country in the world.\n\nOn Sunday, Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force co-ordinator, criticised the Trump administration for flouting guidelines and peddling \"myths\" about the pandemic.\n\n\"I hear community members parroting back those situations, parroting back that masks don't work, parroting back that we should work towards herd immunity,\" Dr Birx told NBC.\n\n\"This is the worst event that this country will face,\" she said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"Grow up, mask up\": Tensions in US Covid hotspot of North Dakota\n\nSince the 3 November election, Mr Giuliani has travelled the country as part of unsuccessful efforts to overturn Mr Trump's election defeat. During many of his events, he was seen without a face mask and ignoring social distancing.\n\nLast Wednesday, he appeared at a hearing on alleged election fraud in Michigan where he asked a witness beside him if she would be comfortable removing her face mask.\n\n\"I don't want you to do this if you feel uncomfortable, but would you be comfortable taking your mask off, so we can hear you more clearly?\" said Mr Giuliani, who was not wearing a face mask. The witness chose to keep her mask on after asking the panel if she could be heard.\n\nOn Thursday Mr Giuliani travelled to Georgia where he repeated unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud at a Senate committee hearing about election security.\n\nDozens of people in Mr Trump's orbit are said to have tested positive for Covid-19 since October.\n\nBoris Epshteyn, another Trump adviser, tested positive shortly after appearing alongside Rudy Giuliani at a news conference on 25 November.\n\nOthers include the president's chief of staff Mark Meadows and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, along with his wife Melania and sons Donald Jnr and Baron.\n\nMr Trump's own diagnosis and hospital stay upended his campaign for a second term in office, less than a month before he faced Joe Biden in the presidential election.\n\nMr Trump has refused to concede, insisting without evidence that the election was stolen or rigged. Attorney General William Barr said last week that his department had not seen any evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the result.\n\nMr Biden will be sworn in as president on 20 January.", "Millwall say they are \"dismayed and saddened\" after some of their fans booed players taking a knee at the start of Saturday's game against Derby.\n\nThe Den was able to host 2,000 home fans for the first time this season after the second national lockdown was lifted.\n\nHowever, the return of spectators was overshadowed by the pre-match incident.\n\nThe Football Association and anti-discrimination body Kick It Out have also condemned the booing.\n\n\"Millwall Football Club was dismayed and saddened by events which marred Saturday's game against Derby County at the Den,\" said the club in a statement.\n\n\"The club has worked tirelessly in recent months to prepare for the return of supporters and what should have been a positive and exciting occasion was completely overshadowed, much to the immense disappointment and upset of those who have contributed to those efforts.\n\n\"The impact of such incidents is felt not just by the players and management, but by those who work throughout the club and in its academy and community trust, where so many staff and volunteers continue passionate endeavours to enhance Millwall's reputation day after day, year after year.\n\n\"The club will not allow their fine work to be in vain.\n\n\"The players are continuing to use the biggest platform they have to support the drive for change, not just in football but in society generally.\n\n\"There is much work to be done and at Millwall everyone is committed to doing all that is possible, both individually and collectively, to be a force for good and to ensure that the club remains at the forefront of football's anti-discrimination efforts.\"\n\nDerby boss Wayne Rooney, whose side won Saturday's game 1-0, said it was \"disappointing and upsetting\" to hear the booing from supporters.\n\n\"I'm pleased with how my team dealt with that,\" he added. \"They've had to put that to the back of their minds for the 90 minutes but I'm sure it's something they were thinking about.\"\n\nDerby forward Colin Kazim-Richards described the incident as \"an absolute disgrace\".\n\nSome boos were also heard when players took the knee at League Two Colchester United's JobServe Community Stadium, before the home side's 2-1 win over Grimsby Town in front of around 1,000 spectators.\n\nForward Callum Harriott, who scored the winner, later called the booing \"ridiculous\" and said it left him \"absolutely disappointed\".\n\nHis club said it was \"fully behind any and all of our players and staff who take a stand against any form of discrimination\", adding: \"We also condemn the behaviours of any supporters that actively voice opposition to those activities.\"\n\nPlayers, officials and staff at Premier League and English Football League games have been taking a knee pre-match since football restarted in June in order to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement for racial equality.\n\n'We have come so far but we have so far to go' - reaction\n\nFormer Manchester City and England defender Micah Richards described the Millwall incident as \"disheartening\".\n\n\"How do these fans get allocated to the games?\" he said on BBC Final Score.\n\n\"There are 2,000 so you can pinpoint the people going. There are no excuses. I am sick to death of talking about this situation.\n\n\"It is so disheartening because it is like we have come so far but we have so far to go. I don't even like talking about the matter. It feels like it falls on deaf ears. It is time and time and time again.\"\n\nFormer Coventry and Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin, who had a loan spell at Millwall in 2002, added: \"They don't agree with taking the knee, which means they are racist. They don't agree with Black Lives Matter; that says they are racist to me.\n\n\"It says to me that a minority of Millwall fans are spoiling it for a club that is going in the right direction with a tag they have had for years and years and they are trying to eradicate it.\"\n\nOn Friday, Millwall's first-team squad issued a statement supporting efforts to rid the game \"of all forms of discrimination\".\n\nAfter Saturday's match, Lions boss Gary Rowett told Sky Sports: \"I'm disappointed that we are talking about that when we should be talking about the fact we are all back and we want to enjoy the football match again.\n\n\"The club does an enormous amount of work on anti-racism and the club do a lot of work in the community and there is some really positive stuff, so of course I am disappointed.\"\n\n'We applaud the players for defying the hate'\n\nA Football Association spokesperson said: \"The FA supports all players and staff that wish to take a stand against discrimination in a respectful manner, which includes taking of the knee, and strongly condemns the behaviours of any spectators that actively voice their opposition to such activities.\"\n\nKick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari said he was \"saddened\" by the booing and praised the teams for \"defying the hate\" shown by some members of the crowd.\n\n\"What this demonstrates is that players are right to continue standing up to discrimination, whether that is through taking the knee or speaking out,\" he added.\n\n\"The fight for racial equality continues and we will continue to work closely with clubs across the country to tackle discrimination in all its forms.\n\n\"We applaud the players for taking a stand and defying the hate shown today.\"\n\nThe English Football League said: \"The EFL continues to support any individual player, players and clubs who choose to 'take the knee' in support of tackling inequality in society.\n\n\"We are disappointed that a small group of supporters have today chosen to voice their opposition to such activities directly aimed at raising awareness of the fight against racism.\"\n\nAmerican football player Colin Kaepernick started kneeling symbolically during the pre-game national anthem in the NFL in 2016, in protest at police violence against African-Americans in the United States.\n\nThe Black Lives Matter movement and taking a knee has grown in prominence in the UK following the death of George Floyd in the US in May, which sparked protests around the world.\n\nThe 46-year-old, an unarmed black man, died after a white police officer held a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.\n• None I May Destroy You star Michaela Coel joins for his new series", "The end of sledging and snowball fights in the UK?\n\nSnowy winters could become a thing of the past as climate change affects the UK, Met Office analysis suggests.\n\nIt is one of a series of projections about how UK's climate could change, shared with BBC Panorama.\n\nIt suggests by the 2040s most of southern England could no longer see sub-zero days. By the 2060s only high ground and northern Scotland are still likely to experience such cold days.\n\nThe projections are based on global emissions accelerating.\n\nIt could mean the end of sledging, snowmen and snowball fights, says Dr Lizzie Kendon, a senior Met Office scientist who worked on the climate projections.\n\n\"We're saying by the end of the century much of the lying snow will have disappeared entirely except over the highest ground,\" she told Panorama.\n\nIf the world reduces emissions significantly the changes will be less dramatic, the Met Office says.\n\nThe average coldest day in the UK over the past three decades was -4.3 Celsius.\n\nIf emissions continue to accelerate, leading to a global temperature rise of 4C, then the average coldest day in the UK would remain above 0 Celsius across most of the country throughout winter.\n\nEven if global emissions are reduced dramatically and world temperatures rise by 2C, the average coldest day in the UK is likely be 0 Celsius.\n\nThe Met Office says these temperatures are subject to variation and some years may see days colder than the average. Its projections explore how the UK's climate might change.\n\n\"The overarching picture is warmer, wetter winters; hotter, drier summers,\" Dr Kendon says.\n\n\"But within that, we get this shift towards more extreme events, so more frequent and intense extremes, so heavier rainfall when it occurs.\"\n\nThe Met Office says we are already seeing dramatic changes in the UK climate.\n\nPicture postcard: Snow covered houses in Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset in 2019\n\n\"The rate and nature of the climate change that we're seeing is unprecedented,\" says Dr Mark McCarthy of the Met Office's National Climate Information Centre.\n\nMost of the country has already seen average temperatures rise by 1C since the Industrial Revolution and we should expect more of the same, he warns.\n\nThat may not sound like much, but even these small changes in our climate can have a huge impact on the weather and on many plants and animals.\n\nThe Met Office says there could be significant temperature rises in the decades ahead for both winter and summer.\n\nIt says the biggest increases will be in the already warmer southern parts of the UK. At the same time extreme weather is expected to become more frequent and more intense.\n\nHeatwaves are likely to become more common and last longer, with record temperatures being exceeded regularly.\n\nThe average hottest day could reach a sweltering 40C the data suggests\n\nNot every summer will be hotter than the last, the Met Office says, but the long-term trend is steadily upwards, particularly if emissions remain unabated.\n\nThat high-emissions scenario shows peak summer temperatures could rise by between 3.7 C and 6.8 C by the 2070s, compared with the period 1981 to 2000.\n\nIf the world succeeds in reducing emissions, these temperature rises will be considerably smaller.\n\nThe level of detail in the models mean it is possible to see how the climate might change in neighbourhoods across the country.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Wingfields' home in South Yorkshire has only just recovered after floods in 2019.\n\nHayes in west London, for example, is likely to see some of the most dramatic temperature rises of all, the new data suggests.\n\nThe average hottest day in Hayes was 32C around 20 years ago. If emissions continue to accelerate, the new Met Office data suggests the average hottest day could reach a sweltering 40C by around 2070.\n\nIf global emissions reduce, this temperature rise will not be so severe.\n\n\"I mean, I think it's really frightening. That's a big change, and we're talking about in the course of our lifetime. It's just a wake-up call really as to what we're talking about here,\" says Dr Kendon.\n\nSummers might not just be hotter, they could be drier too, the Met Office predicts. Summer rain could become less frequent, but when it does rain it is likely to be more intense.\n\nThe combination of longer dry periods with sudden heavy downpours could increase the risk of flooding because dry ground doesn't absorb water as well as damp ground.\n\nRainfall is expected to increase in many parts of the country in winter too, the Met Office says.\n\nThe projections suggest western parts of the UK may get even wetter under a high-emissions scenario.\n\nOf course, some years will always buck the trend by being wetter or cooler than others - and there will be significant regional variations.\n\nThis pattern of wetter winters and more intense summer downpours across much of the country risks putting infrastructure under greater strain.\n\nRoads, railways, reservoirs, sewers, bridges and other infrastructure is all designed for the sort of rainfall we have had in the past and much of it may need to be upgraded or even rebuilt to cope with the storms and floods to come.\n\nLast week, the UK government announced ambitious new targets for tackling climate change.\n\nThe new goal is to cut the UK's greenhouse gas emission by 68% by the end of the decade, based on 1990 levels.\n\nBoris Johnson hopes the new targets will set an example to other nations, which will join a virtual climate pledges summit on 12 December.\n\nThis virtual event will occur in place of annual UN climate talks, which were set to have taken place in Glasgow this year, but were postponed because of Covid-19.\n\nYou can see more on Panorama: Britain's Wild Weather on BBC One at 19:00 GMT.", "Roald Dahl's family has apologised for anti-Semitic comments made by the best-selling author, who died in 1990.\n\nA statement condemning Dahl's controversial comments, made in two interviews in 1983 and 1990, was published on his official website.\n\nIn a discreet part of the website, his family and the Roald Dahl Story Company \"deeply apologise for the lasting and understandable hurt caused\".\n\nIt said his \"prejudiced remarks stand.. in marked contrast to the man we knew\".\n\nThe statement, which is undated, was spotted by the Sunday Times.\n\n\"The Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company deeply apologise for the lasting and understandable hurt caused by some of Roald Dahl's statements.\n\n\"Those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl's stories, which have positively impacted young people for generations.\n\n\"We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his absolute worst, Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting impact of words.\"\n\nA spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said it was \"disappointing\" Roald Dahl's family \"waited 30 years to make an apology\".\n\n\"It is a shame that the estate has seen fit merely to apologise for Dahl's anti-Semitism rather than to use its substantial means to do anything about it,\" the spokesperson said.\n\n\"The apology should have come much sooner and been published less obscurely, but the fact that it has come at all - after so long - is an encouraging sign that Dahl's racism has been acknowledged even by those who profit from his creative works.\"\n\nAnne Hathaway stars as the Grand High Witch in a new film version of Roald Dahl's The Witches\n\nRoald Dahl, who was born in Wales to Norwegian immigrant parents, remains one of the most popular children's authors in the world - with novels including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The BFG all adapted for the big screen.\n\nIn an interview with the New Statesman in 1983, he said he believed that there was \"a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity\".\n\nSeven years later, in a piece in the Independent, the author acknowledged he had \"become anti-Semitic\".\n\nThe remarks, for which the writer refused to apologise, have continued to cause upset among the Jewish community.\n\nIn 2018, the Royal Mint chose not to issue a commemorative coin on the 100th anniversary of his birth because of his anti-Semitic views.\n\nAt the time, Wes Streeting, Labour MP, applauded the decision by the Royal Mint, citing the author's \"classic, undeniable, blatant anti-Semitism\".\n\nWith the enduring popularity of his novels, Roald Dahl's estate continues to be highly lucrative, posting annual pre-tax profits of £12.7m in 2018 - largely thanks to film and television deals.\n\nIn October this year, a new film version of The Witches was released starring Anne Hathaway, and in March Netflix announced a forthcoming adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.\n\nThe Roald Dahl Story Company later added: \"Apologising for the words of a much-loved grandparent is a challenging thing to do, but made more difficult when the words are so hurtful to an entire community.\n\n\"We loved Roald, but we passionately disagree with his anti-Semitic comments. This is why we chose to apologise on our website.\"", "The mass use of rapid Covid tests has been defended by a senior NHS adviser, amid concerns over their accuracy.\n\nDr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to NHS Test and Trace, said the lateral flow tests could identify many cases of infection in people without symptoms.\n\nSpeaking to the BBC, she accepted there had been \"false negatives\" but stressed the policy was a \"game-changer\".\n\nA study found the tests missed 50% of cases and some scientists fear people could start to ignore health advice.\n\nMeanwhile, a further 397 new coronavirus deaths were recorded in the UK on Saturday, with another 15,539 cases reported.\n\nMass testing is being introduced in England's tier-three \"high-risk\" areas and is starting in one of the areas hardest-hit by Covid-19 in Wales.\n\nAnd more than million rapid tests are being sent to care homes in England over the next month to allow safe indoor visits.\n\nHowever, an article in the BMJ medical journal raised concerns about the effects of rapid testing in Liverpool, where a pilot scheme was carried out. The lateral flow tests, which do not require processing in a laboratory, were reported to have missed half of all cases and a third of those with a high viral load who were likely to be the most infectious.\n\nDr Hopkins told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the tests had \"limitations\" but said they were helping diagnose asymptomatic cases that would otherwise have gone undetected.\n\nShe added: \"What we are doing here is case detection. We are not saying people do not have the disease if their test is negative.\n\n\"We are trying to say [to people who test positive] 'You do have the disease and now we want you to go and isolate for 10 days.' That is a whole different game-changer.\"\n\nHowever, Dr Hopkins said mass testing did not end the need for social distancing.\n\n\"We are also very clear that until we get a much lower prevalence of disease in this country that we shouldn't be changing our behaviours,\" she said.\n\nThe pregnancy-style lateral flow tests are cheap to produce and provide results on the spot, unlike the standard nose and throat swabs which have to be sent off to a lab.\n\nHowever, the higher number of false negative results means people may wrongly think they are not infectious.\n\nSome scientists worry those people may go on to mix with more vulnerable people, putting them at risk.\n\nBut the government says the Liverpool trial showed rapid tests could break chains of transmission, and they will start to use them for the first time next week in Wolverhampton - where Covid cases are more than twice the average level in England.\n\nDr Hopkins' comments came as the UK's chief medical officers warned the winter could be \"especially hard\" for the health service because of coronavirus.\n\nOfficials are preparing to begin using the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine as early as Tuesday, with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying supplies have arrived in Scotland.\n\nBut in a letter to NHS staff, the chief medical officers of England (Prof Chris Whitty), Scotland (Dr Gregor Smith), Wales (Dr Frank Atherton) and Northern Ireland (Dr Michael McBride) said: \"Although the very welcome news about vaccines means that we can look forward to 2021 with greater optimism, vaccine deployment will have only a marginal impact in reducing numbers coming into the health service with Covid over the next three months.\"\n\nThe rapid lateral flow tests work by taking a nose and throat swab, shaking it in fluid until any viral particles come off, and then dropping the fluid onto a plastic stick. They take about half an hour to show a result.\n\nSome councils have raised concerns over their use, with Greater Manchester councils the latest to pause rapid testing for care home visitors.\n\nProf Jon Deeks, of Birmingham University, said lateral flow tests could not detect low levels of the virus and were being used in ways for which they were never intended.\n\n\"We can't see why the government is progressing with using this test when it is missing so many people,\" he told the BBC.\n\n\"They have been sold to people with the idea that if you are negative you will be able to go and visit people, you will be able to be clear that you haven't got Covid, and that is really dangerous.\"\n\nProf Calum Semple, from Liverpool University and a member of the government's Scientific Advisory group for Emergencies, defended their use, saying more than a thousand coronavirus \"transmission chains\" had been broken during the pilot scheme in the city.", "Shoppers flocked to High Streets and shopping malls across England this weekend, but in numbers well below pre-pandemic levels.\n\nIt was the first weekend since stores in England reopened on Wednesday.\n\nMany business owners are pinning their hopes on a curtailed pre-Christmas trading period, having endured two national lockdowns already this year.\n\nBut on average, shopper numbers were a quarter below 2019 levels, according to market research firm Springboard.\n\nIt says across the UK as a whole, footfall was down by 30% compared to the same December weekend last year.\n\nIt comes on the back of a dreadful week for the retail industry with Topshop-owner Arcadia falling into administration and Debenhams saying it would be closing its 124 stores by March after it failed to find a buyer.\n\nCentral London remains far emptier than usual because of the coronavirus pandemic, despite some crowds flocking to specially pedestrianised shopping areas in Regent Street on Saturday.\n\nOn Sunday, shopper numbers in the capital were half what they would normally be weeks out from Christmas, Springboard reported.\n\nBoutique-owner Rowena Howie says her central London store had far fewer shoppers than a normal December weekend\n\nRowena Howie, who runs a womenswear boutique called Revival Retro in central London, said there were far fewer shoppers in her store than she would normally expect in the lead up to Christmas.\n\n\"We definitely wouldn't have been as busy in the shop as we might have been in a normal year, particularly in the first weekend of December,\" she said.\n\nAlthough Ms Howie - who took part in a campaign promoting small businesses on Saturday - said strong online sales meant she was able to record a good day's trading, the first since before Covid-19.\n\n\"We're in Fitzrovia, having a bricks and mortar store, our takings have been really impacted,\" she said.\n\nAnna Blackburn, managing director of jewellery chain Beaverbrooks, said footfall had increased by about 10% in its 70 High Street stores this weekend.\n\n\"There has been a trend of reducing footfall for sometime, but an increase in the average transaction size. People coming to the High Street are definitely spending more money,\" she told the BBC's Today programme.\n\nMs Blackburn said there had also been a spike in wedding and engagement ring sales. \"It's been a tough year, people want to treat their loved ones.\"\n\nShoppers appear more eager to visit retail parks than malls and High Streets. On Saturday, footfall numbers for England's retail parks were slightly higher than they were this time last year, but on Sunday they fell back and were 10% below last year's figure.\n\nShoppers queue up outside Primark in Coventry this weekend.\n\nWe are still a nation of shoppers. Overall, retail sales are above pre-pandemic levels, according to the ONS.\n\nBut that number masks a mixed picture of what we're buying and how we are buying it.\n\nClothing sales for example are down by 25%. And there has been a dramatic shift to online, accelerating a growing trend.\n\nIt's this dramatic change that has been so devastating for the High Street.\n\nSome of the pictures from this weekend might seem to show a bounce back.\n\nBut the figures show that the numbers of people out and about are well down on last December. That comes on top of lengthy closures for non-essential shops.\n\nThe Centre for Retail Research predicts more than 20,000 shops will close compared to 16,000 last year - and that job losses will rise to 235,000 people compared to 143,000 last year.\n\nThe cost of running a shop is just too much for many. One independent retailer in central London told me she couldn't see herself still in bricks and mortar next year.\n\nDespite a 12-month break from business rates offered by the government, the rent, coupled with falling shopper numbers, is just too much to bear.\n\nIn one encouraging sign for retailers and small business owners, shoppers seem far more comfortable returning to public shopping areas after the second national lockdown than they did after the first.\n\nFootfall across England was 60% higher this weekend than on 20-21 June, the first weekend shops were allowed to reopen after the country's first lockdown, which began in March.\n\n\"Part of this is timing - the proximity to Christmas means there is huge pent up demand amongst consumers to shop in store to purchase gifts,\" said Diane Wehrle, Springboard's marketing director.\n\n\"However, it is also an indicator of 'lockdown fatigue', whereby after many months of being restricted to their homes, consumers are keen to visit retail stores again, particularly to experience the excitement of Christmas.\n\n\"They have become accustomed to the 'new normal' that involves wearing face masks in stores and queuing in order to adhere to social distancing rules which we were not all comfortable with in June.\"", "Cocaine with an estimated value of £100m has been found in a banana pulp shipment, the Home Office has said.\n\nThe drugs, which weighed more than a tonne, were discovered during routine inspections at London Gateway, Thurrock in Essex, on 12 November.\n\nThey originated in Colombia and were headed for Antwerp in Belgium, according to customs officials.\n\nThe National Crime Agency (NCA) said the find was \"a significant hit to the organised crime groups involved\".\n\nThe parcels were discovered hidden in a shipping container docked at the port\n\nIt follows the discovery by UK Border Force officers of 1,155kg (2,550lb) of cocaine at the port in September.\n\nNCA branch commander Jacque Beer said: \"While the UK wasn't the end destination for either shipment, it is likely that at least a proportion would have ended up being sold on our streets.\n\n\"These were substantial seizures and will represent a significant hit to the organised crime groups involved, meaning less profit for them to reinvest.\"\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nA \"donate-a-sheep\" appeal inspired by the work of footballer Marcus Rashford has been launched.\n\nFarmers will sell a lamb or ewe and donate the profits to help families in difficult circumstances due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.\n\nFarmer Iwan Pughe Jones set up the appeal to help people struggling with health issues and losing work.\n\nHe was inspired by Rashford's bid to ensure children in England receive free school meals during the holidays.\n\nHe pitched the idea to raise money at a Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) Zoom meeting and livestock sales, auctions and cattle markets agreed to help.\n\nMr Pughe Jones said: ''Farmers in the meeting were moved when they heard of the hardship.\n\n\"Families were having to make difficult choices of turning off heating and electricity to the point that they had to justify turning the oven on to cook food for their families for a certain period of time, as they did not have the money to cover the cost, let alone offer their loved ones presents for Christmas day.\n\n\"I was inspired by the effort of Marcus Rashford. What he achieved set a benchmark for us all to aspire to.\"\n\nIwan Pughe Jones felt inspired by Marcus Rashford to do his bit to help struggling families\n\nHe added: \"When times are tough we've a proud history of coming together as a nation to support those who are disadvantaged and struggling to make ends meet.\"\n\nThe money raised will be managed by the Salvation Army in Aberystwyth.\n\nThe sales kick off on 4 December at Dolgellau and then there are further events at Welshpool, Oswestry, Machynlleth and Rhayader.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Hugh McManus was treated with a defibrillator after suffering a cardiac arrest at his Cushendall home in 2015\n\nThe government should fund the installation of defibrillators across public areas, a cardiac survivor has said.\n\nHugh McManus was treated with a defibrillator after suffering a cardiac arrest at his Cushendall home in 2015.\n\nHe said they should be as \"commonplace as fire extinguishers\".\n\nDUP MP Jim Shannon has proposed a bill calling for their installation in public buildings, including education and sports venues.\n\nHugh, now in his 60s, was returning home from a golf course in Cushendall five years ago when he started to feel unwell.\n\nBy the time he got home, his condition had worsened and his son called an ambulance.\n\nCushendall, County Antrim, is not easily reached by ambulance but Hugh said he was lucky local man, Joe Burns, had CPR training, a defibrillator and was designated as a first responder.\n\nHe was able to assess Hugh's condition and applied two shocks through the device to bring Hugh's heart back to a more normal rhythm.\n\nHugh was later operated on at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.\n\nHugh (centre) seen here with members of his family, wants defibrillators to be made more widely available\n\nHe said he would not be alive if he had not received the defibrillator shocks.\n\n\"Ideally you would have one in every building where you have a large gathering of people, the window to save someone's life is so short.\n\n\"I'm immensely grateful to Joe and can never repay him - to save someone's life, what better thing could you do?\".\n\nHe has now called on politicians to back the call for funding to ensure more life-saving devices are made publicly available.\n\nNo-one should be afraid to use the automated devices, which have been designed to only apply a shock where necessary, he added.\n\n\"It's totally understandable that someone might be fearful of getting it wrong, but the way I see it, the alternative is that a person doesn't have that chance to live,\" he said.\n\nStrangford MP Jim Shannon has proposed a bill promoting access to defibrillators in public buildings\n\nThe Automated External Defibrillators Bill had its first reading in the House of Commons last week.\n\nMr Shannon said the push for \"mandatory installations of these life-saving devices in our public buildings must be welcomed\".\n\n\"We can no longer leave it to the public to hold raffles or coffee mornings,\" he said.\n\n\"We must consider it our duty as legislators to require Automated External Defibrillators to be present in public buildings, sporting facilities, places of education and wherever someone, be they young or elderly, might fall down and never get up again.\"\n\nThere are approximately 1,400 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests reported in Northern Ireland every year, according to the British Heart Foundation (BHF).\n\nThe charity estimates that fewer than 10% of people survive and that public-access defibrillators are used in fewer than 5% of cardiac arrests that happen away from a hospital.\n\nFearghal McKinney, head of BHF NI, said cardiac arrest survival rates remained \"shockingly low\" in Northern Ireland.\n\n\"When someone has a cardiac arrest, every minute without CPR or defibrillation reduces their survival chances by around 10%,\" he added.\n\n\"Making defibrillators more readily available could help save lives, but must be supported by the roll out of mandatory CPR training in all secondary schools.\n\n\"We need to give everyone who suffers a cardiac arrest the best chance of survival. \"\n\nThe bill presented by Mr Shannon had previously been proposed twice by MP Maria Caulfield, but was delayed by the dissolution of government.\n\nIt will move to a second reading on 5 February 2021.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith: The asteroid sample is ''exciting key'' to the origins of the Solar System\n\nA capsule containing the first significant quantities of rock from an asteroid is in \"perfect\" shape, according to scientists.\n\nThe container with material from a space rock called Ryugu parachuted down near Woomera in South Australia on Saturday evening (GMT).\n\nA recovery team in Australia found the spacecraft lying on the sandy ground, with its parachute draped over a bush.\n\nThe samples were originally collected by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2.\n\nThe spacecraft spent more than a year investigating Ryugu before returning to Earth. As it approached our planet, Hayabusa-2 released the capsule with the samples and fired its engines to push off in another direction.\n\nThe 16kg capsule, meanwhile, entered the Earth's atmosphere.\n\nThe official Hayabusa-2 Twitter account reported that the capsule and its parachute had been found at 19:47 GMT.\n\n\"Hayabusa-2 is home,\" Dr Yuichi Tsuda, project manager for the mission, said at a press conference on Sunday morning (GMT) in Sagamihara, Japan.\n\n\"We collected the treasure box,\" he said, adding: \"The capsule collection was perfectly done.\"\n\nHe said there was no damage to the container.\n\nA team member carries the capsule, which contains samples from an asteroid\n\nDr Hitoshi Kuninaka, director general of Japan's Institute for Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), said: \"We started development of Hayabusa-2 in 2011. I think the dream has come true.\"\n\nAddressing journalists, he acknowledged past missions that had experienced technical problems, but said: \"Regarding Hayabusa-2, we did everything according to the schedule - 100%. And we succeeded in sample return as planned. As a result, we can move on to the next stage in space development.\"\n\nThe next stage includes a mission called MMX, which will aim to bring back samples from Mars' largest moon Phobos.\n\nEarlier on Saturday, the capsule was picked up by cameras as a dazzling fireball streaking over Australia's Coober Pedy region.\n\nScreaming towards Earth at 11km/s, it deployed parachutes to slow its descent. The capsule then began transmitting a beacon with information about its position.\n\nThe capsule is packed into a protective box for transport to the \"quick look facility\"\n\nCameras in Australia captured the fireball as the capsule re-entered the atmosphere\n\nThe spacecraft touched down on the vast Woomera range, operated by the Royal Australian Air Force.\n\nAt around 18:07 GMT (04:37 local time), the recovery team identified the position of the capsule on the ground. A helicopter, equipped with an antenna to pick up the beacon, took to the air shortly afterwards.\n\nSatoru Nakazawa, Hayabusa-2 sub-manager at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa), who was part of the operation at Woomera, described the search: \"We went there with the helicopter and it was emitting the beacon signal. But at that time, it was still dark, so it was unclear [where it was]. I was very, very nervous.\n\n\"We flew over the area [where it landed] many times and I thought maybe that was where it was. Then the Sun rose and we could visually confirm the existence of the capsule. We thought: 'Wow, we found it!\"\n\n\"But we had a very jittery, frustrating time until sunrise.\"\n\nThe capsule was then taken to a \"quick-look facility\" for inspection. On Monday, Jaxa said it had collected gases from inside the container for analysis, adding that it was still not known whether they come from the Ryugu sample.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Australian Space Agency This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAfterwards, the capsule will be airlifted to Japan, where it will be transported to a curation chamber at Jaxa in Sagamihara for analysis and storage.\n\nThe mission planned to collect a sample of more than 100mg from the asteroid Ryugu.\n\nProf Alan Fitzsimmons, from Queen's University Belfast, said the sample would \"reveal a huge amount, not only about the history of the Solar System, but about these particular objects as well\".\n\nAsteroids are essentially leftover building materials from the formation of the Solar System. They're made of the same stuff that went into forming the Earth, but they avoided being incorporated into planets.\n\n\"Having samples from an asteroid like Ryugu will be really exciting for our field. We think Ryugu is made up of super-ancient rocks that will tell us how the Solar System formed,\" Prof Sara Russell, leader of the planetary materials group at London's Natural History Museum, told BBC News.\n\nStudying the samples from Ryugu could tell us how water and the ingredients for life were delivered to the early Earth.\n\nA rover deployed by Hayabusa-2 sent back this image from the surface of Ryugu\n\nIt had long been thought that comets delivered much of the Earth's water in the early days of the Solar System. Alan Fitzsimmons said the chemical profile of water in comets was sometimes rather different from the profile of water in our planet's oceans.\n\nThe water composition of some asteroids in the outer Solar System, however, is a much closer match. Ryugu probably originated in this cold zone, before migrating inwards to its current orbit, closer to Earth.\n\n\"It may be that we've been looking to comets all this time for delivering water to Earth in the early Solar System. Perhaps we should have been looking a bit closer to home, at these primitive but rather rocky asteroids,\" Prof Fitzsimmons told BBC News.\n\n\"Indeed that's something that will be looked at very carefully in these Ryugu samples.\"\n\nResearchers from around Japan, and other countries, will be working with the samples. In the UK, Prof Russell's team at the Natural History Museum and scientists from the universities of Manchester and Glasgow will get to study the material.\n\nDr Sarah Crowther is one of several researchers at Manchester expecting to receive samples next year. She explained: \"Different labs contribute different expertise, which all helps in understanding the material collected.\"\n\nThe Hayabusa-2 spacecraft, which bypassed the Earth after releasing its capsule, is being sent on another mission. It will now travel to a much smaller, 30m-wide asteroid, reaching it in 2031.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A video released in 2018 showed the original plan for the crossing in virtual form\n\nA new tunnel linking Kent and Essex will create five million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), figures suggest.\n\nEstimates say building the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC), a flagship project in the UK's roads programme, will emit 2 million tonnes of the greenhouse gas.\n\nMeanwhile, traffic created by the road is expected to generate another 3.2 million tonnes over 60 years.\n\nEnvironmentalists say the statistics make a mockery of the prime minister’s claim to lead on climate change.\n\nA government report published in March provisionally estimated the UK's net carbon emissions in 2019 to be 351.5 million tonnes.\n\nThe Thames crossing is said to be the UK's biggest roads project since the M25.\n\nMinisters say the scheme, supported by the CBI and the AA, will bring a huge economic boost on both sides of the river and relieve congestion on the orbital motorway.\n\nBut the emissions figures, obtained through a Freedom of Information request after Highways England initially declined to release them, have angered environmentalists.\n\nCampaigners say the tunnel should never have been proposed without a debate on the projected CO2 impacts, and have demanded the government freeze all projects that will increase emissions.\n\nEnvironmentalists have been campaigning for the Highways Agency to publish a CO2 analysis of its full road-building programme.\n\nOther schemes will also generate CO2, such as the planned Stonehenge tunnel, which is expected to create half a million tonnes during construction.\n\nChris Todd, from green group Transport Action Network, told BBC News: “If the government is serious about tackling climate change, it can't keep ignoring the emissions roads are causing\".\n\nBoris Johnson, who will host a global climate conference on Saturday, has pledged to cut the UK’s emissions by 68% against 1990 levels) by the end of this decade.\n\nHe’s encouraging other nations to follow suit with ambitious offers as the climate warms.\n\nMr Todd said: “We welcome greater ambition from the PM on the international stage, but it’s very easy to make announcements without taking action – and right now transport policy is making a mockery of his promises.”\n\nThe eventual CO2 outputs for the roads should be lower than projected because of the advent of electric cars. But campaigners point out that making and running EVs still takes a great deal of energy and resources.\n\nThe tunnel, shown here in a computer-generated image, is designed to reduce congestion elsewhere\n\nThis row is part of a bigger critique of the UK’s whole infrastructure programme.\n\nThe Prime Minister is an enthusiastic supporter of eye-catching concrete-heavy projects. But these typically carry a high carbon cost.\n\nMeanwhile other less telegenic forms of infrastructure create more jobs than mega-projects, and quickly start to save CO2 emissions overall.\n\nRefurbishing homes, for instance, is estimated to create four times more jobs than road building.\n\nImproving broadband can take cars off the road, according to the AA, by improving employees' ability to work from home.\n\nThis also meets the wish of Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who says more people need to switch away from their cars.\n\nIn his recent statement, the Chancellor promised £27bn to roads, £100bn to HS2 and just £1bn next year for his Green Homes Grant to insulate dwellings.\n\nA Highways England spokesperson told BBC News: \"The Lower Thames Crossing is the UK’s most ambitious roads project in a generation, which will add billions to the national, regional and local economies by almost doubling road capacity between Kent and Essex and reducing delays.\n\n“But it will also impact on the environment and minimising this impact is a key priority for us. Our proposed design includes the UK’s longest road tunnel as it offers the best possible local environmental benefits,\n\n“However, tunnels by their nature require large volumes of concrete with a high carbon footprint.”\n\nHighways England told BBC News it has changed construction methods to reduce emissions.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Sir Keir Starmer - pictured on a visit earlier this week - is not showing any symptoms\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer is having to self isolate after a member of his staff tested positive for coronavirus.\n\nIn line with government advice, Sir Keir will now have to stay at home for 14 days since his last contact with the affected person.\n\nA spokesman for Sir Keir said this means he will come out of self-isolation on Wednesday 16 December.\n\nThey added the party leader was \"well and not showing any symptoms\".\n\nIt is the second time Sir Keir has had to isolate because of coronavirus. In September, a member of his family showed symptoms of the virus.\n\nBut they later tested negative, allowing Sir Keir to get back to Westminster.\n\nIt also comes a week after Prime Minister Boris Johnson came out of his own isolation period, having had contact with an MP who tested positive with the virus.\n\nSir Keir's spokesman said during this latest period of self-isolation, the Labour leader will continue to work from home.", "For months, the government has been urging businesses to get ready for a new era in trading with the EU. But it was only on Boxing Day that details of all the new rules were actually published.\n\nBusiness groups are relieved that the threat of a no-deal Brexit, which would have meant tariffs (or taxes) on goods crossing the border with the EU, has been removed. But companies that trade with the EU are still facing a lot of new bureaucracy.\n\nAnd the disruption in mid-December, caused by border closures related to the new variant of Covid-19, was a reminder of how dependent the UK economy is on trade across the English Channel.\n\nFrom 1 January 2021, goods entering the EU from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) face large amounts of new paperwork and checks, including:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHauliers will also need to make sure they have the right transportation paperwork before they drive to the border.\n\nThere is particular focus on the \"short straits\" route between Dover and Calais, and the nearby Channel Tunnel, which taken together handle about four million lorries a year.\n\n\"This is the biggest imposition of red tape that businesses have had to deal with in 50 years,\" says William Bain from the British Retail Consortium.\n\nFull controls on British exports to the EU began on 1 January. The first day of the new regime appears to have gone relatively smoothly.\n\nBut it's feared that later in the year, the new controls could cause disruption, even though new border infrastructure has been built at ports such as Calais, to help process vehicles more efficiently.\n\nThere are some mitigating measures though.\n\nIn response to the Covid crisis, the government is delaying full controls on goods entering Great Britain from the EU for a further six months.\n\nThere will be checks from 1 January on controlled substances such as alcohol and tobacco, and traders deemed to be a risk will also be asked to fill in customs declarations.\n\nBut most checks on goods coming in from the EU will be delayed until 1 July, a deadline that could in theory be extended.\n\n\"I think we will want to monitor it,\" the chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs, Jim Harra, told MPs in November. \"Hopefully we will not still be in a situation where Covid-19 is consuming as much of people's attention.\"\n\nOther measures to tackle potential disruption include diverting trade to other ports around the country and opening lorry parks in Kent, to avoid gridlock on the roads.\n\nSome of these contingencies were put into action early, to deal with the Covid border closures in December.\n\nOperation Brock, for example, involved changing the layout of a section of the M20, using a concrete barrier to allow lorries heading for mainland Europe to queue safely on the motorway.\n\nThousands of lorries were also diverted to temporary parking at a disused airport at Manston.\n\nFrom 1 January drivers of lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes will need to acquire a Kent Access Permit before they enter the county. They will have to show that they have all the paperwork they need to ferry goods to Europe.\n\nBut that doesn't deal with the challenge of the thousands of vans that cross the Channel every week.\n\n\"What has been serially misunderstood by various parts of government is the scale of the complexity for people on the ground dealing with the paperwork,\" says Duncan Buchanan, the Policy Director of the Road Haulage Association.\n\nThat could mean that instead of queues on motorways, many traders won't be able to leave their depots.\n\n\"Either they won't be able to get vets to sign off on their meat exports, or they won't be able to get their permit because they don't have the right bits of paper,\" says Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Storage Federation.\n\n\"We might see a quite significant holding off of trading - people just not moving stuff in the first few weeks.\"\n\nEighty-five per cent of the volume of trade between the EU and Great Britain is carried by EU hauliers, who are often paid not by the hour, but by the kilometre. If they think there will be too many delays, many may simply not come.\n\nThe government says the readiness of traders to deal with the new system remains its biggest concern.\n\nLorries parked on the M20 in Kent\n\n\"The sheer scale of the overall operation means there are literally many millions of moving parts,\" permanent secretary of the cabinet office Alex Chisholm told MPs. \"Inevitably there are going to be some difficulties for some individual people as they adjust to the new regime.\"\n\nThe government has also announced a new Border Operations Centre as part of plans \"for the UK to have the world's most effective border by 2025\".\n\nQuestions have been asked about how changes at the border might affect food supply. The short answer is no-one can say for sure, but nearly 30% of all the food consumed in the UK is imported from the EU.\n\nThe good news is that there is a deal, which makes a big difference. But the challenge is particularly acute because the UK grows relatively small amounts of fruit and vegetables in January and February and is most dependent on supplies from southern Europe at this time of year.\n\nSo, if there are delays, they could cause some shortages on the shelves.\n\n\"Some gaps are possible but we're not going to run out of food - that's not going to happen\" says Ian Wright.\n\nWhen it comes to non-perishable items, there had been some stockpiling in preparation for either outcome, but extra supplies won't last forever.\n\n\"The crunch point is probably not going to be in the first few days or weeks of January,\" William Bain argues. \"Towards the end of the month, when new orders start being placed and delivered, we will start to see the processes in Kent and the other ports really tested.\"\n\nAnd it's not only about food.\n\nOther retailers, which are used to moving their stock freely around the EU customs union, have had to create separate supply chains for the UK. That is costing them more money, and their new systems have yet to be tested properly.\n\nIt's not just about trade across the English Channel.\n\nTrade across the Irish Sea between Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland will be subject to the same pressures, while Northern Ireland will be a special case under the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.\n\nNorthern Ireland will remain in the EU single market for goods, and unlike the rest of the UK it will continue to enjoy frictionless trade with the EU with no checks of any kind at the land border with the Republic.\n\nBut there is a price to pay for that - new bureaucracy within the UK between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.\n\nThe EU, for example, has strict rules on products of animal origin: meat, milk, fish and eggs.\n\nThese products must enter the single market (and, from 1 January, Northern Ireland) through a border control post where paperwork is checked, and a proportion of goods physically inspected.\n\nThere will be a grace period of three months for supermarkets and their suppliers, but some smaller traders may have to get used to the new rules straight away.\n\nAll shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will also need a safety and security declaration, and a customs declaration from a new IT system which none of the traders have used before.\n\nThe government has set up a Trader Support Service to help.\n\nThe details of the new trading arrangements for Northern Ireland were announced separately in early December, and provided some clarity. They include an agreement which means the vast majority of goods being shipped from GB to NI will not be at risk of having tariffs imposed.\n\nBut there are plenty of unresolved issues.\n\nTraders are seeking answers about how to send parcels from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, and some online retailers have already suspended deliveries.\n\nThe trade from British to Northern Irish ports often involves multiple small shipments on a single lorry - all of which will need the right paperwork.\n\n\"We need clear rules for everyone in the supply chain,\" says Duncan Buchanan, \"and when you scratch the surface it is just not ready.\"\n\nIt is expected that many checks will be carried out on a 'light touch' basis to begin with.\n\nBut anyone trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is going to have to get used to a new way of working very quickly.", "A man has been arrested over \"abusive\" Facebook posts made during a football match where players were booed for taking the knee.\n\nPolice said \"a number of comments of an abusive nature\" were reported as Derby County faced Milwall on Saturday.\n\nMilwall said it was \"dismayed and saddened\" after its fans were heard jeering players before kick-off.\n\nDerbyshire Police said a 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences.\n\nThe booing of players before the match - the first time Millwall fans had been allowed at matches since attendance was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic - drew condemnation from figures across the football world.\n\nDerby boss Wayne Rooney said it was \"disappointing and upsetting\", while Millwall boss Gary Rowett said the incident overshadowed the long-awaited return of fans to stadiums.\n\nFollow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The health secretary has revised her claim that parts of Scotland could stay in level four when Covid restrictions are reviewed on 11 December.\n\nEleven areas, including most of central Scotland, are currently at the highest alert level.\n\nThe first minister has previously said that the toughest restrictions would be lifted at 18:00 next Friday.\n\nJeane Freeman initially told BBC Scotland that \"all options are on the table\".\n\nBut she later said her comments were meant to be in respect of which levels the 11 areas would drop down to.\n\nThe health secretary said a cabinet decision would be reached on Tuesday morning with Nicola Sturgeon announcing the details later that day.\n\nMs Freeman's earlier comments on the BBC's Politics Scotland programme appeared to contradict what the first minister said at the government's coronavirus briefing on 20 November.", "The relationship between Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, is covered in series four\n\nNetflix says it will not warn viewers of The Crown some scenes are fiction.\n\nResponding to calls for a warning from Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, the streaming giant said the series has always been billed as a drama.\n\n\"As a result we have no plans, and see no need, to add a disclaimer,\" it said.\n\nMr Dowden earlier said younger viewers \"may mistake fiction for fact\" when watching the fourth series, which shows the breakdown of the marriage between the Prince and Princess of Wales.\n\nThe Crown's creator Peter Morgan has called the show \"an act of creative imagination\" with a \"constant push-pull\" between research and drama.\n\nIts latest series has attracted criticism from some quarters for its depiction of royal events - in particular the breakdown of the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana.\n\nThe culture secretary said last week Netflix should make clear the show was fiction.\n\n\"I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact,\" Oliver Dowden told the Mail on Sunday.\n\nHe said Netflix's \"beautifully produced work of fiction... should be very clear at the beginning it is just that\".\n\nBut the streaming giant said in a statement, first reported by the Mail: \"We have always presented The Crown as a drama - and we have every confidence our members understand it's a work of fiction that's broadly based on historical events.\n\n\"As a result we have no plans - and see no need - to add a disclaimer.\"\n\nEarl Spencer, brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, previously told ITV's Lorraine Kelly he was worried some viewers would take the storylines \"as gospel\".\n\n\"I think it would help The Crown an enormous amount if, at the beginning of each episode, it stated that: 'This isn't true but it is based around some real events',\" he said.\n\nEmma Corrin successfully transforms her character into the glamorous Princess Diana overshadowing Prince Charles, played by Josh O'Connor\n\nFormer Buckingham Palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter has accused the show of \"stretching dramatic licence to the extreme\".\n\n\"It's a hatchet job on Prince Charles and a bit of a hatchet job on Diana,\" Mr Arbiter told the BBC.\n\nMeanwhile, ex-royal correspondent Jennie Bond told the BBC Newscast podcast she feared some viewers might treat the show \"as a documentary\".", "The former president posts that he has been told to report to a grand jury, \"which almost always means an Arrest\".", "Last updated on .From the section Cricket\n\nTwo unnamed members of the England tour party in South Africa have returned \"unconfirmed positive tests\" for coronavirus.\n\nThe tourists were tested on Saturday after two members of staff from the hotel where they are staying tested positive.\n\nSunday's rearranged opening one-day international in Paarl was called off 30 minutes before the 08:00 GMT start.\n\nEngland players and staff are self-isolating in their hotel rooms.\n\nThe opening game of the three-match series on Friday was postponed after a South Africa player tested positive for coronavirus.\n\nThe South Africa squad were tested again on Friday evening and all returned negative results.\n\nA decision on the final two matches of the series - due to take place in Cape Town on Monday and Wednesday - will be made once the England test results have been ratified by independent medical experts. That is unlikely to come before Monday.\n\nIt is possible that the games could be played on Tuesday and Wednesday. England fly home on Thursday.\n\nEngland director of men's cricket Ashley Giles said \"the welfare of the players and support staff is our primary concern\" and that the series opener \"should not take place\" while they await the results of further tests.\n\nSouth Africa director of cricket Graeme Smith said: \"We are deeply regretful of the situation we find ourselves in after the amount of time and energy that has been put in place to host a successful tour.\"\n\nThe series is being played in a bio-secure 'bubble', with players only leaving their Cape Town hotel to play and train.\n\nBefore the Twenty20 series last month - which England won 3-0 - two South Africa players tested positive for coronavirus and two others were placed in isolation.\n\nThis series is England's first overseas since their trip to Sri Lanka was abandoned in March following the outbreak of the pandemic.\n\nAfter a delayed start to the home summer, England fulfilled all their planned matches, playing matches in a bio-secure environment and without fans in grounds.\n\nFast bowler Jofra Archer was forced to miss the second Test against West Indies after returning home between Tests, but no fixtures were affected.\n\nWhat do England do now?\n\nBBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew on BBC Radio 5 Live: \"It is now really very serious.\n\n\"Members of the touring party doesn't necessarily mean players - it could mean any of the coaching staff or backroom staff.\n\n\"It depends who the people are and how much contact they've had with everybody else, but you can imagine if you are in a bio-secure bubble then you're all living quite closely together.\n\n\"If there is Covid-19 in the England camp now, what do they do?\n\n\"A serious issue is the question of quarantine should these two tests be confirmed. England are due to return on a chartered flight on Thursday, but if there's been contact between these two members of the touring party and the rest even their return home could be fraught with logistical difficulties.\"\n\nMissed out on Saturday's Premier League action? All the goals and highlights are streaming now", "Hens, turkeys and other captive birds in Britain will have to be kept indoors from 14 December to prevent the spread of bird flu, the government has said.\n\nThe chief vets for England, Scotland and Wales made the decision after a number of cases were detected among both captive and wild birds.\n\nThe risk to humans is \"very low\", the government said, and should \"not affect the consumption of poultry products\".\n\nBut in a joint statement, veterinary chiefs said \"swift action\" was needed.\n\n\"Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands, from 14 December onwards you will be legally required to keep your birds indoors, or take appropriate steps to keep them separate from wild birds,\" read the statement.\n\n\"We have not taken this decision lightly but it is the best way to protect your birds from this highly infectious disease.\"\n\nThere are numerous strains of bird flu. Most either do not affect humans, or are not easily caught and spread by humans.\n\nDeaths have been recorded outside of the UK related to some strains, but the H5N8 strain - which makes up the bulk of the UK's current cases - has not infected any humans worldwide to date, the NHS said.\n\nA turkey farm in Norfolk is among those to found to have had an outbreak of the H5N8 bird flu strain. The birds will now be slaughtered to prevent the spread.\n\nWhile the news will be of particular concern to poultry farmers in the run-up to Christmas, the new rules will apply to all bird owners in Britain.\n\nHowever, despite the concern, the Department for Environment Farming and Rural Affairs said poultry products - including eggs - are still safe to consume.\n\nNo end date for the measures has been given, but Defra said they would be kept under \"regular review\".\n\nFarmers forced to move their birds indoors in circumstances such as these may continue to market the meat as \"free range\" as long as the measures do not last longer than 12 weeks.\n\nFor eggs, this deadline is slightly longer - 16 weeks. After this point, the eggs must be downgraded to \"barn produced\".\n\nAimee Mahony, chief poultry adviser for the National Farmers' Union, said the new rules were \"a logical next step\".\n\n\"These new measures mean that every poultry keeper, whether you have one hen in the garden or a large poultry business, must house their birds indoors and I would urge everyone with poultry to take these measures seriously,\" she said.\n• None Turkeys to be culled after bird flu found at farm", "A space capsule containing the first significant quantities of rock from an asteroid has arrived safely on Earth after being launched from Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2.\n\nThe container with material from a space rock called Ryugu parachuted down near Woomera in South Australia, amidst excitement and applause.", "The collapse of the Debenhams and Arcadia retail empires is likely to leave large gaps in High Streets and shopping centres up and down the UK.\n\nIf history is a guide, it may be years until some of these shops reopen, while many never will.\n\nIt is now more than four years since the closure of BHS, the last large department store chain to be wiped from the High Street.\n\nYet 24% of its stores still lie empty.\n\nThose premises that have been put to use have been snapped up by expanding brands such as Primark, B&M Bargains, H&M and Sports Direct, says Ronald Nyakairu, senior manager at the Local Data Company (LDC)\n\nBut even among smaller stores which closed their doors amid the slow decline of bricks-and-mortar retailers before coronavirus, many are vacant or have been demolished or converted, according to LDC data.\n\nIts analysis suggests that bigger premises, such as those formerly occupied by Toys 'R' Us or House of Fraser, have been harder to re-let.\n\nThis probably spells a permanent change that landlords and local authorities need to get used to and even seize, says Bill Grimsey, former head of Wickes, Iceland and Focus DIY. He has led three reports into the future of town centres and High Streets.\n\n\"You can't rely on retail any more for your town centres and High Streets as the main attraction, because of technology, because of the internet,\" he says.\n\n\"You need to reinvent these places for something else because we are social animals and we need to have a place to congregate and it won't be just shops.\"\n\nHe concedes that managers of his generation were \"part of the cohort than cloned every town centre\" with the same shop chains, and that a return to vibrant towns with individual attractions is needed.\n\nHe envisages a mix of health, education, entertainment, leisure, arts and crafts and green spaces. Some old shops could become housing, he adds.\n\nHe urges local authorities to take a lead, even through means such as compulsory purchase to stop empty buildings going to waste.\n\n\"It's a big change that's needed and that requires local leaders to find the owners and start to recognise that repurposing them is the way forward.\"\n\nCities that have suffered less during the High Street recession are those such as Brighton, Manchester and Leeds that have relied less on shops, says Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at the Centre for Cities.\n\nThese centres have more office space and higher-paid workers, who have then propped up bars, restaurants and shops after work.\n\nFor department stores in popular areas, there are ways to cope with fewer sales in-store, he says, pointing to John Lewis's application to convert part of its flagship London store to office space.\n\nBut he cautions that for smaller towns whose custom may be dwindling, that will not be an option, and stronger medicine will be needed.\n\nMany BHS stores, like this one in Bolton, remain closed\n\nWhile Mr Grimsey recommends that local authorities take the reins, he sees more of a role for central government, which has the financial muscle to buy struggling units and turn them into something vibrant, later selling them on.\n\n\"Having that control of the building rather than it being passed off to a group of investors that aren't linked to the place is probably a thing the government can do,\" he says.\n\n\"This grave situation presents an opportunity to take control of these things. There's an opportunity to get a good deal, do something with them and then sell them down the line.\"\n\nMark Robinson, who co-founded landlord Ellandi and heads the government-commissioned High Streets Task Force, also points to \"monoculture\" in town centres as something that must change.\n\n\"Landlords I know realise we have to be flexible, encourage vibrancy, not just the highest rent,\" he says.\n\n\"We need to be flexible about who we bring in and the terms. We are not going to get 20-year leases any more.\"\n\nIt will mean, at least in the short term, some pain for landlords' bottom line, Mr Robinson says.\n\n\"Rents are going to fall and they have fallen considerably. Might that encourage more entrepreneurialism? Yes. Might it encourage independent retailers in far more prominent locations? Absolutely. Does it mean taking risks? Absolutely. And this has to be good for the future.\"\n\nHe says that reform will be over when the presence or absence of a particular brand or shop on the High Street is no longer the measure for a town's success.\n\n\"We created 400 clone towns nobody loves. We shouldn't get upset - job losses aside - about changing them.\"", "Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen have spoken as they try to break the post-Brexit trade deal stalemate.\n\nUrsula Von Der Leyen says 'significant differences remain' in the Brexit trade deal.\n\nThese sticking points include fishing rights, rules on state subsidies for business and arrangements for policing any deal.", "Wendy Knell's body was found in her bedsit in Tunbridge Wells in 1987\n\nA man has been charged with the murders of two women killed more than 30 years ago.\n\nDavid Fuller, 66, was arrested on Thursday in connection with the deaths of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce, from Kent, in 1987.\n\nCold case detectives have since charged Mr Fuller, from Heathfield, East Sussex, with two counts of murder.\n\nKent Police said he had been remanded in custody to appear at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday 8 December.\n\nAssistant Chief Constable Tracey Harman, from Kent Police, said: \"Whilst more than three decades have passed since these murders took place, I would urge anyone who has any information, no matter how minor or insignificant it may appear to be, to contact us.\"\n\nCaroline Pierce was murdered five months after Wendy Knell\n\nMs Knell, 25, was found dead at her home in Guildford Road, Tunbridge Wells, on 23 June, having been beaten and sexually assaulted.\n\nMs Pierce, 20, was attacked outside her home in the town's Grosvenor Park on 24 November.\n\nHer body was found on 15 December in a field near Romney Marsh.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "More than 90% of Welsh lamb exports are destined for EU markets\n\nSheep farmers will receive financial help if no trade deal is reached with the European Union, the UK's environment secretary has said.\n\nGeorge Eustice said sheep farming would need financial support \"because it exports quite a lot to the EU\".\n\nThe Welsh Government's Brexit minister said the Treasury \"need to commit to that being available\" because funding promises \"have already been broken\".\n\nThe UK left the EU in January but entered a transition period until the end of 2020 in which the trading rules remained broadly the same.\n\nIf a deal is not reached, from 1 January border checks and taxes will be introduced for goods travelling between the UK and the EU.\n\nWith more than 90% of Welsh lamb exports destined for EU markets, Mr Eustice said the sector \"perhaps more than any other sector...is likely by to be impacted\" if there is no trade deal.\n\n\"We have already developed potential interventions to support the sector in the short term should that be needed,\" he said.\n\n\"It's important to realise as well that demand globally is currently very high - lamb prices are some 15% to 20% higher than they were last year.\n\n\"So, we will keep a very close eye on this sector, and we'll be ready to intervene if needed, but it's not clear at this stage that we would need to.\"\n\nSpeaking on the BBC Politics Wales programme, Montgomeryshire's Conservative MP Craig Williams said: \"Everyone around that [UK Government] cabinet table... has assured me that the cheque book will open instantly, regulations will be looked at and support will be put in place [for the Welsh lamb sector].\n\n\"We don't want a no deal. Sheep farmers, especially, don't want a no deal.\n\n\"But let nobody the other side of the English Channel be in any doubt, we'll have it if they're not going to treat us like an independent sovereign nation, and we'll cope.\"\n\nEarlier in the week, First Minister Mark Drakeford said plans for Holyhead Port show \"just how shambolic\" UK ministers have been on Brexit.\n\nMr Drakeford said the UK government was \"in a scramble to resolve\" issues around the Anglesey port as it entered talks to purchase a transport cafe near Holyhead for a customs site.\n\nResponding to the first minister's comments, Mr Eustice said a phased approach to introducing checks was always the intention.\n\nHe added: \"That meant that we didn't need to have all of that infrastructure in place at Holyhead.\"\n\nBut some customs checks will start on 1 January 2021 and therefore, until the site is operational, checks for lorries arriving at Holyhead Port will initially take place in Warrington.\n\nAs well as the joint site with the UK government in Holyhead, the Welsh Government is looking at two potential sites for food safety, and animal and plant health checks in the south west of Wales to deal with lorries arriving at Pembroke and Fishguard ports.\n\nHMRC intends to conduct customs checks at the ports themselves in the new year.\n\nThe food and plant checks will start in July but the Welsh Government's Counsel General Jeremy Miles said: \"We think there's a serious risk, both in north Wales and in the south west, that the arrangements won't be ready for July of next year because of the delay in getting the sites selected and those are choices the UK Government have made very recently.\"\n\nMr Miles also said he expected \"disruption at the ports\" following the transition period \"because of new frictions at the border\".\n\nHe added: \"We have plans to provide stacking for traffic as it approaches Holyhead.\"\n\nDublin politician and Fine Gael European affairs spokesman Neale Richmond said the Irish capital's port has \"now doubled in size\" and would be ready for 1 January.\n\nBut he told BBC Politics Wales: \"What we are seeing though, unfortunately, is a lot of exporters from Ireland... they are looking more and more at the direct shipping links.\n\n\"So, you would have seen last week the announcement of the new link from Wexford to Dunkirk.\n\n\"We're seeing new sailings to Santander, to Lisbon, to Zeebrugge and we hope to see a new one to Le Havre too because people cannot countenance possible delays, be it getting in and out of Holyhead or getting in and out of Dover.\"", "Shana Grice reported Michael Lane five times to police before he murdered her\n\nThe parents of a Brighton teenager stalked and murdered by her ex-boyfriend have lost a High Court bid for a full inquest into her death.\n\nShana Grice, 19, reported Michael Lane five times to police before he cut her throat and killed her in August 2016.\n\nHer parents, Sharon Grice and Richard Green, said a \"full, independent and focused inquest\" was necessary.\n\nA High Court judge ruled that independent inquiries had \"sufficient element of public scrutiny\".\n\nMichael Lane murdered Ms Grice in her Brighton home and then attempted to set fire to her body.\n\nShe had reported Lane to officers but was fined for wasting police time.\n\nLane was jailed for life in 2017 and ordered to serve at least 25 years.\n\nEarlier in December, the parents of Ms Grice challenged the decision of the senior coroner for Brighton and Hove not to conduct a full inquest into her death.\n\nThey said a \"full, independent and focused inquest\" was necessary.\n\nMichael Lane was jailed for life in 2017 after he slit Ms Grice's throat in her Brighton home\n\nIn a High Court ruling on Thursday, Mr Justice Garnham concluded the senior coroner for Brighton and Hove was right to rule previous inquiries were \"effective\".\n\nHe also said the results of previous investigations \"established relevant facts\", which provided a \"sufficient element of public scrutiny\".\n\nNeil Hudgell, who represented Ms Grice's family, said in a statement: \"This ruling is hugely disappointing.\n\n\"It is also unfortunate coming on Christmas Eve, when thoughts naturally turn to our loved ones,\" he said.\n\nHe added Ms Grice's family would consider the ruling and then decide on further action.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "From 26 December, the Isles of Scilly will be the only part of England in tier one - the lowest level of virus restrictions.\n\nCornwall, Herefordshire and the Isle of Wight have been moved to tier two, leaving the islands - 28 miles off the Cornish coast - as the only place with a \"medium\" alert.\n\n\"It's a very strange early Christmas present,\" local councillor Steve Sims told the PA news agency.\n\n\"Whilst it is a relief, it's a very sobering situation and I remain apprehensive as I'm sure most of my fellow islanders will be.\"\n\nThe islands, which have a population of around 2,000, have had only two recorded cases, he added.\n\nMr Sims's wife, Beth Hilton, edits local magazine Scilly Now & Then and said: \"I don't think we're jumping up and down celebrating the fact that we are still tier one - although it is very welcome news and means we can still go out socially at Christmas if we wish to do so.\"\n\nAn aerial shot of Tresco Abbey Garden in the Isles of Scilly Image caption: An aerial shot of Tresco Abbey Garden in the Isles of Scilly", "A man who rode from Scotland to the Isle of Man by jet ski to see his girlfriend has left the island by ferry upon his release from jail.\n\nDale McLaughlan made the four-and-a-half hour crossing from the Isle of Whithorn to Ramsey on 11 December.\n\nHe then walked another 15 miles (25km) to his girlfriend's home in Douglas.\n\nThe 28-year-old - who served part of a four-week sentence for the Covid-19 border control breach - told the BBC he was \"happy to be going home\".\n\nUnder current Isle of Man coronavirus laws McLaughlan, from Irvine in North Ayrshire, was required to leave the island after his release or face further prosecution.\n\nSpeaking to Isle of Man Newspapers, his girlfriend Jessica Radcliffe said: \"I don't understand why he's been told to leave when he's isolated for two weeks before he came over with a negative test.\n\n\"He had a negative test in jail, he didn't put any of the public at risk, and he's done isolation in jail.\n\n\"That's four weeks already, so why does he need to leave the island? To punish him this much, they shouldn't be doing that.\"\n\nMcLaughlan was arrested two days after his arrival, having spent time mixing with people in two busy nightclubs, his court case heard.\n\nDouglas Courthouse heard it was the first time he had used a jet ski.\n\nOnly non-residents given special permission are currently allowed to enter the island.\n\nMcLaughlan's defence advocate said he suffered from depression and was not coping with being unable to see his partner.\n\nChief Minister Howard Quayle said the sentence sent \"a strong signal\" to potential lawbreakers.\n\nWhy not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and Twitter? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "John Harding's customers have included Joan Collins, Vanessa Redgrave, Roger Moore and Kristina Tholstrup, and Rod Stewart\n\nFor 35 years, the rich and famous came to John Harding's central London salon to get their hair cut, coloured, and styled. Joan Collins; Vanessa Redgrave; Rod Stewart; Tony Curtis; Kristina Tholstrup and occasionally husband Roger Moore; Sarah Churchill; and many more.\n\nThe salon was on Elizabeth Street, Belgravia; a place where leafy garden squares reflect in the polished brass plates of embassies and hedge funds.\n\n\"There were lots of wealthy people in the area,\" says John, now 77. \"Lady this and Lady that.\"\n\nBut the actors, singers, and aristocrats who came to John's salon would not have guessed his secret. Unless, that is, they noticed that he rarely answered the phone. That's because, if he did answer, he might need to check the appointments book, or write something down.\n\nAnd that was a problem - because John Harding, hairdresser to the stars, was unable to read.\n\nJohn grew up in Islington, north London, and went to Laycock School. He wasn't uninterested - \"I liked art, geography, history, and my maths was OK\" - but always found reading \"very difficult\".\n\nHe soon found himself in D class, the bottom rung, and stayed there. He doesn't blame his teachers -\"If there's 30 in a class, it's hard to help out\" - or his parents.\n\n\"My mum wasn't a very good reader, and my dad wasn't either,\" says John. \"My dad was a working class man - he was in the printing trade, a union man - and he didn't have a lot of vocabulary. He didn't have time to help me, but that was a man of that era.\"\n\nJohn could recognise three-letter words from memory, but \"just didn't have any idea how to break longer words down\".\n\n\"I couldn't read something that was interesting like a history book or a geography book,\" he says. \"That was too far.\"\n\nHe doesn't think he had dyslexia, but he was never tested. So he stayed in D class, hiding it from friends, bluffing as best he could, until it was time to leave. How did those school days feel?\n\n\"It's more of an embarrassment, you know?\" he says. \"I used to get very edgy when it came up.\"\n\nAt 16, it was finally time to leave school. But what jobs were there for boys who couldn't read? He was good with his hands, but didn't want to be a carpenter, electrician, or plumber. \"You had to get up too early,\" he jokes.\n\nAnd so he took a job at the hairdressers round the corner - sweeping the floor, washing the hair, and avoiding the appointments book.\n\nJohn Harding in 1970, aged 28, after opening his first salon\n\nAfter Islington, John progressed to salons in Kennington, Pimlico, then Mayfair. But it was difficult to learn the trade - after all, who wants their hair cut by a beginner? So, in his own time, he went to academies in the evenings. He \"won a few competitions\" and, when John was 20, an ex-colleague asked him to join his new salon in Pimlico.\n\n\"He offered me good money,\" says John. \"I told him I'd do it - provided I didn't have to do any bookwork.\"\n\nIt proved a life-changing decision. At Pimlico, the receptionist introduced John to her sister, Heather, and they were soon married. She became one of the few people to know about John's illiteracy.\n\n\"She was very clever. She did all that stuff for me.\"\n\nLooking back, says John, he should have learned to read then. But with a new wife, and soon a young family, he \"put it on the back burner\". It didn't affect his career - aged 25, he opened the successful salon on Elizabeth Street where he would stay for 35 years. But outside the salon, the challenges remained.\n\n\"If we went to a restaurant with friends, my wife would say 'You'd fancy this John', knowing full well I couldn't read it on the menu,\" he says. \"Basically, you bluff your way through life. It's crazy the things you make up.\"\n\nSo did any of his customers - Collins, Redgrave, Churchill, et al - know he couldn't read? \"None at all,\" he says.\n\nIn his 50s and 60s, John twice tried to learn at evening classes. \"But I felt I wasn't really getting very far,\" he says.\n\n\"It was difficult for the teachers to have time with you. The teacher would let you read alone, then give you 15 minutes of her time. Which is good, but not as good as one to one.\"\n\nSo John may have stayed illiterate. But then, eight years ago, he came home to find Heather - his wife of almost 50 years - dead in their lounge. She had suffered heart failure aged 69.\n\nOne in six adults in England - about 7 million people - has \"very poor literacy skills\", according to OECD statistics quoted by the National Literacy Trust. The figure is one in four in Scotland, one in five in Northern Ireland, and one in eight in Wales.\n\nRead Easy - the group that helped John - says 2.5 million adults in England can \"barely read at all\". \"This has a massive impact on people's chances in life and affects them in so many ways,\" says Ginny Williams-Ellis, Read Easy's founder and chief executive.\n\nWithout Heather to help him \"bluff\", John decided to try again. His children Gerard, now 53, and Fiona, 51, supported him, but he wanted to fix the problem that had plagued him since those long days at Laycock School. Three years ago he saw an advert for Read Easy, a non-profit group that uses volunteers to help teach adults in one-to-one sessions.\n\n\"I got in touch,\" says John. \"And I haven't looked back.\"\n\nBecause of Covid, the weekly one-on-one sessions with his coach, Yvonne Nicholas, now take place online, rather than in person - but the progress continues. John now reads the newspaper - \"the Daily Mail or the Daily Mirror; the Sunday Times might be a bit beyond me\" - and plans to read his first book. More importantly, he is \"much more confident\" in day-to-day life.\n\nIt's a change his coach has noticed, too. \"Although he is naturally modest, I know he is proud of himself,\" says Yvonne. \"He really is a far more confident person now.\"\n\nJohn still works at his daughter's salon in St Katherine's Dock in London - a business that carries his name. It might only be a few miles from Islington, but he has come a long way from sweeping the floor, aged 16, at his neighbourhood hairdresser.\n\nBefore the interview ends, John mentions that another reading charity, Coram Beanstalk, has seen an 80% drop in the number of volunteers going into schools to help children read. Most of the volunteers are older, John explains, and they're having to shield or self-isolate.\n\nSo how did John find out about this?\n\n\"I read it in the Evening Standard last night,\" he says, as if it's the most normal thing in the world.", "British model Stella Tennant has died at the age of 50, her family have said.\n\nThe Scot made her name in the early 1990s on catwalks for designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Versace, and on the covers Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.\n\nHer family said: \"Stella was a wonderful woman and an inspiration to us all. She will be greatly missed.\"\n\nThey said her death was \"sudden\", and police said there were \"no suspicious circumstances\". Her death came five days after her 50th birthday.\n\nThe family statement said: \"It is with great sadness we announce the sudden death of Stella Tennant on 22nd December 2020...\n\n\"Her family ask for their privacy to be respected. Arrangements for a memorial service will be announced at a later date.\"\n\nTennant made her name in the 1990s, when she was in her 20s\n\nTennant shot to fame after being photographed for British Vogue at the age of 22 in 1993, and went on to work with designers and fashion houses including Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein, Jean Paul Gaultier and Burberry.\n\nVersace paid tribute to Tennant on Twitter, saying she was \"Gianni Versace's muse for many years and friend of the family\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by VERSACE This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nTennant was known for her androgynous sultry looks and aristocratic heritage, being the granddaughter of the 11th Duke of Devonshire, Andrew Cavendish, and Deborah Mitford.\n\nShe also starred in the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games alongside fellow British models like Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.\n\nTennant (left) with Kate Moss (centre) and Naomi Campbell at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony\n\nBefore becoming a model, she studied at Winchester School of Art and embarked upon a career in sculpting, which she described as \"my first love\".\n\nEven after being spotted by Vogue photographer Steven Meisel, she wasn't sure if she wanted a career in modelling.\n\n\"I didn't know if I wanted to be objectified,\" she told The Evening Standard in 2016. \"I thought it was a big, shallow world and I wasn't really sure if I liked the look of it.\"\n\nBut she did join the fashion world, and said the 90s were \"a great time to start modelling\".\n\nIn the late 90s, Lagerfeld unveiled her as the new face of Chanel, noting her resemblance to Coco Chanel.\n\nTennant (right) with designer Karl Lagerfeld and fellow models Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Kate Moss in 1996\n\nTennant retired from the catwalk in 1998 as she was pregnant with her first child, but later returned.\n\nShe married French-born photographer David Lasnet in the small parish church of Oxnam in the Scottish Borders in 1999. They had four children.\n\nShe also worked on campaigns to promote using less energy and to reduce the environmental impact of fast fashion.\n\n\"It's going to take us a long time to change our habits, but I think that this is so obviously a step in the right direction,\" she told The Guardian last year.\n\nShe walked the runway during the Valentino Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week in January\n\nShe said at the time that she was reusing clothes she has had since the 90s and only buying about five new items a year.\n\n\"At my age I think it's probably quite normal you're not that interested in consuming, [and not] loving shopping as much as when you're much younger. We all need to think a little bit harder.\"\n\nIn 2012, she was inducted into the Scottish Fashion Awards Hall of Fame.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Pilots and crew have to quarantine after each flight\n\nA New Zealand pilot blamed for causing Taiwan's first domestic coronavirus transmission in months, has been fired by the island's Eva Air.\n\nOn Tuesday, a contact of the pilot tested positive, ending Taiwan's 253-day streak without a local case.\n\nSome public Christmas activities have since been suspended and the government has suggested people should stay at home during New Year's Eve.\n\nOverall, Taiwan has recorded only 777 infections and seven deaths.\n\nThe pilot is thought to have contracted the coronavirus earlier in December but remained asymptomatic.\n\nPilots returning to the island after a flight are meant to remain in quarantine for three days but are not tested unless they show symptoms.\n\nUnaware that he carried the virus, he continued to fly and was reportedly coughing on a flight to Taiwan from the US.\n\nTwo days later, Taiwan discovered its first domestic infection in months. Authorities traced back that the infected woman had been in contact with the pilot.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Flying is a very different experience in the age of coronavirus\n\nAuthorities fined the man 300,000 Taiwanese dollars ($10,600, £7,900) for failing to properly declare contacts and activities to officials.\n\nEva Air said the pilot was fired for violating operational principles, including his failure to wear a mask in the cockpit.\n\nOther than the woman, he is thought to have infected two of his colleagues, a pilot from Japan and one from Taiwan.\n\nNeither authorities nor the airline have named the pilot but Eva Air said in a statement \"the behaviour of an individual employee has undermined everyone's efforts at epidemic prevention\" and had brought \"serious damage to the company's reputation and image\".\n\nIn the wake of the new case, authorities are considering toughening the Covid safety requirements for airlines.\n\nTaiwan's early response has kept the virus well in check\n\nHealth authorities have traced around 170 people who had contact with the infected woman and they are either in home quarantine or being monitored for symptoms.\n\nThe shops the pilot and the woman visited have been disinfected and anyone who had also visited the store has been asked to get tested.\n\nThe company where the woman works has shut its gym, café and canteen, restricted employees from eating at their desk and banned visitors from entering its premises.\n\nTaiwan has been one of the most successful places in the world in dealing with Covid-19, largely attributed to its early and strict border controls, a ban on foreign visitors and mandatory quarantine for all Taiwanese returning home.\n\nThe island's 23 million people have also proactively been wearing face masks, even before they were required to do so.", "Furious customers of energy provider E.On received an unwelcome Christmas Eve surprise when their bill payments were taken too early.\n\nDirect debits that should have been taken from customers in the next two weeks were taken on Thursday.\n\nAbout 1.5 million customers - including householders and small businesses - have been affected.\n\nThe company apologised and said refunds would be made on the first available date, which was 29 December.\n\nMany customers said they were facing Christmas overdrawn as a result of the company's IT error.\n\nOthers told the BBC that they faced the added frustration of being unable to contact the company for an explanation.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Vicki Stafford This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAn E.ON spokeswoman said: \"Due to an IT issue, we have inadvertently taken direct debit payments early from some of our customers.\n\n\"We are sorry for this error and are taking steps to contact affected customers where we can, as well as putting information about the issue on our website and social media channels.\n\n\"Customers do not need to do anything or contact us, and we ask that they bear with us while we work to refund them on the first available date, which is 29 December. Customers' direct debit payments will then be taken in line with their usual payment schedule.\n\n\"If a customer has incurred bank charges as a result of this issue, we will of course reimburse this money to them. Any customer who is concerned should contact us to discuss their circumstances.\"\n\nThe company said that if customers were unable to wait for a refund, they should contact their bank directly for possible support.", "The deepfake Queen looks very like the real one\n\nThis year's Channel 4 alternative Christmas message will be delivered by a deepfake of the Queen.\n\nWhile the Queen is delivering her traditional message on the BBC and ITV, her digitally created doppelgänger will be sharing its \"thoughts\" on Channel 4.\n\nBuckingham Palace told the BBC it had no comment on the broadcast.\n\nChannel 4 said the intention was to give a \"stark warning\" about fake news in the digital age.\n\nDeepfake technology can be used to create convincing yet entirely fictional video content, and is often used to spread misinformation.\n\nIn the message, the deepfake will try its hand at a TikTok viral dance challenge.\n\nThe five-minute message will refer to a number of controversial topics, including the decision by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to leave the UK. It will also allude to the Duke of York's decision to step down from royal duties earlier this year after an interview he gave to the BBC about his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.\n\nThe BBC's royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell was not impressed: \"There have been countless imitations of the Queen. This isn't a particularly good one.\n\n\"The voice sounds what it is - a rather poor attempt to impersonate her. What makes it troubling is the use of video technology to attempt to sync her lips to the words being spoken.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: Channel 4 says its deepfake video of the Queen is meant to act as a warning\n\nSome members of the public have also suggested the video is \"disrespectful\" via posts on social media.\n\nThe media watchdog Ofcom said it had received \"a small number of complaints\", but because it is a post-transmission regulator could not consider them at this time.\n\nWhile current technology does allow for voice deepfakes, the voice of this deepfake will be dubbed by British actress Debra Stephenson.\n\nThe TV star was previously the voice of a puppet of the monarch in the 2020 revival of satirical sketch show Spitting Image.\n\nStephenson said: \"As an actress it is thrilling but it is also terrifying if you consider how this could be used in other contexts.\"\n\nThe deepfake has been created by Oscar-winning VFX studio Framestore.\n\nDeepfakes first rose to prominence in early 2018.\n\nAt the time, a developer adapted cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques to create software that swapped one person's face for another.\n\nHowever, the process has since become much more accessible.\n\nThere are now numerous apps that require just a single photo in order to substitute a Hollywood actor for that of the user.\n\nEarlier this year, Microsoft unveiled a tool that can spot deepfakes.\n\nThe firm said it hoped to help combat disinformation, but experts warned it was at risk of becoming outdated due to advances in technology.\n\nNina Schick, author of Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse, told the BBC there was growing concern about the other malicious ways deepfake technology could be used.\n\n\"While it offers tremendous commercial and creative opportunities, transforming entire industries from entertainment to communication, it is also a technology that will be weaponised.\n\n\"Used maliciously, AI-generated synthetic media, or deepfakes, are sophisticated forms of visual disinformation.\"\n\nThe Alternative Christmas Message will be shown on Channel 4 at 15:25 GMT on 25 December.", "Businesses have given a relieved welcome to the Brexit trade deal, but warned there was more work to be done.\n\nIn a statement, Number 10 said: \"The deal is fantastic news for businesses in every part of the UK.\"\n\nBut Jonathan Geldart, director general of the Institute of Directors, said \"the clock is still very much ticking\" for firms and called for guidance.\n\nThe CBI called for urgent confirmation of grace periods to give firms time to adapt to new rules from 1 January.\n\n\"We need to ensure we keep goods moving across borders,\" said Tony Danker, CBI director-general.\n\nHe said the deal \"will come as a huge relief to British business at a time when resilience is at an all-time low\".\n\n\"But coming so late in the day, it is vital that both sides take instant steps to keep trade moving and services flowing while firms adjust.\"\n\nMr Geldart echoed the CBI's concerns and said digesting the practical changes required and adapting \"in the middle of a pandemic and the festive season, while border disruptions continue, is a huge ask\" for firms.\n\nAfter a last-minute titanic struggle over the economic minnow that is fish, a deal has finally been landed.\n\nThe relief of avoiding no-deal is the perfect Christmas present for UK business. Having avoided what they considered the calamity of no-deal, minds will now turn to the detail in nearly 2,000 pages of text.\n\nAnd those who do business with the EU will not have long to peruse it. Even though a deal has been done, UK traders face a new raft of paperwork and cost. More than 200 million additional customs forms will need completing at a cost of more than £7bn a year.\n\nHaulage companies warn that many businesses are not ready for this new normal. That is perhaps understandable when you consider they have had several previous false alarms when they've stockpiled for no reason. They've been dealing with the worst health and economic disaster in living memory and have had precious little detail on exactly what they are facing until the very last minute.\n\nThe elephant not in the room and barely mentioned in the deal is services. There is no automatic access to a market worth £100bn to UK firms last year. A huge sigh of relief, yes - but any celebrations may be brief.\n\nHelen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, urged the EU and UK governments to work to implement the new arrangement as soon as possible.\n\n\"They must ensure there are no tariffs from Day One and find new ways to reduce the checks and red tape that we'll see from 1 January,\" she said.\n\n\"Businesses are undoubtedly relieved to hear that a deal has been agreed and will be hoping that it will now be ratified by respective parliaments across Europe,' said Richard Burge, chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.\n\n\"However, in on-the-ground terms for business, there are likely to still be questions unanswered and operational detail missing.\"\n\nBusiness group Logistics UK was optimistic about the deal.\n\n\"It removes the risk of tariffs being placed on almost every item imported from the EU, which would have raised prices and slowed the rate of economic growth,\" said Elizabeth de Jong, the group's policy director.\n\nBut TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady was scathing. \"This deal is better than nothing, but not by much. It won't protect jobs and puts hard-won workers' rights on the line.\"\n\nShe called on the prime minister to \"make good on his promise to level up Britain\", saying: \"He needs to act fast. There can be no more pointing the finger at the EU.\"\n\nConcerns were raised over the fact that financial services did not form part of the trade deal.\n\n\"The agreement should be less criticised for what it contains than what it does not contain - namely the future of financial services,\" said Daniel Pinto, chief executive of Stanhope Capital Group.\n\nHe said the City now needed to take its future in its own hands. \"Post-Brexit, it should lure international companies and revamp its regulatory framework to make it much more flexible.\"\n\nNicolas Mackel, chief executive of Luxembourg for Finance, said the deal was positive news for financial services.\n\n\"While financial services has never been covered by the trade negotiations, this vital breakthrough bodes well for the conversations happening around equivalences and delegation,\" he said.\n\n\"Until now, the souring negotiating mood on the future relationship was putting these important financial footbridges across the Channel under great pressure and there was a risk of collapse.\"", "The EU and UK appear close to striking a post-Brexit trade deal, with Boris Johnson briefing his cabinet on the progress of talks in Brussels.\n\nDisputes over fishing rights and future business competition rules have been the major hurdles to agreement during months of often fraught talks.\n\nBut BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Downing Street now seemed \"very confident\" of a deal.\n\nNegotiators are now thought to be thrashing out the final details.\n\nThe official announcement of a deal is expected on Thursday morning.\n\nThe document is thought to be around 2,000 pages long, with both sides having until 31 December - when the UK leaves EU trading rules - get it approved by parliamentarians.\n\nA deal would end the prospect of the two sides imposing widespread import taxes - tariffs - on each other's goods from 1 January, which could have affected prices.\n\nEU sources said the UK prime minister and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had been in contact in an attempt to break the deadlock before the expected pause in negotiations for Christmas.\n\nThe UK has insisted on having control over fishing in its waters from 1 January and retaining a larger share of the catch from them than under the current quota system.\n\nBut the EU wanted to phase in a new fishing system over a longer period and retain more of its access to UK waters for boats from France, Spain and other member states.\n\nThe sides also disagreed over whether UK firms should continue to follow the same rules as companies within the EU - and on how future trading disputes should be resolved.\n\nUK ministers have repeatedly ruled out any extension to the transition period, under which the UK has continued to follow Brussels's trade rules since it left the EU on 31 January.\n\nThe European Research Group of Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs has promised to reconvene its \"star chamber\" of lawyers - which was highly critical of previous Prime Minister Theresa May's withdrawal agreement with the EU - to analyse any deal that is reached.\n\nChairman Mark Francois and deputy chairman David Jones said it would \"scrutinise it in detail, to ensure that its provisions genuinely protect the sovereignty of the United Kingdom\".", "The UK government has told the agricultural industry that the EU will allow almost all food and plant exports from Great Britain to continue after Brexit.\n\nAs a first step, the UK has to be awarded \"third country\" listed status to be allowed to export to the EU.\n\nA Defra letter says the EU will confirm this legally on Monday, with effect from 1 January.\n\nThis will apply irrespective of a post-Brexit deal.\n\nIf no deal were struck, taxes on imports both ways would apply too, while new red tape such as export health certificates will be introduced.\n\n\"Third country listing\" is essential to permit continuing exports of, for example, Welsh lamb or live chicks.\n\nThe National Farmers Union said it was a \"critical step forward\". While almost all UK plant exports are also listed, there is a delay on some exports of seeds.\n\nAnd whereas the export of Ware potatoes for eating is still permitted, there will be a ban on exporting seed potatoes - that is, potatoes which are not meant to be consumed, but are planted in order to grow more potatoes.\n\nThe Defra letter says: \"Unfortunately the EU have confirmed they will not accept our case for a permanent change to the prohibition on seed potatoes… on the grounds that there is no agreement for GB to be dynamically aligned with EU rules\".\n\nThis is an industry significantly focused on Scotland and the north of England.\n\nExports of seed potatoes will also be barred from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. A continuity trade deal with Egypt will protect the largest market for British exports.\n\nScottish government rural spokesman Fergus Ewing said it would be \"disastrous for our world leading industry\".\n\nIt was a delay to the process of granting third country listed status that led to the Government accusing the EU of threatening to \"blockade\" Northern Ireland. This news guarantees that access for almost everything.", "Actress Kay Purcell, known for her roles in Emmerdale and Tracy Beaker Returns, has died at the age of 57.\n\nHer death was announced \"with great regret\" on Twitter by her agents, David Daly Associates.\n\nPurcell played two roles in ITV's Emmerdale and Gina Conway in Tracy Beaker Returns, a role she reprised in its spin-off series The Dumping Ground.\n\nShe was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017 and was told she had inoperable liver cancer earlier this year.\n\nEarlier this month she took to Facebook to say she was \"certainly not giving up\" and was looking forward to turning 60.\n\n\"From now on I'm going to live my life to the fullest, spending every day living the best of my life I can,\" she wrote.\n\nDani Harmer, who played Tracy in the character's various TV series, marked her co-star's death by posting a broken heart emoji.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by David Daly Assoc. This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nBorn in Leyland, Lancashire in 1963, Purcell appeared in Coronation Street and Casualty before joining Emmerdale.\n\nShe played Carmel Morgan from 1996 to 1998 before returning to the soap in 2001 to play Cynthia Daggert.\n\nPurcell went on to appear in the first series of Celebrity Fit Club and play Candice Smilie in Waterloo Road.\n\nShe was also seen as Mrs Rennison in So Awkward, in which she appeared alongside the late Archie Lyndhurst.\n\nIn 2009 Purcell set up a management company, Kay Purcell Management, in her native north-west.\n\nShe is survived by her three children, Ashley, Shemar and Indika, and her \"beautiful\" grandson Levon.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "King Felipe VI delivered the traditional annual speech from Zarzuela Palace in Madrid\n\nSpain's King Felipe VI made a veiled allusion to his self-exiled father's scandals in his Christmas address, saying \"ethics are above family ties\".\n\nIt was a small interlude in a speech centring on the coronavirus pandemic, where the king thanked health workers.\n\nThe former king, Juan Carlos, fled to Abu Dhabi in August as corruption allegations mounted.\n\nJuan Carlos has denied wrongdoing but his departure heightened debate about the future of the country's monarchy.\n\nThere has been much speculation as to whether Felipe VI would reference the controversy in the annual speech.\n\nAccording to El Pais newspaper, many felt it would be impossible to ignore in an end-of-year address, though no-one was sure how he would go about acknowledging the \"elephant in the room\".\n\nThough he did not specifically mention his father, many felt the connection was clear.\n\n\"In 2014, during my induction into parliament, I referred to the moral and ethical principles that citizens expect of us. Principles that apply to us all without exception, and that prevail over all considerations, whatever their nature may be, personal or familial,\" said the monarch.\n\nHe recognised that many families were dealing with grief and spending the holidays apart. And he spoke of a \"great national effort\" was needed to overcome the difficulties Covid-19 had caused.\n\nHe ruled for close to 40 years, before handing power to his son in 2014.\n\nThis decision came after a corruption investigation involving his daughter's husband and a controversial elephant-hunting holiday in the middle of Spain's financial crisis.\n\nIn June this year, Spain's Supreme Court launched a further investigation into Juan Carlos's alleged involvement in a high-speed rail contract in Saudi Arabia, after the ex-king lost his immunity from prosecution following his abdication.\n\nThen in August, the ex-king made the shock announcement that he was leaving Spain.\n\nHe has denied all allegations against him and said he would be available for interviews with prosecutors.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. King Juan Carlos, 76, has had health problems in recent years", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nA post-Brexit trade deal has been agreed between the EU and the UK, prompting relief, sadness and optimism for the future.\n\nEuropean leaders have been reacting to the announcement. Here's what some of them have said.\n\n\"It was a long and winding road. But we have got a good deal to show for it. It is fair, it is a balanced deal, and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides.\n\n\"To all Europeans, I say: It's time to leave Brexit behind. Our future is made in Europe.\"\n\n\"The clock is no longer ticking.\n\n\"Today is a day of relief, but tinged by some sadness as we compare what came before with what lies ahead.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'Today is a day of relief', says EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier\n\n\"The federal government will now carefully check the text of the agreement. But we're not starting at zero. The European Commission has closely included the member states throughout the entire negotiating process.\n\n\"We will thus be able to quickly judge if Germany can support today's outcome. I am very optimistic that we will have a good result.\n\n\"With the deal we create the basis for a new chapter of our relationship. The UK will continue to be an important partner for Germany and the EU outside of the European Union.\"\n\n\"There is no such thing as a 'good Brexit' for Ireland.\n\n\"But we have worked hard to minimise the negative consequences.\n\n\"I believe the agreement reached today is the least bad version of Brexit possible, given current circumstances.\"\n\nMr Martin said the deal was a \"good compromise\"\n\n\"The unity and strength of Europe paid off.\n\n\"The agreement with the United Kingdom is essential to protect our citizens, our fishermen, our producers. We will make sure that this is the case.\"\n\n\"Good news: deal between the EU and the UK has been agreed.\n\n\"Interests and rights of European businesses and citizens guaranteed. The UK will be a central partner and ally for the EU and Italy.\"\n\n\"We welcome the agreement between the EU and the UK. Congratulations to Michel Barnier, Ursula von der Leyen and their teams.\n\n\"The Member States and the EU Council will examine it in the next few days.\n\n\"Spain and the UK will continue dialogue to reach an agreement on Gibraltar.\"\n\nMr Sánchez (L) and Mr Macron (R) both welcomed the Brexit deal\n\n\"I welcome that an agreement could be reached by the negotiators on the EU's future relationship with the UK.\n\n\"We warmly welcome the agreement reached with the United Kingdom on the relationship with the EU from 1 January.\n\n\"UK will remain, in addition to our neighbour and ally, an important partner.\"\n\n\"Excellent news that an agreement on a new EU-UK partnership has been reached after tough negotiations.\n\n\"This is of great importance to us all. We will now study it carefully.\n\nMr Rutte (L) said he would examine the Brexit deal \"carefully\"\n\n\"I welcome the agreement that Michel Barnier and Ursula von der Leyen have negotiated with the UK. It offers perspective to maintain our strong relationship with the UK after Brexit.\n\n\"In the end, there is only one thing that matters to me: ensuring the best possible protection for Belgium's economic interests. We must protect our Belgian companies from unfair British competition.\n\n\"Initial reports seem to indicate that this agreement will give us this crucial guarantee.\"\n\n\"This agreement will protect the interests of Romanian companies and citizens - Romania's key objectives during these negotiations.\n\n\"Very few believe but Christmas can make miracles happen.\n\n\"Good news from both sides of the Channel. Big thanks go to Ursula von der Leyen and Michel Barnier.\n\n\"They secured a deal on our future relations between EU and UK. We will now look at it with great confidence so it can work from January.\"\n\n\"Very happy that the negotiations have finally led to a result. A deal between EU and UK is an important foundation for our future relationship.\"\n\nMr Löfven (R) said he was pleased with the outcome of the negotiations\n\n\"We welcome the agreement on the future relationship between the EU and the UK after intensive negotiations a week before the end of the transitional period, and we hope to continue a strong partnership with the UK.\"\n\n\"After long negotiations, the EU and the UK reached an agreement on the future partnership. Congratulations. This happened at the last minute, since the transition period ends at the end of this year.\n\n\"The agreement is mutually beneficial and issues of crucial importance to the EU, such as level playing field, have been taken into account. Nevertheless, this is damage control, since the new relationship lacks the benefits of the single market.\n\n\"This was the will of the UK.\"\n\n\"Finally a historic and unprecedented deal in the interest of all is reached.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Guy Verhofstadt This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n\"I hope future UK politicians will build on this partnership so we can regain the close relationship the EU and the UK deserve.\n\n\"It will be a first step in the return of the UK into the European family.\"", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Thursday morning.\n\nThe UK government is imposing a ban on travel by visitors from South Africa amid concern over a new variant of Covid-19 linked to the country. It shares some similarities to the one that has already been detected in the UK, although they have evolved separately. You can read more about it here. Meanwhile, New York City has introduced quarantine rules for international travellers following the emergence of the new UK Covid variant.\n\nBoris Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer have thanked the armed forces and NHS staff for their work in dealing with Covid-19. The PM held a video call with troops in the UK and abroad - saluting those who had helped build hospitals, deliver equipment and organise testing. In a Christmas message, Sir Keir said the pandemic had shown the values of \"generosity and kindness\" in abundance.\n\nWith coronavirus restrictions in place across Europe, Christmas is going to be different this year. We've spoken to families in Sweden, Austria, Russia, Spain and Italy about how their festive celebrations have changed, and how they're finding ways to enjoy the holiday season despite everything that's happening.\n\nWill the 93rd Academy Awards look anything like the Oscar ceremonies movie fans have come to expect? Organisers are exploring how to hold an in-person ceremony in Los Angeles on 25 April 2021, two months later than normal. And they have asked director Steven Soderbergh to \"re-envision\" the event in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Entertainment reporter Emma Jones considers the options.\n\nThe 2007 Oscars set was a glitzy homage to the film industry's biggest awards ceremony\n\nWith many carol services cancelled across Wales, people are being urged to sing from their doorsteps on Christmas Eve. Silent Night has been chosen by the Church in Wales. Reverend Kevin Ellis, vicar of Bro Eleth in the Diocese of Bangor, says the song is a \"simple and effective way\" to tell the Christmas story.\n\nSilent Night has been chosen as \"A carol for Wales\"\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, if you're able to see loved ones on Christmas Day this year then check out our handy tips on how you can avoid catching Covid.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. More tier 4 areas, a new variant and a message of hope - three things from the Downing Street press conference\n\nSix million more people in the east and south east of England are to enter tier four on Boxing Day, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced.\n\nThe places moving into the highest level of restrictions - which include a \"stay at home\" order - border the areas already in tier four.\n\nA number of areas will also move up into tiers three and two.\n\nMr Hancock also revealed that another new coronavirus variant from South Africa has been detected in the UK.\n\nHe said anyone who had been there in the last two weeks must quarantine immediately.\n\nOn Wednesday, a further 39,237 people in the UK tested positive for virus - an all-time high - and there were 744 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to government figures.\n\nHowever, cases were thought to be higher in the UK during the spring peak when testing was much more limited.\n\nThe health secretary told the Downing Street briefing the old tiering system was not enough to control the new variant of the virus.\n\nAcross the country, cases have risen 57% in the last week, he said, and hospital admissions are at their highest level since mid-April.\n\nThe rises have been in places neighbouring areas already in tier four, he said, adding that East Anglia had seen a \"significant number\" of cases caused by the new fast-spreading variant.\n\nAreas moving to tier four are: Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, with the exception of the New Forest, and the parts of Essex and Surrey not already in the toughest restrictions.\n\nThe additional six million going into tier four takes the total number of people under the toughest restrictions to 24 million, or 43% of England's population. A further 24.8 million will be in tier three.\n\nMr Hancock said: \"This Christmas and the start of 2021 is going to be tough. The new variant makes everything much harder because it spreads so much faster.\n\n\"But we mustn't give up now, we know that we can control this virus, we know we can get through this together, we're going to get through it by suppressing the virus until a vaccine can make us safe.\"\n\nUnder tier four, non-essential shops, gyms, hairdressers and indoor entertainment venues must close.\n\nPeople in these areas also cannot meet other people indoors, unless they live with them or they are part of their support bubble, even on Christmas Day, when rules on household mixing are relaxed across the rest of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.\n\nMr Hancock also announced that other areas would move into higher tiers.\n\nAreas moving to tier three are: Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, including the North Somerset council area, Swindon, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest and Northamptonshire as well as Cheshire and Warrington.\n\nCornwall and Herefordshire will move into tier two.\n\nThe British Medical Association union said the new restrictions in England were a \"necessary step to control the virus and prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed\".\n\nBut the British Retail Consortium called on the government to extend the business rates holiday for retailers and the hospitality sector beyond April next year.\n\nThe trade body also said testing should be increased and the vaccination programme \"stepped up\".\n\nAnyone singing In the Bleak Midwinter may want to write another verse.\n\nIt's likely the NHS will soon be dealing with more Covid patients than at the peak in April.\n\nThe new variants are causing concern - especially as the one detected first in the UK continued to spread even during the November lockdown.\n\nAnd cases, numbers in hospital and deaths are all going up.\n\nVaccines will be the solution, but they take time to roll out and until then it is going to be rough.\n\nThe only other tool we have to stop the virus spreading is reducing our contacts with other people.\n\nThat's why millions more of us are moving up the tiers on Boxing Day.\n\nThe hope is that come spring the virus's grip on our lives will start to ease.\n\nThe health secretary also said two cases have been detected of another new variant of the coronavirus in the UK.\n\nBoth were contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks, he said.\n\nHe said: \"This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK.\"\n\nThe health secretary said both cases and close contacts of the cases have been quarantined.\n\nThere are immediate restrictions on travel from South Africa and the government is telling those who have been in contact with anyone who has been in South Africa in the last fortnight that they must quarantine.\n\nThe measures were temporary, he said, while the new variant was analysed by scientists at the government's research centre at Porton Down.\n\nThe health secretary also announced an expansion of mass testing and the vaccination programme.\n\nCommunity testing will carried out in areas with the highest infection rates, he said, with 116 areas signing up.\n\nVaccinations have now begun in care homes, Mr Hancock said, with Chelsea pensioners among those set to receive the jab.\n\nMr Hancock also revealed the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has now submitted full data to the regulator for approval.\n\nHe said: \"Amid all this difficulty, the great hope for 2021 is of course the vaccine.\n\n\"The vaccine is our route out of all this and however tough this Christmas and this winter is going to be, we know that the transforming force of science is helping to find a way through\", he said.\n\nIt comes as the first trucks began leaving a temporary lorry park in Kent, where they had been stuck since France closed its UK border on Sunday amid concern about the new variant.\n\nFrance has ended its ban on UK arrivals on condition of them having a negative coronavirus test less than 72 hours before departure.\n\nOn Wednesday, Northern Ireland became the latest country to confirm the presence of the new strain. It has already been detected in England, Scotland and Wales, as well as a number of countries on the continent.\n\nHave you been affected by the issues raised in this story? You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n• None UK has two cases of variant linked to South Africa", "For months, the government has been urging businesses to get ready for a new era in trading with the EU. But it was only on Boxing Day that details of all the new rules were actually published.\n\nBusiness groups are relieved that the threat of a no-deal Brexit, which would have meant tariffs (or taxes) on goods crossing the border with the EU, has been removed. But companies that trade with the EU are still facing a lot of new bureaucracy.\n\nAnd the disruption in mid-December, caused by border closures related to the new variant of Covid-19, was a reminder of how dependent the UK economy is on trade across the English Channel.\n\nFrom 1 January 2021, goods entering the EU from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) face large amounts of new paperwork and checks, including:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHauliers will also need to make sure they have the right transportation paperwork before they drive to the border.\n\nThere is particular focus on the \"short straits\" route between Dover and Calais, and the nearby Channel Tunnel, which taken together handle about four million lorries a year.\n\n\"This is the biggest imposition of red tape that businesses have had to deal with in 50 years,\" says William Bain from the British Retail Consortium.\n\nFull controls on British exports to the EU began on 1 January. The first day of the new regime appears to have gone relatively smoothly.\n\nBut it's feared that later in the year, the new controls could cause disruption, even though new border infrastructure has been built at ports such as Calais, to help process vehicles more efficiently.\n\nThere are some mitigating measures though.\n\nIn response to the Covid crisis, the government is delaying full controls on goods entering Great Britain from the EU for a further six months.\n\nThere will be checks from 1 January on controlled substances such as alcohol and tobacco, and traders deemed to be a risk will also be asked to fill in customs declarations.\n\nBut most checks on goods coming in from the EU will be delayed until 1 July, a deadline that could in theory be extended.\n\n\"I think we will want to monitor it,\" the chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs, Jim Harra, told MPs in November. \"Hopefully we will not still be in a situation where Covid-19 is consuming as much of people's attention.\"\n\nOther measures to tackle potential disruption include diverting trade to other ports around the country and opening lorry parks in Kent, to avoid gridlock on the roads.\n\nSome of these contingencies were put into action early, to deal with the Covid border closures in December.\n\nOperation Brock, for example, involved changing the layout of a section of the M20, using a concrete barrier to allow lorries heading for mainland Europe to queue safely on the motorway.\n\nThousands of lorries were also diverted to temporary parking at a disused airport at Manston.\n\nFrom 1 January drivers of lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes will need to acquire a Kent Access Permit before they enter the county. They will have to show that they have all the paperwork they need to ferry goods to Europe.\n\nBut that doesn't deal with the challenge of the thousands of vans that cross the Channel every week.\n\n\"What has been serially misunderstood by various parts of government is the scale of the complexity for people on the ground dealing with the paperwork,\" says Duncan Buchanan, the Policy Director of the Road Haulage Association.\n\nThat could mean that instead of queues on motorways, many traders won't be able to leave their depots.\n\n\"Either they won't be able to get vets to sign off on their meat exports, or they won't be able to get their permit because they don't have the right bits of paper,\" says Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Storage Federation.\n\n\"We might see a quite significant holding off of trading - people just not moving stuff in the first few weeks.\"\n\nEighty-five per cent of the volume of trade between the EU and Great Britain is carried by EU hauliers, who are often paid not by the hour, but by the kilometre. If they think there will be too many delays, many may simply not come.\n\nThe government says the readiness of traders to deal with the new system remains its biggest concern.\n\nLorries parked on the M20 in Kent\n\n\"The sheer scale of the overall operation means there are literally many millions of moving parts,\" permanent secretary of the cabinet office Alex Chisholm told MPs. \"Inevitably there are going to be some difficulties for some individual people as they adjust to the new regime.\"\n\nThe government has also announced a new Border Operations Centre as part of plans \"for the UK to have the world's most effective border by 2025\".\n\nQuestions have been asked about how changes at the border might affect food supply. The short answer is no-one can say for sure, but nearly 30% of all the food consumed in the UK is imported from the EU.\n\nThe good news is that there is a deal, which makes a big difference. But the challenge is particularly acute because the UK grows relatively small amounts of fruit and vegetables in January and February and is most dependent on supplies from southern Europe at this time of year.\n\nSo, if there are delays, they could cause some shortages on the shelves.\n\n\"Some gaps are possible but we're not going to run out of food - that's not going to happen\" says Ian Wright.\n\nWhen it comes to non-perishable items, there had been some stockpiling in preparation for either outcome, but extra supplies won't last forever.\n\n\"The crunch point is probably not going to be in the first few days or weeks of January,\" William Bain argues. \"Towards the end of the month, when new orders start being placed and delivered, we will start to see the processes in Kent and the other ports really tested.\"\n\nAnd it's not only about food.\n\nOther retailers, which are used to moving their stock freely around the EU customs union, have had to create separate supply chains for the UK. That is costing them more money, and their new systems have yet to be tested properly.\n\nIt's not just about trade across the English Channel.\n\nTrade across the Irish Sea between Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland will be subject to the same pressures, while Northern Ireland will be a special case under the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.\n\nNorthern Ireland will remain in the EU single market for goods, and unlike the rest of the UK it will continue to enjoy frictionless trade with the EU with no checks of any kind at the land border with the Republic.\n\nBut there is a price to pay for that - new bureaucracy within the UK between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.\n\nThe EU, for example, has strict rules on products of animal origin: meat, milk, fish and eggs.\n\nThese products must enter the single market (and, from 1 January, Northern Ireland) through a border control post where paperwork is checked, and a proportion of goods physically inspected.\n\nThere will be a grace period of three months for supermarkets and their suppliers, but some smaller traders may have to get used to the new rules straight away.\n\nAll shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will also need a safety and security declaration, and a customs declaration from a new IT system which none of the traders have used before.\n\nThe government has set up a Trader Support Service to help.\n\nThe details of the new trading arrangements for Northern Ireland were announced separately in early December, and provided some clarity. They include an agreement which means the vast majority of goods being shipped from GB to NI will not be at risk of having tariffs imposed.\n\nBut there are plenty of unresolved issues.\n\nTraders are seeking answers about how to send parcels from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, and some online retailers have already suspended deliveries.\n\nThe trade from British to Northern Irish ports often involves multiple small shipments on a single lorry - all of which will need the right paperwork.\n\n\"We need clear rules for everyone in the supply chain,\" says Duncan Buchanan, \"and when you scratch the surface it is just not ready.\"\n\nIt is expected that many checks will be carried out on a 'light touch' basis to begin with.\n\nBut anyone trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is going to have to get used to a new way of working very quickly.", "Travel by visitors to the UK from South Africa has been banned amid concern over a variant of Covid-19 linked to the country.\n\nPeople who have been in or transited through South Africa in the last 10 days are no longer allowed into the UK.\n\nThe new rule does not apply to British and Irish nationals - but they will have to self-isolate.\n\nThe variant was found in London and north-west England, both in contacts of people who had been in South Africa.\n\nThe Department for Transport said the ban reflects the \"increased risk\" from the new variant, but will be kept under review.\n\nThe travel ban came into effect at 09:00 GMT on Christmas Eve.\n\nAnyone required to quarantine will need to do so for 10 days, along with members of their household.\n\nUK visa holders and permanent residents arriving from South Africa will not be affected - but they will also need to self-isolate.\n\nThe government had already ordered anyone in the UK who has travelled to South Africa in the past fortnight, and anyone they have been in contact with, to quarantine immediately, along with their households.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. More tier 4 areas, a new variant and a message of hope - three things from the Downing Street press conference\n\nAt a Downing Street press briefing on Wednesday, Health Secretary Hancock said the new variant linked to South Africa was \"highly concerning\".\n\nHe said those required to quarantine \"must restrict all contact with any other person whatsoever\".\n\nThe variant was detected for the first time in the UK on Tuesday.\n\nScientists in South Africa say it is still being analysed, but the data are consistent with it spreading more quickly.\n\nIt shares some similarities with another new Covid variant that has already been detected in the UK, although they have evolved separately.\n\nBoth have a mutation - called N501Y - which is in a crucial part of the virus that it uses to infect the body's cells.\n\nOn Wednesday, a further 39,237 people in the UK tested positive for virus - an all-time high - and there were 744 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to government figures.\n\nHowever, cases were thought to be higher in the UK during the spring peak when testing was much more limited.\n\nSix million more people in England are being moved into the highest tier four restrictions on 26 December.\n\nThe latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests levels of coronavirus are continuing to rise, with one in 85 people in England infected.\n\nAbout two-thirds of people testing positive in London, the east of England, and the South East could have the new variant - but this is only an estimate based on genes detected by the tests, the ONS says.\n\nIn Wales, about one in 60 people are infected - a sharp increase.\n\nThe percentage of people testing positive in Northern Ireland is also up, but in Scotland numbers are down.\n\nMeanwhile, more than 6,000 lorries are still being held in Kent in south-east England, with drivers being tested for Covid-19 before they are allowed to cross the Channel. France had imposed a temporary travel ban earlier in the week over concerns about the new UK variant of Covid-19.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps said more than 2,300 drivers have now tested negative, while three were positive.\n\nThe Department for Transport did not give figures on how many drivers have left so far, but the flow of traffic has increased since Wednesday night when, according to the Port of Dover, fewer than 100 left.\n\nMore than 50 other countries, including Germany, Italy, India and Pakistan, are continuing to block travellers from the UK.\n\nOn Thursday, China became the latest country to suspend flights to and from the UK.", "‘It’s only my problem because of my postcode’ Felicity lives on the Irish border in South Armagh\n\nFelicity McKee lives in South Armagh which is on the border between northern and southern Ireland. As a PhD student at Swansea University she regularly drives to Bristol to fly home via Dublin. As a woman who lives with multiple disabilities she is concerned about how health insurance will work in the future. “I get ill when I travel and there is no way I could afford a hospital stay. The cost of health insurance is higher anyway for disabled people and I’ve got ill abroad before. It is very concerning “As far as I can see the European Health Insurance card (EHIC) is dead in the water in the future and the issue of health insurance is messy. When it comes to the NHS and health care I don’t know how that will work if I got ill on the wrong side of the border. “There’s data roaming; am I going to need two phones like I needed when I was in secondary school? Paying for two contracts on a phone will add up. It's little things but they make a big difference. “My European friends are concerned whether they’ll be able to stay. One of my friends had their tyres slashed after the referendum result and I’ve noticed a lot of anti-Irish sentiment too; I think it’s affected a lot of people. People don’t realise the consequences of Brexit. It’s not the 70s or 80s anymore and international links are beneficial to have.\"", "The BBC has received 266 complaints about a scene in The Vicar Of Dibley, referencing the Black Lives Matter movement.\n\nIn last week's Christmas episode, Dawn French's character, Reverend Geraldine Granger, took the knee and delivered a sermon about racism.\n\nThe corporation has previously defended the sitcom scene.\n\nIt said in a statement it \"was in keeping with the character and the theme of the show\".\n\nFrench's character is shown being filmed by parishioner and farmer Owen Newitt as she tells the audience she has been preoccupied with the \"horror show\" of the death of George Floyd, who died while in US police custody.\n\nMr Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed in May while being arrested by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sparking anti-racism protests around the world.\n\nIn the scene, the vicar noted that Dibley, the fictional Oxfordshire village, is \"not the most diverse community\", and encouraged its residents to get behind the anti-racism campaign, which gained pace around the real world following Mr Floyd's death.\n\nSome viewers of the episode criticised it on social media.\n\n\"A lovely calm day, full of humanity, compassion and support all round...\" responded French, at the time on Twitter.\n\nThe comic actor later clarified in the comments that she was being \"a tad ironic\".\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nDiego Maradona's autopsy has revealed that the Argentina legend had no signs of alcohol or narcotics consumption at the time of his death.\n\nThe 1986 World Cup winner died of a heart attack on 25 November at the age of 60.\n\nThe autopsy said Maradona had problems with his kidneys, heart and lungs.\n\nIt had been ordered as part of an investigation into Maradona's death to see if there was any negligence in the healthcare he was provided.\n\nMaradona, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, had a successful operation on a brain blood clot earlier in November and had been due to be treated for alcohol dependency.\n\nA first autopsy carried out on the day Maradona died found that the former Boca Juniors and Napoli player had died from \"acute pulmonary edema secondary to exacerbated chronic heart failure with dilated cardiomyopathy\".\n• None Who are the greatest Premier League captains?\n• None The best Christmas songs performed by the biggest artists", "The additional numbers will come from the UK's high readiness Standby Battalions\n\nAn additional 800 military personnel are to be sent to Kent on Christmas Day to help clear a backlog of lorries waiting to cross to France.\n\nAbout 4,000 lorries are still waiting to cross the English Channel after the French closed their border with the UK.\n\nDrivers must test negative for Covid-19 before boarding a train or ferry.\n\nThe extra support will take the number of military personnel delivering testing to drivers in Kent to about 1,100.\n\nFrench firefighters have been supporting the testing effort, while the Polish defence minister said in a tweet that a team of territorial army soldiers would be sent to Kent.\n\nA group of Polish medics was deployed to the UK on Thursday to help test drivers. the Polish news website TVN24 has reported.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps said that of the 2,367 drivers tested by 12:00 GMT on Christmas Eve, three have tested positive.\n\nFerries will continue to operate from Dover over Christmas, but Mr Shapps said it could take several days to clear the backlog.\n\nThe military will organise welfare facilities and the distribution of food and water.\n\n\"Our aim is to get foreign hauliers home with their families as quickly as we can,\" Mr Shapps said.\n\n\"I know it's been hard for many drivers cooped up in their cabs at this precious time of year, but I assure them that we are doing our utmost to get them home,\" he added.\n\nVolunteers have delivered thousands of meals and food parcels to drivers parked up at Manston Airport and along the M20 as many spend Christmas Day in their vehicles.\n\nThe Department for Transport says: \"Free food, water and hot drinks are being provided to all.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Dept for Transport This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. End of twitter post by Dept for Transport\n\nSussex Police said dozens of lorry drivers who had been caught in disruption at Newhaven had arrived back in mainland Europe.\n\nFollow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk.\n• None Lorry drivers warned of Christmas in their cabs\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the House to vote on the stimulus measures on Monday\n\nDemocrats and Republicans have blocked each other's attempts to amend a vital $900bn (£665bn) stimulus package after President Donald Trump sent it back to Congress demanding changes.\n\nThe coronavirus economic relief, which comes with a $1.4tn federal budget attached, was agreed by both sides.\n\nBut Mr Trump said one-off payments to Americans should increase from $600 to $2,000, and foreign aid should be cut.\n\nWithout the bill in force, many Americans face an uncertain Christmas.\n\nUnemployment benefits are due to expire on Saturday if the bill is not enacted, and a moratorium on evictions may not be extended.\n\nLegislators could pass a stopgap bill by Monday to prevent a partial government shutdown looming a day later, but this would not include coronavirus aid and Mr Trump would still have to sign it.\n\nMeeting on Thursday in response to Mr Trump's intervention, Democrats in the House of Representatives blocked Republican attempts to cut foreign aid from the federal spending bill, while Republicans refused to allow the increase in coronavirus payments to $2,000.\n\nHouse Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said in a letter to colleagues: \"House Democrats appear to be suffering from selective hearing.\"\n\nWhile the haggling continues on Capitol Hill, the president is spending Christmas at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida. A White House memo said he was working \"tirelessly\" with \"many meetings and calls\", though he was spotted at his golf course on Thursday morning.\n\nHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said the lower chamber would meet again next Monday to vote on the stimulus payments for Americans.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nOn the same day, the House is also expected to vote on an unrelated, $740bn defence spending bill, which Mr Trump vetoed on Wednesday instead of signing into law. Lawmakers plan to override the president's veto and enact the legislation anyway, but to do so they need two-thirds of votes in both the House and Senate.\n\nMr Trump is objecting to provisions in the defence bill that limit troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Europe and remove Confederate leaders' names from military bases.\n\nThe $900bn coronavirus aid relief bill - with the larger budget bill rolled in - overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives and Senate on Monday but a day later Mr Trump issued an implied veto threat, describing the package in a video statement as a \"disgrace\" full of \"wasteful\" items.\n\nHe baulked at the annual aid money for other countries in the federal budget, arguing that those funds should instead go to struggling Americans.\n\nMr Trump's decision to bat the measure back to Capitol Hill stunned lawmakers since he has largely stayed out of negotiations for a coronavirus aid bill that had stalled since last July.\n\nHis top economic adviser, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, had proposed the $600 payments early this month, and many have questioned why the president waited until now to object.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"I'm not sure how we're going to survive\"\n\nThe one-off payments of $600 and the federal jobless benefits are half the sum provided by the last major coronavirus aid bill in March, which contained $2.4tn in economic relief.\n\nMr Trump's call for more generous one-off payments to Americans has found him in rare agreement with some liberal Democrats who are usually his sworn political foes.\n\nCongresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: \"Glad to see the President is willing to support our legislation.\"\n\nBut many of the president's fellow Republicans are said to be dismayed that Democrats will now depict them as Scrooges for rejecting higher spending.\n\nOn a conference call Wednesday, House Republicans said Mr Trump had thrown them under a bus, according to the Associated Press news agency.\n\nMany of them now face the dilemma of choosing between the president and party.\n\nThough conservatives are protesting over the spiralling trillion-dollar US deficit, they and the president enacted tax cuts in 2017 that added to America's overdraft.\n\nThe congressional gridlock comes amid runoff votes in Georgia for two Senate seats that will determine the balance of power in Washington next year.\n\nRepublican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are fighting for their political lives in the 5 January special election. Both had backed the aid bill spurned by Mr Trump.\n\nIf Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock can flip these two seats, their party will control all of Congress and the White House once President-elect Joe Biden takes office later next month.", "1,645 days after the UK voted to leave the EU, 328 days after we actually departed, the shape of our relationship with our nearest neighbours has been drawn and agreed - only days before the status quo will disappear.\n\nThe deal that will determine how we do business with our biggest trading partner.\n\nThe deal that both sides desperately wanted to achieve.\n\nBut the deal that was not, even though political logic suggested it, inevitable.\n\nCertainly the prime minister always said he would be willing to walk away, claiming repeatedly that the UK would \"prosper mightily\" if there was no agreement in the end.\n\nIt is true that he and his allies sometimes scoffed at the nature of the widespread warnings about the potential damage abandoning the status quo without a deal could wreak.\n\nIt is also true that some of the positions the EU was putting forward even in the closing weeks of the talks were seen as intolerable by the UK side, which was even in some moments surprised by what appeared to be a hardening of attitudes late in the day.\n\nBut it is also true that the prime minister, the vast majority of ministers and MPs were concerned about the risk of taking a step into the unknown.\n\nThey wanted to avoid the disruption of leaving a relationship that has lasted four decades without a ready replacement.\n\nTo rip off the tentacles spread into almost every feature of how the country is run overnight could have caused major pain.\n\nEven with a deal, changes are on the way that may not feel smooth. But a sudden no-deal departure from the EU's rules could have been a disruptive at best, disastrous at worst, for some very concerned industries, adding to the country's difficulties during a pandemic that has caused so much pain.\n\nThe 1,500 or so pages of the deal (if you're stuck for Christmas reading, there'll be plenty to keep you busy!) have not yet been published, far less has there been time to comb through the actual detail.\n\nIn the coming days, without doubt, there will be a rhetorical bidding war over which side has given more ground, \"lost\" or \"won\".\n\nThere will have been compromises on both sides. But both the UK and the EU have put pragmatism over firm principle, and agreed an historic accord that will affect so many aspects of how we live.\n\nBoris Johnson has so often been accused of failing to keep the promises that he has made. The details of the deal may well contain more evidence that some of his vows on Brexit will be broken.\n\nBut he has managed to keep perhaps his biggest commitment after taking us out of the European Union - securing a deal - a huge political and personal relief, perhaps, for the man whose name and reputation will be forever linked with the UK's decision to leave the EU.", "The US President has even floated the idea of pardoning himself, but is that legal? The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan has the answer.", "Last updated on .From the section League Cup\n\nCaptain Harry Maguire said Manchester United \"have to start lifting trophies\" after they set up a Carabao Cup semi-final against rivals Manchester City with a late win at Everton.\n\nUnited's last domestic silverware was the League Cup in 2017 and they are within one game of another final after Edinson Cavani and Anthony Martial broke Everton's resistance at Goodison Park.\n\nCavani's stunning curling effort from 20 yards opened the scoring in front of 2,000 fans, just as the game looked set to head to penalties.\n\nWith Everton chasing the game, substitute Martial added a second in stoppage time to send Ole Gunnar Solskjaer one step closer to earning his first trophy as United boss.\n\n\"We are expected to win trophies,\" said Maguire. \"It's important to reach these big games but we have to start winning them and lift some trophies for this club.\n\n\"It was an excellent performance and we should have been out of sight, we had three or four great chances. We need to be more clinical.\"\n\nEverton were lacklustre in the second half, after Richarlison went off injured, having promised much in the first period, with Gylfi Sigurdsson's free-kick testing Dean Henderson.\n\nDefeat for Carlo Ancelotti's team ends a run of three successive wins which has lifted them to fourth in the Premier League table.\n\nUnited continued their upsurge over the last month with a victory which means they have now won all nine of their domestic away games this season - a run which has seen them go third in the Premier League table with a game in hand on their rivals.\n\nDespite making nine changes to the team which beat Leeds on Sunday after going 2-0 up inside three minutes, Solskjaer's side began with a similar intensity but could not find a breakthrough against an Everton team whose defence has improved in recent games.\n\nIn keeping with their 3-1 win at Goodison last month, Bruno Fernandes was at the heart of their endeavour and in Cavani, they had a striker with a keen eye for goal despite missing the last few games through injury.\n\nIt was an eventful night for the former Paris St-Germain forward, who joined United in October.\n\nHaving tested Everton keeper Robin Olsen early on, he was then involved in an off-the-ball incident with Yerry Mina where he appeared to grab the Everton defender. Without the use of VAR until the semi-finals, neither player was punished.\n\nThere were also chances for Mason Greenwood and Paul Pogba but once Everton found their feet midway through the first half, United found it hard to break down their opponents.\n\nWith the game petering out in the second half, Solskjaer sent on Marcus Rashford and Martial in search of a goal, but neither appeared to provide a spark.\n\nThat was until Martial found space on the counter attack to feed Cavani, who cut inside Ben Godfrey and found the bottom corner with a rasping strike for his fourth of the season.\n\nWith Everton committing players forward to take the game to spot-kicks, they allowed United to break twice more with Fernandes hitting the post on one surge before Martial finished a slick move for his fourth of the season too.\n\nHaving slipped up in three cup semi-finals last season, Solskjaer said he was \"desperate\" for silverware this campaign, and his side are showing signs they could win a first trophy for the club since their 2017 Europa League triumph.\n\nFans can't help Everton as trophy search continues\n\nEverton's improvement in their last three games has been buoyed by being one of a handful of teams who can now allow fans into their stadium.\n\nBut on a cold and wet night at Goodison Park, where the supporters did their best to raise the team, Ancelotti's side could not find a rhythm to overly trouble United, who looked like they had the extra guile to win the tie.\n\nMuch of Everton's recent success has come by holding firm in defence and breaking on the counter attack, and there were moments when Henderson was called into action to deny Sigurdsson and Calvert-Lewin.\n\nBut much of their endeavour came from set-pieces, and when they lost Richarlison to what looked like a head injury following a collision with Eric Bailly, they struggled to get in behind the United defence.\n\nBefore the break, it was the much improved Sigurdsson who provided the hosts' biggest threat, with his corner teeing up Calvert-Lewin and a weaving run leading to a blocked shot before his fizzing free-kick was saved.\n\nAfter Cavani's late finish, the fans in the Gwladys Street End urged an equaliser as Godfrey's shot was stopped, but Ancelotti's side missed out on a first semi-final since 2016 as their search for a first trophy since their 1995 FA Cup win continues.\n\n'We have no regrets' - what they said\n\nEverton boss Carlo Ancelotti said: \"We are disappointed because it was an important competition for us. We have no regrets because the team performed.\n\n\"We had a difficult start but after 20 minutes, defensively we were in control.\n\n\"In the second half we didn't give an opportunity against a team which is really strong. We performed defensively, we were good until the end, we were close to the penalties but anyway no regrets, absolutely.\"\n\nMan Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: \"We had three semi-finals last year and it is a step not far enough.\n\n\"It was an excellent performance from the beginning. I thought we should have been one or two goals up at least.\n\n\"The first 25-30 minutes we put them under pressure and created loads of chances but you always know it will be difficult against Everton and they pegged us back in the last 15 minutes of the first half.\n\n\"We defended well and in the second half it was tight but we had a little bit of an upper hand.\"\n\nEverton return to the Premier League with a trip to bottom of the table Sheffield United on 26 December, before hosting Manchester City two days later.\n\nManchester United are away at Leicester on Boxing Day, and face Wolves at Old Trafford on 29 December.\n• None Manchester United have reached the League Cup semi-finals for the 16th time, second only to Liverpool (17) in the competition's history.\n• None Everton failed to register a shot on target in the second half, with Gylfi Sigurdsson having 57% of their total attempts tonight (4/7).\n• None This was United's third clean sheet in 12 away games in all competitions this season, with all of these shutouts coming in the League Cup.\n• None United have scored in each of their last 25 away games in all competitions, since a 0-2 defeat at Liverpool in January.\n• None United are the first team to win away at Everton twice in the same season since Chelsea in the 2007-08 campaign.\n• None This was United's 14th consecutive away win in domestic competition, with the Red Devils last failing to win on the road in non-European competition against Spurs back in June (1-1).\n• None Martial is the third substitute to both score and assist a goal for Manchester United in all competitions this season (Greenwood v Luton, Cavani v Southampton), with no sub having done this for the club in either 2018-19 or 2019-20.\n• None Cavani's late winner for came from his fourth shot on target in the match, which was one more than Everton managed.\n• None Goal! Everton 0, Manchester United 2. Anthony Martial (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Marcus Rashford with a through ball following a fast break.\n• None Attempt saved. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Edinson Cavani.\n• None Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) hits the bar with a right footed shot from the centre of the box. Assisted by Nemanja Matic following a fast break.\n• None Attempt blocked. Ben Godfrey (Everton) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Alex Iwobi.\n• None Attempt blocked. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Anthony Martial.\n• None Anthony Martial (Manchester United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.\n• None Attempt missed. Ben Godfrey (Everton) header from very close range is too high. Assisted by Gylfi Sigurdsson with a cross following a set piece situation.\n• None Axel Tuanzebe (Manchester United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.\n• None Goal! Everton 0, Manchester United 1. Edinson Cavani (Manchester United) left footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Anthony Martial.\n• None Attempt missed. Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Alex Iwobi with a cross. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None Who are the greatest Premier League captains?\n• None The best Christmas songs performed by the biggest artists", "Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen are said to have been working to reach an agreement before Christmas\n\nBoris Johnson is expected to announce later that the UK has reached an agreement with the EU over post-Brexit trade and security.\n\nOfficials in Brussels are believed to be finalising the details of a deal that will come into force when the UK leaves EU trading rules next week.\n\nIt follows months of often fraught negotiations between the two sides.\n\nThe PM will speak to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen by phone to sign off the deal.\n\nMr Johnson is then expected to hold a press conference in Downing Street to announce it.\n\nThe announcement had been expected earlier, but it has been delayed while final haggling between the two sides continues.\n\nIrish foreign minister Simon Coveney told RTE Radio there had been \"some sort of last-minute hitch\" over the small print of the fishing quotas agreement but a deal was still expected later.\n\nA deal would end the prospect of the two sides imposing widespread import taxes - tariffs - on each other's goods from 1 January, which could have affected prices.\n\nBBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Mr Johnson and Mrs von der Leyen spoke four times on Wednesday to get a deal \"over the line\".\n\nShe said negotiators were \"still haggling over some fine details\", including catch quotas for more than 100 species of fish in UK waters.\n\nIt is understood the agreement does not have a role for the European Court of Justice, the EU's top court, and the two sides have agreed a system to sort out disputes that follows international law, rather than EU law, our political editor said.\n\nIn addition, she said the two sides have agreed to phase new fishing arrangements over five years, with the UK catching as much as two-thirds of the fish in UK waters by the end of the transition.\n\nThe deal document is thought to be around 2,000 pages long. It is expected that the UK Parliament will be recalled to vote on a law implementing a deal before 31 December, when the Brexit transition period ends.\n\nOn the EU side, leaders can decide to apply a deal provisionally before the European Parliament holds a ratification vote early next year. It could also need eventual approval in national EU parliaments, depending on the exact contents of the deal.\n\nBBC Europe correspondent Gavin Lee said Mrs von der Leyen was also due to speak later to set out details of the deal.\n\nIt is believed one of the final obstacles being discussed include quotas for particular types of fish.\n\nThe UK has insisted on having control over fishing in its waters from 1 January and retaining a larger share of the catch from them than under the current quota system.\n\nBut the EU wanted to phase in a new fishing system over a longer period and retain more of its access to UK waters for boats from France, Spain and other member states.\n\nThe sides also disagreed over whether UK firms should continue to follow the same rules as companies within the EU - and on how future trading disputes should be resolved.\n\nThe pizzas arrived as the negotiations continued into the evening\n\nAs afternoon gave way to evening and evening gave way to night in Brussels optimism that agreement was close never dwindled, but never quite turned into a deal either.\n\nAt one point pizzas arrived for the weary officials - a delivery man on a bike turning up at the front gates of the European Commission.\n\nIt was understood that negotiators were still haggling over precise quotas of individual species of fish that EU boats will be allowed to catch in British waters.\n\nThe governments of individual EU member states must consider the details of any deal but they have been briefed regularly throughout the process and shouldn't find much if anything to surprise them.\n\nThe issue of how to promote the deal for public consumption is much more pressing for the British side than the European.\n\nFor the EU there are legal loose ends to be tied up but the European Parliament will only vote on a deal retrospectively at some point in the New Year.\n\nIn the UK the government will have to get any deal through parliament before 31 December.\n\nUK ministers have repeatedly ruled out any extension to the transition period, under which the UK has continued to follow Brussels's trade rules since it left the EU on 31 January.\n\nSir Ian Cheshire, chairman of Barclays UK, said he welcomed an agreement, which would bring \"clarity\" for business.\n\nSpeaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said planning for a new trading relationship with the EU had been \"the overriding issue for businesses over the last two years\".\n\n\"This was pure politics. It was always the last minute sort of rabbit from the hat,\" he added.\n\nThe European Research Group of Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs has promised to reconvene its group of lawyers to analyse any deal that is reached.\n\nThe group was highly critical of previous Prime Minister Theresa May's withdrawal agreement with the EU.\n\nChairman Mark Francois and deputy chairman David Jones said it would \"scrutinise it in detail, to ensure that its provisions genuinely protect the sovereignty of the United Kingdom\".", "Ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair is urging the government to give as many people as possible an initial dose of a Covid vaccine - rather than preserving stocks so there is enough for second jabs.\n\nThe Pfizer-Biontech and Oxford University-Astrazeneca vaccines require two doses to be fully effective.\n\nMr Blair said his idea would speed up the vaccine programme so the country could come out of lockdown sooner.\n\nIn the Independent, he argued the roll-out must be \"radically accelerated\".\n\nThe UK has pre-ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 100 million of the Oxford University Astrazeneca vaccines.\n\nMore than 500,000 people in the UK have now been given their first dose of the vaccine.\n\nThe two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are administered around 21 days apart.\n\nIn a statement, Pfizer said this was needed \"to provide the maximum protection\", adding: \"Health professionals are advised to continue to follow the official guidance on administration of the vaccine.\"\n\nMr Blair told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that although \"you really need the two doses… the first dose gives you substantial immunity\".\n\nHe argued there was a \"strong case for not holding back the second doses of the vaccine\" and instead using those batches to give a greater number of people the first dose.\n\nHis proposal was backed up by Professor David Salisbury, the man in charge of immunisation at the Department of Health until 2013.\n\nHe told Today the numbers were \"straightforward\".\n\n\"You give one dose you get 91% [protection] you give two doses and you get 95% - you are only gaining 4% for giving the second dose,\" he said.\n\n\"With current circumstances, I would strongly urge you to use as many first doses as you possibly can for risk groups and only after you have done all of that come back with second doses.\"\n\nHowever, he acknowledged this would be harder to do with the Oxford University vaccine, where the efficacy of two doses is 60%.\n\nPfizer has not tested their vaccine as a single dose so where have the numbers come from?\n\nThe large clinical trial using two jabs showed 52% protection in the time between the first and second jabs.\n\nBut it takes time for the immune system to fully respond, so that figure will include the time when there is no protection from the vaccine.\n\nAnd this is true of the second jab; it's not an instantaneous response.\n\nData in the New England Journal of Medicine says there is 90.5% protection in the six days after the second jab.\n\nProf Salisbury's argument is this is all down to the first jab, as the second has not kicked in yet.\n\nProfessor Wendy Barclay, from the department of infectious disease at Imperial College London, said Mr Blair's idea was interesting but agreed it was \"too risky\" to try without further evidence.\n\nAnd Professor Neil Ferguson, also from Imperial, added that the UK regulator had authorised the vaccine on the basis that people would receive two doses.\n\nAdministering one dose only would require \"an entirely different regulatory submission\", he told a Commons committee.\n\nA Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: \"Over the coming weeks and months, the rate of vaccinations will increase as more doses become available and the programme continues to expand.\"\n\nMargaret Keenan became the first person in the UK to receive the Pfizer/BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at University Hospital, Coventry\n\nMr Blair's suggestion is part of a seven-point plan he has drawn up, which also includes a plea to the government to start preparing \"health passports\".\n\nThe former Labour prime minister, who was in power between 1997 and 2007, predicted that in six months, countries would only allow travellers to visit if they could give proof of their disease status.\n\nHe also said it was important to \"have the best data systems in the world available to us\".\n\n\"Collecting this data in one place, with one patient record, is going to be absolutely vital - testing, vaccinations, every single thing to do with the development of this disease,\" he added.\n\n\"You need to record every single piece of data you can lay your hands on because we will be adjusting our vaccination programme as we go - we may even have to adjust the vaccine itself.\"\n\nMr Blair also said that while it was important to prioritise the vulnerable and health care staff, this should not delay vaccinating those who were more likely to spread the disease, such as students.\n\nTony Blair's theory about making vaccines go further is grabbing the headlines but the former prime minister's thoughts on health passports could prove even more controversial.\n\nHe's confident that within six months no country in the world will allow travellers in without proof of their disease status - and wants the UK government to get ahead of the curve, building a vast database of patient records, tests and vaccinations.\n\nIt would seem inevitable that any health passport would end up being used not just for foreign travel but at home, with restaurants, shops and even employers demanding to know about an individual's virus status.\n\nThe national ID card that Tony Blair's government proposed in the teeth of fierce opposition would finally become a reality.\n\nBut civil liberties and data rights campaigners have already raised concerns about issues such as the data collected by the NHS Covid-19 contact tracing app, and about the role in building a virus dashboard the government has given to the controversial American firm Palantir.\n\nThey can be expected to mount a vigorous fight against any attempt to create a national \"Covid passport\" - and many MPs across the political spectrum will share their unease.\n\nBut not everyone will reject the idea out of hand. Some whose freedoms to leave their house or to welcome family at Christmas have been curtailed may think that giving away some of their data is a price worth paying for a return to normality.", "Former celebrity chef Pete Evans has amassed a huge following online\n\nFacebook has removed the page of Australian celebrity chef Pete Evans after he repeatedly shared misinformation about the coronavirus.\n\nEvans, who had about 1.5 million Facebook followers, spread conspiracy theories about Covid and vaccines which are refuted by medical experts.\n\nPreviously, Facebook had taken down individual posts from Evans deemed to be misinformation.\n\nBut the platform has now removed his entire page.\n\n\"We don't allow anyone to share misinformation about Covid-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm or [about] Covid-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts,\" the company said.\n\nFacebook said it had removed the page for \"repeated violations\" of its policies.\n\nEvans had shared a range of debunked theories about the severity of the virus, mask-wearing and vaccines, as well as incorrect claims about 5G networks.\n\nThe chef came to prominence as a judge for 10 seasons on Australian cooking show My Kitchen Rules.\n\nHis account on Facebook-owned Instagram - with 278,000 followers - remains active.\n\nEvans posted on Instagram on Thursday that he was \"very glad to be one of the catalysts for a conversation about such an important topic... freedom of speech\".\n\nMany of his fans expressed frustration about Facebook's decision.\n\nEvans' critics have long called on Facebook to remove his access to the platform for spreading false information.\n\nPrior to the pandemic, several Australian health bodies had criticised Evans - known as \"Paleo Pete\" - for promoting pseudo-science about diets and cancer cures.\n\nIn 2017, the Australian Medical Association accused Evans of endangering lives with his false claims about the benefits of certain minerals and toxins in sunscreen.\n\nHis following has grown larger this year.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sebastian’s mum became one of the leaders of Britain’s conspiracy community\n\nSome protesters cited his videos as inspiration for attending anti-lockdown rallies in cities such as Melbourne.\n\nIn April, his company was fined by Australian regulators for selling a A$15,000 (£8,400; $11,300) light machine which he incorrectly claimed could cure the \"Wuhan coronavirus\".\n\nThen in November, he lost several business sponsorships after he shared a meme on social media that featured a neo-Nazi symbol.\n\nHis post included a \"black sun\" - a symbol associated with Nazi Germany and used by the far-right including the Christchurch gunman. Following a backlash, he offered an apology to \"anyone who misinterpreted\" the post.\n\nHis cookbooks were pulled by major retailers after that post, and his publisher Pan Macmillan said it had ended his author contract.\n\nEvans was also fired from the next Australian season of television show I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here.", "Truckers have been stranded in Kent since France imposed a cross-Channel travel ban\n\nTeams of volunteers have delivered hundreds of meals to lorry drivers stranded in Kent.\n\nMembers of Maidenhead's KhalsaAid travelled 80 miles (130km) to take food to drivers hit by the travel ban between the UK and France.\n\nOn Tuesday, some of the Sikh charity's LangarAid members travelled almost double the distance, from Coventry, to take water and food.\n\nVolunteers from KhalsaAid provided more than 800 meals to stuck truckers\n\nRail, air and sea services between the two countries have resumed after France eased its travel ban.\n\nFrench citizens, British nationals living in France and hauliers are among those now able to travel - if they have a recent negative test.\n\nBut the delays will take some time to clear, with drivers remaining in need of help from the armies of volunteers.\n\nSome European nationals living in England have come to the aid of their compatriots who are stranded in Kent.\n\nMembers of a Facebook page for Hungarians in the UK helped to organise food donations.\n\nIvett Hidvegi said drivers were \"in a really bad situation\" with limited access to food and toilets.\n\nVolunteers were prevented from delivering food at Manston Airport on Tuesday, so handed donations to drivers on the roadside, she said.\n\nExtra toilets were delivered to Manston Airport on Wednesday\n\nSikhs from Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Gravesend, Kent, helped cook the meals before volunteers were given a police escort along the M20 to deliver them.\n\nMr Singh added: \"It's horrible for [the drivers], there's nothing here - no food, no shops - it's like a prison for them. We can't sit back and do nothing.\"\n\nThe Salvation Army has been giving out food and drink to drivers stuck on the M20\n\nThe Salvation Army has also provided 1,000 packs of sandwiches for lorry drivers on the M20.\n\nCapt Marion Rouffet said: \"We worked from 8:30 last night until midnight, and the sandwiches were stored by the pub next door.\n\n\"The shop owner next door offered anything we need, and Pret A Manger gave us lots of sandwich fillings.\n\n\"People will always rally when necessary.\"\n\nRamsgate FC was giving out pizzas to drivers as they arrived at Manston Airport\n\n\"We are a community club and we want anyone in the community or who passes through to know we will always look after them,\" chairman James Lawson said.\n\n\"We gave pizzas to the lorry drivers as they were driving into Manston Airport. We have a pizza kitchen and we can't play football at the moment, so we had a lot of stock which was starting to go out of date, so it seemed a perfect opportunity to help out.\n\n\"It was a lot of work over a few hours,\" he said.\n\nAshford International Truckstop said it was providing 1,000 food bags, prepared by staff who had volunteered to work at its sister hotel in Hythe and pub in Alkham.\n\nToby Howe, senior highways managers at Kent County Council, said: \"For those on the M20 there have been facilities - toilets have been provided - and we've had really good support from communities around the place to provide food.\n\n\"We're really appreciative of those who have brought food.\n\n\"There's been a lot of positives from this - people coming together to give support.\"\n\nFollow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer have thanked the armed forces and NHS staff for their work in dealing with Covid-19.\n\nIn a video call with troops in the UK and abroad, the PM saluted those who had helped build hospitals, deliver equipment and organise testing.\n\n\"You represent in my view the very best of our country,\" he said.\n\nIn his Christmas message, Sir Keir said the pandemic had shown the values of \"generosity and kindness\" in abundance.\n\nWhile it had been tough year for everyone and a traumatic one for many, the Labour leader said \"in every village, every town and every city, we have seen the very best of Britain\".\n\nHe paid tribute to the \"key workers who have been our country's rock, the servicemen and servicewomen who have stepped up, and the incredible scientists who have discovered a vaccine\".\n\nWhile there was \"light at the end of the tunnel\" in the country's fight against the virus, he acknowledged the difficulties many families face with \"an empty space around the Christmas table\" this year.\n\n\"I know it hasn't been easy. I know for many of our key workers they will have to step up again, one more time, this Christmas, as will our armed forces, who have deployed here and across the overseas,\" he said.\n\n\"Christmas is a time for us to be thankful for what we value most and to care for those who have lost so much.\"\n\nAnd he urged people to capture the spirit shown during the crisis to \"rebuild a better future for our country\".\n\nAddressing troops stationed in Mali, Estonia, Somalia and Afghanistan, as well as those deployed in the UK, Mr Johnson thanked them all for being \"our number one export\".\n\n\"You represent in my view the very best of our country, the thing people really want to see around the world.\n\n\"It's not just abroad that this has been an amazing year for the armed services. So many of you have been responsible for doing extraordinary things here at home, thousands of you helping to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.\n\n\"Building the Nightingales, delivering PPE, testing people, and now leading the way and helping the country to get vaccinated.\n\n\"Thank you for your sacrifice and your effort. You're bringing hope and encouragement to the entire country.\"", "Buckingham Palace's Masterpieces exhibition was forced to shut after less than two weeks\n\nThe two men in charge of the Queen's art collection have left and won't be replaced \"for the time being\" because of Covid's impact on royal finances.\n\nDesmond Shawe-Taylor, the Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures - a post that was created in 1625 - has taken redundancy.\n\nRufus Bird, the Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art, has also left.\n\nThe Royal Collection Trust has said it expects to lose £64m in income this year because Buckingham Palace and other sites have been shut to visitors.\n\nThat has forced the Trust, one of the the royal household's five departments, into carrying out a restructure and staff cuts.\n\nWriting in the Trust's latest annual report, the Prince of Wales, its chairman, said: \"We are now facing by far the greatest challenge in the charity's history and have had to take many hard decisions in order to adjust to the new economic realities.\"\n\nThe Trust looks after the Queen's vast and distinguished art collection, which includes masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Rubens, Titian and Reynolds.\n\nThe post of Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures was created by Charles I, and previous holders include Anthony Blunt, who was later revealed to have been a Russian spy. Mr Shawe-Taylor had been in the job since 2005.\n\nThe Trust is also responsible for opening the Queen's official residences to visitors. Its latest exhibition, Masterpieces from Buckingham Palace, opened on 4 December but was forced to close less than two weeks later, when London's coronavirus restrictions were tightened.\n\nA statement from the Trust said: \"As part of the Royal Collection Trust restructure, Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures and Chief Surveyor, and Rufus Bird, Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art, will leave the organisation under the Voluntary Severance Programme.\n\n\"The posts of Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures and Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art will for the time being, be lost and held in abeyance.\n\n\"The Director of the Royal Collection, Tim Knox, will assume overall responsibility for the curatorial sections, supported by the Deputy Surveyors of Pictures and Works of Art.\"", "This is a political victory for the prime minister with up front control \"taken back\" in a deal struck in a very short time.\n\nIn economic terms, it prevents the equivalent of a low level tariff trade war with our biggest trading partner breaking out, in the middle of an historic recession and health crisis.\n\nThe UK has stayed in a free trade zone stretching from Iceland to Russia, as Vote Leave promised ahead of the referendum.\n\nBut his manifest error in declaring there are \"no non-tariff barriers\" for trade with the EU had business leaders falling off their chairs.\n\nThis is patently not the case. The government has entire websites informing the public and businesses of tens of millions of new customs declarations, export health checks, regulatory checks, rules of origin checks, conformity assessments.\n\nBut while we wait for 2,000 pages of legal detail, that quote might help both explain a lot about the last four years, and map out some rocky moments ahead.\n\nIt is possible that the prime minister has a different definition of what the phrase means. He seemed, when questioned to confuse them with technical standards for plugs.\n\nBut any government confusion about this is about to meet a brick wall of reality from January. Industries are having to replicate regulatory processes for the UK market that previously existed only for the EU, doubling the cost.\n\nThe deal mitigates the impact of some of this. But there is no precedent for the avalanche of new trade barriers that is coming. As retailers have said \"it is the biggest imposition of red tape in 50 years\".\n\nMore than that, not only will those barriers now exist between the UK and EU, but some will also now occur within the UK between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as the news about seed potatoes shows.\n\nThe government indeed is currently trying to advertise to thousands of business that these changes need to be prepared for, and urgently so. Failure to do so, still risks problematic congestion on key freight routes.\n\nBut it also shows up the strategy of negotiators. Typically they carve up into defensive asks, where you manage your trade partners' access to your markets, and demand offensive asks about your access to their markets.\n\nThe UK had few offensive asks. This was not a typical trade deal. For the UK, this was a means through which to establish regulatory independence, not to further share it and therefore increase trade, by reducing barriers.\n\nDetails really matter here. A key question will be whether the most important exports qualify for tariff free status. The government claims a win here.\n\nThe car companies are the ones best placed to judge that. The EU was playing hardball on this issue, even against the wishes of its own carmakers. Certainly, it has rejected the UK wish to count Japanese and Turkish parts as effectively \"made in Britain\".\n\nAccepting that means that there will be new trade barriers with the EU, though thankfully not actual tariffs. The challenge really is about whether the new freedoms the prime minister has won, can help more than make up for more trade friction with what is currently our main market.\n\nIt means significant change, winners and losers. It means the government needs a proper strategic economic plan. This deal makes that process easier at an already challenging time. But it does not eliminate the economic challenge from this political win.", "After months of talks, UK cabinet ministers are understood to be gathering on a conference call to discuss a Brexit deal with the EU.\n\nOur political editor Laura Kuenssberg says that “wouldn’t happen in No 10 wasn’t by now very confident that a deal is shortly to be finalised”.\n\nAt the same time in Brussels, the UK and EU negotiating teams are still locked in discussions.\n\nIt’s understood they are talking about specific details for future fishing rights – on catches of specific species of fish.\n\nEarlier, EU sources said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had also been in contact in an attempt to break the deadlock.", "About 4,000 lorries have been parked at Manston Airport overnight\n\nIt could take days to clear the backlog of lorries waiting to cross to France, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says.\n\nDrivers have been warned they may have to spend Christmas in their cabs.\n\nAbout 4,000 lorries are parked at Manston Airport in Kent, with another 2,300 being held on the M20 after the French closed their border with the UK.\n\nCrossings will continue over Christmas but all drivers are required to test negative for Covid-19 before being allowed into France.\n\nTests are being administered by members of the military and French firefighters.\n\nPolish defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in a tweet that a team of territorial soldiers was being sent to the UK to support the testing effort.\n\nOf the 2,367 drivers tested by 12:00 GMT, three have tested positive, Mr Shapps said.\n\n\"Spending days in a lorry on your own puts you in an extremely low risk category,\" he added.\n\nCroatian driver Ante Kostelac told the BBC: \"All hopes for Christmas with the family are over.\n\n\"I'm still waiting for testing at the airport, when asked when it will be, I got the answer 'who knows'.\"\n\n\"I'll obviously be at this airport for Christmas.\"\n\nOperation Stack has been put in place on the M20 allowing lorries queuing for the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel terminal to be held on the motorway.\n\nThe Port of Dover said fewer than 100 freight vehicles had passed through overnight due to the restrictions on testing.\n\n\"However, now testing has fully mobilised at the port we anticipate that figure rising significantly throughout the day,\" a spokesman said.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nMr Shapps said: \"It will take several days to clear the backlog.\"\n\n\"The one thing that people can do is not turn up in Kent; it won't get you through faster, indeed it will make things more difficult on the ground.\n\n\"The testing is happening and the negative tests are coming through now, and with police's help clearing the entrance to Dover, the traffic is able to move, and with Eurotunnel's help, things are just starting to move.\n\n\"It's never going to be a quick operation.\"\n\nThe head of the Road Haulage Association said he sympathised with the small number of lorry drivers who clashed with police in Dover on Wednesday.\n\nRichard Burnett said: \"I really feel for these drivers that have ended up being pawns in a larger game.\n\n\"Are they going to be held here until Boxing Day or beyond?\"\n\nTesting is under way at the Port of Dover with traffic slowly moving through this morning.\n\nMany of the drivers have spent two, three or even four nights in their cabs with no toilet or washing facilities.\n\nIt's not just hauliers either. There are hundreds of vans full of workers from across Europe and families with small children trying to get home in time for Christmas.\n\nSome drivers queuing through the town centre told me they've only moved 100m since the port reopened. I saw a few arguments breaking out at junctions where drivers were perceived to be pushing in.\n\nThe main routes through Dover are still largely blocked although there are definitely more police around today redirecting traffic away from the gridlock. Local volunteers are also out in force delivering much-needed food and drink to the waiting travellers.\n\nAs part of Operation Stack, the coast-bound carriageway of the M20 is closed between junction eight and the A20 at Hawkinge.\n\nThe London-bound carriageway is also shut between junction nine for Ashford and junction eight for Leeds Castle, with traffic being diverted on to the A20.\n\nAll EU freight traffic heading to the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel Terminals is being redirected to Manston Airfield, Highways England said.\n\nFreight traffic on the M25 is being told to use the M2 and A2.\n\nFollow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces new deal between UK and EU\n\nThe EU and UK have reached a post-Brexit trade deal, ending months of disagreements over fishing rights and future business rules.\n\nAt a Downing Street press conference, Boris Johnson said: \"We have taken back control of our laws and our destiny.\"\n\nThe text of the agreement has yet to be released, but the PM claimed it was a \"good deal for the whole of Europe\".\n\nThe UK is set to exit EU trading rules next Thursday - a year after officially leaving the 27 nation bloc.\n\nIt will mean big changes for business, with the UK and EU forming two separate markets, and the end of free movement.\n\nBut the trade deal will come as a major relief to many British businesses, already reeling from the impact of coronavirus, who feared disruption at the borders and the imposition of tariffs, or taxes on imports.\n\nAs the deal was announced, Mr Johnson - who had repeatedly said the UK would \"prosper mightily\" without a deal - tweeted a picture of himself smiling with both thumbs lifted in the air.\n\nIn a press conference in Brussels, European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen said: \"This was a long and winding road but we have got a good deal to show for it.\"\n\nShe said the deal was \"fair\" and \"balanced\" and it was now \"time to turn the page and look to the future\". The UK \"remains a trusted partner,\" she added.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nAt his press conference, Boris Johnson said the £668bn a year agreement would \"protect jobs across this country\" and \"enable UK goods to be sold without tariffs, without quotas in the EU market\".\n\nHe acknowledged he had been forced to give ground on his demands on fishing.\n\n\"The EU began with I think wanting a transition period of 14 years, we wanted three years, we've ended up at five years,\" he said.\n\nAnd he said the UK had not got all it wanted on financial services, a vital part of the UK economy, but he insisted the deal was \"nonetheless going to enable our dynamic City of London to get on and prosper as never before\".\n\nMost of the UK - except from Northern Ireland - will no longer participate in the Erasmus student exchange scheme, which Mr Johnson said was because it is \"extremely expensive\" - but a British option called the Turing Scheme will provide an alternative, he added.\n\nStudents in NI will still be able to take part thanks to an arrangement with the Irish government.\n\nThe UK's chief trade negotiator Lord Frost said the full text of the free trade agreement would be published soon.\n\nThe UK Parliament will be recalled on 30 December to vote on the deal - it will also need to be ratified by the European Parliament.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer - who campaigned against Brexit - said his party would vote for the deal in the Commons, ensuring it will pass.\n\nHe said it was \"a thin agreement\" that \"does not provide adequate protections\" for jobs, manufacturing, financial services or workplace rights and \"is not the deal the government promised\".\n\nBut with no time left to renegotiate, the only choice was between \"this deal or no deal,\" he added.\n\nNo deal would have \"terrible consequences for this country and the Labour Party cannot allow that to happen\", said the Labour leader, and that was why he had decided to back it.\n\nWales First Minister Mark Drakeford said a deal was better than no deal but criticised the timing just a week before the UK exits the EU single market and customs union.\n\nScotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: \"Brexit is happening against Scotland's will - and there is no deal that will ever make up for what Brexit takes away from us.\n\n\"It's time to chart our own future as an independent, European nation.\"\n\nTaoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin said he would study the text of the deal but added: \"From what we have heard today, I believe that it represents a good compromise and a balanced outcome.\"\n\nBrexit Party leader Nigel Farage - who played a leading role in the campaign to get the UK out of the EU in the 2016 referendum - told the BBC the deal was \"far from perfect\" and that for fisheries in particular it was a \"rotten deal\" - but added: \"It's a lot better off than we were five years ago.\"\n\nOne fishing industry representative said the UK had made \"significant concessions on fish\", and \"there will be a lot of disappointed and frustrated fishermen tonight\".\n\n\"There will certainly be those that see this as selling out \", said Barrie Deas, the head of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations.\n\nNegotiations in Brussels went down to the wire over what EU fishing boats are allowed to catch in UK waters. Fishing makes up just 0.12% of the UK's economy.\n\nIt is a massive achievement for both sides that they have done such a huge trade deal on the timetable that was said to be impossible at the start.\n\nWhatever your personal view, there's a sense of vindication in the camp of those who campaigned to leave the EU - they got a free trade deal with zero quotas and zero tariffs (although there may be some before you scream) but the UK will not be under European law.\n\nIt's no coincidence that David Frost's number two, Oliver Lewis, wrote the Vote Leave manifesto. No 10 believes the PM, who was propelled to his position by the Vote Leave tribe, has been able to keep his central Brexit promises.\n\nLook out for the \"rebalancing clause\" when the deal finally emerges - the mechanism where either side can request a change to the deal, or seek to punish the other side if they believe they are breaking the agreement.\n\nIn short, the UK side believes it means they have been able to achieve two clear objectives: the deal applies to both sides, it's reciprocal, but there is the possibility of exit if things go wrong, without collapsing the whole shebang.\n\nBut it's Christmas Eve, so I suspect you agree that's enough for now. The vote in Parliament is set for the 30th. The result is not in doubt, but the theory that's been agreed tonight, will only be tested in years to come.\n\nRead more from Laura on Twitter and her latest blog here.\n\nThe government's economic watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, had warned that leaving without a deal would have shrunk the national income by 2% next year and led to major job losses.\n\nThere were also concerns it would lead to higher prices in the shops for many imported goods.\n\nThere are still big question marks about what the deal will mean for the rest of British business.\n\nFirms that trade with the 27 member states have carried on as normal for the past year during the so-called transition period that kicked in when Britain left the EU.\n\nThey will still face extra paperwork when the country leaves the EU single market and customs union next week.\n\nBut the threat of tariffs - import taxes - between the UK and its biggest trading partner will be removed.\n\nHow will Brexit affect you? Do you have any questions about the trade deal? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Hauliers will have to prove they have tested negative for coronavirus before travelling\n\nThousands of drivers are facing another night in their lorries, despite France reopening its border with the UK.\n\nLorries began boarding ferries at Dover on Wednesday after travel restrictions were lifted by the French government on the condition of a negative Covid test.\n\nTransport Secretary Grant Shapps said the government was using \"every tool we can\" to clear the backlog.\n\nAround 170 army personnel are helping to conduct tests, but police and weary drivers have clashed over long waits.\n\nAt the temporary lorry park at Manston airfield, drivers complained of limited food supply and inadequate bathroom facilities.\n\nMr Shapps warned of \"a lot of congestion and some, I'm afraid, anti-social behaviour around the ports that the police have been dealing with\".\n\nHe said 6,000 lorries were in the area and the government had called in the Army to assist with getting the hauliers who had tested negative on their way - but added it was \"not something that could be done instantaneously\" and said people should stay away from Kent and the ports.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Some drivers complained about unsanitary conditions and a lack of food\n\nFrance closed its border to arrivals from the UK late on Sunday amid concern over a highly-transmissible virus variant that was spreading in the UK.\n\nLatest measures allow French citizens, British nationals living in France and hauliers to travel - if they test negative less than 72 hours before departure.\n\nAll drivers, regardless of nationality, are required to take a rapid lateral flow test - with the results sent by text within 30 minutes. Drivers who test positive will be offered Covid-secure accommodation to self isolate, government minister Robert Jenrick said earlier.\n\nTesting will also take place on the French side for hauliers entering the UK.\n\nSome frustrated drivers staged a protest outside the port earlier in the day\n\nMr Shapps said the NHS Test and Trace team were conducting \"roving tests of hauliers\".\n\nHe added: \"They have to do that in many different languages because almost all the hauliers, I think well over 95%, are not UK hauliers. So they're having to deal with a lot of different things.\"\n\nEurotunnel said around around 700 cars, 50 vans and 20 trucks have been able to cross the Channel since this morning, and a \"flow\" of trucks has arrived at the British terminal since 16:00 GMT.\n\nKent County Council leader Roger Gough said tensions between police and drivers had calmed down but added the situation remained \"quite fragile\".\n\nHe told BBC Radio Kent that the \"most difficult\" challenge is clearing a route from Manston Airport to Dover, around 20 miles south, because of standing traffic.\n\n\"Whilst we're able, for instance, to get some progress in terms of people travelling via the Eurotunnel, it's much harder to get vehicles to the port in the current situation,\" he said.\n\nOne lorry driver complained to the BBC: \"Police three days ago told us that testing will start soon, but they don't know when and that's why people are protesting.\n\n\"We just want to do the test and just go straight home.\"\n\nOne driver told the BBC he is tired and does not have much food.\n\nRod McKenzie of the Road Haulage Association described the situation as \"chaos\", saying information given to lorry drivers had been \"extremely poor\".\n\n\"They're tired, frustrated, desperately wanting to get home for Christmas,\" he said.\n\nA government statement said they were \"working tirelessly to provide support to hauliers awaiting testing at Manston and the M20\" and free food and water was being provided.\n\nTypically around 10,000 lorries a day travel between Dover and Calais at Christmas, bringing in the fresh produce and the British Retail Consortium has warned the border closure may lead to some temporary food shortages.\n\nIt comes as a further 39,237 people in the UK tested positive for virus - an all-time high - and there were 744 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to government figures.\n\nAre you a lorry driver? Have you been affected by the delays? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Levels of coronavirus are continuing to rise with one in 85 people in England infected, according to the Office for National Statistics.\n\nFigures for the week to 18 December estimate nearly 650,000 people have the virus, up from 570,000 the week before.\n\nLondon now has the highest percentage of people testing positive - more than 2%.\n\nIn Wales, the virus is infecting one in 60 people - a sharp increase. Infection levels are also up in Northern Ireland.\n\nIn Scotland, the percentage of people testing positive has decreased, equating to one in 140 people there with the virus, the ONS suggests.\n\nIt comes as a total of 521,594 people have been vaccinated against coronavirus in England over the two weeks since roll-out started, with thousands more across the UK nations. People aged 80 and over received 70% of these doses.\n\nIn Scotland 56,676 people have received the vaccine, in Wales the figure is 22,595 and in Northern Ireland it is 16,068.\n\nAccording to the ONS figures, there are sharp rises in levels of positive tests in the capital, the east of England, and the South East, where a new variant of the virus is spreading at a dangerous rate, according to government ministers.\n\nAbout two-thirds of people testing positive in these areas could have the new variant - but this is only an estimate, the ONS says.\n\nMeanwhile, case rates in London have doubled in one week, figures from Public Health England show, to 602 per 100,000 people.\n\nDr Yvonne Doyle, medical director at PHE, said: \"This will not be a normal Christmas for any of us.\n\n\"By continuing to reduce your contacts you can help to slow the spread of Covid-19. Remember that about one in three people may never experience any symptoms so could infect others without realising it.\"\n\nThere are two variants causing concern at the moment - the first, which emerged in Kent, is thought to be driving a rapid growth in cases and hospital admissions in the south and east of England in recent weeks.\n\nScientists advising government are worried the rest of the UK could experience the same thing, as the number of patients in hospital with Covid approaches levels of the spring peak.\n\nThis has led to strict rules being imposed on six million more people in England from 26 December when 40% of the country will be living under tier 4 restrictions.\n\nScientists say the new variant spreads more easily than other forms of the virus although they don't believe it causes more serious disease.\n\nThe second variant, which originated in South Africa and is causing a spike in cases there, was detected in two cases in the UK on Tuesday, prompting a ban on travel from the country.\n\nThe R, or reproduction number of the virus, is now between 1.1 and 1.3 for the UK, with regions in the south and east of England even higher, signalling that the epidemic is growing fast.\n\nThe ONS figures are based on tests of people in thousands of households across the UK whether they have symptoms or not, giving an accurate estimate of how many people are infected with the virus.\n\nProf Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University, says the figure of one in 85 people with the virus in England is \"worryingly high\".\n\nBut there is some good news - infection rates in the north of England have been falling in recent weeks.\n\n\"I hope that the new virus variant and any extra mixing of people over Christmas does not reverse the positive trends in those parts of the country,\" Prof McConway says.\n\nDaily UK government figures show there were 39,036 confirmed new cases on Thursday, slightly down from yesterday's record of 39,237. The total number of cases reported in the last week is nearly 50% higher than the week before.\n\nOn the same day, the deaths of another 574 people were reported within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19.\n\nIt is almost inevitable that this figure will rise in the coming weeks as small numbers of those infected become seriously ill with the disease.\n\nThe latest figures show 21,286 people in hospital with Covid-19 as of Tuesday. The first wave peak was 21,683 people in hospital on 12 April.", "Chinese tech giant Alibaba is being investigated by regulators over monopolistic practices.\n\nChina's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) made the announcement on Thursday.\n\nRegulators have previously warned Alibaba about forcing merchants to sign exclusive deals which prevent them from offering products on rival platforms.\n\nFinancial regulators will also meet with Alibaba's financial technology offshoot Ant Group in the coming days.\n\nThe investigation into monopolistic behaviour centres on the so-called \"choosing one from two\" practice.\n\nThis requires merchants (sellers) to sign exclusive co-operation pacts, preventing them from offering products on rival platforms\n\nChina's tech giants such as Alibaba and Tencent are facing increased scrutiny by the Chinese government, which is concerned about their growing size and power.\n\nRegulators are worried about the millions of users they have amassed and the influence they have over daily life in China, including shopping and payments.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How a little Ant became a financial giant\n\nAlibaba, founded by the flamboyant Jack Ma, has already felt the wrath of regulators from a coordinated crackdown.\n\nLast month, the Ant Group, which was previously called Alipay, was forced to halt its stock market listing, which would have been the world's biggest launch.\n\nRegulators made the decision to block the IPO just days before the launch, after raising concerns about its micro-lending services.\n\nBut many believe the real reason behind the decision was a talk Mr Ma gave in late October that was critical of China's regulators and banking system.\n\nThe billionaire said Chinese banks operated with a \"pawnshop\" mentality, and some feel he is paying the price now for those comments.\n\nSince then, tough new antitrust rules have also been introduced across the tech sector and have triggered a decline of about $140bn (£103bn), or 17%, in the market value of Mr Ma's Alibaba.\n\nThe meeting with the Ant Group is to \"guide Ant Group to implement financial supervision, fair competition and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers\", a statement from the People's Bank of China said.\n\nFollowing notice by regulators, Ant said that it will \"seriously study and strictly comply with all regulatory requirements and commit full efforts to fulfil all related work\".\n\nThe Chinese government has become increasingly concerned with parts of Ant's sprawling empire, particularly its lucrative credit business.", "The UK has detected two cases of another new variant of coronavirus, the health secretary Matt Hancock says.\n\nThe cases in London and north west England are contacts of people who travelled to South Africa, where the variant was discovered.\n\nTravel restrictions with South Africa have been imposed.\n\nAnyone who has travelled there in the past fortnight, and anyone they have been in contact with, are being told to quarantine immediately.\n\nThe variant has been causing mounting concern in South Africa, where health minister Zweli Mkhize warned that \"young, previously healthy people are now becoming very sick\".\n\nHe said the country \"cannot go through what we went through in the early days of the Aids pandemic\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Dr Zweli Mkhize This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nScientists in South Africa say the variant has \"spread rapidly\" and became the dominant form of the virus in parts of the country.\n\nThe variant is still being analysed, but the data are consistent with it spreading more quickly.\n\nIt was detected for the first time in the UK on Tuesday.\n\nThis variant shares some similarities to the one that has already been detected in the UK, although they have evolved separately.\n\nBoth have a mutation - called N501Y - which is in a crucial part of the virus that it uses to infect the body's cells.\n\nProf Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, said: \"I think the greatest concern of ours at the moment is the South African one.\n\n\"There's certainly anecdotal reports of explosive outbreaks for that virus and very steep increases in case numbers.\"\n\nAt the Downing Street press briefing, Mr Hancock said the new variant was \"highly concerning\" and that anyone told to quarantine must avoid \"all contact with any other person whatsoever\".\n\nAt the same briefing, he announced millions more people were being moved to Tier 4 on Boxing Day in an effort to control the virus.\n\nDr Susan Hopkins, from Public Health England (PHE), said \"both look like they are more transmissible\" but said they were \"still learning\" about the variant imported from South Africa.\n\nShe said she was \"pretty confident\" the quarantine and travel rules would control the spread of the new variant.\n\nProf Lawrence Young, from Warwick Medical School, said: \"The standard measures to restrict transmission (hands, face, space) will prevent infection with this variant.\n\n\"The move to harsher levels of restriction across the country is inevitable. \"\n\nThe government tightened restrictions for the festive season, including closing beaches along the famous Garden Route in Western Cape province.\n\nIt faced resistance from the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), and some lobby groups, who challenged the decision in the courts, arguing that the closure of beaches would have a devastating effect on small businesses.\n\nBut judges upheld the restrictions, saying the government had a duty to protect the health of people.\n\nWestern Cape premier Alan Winde said hospitals in the province were under \"severe strain\". The province had more Covid-19 cases this time around than during the first wave.\n\nSouth Africa has so far recorded about 950,000 cases and more than 25,000 deaths - the highest in Africa.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Up to 10 sperm whales have been stranded on the East Yorkshire coast\n\nTen sperm whales found washed up on the North Sea coast have died.\n\nThe pod was first spotted on a beach between Tunstall and Withernsea, near Hull, at about 08:30 GMT.\n\nMembers of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said poor weather conditions and the size of the whales meant it was impossible to save them.\n\nA spokesperson said the young whales were \"in very poor nutritional condition\" and had most likely suffered a \"navigation error\".\n\nThey rarely survive long once stranded, the group said.\n\nThe BDMLR has been involved in the rescue of marine wildlife since its formation in 1988\n\nAccording to the BDMLR the size of the sperm whales - which can reach 65ft (20m) in length and weigh up to 80 tonnes - meant there were no safe methods for lifting and moving them.\n\nA member of the public called 999 to report the stranding, and the coastguard was despatched to the scene.\n\nCh Supt Darren Downs, of Humberside Police, urged people to stay away from the area \"to allow teams from HM Coastguard to manage what is an extremely distressing scene\".\n\nHe warned that gathering in groups posed a risk of spreading Covid-19.\n\nMarine expert Robin Petch said younger males can end up \"confused in shallower water off the east coast\"\n\nRobin Petch, a marine expert and Sea Watch Foundation ambassador, said: \"Sperm whales are a species that shouldn't come into this part of the North Sea, but a few come down that way.\n\n\"They are a deep-water animal that feed on squid and dive in the deep waters of the continental shelf. Often younger males can end up confused in the shallower water off the east coast.\n\n\"Once they are ashore, chances of survival are very slim, none of the rescue equipment can deal with whales that big.\n\n\"The loss of a large group, probably of young males, is catastrophic,\" Mr Petch added.\n\nThe whales on the beach are sperm whales, according to the BDMLR\n\nFollow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.", "The Crewe family in Austria are expecting a quieter Christmas this year\n\nIt's no surprise that this Christmas will be different. With coronavirus restrictions affecting everyone, plans have had to change and the usual traditions postponed or altered.\n\nBut there can be comfort in knowing others are going through something similar.\n\nThat's why the BBC has spoken to five families in five different countries about how their festive celebrations have changed, and how they're finding ways to enjoy the holiday season despite everything that's happening.\n\nThe family moved north to a Swedish mountain town in July\n\nMichaela and Emil Boson, and sons Lucas, six, and Casper, 13\n\nDespite average daily temperatures of -2C (28.4F), the Boson family are \"probably going to be outside all the time that it's light\" over Christmas.\n\nThey'll keep warm by skiing and sledging, eating porridge, cooking a barbecued lunch and drinking Glogg, Sweden's festive, boozy hot wine which is often spiced-up with spirits, fruit and nuts.\n\nThis will be their first Christmas living in Are, a mountain town around 400 miles (643km) north of Stockholm. The family relocated there in July after Michaela lost most of her work in the hospitality industry which was hit hard by the pandemic.\n\n\"We'd been talking about moving for a few years, but now it was just like 'OK, we need to do it',\" she said.\n\nOne of her brothers and his two children will join them for their snow-based activities, but they will stay in a nearby hotel in order to reduce the risk of infection. Other relatives will join them throughout the day via video call.\n\n\"It's a bit boring to not be with the whole family,\" said Michaela, who used to host up to 20 people for Christmas lunch. But she added that she wouldn't want to be back in the city. \"Sometimes it feels like I'm a bit too happy. It's a cheaper lifestyle [and] we just love being outside.\"\n\nThe family decorated the Christmas tree earlier than usual this year\n\nKenza Mekouar and Juan Olaizola, and children, Ivan, 12, and Sofia, eight\n\nFor Kenza and Juan, who have friends and family scattered around the world, 2020 has been a particularly strange year.\n\nKenza is originally from Rabat, Morocco but lives in Juan's hometown of Madrid with their two children. Their multicultural background means that English, French and Spanish are all spoken at home.\n\nThey usually divide much of the Christmas period between Madrid and Marbella. But a three-month lockdown in the spring, home-schooling their children and a swathe of cancelled plans have made this year different.\n\n\"I wanted to make things a bit more fun this year,\" Kenza said. \"We're trying to make things a little more festive, happier.\"\n\nShe decorated the Christmas tree earlier than usual and has been sending out Christmas cards by post for the first time in years. A marathon session of the drawing game Pictionary is also on the cards for Christmas Eve.\n\nBut with restrictions on movement between many Spanish regions, the usual trip to Marbella, with the customary hiking in the nearby mountains, is looking unlikely.\n\nOne aspect of Christmas that is not going to change is the food. Having developed a British turkey recipe while living in London, the family give their Christmas Eve dinner a Spanish twist by adding seafood. A French-Moroccan flourish is then added in the form of a Bûche de Noël (chocolate log) for dessert.\n\nBut that's about as far as it goes in terms of preparations, both for Christmas and New Year. \"It's the first time I've had no idea what we're going to do,\" Kenza said.\n\n\"That's a very Spanish thing,\" added Juan. \"We're not going to plan anything!\"\n\nThe family, pictured last Christmas, keep both Austrian and British traditions\n\nEva and Graham Crewe and their children, Amelie,11, Elena, 9, and Matilda, 5\n\nEva is Austrian and Graham is from the UK. Usually Graham's parents would come and visit them, but this year that isn't possible.\n\nInstead, the family are hoping to see Eva's parents. \"We can only see them and not the big family. So it will be very small and reduced,\" she said. \"We also can't see my grandmother who is 97, so that will be very different.\"\n\nThe family keeps both Austrian and British Christmas traditions, celebrating with presents on the evening of 24 December, and with Christmas stockings on the morning of the 25th.\n\n\"Normally we'd have a big English lunch with turkey and so on,\" Graham said. \"But this year we're going to save a lot of money because we'll have a chicken instead - and there's just us.\"\n\n\"Everything's cancelled, really,\" he said. \"It'll just be quieter.\"\n\nBut the family have adapted to ensure some traditions can be kept up. Amelie plays the piano and Elena plays the violin, and they would usually perform in Christmas concerts at this time of year.\n\n\"I think they're going to record a video [of them playing] and send it to our parents,\" Eva explained.\n\n\"There'll be a lot more Zoom and FaceTime. It's better than nothing, but of course we miss the personal contact,\" Graham said. \"It's actually an opportunity because we wouldn't see them all anyway. So there are some opportunities as well, some bright spots.\"\n\n\"We're already making plans for next summer,\" he added. \"The thing I'm looking forward to next year is much more physical contact with all our friends and family around the world.\"\n\nNadia and Simone, and their two sons, Samuele, 7, and Sebastian, 5\n\n\"It's not going to be like any previous Christmas,\" said Nadia. \"My family is very big. Mamma is the head of the family, and it really means everything to her that we're all there for lunch [back home in Calabria] on Christmas Day.\"\n\n\"It's the first time in my life we won't all be home.\"\n\nUsually, the whole family would gather for a prayer on Christmas Day. \"This year we'll do it all on Whatsapp; we'll have a video call and pray together,\" she said. \"We'll make a toast together and we'll chat a bit.\"\n\nAfter a difficult year, Nadia also decided to buy a puppy for her family because they had wanted one for a long time. \"The kids are overjoyed,\" she said. \"If all goes to plan, we'll have him just before Christmas. We'll feel a bit less lonely!\"\n\n\"It'll be the four of us at the table with the dog on Christmas Day,\" she added. \"Even if there are just the four of us, I'll make a special table. I'll cook lunch and try to respect traditions and make more or less the same things we eat down south.\"\n\nThat means antipasto, pasta dishes, various types of meat, vegetables, then dessert and fruit. \"Then at five o'clock you get hungry and start again,\" Nadia said. \"We eat constantly!\"\n\nNatalia says this Christmas will be very different from last year\n\nNatalia is a health worker in the Russian capital, Moscow, who has been working on the frontline during the coronavirus pandemic. \"It was really difficult,\" she said.\n\n\"This year will be really different,\" she explained. \"Last year, I went to a restaurant with my whole family and we were there all night and ended up dancing and having fun. Two years ago, I went to China with my husband. So it will be different.\"\n\n\"We'll invite maybe two people over on 31 December [when Russia's big New Year celebrations take place] and that's all,\" she said. \"Our parents won't come over because they're afraid of the virus. I'm a medical worker, so I'm more high-risk.\"\n\nNatalia will video-call her parents for Orthodox Christmas a week later instead. \"We're not going to gather all together in our apartment. No way,\" she said.\n\nBut she believes Russians are more in need of a celebration now than ever - even if it is on a much smaller scale. \"People want to feel happy, more than they did last year, because it's been so hard and so tough.\n\n\"It's more important than ever,\" she said.\n\nWith reporting by Maddy Savage, Guy Hedgecoe, Bethany Bell, Dany Mitzman and Gareth Evans", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The rescue of the car-trapped couple from \"freezing\" flood water was \"touch and go\" say eyewitnesses\n\nA couple have been rescued from a submerged car in what onlookers called a \"Christmas miracle\".\n\nFootage showed fire crews removing a man and a woman from the vehicle at about 10:44 GMT on Christmas Eve near Norwich.\n\nNorfolk Police said they were investigating, and the couple were taken to hospital by ambulance.\n\nThe county saw almost two inches of rain (50mm) causing major flash floods across south Norfolk.\n\nAlex and Matt Emmerson witnessed the drama unfold in the flooded lane next to their house\n\nEyewitnesses Matt and Alex Emmerson, aged 42 and 44, noticed the car from their bathroom window about 15 minutes before the emergency services arrived.\n\nThey had assumed the vehicle was empty until crews began their rescue.\n\n\"Whoever this poor couple were, they were in there for a long time - close to two hours. The water must have been freezing,\" said Mr Emmerson.\n\nThe East of England Ambulance Service said both patients were transported to hospital for \"further assessment and treatment.\"\n\nMrs Emmerson said flooding near their home in Green Lane, Thorpe End, was a regular occurrence during heavy rain.\n\n\"I just assumed that there would be nobody in there,\" she added. \"Because normally people leap out and wade to safety before it gets to that point.\"\n\nHer husband - who called the rescue a \"Christmas miracle\" - said a firefighter went straight into the water and smashed a car window to gain access \"despite the water coming up to his chin\".\n\nThe couple said permanent signs, rather than temporary ones, were needed to warn drivers about the regular risk of flooding.\n\nOne of the submerged car's occupants was believed to be aged 70\n\nTwo cars were found submerged under the bridge at Thorpe End, Norwich; one was empty\n\nNorfolk Fire and Rescue Service said it had received more than 300 calls about flooding since Wednesday afternoon, as some areas received a month of rainfall in 24 hours.\n\nTim Edwards of Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service said a major incident had been declared and advised people to stay away from flooded areas.\n\n\"It's very difficult to know exact depths. Do not enter flooded water at any point,\" he said.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The teenager drew up a \"hit list\" of areas he wanted to attack\n\nThe youngest person to be convicted of planning a terrorist attack in the UK is bidding to keep his identity secret.\n\nThe 17-year-old, from Durham, was detained in January after his conviction for several neo-Nazi terror offences.\n\nHe has not been publicly named due to his age and his legal team has applied for him to remain anonymous when he turns 18.\n\nOnly a small number of criminals have ever been granted ongoing anonymity.\n\nManchester Crown Court was told that a hearing in early January would deal with the application.\n\nThe County Durham teenager's trial heard he was an adherent of \"occult neo-Nazism\" and had described himself as a \"natural sadist\".\n\nHis attack preparations included researching explosives, listing potential targets, and trying to obtain a bomb-making chemical.\n\nHe is currently serving a sentence of six years and eight months.\n\nIn a separate hearing at Leeds Youth Court, the boy was given another custodial term for unrelated child sexual offences.\n\nAppearing via video link, he was given an 18-month sentence for five sexual assaults against a girl.\n\nThe boy had denied the offences but was found guilty at trial earlier this year.\n\nDistrict Judge Richard Kitson told the teenager the term would run concurrently with his current sentence, saying the offences were \"so serious\" that only immediate custody was appropriate.\n\nCourts can ban the publication of a child defendant's identity but such orders cease to apply once they reach 18.\n\nIn 2019, a boy from Blackburn, who had admitted inciting a terrorist attack in Australia when he was 14, was allowed to remain anonymous after the High Court ruled that naming him was likely to cause \"serious harm\".\n\nLifelong anonymity has also been granted after release to the Newcastle child killer Mary Bell; Maxine Carr, who obstructed police investigating the 2002 Soham murders by her partner Ian Huntley; and Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who murdered Liverpool toddler James Bulger.\n\nFollow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "A post-Brexit agreement on trade and other issues has been agreed, just a week before the transition period between the UK and the EU comes to an end.\n\nIt avoids the disruption of a no-deal Brexit in the middle of the Covid pandemic, and marks a new era after more than 40 years of UK membership of the European Union.\n\nWe've now seen a copy of the text - more than 1,000 pages of dense legal text which outline how the relationship will operate in the future. Here are 10 initial questions and answers:\n\nOne of the most difficult issues in the negotiations: how many fish will EU boats be able to catch in UK waters in future, and how long will any transition period last before new measures come into full force? Officials involved in the negotiations say the UK initially wanted an 80% cut in the value of the fish caught by EU boats in UK waters, while the EU initially proposed an 18% cut. Who has given more ground?\n\nAnswer: The value of the fish caught by the EU in UK waters will be cut by 25% - which is a lot less than the UK initially asked for. The cut will be phased in over a transition period lasting five-and-a-half years - which is a lot shorter than the EU initially asked for. Once the transition period is over, the UK will fully control access to its waters, and could make much deeper cuts. If it decides to exclude EU fishing boats they can be compensated for their losses, either through tariffs on UK fishing products (or other goods) exported to the EU, or by preventing UK boats from fishing in EU waters.\n\nFishing was one of the most difficult areas of the negotiations\n\nWhat will the rules on fair competition look like, to ensure that businesses on one side don't gain an unfair advantage over their competitors on the other? The definition of what constitutes reasonable levels of state aid, or government subsidies for business, will be important.\n\nAnswer: There are level playing field measures which commit both the UK and the EU to maintain common standards on workers' rights, as well as many social and environmental regulations. This was a key EU demand. They don't have to be identical in the future, so the UK does not have to follow EU law, but they do have to be seen to protect fair competition.\n\nThe UK has also agreed to stick to common principles on how state aid regimes work, and to an independent competition agency which will assess them. But it can choose to develop a system which only makes decisions once evidence of unfair competition is presented. That is different from the EU system which assesses the likely impact of subsidies before they are handed out.\n\nThis will be the subject of years of negotiations to come. How will the deal actually be enforced if either side breaks any of the terms and conditions? If the UK chooses to move away more radically from EU rules in the future, how quickly can the EU respond? Will it have the ability to impose tariffs (or taxes on UK exports) in one area (for example on cars) in response to a breach of the agreement in another (fish, for example)?\n\nAnswer: If either side moves away from common standards that exist on 31 December 2020, and if that has a negative impact on the other side, a dispute mechanism can be triggered which could mean tariffs (taxes on goods) being imposed. It is based around a \"rebalancing\" clause which gives both the EU and the UK the right to take steps if there are significant divergences. This clause is much stricter than measures found in other recent EU trade deals, and was a key demand on the European side. It is a mechanism we may hear a lot more about in the coming years.\n\nThe overall policing of the trade agreement also means that tariffs can be targeted at a specific sector as a result of a dispute in another. There will be a binding arbitration system involving officials from both sides. It means that even though this is a tariff-free agreement, the threat that tariffs can be introduced as a result of future disputes will be a constant factor in UK-EU relations.\n\nThe EU's highest court will remain the ultimate arbiter of European law. But the UK government has said the direct jurisdiction of the ECJ in Britain will come to an end. So, will the European court play any role in overseeing the future relationship agreement?\n\nAnswer: The EU has dropped its demand that the ECJ should play a direct role in policing the governance of the agreement in future. That was a clear British red line. One place where the ECJ will still play a role is Northern Ireland, which has a special status under the terms of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. It will remain subject to EU single market and customs union rules, which means the European Court will remain the highest legal authority for some disputes in one part of the UK.\n\nWhat will the rules be for British people who want to travel to the EU from 1 January 2021? We already know some of the details but will there be any additional agreements on things like social security or vehicle insurance? And will there be any detail on any arrangement to replace the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)?\n\nAnswer: UK nationals will need a visa if they want to stay in the EU more than 90 days in a 180-day period. They will still be able to use their EHICs which will remain valid until they expire. The UK government says they will be replaced by a new UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), but there are no further details yet on how to obtain it.\n\nIts advice is to take out travel insurance with healthcare cover before going on holiday - especially if you have a pre-existing medical condition.\n\nEU pet passports will no longer be valid, but people will still be able to travel with pets, following a different and a more complicated process.\n\nThe two sides agreed to co-operate on international mobile roaming, but there is nothing in the agreement that would stop UK travellers being charged for using their phone in the EU and vice versa.\n\nThe government also says British citizens will not need an International Driver's Permit to drive in the EU (unless they still have a paper licence or a licence from the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey or Gibraltar). But they will need to carry a green card to prove they have the right vehicle insurance.\n\nThe trade agreement is primarily about the rules for goods crossing borders. It will say far less about the trade in services. Is there going to be a separate statement from the EU which will recognise UK rules governing financial services as roughly \"equivalent\" to EU rules? That would make it much easier for UK firms which export services to continue doing business in the EU market.\n\nAnswer: There is, as expected, not a lot in this agreement for service companies to cheer about. The UK will still be hoping that the EU issues \"equivalence\" decisions on financial services in the near future, but service companies in general have not got as much help in this deal as the British government had been pushing for.\n\nThe European Commission says a series of \"further clarifications\" will be needed from the UK, including more information on how it will diverge from EU rules after 31 December, before any decisions on equivalence can be made.\n\nThere is an agreement to continue talking about financial services regulation in the future, but some companies may have to apply to specific EU countries to be allowed to operate there. The guaranteed access that UK companies had to the EU single market is over.\n\nThis is a really important issue. What will the data protection rules be for UK companies which deal with data from the EU? Again, the UK is hoping the EU will issue separately what's known as a data adequacy decision recognising UK rules as equivalent to its own. But the detail will need to be scrutinised carefully.\n\nAnswer: Both sides say they want data to flow across borders as smoothly as possible, but the agreement also stresses that individuals have a right to the protection of personal data and privacy and that \"high standards in this regard contribute to trust in the digital economy and to the development of trade\".\n\nThat's why an EU decision to recognise formally that UK data rules are roughly the same as its own is so important - and we're still waiting for that. In the meantime the EU has agreed to a \"specified period\" of four months, extendable by a further two months, in which data can be exchanged in the same way it is now, as long as the UK makes no changes to its rules on data protection.\n\nWe know there will be more bureaucracy and delays at borders in the future, for companies trading between the UK and the EU. But will the two sides agree any measures to make things a little easier? There's something called \"mutual recognition of conformity assessment\" which would mean checks on products standards would not need to be nearly as intrusive as they otherwise might be.\n\nAnswer: There's no agreement on conformity assessment, even though the UK government had hoped there would be. It's just one reminder of how many new barriers to trade there are going to be. In future, if you want to sell your product in both the UK and the EU, you may have to get it checked twice to get it certified.\n\nOn other border issues, there is also no agreement on recognising each other's sanitary and safety standards for exporting food of animal origin, which means there will have to be pretty intrusive and costly checks for products going into the EU single market.\n\nThere will however be some measures which cut technical barriers to trade, and the mutual recognition of trusted trader schemes which will make it easier for large companies to operate across borders.\n\nA lot of people, from accountants to chefs, work in different EU countries and didn't have to worry about crossing borders multiple times while the UK was part of the EU. But will UK professional qualifications be recognised across the EU in the future, and what restrictions will there be?\n\nAnswer: The short answer is no - they won't be recognised automatically. That will make it harder for UK citizens supplying any kind of service to work in the EU. They will often have to apply to individual countries to try to get their qualifications accepted, with no guarantee of success. There is a framework in the deal for the UK and EU to agree on mutually recognising individual qualifications but that's weaker than what professionals have now.\n\nIt's not just about trade. The UK will lose automatic and immediate access to a variety of EU databases which the police use every day - covering things such as criminal records, fingerprints and wanted persons. So what kind of access will they have, and how will security co-operation work in the future?\n\nAnswer: The UK loses access to some very key databases but will have continued access to others, including the system which cross-checks fingerprints across the continent. But overall, security co-operation will no longer be based on \"real time\" access. And in some cases, such as access to data on which flights people take, that data will only be made available under much stricter conditions.\n\nAn agreement has been reached on extradition, and the UK's role in Europol, the cross-border security agency, allows it to sit in on meetings but not have a direct say in decisions. Both of these are positive, and on a par with the best other countries have achieved.\n\nDisagreements over data will be dealt with by a new committee, not by the European Court of Justice - again, a red line for the UK. But taken together, the speed with which the UK gets important data, and the influence it has on decisions, has been reduced.\n\nThere are many other questions to answer - this agreement will form the basis for UK-EU relations for years if not decades to come. And the two sides will have to continue to talk about how to implement it most effectively.\n\nThe team will continue to read through the text of the agreement and will add more to this story if necessary.", "Negotiations between the UK and the EU have come to an end with both sides reaching an agreed deal.\n\n“It is fair, it is a balanced deal and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides,” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said of the deal.\n\nUK MPs now have until the 31 December to approve its details.", "Heavy rain has left standing water up to 5ft (1.5m) in places\n\nMore than 1,000 people are being evacuated from a flooded holiday park.\n\nOccupants of 500 caravans have been forced to leave the Billing Aquadrome park in Northampton, where heavy rain left water up to 5ft (1.5m) deep.\n\nPolice, who were helped by firefighters and lowland search and rescue teams, said some of those stranded were suffering from hypothermia.\n\nAt least two leisure centres in Northampton are set to be turned into emergency accommodation.\n\nMembers of the Northamptonshire Search and Rescue have helping in the operation\n\nResidents have been told to find accommodation with friends and family where possible, and assured that they would not be breaching Covid-19 regulations in such \"exceptional circumstances\".\n\nHowever Ch Supt Mick Stamper, of Northamptonshire Police, urged people to avoid homes where others are shielding or self-isolating.\n\n\"This is an exceptionally challenging situation and emergency services, working with partners and volunteers working flat out to resolve the situation and safeguard those affected on site,\" he said.\n\nTemperatures in the area are due to drop below freezing in the early hours of Friday, and police said waters are set to keep rising for another four to five hours.\n\nBilling Aquadrome describes itself as a \"place you can come to relax and recharge whenever you like, and for as long as you like (during our 11-month season)\".\n\nIn November 2012 the park was evacuated also due to flooding.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have been affected by the flooding, email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "HMS Northumberland monitored the Russian destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov off the west coast of Scotland last month\n\nThe crew of a Royal Navy warship has been forced to return to shore and isolate over Christmas after \"a number of suspected Covid cases\" on board.\n\nHMS Northumberland, which has specialist sensors to hunt for foreign submarines, had been on call to protect UK waters over the festive period.\n\nBut she was forced to return to Devonport Naval Base, near Plymouth, on Wednesday.\n\nThe Navy said it will still meet all of its \"operational tasks\" over Christmas.\n\nA spokesman said: \"Following a number of suspected Covid cases onboard HMS Northumberland, the crew are now following health guidelines and protocols to isolate.\"\n\nHe added: \"The Royal Navy continues to meet all operational tasks over Christmas, as it has done throughout this pandemic.\"\n\nLast month, the Type 23 frigate escorted the Russian destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov as she sailed off the west coast of Scotland.\n\nMinisters and senior military officers have warned of a significant increase in Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic over the past few years.\n\nThe Ministry of Defence said the Royal Navy monitored nine Russian vessels near UK waters over a two-week period in late November and early December.\n\nThey included a surfaced submarine, a destroyer, a corvette and a patrol ship as well as their supporting tugs and supply ships.", "Teigen documented her pregnancy and stillbirth on social media\n\nChrissy Teigen has expressed sadness she will not be pregnant again, having lost the baby she was expecting with husband John Legend earlier this year.\n\n\"I love being pregnant, so, so much, and I'm sad I never will be again,\" the US model wrote on Instagram.\n\nShe accompanied her post with a selfie showing her still-visible baby bump.\n\nThe 35-year-old lost her son, whom she and Legend had named Jack, in September, after suffering pregnancy complications and bleeding.\n\n\"Even though I'm no longer pregnant, every glance in the mirror reminds me of what could have been,\" she wrote in her latest social media post.\n\nTeigen did not clarify in her post why she would not be pregnant again, and did not elaborate on if it was through choice, or whether she could no longer get pregnant or if she had been advised by her doctors not to.\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by chrissyteigen This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\n\"I have no idea why I still have this bump,\" she continued. \"But I'm proud of where this entire journey took my body and mind in other ways.\"\n\nHer Grammy-winning husband, with whom she has two children, responded to her post by posting five heart emojis.\n\nTeigen, who is also a TV presenter, documented her pregnancy and subsequent stillbirth in a series of moving posts.\n\nAfter losing her baby, she told her followers she and her husband were \"in the kind of deep pain you only hear about\".\n\nThe US model posted pictures of her and her husband in hospital\n\nIn October she addressed the criticism she faced for posting photos of her and Legend mourning their loss in hospital.\n\n\"These photos are only for the people who need them,\" she wrote in a blog post. \"The thoughts of others do not matter to me.\"\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Homes, shops and roads were all hit when heavy rain brought flooding\n\nHouseholds and businesses have woken up to a Christmas Eve clean-up after emergency services faced hundreds of calls for flooding help.\n\nDownpours on Wednesday saw South Wales Fire and Rescue Service deal with 500 calls in a matter of hours.\n\nFirefighters were called to flooding at properties in Cardiff, Newport, Monmouthshire and Vale of Glamorgan.\n\nHuw Williams from Natural Resources Wales said rivers were still rising on Thursday morning.\n\nWednesday's downpours saw parts of the M4 and M48 closed and train services cancelled.\n\nWater poured into the ground floor of a home in Sully\n\nThere are five flood warnings in place and Mr Williams told BBC Radio Wales: \"What we are seeing is the water coming down from the catchments to the river areas so we are asking people to be very careful when travelling.\n\n\"Flooding can have a devastating impact on people's lives... We are hoping for a bit of respite over the next few days but we are expecting more rain, unfortunately, later on in the weekend.\n\n\"Our staff have been out all night... trying to protect properties but we are asking people to be vigilant.\"\n\nThe Sportsman's Rest Club at Peterston-super-Ely, Vale of Glamorgan\n\nEnzo Nigro, the senior manager of Potters Pub in Newport, said he spotted his cellar had flooded via the CCTV.\n\n\"It's [the future] not looking bright at the moment, this was the last thing we wanted before Christmas, the cherry on the cake that shows how bad this year has been,\" he said.\n\nRichard Williams said neighbours helped build a barricade in front of his house in Mathern, Monmouthshire, after water started rushing in off nearby fields.\n\n\"It was a Dunkirk spirit when the call went out, the village rallied together, people we don't even know,\" he said.\n\n\"Mathern does have that community spirit so we shouldn't expect anything less. I was absolutely amazed with the people who turned up to help us.\"\n\nPeople are having to deal with flooding and damage to their homes just before Christmas\n\nMr Williams said emergency services had to use a boat to transport people across the village after the flood waters rose. \"At the moment, everyone is thankful that the rain has stopped and it seems to have subsided slightly,\" he said.\n\nLian James has praised the community effort after her mother's house in Sully flooded\n\nLian James has praised the community effort after her mother's house in Sully flooded.\n\n\"A cry went out for help on the Sully Community Hub and everyone turned up with dehumidifiers, buckets... everyone was amazing\n\n\"An upsetting story but with an amazing response.\"\n\nA man who provides free second-hand bikes to children whose parents cannot afford them posted on Twitter to offer scooters or bicycles to anyone who lost Christmas gifts in the flooding.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by PuffaJones This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nRussell Thomas, general manager at Glamorganshire Golf Club, said he \"feared the worst\" when he turned up to work this morning.\n\nBecause the club house is lower than the golf course, water often runs off the course into the club house.\n\n\"The rain was so bad that the pumps in the cellar couldn't deal with it,\" he said.\n\nThe cellar was submerged in about a foot of water, but it could have been a lot worse.\n\n\"You do fear the worst when the pumps are over capacity but I have seen the cellar flood quite badly before with barrels bobbing up and down,\" Mr Thomas added.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Russell Thomas This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe Newport home of Lauren Torjesen was also damaged in the floods.\n\n\"If I don't laugh I will cry,\" she said.\n\n\"The electric has to be turned off so I don't know what we'll do with all that good food.\"\n\nLauren Torjesen says her Christmas food could be ruined\n\nIn Newport city centre, shops and roads were flooded.\n\nMary Pring, 78, from Newport, has had to abandon her plans to shield alone over Christmas due to flood damage in her home.\n\n\"Absolutely dreadful, I'm supposed to be shielding, which I was, I was going to stay on my own on Christmas but now I will have to go to my children.\n\n\"I couldn't live in that, it's dreadful.\"\n\nSoaked carpets and rugs are taken from Mary Pring's home\n\nMrs Pring's son Nicholas said water saturated all of his mother's carpets.\n\n\"This has been going on now for numerous years, what happens is a backfill of water fills up the street.\"\n\nArnold's Lighting and Electrical on Skinner Street, said on social media: \"There are no words to describe the devastation... water is now almost over the top of the counter.\n\n\"We have lost everything. What a 2020.\"\n\nNewport council's leader Jane Mudd said all its available teams were out on Wednesday evening \"doing everything we can do to assist as much as possible in the worst affected areas\".\n\nWhen her dad's home was flooded in Sully, Vale of Glamorgan, Maris Lyons put on her wellies and went over to help.\n\n\"It was devastating and shocking, the water was so deep and as I arrived, the elderly couple who live next door to my parents were being lifted out on a man's shoulders,\" she said, adding a dog had swum out of a neighbouring property.\n\n\"It's a scene that I never thought I'd imagine I'd see.\"\n\nMari Lyons said the community spirit in the area had been amazing\n\nA Met Office weather warning was in place until 02:00 GMT on Thursday, affecting most of Wales, apart from parts of six counties in north Wales.\n\nCardiff council called on residents to help clear drains of debris and leaves to reduce water levels.\n\nA spokesman said: \"The rain has filled up the brooks and streams which are now higher than the outfalls. This means the drains can't empty and are consequently backing up.\"", "Deer were among the animals slaughtered in central Portugal\n\nPortuguese officials have expressed outrage at the massacre of more than 500 deer and wild boar in a hunting zone in the centre of the country.\n\nEnvironment Minister João Fernandes said the killing by 16 Spanish hunters was \"vile\" and an \"environmental crime\" that should be prosecuted.\n\nPictures of the slaughter were shared on social media.\n\nHunting individual animals is allowed but in this incident most of the zone's deer population are said to have died.\n\nThe killing is thought to have taken place on a farm in the Torrebela tourist hunting zone, near Azambuja, about 40km (24 miles) from the Portuguese capital Lisbon on 17 and 18 December.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Alberto Mancebo This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe 1,100ha (2,700-acre) farm is described as being walled in, meaning that the 540 animals had no means of escape from their killers.\n\nThe Environment Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that \"the reports and news about the indiscriminate slaughter of animals... have nothing to do with hunting, understood as a practice that can contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystems\".", "(Left to right) Designer Stella McCartney and models Stella Tennant and Naomi Campbell\n\nBig-name fashion designers including Stella McCartney and Victoria Beckham have paid tribute to the late model Stella Tennant, who has died aged 50.\n\nFellow models Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford have also offered tributes.\n\nThe Scottish catwalk icon was confirmed dead by her family on Wednesday, and police said there were no suspicious circumstances.\n\n\"My darling Stella, I love you and will miss you so, so terribly,\" wrote McCartney on Instagram.\n\n\"What sad, horrific news to end this already shocking year! My heart goes out to your stunning family who must be in such undeserving pain. I am speechless.\"\n\n\"Rest in peace, you inspiring woman,\" she added. \"Your soul and inner beauty exceeded the external perfection, Stella. May you ride high above us all on the most perfect horse, eternally in peace.\"\n\nCampbell described Tennant \"a class act in every way. Humble, loyal, balanced, practical, a rare beauty inside and out\".\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by naomi This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nBeckham, like McCartney, posted a picture of the 1990s fashion star online, alongside her own memories of her.\n\n\"She was an incredible talent and someone I had so much admiration and respect for,\" wrote the Spice Girl-turned-designer.\n\n\"I just loved everything about her. My thoughts are with her family,\" she added.\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post 2 by victoriabeckham This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nTennant was one of the most famous British models of the last 30 years, alongside the likes of Campbell and Kate Moss, and later worked on campaigns to reduce the environmental impact of fast fashion.\n\nUS model and actress Cindy Crawford, meanwhile, added that she \"always admired her fearlessness and style\".\n\nOn Wednesday, designers Versace - one of many big labels that Tennant modelled for - were among the first to pay tribute to the late runway star.\n\nThis Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post 3 by donatella_versace This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nDesigner Donatella Versace later added her own personal tribute, saying she will \"cherish every moment we spent together\".\n\n\"Stella, I cannot believe you are gone. You have left us way too soon,\" wrote the Italian.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "A smiling Steve in Gran Canaria before the government's travel corridor announcement\n\n\"We have paid the best part of £2,000, we thought it was worth the investment for a relaxing week in the sun but we're flying back stressed,\" says Steve Jennings, from Liverpool.\n\nThe retired chief executive was on holiday in Gran Canaria when he heard the news that the government had changed the quarantine rules for the Canary Islands.\n\nFrom Saturday morning, anyone returning to the UK from the islands has to self-isolate. Although the quarantine period is being cut to 10 days from next week, anyone who doesn't get back in the next few days could see their Christmas plans at risk.\n\nFor Steve, 61, the news left him anxious as he scrabbled to find out how he and his partner Lynn - who has hospital appointments booked next week - could avoid the quarantine.\n\n\"It leaves us totally confused and anxious,\" he said. \"It tends to ruin the end of the holiday.\"\n\nLike many, Steve is pinning his hopes on the government's new testing scheme which lets travellers to England cut their quarantine by half if they pay for a Covid test after five days.\n\nBut the scheme - called test-to-release - doesn't launch until Tuesday and the list of approved providers has not been published yet.\n\n\"The thing that brasses me off [is] you like to be proud of your government and civil service,\" he says. \"This [scheme] is due to be launched on Tuesday, here we are still with no details.\"\n\nFor other Brits in the Canaries, the pressure is on to make sure they're back in the UK with enough time to quarantine before Christmas, so their festive plans aren't ruined.\n\n\"I was extremely stressed on Thursday,\" says David Evans, 23, a DJ living and working in Fuerteventura.\n\n\"From when I got home from work at 6/7pm, I didn't do anything until 1am except talk to family members, talking to work, to my housemate, trying to work out what to do.\"\n\nDavid DJs in clubs and on the beach, and says he has around five gigs next week\n\nHe is due to fly back to Brighton next week and plans to get a test, ahead of hopefully seeing his parents and nan at Christmas. \"I already have some gigs lined up so can't come back any earlier,\" he says.\n\nDavid says he thinks the Canary Islands should be treated individually by the UK government when it comes to quarantine rules.\n\nThe government has said data suggests cases are rising in the Canaries, but David points out the number of cases in Fuerteventura is lower than in other islands.\n\n\"I'd like to see them separate the islands as Tenerife seems to be the problem,\" he says. \"They've done this with the Greek islands, why not the same for the Canaries?\"\n\nKeith Baldwin, from Liverpool, agrees and has emailed Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to ask why the islands aren't being treated separately.\n\n\"Tenerife is right off the scale with Covid. Lanzarote's a bit high. But Gran Canaria is right down,\" says Keith, who is in Gran Canaria.\n\n\"Work's not going to be happy [if I have to isolate]. I'm a support worker and we're short as it is.\"\n\nThe Foreign Office has not changed its travel advice for the Canary Islands, meaning many holidaymakers who were due to go on holiday may be unable to seek refunds or claim on their travel insurance policies as companies will not cancel bookings.\n\nOne such holidaymaker was Kathy Hemingway, from East Yorks, who was due to fly to Fuerteventura on Saturday.\n\nShe paid £170 to get Covid tests done on top of her holiday, which she can't get a refund for from Tui as the FCO have not changed the travel advice rules.\n\n\"We can move our booking,\" she adds. \"We have to pluck a date out of the air. We have no idea when it will be safe to travel.\"\n\nKathy had already changed her holiday destination twice, from Mexico to Lanzarote, then to Fuerteventura\n\nOther holidaymakers have highlighted how safe they feel in the Canaries. Everyone aged six and over must provide a negative test when arriving into Spain, and when checking in to tourist accommodation in the Canaries.\n\n\"I feel safer in Tenerife than I do back in Scotland,\" says Philip Knight, who has been on holiday with his partner Luke in Tenerife, but flew back two days early on Friday.\n\nPhilip says he fears the impact this will have on the local economy\n\n\"I, and every other holiday-maker had to get a Covid-19 test before coming here,\" he says. \"Everyone must wear a mask at all times (in the street etc), there are no exemptions unless a doctor provides a certificate. Everyone obeys this.\n\n\"There is a curfew at 11pm which is enforced strictly by the police and respected by the residents and tourists. Everyone must be in their property and remain there till 6am.\n\n\"The island is quiet with no crowds and only groups of four.\n\n\"The UK government has therefore made me return to the UK which has a higher rate of infection with less protection (i.e. no masks and no curfew),\" adds Philip, a partner in an Edinburgh law firm.\n\nLee Rowell-Burton, from Manchester, says he and his wife \"have had no personal contact with anyone\" since arriving in Fuerteventura to fix a problem at their apartment.\n\n\"We took a private PCR test on 7 December to get here, costing £120 each, which both came back negative.\n\n\"Now we have to either self-isolate or take another test, at our own expense, after five days. Another test? That's another £120 we don't have. I'm supposed to be back to work on Monday.\"\n\n\"It's so safe here,\" says Lee, in Fuerteventura\n\nHe adds: \"We are both extremely careful as we both have lost relatives to Covid-19 and are on one of the safest Canary Islands to visit, and only for five nights, yet still are having to self-isolate on our return? Ridiculous.\"\n\nThe news of the quarantine change came on Thursday, in a tweet by Mr Shapps who said data indicated weekly cases and positive tests were increasing.\n\nThe government has previously said that decisions about which places go on or off the list are based on a range of factors, not just case rates.\n\nThe Department for Transport said in a statement on Saturday the government had been \"consistently clear\" that it would take action rapidly if the public health risk became too high.\n\n\"Throughout the outbreak, all our decisions have been based on the best scientific evidence,\" it said. \"Any emerging evidence is continually monitored and considered in the government's policy making.\"\n\nWhen the test-to-release scheme opens on Tuesday, anyone already self-isolating after travelling to the UK is able to book in a test.", "Alfred Bourgeois was put to death for the murder of his two-year-old daughter\n\nA man who killed his toddler daughter nearly 20 years ago has become the second US federal inmate to be executed in as many days.\n\nAlfred Bourgeois' death by lethal injection on Friday comes after Brandon Bernard was put to death on Thursday.\n\nThree more executions are planned before the end of Donald Trump's presidency on 20 January.\n\nFederal executions had been on pause for 17 years before Mr Trump ordered them to resume earlier this year.\n\nIf the remaining executions go ahead, Mr Trump will have overseen the most executions by a US president in more than a century.\n\nThey break with an 130-year-old precedent of pausing executions during a presidential transition. President-elect Joe Biden takes office on 20 January.\n\nMr Biden, who for decades was a fierce supporter of the death penalty as a Delaware senator, has now said he will seek to end federal executions once he takes office.\n\nThe federal death penalty had not been used since 2003, in part due to concerns about the drugs used in executions.\n\nCourts ruled that Bourgeois had physically and sexually abused his two-year-old daughter before killing her as he passed through Texas while working as a long-haul truck driver.\n\nProsecutors say he killed her by slamming her head into the car's window and dashboard after she spilled her training potty in the vehicle while he was parking.\n\nBourgeois, who was sentenced to death in 2004, was making a delivery to a military base when he killed his daughter so he was tried in a federal court.\n\nHis lawyers argued that he had a severe intellectual disability that should have prevented him from being executed.\n\nBrandon Bernard was executed in Indiana after last-minute clemency pleas were rejected by the US Supreme Court.\n\nBernard, 40, was convicted of murder in 1999 when he was a teenager, and is the youngest offender to be executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years.", "The Banksy work appeared on a house in Totterdown in Bristol on Thursday\n\nThe owner of a house on which a Banksy mural appeared has said the sale of the property will still go ahead, despite reports they had pulled out.\n\nNick Makin said it was \"not true\" that his mother, Aileen Makin, had withdrawn the house in Bristol from the market.\n\n\"When you wake up to tabloids saying the house is now worth £5m you've got to think about what you're doing... but it's not changing anything,\" he said.\n\nHe added that he wanted the artwork to remain in place and be protected.\n\nMr Makin told BBC Radio Bristol the sale had been \"put on hold for 48 hours\" after the mural appeared on the side of the semi-detached house in Totterdown on Thursday.\n\nThe work was authenticated on Banksy's website\n\nThe creation - entitled \"Aachoo!!\" - depicts a woman in a headscarf sneezing and her dentures flying into the air.\n\n\"It does increase the value, and you have to take a moment to think about it, but it's not changing anything in terms of the house sale for us,\" Mr Makin said.\n\nHe added that \"nasty things\" had been said about the family after it was reported by several newspapers and websites on Friday that they were pulling out of the sale of the £340,000 house.\n\n\"That's always going to happen with something like this. We've received a bit of abuse from it.\"\n\nThe house owners said they wanted the artwork to be protected\n\nMr Makin said they had put a piece of clear acrylic over the artwork and installed an alarm system to try to protect it.\n\n\"Not only has it not earned us £5m, it's actually cost us money,\" he said. \"We think it should be protected and stay where it is.\"\n\nHe added that the family was \"looking at getting a covenant put into the deeds of the house\" to make sure the Banksy mural stays where it is.\n\n\"Or if it was to be removed, to be removed to Bristol City Council or the museum, so it can be kept in its condition and safe and in the right hands,\" Mr Makin added.\n\nFollow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. EC President Ursula von der Leyen says Brexit will be \"new beginnings for old friends\"\n\nBoris Johnson's declaration that he would go to Paris, travel to Berlin, \"do whatever it takes to reach a deal\" was quietly rebuffed again by the EU on Friday.\n\nNormally after big summits like the one we've just had in Brussels, leaders make media statements about their most pressing discussions.\n\nClimate change, Covid, relations with Turkey... they all featured prominently at the summit. Brexit was hardly mentioned.\n\nThere's no denying that the prospect of the pain of no deal at all with the UK certainly weighs on EU minds.\n\nA German think tank has estimated that up to 700,000 European jobs could be at risk.\n\nBut Europe's leaders are keen to clarify they won't personally intervene in the current impasse in trade talks. There'll be no last-minute handshake or \"a-ha\" moment in Paris, Warsaw or Berlin.\n\nGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel (r) says a Brexit deal is still possible but insists that the integrity of the EU single market must be respected\n\nBehind the scenes, of course, leaders are involved in discussions with their negotiators, but they don't want to be face-to-face, or ear-to-ear, with Boris Johnson in public.\n\nEU countries are joined together in their single market.\n\nSo, no individual EU leader - not even the most powerful ones, in France and Germany - can be perceived to be making the political compromises that could clinch the UK deal. Concessions will impact the whole single market - and therefore all member states, as a collective.\n\nJust this week, an Élysée Palace spokesman described as \"not desirable\" the idea of a visit or bilateral call between the prime minister and Emmanuel Macron in these last negotiating days. And the French president underlined again on Friday that EU countries were united behind the European Commission negotiating with the UK on their behalf.\n\nSomething Downing Street then said it accepted.\n\nSo can a deal be reached between the EU and UK by Sunday, despite the pervading mood of gloom plus a sense - in public, at least - that both sides are digging in their heels?\n\nIt's difficult but possible.\n\nOne of the main obstacles to a deal, according to the UK government, is that the EU refuses to accept the UK's post-Brexit national sovereignty.\n\n\"How can the EU demand that we tie ourselves to a new rule book to get good access to the single market?\" ministers ask. After all, wasn't Brexit all about breaking free from Brussels' regulations?\n\nBut on Friday the European Commission president - who had a working dinner with the prime minister just this week - hit back at the EU-is-in-denial-about-UK-sovereignty claim.\n\nYes, said Ursula von der Leyen, the EU was insisting on what it views as rules on \"fair competition\" in exchange for agreeing the UK could have preferential access to the single market - i.e. tariff and quota-free. But she pointedly added that the UK would remain free - \"sovereign, if you wish\" were the words she used - to decide what it wanted to do.\n\n\"We [the EU] would simply adapt the conditions for access to our market accordingly. It would be the decision of the UK and this would apply vice versa.\"\n\nThis refers to something often discussed in my blog over the past weeks.\n\nWe know, oh so well by now, the three main sticking points still in talks: EU fishing rights in UK waters; competition regulations for the UK to have that good access to the single market; and the governance of the deal - how to ensure both sides keep to the agreement or face punitive measures.\n\nThe EU has gradually shifted its focus as it has become more and more aware that a post-Brexit UK will, almost inevitably, want to make up its own rules and regulations for business: deciding for itself which industries it wants to invest in and promote.\n\nDespite this, the EU still would rather have a trade and security deal with the UK than not.\n\nBecause, in theory, it would be economically beneficial for both sides and because the deal contains other important aspects of the relationship, such as social security and police and judicial co-operation, how the EU and UK deal with nuclear waste, and more.\n\nSo Brussels has been pondering how it can live with the UK's sovereign right to diverge and yet still have an overall deal.\n\nTheir answer: focus more on governance.\n\nTrade between the UK and the EU would be disrupted by a no-deal Brexit\n\nThis is what Mrs von der Leyen was referring to. A proposal that if the UK changes its environmental or labour standards, for example, the EU could then take immediate action to protect its businesses. And the UK would be able to take measures against the EU if the situation were reversed.\n\nSo far, so sensible, you might think.\n\nBut surprise, surprise, it's far from being that straightforward.\n\nThe EU doesn't want to have to wait for some independent body/arbitration panel to judge whether it has the right to retaliate if it believes there is \"unfair competition\" afoot.\n\nBrussels worries a legal process like that could take too long. In the meantime, EU businesses could flounder or go under completely. EU leaders worry how they could justify that to their voters.\n\nThe words \"level playing field\" or \"competition regulations\" may sound bewilderingly abstract but the Danish prime minister pointed out on Thursday that each EU leader was thinking about protecting jobs and businesses in their country - be it Denmark, Germany, France or the Netherlands, when it came to this deal with the UK.\n\nSo, the EU is pushing to be able to retaliate even before a judgement on unfair competition has been reached. Something the UK clearly says it cannot accept.\n\nCan this key disagreement be resolved? Maybe.\n\nMichel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, is described by his team as being in a \"determined, positive mood\". The UK says it's willing to go the extra mile.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: No-deal Brexit now \"very, very likely\"\n\nYou can dismiss all this as a PR exercise for public consumption, but the fact that negotiations will continue over the weekend means neither side has stopped trying.\n\nThe problem facing all of us outside the negotiating room, is that there are leaks and assertions aplenty being made on both sides, but in the absence of the publication of texts, the only ones who know for sure what's going on, are the men and women currently sitting opposite each other in closed rooms in Brussels.\n\nSunday will be here before we know it.\n\nBoris Johnson and the European Commission president say that's when \"a decision will be made\".\n\nBut based on all the other false dawns in these talks, be warned: Sunday's decision could be \"deal\", \"no deal\" or \"let's keep talking, a little while longer\".", "The song had stalled at number two for the last three Christmases\n\nCompleting a journey 26 years in the making, Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You has reached number one in the UK singles chart.\n\nTaken from Carey's album 1994 Merry Christmas, the modern classic was originally held off the top spot by East 17's Stay Another Day.\n\nHowever, it finally climbed to the summit this week, after being streamed 10.8 million times.\n\n\"Happy Christmas UK! We finally made it!\" said Carey on hearing the news.\n\n\"We are keeping the Christmas spirit alive together despite how dismal the year's been.\n\n\"Love you always! ♥️ Joy to the world 🌎😇🎄!!!!\"\n\n\"Truly one of the greatest songs never to be number one has finally reached the top spot,\" said Radio 1's Scott Mills, who revealed the countdown on Friday. \"Hopefully it can hold on until Christmas Day!\"\n\nCarey knocked Ariana Grande's Positions off the top of the charts, as Christmas songs continue their annual takeover of the top 40.\n\nFestive songs account for 22 of the week's biggest-selling records, with six in the top 10 - including Wham's Last Christmas at number two, and The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl's Fairytale Of New York at four.\n\nWhile most of the songs are Christmas classics, there are also entries for Jess Glynne's cover of Donnie Hathaway's This Christmas and Justin Bieber's version of Brenda Lee's of Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree.\n\nBoth are exclusive to Christmas playlists on Amazon's music streaming service, highlighting the power of the company's smart speakers to boost a song into the charts.\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by MariahCareyVEVO This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.\n\nAll I Want For Christmas Is You is the gift that keeps on giving.\n\nFirst released in 1994, it's an upbeat, catchy tribute to the Christmas hits of Motown and Phil Spector. A top three hit on both sides of the Atlantic, it quickly became a standard, with the New Yorker calling it \"one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon\".\n\nCarey started writing the song while living in upstate New York in the summer of 1994, while playing the movie It's A Wonderful Life for inspiration.\n\nShe quickly stumbled on a chord progression and melody, which she captured on a mini tape recorder and brought to her longtime collaborator Walter Afanasieff.\n\nHe originally worried it was too basic. But that's exactly the quality that has made it such an enduring hit.\n\n\"The oversimplified melody made it easily palatable for the whole world to go, 'Oh, I can't get that out of my head!\" he said in an interview with ASCAP.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. All I Want For Christmas Is You: Meet the man behind Mariah Carey's festive classic\n\nIn her recent memoir, Carey said the song's opening chimes are meant to evoke the \"little wooden toy pianos, like the one Schroeder had on Peanuts\".\n\n\"I actually did bang out most of the song on a cheap little Casio keyboard,\" she added. \"But it's the feeling I wanted to capture. There's a sweetness, a clarity and a purity to it.\"\n\nAlthough she was unhappy at the time, dealing with the pressures of fame and a tempestuous relationship with her future husband Tommy Mottola, she wanted to \"write a song that would me me happy and make me feel like a loved, carefree young girl at Christmas\".\n\n\"I wanted to sing it in a way that would capture joy for everyone and crystallise it forever,\" she added. \"Yes, I was going for vintage Christmas happiness.\"\n\n'Finally able to enjoy it'\n\nThe song has since earned her more than $60m (£45m) in royalties; and has cumulatively spent 70 weeks in the UK's top 100.\n\nLast year, it topped the charts in America for the first time, making Carey the first artist to score a number one single in four different decades.\n\nSpeaking to the New York Times, however, the singer said she wasn't competitive about such matters.\n\n\"I don't need something else to validate the existence of this song,\" she said.\n\n\"I used to pick it apart whenever I listened to it, but at this point, I feel like I'm finally able to enjoy it.\"\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Police previously arrested a 29-year-old man in connection with the investigation\n\nA fake game show host tricked two men into being filmed carrying out naked challenges for the chance to win cash, police have said.\n\nIn 2018, a 28-year-old man told the Met he had been filmed in a hotel room in Newham, east London, by another man who claimed it was for a show.\n\nEarlier this year, a 31-year-old man reported a similar thing had happened to him in 2013, the force said.\n\nScotland Yard said officers \"believe there may be more victims\".\n\nThe 28-year-old approached police in June 2018 to report that a man claiming to be in the entertainment industry had asked him to take part in a game show for the chance to win £5,000.\n\nHe said he was required to take part in several \"nude challenges\" which were filmed by the suspect who kept the footage.\n\nThe second victim, who was identified by police in February this year, told officers a man had coerced him into doing something similar in a hotel in south-east London in August 2013.\n\nOfficers arrested a 29-year-old man in January 2019 on suspicion of voyeurism and he was released under investigation.\n\nSgt James Mason said: \"We believe there may be more victims in relation to these events.\n\n\"I urge anyone who may be a victim of similar crimes or incidents from 2013 to the present day, to come forward with information.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Donald Trump may have lost the election but he won a record number of votes, and tightened his grip on states like Ohio. So what can Ohio tell us about the Republican Party's future?\n\nPowell, a suburb of the capital Columbus, has a charming and old-worldly feel.\n\nIts picturesque neighbourhoods with big houses and rolling lawns reinforce the much romanticised pop culture images of the ideal American suburban life. The downtown market is lined with small cafes, handicraft shops, ice-cream parlours and wine stores.\n\nPresident Trump won this county and, though the election is long over, many shops and businesses still have 'Trump-Pence 2020' campaign signs staked in their lawns.\n\nAmong them is a cigar shop called Stogies where a 'TRUMP 2020' banner is the centrepiece, flanking photos of Groucho Marx and Winston Churchill - celebrities of a bygone era - holding lit cigars.\n\nConcentric rings of smoke fill this cosy lounge, which used to be a church in the early 1900s. There is a group of men inside seated on sofas, all smoking cigars. President Trump looks down on them from an autographed photo.\n\nThey are all Trump supporters and part of the electorate that gave him a decisive victory in Ohio. Mostly in their 50s and 60s, they're college educated professionals and businessmen.\n\nNeil Berberick, a retired professional says: \"What Trump has done is that he has gone back to core values. He picked up the people that were forgotten by the Democrats. He was in tune with us. He has changed the Republican party for the good.''\n\nThere is a sense of longing for President Trump - even though they still don't entirely believe he's lost the presidency.\n\nAsked about the future of the Republican party after Trump, Taylor Burkhart, a young mechanical engineer says: \"The party is not just going to dissolve because Trump may not be on their ticket. Someone will fill his shoes. We'll find someone else whose values that we agree with.\"\n\nBut there is also this deep hope in the smoke-filled air that Mr Trump remains a force in Republican politics.\n\nThe owner of the cigar lounge, Hassan Dakhteh, an Iranian immigrant who came to the United States over 40 years ago, says: \"I think he will run in 2024, I hope he runs in 2024.\"\n\nPresident Trump remains a dominant force in Ohio. He won the state's 18 electoral college votes and also the popular vote by more than eight percentage points. According to the AP, he won more votes than any other presidential candidate in the state's history.\n\nIt's a testament to how effectively Mr Trump spoke to rural and working class Ohioans and created a base that adores him.\n\nBut not all Republican voters here endorse Mr Trump.\n\nAbout 14 miles from the cigar lounge, outside a grocery store in Hilliard, Amber Baumgartner is preparing to do some grocery shopping.\n\nShe is a 56-year-old teacher who is passionate about healthcare for ordinary Americans. She leans conservative on most issues but is not a fan of the turn the Republican party has taken in the last four years.\n\n\"I am hoping they are going to learn,\" she says.\n\n\"They are going to see that this extremism, we are going to have to get a clamp on this. I feel that the last four years have been a joke, almost. It's been embarrassing, scary, terrifying actually. I am hoping that the party understands that and I think that they do. Because so many of them have been unwilling to get on the crazy bus.\"\n\nAn autographed photo of President Trump in Stogies cigar lounge\n\nFormer Ohio governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate John Kasich - a vocal critic of Mr Trump - thinks Republicans need to eschew Mr Trump's brand of politics going forward.\n\n\"It should become a party of ideas,\" he says. \"It's been basically an anti-Democrat party. They don't have any ideas on healthcare, environment or the wealth gap.\"\n\nThe Democrats are not in great shape either, he adds, but Joe Biden might be able to appeal to middle America. \"We'll see whether they will do that but Republicans really need to get some ideas otherwise they will wilt away.\"\n\nHowever, Donald Trump remains overwhelmingly popular in Ohio and it's clear he will continue exerting influence on the Republican party even after he leaves the White House.\n\n\"His performance in 2016 and 2020 suggests that he is the most popular Republican in Ohio in quite a long time, maybe since Ronald Reagan,\" says Mark Caleb Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Cedarville.\n\nHis popularity among his base has allowed President Trump to attack senior party leaders who don't agree with him.\n\nAmong them Ohio's governor, Mike DeWine, for not backing his unsubstantiated claims of a rigged election. Mr DeWine, though a supporter of President Trump, was one of the earlier Republicans out of the gate in recognising President-elect Joe Biden's win.\n\nUS President Donald Trump has been critical of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine\n\nEmboldened by Mr Trump's attack, some fellow Republicans are even trying to impeach the governor for enforcing measures to curb Covid-19, which is at a record high in the state.\n\nGov DeWine, who took steps early on to combat the coronavirus and has handled the pandemic very differently to Mr Trump, has hit back at his detractors.\n\nSo how can Republican leaders like him deal with hostility from within his own party going forward?\n\nProfessor Smith says that keeping the deeply conservative base happy could be key.\n\n\"Governor DeWine is willing to sign anti-abortion legislation, for example,\" he says. \"I'd expect that kind of thing to continue.\"\n\n\"His rhetoric on family and marriage will probably ratchet up a bit. Governor DeWine is a staunch Catholic and I would expect him to use that language more frequently about religion and his faith. I think that does quite well with the people who are supportive of the president.\"\n\nMr Trump did very well in Ohio in the rural areas outside of major cities such as Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, where the electorate is predominantly white.\n\nHowever, can the party really sustain itself nationally by focusing on his base?\n\nStudies show that America is getting more diverse and minorities are already a powerful voting bloc, so Republicans will likely need new strategies going ahead.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How are Biden voters in a Trump heartland dealing with the election aftermath?\n\nRepublican strategist Terry Casey says the party will look for new ideas but President Trump could potentially leave a lasting legacy.\n\n\"He has shifted the party somewhat for the good because the Republican party previously had the image of the party of the country club, and the Wall Street rich people. And now it has shifted to issues of the middle class or the working class and a lot of people in the Midwest who have been forgotten.\"\n\nWhether Donald Trump continues to remain a powerful presence in Republican politics will be determined in the months to come. But one thing seems certain, both parties need to make sure that middle America - like Ohio - does not feel ignored.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Malcolm Turnbull: \"Be careful what you wish for\"\n\nA former Australian prime minister has warned the UK to be \"careful what you wish for\" when it comes to EU trade.\n\nBoris Johnson has told people and businesses to prepare for the \"strong possibility\" we will not agree a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, and end up trading on \"Australian\" terms.\n\nBut Malcolm Turnbull said there was no trade deal between his country and the bloc, which meant \"large barriers\".\n\nThe UK and the EU have until 31 December to come to an agreement.\n\nIf a deal is not struck, they will move to trading on World Trade Organisation rules - meaning tariffs or charges could be imposed on goods the UK buys and sells from and to the EU.\n\nTalks are ongoing, but Mr Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed this week that a final decision on whether a deal can be reached must be made by Sunday.\n\nThe UK government has said throughout trade negotiations with the EU that it is seeking a \"Canada-style\" Free Trade Agreement, meaning tariffs would not be imposed.\n\nHowever, it has also said if that type of deal was not possible, it would move to an \"Australian-style relationship\" with the bloc, and the country would \"prosper\" either way.\n\nAustralia is negotiating a free trade deal with the EU, but does not currently have one.\n\nIt largely does business with the EU on World Trade Organisation rules, but has a few specific arrangements in place, such as co-operation on science and trade on wine - something that would not be the case for the UK if it leaves EU rules without a deal.\n\nAustralia has free trade agreements with most if its geographical neighbours and does not do nearly as much trade with the EU as the UK does.\n\nSpeaking on BBC Question Time, Mr Turnbull said: \"Australia has a deal with the EU on WTO terms and there are really some very large barriers to Australian trade with Europe, which we are seeking to address as we negotiate a free trade agreement with Europe\n\n\"But Australians would not regard our trade relationship with Europe as being a satisfactory one.\n\n\"There are very big barriers to Australian exports of agriculture products in particular and a lot of friction in the system in terms of services..\"\n\nMr Turnbull is the former leader of Australia's centre-right Liberal Party and was prime minister of the country between 2015 and 2018.", "A smiling Steve in Gran Canaria before the government's travel corridor announcement\n\n\"We have paid the best part of £2,000, we thought it was worth the investment for a relaxing week in the sun but we're flying back stressed,\" says Steve Jennings, from Liverpool.\n\nThe retired chief executive was on holiday in Gran Canaria when he heard the news that the government had changed the quarantine rules for the Canary Islands.\n\nFrom Saturday morning, anyone returning to the UK from the islands has to self-isolate. Although the quarantine period is being cut to 10 days from next week, anyone who doesn't get back in the next few days could see their Christmas plans at risk.\n\nFor Steve, 61, the news left him anxious as he scrabbled to find out how he and his partner Lynn - who has hospital appointments booked next week - could avoid the quarantine.\n\n\"It leaves us totally confused and anxious,\" he said. \"It tends to ruin the end of the holiday.\"\n\nLike many, Steve is pinning his hopes on the government's new testing scheme which lets travellers to England cut their quarantine by half if they pay for a Covid test after five days.\n\nBut the scheme - called test-to-release - doesn't launch until Tuesday and the list of approved providers has not been published yet.\n\n\"The thing that brasses me off [is] you like to be proud of your government and civil service,\" he says. \"This [scheme] is due to be launched on Tuesday, here we are still with no details.\"\n\nFor other Brits in the Canaries, the pressure is on to make sure they're back in the UK with enough time to quarantine before Christmas, so their festive plans aren't ruined.\n\n\"I was extremely stressed on Thursday,\" says David Evans, 23, a DJ living and working in Fuerteventura.\n\n\"From when I got home from work at 6/7pm, I didn't do anything until 1am except talk to family members, talking to work, to my housemate, trying to work out what to do.\"\n\nDavid DJs in clubs and on the beach, and says he has around five gigs next week\n\nHe is due to fly back to Brighton next week and plans to get a test, ahead of hopefully seeing his parents and nan at Christmas. \"I already have some gigs lined up so can't come back any earlier,\" he says.\n\nDavid says he thinks the Canary Islands should be treated individually by the UK government when it comes to quarantine rules.\n\nThe government has said data suggests cases are rising in the Canaries, but David points out the number of cases in Fuerteventura is lower than in other islands.\n\n\"I'd like to see them separate the islands as Tenerife seems to be the problem,\" he says. \"They've done this with the Greek islands, why not the same for the Canaries?\"\n\nKeith Baldwin, from Liverpool, agrees and has emailed Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to ask why the islands aren't being treated separately.\n\n\"Tenerife is right off the scale with Covid. Lanzarote's a bit high. But Gran Canaria is right down,\" says Keith, who is in Gran Canaria.\n\n\"Work's not going to be happy [if I have to isolate]. I'm a support worker and we're short as it is.\"\n\nThe Foreign Office has not changed its travel advice for the Canary Islands, meaning many holidaymakers who were due to go on holiday may be unable to seek refunds or claim on their travel insurance policies as companies will not cancel bookings.\n\nOne such holidaymaker was Kathy Hemingway, from East Yorks, who was due to fly to Fuerteventura on Saturday.\n\nShe paid £170 to get Covid tests done on top of her holiday, which she can't get a refund for from Tui as the FCO have not changed the travel advice rules.\n\n\"We can move our booking,\" she adds. \"We have to pluck a date out of the air. We have no idea when it will be safe to travel.\"\n\nKathy had already changed her holiday destination twice, from Mexico to Lanzarote, then to Fuerteventura\n\nOther holidaymakers have highlighted how safe they feel in the Canaries. Everyone aged six and over must provide a negative test when arriving into Spain, and when checking in to tourist accommodation in the Canaries.\n\n\"I feel safer in Tenerife than I do back in Scotland,\" says Philip Knight, who has been on holiday with his partner Luke in Tenerife, but flew back two days early on Friday.\n\nPhilip says he fears the impact this will have on the local economy\n\n\"I, and every other holiday-maker had to get a Covid-19 test before coming here,\" he says. \"Everyone must wear a mask at all times (in the street etc), there are no exemptions unless a doctor provides a certificate. Everyone obeys this.\n\n\"There is a curfew at 11pm which is enforced strictly by the police and respected by the residents and tourists. Everyone must be in their property and remain there till 6am.\n\n\"The island is quiet with no crowds and only groups of four.\n\n\"The UK government has therefore made me return to the UK which has a higher rate of infection with less protection (i.e. no masks and no curfew),\" adds Philip, a partner in an Edinburgh law firm.\n\nLee Rowell-Burton, from Manchester, says he and his wife \"have had no personal contact with anyone\" since arriving in Fuerteventura to fix a problem at their apartment.\n\n\"We took a private PCR test on 7 December to get here, costing £120 each, which both came back negative.\n\n\"Now we have to either self-isolate or take another test, at our own expense, after five days. Another test? That's another £120 we don't have. I'm supposed to be back to work on Monday.\"\n\n\"It's so safe here,\" says Lee, in Fuerteventura\n\nHe adds: \"We are both extremely careful as we both have lost relatives to Covid-19 and are on one of the safest Canary Islands to visit, and only for five nights, yet still are having to self-isolate on our return? Ridiculous.\"\n\nThe news of the quarantine change came on Thursday, in a tweet by Mr Shapps who said data indicated weekly cases and positive tests were increasing.\n\nThe government has previously said that decisions about which places go on or off the list are based on a range of factors, not just case rates.\n\nThe Department for Transport said in a statement on Saturday the government had been \"consistently clear\" that it would take action rapidly if the public health risk became too high.\n\n\"Throughout the outbreak, all our decisions have been based on the best scientific evidence,\" it said. \"Any emerging evidence is continually monitored and considered in the government's policy making.\"\n\nWhen the test-to-release scheme opens on Tuesday, anyone already self-isolating after travelling to the UK is able to book in a test.", "Britons holidaying on Spain's Canary Islands say their Christmas plans have been thrown into jeopardy after quarantine rules were imposed.\n\nTravellers returning to the UK will have to self-isolate from Saturday due to rising infection rates, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.\n\nTravel giant Tui said 800 people were due to depart for the islands on Friday morning, with 5,000 there already.\n\nThe quarantine period will be shortened from 14 to 10 days from Monday.\n\nA statement from the four UK chief medical officers said the change came after a review of evidence and that self-isolation for those with coronavirus symptoms remained important.\n\nMeanwhile, the Foreign Office has yet to change its travel advice for the Canary Islands, meaning many holidaymakers may be unable to seek refunds or claim on their travel insurance policies.\n\nThe new quarantine restrictions will be in place from 04:00 GMT on 12 December.\n\nTravellers to mainland Spain already have to isolate, but an exemption for the islands in October encouraged many to book a break in almost-guaranteed winter sun, travel expert Simon Calder told BBC Breakfast.\n\nThe Department for Transport (DfT) said there had been a \"sharp increase\" in the number of positive coronavirus tests on the islands.\n\nIt comes as an upcoming \"test-to-release\" policy will allow travellers to leave quarantine after five days - if they pay for a private coronavirus test and receive a negative result.\n\nEven a reduced 10-day quarantine period would mean some of those due to return later next week would still need to isolate over Christmas.\n\nSteve Hay, from Bournemouth, arrived in Lanzarote on Thursday evening for a seven-day break with his family.\n\nThey now face cutting it short to avoid a quarantine period that could potentially run until 27 December - effectively cancelling their Christmas plans in the UK.\n\n\"How will we do our Christmas shopping?\" Mr Hay said. \"I think it's shocking and doesn't appear much thought has gone into it.\n\n\"Why is it being implemented so quick, this only gives us tomorrow to get back.\n\n\"I think it's crazy and the Canaries cannot be looked at as a whole, each island should be rated.\"\n\nIvor Langford says he faces Christmas alone without his wife after she returned home sooner than planned\n\nIvor Langford from Worcestershire, who is currently at his holiday home in Lanzarote, told the BBC the rule change meant he now faced spending Christmas Day alone in the UK.\n\nHis wife recently returned to the UK after her father caught Covid-19 in hospital, he said.\n\n\"I have been given less than a day to fly home before Saturday 04:00,\" he said. \"I'm due to fly back on 16 December but now will have to have Christmas without my wife.\"\n\nMore than 800 people are waiting to find out whether their Tui holidays to Tenerife departing on Saturday morning will be cancelled, because the Foreign Office has not yet decided whether to also advise against travel to the islands.\n\nIf the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against travel to the Canary Islands, Tui will cancel all holidays immediately as this change invalidates travel insurance.\n\nIt also expects to cancel its entire Christmas holiday schedule, a further blow to the operator which recorded losses of €3bn (£2.74bn) on Thursday.\n\nTui said it would allow those booked between Friday and 17 December \"the opportunity to amend free of charge to another date or destination\".\n\nAirline Easyjet said customers wishing to transfer their flights without a fee must do so within a week.\n\nThe new test-to-release programme begins on 15 December, allowing travellers arriving in England to reduce their quarantine by more than half if they pay for a Covid test after five days.\n\nThey will have to opt in to the scheme on a passenger locator form, according to the government website.\n\nThe DfT said families could decide which members opted in to suit their circumstances but that only those who took a test after five days and received a negative result could be released early.\n\nThe tests, from private firms, will cost between £65 and £120. A list of approved providers has yet to be published.\n\nEngland has also introduced a quarantine exemption for certain categories of travellers, including people making high-value business trips, sports stars and performing arts professionals.\n\nDo you have plans to travel to the Canary Islands from the UK? Are you in the Canary Islands but due back after the quarantine rules change? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Birmingham is in tier three, meaning shops and gyms can open, but pubs and restaurants must remain closed, other than for takeaway and delivery\n\nA \"test and dine\" pilot has been proposed in Birmingham in a bid to help the struggling hospitality sector.\n\nThe scheme, put forward by the city council, would see people wanting to eat out tested for Covid-19 a few hours earlier.\n\nIt comes as hospitality businesses in the city consider legal action after being forced to close under tier three measures.\n\nThe plans, at a very early stage, would need to be approved by government.\n\nBirmingham City Council leader Ian Ward told a regional Covid-19 briefing on Friday that the local authority was discussing the idea.\n\nEngland's tiers are set to be reviewed on 16 December, but Birmingham is expected to remain in tier three until the new year\n\n\"We would pilot it initially with a very small number of restaurants,\" Mr Ward said. \"If it worked we would look to expand that going forward.\n\n\"If people book a seat at one of those restaurants to eat out, we would allow them to be tested, and provided they tested negative and the booking was within six hours of that test, then they would be able to go and dine at that particular restaurant.\"\n\nSome rapid Covid-19 tests can provide results within an hour, but there have also been concerns about their accuracy.\n\nMike Olley said the restrictions had been devastating to Birmingham's hospitality sector\n\nMike Olley, who runs the Westside Business Improvement District, which supports local firms, said he would welcome any scheme to help the city's hospitality industry.\n\n\"I don't doubt the sincerity of the council,\" he said. \"It's a plan, it's something. At least they're thinking outside of the box.\"\n\nHowever he raised questions about who would pay for the tests and how restaurants and bars could apply to take part in the pilot.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Laura Foster explains the new three tier system for England\n\nTier three measures have been \"devastating\" for hospitality, he said.\n\n\"We've got bars, restaurants, casinos, theatres which are all incredibly safe areas and they're not trading, yet they're still having to pay out massive overheads.\"\n\nThe council said it believed the scheme could help businesses, but it has not yet made clear the finer details of the plans.\n\nFollow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The Duke of Cambridge paid tribute to Dame Barbara Windsor during a trip with his family to watch a special pantomime put on to thank key workers for their efforts during the pandemic.\n\nPrince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis watched a performance of Pantoland at the London Palladium with their parents in the royal box.\n\nIn a speech before the show, the duke called Dame Barbara \"a legend\".\n\nIt was the Cambridges' first red carpet engagement as a family of five.\n\nTheir visit followed the news that the actress, best known for her roles in EastEnders and the Carry On films, had died aged 83.\n\nWhen the Cambridges first arrived at the Palladium, George, seven, Charlotte, five, and two-year-old Louis stopped briefly to watch actors dressed as elves entertaining the guests on the red carpet.\n\nBefore the show, Matt Ridsdale, executive director of National Lottery operator Camelot, which has supported the pantomime, introduced Prince William and quipped: \"As this is panto, I'm very conscious of who's behind me.\"\n\nPrince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis stopped to watch actors dressed as elves on the red carpet\n\nThe royal children watch the National Lottery's Pantoland with their parents from the royal box\n\nThe duke said: \"Before I go on, I want to pause and pay tribute to a true national treasure, Dame Barbara Windsor, who so sadly passed away last night.\n\n\"She was a giant of the entertainment world, and of course a legend on pantomime stages across the country, including here at the London Palladium.\n\n\"And I know we'll all miss her hugely.\"\n\nThe Duke of Cambridge made a speech to thank key workers ahead of the performance\n\nThe show at London's Palladium stars Julian Clary and Elaine Paige\n\nThe duke said it was a \"very special performance\" because of the key workers in the audience.\n\n\"You include community workers, volunteers, teachers, NHS staff, representatives from the emergency services and military, researchers working on the vaccine, people helping the homeless, those manning vital call centres, and staff from a wide range of frontline charities - to name but a few,\" he said.\n\n\"You have given your absolute all this year and made remarkable sacrifices.\"\n\nEarlier this week the duke and duchess travelled around Great Britain on the royal train to thank key workers for their efforts during the pandemic.", "Jen Scott's view from Beinn Mhor in Argyll. She said: \"It was such a magical morning - everything was sparkling with frost, and as we climbed we saw the mist creep into the valley below where a herd of highland cows were grazing.\"", "A lone Republican senator has blocked a congressional vote to create two new Smithsonian museums dedicated to American women and Latinos.\n\nCasting his dissenting vote, Senator Mike Lee said they would \"further divide an already divided nation\".\n\nThe legislation received unanimous bipartisan support by the remainder of the 100-member Senate.\n\nIt boasts of being the \"world's largest museum, education and research complex,\" with the newest Smithsonian museum - the Museum of African American History and Culture - added in 2016.\n\nA museum for Latino history has been being considered for at least 20 years, after a government report found in the early 1990s that the Smithsonian \"displays a pattern of wilful neglect\" toward Latinos and \"almost entirely excludes and ignores Latinos in nearly every aspect of its operations\".\n\nA measure to create a women history's museum was introduced in the early 2000s.\n\nIn his speech on the Senate floor on Thursday night, Mr Lee - a Utah senator who leans libertarian - condemned politics based on identity - a topic that many conservative Americans have voiced objections to in recent years.\n\n\"My objection to the creation of a new Smithsonian museum or series of museums based on group identity, what Theodore Roosevelt called hyphenated Americanism, is not a matter of budgetary or legislative technicalities,\" he said. \"It is a matter of national unity and cultural inclusion.\"\n\nSoldiers outside the African American museum during summer protests\n\nBecause the authors of the two museum bills had sought a unanimous vote of all 100 senators, each measure was struck down in its entirety by Mr Lee's objection. Measures supporting the Latino museum and women's museum had already been passed earlier this year by the House of Representatives - the lower chamber of Congress.\n\nMr Lee went on to say: \"The so-called critical theory undergirding this movement does not celebrate diversity; it weaponises diversity.\n\n\"I understand what my colleagues are trying to do and why. I respect what they're trying to do. I even share their interests in ensuring that these stories are told. But the last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation with an array of segregated, separate-but-equal museums for hyphenated identity groups.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Why did so many Latinos back Trump?\n\nIn a following debate, Mr Lee argued that Native Americans and black Americans had their histories \"virtually erased,\" which was why Smithsonian institutions exist for them.\n\n\"We have been systematically excluded,\" retorted New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the author of the Latino museum bill.\n\n\"Believe me, we have been,\" he added, accusing Mr Lee of standing \"in the way of the hopes and dreams and aspirations of seeing Americans of Latino descent having their dreams fulfilled and recognised\".\n\nLatina Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a liberal Democrat from New York, was among those criticising Mr Lee. She noted that the debate over these two bills came as coronavirus stimulus relief bills continued to stall in the Senate.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nMaine Republican Senator Susan Collins, who sponsored the Smithsonian Women's History Museum Act, joined in the criticism of Mr Lee, calling it a \"sad moment\" and adding that \"it seems wrong\" for a single senator to block such popular measures.\n\n\"Surely in a year where we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage, this is the time, this is the moment to finally pass the legislation,\" she said, referring to the centennial of women's right to vote in the US.\n\nMuseum advocates say Mr Lee's objection is just one of many roadblocks, and that other legislative avenues still exist to having the measures pass.\n\nSenators could still attempt to attach the museum measures to the year's highly important budget bill, or otherwise reintroduce the measures when the new Congress convenes in January.\n\nEven if the votes had passed, it would still be years before building would begin, as Congress would also need to vote again to allocate funds to the projects.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nLast week, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G Bunch III released a statement praising the two bills.\n\n\"Creating new museums is challenging, but, with appropriate funding, the Smithsonian has the skill and expertise to do it right,\" he said. \"We can, and have, created museums that meet the needs of the nation and showcase the US to the world.\"", "More than 50 schools in Belfast have written a joint letter to the education minister urging him to \"reconsider your stance on early school closure\".\n\nThe letter comes from nursery, primary and post-primary schools in the West Belfast Area Learning Community (ALC).\n\nIt contains a strongly-worded warning that easing many restrictions on 11 December will have a knock-on effect for schools.\n\nThe schools also said that a plan is needed for January.\n\nThey said \"there may be a tsunami of cases arriving in to each of our schools\" in the new year.\n\nEducation Minister Peter Weir has repeatedly stated that schools will not close early for the Christmas break.\n\nHe has also said that health experts have not recommended closing schools early.\n\nHowever some principals have said pupils will not be marked absent if parents want them to do schoolwork at home in the final week of term.\n\nMany schools are due to end term on Friday 18 December, but some continue until 22 December.\n\nThe joint letter from west Belfast schools told Mr Weir there had been a \"lack of clarity from the Department of Education, conflicting guidance from the department and Public Health Agency, and a real lack of insight from you or your department concerning the enormous volume of work which we face on a daily basis\".\n\nIt said that the easing of many restrictions in other areas would have an impact on schools.\n\n\"Given that the executive has agreed to 'relax' restrictions to enable people to experience a more normal Christmas, we are fearful that this allows for increased mixing of bubbles and larger numbers of households and people being able to gather leading to increased infection rates,\" it said.\n\nEducation Minister Peter Weir has repeatedly said there are no plans to close schools early for the Christmas break\n\n\"These increased risks on people's health, added pressure on NHS and likelihood of increasing mortality as a result of Covid-19 must have been judged to be tolerable in order to ensure that people are allowed to see loved ones at Christmas.\n\n\"However, failure to close schools at a time when hospitality and close-contact services resume, will undoubtedly impact on the Christmas experience of those school staff who are identified by contact tracing over the coming weeks.\n\n\"It might appear to some that whilst increasing deaths and illness rates are tolerable, safeguarding the Christmas of front-line staff such as healthcare workers and schools are not important to the executive or your department.\"\n\nThe letter also said that school staff had been providing constant support to pupils and parents affected by lockdown.\n\n\"Our school populations continue to grow and so, too, does the level of need and vulnerability,\" the letter said.\n\n\"We are all too aware of the 'breaking point' that some of our pupils and families have reached over the possibility of spending Christmas away from loved ones.\n\n\"This period of restrictions has been very difficult on those pupils with special educational needs, especially those suffering with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, as their ability to see loved ones from their extended family has been impacted and Christmas may be the only opportunity in the coming months.\"\n\nIt concludes by pleading with Mr Weir to allow school staff to teach and pupils to learn from home \"for a period of just five or six days\" before the planned end of term.\n\n\"As school leaders we also have a duty of care to our staff, pupils and the wider school community,\" it said.\n\n\"The biggest cause of stress and anxiety we see at the present time is the uncertainty people feel about their ability to see extended family over the Christmas break.\n\n\"In what has been an exceptional year for us all, can I ask that you reconsider your stance on early school closure, or at least trust in the professional judgement of school leaders to provide effective home learning opportunities which will enable the exceptionally hard working educational workforce to have the Christmas break which they have earned throughout this pandemic.\n\n\"This action, alone, has the power to do much to boost the morale and well-being of every member of staff in schools.\"\n\nThe government in Wales has said all post-primary schools will move to online teaching until Christmas from Monday 14 December.", "It's been a week of split-screens in American politics.\n\nThe nation's attention is divided between the president and the president-elect; between the coronavirus vaccine and the rising death toll from the pandemic; between congressional attempts to reach compromise and congressional attempts to rebuff Donald Trump.\n\nAs the days tick down until the holidays, and a new year, and a new Congress and a new president, here are some of the key political stories from this week.\n\n\"For individuals and organisations that champion the rule of law and claim the mantle of the founding principles of our nation to call for overturning an election reeks of hypocrisy\" - conservative commentator Linda Chavez\n\nIt was yet another rough week for the president's efforts to reverse the results of his November defeat in the US presidential election.\n\nFirst, the \"safe harbour\" date for states certifying the results arrived on Tuesday with all but one, Wisconsin, meeting the deadline. That will make it much more difficult for Trump's allies in Congress to contest the results of the election in January.\n\nTuesday also delivered a one-two legal punch to the president. The Arizona Supreme Court unanimously ruled that there was no evidence of fraud or misconduct in Joe Biden's victory in that state. And the US Supreme Court batted down a legal challenge to the Democrat's win in that state with a terse, one-sentence \"application denied\" order.\n\nThat left Trump placing all his judicial hopes on a lawsuit filed by the attorney general of Texas that sought to discard the presidential election results in four states Biden won - Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Texas asked the court to allow the state legislatures - which all happen to be controlled by Republicans - to determine who should get their electoral college votes.\n\nElection law experts largely scoffed at the prospects for the suit - \"utter garbage,\" writes UC-Irvine Professor Rick Hasen - but 17 other states with Republican attorneys general, as well as Trump himself, joined the effort.\n\nOn Friday night, the Supreme Court slammed that door closed, as well.\n\nThe ruling was slightly longer than the one-sentence response in a Pennsylvania case. Two justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, wouldn't have dismissed the lawsuit outright. But even they would not express a view on whether Texas's attempt to throw out millions of votes and effectively hand the presidency to Trump had merit.\n\nThe decision paves the way for the members of the Electoral College to meet in state capitals across the US on Monday. At that point, Trump's legal challenges to the election will be finished. And while his supporters may try a last-ditch effort to block the Joe Biden's victory in Congress in January, those political manoeuvres are destined to fail. Democrats will make sure of that.\n\nThe implications of this challenge, however, are unlikely to quickly fade away. In a democracy of 328 million Americans, the presidency came down to what seven people on the Supreme Court thought.\n\nThat will be something Democrats, and the history books, won't quickly forget.\n\nI have been through many public health crises before, but this is the toughest one we have ever faced as a nation. The road ahead will not be easy\"- Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases\n\nWhen the president wasn't fulminating about the results of the presidential election this week, he was celebrating the development of multiple vaccines to treat Covid-19.\n\nAt a \"vaccine summit\" event on Tuesday, Trump touted what is, without a doubt, a remarkable medical achievement.\n\n\"From the instant the coronavirus invaded our shores, we raced into action to develop a safe and effective vaccine at breakneck speed,\" the president said. \"In order to achieve this goal, we harnessed the full power of government, the genius of American scientists, and the might of American industry to save millions and millions of lives all over the world.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. One travel nurse's emotional journey through US Covid hotspots\n\nThe good news on immunisations, however, comes as record numbers of Americans are dying from Covid-19 every day - and the outlook for the months ahead, before the vaccinations reach most Americans.\n\nThat was the message Biden was delivering to the nation from his transition headquarters in Delaware at the same time as the White House event.\n\n\"We're in a dark winter. Things may well get worse before they get better,\" Biden said. \"A vaccine may soon be available, but we need to level with each other. It will take longer than we would like to distribute it to all corners of our country. We will need to persuade enough Americans to take it. It's daunting, but I promise you that we will make progress starting on day one.\"\n\nBiden was unveiling his choices for top health positions in his administration, including California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for health secretary, Vivek Murthy as surgeon general and Fauci as this \"chief medical adviser on Covid-19\".\n\nThe president-elect said once inaugurated on 20 January, he would mandate mask-usage in interstate commerce and on federal property, distribute 100 million doses of vaccine in his first 100 days and prioritise reopening schools.\n\nIt's a tall order, but his administration's ability to control the pandemic, and efficiently and equitably distribute the vaccine, will be the standard by which his early success as president will be judged.\n\nMembers of the House and Senate have been engaged in good-faith negotiations and continue to make progress. The bipartisan talks are the best hope for a bipartisan solution\" - Democratic Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer\n\nThe public-health aspect of the coronavirus pandemic is just one component of the crisis currently facing US policymakers. The disease, and efforts to control its spread, have placed enormous strain on the US economy, as businesses have been forced to close and workers lose their jobs\n\nWhile Republicans and Democrats in Congress and Trump administration officials have been negotiating another round of economic stimulus for months to no avail, a bipartisan group of legislators gave new life to attempts at a compromise with their proposal for a $900bn package of aid last week.\n\nIn an encouraging development, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who had been pushing for nearly three times that amount, endorsed the compromise - while saying that she would ask for more when Biden becomes president.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How are Biden voters in a Trump heartland dealing with the election aftermath?\n\nA deal needs to be wrapped up in the next few weeks, before this congressional term ends, and there are still a number of big sticking points.\n\nDemocrats want hundreds of millions of dollars for cash-strapped local and state governments that have seen their revenues drop during the pandemic. Republicans want lawsuit protections for business that stay open. Democrats would like to reauthorise hundreds of dollars in supplemental weekly payments to the unemployed. The Trump administration would prefer a one-time payment to all Americans.\n\nIt's a lot to try to wrap up in very little time. But with the latest economic figures showing unemployment rising and businesses struggling, the pressure on Congress to do something - anything - is growing.\n\nI think one of the things I'm looking for, when I see all of these picks together is: What is the agenda? What is the overall vision going to be? I think that's a little hazy - Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.\n\nAmidst all the turmoil surrounding Trump's challenge of the election results and the coronavirus pandemic, Biden continues the slow process of unveiling his nominations for top administration jobs.\n\nIn addition to his health picks this week, Biden has also announced his selections for secretaries of defence (Lloyd Austin), agriculture (Tom Vilsack), veteran's affairs (Denis McDonough) and housing (Marcia Fudge).\n\nGeneral Lloyd Austin would need a special waiver from Congress because he retired less than seven years ago\n\nBiden continues to form a diverse cabinet, but one common thread running through many of these picks is their personal connection to the president-elect - a \"team of buddies\", as a New York Times headline put it.\n\nVilsack was agriculture secretary under Barack Obama and campaigned for Biden during this year's Iowa Caucuses. McDonough was an Obama chief-of-staff. Austin was a general in Iraq during the Obama administration and friends with Biden's late son, Beau.\n\nThat has raised some unease among the more liberal members of the Democratic party who, like Ocasio-Cortez, want to see Biden - a self-professed moderate - pursue a more assertive progressive agenda.\n\nThere are also specific concerns about Biden's choice of Austin, given that the recently retired Army officer would require a special congressional waiver to run the Pentagon. Trump asked for, and received, one for James Mattis, his first defence pick - over the objection of many Democrats.\n\n\"As Democrats, we just spent four years watching these kinds of rules be violated,\" Democratic Congressman Tom Malinowski told the New York Times. \"It really does feel as if a waiver would turn the exception into a rule.\"\n\nToday the House sent a strong, bipartisan message to the American people: Our service members and our national security are more important than politics - House Armed Services Chair Adam Smith\n\nSpeaking of national defence, a mini-showdown has been unfolding in Congress this week after Trump threatened to veto the National Defence Authorisation Act - the law funding the US military - if it did not include language removing liability protections for big tech companies.\n\nSection 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which insulates social media companies from being held responsible for unlawful content produced by their users, has become a frequent target of criticism for the president, who says it is a government handout to tech companies that censor the speech of conservatives like him.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Why Donald Trump keeps outperforming the polls\n\nAlthough it is in no way connected to military spending, Trump has made the defence appropriations the hill on which he's going to fight this battle.\n\nIt looks like it's going to be a losing one for him. The general reaction to the president's threats in Congress has been one of indifference bordering on derision.\n\nOn Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed the defence bill by more than the two-thirds margin required to override a presidential veto. The Senate will probably do the same in the coming days.\n\nThen the ball is in the president's court. If he follows through with a veto - either because of Section 230 or earlier objections to a requirement that the Army rename bases honouring Confederate generals - it seems probable that, in the waning days of his presidency, this will be the first time Congress has successfully reversed such a move.\n\nWhile Republican politicians seem largely unwilling to challenge the president's claims that he won re-election, when it comes to military spending they're more than willing to push back.", "Little terns travel 3,000 miles from west Africa to breed on the UK coast\n\nA colony of one of the country's rarest seabirds has had its most successful season for more than 25 years, the National Trust has said.\n\nNesting pairs of little terns fledged more than 200 chicks at Blakeney Point, off the north Norfolk coast.\n\nThe bird has been in serious decline nationally since the 1980s, with fewer than 2,000 pairs now left in the UK.\n\nRangers counted 154 pairs of little terns nesting over the summer months and 201 chicks - the most since 1994.\n\nThe National Trust, which manages Blakeney Point, believes the success was in part due to fewer people visiting the site at the beginning of the breeding season, during the first national lockdown.\n\nThe little terns nested at the far end of The Point, which is further away from the mainland, with fewer visitors walking that far along.\n\nLittle terns have been in serious decline nationally since the 1980s\n\nThere were fewer predators affecting the little terns this year, rangers said.\n\nThey believe this could be because the birds nested further away from the watch house, and were all together, meaning there was some safety in numbers.\n\nStaff kept watch on the site to ward off predators using techniques such as laying out food sources away from the colony.\n\nThey also used clay decoys to encourage nesting in suitable areas of the shoreline.\n\nBlakeney Point is a four-mile shingle spit off the north Norfolk coast\n\nCountryside manager Chris Bielby said: \"Little terns have been rapidly declining in the UK for the past few decades, so it's particularly rewarding to see so many of these tiny seabirds fledging the nest.\n\n\"The species is still very much at risk and we'll need to keep up our efforts to make sure they have safe places to breed.\n\n\"But for now, it's good to be able to celebrate a successful season given what a challenging year 2020 has been.\"\n\nCommon terns had a similarly successful year at Blakeney Point, with 289 pairs fledging at least 170 chicks, the most since 1999.\n\nRangers believe the colony relocated from other nesting sites which flooded during bad weather in June.\n\nSandwich terns were late arrivals to the site but arrived in high numbers, almost triple that of the previous year.", "The first editions initially sold for £10.99 when printed in 1997\n\nA first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has fetched a magical £68,000 at auction.\n\nThe issue was among 500 hardback copies printed in 1997, before JK Rowling's fantasy saga soared to global success.\n\nAnother first edition, which nearly sold for 50p in a car boot sale, drew £50,000 in an online auction at Hansons Auctioneers in Staffordshire on Friday.\n\nA library copy featuring date stamps sold for £19,000, while a fourth sold for £17,500.\n\nThe issues were among the first 500 hardback copies printed, of which 300 were sent to schools and libraries. At the time those copies were selling for £10.99.\n\nCharlotte Rumsey initially put a copy found in her mother's box of unwanted things in a 50p box for a car boot sale in July.\n\nBut after watching Antiques Roadshow, she asked her mother, from Blackpool, to check the copy with Hansons Auctioneers.\n\nRupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe appeared in the films between 2001 and 2011\n\nOn finding out the book was a first edition, a \"delighted\" Ms Rumsey said she \"couldn't stop hopping about\".\n\nThe copy was one of the rarer 200 that went to shops and sold for £50,000.\n\nThe bride-to-be has previously said she plans to split the money between her wedding and her mother's new home.\n\nOne auctioned copy was stocked in a library in JK Rowling's adopted home of Edinburgh\n\nIn October, another first edition sold for a hammer price of £60,000.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The UK has been in a transition period with the EU since last January, during which rules and trade have stayed the same. But all of this will come to an end on 1 January 2021.\n\nWith just a few weeks left for the UK and the EU to negotiate a trade agreement, both sides are now talking about the prospect of a no-deal outcome. If there's no trade agreement in place, they will have to adjust quickly to doing things very differently.\n\nSo how are both sides preparing?\n\nFor the first six months from 1 January, the British government will bring in only minimal checks on goods coming in to the UK, but the EU will have full border checks on goods coming into the EU from the UK straight away.\n\nThe UK government has warned that a reasonable worst-case scenario could see queues of 7,000 trucks clogging up the roads around Dover and the Channel Tunnel.\n\nThe UK government has two contingency plans for this: Operation Brock and Operation Fennel.\n\nOperation Brock is a traffic management plan, which it is hoped will prevent more than 10,000 lorries a day from clogging up roads in Kent.\n\nUnder the scheme, drivers of very large lorries will need to get a special permit - a Kent Access Permit - before they enter the county, and permits will only be issued if they have completed the correct paperwork for exporting goods.\n\nOther traffic will be kept flowing around them, in what is known as a contraflow system. Highways England is trialling the moveable road barrier, which makes the contraflow system possible, on the M20 over four nights from 11 December.\n\nIf there are more than 2,000 lorries queued up, the government has made plans for several temporary lorry parks - it bought a 27-acre site in Ashford in Kent. There is also a plan called Operation Fennel in which as many as 7,000 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) could be diverted to the disused Manston airfield, near Ramsgate.\n\nThis is part of the government's plans for building facilities away from ports.\n\nIf further capacity is needed, a \"last resort\" would be to turn the 10-mile M26 motorway into a temporary lorry park.\n\nThe UK government has also set up the Border Operations Centre to co-ordinate the response to any further disruption.\n\nQueuing at ports is not the only problem for lorry drivers.\n\nIf no further steps are taken, UK lorry drivers would need to apply for documents called ECMT permits to be allowed to enter EU countries. The European Commission has warned that there are not enough of these permits available, which would mean not enough UK lorries being able to travel to the EU to pick up goods to bring back to the UK.\n\nThe European Commission said this could result in serious disruptions, \"potentially even threatening public order\".\n\nTo prevent this, it proposed allowing UK lorries and buses into the EU for six months without special permits, as long as EU drivers are also allowed into the UK.\n\nThe proposals would also allow regular bus services that pick up and drop off passengers on either side of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to continue to do so.\n\nThe UK has not been clear yet on whether it plans to continue to allow EU operators to enter the country.\n\nA similar proposal is on the table for aviation. In the event of no deal, the UK would no longer be a member of the European Common Aviation Area, which allows British airlines to fly to destinations in the EU, and vice versa.\n\nThe European Commission is proposing a six month regulation to allow flights to continue until a new agreement is in place, but it would require the UK government to offer the same to operators from EU countries. The UK has not yet responded to the proposal.\n\nThe UK government has told pharmaceutical companies to stockpile and plan alternative supply routes in case of border problems. It has also arranged extra freight capacity for pharmaceutical companies should they need it.\n\nIn a memo, seen by the BBC in June, pharmaceutical companies warned the government that some stockpiles of medicines have been \"used up entirely\" by the coronavirus pandemic and said these could not be replenished in time for the UK's exit from the EU.\n\nThe head of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry warned that not having any sort of deal would cause \"increased complexity, duplication and cost\" in the middle of a pandemic. The government insisted, however, that \"robust contingency plans are in place\".\n\nFor the coronavirus vaccine, the government says there are contingency plans for making sure the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine made in Belgium can be shipped to the UK if border problems arise. These include alternative sea routes and the use of freight or even military aircraft.\n\nThe European Commission has also proposed extending the deadline to reach an agreement on fishing until the end of December 2021.\n\nThis would allow European fishing vessels to continue fishing in British waters and vice-versa for another year, or until an agreement is reached.\n\nBut a Downing Street spokesman said the UK \"would never accept arrangements and access to UK fishing waters which are incompatible with our status as an independent coastal state\".\n\nThe Ministry of Defence has said it will make four patrol boats available to monitor UK waters and added that it would have \"robust enforcement measures in place\".\n\nAs things stand, if nothing is agreed then non-UK boats will not be allowed to fish in UK waters from January.\n\nBut without a deal, the UK fishing industry would find its extensive exports to EU countries being hit by tariffs (import taxes) and regulatory hurdles.\n\nThe French government has said it would hand out compensation to trawlers if they were not able to fish in UK waters.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Nurse Bethan Cox: \"There's a lot of hope out there now\"\n\nThousands of people in Wales have received the Covid-19 vaccination since the rollout began on Tuesday, health bosses have confirmed.\n\nFive out of Wales' seven health boards said a total of 3,973 people had been given the vaccine by Friday morning.\n\nNHS and care workers and people over 80 are the first to receive the jab.\n\nAbout 40,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are in the first batch being administered in Wales, the Welsh Government has said.\n\nThat is enough for about 20,000 people to receive a follow-up dose.\n\nHealth Minister Vaughan Gething has warned it could take months before some people receive the vaccination.\n\nOn Friday, Public Health Wales' published data showing 2,234 more people had tested positive for Covid-19, taking the total to 98,232 since the pandemic began.\n\nIt said a further 29 people have died with coronavirus, taking the total to 2,818.\n\nA post-Christmas lockdown will come into force if Covid cases do not begin to fall, First Minister Mark Drakeford has warned.\n\nMerthyr Tydfil has the highest case rate - 764.2 cases for every 100,000 people, close to its highest.\n\nIt is followed by Neath Port Talbot with 718.9 and Newport, with 634.9 cases per 100,000, over the past week, compared with the all-Wales average of 403.8.\n\nDr Robin Howe, from Public Health Wales, said: \"If we are to have meaningful and safe interactions within the permitted exclusive Christmas 'bubble', then everyone should immediately start to limit their interactions with other as much as possible in the lead up to the festive period.\"", "Deploying Royal Navy gunboats to protect UK fishing waters under a no-deal Brexit would be \"undignified\", a former Conservative minister has said.\n\nTory MP Tobias Ellwood described the threat as \"irresponsible\" after the Ministry of Defence said four ships were ready for \"robust enforcement\" when the transition period ends.\n\nUK-EU trade talks are continuing ahead of a mutual deadline on Sunday.\n\nThe MoD said it was prepared for a \"range of scenarios\" after 31 December.\n\nNavy vessels are already deployed to enforce UK and European fishing laws for large parts of the year.\n\nA major sticking point in negotiations has been access to UK fishing waters, with the EU warning that without access to UK waters for its fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nA UK government source said talks were continuing overnight \"but as things stand the offer on the table from the EU remains unacceptable\".\n\nMr Ellwood, who chairs the Commons Defence Committee, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that headlines highlighting the threat to deploy the navy risked distracting from the ongoing talks and were \"absolutely irresponsible\".\n\n\"This isn't Elizabethan times anymore, this is global Britain - we need to be raising the bar much higher than this,\" he said.\n\n\"Being ready for the worst-case scenario and using this final 48 hours to actually get a deal, they are two very different things,\" he added.\n\nHe said the focus should be on what is \"already in the bag\" and that outstanding issues like access to fishing waters could be sorted once a trade deal is signed.\n\nFormer Tory party chairman Lord Patten accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of being on a \"runaway train of English exceptionalism\".\n\nHumza Yousaf, the Scottish government justice minister, told the BBC: \"This UK government gunboat diplomacy is not welcome in Scottish waters.\n\n\"We will protect our fisheries where necessary. Police Scotland and Marine Scotland have primacy to do that. But we won't do that by threatening our allies, our Nato allies in fact, by threatening to sink their vessels.\"\n\nBut Admiral Lord West, a former chief of naval staff, defended the threat of using the Royal Navy to protect UK waters from foreign fishing vessels if asked to do so in a no-deal Brexit scenario.\n\n\"It is absolutely appropriate for the navy to do as it is told by the government,\" he said, adding that additional powers would allow Naval officers to deal with \"stormy\" altercations with foreign fishermen.\n\nThe MoD has said it has conducted \"extensive planning and preparation\" to ensure it is ready for a range of scenarios at the end of the transition period, including having 14,000 personnel on standby to support the government over the winter with the EU transition.\n\nIt said four offshore patrol boats will be available to monitor UK waters and added that it would have \"robust enforcement measures in place to protect the UK's rights as an independent coastal state\".\n\nAn expansion of powers for the Royal Navy Police, enabling officers to potentially board foreign boats and arrest those breaking the law, is one proposal in the MoD's no-deal contingency planning, a spokesman confirmed.\n\nAccording to the MoD's website, three River Class patrol ships with a crew of 45 sailors already work \"at least 275 days a year at sea enforcing British and European fisheries law\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: No-deal Brexit now \"very, very likely\"\n\nThe Sunday deadline was set by Mr Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after the pair met in Brussels on Wednesday, after months of talks failed to achieve an agreement.\n\nMr Johnson said the EU needed to make a \"big change\" over the main sticking points on fishing rights and business competition rules, while Mrs von der Leyen said no deal was the most probable end to \"difficult\" talks.\n\nThe EU has rejected Mr Johnson's request to bypass the European Commission and speak directly to French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel about the unresolved issues.\n\nAccording to EU officials, he was told discussions could only take place through the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, who is meeting with his UK equivalent in Brussels.\n\nSpeaking on Friday, the PM said a no-deal Brexit was now \"very, very likely\" and that planning for that outcome was ramping up.\n\nMrs von der Leyen told reporters that the two sides were still \"apart on fundamental issues\".\n\nMeanwhile, tests of a motorway barrier system designed to deal with potential traffic disruption in Kent once the transition period ends on New Year's Eve have been carried out.\n\nThe EU has set out contingency measures to ensure UK and EU air and road connections still run after 31 December.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHonours titles associated with the British Empire are \"offensive and divisive\" and should be rebranded, a senior Labour MP has told the BBC.\n\nKate Green, who got an OBE in 2005, told the Political Thinking podcast it gave people \"huge pleasure\" to have their achievements recognised.\n\nBut the shadow education secretary said honours were hierarchical and the link to Empire was \"hurtful to people\".\n\n\"You can't justify that branding,\" she told host Nick Robinson.\n\nBut the Conservatives said \"abandoning\" the current honours system would amount to \"cultural and historic vandalism\".\n\nOrders of the British Empire - the CBE, OBE and MBE - were first awarded during World War One to recognise the contribution of civilians to the war effort and the actions of service personnel in support positions.\n\nThey are now awarded for outstanding achievements in different fields at either a national or local level.\n\nThe British Empire Medal, awarded for significant community service, was revived in 2012, having been scrapped in 1993.\n\nSome Labour MPs have previous called for the word \"empire\" to be replaced by \"excellence\" in honours awarded by the Queen.\n\nMs Green told the BBC's Nick Robinson she had thought hard before accepting an OBE for services to charity and welfare for her work in helping children as chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group and before that as director of the National Council for One Parent Families.\n\nShe said she decided to take the honour, which she received five years before she entered Parliament in 2010, because it \"thrilled\" her father.\n\nWhile honours were a valuable way of celebrating people's contributions to their community or country, she added, their association with the economic and racial injustices of the British Empire was not defensible.\n\nEd Sheeran is among the famous people to have received an MBE\n\n\"It's really the wrong language. It's divisive, it's offensive and hurtful to people.\n\n\"One of the things I've been looking at a lot in recent weeks is the black curriculum campaign and decolonising our history and the whole curriculum. You can't excuse or justify that branding.\"\n\nShe said issues with the way in which honours were handed out ran \"deeper\" than just the titles and a \"lot more reform was needed\" of the secretive system.\n\nMembers of the public can nominate people for honours, but critics say the committees that make the final decisions are not representative of society as a whole and awards for political service make a mockery of the system.\n\nBoris Johnson, Theresa May, David Cameron and Tony Blair have all been criticised for using the honours system to reward political allies and people who have give money to their parties.\n\n\"I know many efforts have been made to democratise and open up that honours system but it's still pretty hierarchical of who gets what,\" she said.\n\nConservative Party co-chairwoman Amanda Milling said: \"The names given to our national honours reflect this country's history and traditions.\n\n\"We should not abandon them, just as we shouldn't rename the Victoria Line, the Royal Albert Hall or the Imperial War Museum, or tear down the countless public monuments, statues and landmarks that tell the story of our United Kingdom.\n\n\"To do so would be an act of cultural and historic vandalism.\"", "Mr Sharma said progress had been made, but it was not enough yet to avoid dangerous warming this century\n\nThe UK minister tasked with leading UN climate talks says world leaders are failing to show the necessary level of ambition.\n\nAlok Sharma was speaking at the conclusion of a virtual climate summit organised by the UK, UN and France.\n\nHe said \"real progress\" had been made and 45 countries had put forward new climate plans for 2030.\n\nBut these were not enough to prevent dangerous warming this century, Mr Sharma explained.\n\nTaking place on the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement, the summit heard the UN Secretary General warn that every country needed to declare a climate emergency.\n\nAround 70 heads of state and government took part in the meeting, which was organised by the UK, UN and France. They outlined new pledges and commitments to curb carbon.\n\nChina's contribution was eagerly awaited, not just because it is the world's biggest emitter, but because it has recently promised to reach net zero emissions by 2060.\n\nAchieving net zero means that emissions have been cut as much as possible and any remaining releases are balanced by removing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere,\n\nBut while President Xi Jinping outlined a range of new targets for 2030, many analysts felt these did not go far enough.\n\nIndia brought little in the way of new commitments but Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country was on track to achieve its goals under the Paris agreement and promised a major uptick in wind and solar energy.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Climate change: How 1.5C could change the world\n\nAccording to the UK, some 24 countries had outlined net zero commitments and 20 had now set out plans to adapt and become more resilient to rising temperatures and their impacts.\n\nBut despite these commitments, Mr Sharma said not enough had been achieved.\n\n\"Have we made any real progress at this summit? And the answer to that is: yes,\" he said.\n\n\"But they will also ask, have we done enough to put the world on track to limit warming to 1.5C, and protect people and nature from the effects of climate change? To make the Paris Agreement a reality.\n\n\"Friends, we must be honest with ourselves, the answer to that, is currently: no. As encouraging as all this ambition is. It is not enough.\"\n\nMr Sharma re-stated a commitment made last year to double the UK's international climate finance spend. This will bring it to at least £11.6bn over the next five years.\n\nEarlier on Saturday, UK Prime Minister Mr Johnson said advances in renewable energy technologies would \"save our planet and create millions of high-skilled jobs\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nHe added: \"Together we can use scientific advances to protect our entire planet - our biosphere - against a challenge far worse, far more destructive even than the coronavirus. And by the promethean power of our invention, we can begin to defend the Earth against the disaster of global warming.\"\n\nMeanwhile, UN Secretary General António Guterres criticised rich countries for spending 50% more of their pandemic recovery cash on fossil fuels compared to low-carbon energy.\n\nMr Guterres said that 38 countries had already declared a climate emergency and he called on leaders worldwide to now do the same.\n\nOn Covid recovery spending, he said that this is money being borrowed from future generations.\n\n\"We cannot use these resources to lock in policies that burden future generations with a mountain of debt on a broken planet,\" he said.\n\nThe meeting is taking place after the pandemic caused the postponement of the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting, which had been due to take place in Glasgow this year.\n\nThe UK has announced an end to support for overseas fossil fuel projects, and has today deposited a new climate plan with the UN.\n\nIt's the first time that Britain has had to do this, as it was previously covered by the European Union's climate commitments.\n\nThe UK pointed to its new commitment on overseas fossil fuel projects as well as a new carbon cutting target of 68% by 2030, announced last week by the prime minister.\n\nThe EU presented a new 2030 target of a 55% cut in emissions, agreed after all-night negotiations this week. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: \"It is the go-ahead for scaling up climate action across our economy and society.\"\n\nChina's President Xi Jinping announced that the country would reduce its carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by over 65% compared with 2005 levels. China will also increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption by about 25%. And President Xi pledged to increase forest cover and boost wind and solar capacity.\n\nHurricane Iota was one of a record number of storms to wreak havoc on the Americas this year\n\nBut Manish Bapna, managing director of the World Resources Institute (WRI) said: \"The strengthened renewable energy, carbon intensity, and forest targets are steps in the right direction, but recent WRI analysis shows that China would benefit more economically and socially if it aims higher, including by peaking emissions as early as possible.\"\n\nAlthough President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Paris pact, the summit saw statements from the Republican governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, and the Democrat governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, who said the US was \"all-in\" on tackling climate change.\n\nPope Francis said the Vatican had committed to reaching net zero emissions, similar to carbon neutrality, before 2050. \"The time has come to change course. Let us not rob future generations of the hope for a better future,\" he said.\n\nA number of big emitters, including Australia, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Mexico, did not take part, as their climate actions were not deemed ambitious enough.\n\nSome observers believe this hard line on some countries is justified.\n\n\"From a kind of symbolic procedural point of view, it's good to have everybody on board,\" said Prof Heike Schroeder from the University of East Anglia.\n\n\"But from a proactive, creating some kind of sense of urgency approach, it also makes sense to say we only get to hear from you if you have something new to say.\"\n\nThe five years since the Paris agreement was adopted have been the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and emissions have continued to accrue in the atmosphere.\n\nBut many countries and businesses have started the process of decarbonisation in that time.\n\nThe progress they've made now needs to be acknowledged and encouraged, says former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres.\n\n\"That progress that's been seen in the real economy has to be reflected and incentivised further by those additional commitments,\" she said.\n\nOne area that yielded little progress at this meeting was the question of finance. Rich countries had promised to mobilise $100bn a year from 2020 under the Paris agreement - but the commitments on cash are not forthcoming.", "The UK, France and the UN are hosting a virtual climate meeting on Saturday. About 75 world leaders will attend, marking five years since the adoption of the Paris climate agreement. Pope Francis will also address the meeting.\n\nThis virtual gathering is taking place after the pandemic caused the postponement of the annual Conference of the Parties, due to take place in Glasgow this year.\n\nNations will be revealing how they intend to cut their greenhouse gas emissions which means we’ll find out if their commitments are ambitious enough to stop the worst effects of climate change. But just what is climate change? And why are scientists calling for urgent action?\n\nThis video was first published in January 2020.", "The Gender Identity Service is based at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust\n\nAll but one child treated for gender dysphoria with puberty-blocking drugs at a leading NHS clinic also received cross-sex hormones, a study has shown.\n\nThe Tavistock and Portman Trust has argued the treatments are not linked.\n\nThe High Court ruled last week that under-16s are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to be treated with puberty-blocking drugs.\n\nThe trust said the study's findings were not accepted by a peer-reviewed journal until the day of the judgement.\n\nThese findings are from a study run by the Tavistock's Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) - England's only NHS specialist gender clinic for children - and research partners at University College London Hospitals.\n\nThe study began in 2011 and enrolled 44 children aged between 12 and 15 over the following three years. At the time, only those aged 16 and over were eligible for puberty blockers in the UK.\n\nWhen BBC Newsnight covered the study and its preliminary findings last year it highlighted how previous research suggested all young people who took blockers went on to take cross-sex hormones - the next stage towards transitioning to the opposite gender.\n\nThe Tavistock's newly published findings appear to confirm this, with 43 out of 44 participants - or 98% - choosing to start treatment with cross-sex hormones.\n\nEarlier this month, the High Court ruled that children under-16 were unlikely to be able to give informed consent to treatment with puberty blockers.\n\nThe relationship between blockers and subsequent treatment with cross-sex hormones was a core feature of the case.\n\nLawyers representing the claimants said there was \"a very high likelihood\" children who start taking hormone blockers will later begin taking cross-sex hormones, leading potentially to infertility and impaired sexual function.\n\nThe Tavistock argued puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones were entirely separate stages of treatment and one does not automatically lead to the other.\n\nThe judges rejected that argument, saying \"in our view this does not reflect the reality\".\n\n\"The evidence shows that the vast majority of children who take [puberty blockers] move on to take cross-sex hormones,\" and that these are part of \"one clinical pathway\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe study findings potentially lend further support to that assertion.\n\nThe Tavistock disputes this, saying that as those in this study had persistent and consistent gender dysphoria throughout their childhood, it is not surprising they would seek to continue treatment after 16.\n\nIt argues that the fact not all chose to do so shows this course of treatment is not an inevitability.\n\nFurthermore, the data was requested by the High Court during the hearing, but the Tavistock did not provide it.\n\nThe data, the trust argued, would be published in a peer-reviewed journal, but comments were being reviewed by the study's principal investigator, Prof Russell Viner - the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.\n\nHowever, the Tavistock published the data the day after the High Court handed down its judgement, and not in a peer-reviewed journal.\n\nThe Tavistock told the BBC that the paper was not accepted for publication until the day of the judgement and it was put into preprint that day.\n\nThe published study showed that treatment with the blocker brought about no change in psychological function.\n\nThis differs from Dutch findings \"which reported improved psychological function,\" upon which many gender clinics have based their treatment.\n\nPreliminary findings which showed that after a year on blockers, there was a significant increase in those answering the statement: \"I deliberately try to hurt or kill myself\", were not replicated across the duration of the study.\n\nThe study had no control group - with children who did not take puberty blockers - to enable the researchers to compare results with.\n\nSo, it is hard to infer cause and effect or draw conclusions as to the potential harms or benefits of this treatment.\n\nThe Gender Identity Service is based at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust\n\nThe study also measured the impact of puberty blocking drugs on children's height and bone density.\n\nThe researchers found that suppressing puberty \"reduced growth that was dependent on puberty hormones\".\n\nHeight growth continued, \"but more slowly than for their peers\".\n\nThe Tavistock Trust said \"the paper has now been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal and will be published soon\".\n\nAll new referrals for puberty blockers are currently paused because of the High Court's ruling, and an NHS review into gender identity services for children and young people is currently under way.\n\nIf you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can find support and advice via BBC Action Line.\n\nYou can watch Newsnight on BBC Two weekdays at 22:30 or on iPlayer, subscribe to the programme on YouTube and follow it on Twitter.", "The rapid tests have already been used by universities before students head home for Christmas\n\nMass testing programmes like the one trialled in Liverpool are to be rolled out in 67 tier three areas of England, with the first starting on Monday.\n\nMore than 1.6 million of the rapid lateral flow tests will be delivered for community testing this month, the government said.\n\nThe programme will last six weeks.\n\nBut concerns have previously been raised about the lateral flow tests, with experts warning they can give false negative results.\n\nMore areas will be involved in the rollout of testing in the new year.\n\nThose involved in this first wave will receive government support for at least six weeks, the Department for Health and Social Care said.\n\nIt is hoped the testing initiative, along with existing measures, could help lead to an easing of restrictions in tier three areas.\n\nThe community testing is in addition to schemes run by local directors of public health. They have been able to request a set number of lateral flow tests to be used in their area, regardless of tier, since early November.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said the enhanced testing programmes follow the mass testing pilot in Liverpool and were a \"vital additional tool\" in finding asymptomatic cases. It is thought as many as one in three cases of coronavirus could be in people who have no symptoms.\n\nHowever, preliminary data released on Friday by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) suggested the rapid coronavirus tests rolled out in Liverpool missed about 51% of all Covid-19 cases.\n\nA separate mass testing scheme for secondary school-aged pupils in London, Essex and Kent was announced earlier this week.\n\nLiverpool has taken part in a mass testing programme\n\nEarlier this month, Dr Susan Hopkins, senior medical adviser to NHS Test and Trace, said the tests were a \"game changer\" and had helped find Covid-19 infections in people that would otherwise have been missed, because they had no symptoms.\n\nAn evaluation by Oxford University and Public Health England workers at Porton Down previously concluded the test has an overall sensitivity of 76.8%. It detects almost all cases where patients have a high viral load, however.\n\nAmong the 67 areas taking part in the testing programme is Oldham, Greater Manchester, where the increased access to testing will initially focus on schools and colleges, along with those in higher-risk supported living accommodation, and health and social care staff.\n\nIn Kirklees, West Yorkshire, high-risk workplaces will be among those focused on first. And in Lancashire, large manufacturing sites and workplaces with staff of more than 200 will be prioritised.\n\nLocal authorities in Kent - said to be seeing a \"worrying\" rise in cases - are also in the first wave of areas taking part in the testing.\n\nA full list of the areas involved in this first rollout can be found here.\n\nMr Hancock said: \"Community testing will be very important in helping the areas where levels of the virus are highest to drive down infection rates and, ultimately, will help areas ease tougher restrictions.\n\n\"This is just the start, and we are working quickly to roll out community testing more widely as soon as more local teams are ready. I urge all those living in areas where community testing is offered to come forward and get tested.\"", "Self-isolation for contacts of people with confirmed coronavirus will be shortened from 14 to 10 days across the UK from Monday.\n\nThe change will also apply to people instructed to quarantine after returning from high-risk countries.\n\nAnd it means anyone who has been self-isolating for 10 days or more will be able to end their quarantine on Monday.\n\nThe announcement comes as data shows Covid cases falling in most of England and Northern Ireland.\n\nBut the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that in the week to 5 December, there were increases in coronavirus case numbers in London and the east of England.\n\nMeanwhile, new data shows the virus's reproduction or R number is back at levels seen two weeks ago (0.9 - 1) meaning the epidemic is not growing, but it's not really shrinking either.\n\nAccording to the latest government data, there have been a further 424 deaths within 28 days of a positive test in the UK and another 21,672 coronavirus cases.\n\nOn Thursday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced mass testing would be rolled out for secondary school children, their families and teachers in the worst-affected areas of London, Kent and Essex where cases are rising.\n\nThe change in self-isolation rules was announced in a statement from the four UK chief medical officers (CMOs) said: \"After reviewing the evidence, we are now confident that we can reduce the number of days that contacts self-isolate from 14 days to 10.\n\n\"People who return from countries which are not on the travel corridor list should also self-isolate for 10 days instead of 14 days.\"\n\nEach of the four nations has its own lists of \"travel corridor\" countries which are exempt from the quarantine rules. While in the main, they include the same countries, they can differ slightly.\n\nThe change to self-isolation rules has already been announced in Wales, but this new announcement will apply to all four nations.\n\nThose with symptoms or a positive test are already expected to isolate for 10 days.\n\nThe CMOs added that self-isolation was \"essential to reducing the spread of Covid as it breaks the chains of transmission\".\n\nThe NHS app in England will not update its 14-day counter until next Thursday.\n\nBecause there will be a time-lag before it updates, anyone who has been advised to isolate by the app can leave isolation if their countdown timer hits three days between Monday and Thursday.\n\nPeople are most infectious around the time they first develop symptoms and, 10 days into an infection, only about 2% will still be capable of passing on the virus to others.\n\nThe change in the rules reflects this low risk, which was judged not to justify asking people to self-isolate for longer periods.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Covid symptoms: What are they and how long should I self-isolate for?\n\nDeputy Chief Medical Officer for England Dr Jenny Harries said the science was based on \"a continuous accumulation of evidence through the pandemic\".\n\nShe said the \"tail end\" of an infection was the period someone was least likely to transmit infection.\n\nThe latest estimate of the R number for the UK is 0.9 and 1 - up very slightly on the previous week. This means that the epidemic is still shrinking after lockdown but very slowly.\n\nThis is borne out by the latest Office for National Statistics infection survey. It indicates that cases continued to fall in most of England and Northern Ireland last week. But the view of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) is that the situation is fragile.\n\nCases are increasing in London and the East of England - especially among secondary school age children - and previous experience indicates that a surge among older age groups will inevitably follow.\n\nThe government's scientific advisers believe that it will be important to keep infection levels as low as possible in the run up to the holidays.\n\nThat's because the relaxation of restrictions that permit families to meet over Christmas will accelerate any increase in cases - and lead to another spike in infections early in the New Year.\n\nOne study suggested that less than 20% of people fully complied with self-isolation - although it's been pointed out this doesn't distinguish between people breaking the rules slightly by going for a walk on their own, and those who ignore it entirely.\n\nEconomic hardship has been identified a key factor in people not being able to isolate.\n\nBut it is understood the main aim of the change was not to encourage more people to comply.\n\nInstead, the chief medical officers, say it reflects the highest-risk period, when people are most likely to be infectious.\n\nA pilot in Liverpool is looking at testing the contacts of an infected person every day for a period after exposure, and not asking them to isolate unless they test positive.\n\nThis will be seen as the most attractive option as, if it doesn't increase infections, it will prevent significant numbers of people including school children from having to stay at home.\n\nBut it's not thought this will be able to be rolled out until early next year, provided the results of the pilot are positive.", "After her diagnosis with Alzheimer's six years ago, actress Dame Barbara Windsor became a campaigner for those living with dementia. Following the star's death at the age of 83, charities have praised her for helping bring the disease out into the open. So, how did she help others in the UK?\n\nHelen Marshall, from Halifax, says Dame Barbara's campaigning made it easier to speak to her mum, Audrey, about her dementia, after she was diagnosed in 2015.\n\nHelen, 50, says she \"vividly\" remembers how they watched Dame Barbara visiting the prime minister at No 10, where she delivered a letter signed by 100,000 people pleading for better care for people with dementia.\n\n\"She was such an icon, in their generation as well as ours. For somebody so famous to come out and talk about it - it was a shift for my mum,\" she says, explaining that until that point Audrey, 88, never discussed her diagnosis.\n\n\"I don't know if she forgot or was in denial, with dementia you don't know.\"\n\nBut after seeing the footage, Audrey acknowledged her condition.\n\n\"It was quite visible, the effect [Alzheimer's] had had on [Dame Barbara]. I think that was what resonated with mum.\"\n\nHelen also believes attitudes towards those with dementia have changed since Dame Barbara shared \"candid\" details of the effects of dementia on \"every aspect of life\".\n\n\"I've noticed mum's peers are more able to talk about it,\" she says.\n\n\"There's still a lot more to do though.\n\n\"It can be a long time before people are diagnosed so the more awareness people have and the less stigma there is, it might mean diagnoses come quicker.\"\n\nKatie Thomas, 48, from Goddington, Oxfordshire, says campaigning by Dame Barbara and her husband Scott Mitchell, was \"so important\" in the effort to raise awareness and encourage funding to find a cure for dementia.\n\n\"They were instrumental in trying to get awareness and out, and in their openness about the disease,\" she says.\n\nKatie Thomas, with her dad Prof Ceri Peach, who received a Doctor of Letters degree from Oxford University a year after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's\n\nKatie ran two marathons this year, including the virtual London Marathon, in memory of her father, Ceri Peach - an Oxford University professor who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2015 and died aged 78 in October 2018.\n\nShe raised £10,000 for dementia research through the two events - the first completed in her village during the spring lockdown, and the second in Oxford, where her dad lectured in geography at St Catherine's College, this autumn.\n\nKatie says she was inspired to take on the fundraising challenges after cheering on runners taking part in the 2019 London Marathon - in a team called Barbara's Revolutionaries.\n\n\"I joined their Facebook page, which [Dame Barbara's husband] Scott was a massive part of, and got to know a lot of people, and started running.\"\n\nKatie with husband Howard, and her two boys, Will and Charlie, her \"greatest cheerleaders\"\n\nCrossing the finish line in the University Parks in Oxford on 4 October for the virtual London Marathon\n\nThe training has since helped with her grief.\n\n\"Just getting out. Especially when the lockdown happened, it's just being able to get out in the fresh air and run,\" she says.\n\n\"It's my own time, and time to think things through and think about dad. It's really helped in that way.\n\n\"I feel very close to him when I run.\"\n\nDame Barbara Windsor and her husband, Scott, went public with her condition in 2018, four years after her diagnosis.\n\nThe same year, she appeared on a video in aid of a campaign to raise funds and change attitudes towards the condition.\n\n\"I'm asking you to make a stand against dementia,\" she said.\n\nHer husband and former EastEnders co-stars raised more than £150,000 by running the London Marathon in aid of a dementia campaign.\n\nDame Barbara was credited by her friend and former Albert Square co-star Ross Kemp, who made an ITV documentary on dementia, for helping to change the way people thought about the condition.\n\nRobert Beattie was diagnosed with Alzheimer's three years ago, and says he takes living with the disease \"day by day\".\n\nHe will often forget what room he is in, won't know where the bedroom or bathroom is, and his wife Karen will have to guide him through the process of getting changed.\n\nKaren says Dame Barbara going public about her diagnosis has been important \"to get the government talking about it and hopefully do something about it\".\n\n\"Hopefully the momentum won't stop,\" she adds.\n\n\"And we'll get more people like Rob and me that will go out and talk.\n\n\"People inside the houses that have shame, we need you to do the same thing and get this on the platform so that we can get the help that we need.\"\n\nDowning Street says the government has committed to \"significantly increasing research funding, over a number of years to help improve detection and care for people living with dementia\".", "San Francisco police published sketches of the suspect in 1969\n\nCode-breakers have cracked a 340-character cipher 51 years after it was purportedly sent to the San Francisco Chronicle by the so-called Zodiac Killer, the FBI has confirmed.\n\nThe killer, who was never caught, murdered five people in stabbings and shootings that terrorised the San Francisco Bay area in the late 1960s.\n\nThe message was one of several sent to newspapers during the killing spree.\n\nThe code was solved by three people from the US, Belgium and Australia.\n\n\"I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me. I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradice (sic) all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me,\" the decrypted message reads, without throwing any light on the killer's identity.\n\nIn a video posted on YouTube, Virginia web-designer David Oranchak says he cracked the cipher along with Australian applied mathematician Sam Blake and Belgian Jarl Van Eycke, a warehouse manager and code-breaking software engineer.\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by David Oranchak This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.\n\nThe message, which Mr Oranchak described as \"more of the same attention-seeking junk from Zodiac\", consists of rows of capital letters and symbols. The code-breaking team, who used human ingenuity and software to decipher the message, dedicated their efforts to the killer's victims and their relatives.\n\nConfirming the code-breaking achievement, the FBI said it continued to seek justice for those killed.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by FBI SanFrancisco This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThis is not the first encoded message attributed to the killer, according the San Francisco Chronicle. Two others remain to be decoded - one of which may contain the killer's name.\n\nThe series of murders began in December 1968 with a man and a woman shot dead in their car. In July 1969, another man and woman were shot, but he survived.\n\nLater that year, a man and woman - a couple - were stabbed next to a lake. Only the man survived. In October 1969, a cab driver was shot dead in San Francisco.\n\nThe killer, who has never been charged or identified, claimed to have murdered 37 people in letters to newspapers, but investigators have worked on the basis of seven victims in total, five of them homicides.\n\nThe murders inspired two films - 2007's Zodiac, featuring Robert Downey Jr and Jake Gyllenhaal, and Dirty Harry in 1971 starring Clint Eastwood as a tough San Francisco detective.", "CCTV footage of Sinaga near his flat was used as evidence at his trials\n\nSerial rapist Reynhard Sinaga is believed to have targeted more than 200 victims, 60 of whom remain unidentified, police have said.\n\nSinaga, described as Britain's most prolific rapist, was found guilty in January of luring 48 men to his Manchester flat and filming himself sexually assaulting and raping them.\n\nHis minimum jail term has been extended from 30 to 40 years at the High Court.\n\nPolice now believe Sinaga committed sexual offences against 206 men.\n\nSinaga, who was a postgraduate student , would wait for men leaving nightclubs and bars before leading them to his Princess Street flat on the edge of the city centre.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Who is Reynhard Sinaga? The BBC's Judith Moritz reports on the case\n\nHe drugged his victims before assaulting them while they were unconscious, often filming his rapes and collecting so-called trophies from them, such as mobile phones.\n\nWhen the victims woke up many had no memory of what had happened.\n\nHe was caught after one victim awoke as he was being abused and defended himself, before reporting the incident.\n\nWhen officers seized Sinaga's phone, they found hundreds of hours of footage of the attacks, a discovery which led to the launch of the largest rape inquiry in British history.\n\nPolice say Sinaga assaulted 206 men, but many have not been identified\n\nSinaga, originally from Indonesia, lived in a rented flat just a few moments' walk from the Factory 251 nightclub.\n\nHis trial was told he typically approached his victims, mostly men in their late teens or early 20s who had been out drinking, in the street and brought them back to his apartment.\n\nMany could not remember what happened, but some recalled being given a drink and then blacking out. Most were unaware they had been raped until they were contacted by police.\n\nSinaga claimed all the sexual activity was consensual and that each man had agreed to being filmed while pretending to be asleep.\n\nIn victim impact statements read out at the trial, one man said Sinaga had \"destroyed a part of my life\", while another said he had \"periods where I can't get up and face the day\".\n\nEvidence given in the trial suggested Sinaga drugged the men by giving them spiked drinks\n\nAssistant Chief Constable Mabs Hussain said as a result of further evidence \"coming to light\" since the trial, investigators had identified a further 23 victims and \"now believe that Sinaga committed sexual offences against 206 men\".\n\n\"We are yet to identify around 60 of these men and would urge anyone who thinks they may have been a victim to please get in touch with us,\" he added.\n\nAfter his trial concluded, Sinaga's case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney General under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.\n\nJudges rejected calls for a whole-life jail term but increased the minimum time he must spend in prison.\n\nThey noted he had not shown any remorse.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The country has introduced new restrictions amid a rise in cases\n\nSouth Korea has recorded a new high in the number of coronavirus cases, with 950 infections announced on Saturday.\n\nPresident Moon Jae-in said the country was facing \"an emergency situation\" and vowed to strengthen testing and tracing in response\n\n\"This is the last hurdle before the roll-out of vaccines and treatments,\" he said.\n\nMost of the new cases have been in the capital Seoul and the surrounding areas.\n\nThe region is home to around half of South Korea's population.\n\nIn recent days, the country has recorded between 500 and 600 new daily infections.\n\nEarlier this week, South Korea raised its level of alert amid a third wave of cases.\n\nNew measures, which came into effect on Tuesday, include a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people. Gyms and karaoke bars have been closed, while restaurants are only allowed to offer deliveries after 21:00 local time.\n\nHowever, the government has warned that restrictions could be raised to the highest level, which would see gatherings limited to 10 people, school closures and all but essential roles working from home.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. South Korea's Covid contact tracers battle long hours as they try to get suspected carriers to co-operate\n\nSouth Korea has recorded more than 41,000 cases and 578 deaths since the pandemic began.\n\nThe country initially saw a huge spike in infections in February, after a religious group in the city of Daegu was identified as a virus cluster.\n\nUnlike many countries in Europe and elsewhere, however, the South Korean government has avoided nationwide lockdowns and has instead focused its efforts to contain the virus on testing and contact tracing.", "Klarna has 10 million customers in the UK and was recently valued at £7.5bn\n\nThe Buy Now, Pay Later company Klarna plans to report missed and failed payments to credit reference agencies.\n\nKlarna gives customers different ways to pay for items online such as within 30 days or over three instalments.\n\nThe company doesn't currently report customers who miss payments.\n\n\"What we are looking at in terms of to protect consumers is to work with the credit reference agencies to enable reporting in the future,\" Klarna's Alex Marsh, told Radio 4's Money Box.\n\nMr Marsh, Klarna's UK lead, said while the company only accepts customers which it believes can pay on time, it freezes or closes down the accounts of those who end up missing too many payments or make none at all.\n\n\"We work with debt collection agencies to support customers on payment plans. They [debt collectors] do not have the ability to report back into the credit reference agencies,\" Mr Marsh said.\n\nMr Marsh also said deferred payments services like Klarna should to be regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).\n\n\"At the moment with a complaint, we'll treat them the same way internally. But once it reaches a certain stage, consumers won't have the right to escalate to the financial ombudsman,\" Mr Marsh said.\n\nFCA regulation would mean that Klarna customers can contact the Financial Ombudsman to resolve disputes with a company.\n\n\"Buy now, pay later\" allows customers to delay payment or split it into smaller instalments\n\nAlice Tapper, a campaigner who has called for tougher rules to stop customers falling into debt with buy now, pay later services, welcomed regulation.\n\n\"The product can encourage people to spend beyond their means and leave them unprotected if things go wrong,\" Ms Tapper said.\n\n\"There should be more transparency around credit scores and the way their products are promoted as being a payment provider rather than a form of loan or credit.\"\n\nKlarna has boomed over the last few months. On Black Friday in November, the company said it processed 100 transactions a second in all the countries it operates in and did more transactions in a single day than over the last four years.\n\nOver 10 million customers have now used Klarna to pay for items in the UK.\n\nThe FCA is reviewing how the deferred payment market is regulated in the UK and the results are expected in early 2021.\n\nChris Woolard, the regulator's former chief executive, is leading the review which warns that customers can end up losing control of their finances when buy now, pay later services don't work well.\n\nYou can hear more on BBC Radio 4's Money Box programme on Saturday at 12:00 BST or listen again here.", "A man has died in a crash between two lorries on the M1 motorway.\n\nThe crash happened at about 19:00 GMT on Friday near junction 21a for Leicester Forest East and forced the closure of the southbound carriageway overnight.\n\nA 52-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene, but no-one else was hurt.\n\nLeicestershire Police has appealed for any witnesses to the crash to get in touch. The carriageway reopened at about 05:00 on Saturday.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "People must think \"really carefully\" about the risk of more social contact over Christmas, NHS bosses have warned.\n\n\"I don't want to be the Grinch who stole Christmas,\" said Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers.\n\nBut he pointed out that the US saw \"record numbers\" of cases and deaths after the Thanksgiving holiday - and said the NHS was worried about January.\n\nThe government's Dominic Raab said people needed the five-day relaxation of Covid rules on \"an emotional level\".\n\nMeanwhile, the chances of the Oxford University vaccine being rolled out by the end of the year are \"pretty high\", the vaccine's architect Prof Sarah Gilbert has told the BBC.\n\nA further 18,447 cases were recorded across the UK on Sunday, along with another 144 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nThe number of deaths recorded tends to be lower over the weekend because of reporting delays.\n\nBetween 23 and 27 December, coronavirus restrictions are being relaxed across the UK, allowing three households to form a \"bubble\" and mix indoors and stay overnight.\n\nBut NHS Providers - which represents hospital trusts in England - has written to the PM urging him to \"personally lead a better public debate about the risks inherent in the guidance\" - although it stopped short of calling for a review of the rules over Christmas.\n\n\"There seems to be a sense at the moment that, 'hey because the government's put these rules down, there's no risk to people having more social contact over Christmas',\" Mr Hopson told BBC Breakfast.\n\n\"Of course, part of it is about sticking to the rules but any kind of extra social contact over Christmas - particularly with those who are vulnerable to the virus - actually is very risky.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How you and your family can celebrate Christmas and minimise the spread of coronavirus\n\n\"I don't want to be the Grinch who stole Christmas, I really don't, but I think everybody needs to think really, really carefully what are they going to do over Christmas,\" he said.\n\n\"It's not, 'is what we're going to be doing sticking within the rules?' It's 'how much risk are we going to cause to the people we interact with?'\"\n\nThe rise in infections in the US after the Thanksgiving holiday was also highlighted by NHS Providers.\n\nThe NHS is worried about the potential pressure on hospital beds, and its ability to treat all the patients it needs to in December, January and February, Mr Hopson said.\n\n\"At the same time you've got rising infections in places like London, Essex, parts of Kent, parts of Lincolnshire,\" he added.\n\nForeign Secretary Dominic Raab ruled out any possibility that the government would review the Christmas relaxation of rules.\n\nSpeaking to Sky News's Sophy Ridge programme on Sunday, he said: \"I think people do need that five-day window over Christmas to spend a bit of time with their loved ones and I think at a mental health level, an emotional level, people do need it.\"\n\nIt comes after public health expert Prof Linda Bauld said loosening Covid restrictions over Christmas was \"a mistake\".\n\nWales' health minister Vaughan Gething said the rules around Christmas could be changed - but it could affect trust in the government.\n\nNHS Providers also warned that relaxing Covid rules when they are reviewed in England could trigger a third wave of the virus during the busiest time of year for hospitals.\n\nEngland's three-tier system is due to be reviewed on Wednesday 16 December.\n\nIt urged the PM against moving any area to a lower tier and said areas should be moved into tier three - the highest level of restrictions - \"as soon as this is needed, without any delay\".\n\nEarlier this week, some health experts called for London to be placed in tier three \"now\" after official figures showed Outer London had a higher infection rate than some areas already in the top tier.\n\nThe government said it \"will not hesitate to take necessary actions to protect local communities\".\n\nDecisions on tiers are made by ministers, based on the latest available data and advice from public health experts, a spokesperson added.\n\n\"We have introduced strengthened local restrictions to protect the progress gained during national restrictions, reduce pressure on the NHS and ultimately save lives,\" they said.\n\n\"On top of our record NHS investment, this winter we are providing an extra £3bn to maintain independent sector and Nightingale hospital surge capacity and a further £450m to upgrade and expand A&Es.\"\n\nMeanwhile, Prof Sarah Gilbert, lead researcher on the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine, was upbeat when asked about the possibility of people receiving the Oxford jab by the end of the year.\n\nThe vaccine has not yet been approved by the UK's regulator, but a study this week showed it was safe and effective.\n\n\"I think the chances are pretty high,\" she told the BBC's Andrew Marr. \"But we do need multiple vaccines, all countries need multiple vaccines, the world needs multiple vaccines and we need vaccines made using different technologies, if that's possible.\"", "Chris McNaghten and Jon Swan are the first same-sex couple to have a religious wedding ceremony in NI\n\nThe first same-sex religious wedding in Northern Ireland has taken place.\n\nChris McNaghten and Jon Swan were married at a wedding venue in Larne, County Antrim, on Saturday, by Pastor Steve Ames.\n\nIt follows legislation introduced by the Northern Ireland Office in July.\n\n\"For most people, your wedding day is known as being the best day of your life - for us, it's a dream come true that growing up we thought we would never have,\" said Mr McNaughten.\n\nHe said his \"praise goes out to all those involved in this battle for equality over the years\".\n\nThe couple had been forced to cancel their previous wedding plans twice due to coronavirus restrictions.\n\nOn Saturday they were joined by their close friends and family after a relaxation of restrictions.\n\nSame-sex marriage has been legally recognised in Northern Ireland since January but did not extend to ceremonies in churches or to religious bodies.\n\nThe new law will protect religious freedom and churches will not be \"compelled nor prevented\" from offering same-sex ceremonies.\n\nMr McNaghten said: \"Jon and I wouldn't see ourselves as having strong religious beliefs.\n\n\"However, our family minister is someone with whom we are close and trust, and some of our family take comfort from a religious ceremony.\"\n\nDirector of Amnesty International in Northern Ireland, Patrick Corrigan, said it has been a \"momentous week\" for equal marriage.\n\n\"With Chris and Jon's wedding, following the first civil partnership conversions on Monday, we now reach the end of the long campaign for marriage equality here.\n\n\"For those couples who want a church wedding or another religious dimension to their wedding ceremony, the recent law change is hugely significant.\"", "People in England could be banned from keeping monkeys and other primates as pets, the government has said.\n\nUp to 5,000 are living outside licensed zoos in the UK, with animal welfare minister Lord Goldsmith saying many of them are in \"misery\" due to a lack of space and stimulation.\n\nThe Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is also looking at restrictions on breeding primates.\n\nAn eight-week consultation on the proposed changes has begun.\n\nUnder the plans, those who keep them without a zoo licence would need to obtain a new specialist private primate keeper licence to ensure they are meeting zoo-level welfare standards.\n\nLord Goldsmith said: \"Primates are hugely intelligent and socially complex animals. When they are confined in tiny cages, often alone and with little stimulation, their lives are a misery.\n\n\"It's important that we take action to prevent the suffering caused to them when they are kept as pets and so I am delighted that we are moving a big step closer towards banning the practice.\"\n\nMarmosets are the most commonly held primates in the UK.\n\nCapuchins, squirrel monkeys, lemurs and tamarins are also popular species.\n\nDr Ros Clubb, senior scientific manager at the RSPCA, said primates could \"become depressed without adequate stimulation\".\n\nShe added: \"Sadly, our inspectors are still seeing shocking situations where monkeys are cooped up in bird cages, fed fast food, sugary drinks or even class A drugs, deprived of companions of their own kind, living in dirt and squalor and suffering from disease.\"\n\nThe government is proposing that primates not living in zoos should be registered by councils, with inspectors working out a \"course of action\" for each animal.", "The coronavirus which causes Covid-19 makes some people seriously ill while others have no symptoms at all\n\nWhy some people with coronavirus have no symptoms and others get extremely ill is one of the pandemic's biggest puzzles.\n\nA study in Nature of more than 2,200 intensive care patients has identified specific genes that may hold the answer.\n\nThey make some people more susceptible to severe Covid-19 symptoms.\n\nThe findings shed light on where the immune system goes wrong, which could help identify new treatments.\n\nThese will continue to be needed even though vaccines are being developed, says Dr Kenneth Baillie, a consultant in medicine at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, who led the Genomicc project.\n\n\"Vaccines should drastically decrease the numbers of covid cases, but it's likely doctors will still be treating the disease in intensive care for a number of years around the world, so there is an urgent need to find new treatments.\"\n\nScientists looked at the DNA of patients in more than 200 intensive care units in UK hospitals.\n\nThey scanned each person’s genes, which contain the instructions for every biological process - including how to fight a virus.\n\nTheir genomes were then compared with the DNA of healthy people to pinpoint any genetic differences, and a number were found - the first in a gene called TYK2.\n\n“It is part of the system that makes your immune cells more angry, and more inflammatory,” explained Dr Baillie.\n\nBut if the gene is faulty, this immune response can go into overdrive, putting patients at risk of damaging lung inflammation.\n\nA class of anti-inflammatory drugs already used for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis targets this biological mechanism, including a drug called Baricitinib.\n\n“It makes it a very plausible candidate for a new treatment,” Dr Baillie said. “But of course, we need to do large-scale clinical trials in order to find out if that's true or not.”\n\nGenetic differences were also found in a gene called DPP9, which plays a role in inflammation, and in a gene called OAS, which helps to stop the virus from making copies of itself.\n\nVariations in a gene called IFNAR2 were also identified in the intensive care patients.\n\nIFNAR2 is linked to a potent anti-viral molecule called interferon, which helps to kick-start the immune system as soon as an infection is detected.\n\nIt’s thought that producing too little interferon can give the virus an early advantage, allowing it to quickly replicate, leading to more severe disease.\n\nTwo other recent studies published in the journal Science have also implicated interferon in Covid cases, through both genetic mutations and an autoimmune disorder that affects its production.\n\nProf Jean-Laurent Casanova, who carried out the research, from The Rockefeller University in New York, said: “[Interferon] accounted for nearly 15% of the critical Covid-19 cases internationally enrolled in our cohort.\"\n\nInterferon can be given as a treatment, but a World Health Organization clinical trial concluded that it did not help very sick patients. However, Prof Casanova said the timing was important.\n\nHe explained: “I hope that if given in the first two, three, four days of infection, the interferon would work, because it essentially would provide the molecule that the [patient] does not produce by himself or by herself.”\n\nDr Vanessa Sancho-Shimizu, a geneticist from Imperial College London, said that the genetic discoveries were providing an unprecedented insight into the biology of the disease.\n\n“It really is an example of precision medicine, where we can actually identify the moment at which things have gone awry in that individual,” she told BBC News.\n\n“The findings from these genetic studies will help us identify particular molecular pathways that could be targets for therapeutic intervention,\" she said.\n\nBut the genome still holds some mysteries.\n\nThe Genomicc study - and several others - has revealed a cluster of genes on chromosome 3 strongly linked to severe symptoms. However, the biology underpinning this is not yet understood.\n\nMore patients will now be asked to take part in this research.\n\nDr Baillie said: “We need everyone, but we're particularly keen to recruit people from minority ethnic groups who are over-represented in the critically ill population.\"\n\nHe added: “There's still a very urgent need to find new treatments for this disease and we have to make the right choices about which treatments to try next, because we don't have time to make mistakes.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The court ruled that the law was aimed at Muslim schoolgirls and was unconstitutional\n\nAustria's constitutional court has struck down a law prohibiting primary school children from wearing specific religious head coverings.\n\nIt said the law was aimed at the Islamic headscarf and breached rights on religious freedom.\n\nThe law was passed during the previous coalition government in which the conservative People's Party was allied with the far-right Freedom Party.\n\nThe court said the law could lead to the marginalisation of Muslim girls.\n\nIt also rejected the government's argument that the prohibition could protect girls from social pressures from classmates, saying it penalised the wrong people.\n\nIt said, if necessary, the state needed to draw up legislation to better prevent bullying on the grounds of gender or religion.\n\nThe legislation, which came into force last year, did not specify that headscarves were banned but instead proscribed the wearing of \"religious clothing that is associated with a covering of the head\" for children up to the age of 10. The government had itself said that head coverings worn by Sikh boys or the Jewish skullcap would not be affected.\n\nThe court decided that the ban was in fact aimed at Muslim headscarves.\n\n\"The selective ban... applies exclusively to Muslim schoolgirls and thereby separates them in a discriminatory manner from other pupils,\" court President Christoph Grabenwarter said.\n\nEducation Minister Heinz Fassman said he took note of the judgment but added: \"I regret that girls will not have the opportunity to make their way through the education system free from compulsion.\"\n\nAustria's Islamic Faith Community, which represents the country's Muslims and brought the legal challenge, welcomed the ruling.\n\nThe wearing of Islamic headscarves has been a controversial topic in Austria\n\n\"Ensuring equal opportunities and self-determination for girls and women in our society is not achieved through bans,\" it said in a statement.\n\nWhen the legislation was first proposed in 2018, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the goal was to \"confront any development of parallel societies in Austria\".\n\nVice-Chancellor Heinz Christian Strache, of the Freedom Party, said the government wanted to protect young girls from political Islam.\n\nThe ban came into force in May 2019, just days after Mr Strache was forced to resign after being secretly filmed offering public contracts to a woman posing as a Russian oligarch's niece.\n\nThe People's Party is now in coalition with the Green Party, but the government had still intended to extend the headscarf ban up to the age of 14.\n\nThe coalition's current programme stipulates that children should grow up \"with as little coercion as possible\". The only example it gives is the wearing of headscarves.", "The skull tower was discovered five years ago under Mexico City\n\nArchaeologists have excavated more sections of an extraordinary Aztec tower of human skulls under the centre of Mexico City.\n\nMexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said a further 119 skulls had been uncovered.\n\nThe tower was discovered in 2015 during the restoration of a building in the Mexican capital.\n\nIt is believed to be part of a skull rack from the temple to the Aztec god of the sun, war and human sacrifice.\n\nKnown as the Huey Tzompantli, the skull rack stood on the corner of the chapel of Huitzilopochtli, the patron of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.\n\nThe Aztecs were a group of Nahuatl-speaking peoples that dominated large parts of central Mexico from the 14th to the 16th centuries.\n\nTheir empire was overthrown by invaders led by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, who captured Tenochtitlan in 1521.\n\nThe tower of human skulls is believed to form part of the Huey Tzompantli\n\nA similar structure to the Huey Tzompantli struck fear in the soldiers accompanying the Spanish conqueror when they invaded the city.\n\nThe cylindrical structure is near the huge Metropolitan Cathedral built over the Templo Mayor, one of the main temples of Tenochtitlan, now modern day Mexico City.\n\n\"The Templo Mayor continues to surprise us, and the Huey Tzompantli is without doubt one of the most impressive archaeological finds of recent years in our country,\" Mexican Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto said.\n\nArchaeologists have identified three construction phases of the tower, which dates back to between 1486 and 1502.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Archaeologist Lorena Vazquez explains why the Aztecs created their skull towers\n\nThe tower's original discovery surprised anthropologists, who had been expecting to find the skulls of young male warriors, but also unearthed the crania of women and children, raising questions about human sacrifice in the Aztec Empire.\n\n\"Although we can't say how many of these individuals were warriors, perhaps some were captives destined for sacrificial ceremonies,\" said archaeologist Raul Barrera.\n\n\"We do know that they were all made sacred,\" he added. \"Turned into gifts for the gods or even personifications of deities themselves.\"", "Levels of positive tests are rising in London and could be on the up in the east of England, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.\n\nFigures for the week to 5 December, as England's second lockdown was ending, suggest infection levels continued to fall in other regions.\n\nInfection rates are still highest in children of secondary school age, the ONS says.\n\nAcross the UK, the picture is mixed, with Wales seeing rising infections.\n\nIn Northern Ireland, the percentage of people testing positive continues to fall - while in Scotland it has stayed the same.\n\nThe R number - or reproduction number - of the virus is now between 0.9 and 1.0 for the UK - slightly up from 0.8-1.0 last week. But in some regions in the south and east it could be above 1, indicating infections are likely to be growing there.\n\nThe ONS figures are one source of data used by the government's scientific advisers to judge the spread of the virus, and take decisions on restrictions on people's daily lives.\n\nThey are based on swab tests of thousands of people in households, whether they have symptoms or not. The estimates are thought to give a more accurate picture of how many people are infected with the virus than data on positive tests alone.\n\nInfection levels in London started to rise sharply before the end of lockdown, according to the ONS, after falling in late November.\n\nIn all other regions, including the North West and North East, and Yorkshire and the Humber, the percentage of people testing positive is decreasing.\n\nBut there are \"early signs\" rates may be increasing in the east of England, the ONS says.\n\nThe latest estimate of the R number for the UK is up very slightly on the previous week, but still just below 1. This means that the epidemic is still shrinking after lockdown, but very slowly.\n\nThis is borne out by the latest Office for National Statistics infection survey. It indicates that cases continued to fall in most of England and Northern Ireland last week.\n\nBut the view of the scientific advisory group is that the situation is \"fragile\". Cases are increasing in London and the east of England - especially among secondary school age children - and previous experience indicates that a surge among older age groups will inevitably follow.\n\nThe government's scientific advisers believe that it will be important to keep infection levels as low as possible in the run-up to the holidays. That's because the relaxation of restrictions that permit families to meet over Christmas will accelerate any increase in cases - and lead to another sharp spike in infections early in the New Year.\n\nData on cases - or confirmed positive tests - suggests areas such as Basildon, Medway and Havering in the south east are now experiencing more than 400 cases per 100,000 people.\n\nEngland's tiers system is due to be reviewed on 16 December and there have been suggestions that London should be moved from tier two to tier three to avoid a spike in deaths over Christmas.\n\nKent is already in tier three while Essex is in tier two.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Virgin Galactic is set to carry out a milestone test flight of its rocket-powered tourist plane on Saturday.\n\nThis will be the first crewed flight of its reusable Unity vehicle to take off from the purpose-built commercial spaceport in New Mexico, US.\n\nAlready, more than 600 paying customers - including Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio - are booked to take a ride on the plane.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Virgin Galactic gives a glimpse of what it will look like inside the Unity vehicle\n\nSaturday's flight will be the first of three final demonstration flights before that commercial service begins.\n\nIt is on the third of these that Sir Richard Branson himself will test the service he's been promising for 16 years. Before that can happen Virgin Galactic needs to go through some final preparatory steps.\n\nSaturday's mission will have just the two pilots on board - former Nasa astronaut CJ Sturckow and Galactic chief test pilot Dave Mackay.\n\nThey will run checks on all their plane's operating procedures by making the first ever powered climb above Spaceport America, the centre that was developed specifically for this commercial operation by the New Mexico state government.\n\nIt has been a long road for the company's engineers to get the technology to where they want it, and progress this year has, of course, been slowed by the Covid-19 crisis, with limited numbers of staff able to work both in New Mexico and at Galactic's manufacturing base in California.\n\nWill Whitehorn, president of the UK Space Industry Group, described the flight as a huge milestone.\n\n\"This is going to be a very safe and low-cost system,\" he told BBC News. \"Developing it has been ground-breaking and it hasn't been easy.\"\n\nA fatal accident back in 2014 led to an investigation and the redesign of some elements of the system.\n\n\"But when it comes to space, you're not in a race with anyone. You're in a race to be safe,\" said Mr Whitehorn.\n\nThe craft will also serve as an astronaut training facility.\n\n\"At the moment, we have to train them in simulated environments - swimming pools and so-called vomit comets, which are planes that dive out of the sky,\" he explained.\n\n\"So as well as space tourism and space science, that training will be a crucial component of the industrial revolution that is coming to space.\"\n\nThe cabin has a big mirror at the rear so passengers can see themselves weightless\n\nVirgin Galactic recently unveiled the design of the tourist cabin.\n\nPassengers will sit in seats that move to manage G-forces in the different phases of flight - on the boost up to space and on the descent back to Earth.\n\nThey'll get personal seat-back screens that display live flight data, and the 12 large windows - more than any other spacecraft in history, according to the company - are designed to ensure no passenger has to compete for a view when they unbuckle at the top of the climb to float free inside the cabin.\n\nThere will even be a big mirror at the aft end so they can see themselves weightless.", "A member of the public found the body at a property in Victoria Quadrant\n\nA newborn baby has been found dead in a garden.\n\nThe body was discovered by a member of the public in a private garden of a property in Victoria Quadrant, Weston-super-Mare, at about 08:50 GMT.\n\nA woman police believe is the mother was found following an appeal - she has been taken to hospital where she is receiving \"expert medical attention\".\n\nPolice are treating the baby's death as unexplained. Det Ch Insp Mike Buck said it was \"very sad and distressing\".\n\nPart of Victoria Quadrant was sealed off\n\nHe added: \"During the course of our enquiries, information has been received which has helped us locate who we believe is the baby's mother.\n\n\"This woman has been taken immediately to hospital where she'll receive the expert medical attention and professional support she needs.\"\n\nFollow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "MPs will not be awarded a pay rise for the coming year.\n\nThe Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority - the independent body which sets MPs' pay - said in October that MPs could be in line for a £3,000 pay rise if its usual formula was applied.\n\nBut it now says such a rise would \"be inconsistent\" and \"would not reflect the reality that many constituents are facing\" because of the pandemic.\n\nMore than 50 MPs had already called for the increase to be cancelled.\n\nMany reacted positively to news of the pay freeze.\n\nLabour's Catherine West tweeted that \"anything else would have been an insult to public sector workers,\" while Conservative James Cartlidge said it was \"absolutely the right thing to do\".\n\nMPs' basic salary is currently £81,932 a year, and is more if they serve as government ministers. Ministers' salaries have also been frozen for a year.\n\nIPSA's formula for MPs' pay is linked to any increase in average pay for public sector workers, millions of whom have had their pay frozen.\n\nOverall, average wages have fallen in real terms this year.\n\nIn November, Boris Johnson's spokesman said the prime minister did not think MPs should receive a pay rise for 2021, \"given the circumstances\".\n\nAnd in October, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said \"this year of all years\" the money should go to key workers on the front line of the pandemic response.\n\nIPSA, which was set up in the wake of the MPs' expenses scandal, said: \"It is clear that applying the forthcoming official statistic for public sector earnings growth would result in a salary increase for MPs that would be inconsistent with the wider economic data and would not reflect the reality that many constituents are facing this year.\n\n\"The IPSA Board has therefore decided that the salary for Members of Parliament will remain unchanged for the financial year 2021/22.\"", "Trade talks between the UK and European Union are continuing in Brussels with one day to go until a deadline imposed by the two sides.\n\nThe leaders of both parties have warned they are unlikely to reach a post-Brexit trade deal by Sunday.\n\nOn Friday, Boris Johnson chaired a \"stock-take\" on the UK's preparedness for a no-deal scenario.\n\nMeanwhile, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said four Royal Navy patrol boats are ready to protect UK fishing waters.\n\nThe Sunday deadline was set by Mr Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after the pair met in Brussels on Wednesday, after months of talks failed to achieve an agreement.\n\nMr Johnson said the EU needed to make a \"big change\" over the main sticking points on fishing rights and business competition rules, while Mrs von der Leyen said no deal was the most probable end to \"difficult\" talks.\n\nThe EU has rejected Mr Johnson's request to bypass the European Commission and speak directly to French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel about the unresolved issues.\n\nAccording to EU officials, he was told discussions could only take place through the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, who is meeting with his UK equivalent in Brussels.\n\nIf a trade deal is not reached and ratified by both sides by 31 December, the UK and EU could impose taxes - tariffs - on each other's goods.\n\nThis could lead to higher prices for some goods, among other changes.\n\nA major sticking point in negotiations has been access to UK fishing waters, with the EU warning that without access to UK waters for its fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nThe MoD has said it has conducted \"extensive planning and preparation\" to ensure it is ready for a range of scenarios at the end of the transition period, including having 14,000 personnel on standby to support the government over the winter with the EU transition.\n\nIt said four offshore patrol boats will be available to monitor UK waters and added that it would have \"robust enforcement measures in place to protect the UK's rights as an independent coastal state\".\n\nAn expansion of powers for the Royal Navy Police, enabling officers to potentially board foreign boats and arrest those breaking the law, is one proposal in the MoD's no-deal contingency planning, a spokesman confirmed.\n\nAdmiral Lord West, former chief of naval staff, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was \"entirely appropriate\" for the Royal Navy to protect UK waters, although he said there would need to be parliamentary authority to allow officers to board foreign ships.\n\nBut Tobias Ellwood, Conservative chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, called the threat of using Royal Navy gunboats to patrol UK waters in a no-deal outcome \"irresponsible\".\n\n\"This isn't Elizabethan times anymore, this is global Britain - we need to be raising the bar much higher than this,\" he told Today.\n\nAccording to the MoD's website, three River Class patrol ships with a crew of 45 sailors already work \"at least 275 days a year at sea enforcing British and European fisheries law\".\n\nBBC economics editor Faisal Islam said the government's contingency assumptions are that a lack of business readiness will lead to queues of thousands of lorries, with Kent - which is home to the Port of Dover, operating an access permit for hauliers.\n\nA presentation, seen by the BBC, only identified room to fast track between 70 and 100 lorries of perishable goods per day should there be tailbacks, he said.\n\nThe authorities have chosen to focus on \"fish and chicks\" - live and fresh seafood, often transported from Scotland to French restaurants, as well as day old chicks. No other commodities have been added to the list, he adds, raising fears among other food exporters.\n\nThere's no denying that the prospect of the pain of no deal at all with the UK certainly weighs on EU minds.\n\nBut Europe's leaders are keen to clarify they won't personally intervene in the current impasse in trade talks.\n\nBehind the scenes, leaders are involved in discussions with their negotiators, but they don't want to be face-to-face, or ear-to-ear, with Boris Johnson in public.\n\nConcessions will have an impact on the whole single market - and therefore all member states, as a collective.\n\nMr Johnson said on Friday a no-deal Brexit was now \"very, very likely\".\n\nMrs von der Leyen told reporters that the two sides were still \"apart on fundamental issues\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: No-deal Brexit now \"very, very likely\"\n\nThe EU has set out contingency measures to ensure UK and EU air and road connections still run after 31 December.", "Professor of Public Health Linda Bauld said the UK loosening rules over Christmas is a mistake\n\nLoosening Covid restrictions across the UK over Christmas is a \"mistake,\" a public health expert has said.\n\nEdinburgh University's Prof Linda Bauld said there was concern about people travelling from \"high to low prevalence areas\" to see their loved ones.\n\nWales' Health Minister Vaughan Gething said changes would cause \"huge issues about trust\", but could happen if case rates stayed high.\n\nThe UK has recorded another 519 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nThe latest government figures also include 21,502 new positive cases in the UK, taking the total number in the past seven days to 124,988.\n\nUp to three households can stay together and form a \"Christmas bubble\" from 23 to 27 December, as agreed by all four UK nations.\n\nProf Bauld told BBC Breakfast that \"from a public health perspective, I have to be perfectly honest, I think this is a mistake and I think people, even though we're permitted to do this, I think people have to think very carefully whether they can see loved ones outside or do it in a very, very modest way\".\n\nShe added there was \"nothing to stop\" governments reversing the rules, \"but the problem is they've made that commitment to people across the UK, and that may affect trust in government if they roll back on that\".\n\nMr Gething said \"of course we could\" change the rules around Christmas, but \"much of what we have done during the course of the pandemic is because people have trusted the government - when we said things we kept our word\".\n\nHe said was concerned a change in rules now would have people \"completely ignoring the rules\", and was worried that may be the case even with the current five-day relaxation agreement in place.\n\n\"That's why we are anticipating an increase after Christmas, we expect there'll be an increase after New Year's Eve as well,\" he added.\n\nProf Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, earlier this week warned people to be \"very, very sensible\" and not go \"too far\" over Christmas, which he called a \"very risky period\".\n\nAccording the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) - which feeds into UK government decision-making - just because people can meet up, it does not mean they should.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This map shows how cases per 100,000 people across the 22 council areas in Wales have changed by day over the last two months\n\nMr Gething said he would not rule out another lockdown if cases continued to rise, echoing a warning made by First Minister Mark Drakeford on Friday.\n\nHe added: \"But the agreement around the Christmas period isn't just a political settlement. It really is because we understand that sort of shape to that period of time, we might see many people make up their own rules with the real potential of even greater harm.\n\n\"So it isn't as simple as saying 'this is just a political choice, and you could make it safer' because actually a lot of people invest lots of time, energy and effort in Christmas in travelling around the UK to see family when they don't do that in the rest of the year.\n\n\"Now we have to take account of the reality of the position as well and what would like to happen, how we want people to behave.\"\n\nA UK government spokesperson said this year won't be \"a 'normal' Christmas\", but people would want to be with loved ones.\n\n\"Meeting with friends and family over Christmas will be a personal judgement, and we must be mindful of the risks, particularly to vulnerable individuals,\" the spokesperson said.\n\n\"Everyone has a role to play by remembering hands, face, space and keeping indoor spaces well ventilated to limit the spread of the virus and protect our loved ones.\"", "The teenager was found in Woodman Street, North Woolwich\n\nA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death in east London.\n\nThe teenager was found fatally injured in Woodman Street, near the Royal Docks in Newham, at 18:50 GMT on Friday.\n\nHe was treated by paramedics but was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin has been informed.\n\nThe Met said a 25-year-old man had been arrested at a property in Newham in the early hours of the morning. He remains in custody.\n\nThe force added that while an arrest had been made, \"the investigation is still in its early stages\".\n\nA 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder\n\nLawrence Adu said he was a friend of the boy's uncle and had known him \"all his life\".\n\n\"I just got home, I'm so shocked,\" Mr Adu, who is also the boy's neighbour, said.\n\n\"He's a nice young man, very handsome and always laughing.\"\n\nDet Supt Paul Whiteman described the death as \"a tragic loss of a young life\".\n\n\"Local officers will step up patrols in the area in the coming days to reassure the public and continue to target violent crime,\" he said.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: No-deal Brexit now \"very, very likely\"\n\nBoris Johnson and the EU have both warned they are unlikely to reach a post-Brexit trade deal by Sunday.\n\nEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said no deal was the most probable end to \"difficult\" talks.\n\nAnd the UK prime minister argued the EU needed to make a \"big change\" over the main sticking points on fishing rights and business competition rules.\n\nThe Sunday deadline was set by the two leaders after months of talks failed to achieve an agreement.\n\nIf a trade deal is not reached and ratified by both sides by 31 December, the UK and EU could impose taxes - tariffs - on each other's goods.\n\nThis could lead to higher prices, among other changes.\n\nMr Johnson chaired a meeting in Downing Street with Cabinet Officer minister Michael Gove and senior officials on Friday to carry out a \"stock-take\" of plans for a no-deal scenario, a No 10 official said.\n\nBBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said there was \"no sign of much genuine movement to avert no deal\".\n\nWith talks continuing, the EU is determined to prevent the UK from gaining what it sees as an unfair advantage of having tariff-free access to its markets, while setting its own standards on products, employment rights and business subsidies.\n\nIt is also warning that, without access to UK waters for EU fleets, UK fishermen will no longer get special access to EU markets to sell their goods.\n\nBut the UK argues that what goes on in its own waters, and its wider business rules, should be under its control as a sovereign country.\n\nThe two sides also disagree on whether the European Court of Justice should settle future UK-EU trade disputes.\n\nEurope's leaders are keen to clarify they won't personally intervene in the current impasse in trade talks. There'll be no last-minute handshake or \"a-ha\" moment in Paris, Warsaw or Berlin.\n\nBehind the scenes, leaders are involved in discussions with their negotiators, but they don't want to be face-to-face, or ear-to-ear, with Boris Johnson in public.\n\nEU countries are joined together in their single market. So no individual EU leader - not even the most powerful ones, in France and Germany - can be perceived to be making the political compromises that could clinch the UK deal.\n\nConcessions will have an impact on the whole single market - and therefore all member states, as a collective.\n\nThe EU has rejected Mr Johnson's request to bypass the European Commission and speak directly to French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel about the unresolved issues.\n\nAccording to EU officials, he was told discussions could only take place through the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.\n\nSpeaking on a visit to a vehicle battery factory in Blyth, Northumberland, Mr Johnson said: \"We're always hopeful and... our team is still out there in Brussels.\n\n\"If there's a big offer, a big change in what they're saying, then I must say that I'm yet to see it.\"\n\nIf there was no deal, the situation would still be \"wonderful for the UK\", as the country could \"do exactly what we want from 1 January\", he added, even if this was \"different from what we set out to achieve\".\n\nMrs von der Leyen, who met the prime minister in Brussels on Wednesday for three hours of talks, reportedly struck a downbeat tone when she told European national leaders the \"main obstacles\" to a deal remained.\n\nShe later told reporters that the two sides were still \"apart on fundamental issues\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. EC President Ursula von der Leyen says Brexit will be \"new beginnings for old friends\"\n\nBut German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas struck a more upbeat tone, saying: \"We believe finding a solution in the talks is difficult but possible.\"\n\nAnd Ireland's Taoiseach Micheal Martin said there was room for the two sides to \"come closer\" on the major sticking points if there was the \"political will\" to do so.\n\nEarlier on Friday, UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden suggested UK farmers and car manufacturers would get extra financial help if the EU targeted their products with tariffs.\n\nAnd the EU has set out contingency measures it would take in the event of no trade agreement being reached with the UK.\n\nIt says these would ensure UK and EU air and road connections still run after the post-Brexit transition period - under which the UK has continued to follow most of Brussels' rules - ends on 31 December.\n\nThey also allow the possibility of fishing access to each other's waters for up to a year, or until an agreement is reached.", "Dutch prosecutors have found a hacker did successfully log in to Donald Trump's Twitter account by guessing his password - \"MAGA2020!\"\n\nBut they will not be punishing Victor Gevers, who was acting \"ethically\".\n\nMr Gevers shared what he said were screenshots of the inside of Mr Trump's account on 22 October, during the final stages of the US presidential election.\n\nBut at the time, the White House denied it had been hacked and Twitter said it had no evidence of it.\n\nIn reference to the latest development, Twitter said: \"We've seen no evidence to corroborate this claim, including from the article published in the Netherlands today. We proactively implemented account security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the United States, including federal branches of government.\"\n\nThe White House has not responded to a request for further comment.\n\nMr Gevers had previously shared this screenshot that appeared to show him editing Donald Trump's Twitter profile information\n\nMr Gevers said he was very happy with the outcome.\n\n\"This is not just about my work but all volunteers who look for vulnerabilities in the internet,\" he said.\n\nThe well respected cyber-security researcher said he had been conducting a semi-regular sweep of the Twitter accounts of high-profile US election candidates, on 16 October, when he had guessed President Trump's password.\n\nVictor Gevers has been discovering security flaws in software and websites for 22 years\n\nDutch police said: \"The hacker released the login himself.\n\n\"He later stated to police that he had investigated the strength of the password because there were major interests involved if this Twitter account could be taken over so shortly before the presidential election.\"\n\nThey had sent the US authorities their findings, they added.\n\nMr Gevers had told officers he had substantially more evidence of the \"hack\".\n\nIn theory, he would have been able to see all the president's data, including:\n\nThe president's account, which has 89 million followers, is now secure.\n\nBut Twitter has refused to answer direct questions from BBC News, including whether the account had extra security or logs that would have shown an unknown login.\n\nEarlier this year, Mr Gevers also claimed he and other security researchers had logged in to Mr Trump's Twitter account in 2016 using a password - \"yourefired\" - linked to another of his social-network accounts in a previous data breach.", "Facebook will shift its UK users onto agreements with the company’s corporate headquarters in California.\n\nThe move could put UK users out of reach of Europe's privacy laws.\n\nBut Facebook said there will be no change to the privacy controls or the services it offers UK customers.\n\nCurrently, UK users are governed by agreements with Facebook’s Irish headquarters, but this legal relationship will change following the UK's exit from the European Union (EU).\n\n“Facebook has had to make changes to respond to Brexit and will be transferring legal responsibilities and obligations for UK users from Facebook Ireland to Facebook Inc,\" the social media giant told Reuters, which first reported the story.\n\nThe changes come into effect in 2021, and users will be notified by an update to Facebook’s terms of service in the first half of the year.\n\nA number of other tech companies also have their European headquarters in Dublin, including Google, Microsoft, AirBnB and Twitter.\n\nFacebook’s decision follows a similar move by Google in February.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. An advertising boycott wants Facebook to do more about hate speech and misinformation (video published in July)\n\nFacebook’s UK users will remain subject to UK privacy law, which will still largely mirror the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).\n\nGDPR is among the world’s strictest privacy regimes.\n\nPrivacy advocates have expressed concern that the UK might be tempted to water down its protections in the pursuit of free trade deals as it leaves the EU.\n\nIn particular, they are worried about a possible deal with the US, which has weaker privacy laws.\n\nAlready, the Cloud Act - a US law passed in 2018 - has made it easier for US and UK authorities to access data stored by digital service providers stored in each other’s territory.\n\nHowever, Facebook has been under increasing pressure in the US.\n\nIn a landmark lawsuit, US regulators have accused Facebook of buying up rivals in order to stifle competition.\n\nRegulators are seeking the sale of Facebook's picture sharing platform Instagram and its messaging service WhatsApp.", "The Supreme Court has breathed new life into plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.\n\nThe scheme was previously blocked by the Court of Appeal, who said the government’s airports strategy didn’t meet up-to-date UK climate targets.\n\nBut the Supreme Court has ruled the strategy was legitimately based on previous, less stringent, climate targets at the time it was agreed.\n\nThe firm behind Heathrow can now seek planning permission for the runway.\n\nBut it still faces major obstacles, including having to persuade a public enquiry of the case for expansion.\n\nAnd if planning inspectors approve the scheme, the government will still have the final say.\n\nMinisters have been advised by their Climate Change Committee that, in order to keep emissions down, Heathrow should only expand if regional airports contract.\n\nThis will pose a problem for a government that’s committed to improving infrastructure away from the South-East.\n\nAnd a full application from Heathrow Airport may still be more than a year away as the airport re-assembles a planning team and strives to cope with Covid.\n\nA Heathrow spokesman called the decision to lift the ban \"the right result for the country\".\n\n\"Only by expanding the UK's hub airport can we connect all of Britain to all of the growing markets of the world, helping to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in every nation and region of our country.\n\n\"Demand for aviation will recover from Covid-19, and the additional capacity at an expanded Heathrow will allow Britain as a sovereign nation to compete for trade and win against our rivals in France and Germany.\"\n\nThe business coalition Back Heathrow said it would boost the UK once it stops following EU trading rules on 31 December.\n\n“It is a huge moment for the UK as it moves towards an uncertain Brexit, but now with the confidence that international trade could be boosted by additional capacity at the country’s only hub airport,\" said executive director Parmjit Dhanda.\n\n“We believe this news reflects a unity of purpose between the highest court in the land and our parliament – which has already delivered a majority of 296 for sustainable expansion at Heathrow,” he added.\n\nThe ruling is a blow for campaigners who’ve been hounding the runway project in the courts because they say it breaches the government’s policy of removing almost all carbon emissions from the economy by 2050 – the so-called Net Zero commitment.\n\nBut environmentalists still plan to challenge every stage of the planning application in the courts – including at the European Court of Human Rights, where campaigners will argue that relying on outdated emissions targets is inconsistent with the right to life.\n\nThe old UK emissions strategy was based on the target of holding global temperature rise to 2C, whereas the latest government aim is a maximum temperature rise of 1.5C. This means emissions must be cut by more than previously thought.\n\nOn the back of the previous Appeal Court ruling in their favour, environmentalists have launched copy-cat legal actions against plans for other government projects that will fuel climate change.\n\nThese include the £27bn roads programme; expanding North Sea oil and gas; and a proposed Cumbria coal mine.\n\nThey fear the Supreme Court ruling signals that judges aren’t willing to hold the government’s feet to the fire on climate policy - as the Dutch Supreme Court did last year, when it ruled that the country’s failure to act urgently against climate change constituted a violation of human rights.\n\nSimilar cases are underway in several other nations where citizens want politicians to keep promises to tackle emissions.\n\nThe Supreme Court case was taken by Friends of the Earth in conjunction with a tiny NGO called Plan B.\n\nIts founder Tim Crosland told BBC News: “This is a terrible verdict – the runway plan is in clear breach of climate change targets and it can’t be allowed to go ahead. I can’t imagine how the judges came to this decision.”\n\nPaul McGuinness from the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said before the court ruling that a decision in favour of Heathrow wouldn’t change the underlying case against the proposed runway.\n\nHe argued: “Heathrow expansion can’t proceed. Putting aside investors' lack of appetite to find new money - even to maintain the airport as a going concern through the pandemic - expanding Heathrow no longer ticks any boxes.\n\n“Since the Airports Commission recommended Heathrow expansion, five years ago, the world has changed and the assessments on noise, air quality and carbon have been exposed as inadequate.”\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson is a long-term opponent of Heathrow expansion, and significantly, his government didn’t join the appeal against the previous Appeal Court verdict, which was made by Heathrow Airport plc.\n\nA government spokesperson said before the verdict: “We have always been clear that Heathrow expansion is a private sector project which must meet strict criteria on air quality, noise and climate change, as well as being privately financed, affordable, and delivered in the best interest of consumers”.", "Fire safety inspections have uncovered hundreds of blocks of flats in England and Wales with faulty or missing fire prevention measures, the BBC has found.\n\nFlat owners have been looking for evidence of unsafe cladding in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people in 2017.\n\nBut many of the inspections have revealed problems inside the buildings.\n\nThe government said it was introducing the biggest improvements to building safety for 40 years.\n\nWhen surveyors visited Lucy Seker's flat in central Manchester earlier this year, they found the cladding was compliant with safety standards.\n\nBut other fire safety issues, such as missing fire barriers in some of the cavities inside the flat, have left her and her neighbours facing repair bills of more than £30,000.\n\n\"At first, I thought I'm ok, there are far worse off than me. But because of the cavity issues I'm just as much at risk from fire and living in an unsafe building,\" she said.\n\nLucy Seker says she does not feel safe in her building\n\n\"The impact has been monumental - shattering. I've worked hard all of my life and I now have a worthless property.\n\n\"Where am I going to find £30,000?\"\n\nThe fire issues have seen her insurance costs rise by 300%, as well as a 40% increase in her service charge and residents must now also pay for a fire warden to guard the block.\n\n\"I don't feel safe in the building,\" she added. \"If fire spread through the cavities, then how far could it get before anyone stops it?\"\n\nMany owners are now finding problems with \"compartmentation\" - the way their individual flat is sealed to stop fire and smoke spreading within a building.\n\nTypically, flats should have barriers inside the spaces between any cladding and the outside walls, and fire breaks in the internal walls to ensure flats are protected for as long as possible should a fire break out.\n\nDorian Lawrence, whose company Façade Remedial Consultants has been inspecting the cladding on hundreds of blocks across England and Wales, said he has found defective fire safety in 90% of the 2,000 buildings he has inspected and around 60% of those are not cladding related.\n\n\"Post-Grenfell we've only really started taking cladding off buildings and taking a look behind to see what's there,\" he said.\n\n\"The issue is the building may look fantastic on the outside with the cladding correctly fitted, but once you've taken the cladding off, what we uncover is quite a mess in many instances.\n\n\"After Grenfell everyone realised perhaps their buildings were not compliant with building regulations and found a necessity to undertake the intrusive works to make sure [whether] they're compliant or not, and in the majority of cases, they are not.\"\n\nWhile statistics showing the extent of the problem nationwide are scarce, a picture of the scale of internal wall defects is emerging in Manchester and London.\n\nLondon Fire Brigade shared data with 5 Live Investigates showing that of the 576 blocks which have a \"waking watch\" - considered such a fire risk they need overnight fire wardens - more than 100 had compartmentation problems.\n\nIn Manchester, the problems are even more stark.\n\nThe Greater Manchester High-Rise Task Force, set up to assess fire safety in all of the city's tall residential blocks, has imposed \"interim\" safety measures such as fire wardens or extra fire alarms in around 100 buildings.\n\nOf those, around 70 have other serious defects like missing or incorrectly-fitted cavity barriers and, in some cases, inadequate fire protection on the frame of the building.\n\nNigel Glen, of the Association of Residential Managing Agents, whose members are responsible for the day-to-day running of almost 1.5 million leasehold flats, said he had been trying to draw the government's attention to the problems.\n\n\"It is quite clear these defects are not the fault of the leaseholders and so they shouldn't be expected to pay for compartmentation failures,\" he said.\n\n\"The impact on residents and flat owners can only be that of yet more stress - both financial and mental. On property managers the emotional toll is proving to be massive - leaseholders are understandably frightened and angry and property managers are, in many cases, the only people that they have to hand to take matters out on.\"\n\nRichard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders, said the challenge is what to do with building work that was at the time within the rules, but now no longer meets safety standards.\n\n\"Government and industry know what needs to be done for future buildings and building work; ensuring a value-based rather than cost-based approach to buildings, the need for hand-in-glove working all along the supply chain on matters of safety, as well as much tighter building regulations and adequately funded and resourced building control.\n\n\"But what we still need is action for those who fall between the gap of legal and safe. Here the only answer is for government to intervene to resolve the ludicrous situation whereby remediation works fall on leaseholders and run to tens of thousands of pounds or more - rendering their flats unsellable.\"\n\nThe Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: \"Building owners are responsible for ensuring their buildings are safe and residents should speak to their building owner if they are concerned.\n\n\"If a building contains a hazard or the measures in place do not sufficiently mitigate the risk to life from a fire, both Fire and Rescue Authorities and councils are responsible for enforcement and can take action.\"", "The fire service was called at about 23:00 GMT on Tuesday\n\nA large fire has caused damage to a changing block at Drayton Manor theme park.\n\nThe blaze took hold in the Thomas Land area on Tuesday night, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue said.\n\nThe theme park confirmed no-one was injured and all of the animals at the park were safe.\n\nCurrently closed due to Covid-19 restrictions, Drayton Manor keeps about 100 animals on its premises in Tamworth, Staffordshire.\n\nIncident commander Stuart Ruckledge said the whole changing block had been alight, but crews were able to stop the fire spreading to other areas of the park.\n\nDrayton Manor is currently closed and unable to hold Christmas events because of Covid restrictions\n\nThe park said it had been able to assess the damage and said it was \"relieved\" that it was \"limited to a toilet block and store cupboard, both within Thomas Land\".\n\nIt said all of the rides \"remain intact with very limited damage\".\n\nThe fire service is expected to start an investigation into the cause of the blaze.\n\nStaffordshire Fire and Rescue said 28 service personnel attended the scene from 22:30 GMT and the fire was put out after crews \"broke through the roof of an adjoining building\".\n\nA fire appliance remained at the site, damping down hotspots, all night and into the morning, the service said.\n\nThe park, unable to run Christmas events due to coronavirus restrictions, has a 15-acre zoo and more than 25 rides and attractions. It also has a 150-bedroom hotel with restaurants and bars.\n\nIn February, it was flooded after Storm Dennis swept the country and in August, it was announced the park had been sold to Looping Group after entering administration.\n\nFollow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "There were queues of ambulances outside Antrim Area Hospital on Tuesday night\n\nHospitals in Northern Ireland are continuing to face severe pressures after a night which saw queuing ambulances outside hospitals across NI.\n\nOn Wednesday morning there were 48 people in the emergency department at Antrim Area hospital.\n\nOn Tuesday night, doctors treated patients in ambulances with 17 vehicles outside the hospital at one point.\n\nAn emergency department consultant from the Ulster Hospital said one patient there had waited 28 hours for a bed.\n\nSpeaking on BBC's Evening Extra, Sean McGovern, said: \"That patient is still waiting, they're waiting within the emergency department.\n\n\"People are maybe waiting on a bed in a designated area within the emergency department, or waiting on a trolley.\"\n\nAt 11:25 GMT, there were 34 people waiting to be admitted to the Ulster Hospital, with 30 waiting more than 12 hours, according to a spokesperson for the South Eastern Trust.\n\nThe spokesperson said there were 59 patients at the hospital's emergency department, with one waiting outside in an ambulance.\n\nFive of the patients had been in the department for between four and 12 hours.\n\nThere have also been long waits at Antrim Hospital on Wednesday, with 48 people in the emergency department at 07:00 GMT.\n\nOf these, 43 were waiting to be admitted, with 29 of those people who have been waiting for more than 12 hours.\n\nHundreds of hospital staff from across NI are also isolating for Covid-related reasons\n\nIn a statement, the trust said it was \"not a situation that anyone wants to see\", adding that the hospital remained under \"severe pressure\".\n\n\"We sincerely apologise to the patients affected and their families. Staff are working very hard to try to manage the situation and maintain flow,\" the trust said.\n\nAt hospitals in Belfast, 39 were awaiting admission - 29 more than 12 hours.\n\nIn the Western Trust, 34 were awaiting admission - all 34 waiting more than 12 hours.\n\nIn the Southern Trust hospitals, 60 were waiting admission but no figure for length of wait is known.\n\nThe British Medical Association in Northern Ireland said the pressures on hospitals were \"extremely concerning\".\n\nA spokesperson said: \"I have spoken to many secondary care colleagues over the past few days who are very worried as to how hospitals are going to cope over the next few days and weeks, and the decisions they may have to take over how people are cared for.\"\n\nMedical Director with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Dr Nigel Ruddell said there had been 30 to 35 ambulances outside Emergency Departments across Northern Ireland on Tuesday night.\n\nHe said they were \"the most significant queues\" he had seen in the 12 years he had worked for the ambulance service.\n\n\"What we are seeing reflects the pressure of the normal increase in illness, particularly among the elderly and, of course, the pressures of Covid,\" he told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.\n\nDr Ruddell thanked the hospital and ambulance staff, and said it had taken a \"massive effort overnight\" to clear queues outside hospitals.\n\nSpeaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme on Wednesday, Wendy Magowan, the Northern Health Trust operations director, said \"whilst it has improved dramatically overnight we are still starting out this morning with a very low base rate\".\n\nThere are also hundreds of staff isolating for Covid-related reasons.\n\nSo far, 366 staff from the Southern Trust are isolating as are 681 from Belfast Trust, 324 from the Western Trust, 307 from the South Eastern Trust and 289 from the Northern Trust.\n\nHealth Minister Robin Swann is to bring new proposals about Covid restrictions to Thursday's executive meeting.\n\nThe meeting will see ministers look at options to manage the spread of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland.\n\nThere were 17 ambulances queued at Antrim Hospital at 17:00 GMT on Tuesday\n\nDeputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said Sinn Féin \"will support any proposals brought forward by the health minister to tackle the current situation.\"\n\nStronger guidance has been issued by London and the devolved governments about how people should celebrate Christmas this year.\n\nRelaxed rules between 23 December and 27 December are to stay in place.\n\nMrs Foster and Ms O'Neill spoke to leaders from the other governments earlier and more guidance from the executive is expected later in the week.\n\nThe big issue is not so much what they agree when it comes to restrictions, but the fact that compliance is not where it should be.\n\nThe health service has stepped forward and they're hoping that they're going to listen to the voices that we heard last night with ambulances queued outside the hospitals.\n\nHealth Minister Robin Swann is going to be bringing recommendations to the executive on Thursday for a decision around restrictions and the likelihood is that we will see, perhaps, an partial lockdown started after Christmas.\n\nWe could be looking at, maybe, 28 December.\n\nThe key concern is that we may be heading for a third wave at a point when our hospitals are saturated.\n\nIf you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.", "Nine cases of a new variant of Covid-19 first identified in England have been reported in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.\n\nThe cases were all detected in the Greater Glasgow area, and date back to the end of November.\n\nThe World Health Organisation has been notified about the new strain of the virus, with detailed studies ongoing.\n\nMs Sturgeon said there is nothing to suggest it causes a more severe illness in people, but it may spread faster.\n\nShe said people should not \"prematurely overreact\" to the development.\n\nUK Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed on Monday that the new variant of coronavirus had been recorded in at least 60 different local authority areas.\n\nThese cases were found predominantly in Kent, but it has now been confirmed that they have spread as far as Glasgow.\n\nNine cases have been identified in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, dating back to the end of November - although almost 15,000 new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Scotland overall across that period.\n\nThere is, as yet, \"nothing to suggest\" that the new strain causes more severe illness, or that it could prove resistant to vaccines.\n\nMs Sturgeon was briefed by the chief medical officer on Monday, and will take part in a four-nation call with other UK leaders later on Tuesday.\n\nShe told MSPs: \"It is important to stress there is no evidence at this stage that this new variant is likely to cause more serious illness in people.\n\n\"And while the initial analysis of it suggests that it may be more transmissible, with a faster growth rate than existing variants, that is not yet certain.\n\n\"It may instead be the case that it has been identified in areas where the virus is already spreading more rapidly.\"\n\nScottish Conservative group leader Ruth Davidson said the new strain was \"a cause of great concern\", asking what was being done \"to assess the virulence of the strain\" and its transmission rate.\n\nMs Sturgeon said analysis was being undertaken by Public Health England, but said people should not \"prematurely overreact\".\n\nShe added: \"It is important to say that none of what is currently known about this yet is absolutely certain.\"", "Passengers spent the night on the Stena Edda ferry before disembarking in Birkenhead\n\nMore than 300 passengers were stranded on a ferry overnight after crew members tested positive for Covid-19.\n\nThe Belfast-bound Stena Line ferry was advised by Port Health Authorities not to leave Birkenhead after six members of staff were found to have coronavirus.\n\nAll 322 passengers have now disembarked and the 53 crew members are being tested for Covid-19.\n\nStena Line said passengers would travel to Belfast on another ferry.\n\nPassenger Alan Cogan said he was waiting for the replacement Stena Mersey vessel to take him home to Northern Ireland, but the delay meant he had to cancel a work video conference meeting.\n\nHe said tensions were initially high when a public announcement was first made at about 03:30 GMT, more than five hours after the Stena Edda's departure time.\n\n\"I know there were a few irate people this morning,\" he said.\n\n\"We all had visions of what had happened to the crew ships around the world when passengers had tested positive and were left stranded and not allowed off.\n\n\"That would be a nightmare. It's not the most comfortable boat.\"\n\nThe 47-year-old, who is an area manager for a heating company, said staff had \"been friendly and supportive\".\n\nAlan Cogan said he was waiting for a replacement ferry to take him home to Northern Ireland\n\nMalcolm Sheen said he only realised the ferry had stayed in Birkenhead overnight when he woke up in the early hours.\n\n\"At 03:30, half asleep, I heard an announcement over the tannoy,\" he said.\n\n\"I didn't quite catch what had been said so assumed it was the announcement they make as we approach Belfast, which usually happens at 05:30.\n\n\"I looked out of the porthole and thought, that's not Belfast, that's Liverpool.\"\n\nMr Sheen, who is from Devon, said he had to wait in his van for almost two hours before he could disembark.\n\n\"At 10:00, I went down to my van and had to sit and wait in it for all the lorries to get backed up off the ferry,\" he said.\n\n\"At 11:45, I managed to get off and most passengers on board were transferred to the other ferry.\"\n\nHe added that he hoped he had not \"been in contact with any of the crew members that tested positive\".\n\nPassengers will be able to sail to Belfast on a replacement vessel - the Stena Mersey\n\nA woman who is travelling to Belfast with her three-year-old daughter for a funeral said she boarded \"with no problems\" and was not made aware of any risks about Covid-19.\n\n\"I went to my cabin and went to bed. We were not informed of any problems until 03:30 in the morning,\" she said.\n\n\"We had no further updates until 07:45 and that's when we where told that we would be moving to another ship to sail to Belfast.\n\n\"We were given a free cooked breakfast onboard, they were all giving free drinks to everyone onboard.\"\n\nStena Line said the six crew members were \"doing well\" and were showing mild symptoms.\n\nThe company said another 15 people were self-isolating after being identified as \"close contacts\".\n\n\"The welfare of our passengers and crew is paramount at this time,\" it added.\n\nWere you a passenger on the Belfast-bound Stena Line ferry? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nOr use this form to get in touch:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your comment or send it via email to HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any comment you send in.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah lived 25 metres from the South Circular Road in south-east London\n\nA nine-year-old girl who died following an asthma attack has become the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death.\n\nElla Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south-east London, died in 2013.\n\nAt the conclusion of the two-week inquest, coroner Philip Barlow said Ella had been exposed to \"excessive\" levels of pollution.\n\nThe inquest heard that in the three years before her death, she had multiple seizures and was admitted to hospital 27 times.\n\nDelivering a narrative verdict, Mr Barlow said levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) near Ella's home exceeded World Health Organization and European Union guidelines.\n\nHe added: \"There was a recognised failure to reduce the levels of nitrogen dioxide, which possibly contributed to her death.\n\n\"There was also a lack of information given to Ella's mother that possibly contributed to her death.\"\n\nGiving his conclusion over almost an hour, the coroner said: \"I will conclude that Ella died of asthma, contributed to by exposure to excessive air pollution.\"\n\nRosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said she did not know how dangerous local levels of pollution were before her daughter's death\n\nElla's mother Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, said: \"We've got the justice for her which she so deserved.\n\n\"But also it's about other children still, as we walk around our city of high levels of air pollution.\"\n\nMs Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said she was \"shocked\" by how \"decisive and comprehensive\" the findings were.\n\nElla was first taken to hospital in 2010 after a coughing fit, Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah had told the inquest.\n\nAs a six-year-old, she had to be placed in a medically induced coma for three days to try to stabilise her condition.\n\nBy the summer of 2012, Ella was classified as disabled and her mother said she often had to carry her by piggyback to get her around.\n\nMs Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said: \"I think people need to understand when Ella was rushed into hospital, a lot of the time she was barely breathing.\n\n\"It was an emergency, cardiac arrest.\"\n\nElla died in the early hours of 15 February 2013, following a severe asthma attack.\n\nElla was classified as disabled due to her respiratory problems\n\nA 2018 report found unlawful levels of pollution, which were detected at a monitoring station one mile from Ella's home, contributed to her fatal asthma attack.\n\nThe report's author Prof Sir Stephen Holgate said Ella had been \"living on a knife edge\" in the months before her death.\n\nThe inquest heard Ella's family did not know of the risks posed by air pollution.\n\nThis is an historic verdict.\n\nTypically, experts refer to air pollution being \"associated\" with premature deaths because they can't be sure any one individual's death was caused or partly caused by dirty air.\n\nThis case pins Ella's untimely death partly on to the air she breathed.\n\nIt will heighten the debate about social equity in the UK.\n\nThe poorest tend to suffer the worst air, whilst - on a national basis - the richest tend to drive furthest.\n\nCampaigners now want emergency action - including expanding London's clean-air zone for vehicles out to the M25 and making Britain's streets better for walking and cycling.\n\nBut there are myriad sources of pollution. Gas boilers, construction equipment, paint and dust from brakes and tyres all contribute.\n\nUltimately, it won't be possible to completely clean the air in some of the UK's big cities.\n\nAhead of the conclusion of the inquest, Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote to Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah calling her \"a hero\".\n\nThe Hollywood actor and former governor of California, who has long been an advocate for better clean-air standards, thanked her for \"exposing air pollution for the killer it is\".\n\nProf Shaddick, who leads Exeter University's data science department, said he hoped the inquest ruling \"makes improving the air we breathe easier to achieve in the future\".\n\n\"It's just regrettable it's taken this case to achieve it,\" he added.\n\nSadiq Khan, who as mayor of London was named as an interested party in the inquest, called the result \"a landmark moment\".\n\nMr Khan said: \"Today must be a turning point so that other families do not have to suffer the same heartbreak as Ella's family.\n\n\"Ministers and the previous mayor have acted too slowly in the past, but they must now learn the lessons from the coroner's ruling.\"\n\nElla lived 25 metres from the South Circular Road, one of the capital's busiest roads\n\nSarah Woolnough, chief executive of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, called on the government to outline a public health plan to protect against \"toxic air\" immediately.\n\nShe said: \"Our hearts go out to Ella's family who have fought tirelessly for today's landmark outcome.\n\n\"Today's verdict sets the precedent for a seismic shift in the pace and extent to which the government, local authorities and clinicians must now work together to tackle the country's air pollution health crisis.\"\n\nResponding to the verdict, a government spokesman said: \"Our thoughts remain with Ella's family and friends.\n\n\"We are delivering a £3.8bn plan to clean up transport and tackle NO2 pollution and going further in protecting communities from air pollution.\"\n\nThe mayor of Lewisham, Damien Egan, said Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah's campaign for clean air had been \"hugely impactful\".\n\nHe added: \"Our hope is that today's ruling is the evidence needed to effect lasting change, to finally secure a national commitment to tackling air pollution in a meaningful way.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Waiting to get the Covid vaccine in Barnet, north London\n\nPeople from ethnic minorities in the UK are significantly less likely to take the coronavirus vaccine - with warnings of targeted online scaremongering.\n\nA study from the Royal Society for Public Health found 57% of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people said they would take the vaccine.\n\nThis compared with 79% of white people who would take a Covid vaccine.\n\nVaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi warned of the impact of conspiracy theories being shared online.\n\n\"Anti-vaccination messages have been specifically targeted\" at some ethnic and religious communities, said Christina Marriott, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH).\n\nDame Donna Kinnair saw first-hand the impact of Covid on BAME communities\n\n\"People send WhatsApps, videos, all kinds of messages - if you don't know where that's coming from then it is very likely to be inaccurate,\" said the vaccine deployment minister, Mr Zahawi, asking people to look at health information from official sources rather than rumours.\n\n\"This is an incredibly well developed scientific endeavour and I would urge everyone to take the information, read it and then make your mind up,\" he said.\n\nDame Donna Kinnair, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said the apparent reluctance among BAME communities flew in the face of those most in need of vaccinations - which she had seen first-hand.\n\n\"For someone like me, who stood in the Nightingale, and saw row after row of BAME patients being ventilated - and seeing how it disproportionately affected people from the BAME community - I'd be urging everybody to take the vaccine,\" she said.\n\nAmong the vaccine rumours, rejected as groundless by independent health experts, have been suggestions that vaccines could change someone's DNA or that it would inject a microchip.\n\nRumours about vaccines is a problem for many online platforms, not just WhatsApp, - but the messaging service is using spam detection technology to control how information is shared and has partnered with reliable sources of information, including the World Health Organization, on a chatbot for Covid questions.\n\nJabeer Butt, head of the Race Equality Foundation, said the findings on a lower ethnic minority take up were \"particularly worrying\".\n\nHe warned the \"Covid vaccine may not reach the communities\" who had been worst affected and most \"disproportionately impacted\" by the virus.\n\nThe study, based on a survey of more than 2,000 adults across the UK, revealed different levels of trust in the vaccination process among social and ethnic groups.\n\nOn average, more than three-quarters of people would take a coronavirus vaccine if they were advised to by a doctor or health professional.\n\nPeople on lower incomes also seemed less confident about a vaccine, with a wealth gap in take-up:\n\nMs Marriott, chief executive of the RSPH, said the findings were \"highly concerning\" that people from ethnic minorities and on low incomes were less willing to be vaccinated.\n\n\"These are exactly the groups which have suffered most through Covid.\n\n\"They continue to be most at risk of getting ill and most at risk of dying. So the government, the NHS and local public health must rapidly and proactively work with these communities,\" she said.", "A recording has emerged of Tom Cruise apparently shouting at workers on the set of Mission: Impossible 7 and threatening to fire them if they broke Covid-19 guidelines.\n\nThe Sun published the expletive-laden audio in which Cruise said: \"If I see you doing it again, you're... gone.\"\n\nThe paper said Cruise had seen two crew members \"standing too close to one another in front of a computer screen\".\n\nVariety and Reuters quoted sources confirming the audio was genuine.\n\nFilming is currently taking place in the UK. The Sun did not say when the incident happened, but film-makers returned to the country in early December, according to Reuters.\n\nThe Mission: Impossible franchise is hugely successful at the box office, starring Cruise as Ethan Hunt. Cruise is also a producer on the series.\n\nThe seventh movie had to pause filming in Italy in February due to concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, and The Sun said the actor had \"personally tried to ensure there are no more delays\".\n\nIn the recording, Cruise can be heard shouting: \"They're back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. We are creating thousands of jobs.\n\n\"That's it. No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their... homes because our industry is shut down.\n\n\"We are not shutting this... movie down. Is it understood? If I see it again, you're... gone.\"\n\nCruise wore a mask during recent shooting of Mission: Impossible 7 in Rome\n\nHe is starring in the film with Hayley Atwell (pictured in Rome in October)\n\nVariety said the film is scheduled for release in November 2021. BBC News has asked for comment from Cruise's representatives and the Mission: Impossible studio and producers.\n\nThe audio quickly spread around the internet. Nick Murphy, who directed last year's A Christmas Carol for BBC TV and Save Me for Sky Atlantic, praised the star's actions, writing: \"Tom Cruise was right.\"\n\nUS radio host John Rocha also voiced his support, writing: \"I wish MORE people in charge would react like this to people who violate protocols or not wearing masks. If only more people saw the bigger picture that Tom is highlighting here.\"\n\nDennis Tseng from movie site Collider added: \"Tom Cruise ain't wrong. Now he just needs to come back to America and yell at every single anti-masker.\"\n\nAnd British actress Rebecca Front joked: \"The one thing missing from that #TomCruise audio is the distant sound of a lone drill and an anguished 1st AD [assistant director] shouting 'Can we PLEASE hold the work?!\"\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Ursula von der Leyen: \"I cannot tell you whether there will be a deal or not\".\n\nA \"narrow path\" has opened up for the UK and EU to strike a post-Brexit trade deal, the president of the European Commission has said.\n\nUrsula von der Leyen said the \"next few days are going to be decisive\", with just two weeks left before the UK quits EU trading rules.\n\nShe said differences over enforcing a deal are \"largely being resolved,\" but talks over fishing remain \"difficult\".\n\nPM Boris Johnson told MPs there was \"every opportunity\" to reach a deal.\n\nOfficials from both sides are continuing talks in Brussels, as they race to strike a deal before the UK's post-Brexit transition period ends on 31 December.\n\nDespite weeks of intensive talks, they have remained stuck over fishing rights and how far the UK should be able to depart from EU rules.\n\nUpdating the European Parliament on an EU leaders' summit last week, Mrs von der Leyen said: \"As things stand, I cannot tell you whether there will be a deal or not.\n\n\"But there is a path to an agreement now - the path may be very narrow, but it is there.\"\n\nShe said that negotiators had agreed a \"strong mechanism\" to ensure neither side lowers their environmental or social standards, which was a \"big step forwards\".\n\nBut she added differences remained over how to \"future proof\" rules in this area, although disagreements over how to enforce a deal \"by now are largely being resolved\".\n\nOn Wednesday Mr Johnson's spokesman said: \"We have made some progress in some areas, but it still remains that there are some significant gaps.\"\n\nHe added that it is \"still the case\" the prime minister views no deal as \"the most likely outcome\".\n\nSpeaking after Mrs von der Leyen, Mr Johnson said: \"There's every opportunity, every hope I have, that our friends and partners across the Channel will see sense and do a deal.\n\n\"All that it takes is for them to understand that the UK has a natural right, like every other country, to be able to want to control its own laws and its own fishing grounds.\"\n\nHe told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions that \"whatever happens in the next few days,\" the UK will \"prosper mightily\" whether a deal is found or not.\n\nMrs von der Leyen also reported progress in another area which has proved contentious - agreed rules on how and when each side can give government subsidies to private firms.\n\nShe confirmed the two sides were now trying to agree \"common principles\" for when subsidies could be offered.\n\nAt an earlier stage in talks, the EU had insisted the UK should follow its current and future \"state aid\" rules in this area - a demand rejected by the UK.\n\nThe German politician added that there had been progress on \"guarantees of domestic enforcement\" of the rules, as well as allowing both sides to \"autonomously\" take action where disagreements arise.\n\nHowever, she was more downbeat on fishing, where the two sides are haggling over access to each other's waters for their fishermen after 1 January.\n\n\"In all honesty, it sometimes feels that we will not be able to resolve this question,\" she said, but added that continuing the talks was the \"only responsible\" course of action.\n\nShe added the EU respected British \"sovereignty\" over its waters, but needed \"predictability and stability\" for European fishing fleets.\n\nMeanwhile, it has been announced that both Houses of Parliament will begin their Christmas recess at the end of Thursday's sitting.\n\nBut No 10 said MPs and peers could be recalled to Westminster to vote on legislation to implement a deal before the end of the Brexit transition.\n\nOn Tuesday, Commons leader Jacob-Rees Mogg said Parliament would ideally need six days to pass any such law, but this period could be \"truncated\" if required.\n\nAny potential deal would also need to be voted on by the European Parliament and potentially EU national parliaments before it can fully come into force.\n\nEU leaders can in theory decide to provisionally apply any agreement and hold these votes after 31 December, but it would be unpopular among MEPs.", "Last updated on .From the section Premier League\n\nRoberto Firmino's last-minute header broke Tottenham's stubborn resistance at Anfield and sent Liverpool to the top of the Premier League table.\n\nAn entertaining encounter looked set to end in stalemate before - with the game entering stoppage time - Firmino soared to flash a header high past Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris from Andrew Robertson's corner.\n\nLiverpool flew at Spurs in the opening exchanges and went ahead when Mohamed Salah's shot took a big deflection off Eric Dier and looped over Lloris.\n\nSpurs had barely left their own half but struck with a counter punch seven minutes later when Son Heung-min raced clear to slip a composed finish past Alisson.\n\nSpurs actually had the better chances in the second half, with Steven Bergwijn firing wide then hitting a post when clean through and Harry Kane heading over from point-blank range.\n\nManager Jose Mourinho was left to regret those missed opportunities as a late Liverpool surge ended with Firmino's winner to send the defending champions three points clear at the top of the table and inflict Spurs' first Premier League loss since the opening weekend home defeat against Everton.\n\nThis was the night Anfield paid tribute to former manager Gerard Houllier who died aged 73 this week.\n\nThere were poignant moments with a minute's applause before kick-off and those fans gathered on The Kop sang the songs they used to sing to celebrate the Frenchman's success.\n\nLiverpool's players paid their own tribute with a display that started in blistering fashion as a succession of chances were created, then showed grit and resilience to fashion the three points as Spurs threatened after the break.\n\nLiverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was animated, even by his standards, raging at the officials on numerous occasions before celebrating wildly with his players and The Kop at the final whistle.\n\nAfter a lacklustre performance at Fulham, this was the perfect response as they returned to familiar territory at the top of the table.\n\nSpurs were left bitterly disappointed and deflated as they were sunk by a late goal at Anfield once again - their frustration made even more acute by the golden chances they missed to secure a statement victory and end a Liverpool unbeaten home sequence in the league that now stretches to 66 games.\n\nBergwijn squandered two opportunities to score with only Alisson to beat then Kane somehow directed a header down and over the top at The Kop end, holding his head in disbelief.\n\nWhen the dust settles, Mourinho will feel Spurs showed why they are currently one of the top two sides in the country as they survived that Liverpool assault to open up the opportunities to actually win.\n\nThe last time Mourinho managed a side at Anfield, a 3-1 defeat when he was in charge of Manchester United in December 2018 saw him sacked 24 hours later. Here at Spurs, he is in charge of a developing side that will certainly contest places at the top end of the table this season.\n\n'Jose told me that the better team lost' - what they said\n\nLiverpool boss Klopp: \"It was just a really good game against a counter-attacking monster, the possession we had we did incredibly well. The best way to defend Tottenham is to keep the ball all the time.\n\n\"Yes, they have scored a goal and had two chances. Apart from that, we controlled the game and it is a massively deserved three points. I am happy. For me, it [the Spurs goal] is offside. They watch it 20 times, but when I saw it, it is offside.\n\n\"I am so happy we scored that goal because it felt like 70% of the ball against a top side. Bobby [Firmino], what a header. I am over the moon for him. What a game he played, those movements, he opens up all the other gaps.\"\n\nOn exchange with Mourinho after the final whistle: \"Jose told me 'the better team lost'. I thought he was joking, but he wasn't.\"\n\nSpurs boss Mourinho: \"We were playing to win, we were not playing to get a point. A point would have been quite a fair result but we played to win and had the biggest chances to win it. The moment of the occasions and the reaction they had, they were in trouble.\n\n\"I feel it was a very undeserved result, but that's football. At half-time we move the pieces a little bit, but overall the game was always under control and I am very pleased with the performance.\n\n\"The changes were to find counter-attack situations which we did immediately, but with Gio's [Lo Celso] yellow card and the incredible pressure these guys on the touchline put on the officials, I was afraid of the yellow card and I had to take him off. I am not the one to speak to my colleagues about their behaviour on the touchline.\"\n• None Tottenham have won just one of their past 27 Premier League away games against Liverpool (D8 L18), last winning there in May 2011.\n• None Tottenham have only conceded more Premier League goals against Chelsea (102) than they have against Liverpool (97).\n• None This was Tottenham's first Premier League defeat in 12 Premier League games (W7 D4), since a 0-1 loss to Everton in September.\n• None Mourinho has never won away against Klopp in six attempts in all competitions (D2 L4), with Klopp being the manager he's faced the most away from home without ever tasting victory.\n• None Son has scored 11 goals in 13 Premier League appearances this season, equalling his goal tally from the entire 2019-20 campaign (11 in 30).\n• None Twenty of Tottenham's 25 Premier League goals this season have been scored by either Son (11) or Kane (9).\n• None Salah now has eight goals against Tottenham in all competitions - against no other side has he scored more in his club career in European football (level with Bournemouth and Watford).\n\nLiverpool visit Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday (12:30 GMT) while Tottenham host Leicester City on Sunday (14:15).\n• None Goal! Liverpool 2, Tottenham Hotspur 1. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) header from the centre of the box to the top left corner. Assisted by Andrew Robertson with a cross following a corner.\n• None Attempt saved. Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.\n• None Attempt blocked. Curtis Jones (Liverpool) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Sadio Mané.\n• None Attempt missed. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Toby Alderweireld. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None A mega mixtape of the very best indie floorfillers\n• None Former England cricketer on his desire to coach at the highest level", "Advice around celebrating Christmas safely across the UK is expected to be significantly strengthened in the coming days, the BBC has been told.\n\nPeople are likely to be urged to think carefully about travelling and to stay local where possible.\n\nHowever, it is unlikely the agreed rules - allowing up to three households to mix for five days - will change.\n\nOfficials from all four nations held talks on Tuesday - and more are scheduled to take place on Wednesday.\n\nIt comes amid concern that relaxing the restrictions will fuel a further surge in Covid-19 case numbers.\n\nTwo leading medical journals described the current rules as \"rash\".\n\nA source said no final decisions had been taken but people are likely to be told that the relaxations are limits not targets and that they should be cautious when forming household bubbles.\n\nIt is still hoped a common approach can be agreed across the four nations.\n\nUnder the agreed Christmas rules, travel restrictions will be eased from 23 to 27 December to allow up to three households to form a bubble and stay overnight at each other's homes.\n\nA spokeswoman for Northern Ireland's government said scientific advisers would be consulted ahead of any decision, while a Welsh government spokesman said talks on Wednesday would \"confirm the position\".\n\nAhead of the talks, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon argued there was a \"case\" for tightening the planned freedoms to combat a rise in infections and indicated she could break with the four-nations approach.\n\nMeanwhile, another 18,450 cases and 506 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported in the UK on Tuesday, government figures showed.\n\nThe four nations have been taking very different approaches to restrictions in the last few months, so agreeing a common approach to Christmas was no small ask.\n\nBut there are big questions now about what changes should be made given the rising number of Covid cases in many areas.\n\nI understand there are no plans to make changes to the restrictions in England; meaning it's unlikely the legal rules will change.\n\nHowever, we can expect firmer guidance in the next few days. One source on the call with the four nations told me there was an acceptance tougher messaging was needed.\n\nThere has been discussion about travel. Some are particularly worried about people moving from areas where the virus is spreading fast, to areas where it's fairly rare, and taking the virus with them. The new guidance could cover that - as well as reminding people the rules are a maximum, not a target.\n\nIt's not impossible that different parts of the UK will take different decisions. But there is still hope they can agree when talks reconvene on Wednesday morning.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on ministers to hold an emergency review of the plans.\n\nEarlier, No 10 said the rules were \"under constant review\" but it still intended to allow families to meet up.\n\nThe prime minister's spokesman said the government had been clear that people needed to \"remain cautious and vigilant\" during the five days of relaxed rules.\n\nAccording to a YouGov poll, a majority of people (57%) in Great Britain believe the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions over Christmas should be scrapped.\n\nSome 31% said the easing should go ahead as planned, while 12% said they were unsure.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The government needs to \"review\" and \"toughen up\" the planned Christmas virus restrictions, says Sir Keir Starmer.\n\nIn a joint editorial criticising the UK's Christmas rules, the editors of British Medical Journal and Health Service Journal wrote that the government was \"about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives\".\n\nThey stressed that demand on the NHS was increasing, and added that a new strain of coronavirus \"has introduced further potential jeopardy\".\n\nIf the UK's Christmas plans are not changed, BMJ editor in chief Fiona Godlee said hospitals could become overwhelmed with a surge in Covid patients.\n\nShe told BBC News: \"On the current trend, if nothing is done, by New Year's Day there will be as many people in hospital with Covid-19 as there were at the peak of the first phase in April.\n\n\"That's even without the Christmas relaxation - so if you add that on top, and then on top of that the winter pressures that we always see in the NHS at winter, you will see a worrying scenario of people not being able to get the care they need.\"\n\nShe also said England's tiered system was \"not succeeding in what it set out to do\", as case numbers have continued to increase in some areas in the top tiers.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What can I do under tier 3 restrictions in England?\n\nA review of which areas of England are in which tier is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.\n\nIt has already been announced that some 10.8 million people across London, Essex and Hertfordshire will join tier three from 00:01 GMT on Wednesday, bringing the total number of people living under the toughest restrictions to 34 million people - or 61% of England's population.\n\nUnder tier three - very high alert - rules, pubs and restaurants must close, except for takeaway and delivery, and indoor entertainment venues such as theatres, bowling alleys and cinemas must remain shut.", "England footballer Jack Grealish has been banned from driving for nine months and fined £82,499 for two motoring offences.\n\nCCTV footage from an incident on 29 March shows the Aston Villa captain crashing into parked vehicles after disobeying lockdown rules to meet friends.\n\nThe video shared by West Midlands Police also shows Mr Grealish driving carelessly on 18 October.", "MI6 has its headquarters in Vauxhall, London\n\nMI6 agents and informants may be committing crimes in the UK, a watchdog has revealed.\n\nThe Investigatory Powers Tribunal disclosed the ruling despite government attempts to keep the matter secret.\n\nIt also said questions raised should be disclosed to campaigners, who have been asking for greater legal clarity over what the intelligence agencies can do.\n\nIt comes a day after the intelligence services watchdog raised its own questions about some MI6 activities.\n\nSince 1994, MI6 - the UK's foreign intelligence service - has been able to authorise people that it recruits to help the UK overseas to commit crimes as part of its targeting of threats to the UK.\n\nThat power has long-been dubbed the \"James Bond clause\" - but it does not explicitly permit criminal operations in the UK.\n\nUnprecedented legislation that clarifies how agencies recruiting undercover informants can authorise them to commit crimes is reaching its final stages in Parliament.\n\nThe disclosure of crimes potentially committed by people supplying MI6 with intelligence has come amid a long-running court battle over whether such secret undercover activity can ever be legal.\n\nWhile the legal battle has revealed details of how MI5, the domestic security service, authorises crimes by its informants, Wednesday's disclosure by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) is the first indication that MI6 may be doing the same.\n\nIn the ruling, the IPT rejected secret submissions from the government to keep the entire matter behind closed doors.\n\nThe disclosure came the day after the annual report of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, the watchdog that oversees the secret agencies, revealed that one of MI6's agents overseas may have gone rogue and committed serious crimes.\n\nThe report says that in 2019 the secret agency had recruited a potential agent overseas and had sought a standard authorisation from the foreign secretary for the individual to potentially commit crimes as part of their work for the UK.\n\nThe report does not state which foreign secretary it was.\n\n\"The Secret Intelligence Service [MI6] identified a risk that the agent may be involved in serious criminality overseas,\" said the report. \"SIS did not encourage, condone or approve any such criminality on the part of their agent.\n\n\"In their submission, SIS set out that they had secured the agent's cooperation on terms of full transparency about the activities in which the agent was involved.\n\n\"It included some clear 'red lines', setting out conduct that was not authorised and would result in the termination of SIS's relationship with the agent.\"\n\nSix months later, when the authorisation had to be reviewed, it appeared that MI6 had concluded the asset had probably crossed those red lines - but they did not tell the foreign secretary, who had to sign off the continuing operation.\n\n\"We concluded that the renewal did not provide a comprehensive overview of available information which we believe would have provided the Secretary of State with a fuller and more balanced picture,\" said the watchdog. \"SIS immediately responded to these concerns by updating the FCO.\"\n\nCampaigners behind the legal action say both revelations prove the public are being kept in the dark.\n\nBut ministers say legislation going through Parliament will provide clear safeguards for agents to commit crimes while undercover.", "The UK's inflation rate fell dramatically to 0.3% in November from 0.7% in October, official figures show.\n\nLower prices for clothing, food and non-alcoholic drinks made the biggest contribution to the fall, the Office for National Statistics said.\n\nHowever, games, toys and hobbies increased in price, partly offsetting those declines.\n\nThe figures reflect the fact that most of the country was in some form of Covid lockdown during the month.\n\nAnalysts also pointed to November's Black Friday sales, saying clothing retailers offered bigger discounts than usual this year.\n\nThe ONS said there had been media reports that some Black Friday sales might have spread further across the month.\n\nGames and toys became more expensive as people tried to amuse themselves while their movements were restricted.\n\nNormally, prices for clothes fall each year in summer sales before autumn ranges come in, then rise before further sales towards the end of the year, the ONS said.\n\nClothes would usually go up in price in November, the ONS said.\n\nHowever, the coronavirus crisis has changed how prices move.\n\nInflation is the rate at which the prices for goods and services increase.\n\nIt affects everything from mortgages to the cost of our shopping and the price of train tickets.\n\nIt's one of the key measures of financial well-being, because it affects what consumers can buy for their money. If there is inflation, money doesn't go as far.\n\nThe latest Consumer Prices Index figures come amid evidence that shop prices are falling in the run-up to Christmas, as retailers race to clear stock and deal with a \"deepening\" High Street crisis.\n\n\"With significant restrictions in place across the UK, inflation slowed, predominantly due to clothing and food prices. Also, after several months of buoyant growth, second-hand car prices fell back a little,\" said the ONS deputy national statistician for economic statistics, Jonathan Athow.\n\nDiscounts are most common at retailers selling fashion and DIY goods, according to the British Retail Consortium's (BRC) Shop Price Index.\n\nThe sharp fall in inflation \"came as a bit of a surprise\", said Ruth Gregory, senior UK economist at Capital Economics.\n\n\"What we hadn't anticipated was the slump in food inflation from 0.6% to -0.6%, which came despite the boost to demand for food in the supermarkets during the second Covid-19 lockdown.\"\n\nHowever, she added: \"This does not change the big picture that inflation will start to rise more sharply from April when the temporary VAT cut for the hospitality sector is reversed and the downward drag from the previous plunge in fuel prices drops out of the annual comparison.\n\n\"Together these forces could lift inflation to 2% by the middle of next year. But given there will still be some spare capacity in the economy, there seems little danger of inflation rising sustainably above the 2% target unless there is a no-deal Brexit.\"\n\nLaith Khalaf, financial analyst at AJ Bell, said there had been a Black Friday effect, with increased discounting by retailers pushing down the cost of clothing and footwear.\n\n\"Of course, Black Friday occurs every year, but this time around, discounts were particularly steep in clothing sales, which led to an unseasonal fall in prices,\" he said.\n\n\"That highlights the continued pressure on the retail sector, and while price cuts on the shelves are good for consumers, they don't bode well for profits.\"\n\nHannah Audino, economist at PwC, said: \"The acceleration of consumer price growth over the past two months has been cut short.\n\n\"Most of the main groups of goods and services experienced a fall in prices between October and November, including transport, health, recreation and culture.\n\n\"The largest drop in prices came from clothing and footwear as retailers discounted products for Black Friday.\"", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nA long-lost Egyptian artefact has been found in a cigar box in Aberdeen - and it is hoped it could shed new light on the Great Pyramid.\n\nThe chance discovery was made by a member of staff at the University of Aberdeen during a collection review.\n\nThe small fragment of 5,000-year-old wood - which is now in several pieces - is said to be \"hugely significant\".\n\nThe engineer Waynman Dixon originally discovered it among items inside the pyramid's Queens Chamber in 1872.\n\nThe piece of cedar - which it is believed may have been used during the pyramid's construction - was donated to the university in 1946 but then could not be located.\n\nCuratorial assistant Abeer Eladany found it while conducting a review of items housed in the university's Asia collection.\n\nAbeer, who is originally from Egypt and spent 10 years working in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, cross-referenced it with other records.\n\n\"Once I looked into the numbers in our Egypt records I instantly knew what it was, and that it had effectively been hidden in plain sight in the wrong collection,\" she said.\n\n\"I'm an archaeologist and have worked on digs in Egypt but I never imagined it would be here in north-east Scotland that I'd find something so important to the heritage of my own country.\n\n\"It may be just a small fragment of wood, which is now in several pieces, but it is hugely significant given that it is one of only three items ever to be recovered from inside the Great Pyramid.\"\n\nThe wood was originally found in 1872\n\nTwo other items found by Waynman Dixon - a ball and hook - are now housed in the British Museum, but the wood was missing.\n\n\"The university's collections are vast - running to hundreds of thousands of items - so looking for it has been like finding a needle in a haystack,\" Abeer added.\n\n\"I couldn't believe it when I realised what was inside this innocuous-looking cigar tin.\"\n\nAn illustration by Charles Piazzi Smyth of pyramid work\n\nCovid restrictions delayed the dating of the rediscovered cedar fragment.\n\nResults have recently been returned and show that the wood can be dated to somewhere in the period 3341-3094 BC.\n\nThis is said to support the theory that, whatever their use, the so-called Dixon Relics were original to the construction of the Great Pyramid and not later artefacts left behind by those exploring the chambers. But the dating is also surprising as historical records have dated the pyramid itself to a period about 500 years later.\n\nNeil Curtis, head of museums and special collections at the University of Aberdeen, said: \"Finding the missing Dixon Relic was a surprise but the carbon dating has also been quite a revelation. It is even older than we had imagined.\n\n\"This may be because the date relates to the age of the wood, maybe from the centre of a long-lived tree. Alternatively, it could be because of the rarity of trees in ancient Egypt, which meant that wood was scarce, treasured and recycled or cared for over many years.\"\n\nHe added: \"It will now be for scholars to debate its use and whether it was deliberately deposited, as happened later during the New Kingdom, when pharaohs tried to emphasise continuity with the past by having antiquities buried with them.\n\n\"This discovery will certainly reignite interest in the Dixon Relics and how they can shed light on the Great Pyramid.\"\n\nYou might be interested in:\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.", "First Minister Mark Drakeford has said people in Wales should do the least they need to do this Christmas.\n\nThe Welsh Government clarified today that only two households - plus an additional single person who lives alone - will be able to meet at Christmas in Wales.\n\nIt comes despite earlier the prime minister claiming all four UK nations had agreed to stick to an agreement to allow three households to meet.\n\nMr Drakeford said people in Wales need to \"use the freedoms responsibly, carefully and cautiously, and think always of the impact of that will have on your own safety and the safety of others.\"", "Rail fares will rise more than expected next year - although the new inflation-busting 2.6% increase is being delayed until 1 March.\n\nRegulated fares were expected to increase by 1.6% in January, as successive governments linked annual rises to July's RPI inflation rate.\n\nRail minister Chris Heaton-Harris said the rise reflected \"unprecedented taxpayer support\" for rail this year.\n\nBut unions said the rise was a \"kick in the teeth\" for passengers.\n\nAn average increase of 2.6% across all fares will still be the lowest since 2017, and it will only last nine months, until the end of 2021.\n\nHad the rise come in in January it would have equated to a 1.95% jump across the whole year.\n\nUntil 28 February season tickets holders can renew at existing prices and the cost of daily fares will stay the same.\n\nRail travel has been badly hit during the coronavirus crisis, and Mr Heaton-Harris said delaying the price rise from January \"ensures passengers who need to travel have a better deal this year\".\n\nRegulated fares make up about half of fares and include season tickets on most commuter routes. But operators are expected to match their rises for unregulated fares.\n\nIt means, for example, a Brighton-to-London annual season ticket going up by about £129 to £5,109, and a Manchester-to-Glasgow off-peak return rising by £2.30 to £90.60.\n\nThe rail minister said: \"By setting fares sensibly, and with the lowest actual increase for four years, we are ensuring that taxpayers are not overburdened for their unprecedented contribution, ensuring investment is focused on keeping vital services running and protecting frontline jobs.\"\n\nThe government took over rail franchise agreements from train operators in March, following the collapse in demand for travel caused by the virus crisis. This is expected to have cost about £10bn by mid-2021.\n\nThe rise will help recover some of the significantly increased costs met by taxpayers to keep services running during the pandemic, Mr Heaton-Harris said.\n\nJacqueline Starr, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators, acknowledged that \"passengers will be disappointed\" about the fares rise, adding that \"governments must ultimately decide the balance between how much farepayers and taxpayers pay to run the railway\".\n\nShe added that industry was committed to working with the government to make the fares and ticketing system easier to use.\n\nThe department has written to all operators telling them to begin immediate work on developing flexible season tickets, allowing people who travel two or three days a week to save money compared with buying daily tickets. Firms have been told these must be introduced across England by the end of next year.\n\nAnthony Smith, chief executive of consumer watchdog Transport Focus, said: \"This fare increase makes it even more important that, when travel restrictions start to be lifted, the industry is able to attract people back by offering fares that match how we know people hope to live, work and travel in future.\"\n\nUnion leaders condemned the rise, with Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association calling it a \"kick in the teeth for passengers\".\n\nHe continued: \"Ministers are well aware that millions have suffered this year with the uncertainty of employment, a changing picture on furlough provision, pay cuts, wages freezes and lost jobs. So, to reach for a hike in fares of this size is both extortionate and plain daft.\"\n\nMick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said ticket prices were being \"forced up to subsidise private profit. The time is right for a publicly-owned railway system that delivers reasonable fares for our people as the public and the economy tries to recover and shake off the Covid crisis next year.\"\n\nUpdate 8 January 2021: This story has been amended to remove an example of a season ticket price increase faced by one passenger. The example of a first class ticket was considered to be unrepresentative of the situation faced by the average commuter.", "Pregnant women should be allowed to have one person alongside them during scans, appointments, labour and birth, under new NHS guidance sent to trusts in England.\n\nThe chosen person should be regarded as \"an integral part of both the woman and baby's care\" - not just a visitor.\n\nBut midwives are concerned safety is being sacrificed in favour of popularity.\n\nThey say decisions on access should be left to local maternity staff.\n\nSince the first lockdown, individual hospitals have drawn up their own rules on partners being present, meaning some women have had to give birth unaccompanied.\n\nThe new guidance says pregnant women \"value the support from a partner, relative, friend or other person through pregnancy and childbirth, as it facilitates emotional wellbeing\".\n\nWomen should therefore have access to support \"at all times during their maternity journey\".\n\nAll trusts should now make it easy for this to happen, while keeping the risk of coronavirus transmission within NHS maternity services as low as possible.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How has giving birth changed during the pandemic?\n\nThe guidance says pregnant women should chose their support person, who does not need to be the co-parent or baby's father.\n\nHospital trusts are being asked to reduce the risks of virus spread by:\n\nThe guidance says support people who test negative should be treated as part of the team supporting the woman.\n\nBut Royal College of Midwives chief executive Gill Walton said: \"With more areas moving into tier-three restrictions, many will question the common sense of releasing this new guidance now.\n\n\"We support and trust local maternity and midwifery leaders to make decisions in the best interest of the women in their care.\n\n\"We trust them to work with health and safety representatives and to follow NHS England's own risk assessment process, which enables maternity services to make decisions about visiting and access for partners and families that are based on current, local information.\"\n\nPregnancy and childbirth doctors said they welcomed the new guidance, recognising how difficult restrictions on birth partners had been for women during the pandemic - but they queried the use of rapid tests to assess risk.\n\n\"We hope the roll-out of rapid testing will increase the time partners who test negative can spend with women and their babies on antenatal and postnatal wards, although we have concerns about the capacity and sensitivity of lateral flow testing to enable maternity services to reopen fully,\" said Dr Edward Morris, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.\n\nDr Morris said decisions about visiting and access for partners and families would \"need to be based on local information and testing capacity, and clearly communicated to women and their families\".", "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have signed a deal with streaming service Spotify to produce and host podcasts.\n\nPrince Harry and Meghan's charity will receive an undisclosed sum from the partnership between their production company, Archewell Audio, and Spotify.\n\nIn a trailer, Prince Harry and Meghan promised \"different perspectives\" and interviews with \"amazing people\".\n\nIt comes after the couple this year signed a Netflix deal to produce a range of programmes and series.\n\nTheir first podcast, due for release during the Christmas period, is described as a holiday special.\n\nThe trailer on the Spotify's website features the duke and duchess promoting the deal, with Harry saying: \"That's what this project is all about, to bring forward different perspectives and voices that perhaps you haven't heard before and find our common ground.\"\n\nAbout the first podcast episode, Meghan said: \"We're talking to some amazing people, they're going to share their memories that have really helped shape this past year which has been, as we know, a difficult one for everyone.\"\n\nPrince Harry said: \"So many people have been through so much pain this year, experiencing loss, a huge amount of uncertainty, but it feels worth acknowledging that 2020 has connected us in ways we could have never imagined, through endless acts of compassion and kindness.\"\n\nThe couple are now living in California after announcing in January that they would be stepping back as senior royals.", "Michael and Emily Eavis say that Glastonbury \"lost millions\" after cancelling in 2020\n\nGlastonbury organiser Emily Eavis says she hopes the festival can go ahead in 2021, despite the \"huge uncertainty\" surrounding live music in the pandemic.\n\n\"We're doing everything we can on our end to plan and prepare,\" she told the BBC, \"but I think we're still quite a long way from being able to say we're confident 2021 will go ahead.\"\n\nEavis said Glastonbury lost \"millions\" in 2020. Her father, Michael, has previously warned the festival \"would seriously go bankrupt\" if they had to cancel again next year.\n\nBut that scenario is unlikely \"as long as we can make a firm call either way in advance\", Eavis clarified to the BBC.\n\nThe live music industry has been hit particularly hard by Covid-19, with more than 90% of the gigs planned for 2020 cancelled.\n\nDespite the arrival of a vaccine and rapid-turnaround tests, there are still uncertainties about when concerts can resume.\n\nOrganisers are also facing difficulties in obtaining cancellation insurance, putting huge sums of money at stake if an event is called off.\n\nEavis and other festival organisers are calling on MPs to create a fund that would cover the cost of events cancelled due to Covid-19 next year, following the example of the German government.\n\nIn an exclusive BBC interview, Eavis added that some sets could be live-streamed from Worthy Farm \"if we can't run the full show next year\"; and that this year's headliners - Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar - would all be welcomed back in the future.\n\nYou can read the full interview below.\n\nThe festival normally welcomes 200,000 people to Worthy Farm in Somerset every year\n\n2020 was due to be Glastonbury's 50th birthday party. How hard was the decision to cancel?\n\nOh, it was really hard. We obviously had so many plans for the 50th birthday, and it was set to be a full blown celebration. To be honest, we stayed optimistic about being able to run right until the 11th hour. I remember we had a meeting in February where we talked about there being a 10% chance of us being forced to cancel because of Covid. But that chance kept creeping up day by day, and by the middle of March, it had become clear there was simply no way we could plan, build and run the show. So we had to pull it. And within a week of us cancelling, the Covid crisis had moved up several levels and the whole summer's events had basically shut down.\n\nThousands of fans really want to be back at Worthy Farm next June. At this point, what would you say the odds are?\n\nI can't tell you how much we'd love to welcome everyone back to the farm! It's been way too quiet here this year and we want to get people back here as soon as we possibly can. Obviously the vaccine news in recent weeks has increased our chances, but I think we're still quite a long way from being able to say we're confident 2021 will go ahead.\n\nWe're doing everything we can on our end to plan and prepare, but there are still just so many unknowns and factors which are completely out of our control. What we definitely can't afford to risk is getting too far into the process of next year, only for it to be snatched away from us again. We lost millions this year, and we can't risk that happening again.\n\nWhat changes would have to be made to ensure the festival can go ahead?\n\nThat's sort of the issue, really: It's just too early to say. We're talking about a situation where the goalposts move weekly and sometimes daily. Clearly the vaccine is being rolled out, and that's great news, but there isn't yet any kind of clarity or consensus on what things will look like in May - when we'd usually have thousands of staff on site - or June, when we'd obviously have the festival.\n\nWe're doing everything we can to plan for next year. The hard part is understanding exactly what we'll be planning for, and what impact that will have on what we're able to do. But, right now, I'm not sure there's anything we could do that would completely ensure we can welcome 200,000 people to spend six days in some fields in June 2021.\n\nThis year's Pyramid stage headliners were due to be Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar and Paul McCartney\n\nYour dad said Glastonbury would go bankrupt if you had to cancel again in 2021. Is that still the case?\n\nWell, it certainly wouldn't be good news if we got to the week of the Festival - having obviously spent a huge amount of time and money building the event - and then heard a few days before gates opening that we weren't allowed to go ahead. But, as long as we can make a firm call either way well in advance, then we'll be OK. The next few weeks are going to be crucial, really. They'll hopefully give us a much better idea of what is and isn't going to be possible.\n\nThe House of Commons culture select committee has launched an inquiry into the future of the festival industry. What support would you like to see being offered?\n\nI think everyone - including government - wants there to be festivals next summer. But because of the huge uncertainty I just spoke about, and the fact that events take months to plan, there's a huge risk for organisers that they'll spend an awful lot of money and then see their events being cancelled for reasons completely outside of their control. And when those events go down, a huge number of jobs and livelihoods will disappear again too.\n\nSo, for that reason, I would certainly love for the UK government to offer some kind of support for events in the case that they are forced to cancel. Germany announced a €2.5bn (£2.3bn) event cancellation fund last week, and the whole UK festival industry would certainly welcome something similar from our government.\n\nThis summer, we should have seen Kendrick Lamar, Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift headlining the Pyramid Stage - what are the chances that they'll come back for 2021?\n\nWell, I certainly hope they'll be coming at some point! Again, it's much too soon for us to be able to confirm line-up for 2021, but we were so pleased with our line-up for 2020 and I really hope all three of those headliners will be here at the farm before too long.\n\nNow that Taylor has started recording indie albums in a woodland cabin, will she have to be re-booked for the acoustic stage?\n\nGood question! She'd be great there, wouldn't she? Her album has been a soundtrack to us on Worthy Farm this year, and rather than imagining what could have been, I've definitely been listening to it imagining what eventually will be! That moment is definitely coming.\n\nAnd when she does finally come and deliver a Pyramid headline set, she's welcome to play as many sets in other venues as she fancies! I certainly get the impression she'll be staying for the whole weekend and getting stuck in.\n\nDua Lipa was due to headline Glastonbury's Other Stage, having previously played the John Peel tent in 2017 and 2018\n\nWhat was the music that got you through the lockdown?\n\nOh, so many things. It feels like we've had music on constantly. Taylor, Laura Marling, Nick Cave, Phoebe Bridgers, Michael Kiwanuka, Dua Lipa, Sault and Bob Dylan have all been on heavy rotation.\n\nLivestreams and virtual gigs really took off this year. Did you tune in? And were there any that particularly impressed you?\n\nThey've been great, haven't they? We've watched quite a few. I absolutely loved Dua Lipa's one. It was designed by the team behind Block9, one of our late-night areas, and it really captured that proper club feel. It had us dancing around in the living room, by the fire. It really set the bar for live streams, I think, and I heard 5 million people tuned in, which is huge.\n\nThere's a unique feeling that comes with sharing a music event online with millions of others, knowing everyone else is stuck at home too. It's a new sensation, the 2020 version of gigs, and I think we've needed those connections.\n\nWe're actually looking into the possibility of streaming some things from here if we can't run the full show next year. We really want to get busy with planning some gigs - even if they're to be streamed!\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by BBC Music This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.\n\nThe BBC showed highlights from its Glastonbury archive over the summer… Did you wallow in the nostalgia like the rest of us?\n\nAbsolutely! It was certainly a bittersweet weekend for us, but the BBC created what I was just talking about, a shared weekend of musical reflection and connection. And I don't normally get to watch Glastonbury on the telly! It was really lovely.\n\nAnd there's no doubt that watching crowds of people experiencing something together has a new level of emotion attached to it now. That's why I think live music is going to return bigger and brighter - and also more moving and joyous - than ever. I can't wait for the next time I'm at a big show.\n\nOutside of music, what's the main thing that's helped you survive 2020?\n\nI was thinking the other day, actually, it almost feels like we've been as busy this year as any year, trying to plan and manage the difficult situations we've found ourselves in. But at the same time, I am hugely aware that I'm really lucky to have experienced these crazy times in good health and with my family, surrounded by Somerset countryside. Those are things which have definitely made this whole thing much easier to survive than the experiences of so many other people. I really can't complain at all.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "Test to Release, a new system meant to cut quarantine times for travellers arriving in England, has been beset with problems on its first day.\n\nTravellers are allowed to end self-isolation early if they pay for a coronavirus test and get a negative result five days after arriving.\n\nThe government picked 11 firms to carry out the private tests.\n\nBut some of the largest Covid test providers were not included and many on the list have hit problems.\n\nAirlines UK, the trade body for airlines, admitted there had been \"teething problems\", but said these would be resolved. \"Today is only the start - the end goal is the removal of quarantine altogether - but it's a positive beginning to what we hope will be the recovery of our sector,\" the group said.\n\nWhen the scheme launched on Tuesday morning, some test providers were overwhelmed with the sheer volume of demand from the public. One supplier has pulled out completely.\n\nSameDayDoctor asked to be withdrawn from the programme after being inundated with requests for tests.\n\nIt posted a message on its website stating: \"Unfortunately we have been so overwhelmed with requests for Test to Release that we cannot answer any more emails nor take any more bookings.\"\n\nAnother approved provider, Axiom, said it couldn't take bookings but an update would be available \"soon\", while another, Medicspot, told visitors to its website to register their interest.\n\nDr Laurence Gerlis, chief executive of SameDayDoctor, said he was initially delighted to have made the approved list.\n\n\"Getting on that list was the hardest thing I have ever done,\" he said. \"The paperwork was so thorough it took a full week. I was so proud to have been accredited and to be able to help. We went live at 7pm on Monday but were so overwhelmed it was clear we would struggle.\n\n\"Four hours later I emailed the government and asked to be taken off the list. We were inundated.\n\n\"I actually ended up in tears. We had to let so many people down. People had been relying on getting the test in order to come out of quarantine for all sorts of reasons. One of the most upsetting things I heard was a patient saying they needed the test because they knew this Christmas visit would be the last one they would be able to spend with their mother.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How do I quarantine after returning from abroad?\n\nCollinson, which has had testing set up at Heathrow and Manchester Airport for months, was not put on the list until later on Tuesday. The firm had initially told the BBC it was \"surprised and disappointed\" not be on the government's list of private providers.\n\nThe Department for Transport later confirmed that Collinson was now on the list. The company's joint chief executive David Evans said Test to Release \"is a significant positive step forward that will help the aviation sector open up travel safely\".\n\nPeople arriving in the UK from destinations on the government's travel corridors list are exempt from the 10-day self isolation requirement.\n\nThe Test to Release programme was designed to benefit people arriving from other locations.\n\nPaul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, told the PA news agency: \"It's a chaotic start for a system that was flagged as a solution to recovery in the travel sector, but it's been weeks in planning and has taken minutes to fall apart.\n\n\"I think most people just won't pay for a test because they can't guarantee they're going to get the results quickly, so they may as well just opt to spend two or three more days in quarantine and save the money.\"\n\nRichard Burge, chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce, said: \"It defies belief that the Government's long-awaited aviation Test To Release scheme has, within hours, proved to be unworkable.\"\n\n\"The return of international business travel and tourism is critical to London and the UK's economic recovery. This requires competent and proven testing companies.\n\nThe Prime Minister's official spokesman told the Press Association: \"We have made this option available to international travellers and we are working to approve more test providers.\"", "Aberdeen has seen a sharp rise in cases over the past week\n\nThree Scottish council areas are to have tougher coronavirus restrictions imposed from Friday in a bid to reverse rising numbers of cases.\n\nAberdeen, Aberdeenshire and East Lothian will all move from level two to level three of the five-tiered system.\n\nIt means people will no longer be allowed to travel outside of their own council area unless it is essential.\n\nPubs, cafes and restaurants will have to stop serving alcohol and must shut at 18:00.\n\nAnd indoor entertainment venues such as cinemas, bingo halls and amusement arcades will also have to close.\n\nAll of the country's other 29 council areas will remain in their current levels, including Edinburgh - which had been pushing to be downgraded from level three to level two.\n\nIt means that 80% of Scotland's population - about 4.35 million people - across 21 local authorities will be living under the level three rules when the changes come into force at 18:00 on Friday.\n\nThey include the 11 areas in western and central Scotland which were downgraded from the highest level four category last week.\n\nOnly four - Angus, Argyll and Bute, Falkirk and Inverclyde - remain in level two.\n\nHowever, Argyll and Bute is likely to move down to level one next week - and people living on the outer Argyll islands such as Islay, Mull and Iona will be able to meet in houses in groups of up to six from two households from Friday of this week.\n\nThe Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Highland, Moray, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are all already in level one, with no councils currently in the lowest level zero tier.\n\nAll of the levels will be reviewed again next Tuesday as a precaution ahead of the festive period.\n\nCase numbers in Aberdeen have increased from 76 cases per 100,000 to 122 over the past week, and in East Lothian from 69 per 100,000 people to 116.\n\nThe increase in Aberdeenshire has not been quite as sharp, but cases there are also rising.\n\nAlexander Burnett, the Scottish Conservative MSP for Aberdeenshire West, said it was \"extremely disappointing\" that the area had been moved to level three so close to Christmas, and called for extra financial support to be put in place by the Scottish government.\n\nHe added: \"Our hospitality sector has been decimated by repeated closures and this is likely to hurt even more during what is supposed to be one of their busiest periods.\"\n\nEast Lothian Council said its move to level three was disappointing but understandable given the high infection rates in the area in recent weeks.\n\nTory councillor Douglas Lumsden, the co-leader of Aberdeen City Council, said he was \"not too surprised\" by the decision to move the area up to level three, but questioned role of the hospitality sector in spreading the virus.\n\nAnd the Scottish Licensed Traders Association said continual uncertainty over the levels was \"hugely unfair\" on businesses which were being expected to \"switch on and off like a tap\".\n\nIt added: \"It's not just a case of opening the doors - premises have to order supplies and organise staff rotas. Many have already taken the decision to remain closed until 2021 because of this uncertainty.\"\n\nSpeaking as she announced the changes, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon acknowledged that the level three restrictions would cause \"real and continued difficulties for many businesses\", particularly in the hospitality sector.\n\nBut she insisted that the move was essential to bring the virus under control again.\n\nNine cases of a new strain of the virus have now been detected in Scotland after emerging in the south of England\n\nMs Sturgeon said Angus and Falkirk would both be monitored \"very carefully\" over the next week after a rise in cases in both areas, with a move to level three not being ruled out.\n\nCases have also \"increased quite sharply\" in East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and Fife, she said, adding: \"While the changes in these areas do not warrant a move to level four at this stage, we will be monitoring the situation very closely over the next few days.\"\n\nAnd she said it would be \"deeply irresponsible\" to ease restrictions in Edinburgh or neighbouring Midlothian as cases were rising sharply in both.\n\nThe rate in Edinburgh has increased from 70 to 100 per 100,000 over the past week, and in Midlothian from 88 to 147 per 100,000, with test positivity rates also increasing in both areas.\n\nMs Sturgeon took part in a four-nation call with leaders from around the UK later on Tuesday, which she told MSPs she had requested after a new strain of the virus was identified in England.\n\nNine cases of the new strain have now been confirmed in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, the first minister confirmed.\n\nThe talks were aimed at examining whether changes should be made to the planned relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions across the UK over Christmas, which will allow eight people from three households to mix indoors between 23 and 27 December.\n\nThey broke up with no decision being reached, although further discussions have been scheduled for Wednesday.\n\nSpeaking ahead of the meeting, Ms Sturgeon said: \"I do think there is a case for us looking at whether we tighten the flexibilities that were given any further, in terms of duration and numbers of people meeting.\"\n\nThe first minister said she would prefer to come to an agreed position across the UK, but said the Scottish government would \"consider what we think is appropriate\" if this was not possible.\n\nThe planned relaxation of the rules at Christmas has been described as a \"rash decision\" that will \"cost many lives\" by the both the Health Service Journal and British Medical Journal.\n\nScottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said the rising number of cases across many parts of Scotland ahead of the festive break showed that the journals were right.\n\nHe added: \"It is rather concerning that the first minister was unable to tell parliament what position she would be advocating on behalf of Scotland in intergovernmental discussions planned for this afternoon.\"\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on ministers to hold an emergency review of the Christmas plans.", "The publisher of a book about cancel culture by Julie Burchill has cancelled it after the writer was accused of Islamophobia on Twitter.\n\nThe book, Welcome to the Woke Trials, had been due to be published by Little, Brown in April.\n\nBut Burchill got embroiled with a row with fellow writer Ash Sarkar.\n\nLittle, Brown said her comments were \"not defensible from a moral or intellectual standpoint\" and \"crossed a line with regard to race and religion\".\n\nA statement from the company said: \"We will no longer be publishing Julie Burchill's book. This is not a decision we have taken lightly.\n\n\"We believe passionately in freedom of speech at Little, Brown and we have always published authors with controversial or challenging perspectives - and we will continue to do so.\n\n\"While there is no legal definition of hate speech in the UK, we believe that Julie's comments on Islam are not defensible from a moral or intellectual standpoint, that they crossed a line with regard to race and religion, and that her book has now become inextricably linked with those views.\"\n\nWriting on Facebook, Burchill said the publishers had told her there was \"also a concern that the line might be crossed again during the promotion of the book\", to which she added: \"I'LL SAY!\"\n\nSarkar accused Burchill of Islamophobia after the Sunday Telegraph columnist made comments about the age of one of the Prophet Muhammad's wives.\n\nAccording to Little, Brown's official description, Welcome to the Woke Trials was inspired by the \"vitriolic reaction\" Burchill received in response to an article she wrote for The Observer in 2013, after which she was \"pursued by the outrage mob\".\n\nThe publisher billed it as \"part-memoir and part-indictment of what happened to Burchill between then and now, as the regiments of the woke took over\".", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"I was told prepare my children for the worst\"\n\nA terminally ill cancer patient has been given the all-clear after becoming the first woman in Wales to be given a pioneering treatment.\n\nHelen Wynne Hughes, 32, was given CAR-T treatment that uses the body's own cells to fight cancer.\n\nThe mother-of-three, from Denbighshire, had the therapy earlier this year after other treatments failed.\n\n\"When the doctor said it was clear... we were in tears. Finally, there was no cancer at all,\" she said.\n\nWhatever Covid restrictions may be in place this Christmas, it is set to be special for the Hughes family.\n\nIt is a world away from a year ago when Helen was making memory boxes for her three young children - Aled, four, Tomos, two, and 19-month-old Beca.\n\n\"I had to tell them 'perhaps it is mummy's last Christmas',\" she recalled.\n\n\"They are so small, it was very hard. Making memory boxes, looking back thinking I might not get to do things with them again.\"\n\nHelen feared last Christmas would be her last\n\nThis festive period will also bring back memories of when this ordeal began.\n\nIt was Christmas Eve 2018 when she was told scans had revealed a mass on her chest \"the size of a grapefruit\".\n\nShe had felt unwell during her third pregnancy, only to be diagnosed with lymphoma.\n\n\"I was allowed to go home on Christmas Day to see the children open their presents and have lunch,\" she recalled.\n\n\"But I only managed two hours as I was so ill.\"\n\nHelen, from Ruthin, started chemotherapy almost immediately and 10 weeks later, she gave birth to her \"bundle of joy\" Beca.\n\nHowever last autumn she was given the devastating news that the cancer was unresponsive and had spread to her bones, liver, lungs.\n\n\"I was told to prepare my children for the worst,\" she said..\n\nHelen and Elgan were married in 2019 when she was told the treatments were not working\n\nEarly this year, Helen was offered a glimmer of hope when she was told she qualified for the new Chimeric Antigen Receptors Cell Therapy (CAR-T) treatment that had just been approved by the NHS.\n\n\"CAR-T was the last hope for me. I'd do anything,\" she said.\n\nHelen and husband Elgan had looked into getting the treatment privately but the estimated £500,000 bill made it \"out of our reach\".\n\nIt is a \"living drug\" that is tailor-made for each patient using their body's own cells\n\nFirstly, parts of the immune system - specifically white blood cells called T-cells - are removed from the patient's blood, frozen in liquid nitrogen and sent to laboratories in the United States.\n\nThere, the white blood cells are genetically reprogrammed so that rather than killing bacteria and viruses, they will seek out and destroy cancer.\n\nThey are now \"chimeric antigen receptor T-cells\" - or CAR-T cells.\n\nMillions of the modified cells are grown in the lab, before being shipped back to the UK where they are infused into the patient's bloodstream.\n\nAs this is a \"living drug\", the cancer-killing T-cells stay in the body for a long time and will continue to grow and work inside the patient.\n\nHelen spent five weeks at The Christie Hospital cancer centre in Manchester when the first coronavirus lockdown had just started.\n\n\"There were some quite shocking side effects,\" she said.\n\n\"I couldn't remember who I was, I couldn't eat and I couldn't walk properly but it was all worth it.\"\n\nThe family then faced an agonising six-month wait to learn whether the treatment had worked.\n\nLast week she was finally given the news she had craved, that the cancer \"had all gone\".\n\nHelen Wynne Hughes was diagnosed with lymphoma while pregnant with daughter Beca\n\n\"I was prepared for the worst but luckily CAR-T has saved my life,\" she said.\n\n\"I feel quite proud being the first female from Wales to have the treatment and hopefully many more after me will be allowed to have the treatment.\"\n\nWhile she still receives monthly blood transfusions because her immune system is \"at rock bottom\", she is now also looking for a stem cell donor and hoping to go back to work as a primary school teacher later next year.\n\n\"The stem cell treatment will hopefully mean the cancer can't return,\" she said. \"So I'm looking for a match.\"", "The LGBT-owned kilt producer pulled the yellow kilts from shelves in response to Proud Boys\n\nA Virginia kilt company is \"disgusted\" that their yellow kilts were worn by the far-right Proud Boys.\n\nMembers of the group were seen sporting the bright garments at a pro-Trump rally this weekend in Washington DC.\n\nThe Proud Boys are an all-male group of self-proclaimed \"Western chauvinists\" with a history of street violence.\n\nVerillas - the LGBT-owned brand - says the \"nightmare scenario\" has forced them to pull the kilts from the shelves.\n\nExtremist groups in the US often adopt or appropriate items of clothing as quasi-uniforms that indicate their allegiance and make them recognisable to others.\n\nOver the weekend, videos on social media showcased a row of Proud Boys in bright yellow Verillas kilts mooning the crowd gathered around them, with \"[expletive] antifa\" written on their bare bottoms.\n\nAntifa is a group of mostly far-left activists who have repeatedly clashed with the Proud Boys.\n\nVerillas owner Allister Greenbrier - a bisexual entrepreneur of Scottish descent - expressed shock and dismay that his brand was associated with the group.\n\n\"I was appalled, angry and frustrated because they are the opposite of everything our brand stands for,\" he told the BBC, noting that the men had initially claimed to be a metal band looking for kilts.\n\n\"I was quite angry. I had to calm down a bit, but we decided we really didn't want their money.\"\n\nIn a message on Twitter, Verillas announced a donation of $1,000 (£745) - a sum exceeding the Proud Boys' purchase - to the anti-racism organisation National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Verillas This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAside from pulling the offending garment off its racks, the company is also offering free colour exchanges for anybody who had previously purchased its yellow kilts.\n\nMr Greenbrier says his brand is going to attach charitable donations to their product lines moving forward.\n\n\"I can't control who buys my product, but if they're buying our product, they're putting their money towards a good cause and I think they won't be too happy when they find out they accidentally bought from a company that's really fighting for the opposite of what they believe in,\" he says.\n\n\"We want to turn hate into love,\" Mr Greenbrier added.\n\n\"The loud outpouring of support we've gotten has really turned around a nightmare scenario and shown that a lot of people support the same message we believe in.\"\n\nIt is not the first time the Proud Boys have caused trouble for a clothing brand.\n\nEarlier this year, British clothing company Fred Perry halted US sales of its polo shirts after the clothing item became a regular part of the Proud Boys' \"uniform\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Trump: \"I don't know who the Proud Boys are\"", "I have one simple rule for making sense of \"new variant\" or \"new strain\" coronavirus stories.\n\nAsk: \"Has the virus's behaviour changed?\"\n\nA mutated virus sounds instinctively scary, but to mutate and change is what viruses do.\n\nMost of the time it is either a meaningless tweak or the virus alters itself in such a way that it gets worse at infecting us and the new variant just dies out.\n\nOccasionally it hits on a new winning formula.\n\nThere is no clear-cut evidence the new variant of coronavirus - which has been detected in south-east England - is able to transmit more easily, cause more serious symptoms or render the vaccine useless.\n\nHowever, there are two reasons scientists are keeping a close eye on it.\n\nThe first is that levels of the variant are higher in places where cases are higher.\n\nIt is a warning sign, although it can be interpreted in two ways.\n\nThe virus could have mutated to spread more easily and is causing more infections.\n\nBut variants can also get a lucky break by infecting the right people at the right time. One explanation for the spread of the \"Spanish strain\" over the summer was simply people catching it on holiday and then bringing it home.\n\nIt will take experiments in the laboratory to figure out if this variant really is a better spreader than all the others.\n\nThe other issue that is raising scientific eyebrows is how the virus has mutated.\n\n\"It has a surprisingly large number of mutations, more than we would expect, and a few look interesting,\" Prof Nick Loman from the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium told me.\n\nThere are two notable sets of mutation - and I apologise for their hideous names.\n\nBoth are found in the crucial spike protein, which is the key the virus uses to unlock the doorway into our body's cells in order to hijack them.\n\nThe mutation N501 (I did warn you) alters the most important part of the spike, known as the \"receptor-binding domain\".\n\nThis is where the spike makes first contact with the surface of our body's cells. Any changes that make it easier for the virus to get inside are likely to give it an edge.\n\n\"It looks and smells like an important adaptation,\" said Prof Loman.\n\nMass vaccination will put a different kind of pressure on the virus because it will have to change in order to infect people who have been immunised\n\nThe other mutation - a H69/V70 deletion - has emerged several times before, including famously in infected mink.\n\nThe concern was that antibodies from the blood of survivors was less effective at attacking that variant of virus.\n\nAgain, it is going to take more laboratory studies to really understand what is going on.\n\nProf Alan McNally, from the University of Birmingham, said: \"We know there's a variant, we know nothing about what that means biologically.\n\n\"It is far too early to make any inference on how important this may or may not be.\"\n\nMutations to the spike protein lead to questions about the vaccine because the three leading jabs - Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford - all train the immune system to attack the spike.\n\nHowever, the body learns to attack multiple parts of the spike. That is why health officials remain convinced the vaccine will work against this variant.\n\nThis is a virus that evolved in animals and made the jump to infecting people around a year ago.\n\nSince then it has been picking up around two mutations a month - take a sample today and compare it to the first ones from Wuhan in China and there would be around 25 mutations separating them.\n\nCoronavirus is still trying out different combinations of mutations to properly nail infecting humans.\n\nWe have seen this happen before: The emergence and global dominance of another variant (G614) is seen by many as the virus getting better at spreading.\n\nBut soon mass vaccination will put a different kind of pressure on the virus because it will have to change in order to infect people who have been immunized.\n\nIf this does drive the evolution of the virus, we may have to regularly update the vaccines, as we do for flu, to keep up.", "\"Too feminist\" - Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo's mocking response after being told she had broken the law by naming too many women to senior posts.\n\nEleven women and five men had been promoted in 2018, breaching a national 2013 rule designed to bring about gender parity in employment.\n\nThe Paris authorities are being fined €90,000 ($109,000; £81,000) by the public service ministry.\n\n\"I am happy to announce we have been fined,\" Ms Hidalgo said.\n\nThe 2013 rule meant no more than 60% of new appointments to management positions in public service should go to one sex. Ms Hidalgo's recruitment drive saw 69% of the jobs go to women.\n\nAddressing a council meeting, the Socialist mayor joked: \"The management of the city hall has, all of a sudden, become far too feminist.\"\n\nBut she also highlighted a continuing lag in the promotion of women to senior positions in France and the need to accelerate progress towards parity by appointing more women than men.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Paris Deputy Mayor Audrey Pulvar says it \"will be an honour to pay the fine\"\n\n\"This fine is obviously absurd, unfair, irresponsible and dangerous,\" she said.\n\nFrance's Public Service Minister Amélie de Montchalin responded on Twitter, pointing out that the law had been changed since 2018.\n\nIn 2019, fines were dropped for appointing too many women or too many men to new jobs, as long as the overall gender balance was not affected.\n\nShe invited Ms Hidalgo to discuss how to promote women in public service and said the fine would go towards \"concrete actions\".", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "At Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour leader Keir Starmer said that “In three out of four tier two areas, infections are going up. In over half of the tier three areas, infections are going up.”\n\nWhen England exited its second national lockdown on December 2, 119 of the country’s 316 local authorities were placed into tier three areas.\n\nOf these areas, rolling weekly case rates have increased in 61 of them (although the latest day the government has released these numbers for is December 10) – or just over a half.\n\nAnd case rates are increasing in an even higher proportion of tier two areas – 159 out of 195 local authorities placed in tier two areas have cases growing.\n\nSo Mr Starmer is correct in both of his claims.\n\nCase rates are increasing in a higher proportion of local authorities in the South of England than those in the North or Midlands.\n\nCase rates show the proportion of the population who have tested positive for coronavirus in any given week. This can though be influenced by the amount of tests done in an area.\n\nHowever, weekly admissions to hospital, which can be a metric of serious coronavirus cases, have also started increasing again.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith gets the coronavirus vaccine\n\nThe Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith has become one of the first people to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.\n\nThe 80-year-old posted an image on Twitter of her receiving the vaccination while wearing a mask.\n\n\"Who wouldn't want immunity from Covid-19 with a painless jab??\" she asked in the tweet.\n\nThe rollout of the vaccine began in the UK last week, with healthcare workers, people living in care homes and the elderly being prioritised.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Prue Leith This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nLeith was also filmed receiving the vaccine, asking afterwards: \"Have you done it? I didn't even feel it.\"\n\nShe added the process was \"amazing\" and \"so efficient\".\n\nNoel Fielding, who co-hosts Bake Off, reacted to the news of his colleague being among the first wave of people in the world to be vaccinated against coronavirus.\n\n\"Always the most classy glamorous person in the room. Love you Prue x\", commented Fielding on Instagram.\n\nPrue Leith replaced Mary Berry on The Great British Bake Off when it moved to Channel 4\n\nFormer Bake Off winner Dr Rahul Mandal, wrote: \"Yes!! You just look as gorgeous in the tent as when you are taking your jab!!\"\n\nLeith joined Bake Off in 2017, replacing Mary Berry, when it moved from the BBC to Channel 4.\n\nPrior to joining the series, Leith appeared on BBC Two's Great British Menu for 11 years.\n\nThe latest series of Bake Off was initially halted by the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\nFilming was completed at the end of the summer, with the cast and crew following strict health protocols.\n\nThe series saw 20-year-old Peter Sawkins triumph - making him the youngest winner to date.\n\nThe first vaccine to be declared safe and effective and approved for mass use by UK regulators is made by Pfizer-BioNTech.\n\nThe company has manufacturing sites in Europe and the US. Initial vaccine doses for the UK are being produced at Pfizer's site in Puurs, Belgium.\n\nThe military have been called on to help, and some sports stadiums and conference centres are being converted into temporary vaccination centres.\n\nThe aim is to inoculate tens of millions of UK residents within months, with those in the higher risk health categories going first.\n\nThose receiving it will be given a booster jab 21 days after their first dose.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "PC Andrew Harper got married four weeks before he was killed\n\nThe killers of PC Andrew Harper will not have their sentences increased after judges rejected the attorney general's case that they were \"unduly lenient\".\n\nSuella Braverman QC had argued Henry Long, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole should be handed longer jail terms.\n\nShe said the sentences of the three men had caused \"widespread public concern\".\n\nPC Harper died after he was dragged for more than a mile behind a car driven by Long, 19, in Berkshire in August 2019.\n\nThe Thames Valley Police officer became tangled in a strap attached to the back of the car as he tried to apprehend the teenagers, who were suspected of stealing a quad bike.\n\nFollowing a trial at the Old Bailey, Long, Bowers and Cole were all cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.\n\nLong was jailed for 16 years, while getaway car passengers Bowers and Cole, both 18, were sentenced to 13 years each.\n\nDame Victoria Sharp said at the hearing earlier that their applications to reduce their sentences had also been refused.\n\nJessie Cole (l) and Albert Bowers (r) were convicted along with Henry Long (centre) in July\n\nCole and Bowers launched separate appeals against their convictions for manslaughter, which were also rejected.\n\nFollowing the judgement, a spokesman for the attorney general said she believed the sentences should be increased, but \"respects the decision of the Court of Appeal\".\n\nPC Harper, 28, from Wallingford, Oxfordshire, had been married to his wife Lissie for four weeks when he died.\n\nMrs Harper, 29, said in a statement she was \"disappointed\" and the sentences \"do not reflect the severity and barbarity of the crimes they committed\".\n\n\"I continue to feel let down by our justice system and the inadequate laws that we have in place,\" she said.\n\nMrs Harper has been campaigning for a change to the law to increase the sentences of those who kill emergency services workers.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Lissie Harper gives a statement after the decision\n\nIn their judgement, Dame Victoria Sharp, Lord Justice Holroyde and Mr Justice William Davis said PC Harper's family had the \"profound sympathy of the nation\".\n\nThey said \"no one\" doubted the \"seriousness of the offending in this case\", the \"importance of the fact that the victim was a police officer engaged in performing his duty\" and the \"gravity of the harm caused\".\n\nBut they added that trial judge Mr Justice Edis \"had to sentence three young offenders for manslaughter, not for murder\" and that \"mere disagreement with his decisions as to the nature and length of the appropriate sentences provides neither a ground for finding the sentencing to have been unduly lenient nor a ground for finding a sentence to have been wrong in principle or manifestly excessive\".\n\nThe judges said the attorney general's argument, that the sentences of Bowers and Cole were unduly lenient because the judge did not \"depart\" from the sentencing guidelines, was \"to say the least, an unusual submission\".\n\nFollow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "The former president posts that he has been told to report to a grand jury, \"which almost always means an Arrest\".", "More than 130,000 people have been vaccinated in the first week of the UK's vaccination programme.\n\nMinister Nadhim Zahawi, who is in charge of vaccine rollout, tweeted 137,897 people had been given their first doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech jab between 8 and 15 December.\n\nHe described it as a \"really good start\" for the programme.\n\nThe figure only captures the start of the community vaccination programme run by GPs which launched on Monday.\n\nAbout 200 of these local vaccination clinics are expected to be up and running by the end of the week.\n\nThey will be followed by another 1,000 in the coming weeks.\n\nThe government wants to offer everyone over 50 and younger adults with health conditions a vaccine - about 25 million people.\n\nBut the National Audit Office has warned \"complex logistical challenges\" remain.\n\nIt said thousands of extra staff would be needed to deliver vaccinations on the scale being talked about - the government has committed to offering all over 50s and younger adults with health conditions a vaccine.\n\nIt said hospitals and GP-run local clinics would not be able to do this on their own.\n\nBut it added the government had worked \"quickly and effectively\" to secure access to vaccines - contracts have been signed giving priority access to five different jabs.\n\nIt estimated the vaccination programme, including manufacturing, purchasing and delivering the jabs, could cost up to £12bn.\n\nDuring the first week, more than 70 hospitals took part in the vaccination programme - with another 10 starting this week.\n\nMr Zahawi said the figures were provisional and from next week there would be published data available.\n\n\"Transparency is vital as we deliver vaccines across the UK,\" Mr Zahawi added.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said: \"This is just the start and we will steadily expand our vaccination programme - ultimately helping everyone get back to normal life.\"\n\nThe over-80s have been invited for vaccination first, along with some health and care staff.\n\nBut the highest priority group, care-home residents, have only just started to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.\n\nIt has to be kept in in large batches in ultra-cold storage.\n\nAnd the NHS had been waiting for guidance on how it can be safely taken into care homes.", "Model railway maker Hornby is pausing all international orders until January next year because of uncertainty around post-Brexit trade rules.\n\n\"We hope you can understand the difficult position we are in and remain patient with us until we can find a solution,\" the company said on Twitter.\n\nHornby, which also makes Corgi cars and Scalextric racing kits, said non-UK orders can resume on 4 January 2021.\n\nThe company said port congestion issues are also affecting its operations.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Hornby This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nIt is still unclear what rules will apply to UK-EU trade after the transition period ends on 31 December, but talks negotiations are continuing this week after the two sides failed to reach a deal by an agreed deadline on Sunday.\n\nHowever, time is running out and businesses say they need clarity.\n\nIf a free trade deal can't be done, tariffs, extra taxes, are expected to be added to goods imported from the EU, and on British products exported to the bloc.\n\nHornby boss Lyndon Davies said: \"Within Europe people are already asking us: 'If I buy something, are those tariffs already included in your pricing?' Because we don't know what's going to happen, it's just a very difficult position.\"\n\nThere are also huge problems shipping products to the UK, because of bottlenecks at ports such Felixstowe and Southampton, Mr Davies said.\n\nSome shipping firms have been bypassing UK ports and unloading cargo in continental ports instead, to avoid the congestion and delays.\n\n\"I had a ship that should have arrived three weeks ago with Batman vs Joker Micro Scalextric sets. They've travelled the world. They've been to Rotterdam, Rotterdam was busy. We couldn't get a truck,\" Mr Davies said.\n\n\"You've got a pandemic, you've got Brexit, you've got a container shortage. It's chaos.\"\n\nThe Hornby boss said the political leaders engaging in trade negotiations \"aren't living in the real world\".\n\n\"We as a country, we're shuffling the deck chairs as the Titanic is sinking. People who are having these talks just don't understand how the real world operates. They think at the last minute they can come up with a solution. People are going to be losing jobs.\"\n\nMany UK companies have spent the last few months stockpiling goods and materials imported from abroad to mitigate against possible disruption to trade and supply chains at the end of the year. Mr Davies said he began \"over-shipping\" Hornby products months ago.\n\nBut some business leaders say they don't expect much to change.\n\nAlex Baldock, the boss of Dixons Carphone, which owns Currys PC World, said: \"As far as Brexit is concerned, we're ready.\n\n\"We think there are about two days of supply delays that we're going to face and we can handle that. That's a reasonable worst case,\" he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.\n\nWith so many firms stockpiling though, demand for warehouse space in the UK is in danger of reaching full capacity, according to the logistic industry.\n\n\"In the run up to Brexit... importers have been getting stock in just to mitigate the risk of any potential disruption come January, the end of the transition period,\" said Peter Ward, chief executive of the UK Warehousing Association.\n\n\"The danger signs at the moment are that we're running at full capacity, in a bit of a perfect storm.\"\n\nMr Ward said that while the pandemic is still affecting supply chains, firms have been preparing for Brexit and there's been huge shipments of PPE. Those factors have combined to create a backlog of stock in warehouses, just as the logistics sector reached the peak Christmas season.\n\n\"In addition to all of that, there's an exponential growth in e-commerce going on out there which is really bringing about transformational change in the logistics sector, which really started a long time before the pandemic but has accelerated over the last several months.\"", "Proposals for controversial planning reforms in England have been revised, after new housing targets prompted a backlash amongst many Conservative MPs.\n\nA computer-based formula used to decide where houses should be located has been \"updated\" to focus more on cities and urban areas in the North and Midlands.\n\nMinisters said cash for brownfield sites would be distributed more fairly outside London and the South East.\n\nSome MPs in southern England said their areas risked being \"concreted over\".\n\nThe government wants to 300,000 new homes to be built across England each year by the mid-2020s.\n\nIn August, it proposed a new formula designed to provide a rough estimate to councils on how many properties needed to be built in their communities.\n\nLocal authorities would have been expected to come forward with potential sites - taking into account constraints, such as areas protected by the green belt.\n\nBut several senior Conservative MPs expressed concerns about relying on what one of them called a \"mutant algorithm\" to decide housing needs.\n\nHas the pandemic changed the housing supply equation for England?\n\nWorking from home and shopping online have hollowed out many urban centres, with offices and shops empty and unused. Could our struggling High Streets and business zones be repurposed as residential neighbourhoods?\n\nToday's planning announcement suggests just that, shifting the housebuilding emphasis to brownfield urban sites in the West Midlands and northern England, away from rural and semi-rural communities in the South East.\n\nWhile that may please some of the government's critics on its own backbenches, the question is whether the change makes it harder for ministers to keep their promise to build enough affordable and beautiful homes where people want to live.\n\nThere is a limited supply of brownfield sites and often they are difficult and expensive to develop - odd-shaped bits of land alongside a railway line or contaminated by industry. Recent experience of turning office blocks and shops into homes has seen concerns about quality standards.\n\nThe greatest demand for housing is in the South East where affordability remains the biggest issue. Today the ONS reported that the average house price in the region rose to a new high of £337,400 - almost two and a half times the average in north-east England.\n\nIn October, former Prime Minister Theresa May called the plans \"ill-conceived\", while ex-Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt accused the government of risking \"undermining\" local democracy by pressing ahead.\n\nThe 300,000 target, a Conservative manifesto commitment at the last election, remains in place and new homes will still be built in the South, but the government will prioritise brownfield sites in England's 20 largest cities and other urban areas.\n\nBut they \"understandably wanted more homes to be built in urban areas\", as these were the \"most environmentally sustainable\" sites, with good transport links, he added.\n\nMr Jenrick also said: \"They wanted to use housing to push private sector investment into the cities of the North and Midlands...that's what we've done in this update to the methodology.\"\n\nA taskforce has been set up to advise on inner-city regeneration and how to respond to the fall in demand for office and retail space during the pandemic.\n\nThe West Midlands and Greater Manchester Mayoral Combined Authorities will receive £67m in new funding between them for brownfield developments.\n\nA new £100m fund will be launched in January, giving councils across England the chance to pitch for money to support developments on public land and regeneration of council estates.\n\nMinisters have also pledged to think again about how up to £7bn in future funding is allocated across England so that it is not concentrated in the most prosperous areas in London and the South East.\n\n\"This is good news,\" said Isle of Wight Conservative MP Bob Seely, one of the most stringent critics of the algorithm. \"This is an initial victory for those who care about their communities.\n\n\"I, and I am sure many others, want to work supportively with the government to make sure we build the right homes in the right places.\"", "A delay in reporting an extra 11,000 positive Covid tests in Wales has led to a big jump in case rates.\n\nPublic Health Wales (PHW) said planned IT maintenance meant there was a \"significant under-reporting\" but anyone who tested positive had been contacted in the usual way.\n\nThe delayed results came from Lighthouse Laboratories, which process about 70% of Wales' tests.\n\nThe Welsh Conservatives said the news was \"staggering\".\n\nThe 11,000 extra positive tests were taken between 9 and 15 December. PHW said the \"vast majority\" have been added to its dashboard, which records the figures, on Thursday.\n\nThe figures show an additional 4,221 cases have been added to the total for the week ending 11 December, an adjustment to what was reported on Wednesday.\n\nA total of 11,250 - including the usual daily cases - have been added, meaning the latest weekly case rates have increased as a result.\n\nWales, already at its highest case rate so far, saw a jump to 530.2 cases per 100,000 for the most recent seven days, to 12 December.\n\nThe case rate stood at 377.8 on Wednesday, although PHW warned this was an underestimation of what we should expect.\n\nThe new figures showed the case rate for Merthyr Tydfil - already the highest in the UK - is now 1,032.7 cases per 100,000 - with 623 positive tests in the past seven days.\n\nEight council areas in Wales are in the 10 hardest-hit areas in the UK for case rates in latest comparison.\n\nThere are 14 out of 22 council areas which have their highest case rates so far - including Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham.\n\nThree others would have reported their highest figures on Wednesday, had all the figures been available.\n\nPHW said its previous data collection system was \"on its last legs\".\n\n\"The system would collapse very frequently and it was proving to be unsustainable to run with its existing system,\" said PHW incident director Dr Giri Shankar.\n\n\"This was not an unplanned activity. We knew it was going to have an impact, therefore we constantly communicated before it actually happened and while it was happening and even after it had happened, to say that this is affecting the results.\"\n\nThe planned maintenance of the NHS Welsh Laboratory Information Management System (WLMS) \"has not affected individuals receiving their results\", PHW insisted.\n\nFirst Minister Mark Drakeford told BBC Radio Wales: \"The story is not about missing data or computer problems, it's about the seriousness of the situation.\n\n\"You were told in advance that this was going to happen. The data was never missing it was always there, waiting to be uploaded into the system.\"\n\nPlaid Cymru health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said: \"With positive cases in Wales rising to record levels it is crucial that the reporting of data is both timely and robust.\n\n\"The public need a complete and current picture of the situation to realise the gravity of what we are facing.\n\n\"We need urgent reassurance that the failings have been addressed.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Some patients were being treated in ambulances outside Antrim Area Hospital\n\nAmbulances queued outside all NI hospital emergency departments on Tuesday as they struggled with covid pressures, the ambulance service said.\n\nDoctors treated patients in ambulances outside Antrim Area Hospital due to the hospital operating beyond capacity.\n\nAt 17:00 GMT on Tuesday, 17 ambulances were queued outside, although this had dropped to four by 20:45.\n\nBy 22:30 the ambulance service said it was not experiencing any major problems.\n\nAmid the pressure, politicians were urged to urgently rethink loosening covid rules over Christmas.\n\nNorthern Health Trust operations director Wendy Magowan said it was the first time she had witnessed such a situation at Antrim Hospital.\n\nSpeaking on Tuesday evening, Dr Nigel Ruddle, medical director of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, said: \"All of the emergency departments in Northern Ireland are seeing ambulances queued outside to various degrees.\n\n\"We are seeing the pressures right across Northern Ireland.\"\n\nHealth minister Robin Swann confirmed he would bring new proposals about restrictions to Thursday's executive meeting.\n\nThe meeting will see ministers look at options to manage the spread of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland.\n\nA further six Covid-19 related deaths were reported in Northern Ireland by the Department of Health, taking its total to 1,135.\n\nThere have been 59,121 positive tests after another 486 were recorded.\n\nThere are 87 outbreaks of the virus in NI care homes, while hospital occupancy levels are at 104%.\n\nThe reproduction rate of the virus in Northern Ireland remains at or slightly above 1, according to health chiefs.\n\nNorthern Trust executive Ms Magowan said: \"This has never happened in Antrim hospital before in my memory, never.\n\n\"We got to a situation last night that we had so many people waiting in ED to get into beds that we simply had no room left.\n\n\"We haven't got out of the second surge, in fact, our numbers are rising. We have the highest number of inpatients today that we've ever had with Covid.\n\n\"If this doubles, I don't know how we're going to make it through.\"\n\nThere were 17 ambulances queued at Antrim Hospital at 17:00 GMT on Tuesday\n\nPat Cullen from the Royal College of Nursing told the BBC's Evening Extra programme that nurses were exhausted from working \"excessive hours\".\n\nShe said hospital nurses were treating patients in the back of ambulances and along corridors as well as on the wards and in the emergency departments, while the district nurses were trying to cope with \"60% vacancies\" in their workforce.\n\nShe said: \"Speaking to many of our nurses today, there's no doubt that this is the closest I've ever seen nurses to being totally burnt out.\n\n\"Exhausted isn't even a word to describe how the nurses feel.\n\n\"At this moment in time, a 12-hour shift almost seems a luxury to them - they're working well beyond that.\"\n\nAt a briefing on Tuesday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride and Chief Scientific Adviser Prof Ian Young told journalists that numbers were not where they would like them to be.\n\nThey also gave a stark warning that any third wave would come on top of already \"stubbornly high\" hospital in-patient numbers.\n\nProf Young said: \"The position is very different to what it was first wave and second wave of this virus.\n\n\"At the beginning of the first wave we had no hospital in patients with Covid.\n\n\"At the beginning of the second wave the numbers about 20.\n\n\"If we see an increase in numbers again as a consequence of the current position, then it will be an increase of numbers on top of a baseline of 300-400 people in hospital. And the numbers will only rise from there.\"\n\nI was at Antrim Area Hospital this morning until about midday and what I witnessed was a system that is clearly just hanging together.\n\nI saw staff clearly exhausted and anxious and they were the staff who were outside in the ambulance bay.\n\nThe problem is that the ambulances had nowhere to go, they couldn't unload their patients inside, so I also watched as doctors stepped inside ambulances, wearing their PPE, triaging those patients inside the ambulances, making decisions about who should be taken in first.\n\nThe picture was a really sorry one, a stark one and this is really at the start of what could become an incredibly busy period.\n\nProf Young urged people to stick with the guidelines over the festive period and said anyone who was forming a Christmas bubble should not see anyone else for the next 10 days.\n\nDr McBride revealed he would not be hosting family or friends this Christmas - having discussed the issue with elderly parents and children.\n\nHe said now was the \"best time for the virus\" but worst time for the health service.\n\nDr McBride said he will not be hosting family this Christmas\n\nHealth minister Robin Swann told the assembly the two-week limited lockdown which ended on 10 December had seen a \"stabilisation\" of the virus but the figures were still too high.\n\nHe said he would not pre-empt Thursday's executive meeting and provide details of suggestions he would put forward.\n\nDeputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said Sinn Féin \"will support any proposals brought forward by the health minister to tackle the current situation.\"\n\nShe added: \"It is clear we are facing a very dangerous situation with the spread of Covid-19, the rise in hospitalisations and, sadly, people losing their lives.\"\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Michelle O’Neill This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nFurther talks over whether to revise Covid rules over Christmas will take place between the UK government and the devolved governments on Wednesday.\n\nCabinet minister Michael Gove discussed the issue with senior politicians in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales on Tuesday, but no final decision was made.\n\nIt also emerged on Tuesday that vaccinators have been in all five health trusts.\n\nMr Swann told the assembly the Covid-19 vaccine had now been delivered in up to 54 care homes, starting with those with the largest numbers of residents.\n\nAbout 4,000 people in NI have been vaccinated so far.\n\nIf you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.\n\nA second delivery of the vaccine arrived in Northern Ireland at the weekend, meaning around 50,000 doses are now available.\n\nThe vaccine requires two doses to be given, three weeks apart, to be effective.", "Redbridge Council has asked schools to shut classrooms and move to online learning\n\nRedbridge Council has become the latest local authority in London to suggest schools move to online teaching amid a rise in coronavirus cases.\n\nIt comes after Greenwich and Islington Council backed down from a similar decision when the government threatened legal action.\n\nSchools minister Nick Gibb has also written to Waltham Forest Council after it asked schools to close.\n\nHe said he was \"deeply disappointed\" by the councils' choices.\n\nBBC Newsnight's Lewis Goodall said 7,000 pupils in Redbridge were self-isolating as of Monday.\n\nRedbridge Council said it believed schools should now consider whether they could remain open for all pupils or move to remote learning if absences were high enough.\n\nA total of 32 schools in the borough will close on Wednesday and move online, the council said.\n\nAnother 25 will stay open - 12 of which are taking an extra day to decide if they will close their classrooms.\n\nIn a letter seen by the BBC, council leader Jas Athwal said: \"Unfortunately, cases of Covid-19 continue to rise across the borough, and as a result, some of our schools are struggling to continue to provide the high-quality in-person teaching our children deserve.\n\n\"It is not the role of the council to close schools, but today we want to be absolutely clear - we will support our local schools if they choose to move to online learning.\"\n\nGreenwich Council was the first to ask all schools to move to online learning amid rising Covid cases\n\nLondon, most of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire will move into England's highest tier of Covid restrictions on Wednesday due to a rise in infections.\n\nSchools in England were told they could close a day early for Christmas last week to give staff a \"proper break\".\n\nIn Basildon, where the country's third-highest Covid rate was recorded, schools were also allowed to close early, while London's mayor Sadiq Khan has called on secondary schools and colleges in the capital to follow suit.\n\nThe Association of School and College Leaders said the government \"may find it has won a hollow victory in its squabble with Greenwich council\"\n\nEarlier the leader of Greenwich Council said he had \"no choice\" but to ask schools to remain open after threats of legal action from the government.\n\nThe authority wrote to head teachers asking for classes to move online from Tuesday amid rising Covid-19 cases, but Education Secretary Gavin Williamson ordered the council to keep all schools open until the end of term.\n\nOn Tuesday morning two other local authorities - Islington and Waltham Forest Councils - advised schools to move to online learning for the last few days of term amid rising Covid-19 rates in other parts of the capital.\n\nBut, by the evening Islington Council's leader Richard Watts had backtracked on this decision.\n\nHe said: \"After discussion today with the Department for Education, we have now advised our schools to open as usual to pupils on Wednesday, and advised our schools that they are able to arrange an INSET day on Thursday. Friday was to be an INSET day already.\"\n\nSchools Minister Mr Gibb had written to Islington and Waltham Forest asking them to reconsider their decisions to close schools and stating legal action would be considered if they did not.\n\nHowever, Waltham Forest Council's leader Clare Coghill said she had \"received no correspondence\" from Mr Gibb.\n\nThe decision to remain open or closed was left to individual schools in Waltham Forest, she added.\n\n\"We are confident that schools in Waltham Forest have made their decisions on the basis of their own individual risk assessment and with pupil safety at their heart.\n\n\"It is disappointing that, during a year when teachers, pupils and parents have made extraordinary efforts to ensure education continues through a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, the Minister has chosen to write to our schools threatening them with potential legal action.\n\n\"We will continue to do all we can to support schools to make the decisions that will safeguard the health and safety of pupils, teachers and their families and ensure children continue to be educated.\"\n\nHave you been affected by the issues raised in this story. You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Mackenzie Scott pictured with her ex-husband Jeff Bezos in 2017\n\nMacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has donated more than $4bn (£3bn) to food banks and emergency relief funds in four months.\n\nIn a blog post, Ms Scott said she wanted to help Americans who were struggling because of the pandemic.\n\nMs Scott is the world's 18th-richest person, having seen her wealth climb $23.6bn this year to $60.7bn.\n\nMuch of her fortune comes from her divorce from Mr Bezos who is the world's richest man.\n\n\"This pandemic has been a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling,\" she wrote in a blog post on Tuesday, adding that she had picked more than 380 charities to donate to having considered almost 6,500 organisations.\n\n\"Economic losses and health outcomes alike have been worse for women, for people of colour and for people living in poverty. Meanwhile, it has substantially increased the wealth of billionaires.\"\n\nMs Scott donated $1.7bn to 116 charities in July saying she wanted to call attention to \"organisations and leaders driving change.\" This takes her total donations for the year to almost $6bn.\n\nDonations were focused on those \"operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital.\"\n\nLast year she signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away the majority of her fortune. The Giving Pledge is a commitment by the world's wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to giving back.\n\n\"I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,\" she wrote in her pledge.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. MacKenzie Scott is divorced from Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man\n\nCharity experts have applauded the amount she has given away and how she has done it. Ms Scott has worked with a team of advisers to research thousands of organisations.\n\n\"We leveraged this collective knowledge base in a collaboration that included hundreds of emails and phone interviews, and thousands of pages of data analysis on community needs, programme outcomes, and each non-profit's capacity to absorb and make effective use of funding,\" she wrote.\n\nThis year Mr Bezos, who is the boss of Amazon, has also been active with philanthropy, committing $10bn to issues related to climate change.\n\nIn November, he announced the first of those grants, handing out nearly $800m to 16 groups. Mr Bezos has seen his net worth increase $70bn this year to reach a fortune of $185bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.\n\nDuring the pandemic there has been a massive rise in online shopping benefitting online retailers such as Amazon. Swiss bank UBS said billionaires had done \"extremely well\" in the Covid crisis.\n\nThis year there has been a relatively high number of mega-donations as celebrities, sports stars and business leaders respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and other causes.\n\nAmong the most generous was Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey who announced in April that he was moving $1bn of his assets into a fund to support pandemic relief efforts and other causes. This represents about a quarter of his $3.9bn net worth.\n\nBill Gates and his wife Melinda have committed $305m for vaccines, treatment and diagnostic development through their charitable foundation, while Harry Potter author JK Rowling donated £1m to help homeless people and those affected by domestic abuse during the pandemic.\n\nOn a different theme, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated $300m to \"protect American elections\". The majority of the money went to the Centre for Tech and Civic Life, a non-profit organisation to recruit poll workers and supply them with personal protective equipment, and to set up drive-through voting.\n\nIn June, basketball legend Michael Jordan announced he was donating $100m to Black Lives Matters and social injustice causes over the next decade.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What does a billion pounds look like... and what can it buy?", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Keir Starmer says Dominic Cummings lockdown breach journey was the \"tipping point\" for a loss trust over Covid.\n\nBoris Johnson's former chief aide Dominic Cummings, who left No 10 last month after an internal power struggle, enjoyed a bumper pay rise earlier this year, new figures have revealed.\n\nHis basic salary rose by about £45,000 to between £140,000 and £144,999.\n\nThe PM stood by Mr Cummings this summer when he was embroiled in controversy over a trip to Durham during lockdown.\n\nLabour said the rise was an \"insult\" to millions of workers whose pay is being frozen due to the Covid crisis.\n\nSeparately, it has emerged that Boris Johnson ignored the advice of the chief of the civil service in relation to a legal case brought by a special adviser sacked by Mr Cummings.\n\nSir John Manzoni urged the PM to reach a negotiated settlement with Sonia Khan, who was led out of No 10 by police in August 2019 following a reported row with Mr Cummings.\n\nNo reason was given for her sacking as an adviser to Chancellor Sajid Javid and before that Philip Hammond.\n\nIn a letter to the PM in March 2020, Sir John raised concerns about the cost to the taxpayer of fighting the case.\n\nHe sought a written instruction known as a \"ministerial direction\" - a specific order sought by civil servants in instances where they have reservations over a particular course of action.\n\nIn response, the PM said he fully understood concerns over the use of public money but he believed \"wider considerations\" took precedence in the case.\n\nHe said he wanted to \"test in litigation\" his belief that individuals should not receive more compensation than they are entitled to under their contract.\n\n\"The legal position is clear that the prime minister can withdraw consent for the appointment of any special adviser,\" he wrote. \"That is the reason for the termination of employment.\"\n\nMs Khan settled her case last month, shortly before it was due to go before an employment tribunal.\n\nSonia Khan worked for Philip Hammond in the Treasury and was kept on by his successor, Sajid Javid\n\nMr Cummings is still on the government payroll but is working his notice at home, having left Downing Street in November following a bitter row over the running of Mr Johnson's office.\n\nFigures released by the Cabinet Office show his salary rose during 2020 from between £95,000-£99,999 to £140,000-£144,999, making him among the highest-earning special advisers in government.\n\nIt is not clear when the increase, revealed in an annual report on the pay of special advisers, came into effect.\n\nWhile Mr Cummings was in the highest salary band when he was first taken on by Boris Johnson in July 2019, his pay was considerably lower at the time than other senior political advisers in Downing Street.\n\nThe pay rise brought Mr Cummings, whose Brexit strategy was credited with helping Mr Johnson win a thumping victory in the 2019 election, into line with other key figures such as Sir Eddie Lister, Lee Cain and Munira Mirza.\n\nThe most senior advisers to previous prime ministers, such as Theresa May and David Cameron, have typically also earned between £140,000 and £144,999.\n\nThe PM stood by Mr Cummings after he was accused of breaching coronavirus guidelines when he travelled 250 miles to stay on his parents' farm in County Durham in early April and later drove to Barnard Castle.\n\nDurham Police said Mr Cummings might have broken lockdown rules with his trip to Barnard Castle but it would not be taking any action.\n\nMr Cummings said he had made the 50-mile round-trip to the beauty spot, with his wife and child, to test his eyesight before embarking on the longer journey back to London.\n\nLabour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said the pay increase was a slap in the face to the public.\n\n\"Dominic Cummings' bumper bonus is an insult to key workers denied the pay rise they deserve,\" she said.\n\n\"It's another example of how under this government it is one rule for the Tory Party and their friends and another for the rest of us.\"\n\nThe figures show that while the overall pay bill for special advisers remained the same at £9.6m, having risen sharply the year before, the number of advisers earning more than £100,000 doubled on the year before.\n\nThose earning six-figure salaries included Allegra Stratton, the PM's new press secretary and Dan Rosenfield, the newly appointed No 10 chief of staff.", "When will the Oxford vaccine be available?\n\nTim Ross, from Bloomberg, asks whether the prime minister hopes the Oxford/AstraZeneca will be available by the end of this year, adding: \"When will all over 50s be vaccinated?\" Johnson replies that he has \"always been in the worried, sceptical camp on vaccines\" and worried that he \"shouldn't over-promise\". He says it is \"incredibly exciting\" about the coronavirus vaccines, adding: \"I don't want to jinx things by over-promising at this stage.\" Whitty says the approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca this is in the hands of the regulator the MHRA and it is \"very important we let them do their job free of any pressure\". Whitty says there is a \"fair chance\" that by \"early in the new year\" the regulator will be able to says whether the vaccine is effective and safe. \"With AstraZeneca, if it comes through, it does make it a lot easier - not only is the volume going to be greater,\" he says, as the Pfizer vaccine is limited because of global demand - \"but it is easier to deploy because it doesn't have the -70C requirements the Pfizer one has\". He says if the vaccine is approved \"it will speed up substantially the period when those in the highest risk groups can all be vaccinated\".", "Four Household Cavalry soldiers died in the IRA's Hyde Park bomb attack as they rode to the Changing of Guard ceremony in Whitehall\n\nThe family of one of the four soldiers killed in the Hyde Park bombing in July 1982 has been awarded £715,000 in damages.\n\nThe ruling followed a civil case brought against John Downey, one of those involved in the IRA attack.\n\nFour members of the Household Cavalry died in the blast in London.\n\nLast year, a High Court judge ruled that John Downey was an \"active participant\" in the bombing.\n\nOn Wednesday, the court ruled that an award of \"substantial damages\" to \"mark society's condemnation\" of the bombing can only be made if either parliament or the supreme court allowed it.\n\nHowever, the court awarded £715,000 in the case of Sarah Jane Young, daughter of one of the soldiers, L/Cpl Jeffrey Young, who was 20 when he was killed.\n\nThis is in recognition of her father's loss of earnings in what is known as a dependency claim.\n\nMost of the amount will go to Ms Young's mother for her past care.\n\nA judge ruled John Downey was an \"active participant\" in the bombing\n\nA criminal case against Mr Downey in relation to the bombing collapsed in 2014 after it emerged he had received a guarantee that he would not face trial.\n\nMr Downey, who is from Donegal, has denied murdering the soldiers and conspiring to cause an explosion.\n\nSquadron Quartermaster Corporal Roy Bright, 36, Lt Anthony Daly, 23 and Trooper Simon Tipper, 19, were also killed by the car bomb as they rode through central London to attend the Changing the Guard ceremony.\n\nTwo of the soldiers died instantly in the blast, while L/Cpl Young and Squadron Quartermaster Corporal Bright died within days.\n\nEarlier this month, a remote High Court hearing considered how much compensation the families of the victims should be awarded.\n\nA lawyer for Ms Young told the court that relatives had been \"failed\" by the state in their search for justice.\n\nShe argued that Ms Young, who was four at the time, had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression as a result of the bombing.\n\nThe court was told she had heard the explosion from a nearby nursery and saw injured soldiers returning to Knightsbridge barracks.", "Travel company Tui said it has cancelled flights out of Luton Airport because it falls under the new tier four Covid restrictions.\n\nTui flights from the London airport are cancelled between 20 and 30 December.\n\nIt said: \"We will be in direct contact with these customers to offer them a full refund or the option to amend their booking.\"\n\nTui will continue to operate out of Gatwick and Stansted which are located in tier two areas.\n\nA company spokesperson said: \"Any customers that live in tier four and are due to depart in the next 14 days will be entitled to cancel and receive a full refund or amend for free to any holiday that's currently on sale.\"\n\nLuton, Heathrow and London City airports are all located in areas of England facing the toughest restrictions under measures aimed at stopping the spread of a new coronavirus variant.\n\nA number of European countries are banning or considering stopping flights from the UK following the emergence of a new variant of the virus.\n\nItaly has joined the Netherlands and Belgium in suspending flights to the UK, and other nations are considering the move.\n\nTrains to Belgium have also been banned.\n\nThe government is recommending that people living in tier four regions should not travel abroad unless for legally permitted reasons such as for work.\n\nPeople living outside a tier four area are allowed to journey through that area if they are travelling abroad but the government said: \"You should carefully consider whether you need to do so.\"\n\nEasyjet, which operates out of Luton, said it was planning to fly its current schedule over the coming days.\n\n\"However, following the UK government's announcement implementing tier four restrictions which includes advice against travelling abroad, we understand some customers may now need to change their flights,\" the airline said.\n\nIt said affected customers can transfer to an alternative flight free of charge, receive a voucher or can opt for a refund for any flight up until 30 December.\n\nEasyjet also flies out of Gatwick and Stansted.\n\nStansted is in Uttlesford, Essex, which has been kept in lower tier two restrictions. Gatwick is in Crawley, west Sussex, which also remains under tier two.\n\nVirgin Atlantic, which operates out of London Heathrow, said: \"Where a customer is unable to travel for any reason, we offer as much choice and flexibility as possible to help them change or amend their plans, with a name change and two date change fees waived for a new travel date up until 31 December 2022.\n\n\"Where a flight is cancelled, customers are of course entitled to a full cash refund.\"\n\nHave your travel plans been affected? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Last updated on .From the section Boxing\n\nSaul 'Canelo' Alvarez produced a near-flawless display to unpick Callum Smith and take the British fighter's WBA world super-middleweight title.\n\nThe Mexican, 30, shone in Texas as he all but froze Smith out over 12 rounds with calculated pressure, spiteful punching and evasive defensive work.\n\nSmith, 30, struggled to land anything heavy and was told by his corner he had \"one more round\" after a torrid ninth.\n\nHe admirably fought on but lost 119-109 119-109 117-111 on the judges' cards.\n\nAlvarez - who has only one defeat on his record from 57 fights - also picked up the vacant WBC world super-middleweight title, meaning he holds two of the four significant belts at 168lbs.\n\n\"I'm devastated. I came here to win,\" Smith told DAZN at the Alamodome in San Antonio. \"No excuses, he was very good.\n\n\"It could have been a better version of me. He is smart and he is clever. He closes ground, sets traps and before you know it he's closed the ground up. I maybe let him close the ground up too easily.\"\n\nSmith's seven-inch height advantage had formed much of the foundation for those suggesting he could defy his underdog status.\n\nBut Alvarez refused to take a step back at any point. He shut down space patiently, remained compact, showed head movement and ultimately made himself difficult to hit.\n\nWhen he was close enough, he jabbed smartly and loaded up with his trademark shots to the body.\n\nAt the end of the fifth, Smith's three older fighting brothers shouted \"better\" from ringside as he began to throw more but in the seventh, Alvarez - the youngest of seven fighting brothers - landed hard body shots on the counter and a fine uppercut.\n\nA hard right hand sent Smith slumping into the ropes in the ninth and, with his nose bloodied, he replied to trainer Joe Gallagher that he was \"fine\" after it was made clear he would only get one more round.\n\nOminously, four-weight world champion Alvarez explained he knew he could take Smith's power \"from the first round\" and it was later revealed the Liverpool fighter may have torn a bicep early in the contest.\n\nAlvarez simply presented a puzzle his opponent never looked like solving. By the 10th round, US broadcasters were calling the fight \"a bad beating\".\n\n\"This is one of the best nights I have had,\" said Alvarez, who added he would consider a third fight with Gennady Golovkin, who beat Kamil Szeremeta 24 hours earlier.\n\n\"One of the greatest nights. I will go for more. I want all the belts, it doesn't matter who has them. I don't run from anybody. I have fought against the best. I have shown the world I fight the best.\"\n\nAlvarez has now reeled off five wins since his six-month ban for failing drugs tests in 2018. His sole loss in 15 years was against Floyd Mayweather in 2013 but his current momentum and this well-rounded display underline why he is the sport's best-paid star.\n\nA restricted crowd of about 12,000 may have impacted on his overall earnings in his first bout in 13 months but his quality is undeniable, his rivals look a class below, and crucially his hunger appears undiminished.\n\nThe iconic middleweight Marvin Hagler once said: \"It's tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5am when you've been sleeping in silk pyjamas.\"\n\nThe sight of Alvarez walking round the fight hotel's bubble in designer pyjamas this week prompted questions as to how much more he could give.\n\nHis status, earning power and lifestyle are far removed from the life he knew on his family's farm as a child but there can be no doubt his grit and desire remain, and future rivals will need to find something special to stop him.\n\nSmith can be proud of his own journey to face a man he once dreamed of fighting. Alvarez, though, was simply too good.\n\nClass, tears and call-outs - what they said...\n\nCutting a dejected figure in his corner, Smith said he would take time out and consider a move up to the 175lbs light-heavyweight division.\n\nHis sentiment led BBC 5 Live commentator Mike Costello to wonder if he was considering calling time on his career at the age of 30.\n\nBritain's Billy Joe Saunders - who holds the WBO belt at super-middleweight - quickly tweeted to call on Alvarez to \"get it on\" in 2021 but for the most part, the boxing world was simply left praising the sport's biggest star.\n\nPromoter Eddie Hearn confirmed Smith damaged his arm early on in his San Antonio defeat and revealed the fighter was \"in tears\" in the changing room.\n\n\"It was a masterclass from Canelo,\" Hearn told 5 Live.\n\n\"I just left Callum's changing room and everyone is talking about Alvarez. He's just so good. Callum never stopped throwing but he came up against the best fighter on the planet.\"\n\nFormer world champion George Groves told BBC Radio 5 Live: \"Canelo bullied Smith, marched him down and used his punch power to control the entire fight.\"\n\nAnd BBC Radio 5 Live boxing analyst Steve Bunce added: \"That's what happens when you fight Canelo. You discover things about yourself you didn't know and things about him you didn't recognise before you got in the ring.\n\n\"Smith has been broken. Canelo took away his height, reach and confidence. That is class.\"\n• None Stream all the goals and highlights from Saturday's Premier League action now", "Last updated on .From the section Watford\n\nWatford have sacked head coach Vladimir Ivic after four months in the role.\n\nThe Hornets, who have won nine of their 20 Championship games this season under Ivic, are fifth in the table, four points off second-placed Bournemouth and nine off leaders Norwich.\n\nThe 43-year-old signed a one-year deal in August, succeeding Nigel Pearson who was sacked shortly before the club were relegated from the Premier League.\n\nIt means Watford are looking for a fifth manager in just over a year.\n\nThe Serb's sacking came after his side were beaten 2-0 at mid-table Huddersfield Town on Saturday -just their second defeat in 11 games - a spell in which they have also had four draws.\n\nIvic rested club captain Troy Deeney for the match, despite scoring in Watford's last three games.\n\nDeeney was on the bench but Ivic said that he did not use him as a substitute, even when his side were losing, because of a \"discipline issue\".\n\nYet another managerial change at Vicarage Road\n\nWatford are now looking for their fifth main charge since the start of last season.\n\nJavi Gracia was replaced in September 2019 by former boss Quique Sanchez Flores.\n\nWith the club still at the bottom of the Premier League, Flores then lost his job after just two wins in 12 games after which Nigel Pearson took over in December.\n\nHe turned Watford's fortunes around and got them out of the relegation zone, as well as inflicting the first league defeat on eventual runaway champions Liverpool, 3-0 at Vicarage Road on 29 February, just before the Coronavirus lockdown.\n\nBut Pearson was sacked after losing 3-1 at West Ham with the club still three points above the drop with two games to go.\n\nUnder caretaker manager Hayden Mullins, the Hornets then lost their last two games, to be relegated back to the Championship after five seasons in the top flight.\n\nIn a short statement the club confirmed Ivic's departure and that of his coaching team.\n\n\"The Hornets thank Ivic and his staff for their efforts this season,\" the statement added. \"We wish them well for future success elsewhere.\"\n\nSince Watford's Italian owners the Pozzo family, who also own Udinese and Granada, took control of the club in June 2012 there have been 13 changes of manager.\n\nAmong the shortest tenures was Oscar Garcia's spell in September 2014 which lasted just 27 days after he stepped down due to ill health.\n\nHis replacement Billy McKinlay was in charge for just eight days and two games after a change of heart by the owners who installed Slavisa Jokanovic as his replacement.\n\nOnly two managers have lasted more than a year in the role under the Pozzo's - Gianfranco Zola was in charge from July 2012 until December 2013 while Javi Gracia, who led the Hornets to the 2019 FA Cup final, was at the helm from January 2018 to September last year.", "Sydney residents have been told to stay at home\n\nAustralia's most populous state has announced new restrictions for the Greater Sydney area in an attempt to contain a growing outbreak of Covid-19.\n\nHousehold gatherings will be capped at 10 people and hospitality venues at 300 until Wednesday. Residents had already been told to stay at home.\n\nThe cases were found in the city's Northern Beaches area, which entered a five-day lockdown on Saturday.\n\nSince then Sydney residents have rushed to leave the city ahead of Christmas.\n\nThousands have travelled from the city in New South Wales (NSW) to the neighbouring state of Victoria. In response, Victoria will close its borders to residents of Greater Sydney and the NSW Central Coast from midnight. People will then face a 14-day quarantine.\n\nSouth Australia state also said all arrivals from the Greater Sydney area would have to quarantine for 14 days from midnight. People who have been in the Northern Beaches area will be barred from the state entirely.\n\nThe outbreak has also forced organisers of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race to cancel the event for the first time in its history.\n\nUntil Wednesday, Australia had recorded just one locally transmitted infection in the past fortnight. The country, which is considered a relative success story of the pandemic, has recorded about 28,000 infections and 908 deaths in total, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.\n\nThe restrictions in Greater Sydney - including the Central Coast and Blue Mountains - can be lifted if no cases of community transmission are reported. They include:\n\nSpeaking at a news conference, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged people in the Sydney area to wear face masks in public although it was not mandatory. Earlier she pleaded with all residents to limit their activities over the next few days and stay at home \"unless you really have to\" go out.\n\nSydney's Northern Beaches outbreak grew to 68 cases on Sunday, with 30 new cases recorded in the previous 24 hours. The new cluster emerged just days before the Christmas period, prompting concern that travel restrictions may impact festive plans.\n\nMore than 250,000 residents have been banned from leaving their homes except for work, exercise, essential shopping and compassionate reasons until Wednesday.\n\nThose living in other parts of Sydney have been told to avoid the area. The NSW government has urged all locals to wear masks in public areas like supermarkets and churches and to be on \"high alert\".\n\nThe next five days has been described as a \"tipping point\" by epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws. \"We can only hope that it remains focused in the Northern Beaches, but if it goes across all of Australia then we will need more tightening.\"\n\nAll of Sydney's residents have been told to limit their activities over the next few days\n\nTests have shown that the outbreak is similar to a strain of Covid-19 found recently in quarantined travellers, state officials said. But authorities still do not know how it got into the community.\n\nThey said it had spread after one couple failed to isolate at home while awaiting coronavirus test results. Their 11 December visit to a popular lawn bowls club and pub in the Northern Beaches suburb of Avalon has now been identified as the \"super spreader\" event.\n\nHowever, it is unclear how the couple - who had not travelled overseas - became infected.\n\nSince Australia closed its borders in March, its outbreaks have largely begun with breaches in its hotel quarantine system for returned international travellers. Such instances led to Australia's biggest outbreak in Melbourne.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sydney-based Alan Kinkade reunites with his grandson Tom after six months of separation\n• None The year when everything changed", "Actress Rosalind Knight - whose credits include early Carry on films and Channel 4's Friday Night Dinner - has died aged 87, her family has said.\n\nThe TV, film and theatre actress appeared in Carry On Teacher and Carry On Nurse in the 1950s.\n\nMore recently, she played the character known as \"Horrible Grandma\" in Channel 4 comedy show Friday Night Dinner.\n\nIn a statement, her family said the \"well-loved\" actress who had a \"glorious career\" died on Saturday.\n\nHer other screen credits include 1957's Blue Murder At St Trinian's, where she played a schoolgirl and a teacher in The Wildcats Of St Trinian's in 1980.\n\nShe also starred as retired prostitute Beryl in BBC sitcom Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, which ran from 1999 to 2001, with Kathy Burke and James Dreyfus.\n\nKnight's family said in their statement: \"She was known to so many generations, for so many different roles, and will be missed as much by the kids today who howl at Horrible Grandma in Friday Night Dinner as by those of us who are old enough to remember her in the very first Carry On films.\"\n\nHer daughters, theatre director Marianne Elliott and actress Susannah Elliott, said she would be remembered for her \"immense spirit and sense of fun, and her utter individuality\".", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the changes to restrictions in the wake of a new faster-spreading variant of Covid\n\nCovid restrictions will only be relaxed on Christmas Day and mainland Scotland will then be placed under the tightest restrictions from Boxing Day.\n\nFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon said \"firm preventative action\" was needed after the emergence of a faster-spreading strain of coronavirus.\n\nIt had been planned to ease the rules between 23 and 27 December - but that will now only apply on Christmas Day.\n\nA ban on travel to the rest of the UK will apply over the festive period.\n\nScotland's toughest level four rules will come into effect across mainland Scotland from 26 December.\n\nUntil then, local authority areas are expected to remain under their current level of restrictions.\n\nSchools will return later than originally planned after the Christmas holidays.\n\nMs Sturgeon said they should resume from 11 January, with learning taking place online until at least 18 January.\n\nThe level four restrictions - which mean the closure of non-essential shops, pubs, restaurants and gyms - will last for three weeks.\n\nThey will apply across Scotland, with the exception of Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and other island communities where restrictions have recently been reduced. These areas will be placed in level three.\n\nThe first minister said decisive action was required because of a new strain of Covid which public health officials believe could be 70% more transmissible than previous strains.\n\nAt this stage she said there was no evidence to suggest the new strain made people sicker than earlier variants, or that it would change the effectiveness of the vaccine.\n\nThe new variant was first seen in mid-September in London and Kent - but by December it had become the \"dominant variant\" in London.\n\nGovernment advisers believe the new variant could increase the R number - or reproductive rate of the virus - by 0.4 or more.\n\nMs Sturgeon said the speed at which it could spread meant this was \"probably the most serious and potentially dangerous juncture we have faced\" in the pandemic. But, she said Scotland still had the opportunity to act on a preventative basis.\n\nSo far 17 cases of the new strain had been identified in Scotland through genomic sequencing.\n\n\"We do not yet know how widely this new strain of virus is circulating in Scotland, but I think we have to be realistic that that is likely to be an understatement of its true prevalence right now,\" she added.\n\nThere was a \"concern\", however, that this strain may be driving what appears to be faster transmission of Covid in some hospitals and care homes.\n\nCovid figures published at 14:00 on Saturday showed Scotland had recorded 41 new deaths and 572 positive tests over the previous 24 hours.\n\nThe first minister said Scotland's case numbers did not look as bad as those elsewhere in the UK, and that she understood why people might not understand that these steps were necessary.\n\nBut she said the new strain of the virus could very quickly \"overwhelm us\".\n\n\"Please believe me when I tell you... I would not be standing here on the Saturday before Christmas announcing this if I did not think this was necessary,\" Ms Sturgeon added.\n\nScotland has the lowest case rate in the UK, with 112.6 cases per 100,000 of the population.\n\nThis compares with 571.7 in Wales, 219.6 in England and 174.9 in Northern Ireland.\n\nRestrictions have also been tightened up over the Christmas period in England and Wales.\n\nThe planned relaxation of the rules has been scrapped for large parts of south-east England, and cut to just Christmas Day for the rest of England and Wales. A fourth tier has also been created for some of the worst affected areas in England.\n\nThe first minister said maintaining a \"strict travel ban\" would prevent more of the new strain entering Scotland from other parts of the UK, and reduce the risk of it spreading further within Scotland.\n\nThis ban will remain in place throughout the festive period, meaning that cross-border travel will only be allowed for essential purposes.\n\nMs Sturgeon said she would be asking the police to consider how the enforcement of the ban could be strengthened.\n\nIndoor mixing will be allowed on Christmas Day only. A maximum of eight people from three households will be allowed in law but the advice is to keep numbers to a minimum, celebrate in your own home, and meet others outdoors.\n\nBut Ms Sturgeon said: \"If you can't make it there and back in the same day, please don't go - and we're asking you not even to do that unless you feel there is genuinely no alternative.\"\n\nPolice Scotland said they would not be routinely stopping vehicles or setting up road blocks.\n\n\"However, officers may in the course of their duties come across people who are travelling from one local authority area to another,\" said Assistant Chief Constable Alan Speirs.\n\n\"Where travel restrictions apply, officers will continue to use the common sense, discretion and excellent judgement that they have applied since the crisis began.\"\n\nScottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said families would be \"devastated\", but that he understood why the restrictions were necessary.\n\n\"None of us want this, but these sacrifices will save lives,\" he said.\n\nScottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said the Scottish government needed to publish \"persuasive evidence\" to avert a \"heightened risk of non-compliance\".\n\nThe Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens both backed the moves, while calling for schools to close early for Christmas.", "The landslips came after heavy rain caused flooding overnight\n\nThe Eden Project in Cornwall has been forced to close after flooding caused several landslips at the site.\n\nHeavy rain across the wider region on Friday meant some people had to evacuate their homes.\n\nA spokesman said managers closed the site as a precaution and were assessing the damage.\n\nThe botanical gardens have been open since 3 December, when the county was categorised in tier one, the mildest of the coronavirus restrictions.\n\nAdvice on when the site is likely to reopen will be available on the company's website, the spokesman added.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Last updated on .From the section Football\n\nEngland and Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has been honoured for his work to raise awareness of child food poverty in the UK.\n\nHe was given the Expert Panel Special Award at the Sports Personality show.\n\nRashford successfully campaigned for the government to extend free school meals during the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\nIt resulted in about 1.3 million children in England being able to claim free school meals vouchers during the summer holidays.\n\nAnother policy change in November saw the government announce more than £400m to support poor children and their families in England, following further campaigning by Rashford.\n\nThe footballer has spoken of going without food as a child and the sacrifices his family had to make.\n\nHe became an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours and has continued to lobby for further help for poorer families.\n\nRashford has also launched a book club to help children enjoy the escapism of reading.\n• None Moments of triumph: Your personal stories and videos from 2020\n\nThe BBC Sports Personality show's judging panel unanimously agreed that Rashford's accomplishments off the pitch should be commended with a special award as the criteria for the main award shortlist is based around sporting achievements.\n\nOn Monday, a documentary - Marcus Rashford: Feeding Britain's Children - going behind the scenes of the footballer's free school meals campaign will air on BBC One.", "The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said it was \"the moment of truth\" for the talks\n\nThere will be no post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and EU unless there is a \"substantial shift\" from Brussels in the coming days, a government source has told the BBC.\n\nIt is understood there is likely to be a decision before Christmas on whether or not a deal can be reached.\n\nThe two sides have been in negotiations about how many years it will take to phase in new fisheries arrangements.\n\nThe EU's Michel Barnier said any deal must be \"balanced and reciprocal\".\n\nThe talks are expected to continue on Monday, a UK government source has said.\n\nWriting on Twitter on Sunday, Mr Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, said the talks were at a \"crucial moment\" and the two sides were working \"hard\" to try to narrow their differences.\n\n\"We respect the sovereignty of the UK and we expect the same. Both the EU and Britain must have the right to set their own laws and control their own waters. And we should both be able to act when our interests are at stake.\"\n\nWhitehall sources say it is increasingly likely the UK will end its post-Brexit transition period without a free trade agreement with the EU, meaning that on 1 January the two sides will rely on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules to govern exports and imports.\n\nThis could see tariffs introduced on goods being sold and bought - which may lead to increased prices for certain products.\n\nA government source told the BBC the EU was \"still struggling to get the flexibility needed from member states\" to make a deal possible.\n\n\"We need to get any deal right and based on terms which respect what the British people voted for.\n\n\"We're continuing to try every possible path to an agreement, but without a substantial shift from the [European] Commission we will be leaving on WTO terms on 31 December.\"\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said an agreement was in both sides' interests \"given all the problems that are going on on the continent as well as here\" with Covid, but the EU needed to give ground.\n\n\"I hope the EU moves on its unreasonable demands, that I don't think anybody could reasonably accept, and then we can get a trade deal,\" he told the BBC's Andrew Marr.\n\n\"But we are ready, whatever's necessary.\"\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to keep talking, but warned gaps had yet to be bridged.\n\nSenior MEPs in the European Parliament have said they will not be \"rushed\" into signing off a deal on their side and want to see the text of any agreement by Sunday if they are to approve it by the end of the year.\n\nA senior EU source told the BBC's Brussels correspondent Nick Beake: \"The Member States are the EU. And as a former member state, the UK knows well that the EU negotiator is there to protect the interest of Europeans.\n\n\"We believe it is in both sides' interest to reach a fair deal, which cannot be the case without a level playing field and sustainable arrangements for fisheries.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michel Barnier says negotiations have \"just a few hours\"\n\nThe two sides have been at odds over the length of time it will take to introduce new arrangements once the UK leaves the bloc's Common Fisheries Policy.\n\nThe UK, led by its chief negotiator, David Frost, has insisted its sovereign rights over its waters must be respected from day one and its fleets must be able to keep a much larger share of their own catch.\n\nThe EU is insisting on a much longer transition period, with guarantees on access and how catches are distributed.\n\nThe two sides are reported to have made progress in recent days on the issues of fair competition and what to do if the UK is deemed to get an unfair competitive advantage by moving away from EU rules and standards.\n\nIf a deal is reached between the two sides, it would need to be agreed by parliaments in the UK and the European Union's member states.\n\nUK MPs have now finished for the Christmas break, but Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Thursday that they could be called back to ratify a deal in the coming days, were one to be agreed.", "East Cornwall Search and Rescue rescued a trapped driver and helped people evacuate their homes\n\nFire crews were pumping water out of houses through the night after flooding forced people to evacuate their homes.\n\nSeveral people in Lostwithiel, Cornwall, had to spend the night in a community centre, while 18 people had to abandon their caravans at Notter Bridge, near Saltash.\n\nThe fire service called in \"water rescue units\" from Devon after 35mm (1.4 in) of rain fell in just 24 hours.\n\nThe flood risk is reducing over the weekend.\n\nSaltash Community Fire Station said both of its pumps were sent to two separate incidents on Friday, with both appliances pumping water until 04:00 GMT on Saturday.\n\nWater levels in Cornwall have been close to breaching flood defences\n\nEast Cornwall Search and Rescue were sent out near Golitha Falls at 19:00 GMT on Friday after reports of a driver trapped by floodwater.\n\nThey also helped evacuate residents in Lostwithiel and Notter Bridge.\n\n\"Fortunately there were no injuries reported, but there is still a lot of floodwater around this morning so please take extra care especially if you are on the roads,\" it added.\n\nEnvironment Agency workers have been trying to clear rivers and screens through the night\n\nEnvironment Agency teams are clearing screens to keep rivers flowing and local Coastguard Rescue Teams have also been involved in the overnight operations.\n\n\"At about 06:30 we were called to a property at the end of Lostwithiel which was flooding,\" said firefighter Steve Strauss.\n\n\"Two people were taken out of there with two dogs, and we've now been pumping out ever since,\" he added.\n\n\"We are short of field operatives tonight to help keep the screens clear and rivers flowing,\" said Nick Ely, from the Environment Agency.\n\n\"I'm not needed at the moment in my normal duty role, so I'm out with the team tonight helping and just cleared a tree trunk,\" he added.\n\nFirefighters have been pumping water out of homes\n\nAreas hit by downpours on Friday are set to face lighter rain over the weekend, with the flood risk reduced.\n\nThe Met Office said this band of wet weather would gradually make way for sunshine and lighter showers across the whole nation throughout the weekend.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "A number of the larger roundhouses were burned down and the defensive enclosure cleared during the late First Century AD\n\nThe destruction of a \"clearly high status\" Iron Age village \"may represent reprisals after the Boudiccan revolt\", an archaeologist has said.\n\nMore than 17 roundhouses were discovered in a defensive enclosure at Cressing, near Braintree in Essex.\n\nThe site was burned down and abandoned during the late First Century AD.\n\n\"The local Trinovantes tribe joined the AD61 rebellion and after Boudicca's defeat we know the Romans punished everyone involved,\" said Andy Greef.\n\nThe four-hectare (10-acre) site had been little disturbed in the centuries since the Iron Age settlement was abandoned\n\nOne of the more unusual finds was this copper alloy cockerel, which is believed to have been an offering to the gods\n\nThe excavation by Oxford Archaeology East ahead of a housing development by Countryside Properties began during the first lockdown and lasted eight months.\n\nThe enclosure was \"clearly an important place\" with an \"avenue-like entrance\" and continued to expand after the Roman invasion in AD43, so archaeologists were surprised it was not resettled after its destruction.\n\nFurther evidence of the settlement's abandonment was the complete lack of Roman burials in subsequent centuries, Mr Greef added.\n\nDespite this, the site remained a centre of \"votive offerings\" - possibly linked to the cult of the Roman god Mercury - until the end of the Roman occupation in the Fourth Century AD.\n\n...and more than 100 brooches\n\nMr Greef said: \"More than 100 brooches, 10 Iron Age coins, dozens of Roman coins, hairpins, beads, finger rings and a lovely copper alloy cockerel figurine were discovered.\n\n\"It could be there was a shrine on the site that continued to attract people and, as it's very close to the Roman road Stane Street, it was easy to access.\"\n\nThe dig also revealed \"one of the most significant assemblages of late Iron Age pottery from Essex in recent years\".\n\nMany months of analysis lie ahead, but once completed, it is hoped some of the finds will find homes in Essex museums.\n\nThe dig continued throughout lockdown with archaeologists observing social distancing\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Readers' stories: 'I am missing potentially the last Christmas with my parents'\n\n“I am missing potentially the last Christmas with my parents.” The nurse says the original guidance for the rules to be relaxed for a five-day window over Christmas would have been the first opportunity to see her parents safely because of her job and their age. Her father also has prostate cancer. She lives with her husband and two daughters, aged 18 and 21, in Thame, Oxfordshire, and her parents, who are in their 70s, live five hours away in Northumberland. With the rule change, they are allowed to meet only on Christmas Day as they are in tier two and tier three respectively. She received approval from her boss to work from home for the two weeks leading up to 23 December and her family had also been isolating too, she says. “I cried myself to sleep last night as did my mother and my dad broke down on the phone to me which I have never heard before,” she says. “That is how my Christmas has been affected. I don’t know when or whether I will see my parents again.”", "A self-described whistleblower at the company which made the cladding used on Grenfell Tower has refused new requests to give evidence to the public inquiry.\n\nClaude Wehrle, who worked for Arconic, says he fears he might breach a law in France which prevents evidence being given to proceedings abroad.\n\nAn inquiry letter seen by the BBC reveals he is one of at least two employees who are holding out.\n\nSeventy-two people were killed in the fire in North Kensington in June 2017.\n\nThe inquiry is now in its second phase and is examining the causes of the fire, including how the Grenfell Tower came to be in a condition which allowed the blaze to spread in the way it did.\n\nLast month, Mr Wehrle told the BBC, working jointly with CBS, that he could not speak without permission from Arconic's lawyers. Arconic says that is not true.\n\nThough Mr Wehrle no longer works at the US company, when contacted by phone in November in France, he claimed that law firm DLA Piper was influencing his decisions.\n\n\"DLA Piper is handling everything,\" he said. \"Everything has to go through them.\"\n\n\"I am a good soldier and I follow what is asked of me, and on this point, it is very touchy and important for me to follow the rules.\"\n\nDLA Piper is an international law firm which is representing Arconic and its current employees during investigations by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and the Metropolitan Police Service.\n\nA joint investigation by the BBC and CBS News has uncovered emails suggesting the firm was handling legal approaches to Mr Wehrle earlier this year.\n\nHowever, in a statement, DLA Piper said it was no longer advising \"certain other individuals associated with [Arconic's architectural subsidiary] AAP SAS in France\".\n\nArconic has been paying for Mr Wehrle to have legal representation since July but stressed that it did not have any influence over his decisions.\n\nAnother firm in France, Navacelle Law, said it was now representing him independently.\n\nKarim Mussilhy, who lost his uncle Hesham Rahman in the fire, delivered a letter of protest to the French Embassy this week\n\nA letter to \"core participants\" of the inquiry, seen by the BBC, reveals Mr Wehrle is one of at least two former employees of the cladding manufacturer Arconic who remain intent on not giving oral evidence.\n\nThat is despite a statement this week by the French government. It said there was no reason for any French citizen to fear criminalisation at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.\n\nWhen the BBC spoke to Mr Wehrle in November he said \"my target is not, and will never be, to go against Arconic\".\n\n\"It is awful what happened, for sure, but... the fire didn't only have one cause. It is linked to a lot of events that happened one after the other.\"\n\nMr Wherle said he had given the inquiry \"as much as possible, I gave many, many, many exchanges of emails\".\n\nWhen asked whether he felt that he had done the right thing by raising concerns internally he said, \"that's for sure.\"\n\n\"In French we say \"donner d'alert\". I don't know if you know what I mean by this: whistleblower.\"\n\n\"That was my role and it was a difficult situation, trust me,\" he said.\n\nKarim Mussilhy, who lost his uncle Hesham Rahman in the fire, delivered a letter of protest to the French Embassy this week.\n\n\"We need these people to come to the country and tell the truth. It's in the interest of public safety,\" he said.\n\n\"Thousands of people are living in homes with the material that caused the spread of the fire and caused the deaths of their families and they must come here in the interest of public safety.\n\n\"They must come and tell the truth so we make sure that this never happens again.\"\n\nMr Wehrle was a technical manager at Arconic and his testimony is central to the inquiry's investigations into why flammable cladding was installed on the tower.\n\nHis knowledge of concerns within the company goes back at least as far as 2010.\n\nDuring this period Arconic tested its Reynobond PE aluminium cladding product and found it to have worse performance than expected when exposed to fire.\n\nIn an email that year to colleagues, Mr Wehrle said that his company's concerns about the performance of the cladding were something \"we have to keep as VERY CONFIDENTIAL\".\n\nThe BBC has also previously revealed that he emailed customers in 2015 to warn them that according to the new tests the cladding used at Grenfell Tower had a fire rating of class E, on a scale from A1 to F.\n\nIn the email he said he was attempting to address \"concerns about the product's fire reaction class in the UK\".\n\nHowever, Arconic did not inform the body which issues product specification certificates in the UK.\n\nThe company says it was not responsible for designing cladding systems which used its product or for ensuring they met the requirements of the building regulations.\n\nMr Wehrle has failed to respond to recent approaches from the BBC.", "Oxford Street, in central London, was virtually deserted on Sunday\n\nCoronavirus cases in the UK have risen by 35,928 - nearly double the number recorded last Sunday, figures show.\n\nPublic Health England medical director Yvonne Doyle said the \"sharp\" rise in cases was of \"serious concern\".\n\nIt comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that a new variant of the virus was \"getting out of control\".\n\nChristmas plans have been scrapped or restricted for millions across the UK amid warnings the variant is up to 70% more transmissible than previous types.\n\nThe number of new UK infections on Sunday is an all-time high for recorded cases and nearly double the 18,447 cases reported a week ago.\n\nHowever, it is thought the infection rate was higher during the first peak in the spring, with testing capacity too limited at the time to detect the true number of daily cases.\n\nProf Doyle said most of the new cases in England were concentrated in London and the South East, although it was too early to say if this was linked to the new variant.\n\nThe government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) estimates the variant could increase the R number by between 0.4 and 0.9, minutes released on Sunday show.\n\nThe R number is how many other people one person will infect on average; an epidemic is growing if it rises above 1.\n\nA growing number of countries have banned travel from the UK as a result of this variant, including Ireland, France, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.\n\nEurotunnel is suspending access to its Folkestone terminal from 22:00 GMT for traffic and freight heading to Calais due to the 48-hour travel ban introduced by France.\n\nSpeaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, Mr Hancock said the news about the new variant \"has been an incredibly difficult end to frankly an awful year\".\n\nHe said: \"Of course we don't want to cancel Christmas... we don't want to take any of these measures, but it's our duty to take them when the evidence is clear.\"\n\nSusan Hopkins, from Public Health England, told Andrew Marr there was evidence that people with the new strain had \"higher viral loads\", which meant they were more infectious.\n\nSome 21 million people in England and Wales who entered new restrictions at midnight are being told to stay at home, while non-essential shops and businesses have to close.\n\nThose living under the newly-created tier four restrictions in England will now be unable to mix with other households indoors at Christmas, unless they are part of their existing support bubble.\n\nThe health secretary said it was not clear how long the tier four measures would be in place, but it could be for months, \"until we can get the vaccine going\".\n\nHe added that people in tier four should act as if they may have the virus.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Starmer: Boris Johnson \"has once again been caught behind the curve\"\n\nIn the rest of England, Scotland and Wales, relaxed indoor mixing rules will only apply on Christmas Day.\n\nCovid rules had been relaxed across the UK to allow up to three households to mix indoors for five days over the Christmas period.\n\nA ban on travel between Scotland and the rest of the UK will also apply over the festive period. Police Scotland said it would be doubling its patrols on the borders but it would not be introducing check points.\n\nMainland Scotland is being placed under the tightest restrictions from Boxing Day.\n\nWales has also entered a new shutdown, with the health minister saying the new variant was \"seeded\" in every part of the country.\n\nIn Northern Ireland, where the planned relaxation of rules for Christmas is going ahead unchanged, four of the five main parties have called for an urgent meeting to discuss the restrictions.\n\nNorthern Ireland is already due to enter a six-week lockdown on Boxing Day.\n\nNurse Rachel Adams said she was potentially missing the last Christmas with her parents\n\nPeople whose Christmas plans were affected as a result of the changes have told the BBC of their anguish at being unable to see loved ones.\n\nNurse Rachel Adams had been planning to see her parents, who are in their 70s. Her father has prostate cancer.\n\nShe lives with her husband and two daughters, aged 18 and 21, in Thame, Oxfordshire, which is in tier two, and her parents live five hours away in Northumberland, which is in tier three.\n\n\"I am absolutely heartbroken,\" she said.\n\n\"I am missing potentially the last Christmas with my parents.\"\n\nGaynor Cawood said she couldn't believe the short notice given to cancel plans\n\nGrandmother Gaynor Cawood, who lives near Loughborough in Leicestershire, was expecting to see her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren for Christmas.\n\nBut she lives in tier three and they live in London, which is now in tier four - meaning a ban on travel to other tiers.\n\n\"I can't believe the short notice the government have given us to cancel plans,\" she says.\n\n\"Not only am I now unable to get our Christmas presents to my son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren - how do you explain to a five-year-old that all the exciting plans we made will now not happen?\"\n\nBut not everyone will be obeying the restrictions over Christmas.\n\nAlex, a teacher from Huddersfield, which is in tier three, said: \"I will be continuing with my plans and meeting family on three days over Christmas.\"\n\nHe said he had recently recovered from Covid-19 and his family are being careful by taking tests and self-isolating.\n\n\"As a teacher I'm expected to work till the last day, mixing with 70 random households in an early years bubble, most of which I know do not follow the rules outside of school, or face legal action from [Education Secretary] Gavin Williamson.\n\n\"Therefore for three days, when I'm probably safest, as I know we are all OK, I'll continue as normal.\"\n\nThe PM's announcement on Saturday of new restrictions came just days after he defended plans to relax restrictions for five days during the festive period - despite calls by some in the medical profession to scrap the change.\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party supported the latest restrictions, but he accused Boris Johnson of \"gross negligence\" in failing to act earlier.\n\nSir Keir told an online press conference that it was \"blatantly obvious last week\" that Mr Johnson's plans to relax the rules over Christmas was \"a risk too far\", adding that his claim that \"this is all down to a new form of the virus that has just emerged does not stand up to scrutiny\".\n\nLondon Mayor Sadiq Khan told BBC Breakfast the \"11th-hour announcement is a bitter blow\" for families and businesses, saying it is the \"chop-change, stop-start, that's led to so much anguish, despair, sadness and disappointment\".\n\nSimilar to England's second national lockdown - tier four applies to Kent, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Surrey (excluding Waverley), Gosport, Havant, Portsmouth, Rother and Hastings.\n\nIt also applies in London (all 32 boroughs and the City of London) and the east of England (Bedford, Central Bedford, Milton Keynes, Luton, Peterborough, Hertfordshire and Essex (excluding Colchester, Uttlesford and Tendring).\n\nThe measures will be reviewed on 30 December.\n\nHow will these latest restrictions affect your plans for Christmas? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.\n• None 'Our duty' to act over Christmas plans - Hancock", "From Boxing Day the whole of mainland Scotland will be in the country's toughest tier of restrictions for at least three weeks. So what can you do - and not do - in level four?\n\nIf you want to delve deeper into the Scottish government's level four rules, click here.", "Andrew Marr's guests this morning are Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy.\n\nAlso on the show: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove from the World Health Organization, Professor Susan Hopkins from Public Health England and music from Annie Lennox.", "Sir Keir Starmer said he was \"under no illusion about the scale of the task Labour faces\" in Scotland\n\nLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has committed his party to delivering the \"boldest devolution project in a generation\" in a policy speech.\n\nHe is to set up a constitutional commission to offer a \"positive alternative to the Scottish people\".\n\nSir Keir said leaders had a \"shared duty\" to \"rebuild together\" across the UK in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.\n\nBut First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has argued that independence is \"essential\" to rebuilding Scotland post-pandemic.\n\nThe SNP have dismissed the plans as \"constitutional tinkering\" while the Scottish Conservatives said Labour were offering nothing new to challenge the SNP's dominance of Scottish politics.\n\nSir Keir used his speech on Monday - delivered online due to physical distancing - to confirm the setting up of a UK-wide constitutional commission, advised by former prime minister Gordon Brown, to deliver a \"fresh and tangible offer\" to the Scottish people.\n\nHe said the pandemic had put \"rocket boosters\" under the case for decentralisation of power, saying his party must \"grasp the nettle and offer real devolution of power and resources\" if it is to have any hope of preserving the future of the union.\n\nHe said: \"It is Labour's duty to offer a positive alternative to the Scottish people. To show that you don't have to choose between a broken status quo and the uncertainty and divisiveness of separatism.\n\n\"The United Kingdom is much more than that, more than any individual. It has been before - and can be again - a great force for social justice, for security and for solidarity.\"\n\nThe independence campaign has regained momentum in the polls following defeat in 2014\n\nWith polls suggesting support for independence is on the rise, Sir Keir argued that the shared \"history, values and identity\" of the people of the UK mean there should be no place for internal borders.\n\nHe said Labour's offering must be \"every bit as bold and radical\" as the devolution delivered in the 1990s, saying the constitutional commission would target \"real and lasting political and economic devolution\" to local communities in all parts of the UK.\n\nSir Keir said this was about more than shifting powers from one parliament to another or transferring \"a few jobs out of London\", adding: \"There's a yearning across the United Kingdom for politics and power to be much closer to people.\"\n\nThe project is to start with a listening exercise, with the party looking to \"hear from as many people as possible across the UK\".\n\nThe UK leader said he was \"under no illusion about the scale of the task Labour faces\" ahead of May's Scottish Parliament election, with Scottish Labour having been in opposition at Holyrood since 2007.\n\nThe party has also struggled in other elections north of the border, being reduced to a single Westminster seat in 2019 and finishing fifth in that year's European Parliament elections.\n\nThe MP said Labour would argue \"passionately\" against a new independence referendum saying it was \"entirely the wrong priority\" to hold a new vote in the teeth of a recession and \"when there is such uncertainty about how Brexit and coronavirus will affect us\"\n\nHe attacked the SNP's record in power, saying: \"It's no wonder that Nicola Sturgeon wants to make May's election a referendum on another referendum, because on education, health and social justice the SNP have no story to tell.\"\n\nThe next Holyrood election is due in May 2021, with Labour currently the parliament's third party\n\nThe SNP's deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald dismissed Labour's plans, saying the system was \"broken\" and \"not working for Scotland\".\n\n\"No amount of constitutional tinkering of the kind proposed by Labour will protect Scotland from Brexit or the Tory power grab being imposed upon us against our will,\" she said.\n\nShe said that even Labour supporters doubted their ability to oust the Conservatives from Westminster for another decade at least.\n\nThe MP added: \"It's clear that only with the full powers of independence will we be able to properly protect our interests and secure our place in Europe - and that decision lies solely with the people of Scotland, not an out-of-touch Westminster system.\"\n\nThe Scottish Conservatives insisted they were the only party capable of taking on the SNP and championing the union.\n\nScottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: \"This isn't leadership from Labour on the union, this is the same old tired argument that they've made before and they're offering nothing to challenge the SNP.\n\n\"Scottish Labour won't work with unionist parties to stop the nationalists, and they won't stand up to Nicola Sturgeon's demand for another independence referendum as early as next year.\n\n\"Only the Scottish Conservatives have the strength to take on the SNP right across Scotland and the determination to stop their push for indyref2 again.\"\n\nThe Scottish Liberal Democrats, however, said they are willing to work with Labour on a \"third way\" forward.\n\nLeader Willie Rennie said: \"Liberal Democrats support a new federalist settlement that means we can find a better way to agree a common future across the United Kingdom.\"\n\nDevolution is pretty straightforward when national and devolved leaders agree. When they don't, it becomes a lot harder.\n\nNowhere has that been more obvious than in Scotland - and his speech was Sir Keir's first major foray into the independence debate.\n\nFor years, many believe Labour in Scotland has been in a constitutional no man's land; stuck between the pro-independence SNP and the strongly unionist Conservatives.\n\nLabour has flirted with different positions - and has taken a hammering at the polls as a result.\n\nToday's speech was intended to give more clarity on exactly where Sir Keir stands ahead of May's Holyrood election. He has adopted a similar position to the UK government on calls for another independence vote; not now, but not quite ruling it out forever.\n\nLabour is open to more powers for Holyrood, presents itself as the party which introduced devolution in the first place, and will oppose what it sees as attacks on devolution from the current UK government.", "The cancellation of Christmas plans for millions of people across the UK will bring \"intense pain\" but there is \"hope\" for the future, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.\n\nJustin Welby told the BBC he had spent Christmases alone and had \"no illusions about how dark it feels\".\n\n\"But as the vaccine comes in, things will change,\" the archbishop said.\n\nHe urged people to take practical steps to avoid loneliness and plan for proper celebrations in the future.\n\nHe also said the elderly and vulnerable should not feel compelled to go to church this Christmas.\n\nOn Saturday, the planned relaxation of Covid rules for Christmas were scrapped for London and parts of south-east and east England and cut to just Christmas Day for the rest of England, Scotland and Wales.\n\nSpeaking on The Andrew Marr show, the archbishop acknowledged that for many families this year has been difficult and that many will be feeling lonely.\n\nAsked directly whether Christmas was cancelled, he replied: \"No. The celebrations are cancelled - we'll come to those again.\n\n\"This is very different to what we hoped for and longed for and it is the most intense pain for a lot of people.\n\n\"But it's not cancelled because at the heart of Christmas is Jesus coming into the world, God coming into the world and then coming onto Easter.\n\n\"This is a moment of God saying 'I am with you in the mess and there is hope'.\"\n\nThe archbishop said people should share memories of lost loved ones, speak to friends and family, and make plans for the future when the pandemic has eased.\n\nHe said: \"Talk to people on the phone - ring, share and plan.\n\n\"Something about planning for the future helps us dream.\n\n\"What are you going to do? What are we going to do when this time is over?\n\n\"It may be many months yet but as the vaccine comes in things will change.\n\n\"What are we going to do to celebrate?\n\n\"And to mourn and to grieve, but crying and laughing to celebrate.\"\n\nThe Archbishop of Canterbury also said people needed to decide for themselves whether it was too risky to attend church at Christmas.\n\nPlaces of worship will remain open over the festive period, even in areas in tier four - the toughest level of restrictions in England.\n\nHe said his mother, who is in her 90s, would not be going because it was \"too dangerous\".\n\n\"There are clergy who have underlying health conditions, who will not be going to church,\" he added.\n\nFor those who decide to attend church in person, they should not \"mingle\" after services and should stay away from the choir.\n\n\"Wave happily to people and go home,\" he said.", "\"I've never in my life felt so much love and felt so grateful,\" Chloe Collins said\n\nA couple rearranged their wedding in just two hours to ensure they tied the knot before London went into tier four.\n\nChloe Collins, 31, and Jamie Collins, 29, were due to marry on 6 September, but had reorganised three times due to changing coronavirus restrictions.\n\nMrs Collins said \"our hearts sank\" when Boris Johnson announced on Saturday a new tier-four lockdown across south-east England would start on Sunday.\n\nThe couple were married at 22:00 GMT on Saturday at Edgware United Synagogue.\n\n\"I've never in my life felt so much love and felt so grateful,\" Mrs Collins, a lettings negotiator, said.\n\nThe couple were allowed 15 guests but \"over 100 people logged on to Zoom to watch us\".\n\n\"We felt the love, and it felt like they were there,\" Mrs Collins said.\n\nThe couple were married at Edgware United Synagogue\n\nEstate agent Mr Collins said their wedding had been planned with 130 guests at a country estate-turned-hotel in Watford.\n\nWhen coronavirus restrictions meant only 15 guests could attend weddings, the couple moved venue and planned for a wedding on 22 November.\n\nThey then rearranged for 20 December, after a four week-England wide lockdown came into force through November.\n\nMrs Collins said she \"felt physically sick\" as the prime minister announced new tier four restrictions on Saturday afternoon.\n\n\"Our rabbi had the idea to bring the wedding forward,\" Mr Collins said.\n\n\"We just started calling people to see what we could do, and the more calls we made the more people said 'yes'.\n\n\"It was a miracle that it just kind of came together. It felt like a dream. Some people take years to plan a wedding, but we did it in two hours.\"\n\nMr Collins's best man drove more than two hours to attend the wedding, before \"getting back in his car and driving home\", the couple said.\n\nUnder tier four guidelines, weddings and civil partnerships are only allowed under \"exceptional circumstances\", such as if one partner is seriously ill and not expected to recover.\n\nSince the wedding, the couple, from Watford, have been inundated with messages.\n\n\"I've been welling up with messages from people who aren't my close friends saying it was amazing,\" Mrs Collins said.\n\n\"I think it's just nice to hear nice news for a change.\"", "Aerial footage filmed on the first day of new restrictions in England shows queues, full car parks and quiet streets.\n\nMillions of people had their Christmas plans disrupted after tier four was announced for London and parts of east and south-east England on Saturday.\n\nThe government changed the plans in an effort to stop the spread of a new coronavirus variant.", "The government and trade groups have warned of \"serious disruption\" after France blocked arrivals of UK passengers for 48 hours over concerns about the new coronavirus variant.\n\nFreight lorries cannot cross by sea or through the Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover has closed to outbound traffic.\n\nAbout 10,000 lorries a day travel between Dover and Calais during peak periods such as Christmas.\n\nUK ministers will discuss the move at a Cobra emergency committee on Monday.\n\nOn Sunday, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps urged the public and hauliers not to travel to ports in Kent, saying \"significant disruption\" was likely in the area.\n\nKent Police have mobilised Operation Stack - a system to park lorries on the M20 motorway in Kent at times of disruption - to deal with the build-up of traffic.\n\nRichard Burnett, head of the Road Haulage Association, told the BBC's Today programme that the ban could deter EU hauliers from coming to the UK over fears they will end up being stranded.\n\n\"The retailers have done a good job of stocking up on ambient products [for Christmas] - there will be plenty of stock,\" he added.\n\n\"But the fresh food supply, where it's short shelf life and there will be product on its way now, that's where the challenge comes from.\n\n\"The retailers will absolutely be assessing their inbound flows this morning and understanding whether or not those flows are on their way into the retail distribution centres around the country and I'm sure there will be further reassurance given today that those things are in control.\"\n\nKent Police said it had implemented the closure of the coast-bound carriageway of the motorway between Junctions 8 and 11 as a \"contingency measure\".\n\nThe Department for Transport has said that Manston Airport in Kent is being readied to take up to 4,000 lorries to ease congestion in the county.\n\nThe Port of Dover is closed to traffic leaving the UK \"until further notice\" due to border restrictions in France, port authorities said in a statement.\n\n\"Both accompanied freight and passenger customers are asked not to travel to the port,\" it said. \"We understand that the restrictions will be in place for 48 hours from midnight.\"\n\nFreight coming to Britain from France will be allowed, but there are fears lorry drivers will not travel to avoid being stuck in the UK.\n\nUnaccompanied freight, such as containers or lorry trailers on their own can still be transported, but outbound vans, lorries and trucks are banned. Hauliers are advised to find other routes into the continent.\n\nBorder restrictions could mean disruption to food supplies, as well as difficulties in meeting orders of British goods in continental Europe.\n\n\"Tonight's suspension of accompanied freight traffic from the UK to France has the potential to cause serious disruption to UK Christmas fresh food supplies - and exports of UK food and drink,\" Food and Drink Federation (FDF) chief executive Ian Wright warned on Sunday.\n\n\"The government must very urgently persuade the French government to exempt accompanied freight from its ban.\"\n\nFreight industry lobby group Logistics UK said it was concerned about the welfare of drivers going from the UK to France, and said they should have access to regular testing.\n\nIt appealed for calm from shoppers, and said it was \"maintaining close contact with UK government to ensure that supplies of fresh produce are available throughout Christmas and the new year\".\n\nThe British Retail Consortium (BRC) joined the FDF in appealing to the government to find a solution, but also added that there should be no immediate shortages.\n\n\"Retailers have stocked up on goods ahead of Christmas which should prevent immediate problems,\" the BRC said.\n\nThe government does not think the restrictions will affect the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines to the UK, according to BBC political correspondent Nick Eardley.\n\nScotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has called on the government to extend the Brexit transition period as it deals with the new coronavirus variant, saying it was a \"profoundly serious situation\" which \"demands our 100% attention\".\n\nThe current transition period is due to expire at the end of the year and the EU and UK are still negotiating a trade deal.\n\nWithout it both sides will have to collect expensive tariffs that the Office for Budget Responsibility says could harm the UK's economy.\n\nLabour's Rachel Reeves, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, called the development \"deeply worrying\".\n\n\"The country needs to hear credible plans and reassurance that essential supplies will be safeguarded, including our NHS, supermarkets and manufacturers with crucial supply chains,\" she said.\n\nThe block on freight traffic into France came as a number of European countries banned flights and other travel from the UK over fears about VUI - a mutation of the coronavirus that is spreading rapidly in the UK.\n\nFrance, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Belgium the Netherlands and Turkey are among those to have banned flights from the UK while other nations are considering the move.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nMPs want the government to publish a list of the companies that signed up to the furlough scheme amid concerns money is being lost through fraud and error.\n\nUnder the scheme, the government pays up to 80% of staff wages.\n\n\"Opportunistic fraud\", where furloughed staff continue to work, could be running at between 7% and 34% of cases, the Public Accounts Committee said.\n\nThe wages of more than nine million workers have been paid by the government at a cost of £46bn.\n\nThe Commons Public Accounts Committee, which is responsible for overseeing government expenditures, wants HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to release a list of employers that have received funding from the scheme by the end of January.\n\nThe committee said the Treasury had not been able to give a \"ballpark figure\" or explain how it would determine whether the spending represented good value for money.\n\nChancellor Rishi Sunak last week extended the furlough scheme for one month until the end of April and self-employed support is due to continue until the end of January.\n\nAs of October, the furlough scheme and the income support scheme for the self employed had cost more than £55bn.\n\nA further £21bn of taxpayers' money will be paid into the furlough scheme by the end of April next year, the Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated.\n\nUnder existing plans, the true scale of the losses will not be known until the end of next year at the earliest.\n\nMPs also want HMRC and the Treasury to do more to help the estimated 2.9 million workers who have been excluded from both furlough and the income support scheme for the self-employed.\n\n\"HM Treasury and HMRC should investigate whether more data within and outside of the tax system could be used to determine eligibility for currently excluded groups and write to the committee within six weeks to explain their findings,\" the committee said.\n\n\"Many workers including freelancers and entrepreneurs have not had a penny and are really struggling as they continue to fall through the gaps.\"\n\nMeanwhile, the government's hotline for furlough fraud has received more than 20,000 tips since it was set up.\n\nA government spokesperson said: \"The furlough scheme has saved millions of jobs and kept businesses in operation.\n\n\"We will consider carefully the findings and recommendations of the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) report and respond in due course.\"", "Police patrols will be stepped up but road blocks are not envisaged\n\nPolice patrols on Scotland's borders are to be doubled but there are no plans for checkpoints or road blocks.\n\nPolice Scotland's chief constable said he expected roads to be quieter in the coming days and that most people would \"do the right thing\".\n\nBut Iain Livingstone ruled out setting up checkpoints, saying they were not \"appropriate\" or \"proportionate\".\n\nThe first minister announced on Saturday that cross-border travel would be banned for the festive period.\n\nNicola Sturgeon said tighter travel rules were essential, along with a number of extra measures, to prevent a new variant of Covid-19 spreading rapidly.\n\nThere are only a limited number of specific exemptions to the law.\n\nIn addition to the cross-border travel ban, the whole of Scotland will move into either level four or level three Covid restrictions from 26 December, meaning people are only allowed to make essential journeys outside their council area.\n\nThe chief constable said he had compassion for all those affected by \"highly restrictive measures\" but insisted they were \"absolutely necessary\" to save lives.\n\n\"Following the announcement by the first minister, there can be no doubt that, other than for the most essential journeys, people should not be travelling between Scotland and other parts of the UK,\" he said.\n\nChief Constable Iain Livingstone said policing of travel restrictions must be \"proportionate\"\n\nMr Livingstone said the increase in Covid alert levels from midnight on 26 December amounted to a \"blanket ban\" for mainland Scotland.\n\nBut he added: \"I remain clear I do not consider it appropriate or proportionate for officers to establish check points or road blocks to simply enforce travel restrictions\n\n\"These restrictions are a preventative measure to halt the progress of Covid and Police Scotland will support this approach with a strong operational profile to deter those who would put others at risk.\n\n\"Today, I have authorised the doubling of our operational presence in the border areas of Scotland.\"\n\nHe said the force's experience throughout the pandemic was that the \"overwhelming majority\" of people had \"demonstrated personal responsibility to do the right thing\".\n\nHe added: \"It is the consent of the public from which policing in Scotland draws its legitimacy. As our communities expect, where officers encounter wilful, persistent or flagrant breaches we will act decisively to enforce the law.\"\n\nBritish Transport Police have also boosted the number of officers at stations across the UK's rail network.\n\nAssistant Chief Constable Sean O'Callaghan said: \"As has been the case throughout the pandemic, officers will be supporting rail staff through high-visibility patrols across England, Scotland and Wales, ensuring those on the network are safe.\n\n\"Our policing method remains the same - officers will engage with passengers and only use enforcement if absolutely necessary.\n\n\"Anyone planning a journey over the festive period is urged to consider whether travelling is essential and encouraged to stay at home as per latest Government advice.\"", "I have one simple rule for making sense of \"new variant\" or \"new strain\" coronavirus stories.\n\nAsk: \"Has the virus's behaviour changed?\"\n\nA mutated virus sounds instinctively scary, but to mutate and change is what viruses do.\n\nMost of the time it is either a meaningless tweak or the virus alters itself in such a way that it gets worse at infecting us and the new variant just dies out.\n\nOccasionally it hits on a new winning formula.\n\nThere is no clear-cut evidence the new variant of coronavirus - which has been detected in south-east England - is able to transmit more easily, cause more serious symptoms or render the vaccine useless.\n\nHowever, there are two reasons scientists are keeping a close eye on it.\n\nThe first is that levels of the variant are higher in places where cases are higher.\n\nIt is a warning sign, although it can be interpreted in two ways.\n\nThe virus could have mutated to spread more easily and is causing more infections.\n\nBut variants can also get a lucky break by infecting the right people at the right time. One explanation for the spread of the \"Spanish strain\" over the summer was simply people catching it on holiday and then bringing it home.\n\nIt will take experiments in the laboratory to figure out if this variant really is a better spreader than all the others.\n\nThe other issue that is raising scientific eyebrows is how the virus has mutated.\n\n\"It has a surprisingly large number of mutations, more than we would expect, and a few look interesting,\" Prof Nick Loman from the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium told me.\n\nThere are two notable sets of mutation - and I apologise for their hideous names.\n\nBoth are found in the crucial spike protein, which is the key the virus uses to unlock the doorway into our body's cells in order to hijack them.\n\nThe mutation N501 (I did warn you) alters the most important part of the spike, known as the \"receptor-binding domain\".\n\nThis is where the spike makes first contact with the surface of our body's cells. Any changes that make it easier for the virus to get inside are likely to give it an edge.\n\n\"It looks and smells like an important adaptation,\" said Prof Loman.\n\nMass vaccination will put a different kind of pressure on the virus because it will have to change in order to infect people who have been immunised\n\nThe other mutation - a H69/V70 deletion - has emerged several times before, including famously in infected mink.\n\nThe concern was that antibodies from the blood of survivors was less effective at attacking that variant of virus.\n\nAgain, it is going to take more laboratory studies to really understand what is going on.\n\nProf Alan McNally, from the University of Birmingham, said: \"We know there's a variant, we know nothing about what that means biologically.\n\n\"It is far too early to make any inference on how important this may or may not be.\"\n\nMutations to the spike protein lead to questions about the vaccine because the three leading jabs - Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford - all train the immune system to attack the spike.\n\nHowever, the body learns to attack multiple parts of the spike. That is why health officials remain convinced the vaccine will work against this variant.\n\nThis is a virus that evolved in animals and made the jump to infecting people around a year ago.\n\nSince then it has been picking up around two mutations a month - take a sample today and compare it to the first ones from Wuhan in China and there would be around 25 mutations separating them.\n\nCoronavirus is still trying out different combinations of mutations to properly nail infecting humans.\n\nWe have seen this happen before: The emergence and global dominance of another variant (G614) is seen by many as the virus getting better at spreading.\n\nBut soon mass vaccination will put a different kind of pressure on the virus because it will have to change in order to infect people who have been immunized.\n\nIf this does drive the evolution of the virus, we may have to regularly update the vaccines, as we do for flu, to keep up.", "Last updated on .From the section Sports Personality\n\nFormula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has been voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020.\n\nOne of F1's all-time great drivers, he equalled Michael Schumacher's record of seven world titles with his fourth consecutive championship in 2020.\n\nThe 35-year-old, from Stevenage, also surpassed Schumacher's total of 91 grand prix wins.\n\nIn a public vote, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson finished second while jockey Hollie Doyle was third.\n\nBoxer Tyson Fury, England cricketer Stuart Broad and snooker great Ronnie O'Sullivan were also shortlisted for the main award.\n\n\"I want to say congratulations to all the incredible nominees,\" said Hamilton. \"I'm so proud of what they have achieved and I want to say thank you to everyone that has voted for me.\n\n\"I wasn't expecting this knowing there's so many great contenders.\n\n\"I want to say Merry Christmas to everyone - it's been such an unusual year and I want to mention all the front line workers and all the children round the world, I want you to try and stay positive through this difficult time, I'm sending you all positivity. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.\"\n• None How the night unfolded in our live text\n• None Moments of triumph: Your personal stories and videos from 2020\n\nIt is the second time Hamilton has been crowned Sports Personality of the Year, having first won the award in 2014.\n\nHe is also a four-time runner-up, most recently in 2019.\n\nHamilton, who holds the record for most pole positions, won 11 of the 17 grands prix during the 2020 season, which started four months late because of the coronavirus pandemic. He achieved three further podium finishes.\n\nSpeaking to BBC Breakfast's Sally Nugent, Hamilton also paid tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore, who was honoured with the Helen Rollason Award for his incredible fundraising efforts during lockdown, Young Unsung Hero winner Tobias Weller, and Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford, who won a special award.\n\n\"There's so many great stories out there,\" said Hamilton. \"And so I truly wasn't expecting it.\n\n\"Your heart's always pumping in those last few seconds when they're announcing because you have absolutely no idea who was called in. But I am so, so, so grateful to the British public.\n\n\"This definitely goes a long way to giving me the best Christmas that I can have given the circumstances.\"\n\nHenderson's runner-up spot came after his Liverpool side were named top team while manager Jurgen Klopp won coach of the year.\n\nAfter picking up the trophy for finishing third, Doyle said: \"It felt unbelievable but felt like it wasn't for myself but for our industry as a whole, which I'm proud to be part of.\"\n\nThe Sports Personality of the Year 2020 was broadcast live from MediaCityUK, Salford, in front of a 1,000-strong virtual audience and millions of BBC One viewers.\n\nFootball pundit Alex Scott joined the presenting line-up alongside Gary Lineker, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan to look back on a truly unusual year of sport.\n• None Stream all the goals and highlights from Saturday's Premier League action now", "Joe Biden said the US needed a \"unified national response\" to climate change\n\nUS President-elect Joe Biden has introduced his climate and energy team, saying they will lead an \"ambitious plan\" to combat climate change.\n\nMr Biden has vowed to make the issue a top priority in an agenda that reverses many Trump administration policies.\n\nHe said there was \"no time to waste\".\n\nIf confirmed by the Senate, the team will include the first black man to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the first Native American cabinet member.\n\nMr Biden, who is set to be inaugurated on 20 January, has pledged to build a diverse administration that reflects the US.\n\n\"We're in a crisis,\" he said. \"Just like we need to be a unified nation to respond to Covid-19, we need a unified national response to climate change.\"\n\nMr Biden has pledged to break away from climate policy under the Trump administration. He says he will re-join the Paris climate agreement immediately upon taking office and \"put America back in the business of leading the world on climate change\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nUnder President Donald Trump, the US this year became the first country to formally withdraw from the Paris agreement, which commits countries to working to limit the global temperature rise.\n\nMr Biden described his picks for his new climate and energy team as \"brilliant, qualified and tested, and barrier-busting\".\n\nNominees include North Carolina's top environmental regulator Michael Regan, who would be the first African-American man to head the EPA, and New Mexico representative Deb Haaland who would be the first Native American to lead the Department of the Interior.\n\nMs Haaland hailed her nomination as a \"profound\" moment in the history of the country.\n\nEnvironmental lawyer and Obama administration official Brenda Mallory was nominated to run the Council on Environmental Quality. If confirmed, she would be the first African American to hold the position.\n\nFormer Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm was nominated for the position of energy secretary.\n\nLast month Mr Biden named John Kerry, a former secretary of state and one of the leading architects of the Paris agreement, as his climate envoy.\n\nThe Biden transition team said the position would see him \"fight climate change full-time\". He is also set to be the first official dedicated to climate change to sit on the National Security Council.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Strictly winner Bill Bailey: 'I never thought we'd get this far'\n\nComedian Bill Bailey has been crowned the winner of this year's Strictly Come Dancing, becoming the oldest celebrity to lift the glitterball trophy.\n\nThe 55-year-old shared his triumph with partner Oti Mabuse, the first Strictly dancer to win for two years in a row.\n\nBailey beat EastEnders' Maisie Smith and singer HRVY at the end of Saturday's grand final.\n\n\"It feel surreal, it feels extraordinary, it feels wonderful,\" Bailey said as he was named the winner.\n\n\"I never thought we'd get this far, never thought we'd get to the final.\n\n\"But I have had the most extraordinary teacher and the most extraordinary dancer,\" he added, paying tribute to Mabuse. \"Someone who believed in me right from the beginning, and she found something in me and turned me into this, into a dancer.\"\n\nIn response Mabuse told him: \"I think you are amazing, remarkable. You just put your heart and soul into everything. Thank you for being a friend, a father figure to me, a brother, and for this [the glitterball trophy]!\"\n\nActor Joe McFadden had been Strictly's previous oldest winner, having won in 2017 at the age of 42.\n\nBill and Oti performed their showdance to The Show Must Go On by Queen\n\nMabuse, who has danced on Strictly since 2015, also won last year's series with Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher.\n\nAliona Vilani is the only other pro dancer to have triumphed twice, having won with Harry Judd and Jay McGuinness in 2011 and 2015 respectively.\n\nMade in Chelsea's Jamie Laing also made it to this year's final, having survived an unprecedented four dance-offs throughout the series.\n\nBailey is known for his appearances on QI, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and the Channel 4 sitcom Black Books.\n\nSaturday's finale was watched by an average audience of 11.6 million - up from 11.3 million last year.\n\nIn an interview last week, Craig Revel Horwood said he \"really thought Bill Bailey would be the Ann Widdecombe of this series\".\n\nAnd that perfectly sums up the attitude many had towards Bill at the beginning of Strictly 2020. At his age, particularly being a comedian, he would surely fall into the novelty category; hired for entertainment value rather than serious dancing.\n\nBut Bill gradually improved as the weeks went on, with his routine to Rapper's Delight by the Sugarhill Gang (who later praised his performance) proving a turning point. Viewers realised he was focused and really putting in the hours to learn complex routines.\n\n\"It makes me smile to have confounded people's expectations,\" Bailey recently wrote in The Telegraph. \"I always intended to give it my all, perhaps to offset my pantomime horse role - but what I didn't expect was to be able to dance well, certainly not with a degree of confidence.\"\n\nBill Bailey was not the best dancer in this year's Strictly. Until Saturday night's final, he hadn't topped the leaderboard, often trailing behind the younger, more agile, contestants like Maisie and HRVY.\n\nBut that didn't matter. Being the best dancer is actually not what Strictly is about. Much more important is the journey a celebrity goes on over the series; their effort, their commitment, their improvement. Oti's continuing popularity certainly didn't hurt, but ultimately the British public loves an underdog.\n\nBailey became a firm fan favourite during his time on the show, particularly after his and Oti's dance to Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang, which went viral earlier in the series.\n\nTheir Couple's Choice routine was one of three the pair performed on Saturday night.\n\nThis YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on YouTube The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. Skip youtube video by BBC Strictly Come Dancing This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts. End of youtube video by BBC Strictly Come Dancing\n\nThe pair also reprised their week two Quickstep to Bobby Darin's Talk to the Animals, as well as a new Showdance to Queen's The Show Must Go On.\n\nSpeaking ahead of the final, Bailey said it was \"wonderful\" if he had come to be seen as a role model for mature would-be hoofers.\n\n\"Blokes sometimes feel a bit self-conscious, particularly blokes of my age,\" the hirsute funnyman told journalists. \"They feel like they're going to be called the dad dancer.\n\n\"I think if me showing I can get out there and look a little bit more than somebody shuffling about, then why not?\"\n\nThis year's series was shorter than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic, though that did not prevent the virus having an impact.\n\nHRVY tested positive for coronavirus 10 days before the launch show was filmed, while boxer Nicola Adams was forced to withdraw when her partner Katya Jones tested positive.\n\nThe Duchess of Cornwall made an appearance on the final to pay tribute to the Strictly cast and crew\n\nThe couple had made Strictly history by becoming the first same-sex duo to compete on the programme. They returned for a special performance in Saturday's final.\n\nThere was also a musical performance from Robbie Williams and an appearance from the Duchess of Cornwall, who paid tribute to the cast and crew of Strictly for \"lifting the whole country's spirits\".\n\n\"I'd like to, on the behalf of everybody who watches Strictly, to say an enormous thank you to everybody,\" she said. \"Everybody who has been involved in this production, in this particularity difficult year, you have given everybody so much pleasure and you've uplifted the nation.\"\n\nConcerns over Transatlantic travel meant Bruno Tonioli could only appear virtually this year, while judge Motsi Mabuse - Oti's older sister - had to take two weeks off in order to self-isolate.\n\nThat was good news for Anton Du Beke who, having been eliminated in week two along with his partner Jacqui Smith, got to sit on the judging panel while Motsi was away.\n\nThe BBC received more than 150 complaints from viewers after three of the other professional dancers appeared in drag during a Priscilla, Queen of the Desert routine.\n\nClaudia Winkleman, meanwhile, was forced to make an on-air apology after The Wanted's Max George was heard uttering a profanity after one of his dance routines.\n\nClaudia and Tess Daly will be back on Christmas Day to present a Strictly special featuring 25 of the BBC One show's most memorable routines to date.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "A Scrooge character who gave one youngster nightmares has been deemed to be an unsuitable sight for little children\n\nOrganisers of a drive-through Santa's grotto described as \"shambolic\" have blamed \"teething problems\" and insisted that improvements have been made.\n\nThe event in the grounds of Taverham Hall, near Norwich, opened on Friday.\n\nLater that day, the event's Facebook page contained complaints about traffic chaos and \"creepy\" performers.\n\nBut Ollie George, from organisers We Make Events, said the feedback was now \"much more positive\". Saturday grotto visitors found it \"magical\", he added.\n\nPeople commenting on social media on Friday said they queued for up to three hours in rush-hour traffic, having bought tickets for a time slot.\n\nMany turned away with tired, upset children, with one parent stating: \"Would've been quicker to get to the North Pole.\"\n\nThe \"festive magic\" that was originally promised is now on offer, organisers claim\n\nMr George said a Scrooge-like character had since been removed after being deemed \"too frightening for very young children\".\n\nLouise Purdy, who visited on Friday, previously said: \"The Scrooge guy called us all mutants, said Santa has crashed his sleigh and the presents are in the mud, and there was a man in chains by a tree just staring at the car.\"\n\nMr George also said the entry system had been altered to alleviate the traffic issues, although he pointed out that some customers had not arrived at their allotted time and this had caused congestion.\n\nLouise Purdy said she told her three-year-old son the inflatables were having a sleep\n\nHe said the organisers had \"taken on board the complaints and concerns that we have received\" and were still making improvements.\n\n\"We're asking everyone who didn't have a great experience to get in contact and we are in the process of refunding people who are eligible.\"\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "The \"festive magic\" promised by the organisers did not materialise, according to angry visitors\n\nFamilies have demanded refunds from a \"shambolic\" drive-through Santa's grotto after queuing for hours.\n\nIt opened on Friday night and promised a 1km (0.6 mile) sparkling light trail through the grounds of Taverham Hall, near Norwich.\n\nThe event's Facebook page was later flooded with complaints about traffic chaos, \"creepy\" performers who scared children, and \"Poundland\" gifts.\n\n\"It was an absolute fiasco from start to finish,\" said visitor Louise Purdy.\n\nOrganiser We Make Events has been approached for comment.\n\nPeople commenting on social media said they queued for up to three hours in rush-hour traffic, having bought tickets for a time slot.\n\nA Scrooge character prompted a warning on a parenting site after he gave one young visitor nightmares\n\nMany turned away with tired, upset children, with one parent stating: \"Would've been quicker to get to the North Pole.\"\n\nAnother said: \"Three very grumpy children and four disappointed adults down £110.\"\n\nSome of those who did make it inside were unhappy with what had been billed as \"huge amounts of festive magic\".\n\nA \"scary\" Scrooge-like character prompted one mum to post a warning on a parenting site after her child had nightmares.\n\nLouise Purdy said she told her three-year-old son the inflatables were having a sleep\n\nMs Purdy, who was there with her two-year-old and five-year-old nephews and son, aged three, said the whole thing was comically awful.\n\n\"We wanted the sparkle, the magic of Christmas, but I actually started laughing because I couldn't comprehend how rubbish it was.\n\n\"The Scrooge guy called us all mutants, said Santa has crashed his sleigh and the presents are in the mud, and there was a man in chains by a tree just staring at the car.\n\n\"It was creepy, but was meant to be for little kids.\n\n\"The light tunnel at the end wasn't even switched on and the Santa couldn't be less interested.\"\n\nAnother parent said: \"The gifts were rubbish, not even wrapped, just in brown paper bags and they were things probably bought in Poundland.\"\n\nThe Purdy family queued for almost two hours\n\nKerry Prentice from Norwich, who paid £68 for three tickets, told BBC Radio Norfolk she left after 90 minutes having been told she would probably have to wait a further two hours.\n\n\"We wanted something really nice to do as a family, but it was appalling and we've had no response from the organisers.\"\n\nWe Make Events is yet to respond to complaints but has issued a statement asking visitors to adjust their route \"to ease traffic worries\".\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk", "The River Towy at Carmarthen flooded on Saturday\n\nA landslip at a coal tip is being investigated by engineers following heavy rain.\n\nRhondda Cynon Taf council leader Andrew Morgan said about a 40-50m section had slipped at Wattstown, although he did not believe it posed a risk to the nearby Rhondda bypass.\n\nElsewhere, parts of Carmarthen have flooded after the River Towy burst its banks.\n\nFlood warnings and alerts remain in place in some parts of Wales.\n\nNatural Resources Wales (NRW) warned people to \"take extra care and keep a safe distance\" from river banks.\n\nMr Morgan said the Wattstown site has been the focus of drone checks every two weeks after a landslip at nearby Tylorstown in February.\n\nNo properties are in the vicinity of the latest landslip, he said.\n\n\"It looks far worse than it is but it's the second landslip this year,\" he said.\n\nEngineers are investigating the landslip at Wattstown\n\nRhondda MP Chris Bryant tweeted that \"everything that needs to be done will be done\".\n\nWales is set to get £31m for essential flood repairs. The money would help repair areas - including coal tips - damaged by Storm Dennis in February.\n\nA Welsh Government spokesperson said it had \"already commissioned work to develop options\" for the Wattstown site and it would work with council and the Coal Authority to provide \"necessary support\".\n\nMore heavy rain is expected following severe flooding in Carmarthenshire\n\nCarmarthenshire was severely flooded by the River Towy on Saturday, with local businesses badly affected.\n\nDafydd Williams, from Llangunnor, said: \"\"High tide was 09:30 GMT this morning and we've got another high tide again around 16:30 GMT, so another coming in this afternoon.\n\n\"Businesses have already been badly hit by Covid and having to close at 18:00 every day, now they're clearing stock from where they've been flooded.\"\n\nParts of the Brecon Beacons had the most rainfall in Wales on Friday - with 98mm falling at Llyn-y-Fan in Carmarthenshire, making it the third wettest place in the UK.\n\nThe village of Tyn-y-Waun in Bridgend county was Wales' second wettest with 82mm (3.2in) on Friday, according to NRW data.\n\nThat compares to Wales' average December rainfall of 166mm (6.5in) for the whole month.\n\nIn Newbridge on Usk, Monmouthshire a delivery driver had to be rescued from flood waters as river levels rose in the heavy rain.\n\nNatural Resources Wales (NRW) warned people to \"take extra care and keep a safe distance\" from river banks.\n\nIt comes after the Met Office issued a weather warning for rain on Friday.\n\nStreets and roads were flooded by the River Towy in Carmarthen\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Footage showed large crowds at St Pancras station hours before tier-four restrictions came into force.\n\nLondoners who crowded on to trains to leave the capital on Saturday night were \"totally irresponsible\", the health secretary has said.\n\nLondon has moved into tier-four restrictions, meaning it is illegal to leave the capital from 00.01 GMT Sunday unless for essential travel.\n\nMatt Hancock called for people to act responsibly but said the majority of people were abiding by the guidelines.\n\nThe announcement of the new rules, shortly after 16.00 GMT on Saturday, prompted a rush to London's railway stations.\n\nBy 19.00, there were no tickets available online from several stations including Paddington, Kings Cross and Euston.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Harriet Clugston This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nAt St Pancras, which connects south-east England with the East Midlands and North, several passengers told the BBC they were catching pre-booked trains and had not heard about the new rules being brought in.\n\nHowever one passenger, who did not wish to be named, said she and her partner had made the \"split decision\" to take their young son to her parents' home on the coast.\n\n\"We just made the decision to leave based on the fact that my parents said come, and we couldn't bear the thought of no fresh air and a toddler going rogue round a small flat for the foreseeable,\" she said.\n\nEast Midlands Railway said it had run a full service on Saturday and only two of its 10 evening departures had been full.\n\nA spokesman for the railway apologised for any \"inconvenience and discomfort caused\" by the \"unexpected surge in passengers\".\n\nSome 21 million people are now under tier-four restrictions which ban households from mixing as well as requiring non-essential shops and businesses to close.\n\nMayor of London Sadiq Khan criticised the government for making the announcement \"late\", following days of reassurances restrictions would be relaxed over the Christmas period.\n\nHe said crowded stations were \"a direct consequence of the chaotic way the announcement was made\".\n\nMatt Hancock said only \"relatively small numbers\" were breaking the rules\n\nMr Khan urged people in London and the South East to stay at home and avoid \"breaking the rules\".\n\nHe said: \"Yesterday, technically speaking, you may not have been breaking the rules but you may well have the virus and not realise you've got the virus.\n\n\"Keep [the virus] within London, follow the rules and let's get on top of this.\"\n\nMr Hancock said only \"relatively small numbers\" were breaking the rules.\n\n\"The large, vast majority of people throughout this whole pandemic have followed the rules,\" he said.\n\nHe added people should \"restrict social contact as much as is possible because this is deadly serious\".", "\"This vaccine is more than good news, it's a game changer,\" Dr Mohammed Khaki tells Newsbeat.\n\nToday it was announced the Covid-19 vaccine could be rolled out as early as next week - with NHS staff among the first to get it.\n\nIt's after the UK approved the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.\n\nDr Khaki, who works as a GP and in A&E, says for doctors it'll hopefully mean the return to a normal situation.\n\n\"Hopefully we'll be able to see patients face-to-face and hold their hands again,\" he says.\n\nThe British regulator, the MHRA, says the jab offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19.\n\n\"It hopefully means we're able to move away from lockdowns, a world restricted by masks where conversation is difficult, where movement is difficult and working is stifled,\" Mohammed says.\n\nHe's looking forward to a world where we can travel and see friends again.\n\nFor many NHS workers, a vaccine will mean they can see vulnerable family members and friends again.\n\n\"I've been isolating from vulnerable family members since the beginning of March,\" Dr Sara Otung, who's been treating Covid patients in Cardiff, tells Newsbeat.\n\n\"The hope of getting a vaccine and getting that extra layer of protection is really exciting. Vaccines can save lives,\" the 27-year-old junior doctor says.\n\n\"It feels like a glimmer hope on what's been such a difficult year.\"\n\n\"I was ecstatic to hear the news a vaccine is now becoming possible and we're getting closer to it,\" Dr Daniel Olaiya tells Newsbeat.\n\nThe 28-year-old works at a busy hospital in London treating Covid patients.\n\nDr Daniel Olaiya says the rollout of the vaccine is \"monumental progress\"\n\n\"For clinical staff working in Covid areas, you can wear as much PPE as possible and be as careful as possible, but at the end of the day we are at risk.\n\n\"Having another barrier of protection, a weapon of armoury, is exactly what we need.\"\n\n\"We needed a glimmer of hope and it's come at the best time - Christmas, New Year and new beginnings.\"\n\nLucy works as nurse administering the flu jab to NHS colleagues.\n\nThe 23-year-old says she expects to be on the frontline giving fellow NHS workers the Covid-19 vaccine in the next few weeks.\n\nAround 50 hospitals are on standby and vaccination centres in venues such as conference centres are being set up now.\n\n\"If you're asymptomatic, you don't know if you've got the Covid virus ,so it's a really good way to stop the spread and protect those vulnerable around you.\"\n\nThis is the order people will get the vaccine in its first phase\n\nListen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.", "A shortlist of six contenders has been announced for the 2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.\n\nThe nominees are cricketer Stuart Broad, jockey Hollie Doyle, boxer Tyson Fury, Formula 1's Lewis Hamilton, footballer Jordan Henderson and snooker star Ronnie O'Sullivan.\n\nVoting will be open to the public during the Sports Personality programme on BBC One on Sunday, 20 December.\n\nThe show is being broadcast live from Media City in Salford.\n• None How the Sports Personality contenders were revealed\n\nFootball pundit Alex Scott will join the presenting line-up alongside Gary Lineker, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan to look back on a truly unusual year of sport in front of a huge virtual audience and millions of BBC One viewers.\n\nThe ceremony will champion the teams that triumphed despite the pandemic, sports stars that achieved greatness even with interrupted schedules and the coaches and local heroes that made it possible.\n\nThe public can vote by phone or online on the night for the main award, with full details announced during the show.\n\nOther awards to be announced include Team and Coach of the Year, World Sport Star of the Year and Unsung Hero, while Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford will receive a special award in recognition of his work to raise awareness of child food poverty in the UK.\n\nWho are the Sports Personality contenders?\n\nAfter being dropped for the opening match of the summer series against West Indies, the Nottinghamshire fast bowler returned for the final two Tests - both won by England - and took 16 wickets at an average of 10.93 to pass 500 for his career. He is seventh in the list of all-time Test wicket-takers.\n\nBroke her own record for the number of winners ridden by a British woman in a year, rode a historic double on British Champions Day, became the first woman to ride five winners on the same card and claimed her first victory at Royal Ascot. Doyle was named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year.\n\nThe self-styled 'Gypsy King' became a two-time world heavyweight champion with a devastating defeat of Deontay Wilder to claim the WBC title in their Las Vegas rematch in February. Victory for the Manchester-born fighter marked another stage in his remarkable comeback after a battle with depression and drugs.\n\nOne of F1's all-time great drivers, he equalled Michael Schumacher's record of seven world titles with his fourth consecutive championship in 2020. En route, the Stevenage-born driver - who holds the record for most pole positions - surpassed the German's total of 91 grand prix victories.\n\nCaptained runaway leaders Liverpool to win their first league title since 1990, by a margin of 18 points, a year after lifting the Champions League trophy. The Sunderland-born midfielder, who has been capped 58 times by England, was also named the Football Writers' men's player of the year.\n\nWon his sixth world title at the Crucible to become the oldest champion for more than 40 years and cement his place as one snooker's greatest players. 'The Rocket' has secured more events (37) and Triple Crown event titles (20) than anyone else in history. The Essex potter is nominated for the BBC award for the first time in his 28-year career.", "Mark Drakeford says the rules will save 'hundreds and hundreds\" of lives\n\nMinisters have been accused of showing \"disrespect\" to the Welsh Parliament because its members will not get a chance to vote on the latest coronavirus restrictions before pubs have to stop serving alcohol.\n\nAn opposition request for a debate was denied by the Senedd's presiding officer\n\nElin Jones said a vote would be held in the chamber next Tuesday.\n\nLaws banning alcohol in pubs and restaurants are due to start on Friday.\n\nHospitality venues will also have to close at 18:00 every night when the law changes on Friday.\n\nThe Welsh Government is facing calls to produce more evidence to support the restrictions, including from its own backbenches.\n\nMs Jones said MSs would be able to table amendments to a Welsh Government debate at the next full meeting of the Senedd on Tuesday.\n\nThat meant \"the Senedd has the opportunity therefore to debate and vote on the matter during the next plenary session\", she said.\n\nConservative health spokesman Andrew RT Davies said he understood the presiding officer's \"balancing act\", but that it was \"a missed opportunity\".\n\nHe said: \"We are a parliament. We are parliamentarians. If we are to be taken seriously we should have the opportunity to debate the issue and represent the people who put us here.\n\n\"I am grateful for your consideration presiding officer and I think it is the government that has missed the opportunity here and has in this particular instance, in my opinion, shown disrespect to the Welsh Parliament.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mark Drakeford defends the new rules to tackle the spread of coronavirus\n\nPlaid Cymru MS Sian Gwenllian asked whether more pressure could be put on the government to hold a vote on the principle behind the regulations before they come into force on Friday.\n\n\"The changes happening on Friday are significant and we also need to see the evidence that has led to their introduction,\" she said.\n\nDefending the alcohol decision on Tuesday, Mr Drakeford said without the rules \"hundreds and hundreds of people in Wales who otherwise would have been alive will not be alive in 2021\".\n\nEarlier, Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said his chain would close its pubs in Wales from Friday, as staying open but only selling food had been \"ruinously expensive\" when tried in Scotland.\n\nHe told BBC Radio Wales the rules had been made by \"people who have never run a business\".\n\n\"This new puritanism in Wales and elsewhere is madness, is economic madness,\" he said.\n\n\"I don't want to wind the Welsh up by criticising their first minister, but he's talking cobblers.\n\n\"There's very good evidence that lockdowns - and this is a type of lockdown, it's a quasi-lockdown - simply don't work...\n\n\"This scare tactic saying so many people are going to die is nonsense in my opinion.\"\n\nEnzo Nigro says he was not expecting a ban on serving alcohol\n\nEnzo Nigro, the owner of Potters pub in Newport, said he was concerned by the new rules.\n\n\"We had 70 to 80 emails come through 10 minutes after the announcement, and everyone was wondering what was going on,\" he said.\n\n\"People don't really understand the rules because they thought we would be able to serve alcohol until 6 o'clock and not no alcohol at all.\n\nConservatives say the rules are \"completely disproportionate\" in parts of Wales where the rate of infection is comparatively low.\n\nPlaid Cymru, which has backed most of the Welsh Government's restriction during the pandemic, has said ministers should find a \"sensible compromise\" that allows alcohol to be served until 19:00, with closing time an hour later.\n\nMandy Jones, of the Independent Alliance for Reform in the Senedd, said a petition started by former MEP Nathan Gill \"shows that the public also agree with us in demanding that the Welsh Government publish the science they've used to justify this claim\".\n\nThe petition showed more than 18,500 signatures on Wednesday evening.\n\nPubs, bars and restaurants in Wales will not be able to serve alcohol on the premises and they will have to close at 18:00. Only takeaway alcohol will be allowed when the new rules kick in on Friday.\n\nOn Tuesday, Mr Drakeford pointed out that up to four people from different households will still be able to meet in bars and cafes, but without alcohol.\n\n\"Now I am sorry that is a significant deprivation for many people,\" he said.\n\n\"But the evidence is that when people drink then their behaviour changes and their behaviour changes in ways that make them and other people more vulnerable to the virus.\"\n\nWithout further action, he said modelling suggested between 1,000 and 1,700 more deaths would occur this winter.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Last orders for 100 Brains pubs in Wales - as they close for Covid on Friday\n\nMr Drakeford also said his government was publishing more information than any other administration in the UK.\n\nIncident management teams had \"repeatedly\" highlighted problems with alcohol and hospitality venues in outbreaks, he added.\n\nThe boss of Brains, the biggest Welsh-owned brewery, has called the new alcohol rules \"closure by stealth\" and announced more than 100 managed pubs will be closed from Friday.\n\nBrains data shared with BBC Wales shows between July and the end of November it served more than 850,000 customers at the 100 pubs it manages and had five inquiries from the Test, Trace, Protect scheme.\n\nChief executive Alistair Darby said it was hard \"to believe that the latest restrictions which will force the closure of all of our managed pubs will do much to reduce transmission of the virus\".\n\nThe company said three of its pubs were temporarily closed and deep cleaned after staff tested positive for coronavirus.\n\nA new tougher tier system of coronavirus restrictions for England began on Wednesday, as the country emerged from its lockdown, after the plan was approved by MPs, despite a major rebellion on the Tory benches.\n\nUnder the highest, tier three, all hospitality venues must stay closed, except for delivery and takeaway services.", "Tesco and Morrisons will together hand back more than £850m worth of business rates relief they received as support during the coronavirus crisis.\n\nTesco said it would repay £585m after it was criticised for paying dividends to shareholders.\n\nMorrisons subsequently announced it had \"brought forward\" a decision on rates relief and would pay back £274m.\n\nTesco said the help to retailers had been a \"game-changer\" and hugely important at the time.\n\nBut it added that its business had proven \"resilient\" and it had now decided to return the money in full.\n\n\"We will work with the UK government and devolved administrations on the best means of doing that,\" it said.\n\nIn October, Tesco defended paying a £315m dividend to shareholders after reporting a 29% increase in profits for the first half of the year. Finance chief Alan Stewart told reporters it was the right policy.\n\nMeanwhile, Morrisons said it would announce its dividend when it knows how much it has made this year.\n\nCommenting on the decision to pay back the rates relief, Morrisons' chief executive, David Potts, said the supermarket chain had \"done its best work\" to meet the \"enormous challenges\" the pandemic had brought.\n\n\"We are grateful for the government's swift action at the start of the pandemic which enabled the whole sector to face squarely into the challenges and disruption caused by Covid-19,\" he said.\n\nBusiness rates relief was extended to all retailers as part of a package of measures announced in March.\n\nIn March, Tesco was accused of \"whipping up a huge lobbying operation\" against a decision not to give its biggest stores in Wales financial help.\n\nThe Welsh government changed its mind and decided to grant business rate relief to all retail, hospitality and leisure firms.\n\nTesco is understood to have asked the Welsh government for an explanation of its thinking rather than a change in policy.\n\n\"The decision to repay business rates relief is one for individual companies to consider for themselves,\" said Tom Ironside, director of business and regulation at the British Retail Consortium.\n\n\"Many have used this money to cover increased costs as a result of Covid - hiring extra staff and making significant investment in the safety and protection of their premises. As such, there are many firms who simply cannot afford to repay this government relief.\"\n\nWhile most of the public focus has - for obvious reasons - been on the furlough scheme, the business rates holiday for retailers and hospitality companies has been one of the main ways the government has tried to keep alive the companies most affected by pandemic closures. Like all coronavirus schemes, however, the rates relief was a blunt instrument - it went also to retailers who have stayed open throughout.\n\nWhen those retailers decided to pay dividends to shareholders, there was an understandable outcry. Tesco was the object of most opprobrium; it said it would pay £315m to investors after reporting that pandemic trading had been buoyant.\n\nDirectors at the supermarket chain have obviously read the headlines. The company said it would repay the £585m it has had so far this year in business rates relief, while pointing out in passing that it estimated the pandemic had brought it £725m in additional costs.\n\nThe question now is whether other essential retailers - especially the big grocery chains such as Sainsbury's and Asda - will follow Tesco's lead. It would be surprising if they did not.\n\nAnd while the repayments might appear like a public-spirited move, bear in mind the board may have had other motivations: in particular, a desire not to have the public support they have received hanging over them and preventing them from exercising their normal commercial judgement in paying dividends, approving bonuses and making deals.\n\nTesco said the money meant that it had had the immediate confidence, in the face of significant uncertainty, to invest in colleagues and support its customers and suppliers.\n\n\"Every penny of the rates relief we have received has been spent on our response to the pandemic. Our latest estimate at our interim results in October was that Covid would cost Tesco [about] £725m this year - well in excess of the £585m rates relief received.\n\n\"Ten months into the pandemic, our business has proven resilient in the most challenging of circumstances. While all businesses have been impacted - many severely so - we have been able to continue trading throughout, serving many millions of customers every day and although uncertainties still exist, some of the potential risks faced earlier in the year are now behind us.\"\n\nChief executive Ken Murphy said: \"Giving this money back to the public is absolutely the right thing to do by our customers, colleagues and all of our stakeholders.\"", "Corbyn addressed supporters outside the court after the judgement was handed down\n\nPiers Corbyn has been found guilty of breaching coronavirus restrictions at an anti-lockdown gathering.\n\nThe 73-year-old brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was arrested when he refused to leave the event in Hyde Park, London, on 16 May.\n\nHe was given an absolute discharge after Westminster Magistrates' Court heard he had spent 12 hours in police custody after his arrest.\n\nAddressing supporters outside, Corbyn said it had been \"a tremendous result\".\n\nDistrict Judge Sam Goozee dismissed a second count of the same charge - linked to a protest on 30 May - after hearing police had issued a fixed penalty notice earlier that day.\n\nProsecutor David Povall had described Corbyn as a \"poster boy for disparate groups\" attending both events near Speakers Corner.\n\nHe told the court there was no reasonable excuse for \"breaching clear and emphatic regulations that were in force at the time\".\n\nCorbyn's defence had argued his arrest on 16 May was a \"disproportionate and unnecessary\" contravention of his right to peaceful protest.\n\nReturning his decision, judge Mr Goozee said Corbyn's actions would have been lawful if lockdown regulations had not been in force at the time.\n\nBut their enforcement had been necessary for public health, he said, concluding that police \"took a measured response\".\n\n\"You, however, didn't engage with police - police action in arresting you was necessary and proportionate,\" he said.\n\nAddressing around two dozen supporters outside the court after the verdict, Corbyn raised his fist in the air and said: \"We've had a tremendous result.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Not yet two months old, Molly Gibson has already set a record\n\nWhen Molly Gibson was born in October of this year, it was 27 years in the making.\n\nHer embryo was frozen in October 1992, and stayed that way until February 2020, when Tina and Ben Gibson of Tennessee adopted it.\n\nMolly is believed to have set a new record for the longest-frozen embryo to have resulted in a birth, breaking a record set by her older sister, Emma.\n\n\"We're over the moon,\" Ms Gibson said. \"I still get choked up.\"\n\n\"If you would have asked me five years ago if I would have not just one girl, but two, I would have said you were crazy,\" she said.\n\nThe family struggled with infertility for nearly five years before Ms Gibson's parents saw a story about embryo adoption on a local news station.\n\n\"That's the only reason that we share our story. If my parents hadn't seen this on the news then we wouldn't be here,\" Ms Gibson, 29, said. \"I feel like it should come full-circle.\"\n\nMs Gibson, an elementary school teacher and her husband, a 36-year-old cyber security analyst, connected with the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC), a Christian non-profit in Knoxville that stores frozen embryos that in vitro fertilisation patients decided not to use and chose to donate instead.\n\nFamilies like the Gibsons can then adopt one of the unused embryos and give birth to a child that is not genetically related to them. There are an estimated one million frozen human embryos stored in the US right now, according to the NEDC.\n\nMark Mellinger, the NEDC's marketing and development director, said that experience with infertility is common among families who seek embryo donations.\n\n\"I'd say probably 95% have encountered some sort of infertility\", he said. \"We feel honoured and privileged to do this work\", and help these couples grow their families.\n\nAfter their first embryo adoption, Ms Gibson gave birth to Emma in 2017, swapping sleepless nights praying for children with the sleepless nights of motherhood. \"It's the best kind of tired and it's the best kind of exhausted,\" she said.\n\nFounded 17 years ago, the NEDC has facilitated more than 1,000 embryo adoptions and births, and now conducts around 200 transfers each year. Similar to a traditional adoption process, couples can decide if they would like a \"closed\" embryo adoption or an \"open\" one - allowing for some form of contact with the donor family.\n\nThis contact ranges between a couple of emails each year to a cousin-like relationship, Mr Mellinger said.\n\nCouples are presented with 200-300 donor profiles, complete with the donor family's demographic history. The Gibsons had wanted a child for so long, the options were overwhelming.\n\n\"We did not care what this baby looked like, where it came from,\" Ms Gibson said. She sought advice from the NEDC where an employee told her to pick something \"silly\" and go from there.\n\n\"My husband and I are smaller people, and so we went through and narrowed it down by height and weight and looked for something similar to ours. That narrowed it down at ton,\" she said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. After years searching, I found my sister next door\n\nThe Gibson's children, Molly and Emma, are genetic siblings. Both embryos were donated and frozen together in 1992, when Tina Gibson was around a year old. According to the NEDC, Emma's 24-year-old embryo was the oldest in history to have been born, until Molly came along this year.\n\nEmma loves her new little sister, Ms Gibson said. \"She introduces her to anyone that sees her as 'my little sister Molly.'\" And Ms Gibson has loved seeing the similarities between her girls, including a tiny wrinkle between their eyebrows when they're mad or upset.\n\nAccording to the NEDC, the shelf-life for frozen embryos is infinite. The time-frame is limited, however, by the age of the technology - the first baby born from an embryo frozen after IVF was born in Australia in 1984.\n\n\"It's entirely possible that there will someday be a 30-year-old embryo that comes to birth,\" Mr Mellinger said.", "Last updated on .From the section Sport\n\nFans returned to English Football League grounds on Wednesday for the first time in more than nine months as coronavirus restrictions were eased.\n\nLuton and Wycombe, who had not played in front of fans at their home grounds since February, were permitted capacities of 1,000 for their matches.\n\nOther EFL teams playing on Wednesday were in tier three areas, which prohibits supporters at elite level.\n\nLuton and Wycombe were only permitted capacities of 1,000 but Charlton, Shrewsbury, Cambridge and Carlisle, who all staged test event matches earlier in the season, were all able to house 2,000.\n\nNo away fans were allowed and no supporter was able to attend if they live in a tier three area.\n\nArsenal will be the first Premier League club permitted to host home supporters, when they play Rapid Vienna in the Europa League on Thursday.\n\nThe first Premier League fixture to welcome fans since March will be West Ham's game at home to Manchester United on Saturday, before Chelsea host Leeds later that day.\n\nWith the exception of two pilot events at Warwick and Doncaster in September, horse racing has also been without crowds since March, but racegoers were able to return on Wednesday with Lingfield Park in Surrey, among the tracks able to welcome back spectators.\n\nSnooker remains without spectators as the UK Championship continues in Milton Keynes, but on Wednesday plans were announced for up to 1,000 fans to attend each session of the PDC World Darts Championship, which starts at London's Alexandra Palace on 15 December.", "A group of MPs have warned of the \"risk of serious disruption and delay\" at Channel crossings when the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December.\n\nThe Commons Public Accounts Committee said the government was \"taking limited responsibility\" for national readiness ahead of the looming deadline.\n\nAnd it said the necessary systems would not be in place in time, regardless of whether an EU trade deal is agreed.\n\nA government spokeswoman said they were \"making significant preparations\".\n\nThey added it was \"vital that businesses and citizens make their final preparations too\", and they were \"intensifying our engagement... so they know exactly what they need to do to get ready.\"\n\nBut the committee's chair, Labour's Meg Hillier, said the prime minister's promise of an \"oven ready\" Brexit deal at the last election had become more of a \"cold turkey\".\n\nThe UK left the EU on 31 January, but has been following the bloc's rules as part of a transition period while the two sides negotiate a trade deal.\n\nTalks began in March and are continuing in London this week, but sticking points on fishing and competition rules remain, despite the impending deadline of the end of 2020.\n\nIf a deal is not agreed and ratified by parliaments by the end of the year, the UK will trade with the EU on World Trade Organisation rules - which critics fear will damage the economy.\n\nBut Boris Johnson believes the UK will \"prosper\" with or without an EU trade deal.\n\nThe committee has published 12 reports warning about the need for Brexit readiness since the referendum in 2016.\n\nIt said it had been assured the necessary systems were \"on track or that delays were being managed\", but added: \"And yet, with a few weeks to go, border systems remain in development and plans for managing disruption or prioritisation of key goods are unclear.\"\n\nIn its latest publication, the cross-party group of MPs said it remained \"extremely concerned\" - especially for Channel crossings, which were the delivery point for the majority of the UK's fresh food supplies.\n\nThe committee added: \"There are still significant risks to the country being ready for the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, but government still only seems to be taking limited responsibility for that readiness.\n\n\"Industry bodies have said that government has not provided key information needed by businesses to prepare, such as detailed guidance on how to apply for simplified customs procedures.\"\n\nBut in response to the report, the government insisted IT systems were \"on track and will be ready\" and its \"wider plans for managing disruption and the prioritisation of key goods are well established\".\n\nA spokeswoman added: \"Industry has been engaged in the plans from the outset.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nThe report from the committee also said:\n\nMs Hiller, added: \"Pretending that things you don't want to happen are not going to happen is not a recipe for government, it's a recipe for disaster.\n\n\"We're paying for that approach in the UK's response to the Covid-19 pandemic and can only hope that we're not now facing another catastrophe at the border in four weeks' time.\n\n\"A year after the oven-ready deal, we have more of a cold turkey and businesses and consumers do not know what to be prepared for.\"\n\nThe report called for the Cabinet Office to conduct a formal review of the whole period of preparations.\n\nIt added: \"Government must maximise all remaining opportunities for getting businesses and individuals to act in the time remaining to January 2021.\"\n\nA government spokesman said: \"We've been clear from the outset that we all have a responsibility to get ready.\n\n\"And with just one month to go it's vital we all dig deep and do what needs to be done before the end of the year.\"", "Debenhams is set to close all of its 124 stores after last-ditch efforts to rescue the department store chain failed.\n\nIt looks like it is finally the end for the 242-year-old business.\n\nIt reached its position as a lynchpin of the UK retail landscape by 1950, when Debenhams became the largest department store group in the UK, with 110 stores.\n\nAnd in 2006 it joined the stock market - for the third time - with a worth of £1.7bn - a price tag it has never topped since.\n\nOver the last decade, it started its descent, as its profits fell and debts became unmanageable.\n\nThe chain has been placed in administration twice over the last two years, with the pandemic proving to be the final straw.\n\nSo how did things go so wrong for Debenhams?\n\nDebenhams has faced competition in areas like beauty\n\nExperts say Debenhams has fallen behind with fashion trends over the last decade, a problem familiar to other mid-market High Street retailers such as M&S.\n\nMaureen Hinton of retail consultancy GlobalData says it lacked products that differentiated it, which left it exposed when dynamic new brands, many of them operating purely online, started breaking through.\n\n\"Back in the 1990s they had Designers at Debenhams, where designers like Ted Baker or Jasper Conran would do in-house ranges for them. That was a good differentiator but they never moved on,\" she says.\n\n\"They also filled their stores with concessions that weren't anything you couldn't buy anywhere else on the High Street.\"\n\nIt made it very hard to compete against newer fashion retailers such as Primark, Boohoo and Asos, which also branched into other areas that Debenhams did well, such as beauty.\n\nDebenhams also failed to adapt quickly enough as more and more shopping moved online, says veteran retail analyst Richard Hyman.\n\nBut he caveats: \"It is no good having a good website if the product isn't right. The bigger problem was the brand became irrelevant.\"\n\nDebenhams had already begun shutting stores such as this one in Folkestone\n\nOver the years, Debenhams expanded at a rapid rate. In 2006 it announced plans to double its number of stores to 240 and was opening new shops as recently as 2017.\n\nAt the same time, shopping habits shifted and consumer spending was squeezed - firstly because of Brexit uncertainty, and then by the pandemic.\n\nDebenhams was left with many underperforming shops which came with high costs, including rising rents, business rates, wages and maintenance.\n\nThose liabilities got harder to cover, as revenue began to fall and the retailer booked a record £491.5m loss in 2018.\n\nSir Ian Cheshire, Debenhams' former chairman, told the BBC that its shops became a \"straitjacket\" and the retailer would have been better off with just 70.\n\nMs Hinton says this made turning the business around almost impossible when coronavirus hit.\n\nAnd Mr Hyman says a lack of strong leadership in previous years added to the problem. \"In order to arrest the decline there was an even greater need for top talent. But those people tended to avoid Debenhams.\"\n\nAs a by-product of its expansion, Debenhams also ended up shouldering unsustainable debts - something some experts blame on poor financial decisions.\n\nBack in 2005, the retailer sold 23 shop freeholds to property investment company British Land for £495m and then leased them back.\n\nThis locked the chain into costly leases of up to 35 years, with average annual rent rises guaranteed at 2.5%.\n\nThe short-term cash benefit was soon outweighed by the costs, says Ms Hinton, and by March this year the business was shouldering £720m of debt.\n\nIn a desperate bid to restructure its finances, Debenhams was put into administration in 2019, wiping out its shareholders. It then secured a so-called company voluntary arrangement (CVA) with its landlords, enabling it to cut its rent bill and embark on plans to close 50 of its 166 stores.\n\nBut the damage was already done and it was placed back in administration in April 2020.\n\nMr Hyman says: \"Its fate was sealed by the private equity-style of swapping assets for large amounts of debt, which might just about work in a growing economy and a growing retail market.\n\n\"Instead it left Debenhams fighting with one arm behind its back.\"", "Some Covid restrictions are being reintroduced in response to the Omicron variant.\n\nCheck what the rules are in your area by entering your postcode or council name below.\n\nA modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. What are the rules in your area? Enter a full UK postcode or council name to find out\n\nIf you cannot see the look-up, click here.\n\nThe rules highlighted in the search tool are a selection of the key government restrictions in place in your area.\n\nAlways check your relevant national and local authority website for more information on the situation where you live. Also check local guidance before travelling to others parts of the UK.\n\nAll the guidance in our search look-up comes from national government websites.\n\nFor more information on national measures see:\n\nFind out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average by following this link to an in depth guide to the numbers involved.", "The former president posts that he has been told to report to a grand jury, \"which almost always means an Arrest\".", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The scene in Trier after a car ploughed through a pedestrian area of the western German city of Trier\n\nA car has ploughed through a pedestrian area in the western German city of Trier, killing five people including a nine-week-old baby girl, police say.\n\nThe driver, a 51-year-old local man, has been arrested. The prosecutor said the suspect had drunk a significant amount of alcohol.\n\nAuthorities said they were not working on the assumption that the incident was politically or religiously motivated.\n\nThe city's mayor described the scene as \"horrible\".\n\nWitnesses said people screamed in panic and some were thrown in the air by an SUV travelling at high speed in Trier's Brotstrasse and Simeonstrasse streets towards the city's famous Roman gate, the Porta Nigra.\n\nThe incident happened at around 13:45 local time (12:45 GMT), and the suspect drove for 1km (0.62 miles) \"hitting people at random on his way\" before being stopped by a police car, Trier police spokesman Karl-Peter Jochem said earlier.\n\nThe victims were three women, aged 25, 52 and 73. Police said the 45-year-old father of the baby was also killed. His wife and one-year-old son were injured and admitted to hospital.\n\nThe flashing blue lights of dozens of police vehicles compete with the Christmas illuminations in front of the Porta Nigra, the famous Roman gate. Tonight it is an entrance to a large crime scene.\n\nThe city, often claimed as Germany's oldest, is the now the latest to experience a horrific and fatal incident involving a vehicle and pedestrians so close to Christmas.\n\nArmed police stand guard at the edge of the cordon, which marks the point at which the suspect drove away from the scene.\n\nTwo friends, Stacy and Karolina, told me they had come to light candles and remember those who had been killed. \"This is just a small place\", said Stacy. \"You never imagine this could happen.\"\n\nFootage posted on social media appeared to show the presumed driver being held by several officers next to the damaged car. Police have been questioning the suspect, who was alone, and has been identified by German media as Bernd W.\n\nInitial indications \"suggest that psychiatric problems possibly played a role\", prosecutor Peter Fritzen told reporters. The man did not have a criminal record, had no fixed address and was living in the car, which had been lent to him by someone else.\n\nThe incident happened in the centre of Trier\n\nEarlier, Mayor Wolfram Leibe said up to 15 people had been injured, some of them seriously.\n\n\"We [had] a driver who ran amok in the city... I just walked through the city centre and it was just horrible. There is a trainer lying on the ground, and the girl it belongs to is dead,\" he told a news conference.\n\nChancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement: \"The news from Trier is very sad. My sympathy goes to the relatives of people who were torn from their lives so suddenly and forcibly. I also think of those who have suffered severe injuries and I wish them much strength.\"\n\nThe prosecutor said the suspect had drunk a significant amount of alcohol\n\nThe incident has shocked Trier, a medieval city of around 110,000 people and 720km west of Berlin, near the border with Luxembourg. A Christmas market that is usually held in the area was cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but shops were open.\n\nBollards that would usually be in place to protect the pedestrianised area because of the Christmas market were therefore not put up.\n\nThe case brought back memories of the 2016 attack in Berlin when an Islamist militant drove a hijacked truck into a Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others. He was shot dead by Italian police four days later.", "Christine Colburn said embracing her mother, Audrey Cornell, was \"just like the old days\"\n\nA daughter has hugged her elderly mother at a care home for the first time in nine months.\n\nChristine Colburn had a rapid lateral flow Covid test, which produces results in 30 minutes, at the home in Bampton, Devon, so she could embrace her 95-year-old mother, Audrey Cornell.\n\nThe home is one of several across the South West taking part in a pilot scheme for rapid testing.\n\nMs Colburn said it felt \"amazing\" to hug her mother again.\n\n\"It's really exciting,\" she said. \"Just like the old days, just brilliant.\n\n\"It'll be even nicer when we can touch skin [without PPE] but this is pretty good.\"\n\nMs Cornell said it was \"grand\" to be able to hug her daughter again\n\nSince the pandemic started, Ms Colburn has only be able to call her mother on Skype or talk to her through a screen - travelling the one hour and 45 minute journey from her home in Dorchester.\n\nMs Cornell said it was \"grand\" to be able to hug her daughter again.\n\nThe manager of Castle Grove care home, Lucy Bull, said the pilot scheme has gone well but they \"do worry about getting enough tests and the added costs, especially for smaller homes\".\n\n\"I think it will be expensive because we'll have to up-skill our staff,\" she said. \"It's also quite hard to recruit care staff at the moment.\"\n\nThe lateral flow testing that Ms Colburn had involves a swab of the nose and throat to collect a sample, which is then inserted into a tube of liquid for a short time.\n\nDrops of liquid are added to the test strip and after about half an hour a result will be shown.\n\nMass testing with lateral flow tests began in Liverpool on 6 November.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nA World War Two mine found in the Firth of Clyde contained about 350kg (771 lbs) of explosives, the Royal Navy has said.\n\nThe \"pristine\" German-laid mine was discovered by the crew of a Marine Scotland research boat near Wemyss Bay on Wednesday.\n\nSeven crew members were evacuated by lifeboat before their vessel was sailed to Ettrick Bay on the Isle of Bute.\n\nBomb disposal experts then carried out a controlled explosion of the mine.\n\nThe unexploded mine was said to be in pristine condition\n\nLieutenant Commander Mark Shaw, Commanding Officer of of the Royal Navy's Northern Diving Group, said the submarine-laid mine was in \"remarkable\" condition considering it had been in the water for 80 years.\n\nHe added: \"From the initial pictures, we were able to easily identify the mine type and importantly determine that the explosive fill was intact and therefore presented a significant hazard.\n\n\"This highlights the remaining presence of historic ordnance. Even small items can be unstable and present an explosive hazard.\n\n\"Carrying-out a controlled explosion is the only safe way of dealing with them and neutralising the hazard.\"\n\nHe said that anyone who comes across a suspected piece of ordnance should not interfere with it and immediately contact the emergency services.\n\nThe mine was found by the crew of a Marine Scotland research boat\n\nThe Scottish government said the marine research ship had quickly alerted the emergency services and other agencies once the mine had been discovered.\n\nA spokesperson said: \"The safety of our staff and crew remained of paramount importance as we worked with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to coordinate the emergency response. At all times the incident was handled in order to minimise the risk to the public.\"\n• None Boat's crew taken to shore after finding WW2 mine", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch the moment it was revealed that MPs approved the new tiered system\n\nA new tougher tier system of coronavirus restrictions for England will begin on Wednesday after the plan was approved by MPs.\n\nThe measures, which will come into force at 00:01 GMT, were supported by 291 votes to 78.\n\nThe new system will see more than 55 million people in the country placed into the top two strictest tiers.\n\nBut 55 Tory MPs voted against the government plan - the largest rebellion of Boris Johnson's premiership.\n\nA further 16 Conservatives abstained, with many of them having expressed concerns about the tougher tiers in the Commons debate that led up to the vote. The 55 Tory rebels included two MPs who acted as tellers.\n\nThe new tier system came into force when England's current lockdown ended in the early hours of Wednesday.\n\nEvery area of the country is in one of three tiers - medium (one), high (two) and very high (three) - with the vast majority of the population in the higher two tiers.\n\nThey are tougher than the previous tier system the country was under, before its second lockdown began in November, the government says.\n\nIn tier two, people are not allowed to mix with anyone outside their household or support bubble indoors, although they can socialise in groups of up to six outdoors.\n\nAnd in tier three, people must also not mix with anyone outside their household or support bubble indoors, or at most outdoor venues.\n\nConservative Mark Harper, who chairs the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, urged the government to listen to the warnings from its opponents about the \"cycle of repeated restrictions\".\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The health secretary tells MPs his step-grandfather died of Covid-19 in November\n\nHe said they \"very much regret that in a moment of national crisis so many of us felt forced to vote against the measures that the government was proposing\".\n\nBut he added that the government \"must find a way to... end this devastating cycle of repeated restrictions, and start living in a sustainable way until an effective and safe vaccine is successfully rolled out across the population\".\n\nSir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, voted against the plans, saying: \"If government is to take away fundamental liberties of the people whom we represent, they must demonstrate beyond question that they're acting in a way that is both proportionate and absolutely necessary.\n\n\"Today, I believe the government has failed to make that compelling case.\"\n\nAnd former cabinet minister, Damian Green, whose Kent constituency is in the highest tier, also said the plans lacked public support, adding: \"I've had the most angry emails over a weekend since the Dominic Cummings trip to Barnard Castle.\"\n\nBut Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the new tiered system would help \"avoid another lockdown\", and \"help the UK bridge into the spring, where we hope a vaccine will move us into a whole different place\".\n\nIt's not even a year since Boris Johnson was carried to a thumping victory on the back of months of agonising parliamentary fiasco over Brexit.\n\nAnd it should, theoretically, have given Boris Johnson the kind of comfortable cushion in the Commons that no prime minister had had since the days of Tony Blair.\n\nThat has hardly gone according to plan.\n\nDespite the prime minister making appeals in person to MPs tonight, although Downing Street had moved over the last few days to meet some of their unhappy MPs demands by publishing documents, and promising more votes in the near future, 55 Tory MPs banded together to give the Boris Johnson his biggest Parliamentary kicking yet.\n\nWith more abstaining, the message from the backbenches to the government's front row was clear - right now, Downing Street should not feel able to rely completely on their support.\n\nRemember, the vote did actually pass. But this is a notable political moment too.\n\nRead more from Laura here.\n\nLabour MPs were ordered to abstain in the vote, with party leader Sir Keir Starmer saying he recognised restrictions needed to continue, but he was \"far from convinced\" the new system would work.\n\nHe also said help for businesses moving into the toughest tiers was \"nowhere near sufficient\".\n\nBut 15 Labour MPs defied Sir Keir to vote against the changes.\n\nThe tiers will be reviewed every two weeks and Mr Johnson has promised MPs a vote on whether to keep the system before 2 February.\n\nOpening the debate in the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Johnson urged MPs to support his proposals - offering an additional £40m for some pubs in tiers two and three.\n\nHe also said he appreciated the \"feeling of injustice\" many felt at their tier allocation, and pledged to \"look in granular detail\" at the \"human geography\" of the virus when the tiers are reviewed.\n\nClosing the debate for the government, an emotional Matt Hancock described how he had been personally affected by the virus, after his step-grandfather died from Covid-19.\n\n\"We can afford to let up a little, we just can't afford to let up a lot,\" he told MPs.\n\n\"Let that be the message that goes out from this House. We know through repeat experience what happens if this virus gets out of control.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Laura Foster explains the new three tier system for England\n\nDespite the appeals, the government faced its largest rebellion of Mr Johnson's tenure.\n\nThe last time the number got close was when 44 Tory MPs voted against the government's 10pm curfew for pubs, although it was still approved by the Commons.\n\nA government spokesman said they welcomed the result of the vote, which will \"help to safeguard the gains made during the past month and keep the virus under control\".\n\nBut they also said the government would \"continue to work with MPs who have expressed concerns in recent days\".", "Police were called to a report of a stabbing inside Marks and Spencer\n\nA staff member and a shopper have been injured in a stabbing at a Marks & Spencer store.\n\nThe two women were hurt in the attack in the St James Street store in Burnley at 09:30 GMT, Lancashire Police said.\n\nA force spokesman said both were taken to hospital but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.\n\nSupt Stasia Osiowy praised the \"brave actions\" of passers-by, who detained a 57-year-old man, who was then arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.\n\nShe said the attack was \"not being treated as a terrorism incident, but due to some comments made at the scene, counter-terrorism detectives will be leading on the investigation\".\n\nDetectives were \"keeping an open mind as to motivation\", she said, but were \"considering the mental health background\" of the arrested man.\n\nSupt Osiowy thanked \"members of the public who acted very quickly, and without regard to their own safety, in order to detain the attacker\".\n\n\"Without their brave actions, this incident, while serious, could have been so much worse,\" she said.\n\nThe force spokesman said the two women, a staff member in her 40s and a customer in her 60s, had \"thankfully\" not been seriously injured.\n\nA knife was recovered at the scene.\n\nA police cordon is in place outside the store as inquiries continue\n\nCarl Stredder, who was shopping with his wife at the time, had stopped at the cash machine opposite Marks & Spencer when he heard shouting coming from the store.\n\nHe told the BBC he saw a man \"holding down\" another man before the emergency services arrived at the scene.\n\n\"Within a couple of minutes, the police had arrived. There were six or seven police cars, sirens all over the place,\" he said.\n\n\"Then within another five or so minutes, an ambulance came. It was apparent by then that some sort of major incident had occurred.\"\n\nHe added: \"It was a bit of a frightener when we came home and realised in the cold light of day what could have happened.\"\n\nA Marks & Spencer spokesman said the company was \"incredibly grateful\" to the emergency services and pleased both victims were \"now in good care\".\n\n\"Our focus is on ensuring that our colleagues in Burnley receive all the support they need,\" he added.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Dua Lipa and Lana Del Ray were among those whose pages were changed\n\nSome of the world's most popular singers have had their Spotify pages defaced by a hacker who posted messages about Donald Trump and Taylor Swift.\n\nOn Wednesday, artists including Lana Del Rey and Dua Lipa had their biographies replaced by the attacker.\n\nThe hacker called himself Daniel, and replaced the celebrities' photos with one of himself.\n\nThe action will be an embarrassment to the platform's security efforts. It is the most popular app of its kind.\n\nThe attacker also asked people to add him on Snapchat, and added the words \"Trump 2020\".\n\n\"Best of all shout out to my queen Taylor Swift,\" he added.\n\nOn Twitter, users posted images of the changed pages, which also affected artists like Future and Pop Smoke.\n\nSpotify quickly reversed the changes, and the artists' pages appear to have returned to normal.\n\nIt is not clear how the edits to some of the world's biggest musicians took place.\n\nSpotify has a special product available for music publishers and independent artists, called Spotify for Artists, which is what manages band pages and biographies.\n\nThe tool lets Spotify users \"claim\" a band page or join the artist's team to manage it. But an already-claimed page cannot be claimed again.\n\nIt can be joined by team members - such as staff on a recording label who have the right login - or through a verification process.\n\nSpotify has not publicly said anything about the attack or how it happened, but has been contacted for comment.\n\nThe problem comes at a busy time for Spotify, which has just announced the year's most-streamed tracks and when users are exploring their annual \"Wrapped\" playlists of their most-played tracks.\n\nDua Lipa - one of the artists who had their profile defaced - clocked in at the fifth-most streamed song of the year worldwide, with Don't Start Now.", "Page was the star of the 2007 film Juno\n\nThe Oscar-nominated star of Juno has announced that he is transgender, introducing himself as Elliot Page in a social media post.\n\nThe Canadian-born actor, formerly known as Ellen Page, said he could not \"begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self\".\n\n\"I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer,\" he wrote on Twitter.\n\nPage also used the post to address discrimination towards trans people.\n\n\"The truth is, despite feeling profoundly happy right now and knowing how much privilege I carry, I am also scared. I'm scared of the invasiveness, the hate, the 'jokes' and of violence,\" the 33-year-old wrote.\n\n\"To be clear, I am not trying to dampen a moment that is joyous and one that I celebrate, but I want to address the full picture. The statistics are staggering.\"\n\nAddressing the trans community, Page said he would \"do everything I can to change this world for the better\".\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Elliot Page This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nPage received international acclaim for starring as a pregnant teenager in the 2007 film Juno.\n\nOther major films include Inception and the X-Men series, while the actor has more recently starred in Netflix series The Umbrella Academy.\n\nPage came out as gay in 2014, telling an audience in Las Vegas: \"I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission.\"\n\nThe actor, who is married to choreographer Emma Portner, has been a prominent advocate for LGBT rights.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Page tells 5 Live's Must Watch marriage equality shouldn't have even been a debate.\n\nTrans people across the UK have told me that Elliot Page's coming out has happened at a \"much needed time\".\n\nThis news, from one of Hollywood's biggest stars, who now becomes one of the world's most famous transgender stars, has happened on a big day for trans rights in the UK.\n\nToday, a legal case about puberty-blocking drugs concluded, with leading charities calling it a \"rolling back\" of trans rights, and \"a catastrophic moment\" for trans people.\n\nIn Elliot Page's statement, he referenced how he will now fight for better trans healthcare.\n\nSince coming out as gay in 2014, Page has become known as one of Hollywood's most outspoken LGBT actors. In his viral speech in 2014, he said \"I suffered for years because I was scared to be out… And I'm standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of all that pain.\"\n\nToday's coming out has triggered another huge international wave of support.\n\nMany praised Page following his announcement on Tuesday.\n\n\"Elliot Page has given us fantastic characters on-screen, and has been an outspoken advocate for all LGBTQ people,\" said Nick Adams, director of transgender media at advocacy group GLAAD.\n\n\"He will now be an inspiration to countless trans and non-binary people. All transgender people deserve the chance to be ourselves and to be accepted for who we are. We celebrate the remarkable Elliot Page today.\"\n\n\"So proud of our superhero,\" Netflix wrote on Twitter.", "The Queen and other members of the royal family usually attend a Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham\n\nThe Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will spend Christmas at Windsor Castle and not Sandringham as is their usual tradition, Buckingham Palace has said.\n\nA spokeswoman said after considering \"all the appropriate advice\" the royal couple had opted to celebrate \"quietly\" at their Berkshire residence.\n\nThey usually spend Christmas with other royals at the Queen's Norfolk estate.\n\nThe Queen, 94, and the duke, 99, have been living at Windsor during the pandemic with a small household staff.\n\nIt is thought to be the first time the couple have not spent Christmas at their Sandringham home since the mid 1980s.\n\n\"Like everyone they hope things will get back to normal in 2021,\" a palace spokesman said.\n\nThe announcement follows earlier speculation about where the Queen and the duke would spend the festive period, in light of Christmas coronavirus guidance that people should form \"bubbles\" of three households over a five-day period.\n\nThe Queen and other members of the Royal Family usually attend a Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham, where large crowds gather to greet them.\n\nLast year, Prince George and Princess Charlotte went to the service for the first time.\n\nThe Queen will not be attending church on Christmas Day to avoid large crowds of well-wishers gathering, it is understood.\n\nThe Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will spend 25 December at Highgrove, their estate in Gloucestershire, but are expected to see the Queen and Prince Philip at Windsor over the festive period. The duchess will also visit her family.\n\nLast month, the Queen and Prince Philip, who has retired from public duties, marked their 73rd wedding anniversary by releasing a photograph showing them opening a card from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's children.", "Students in England will be urged to take two Covid tests three days apart, to cut the risk of spreading infection when they travel home for Christmas.\n\nThese are lateral flow tests with rapid results - with those testing negative expected to leave university within the following 24 hours, according to the latest guidelines seen by the BBC.\n\nThe pre-Christmas testing will start in many universities early next week.\n\nBut testing will remain voluntary - and not all universities will offer tests.\n\nThe National Union of Students said there should be capacity for all students who wanted a test to get one before Christmas.\n\nMore than a million students in England will leave their university addresses to spend the Christmas holidays in another part of the country - and plans for testing are intended to stop this migration from spreading coronavirus.\n\nIt is understood that most universities, but not all, are taking part in the government's plans for the mass testing of students using lateral flow tests, starting on 30 November.\n\nStudents will be encouraged to take two tests\n\nDurham University, which has piloted testing, says about 2,000 students have already booked tests ahead of the Christmas departures.\n\nThe government guidelines recommend a double test to increase accuracy, three days apart, in the form of swab tests administered by the students themselves, at centres being set up by universities.\n\nThe results will be sent by text or email - with students who are not infected expected to leave their term-time accommodation \"immediately\", which is defined as within 24 hours of the second negative test.\n\nGetting students to leave soon after they get results is intended to cut the risk of infections post-testing.\n\n\"The closer to your travel time the better,\" says Professor Jacqui Ramagge, who is leading on testing for Durham University. And at her university, the two tests will be seven days apart rather than three.\n\nMinisters are urging students to take Covid tests before travelling, as a way of protecting their families, but it is not compulsory and not all universities will offer the testing.\n\nThose who do not take tests, or only have one test, will still be able to leave at the same time - with an encouragement to \"travel home as safely as possible\" during the \"travel window\" of 3 to 9 December, which the government has identified as when it expects most students to leave university for Christmas.\n\nThis will be after the current lockdown ends on 2 December, and ahead of universities switching to online teaching for the end of term.\n\nStudents who test positive will be directed towards taking another type of test - a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test to confirm whether they are infected - and will have to stay and self-isolate while waiting for the result.\n\nBut those who test positive from this PCR test will be required to stay in their term-time accommodation for 10 days of self-isolation - which should still leave enough time to get back before Christmas.\n\nThe \"window\" for students to travel home begins from 3 December\n\nTeesside University is among those opening testing centres from 30 November - and is encouraging students to book for two lateral flow tests at its Middlesbrough campus.\n\nPro Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark Simpson said it would provide a \"quick and easy testing option to our students and enable them to make an informed decision about returning home for the upcoming Christmas break\".\n\nHe said it would help to address the \"considerable anxiety and a need for reassurance\" about the safety of travel ahead of the end of term.\n\nUniversities Minister Michelle Donelan said: \"Testing will offer further assurances that students can keep their families safe this winter, and I urge all students who can to take the tests on offer.\"", "More than 200 swimming pools in England will remain closed despite being able to reopen as lockdown restrictions are eased, a Swim England report has said.\n\nThe swimming body said the decision presented a \"catastrophe for the health and wellbeing of the nation\".\n\nThe 221 pools were council-run, with the North West being particularly hard hit, affecting about half a million swimmers, Swim England said.\n\nCouncils pointed to financial difficulties in their decision making.\n\nA number of council-run gyms are also still shut\n\nWith lockdown in England having come to an end, gyms and swimming pools across the country are allowed to reopen from Wednesday, regardless of what tier their area is in.\n\n\"While it's extremely positive that millions of swimmers up and down the country can return to the activity they love, it's unacceptable to even think that so many people or clubs will not have a much-loved swimming pool to visit,\" Swim England's chief executive Jane Nickerson said.\n\nShe said more investment was needed to keep swimming pools and leisure centres open, adding despite a government grant for the industry \"financial pressures have not gone away\".\n\nFour times world champion triathlete Barbara Holmes, from Lancashire, said: \"People need their pools, especially the children.\"\n\nMs Holmes, who is the over-60s world champion, has been backing campaigners trying to reopen Fleetwood swimming pool.\n\n\"The community needs to be heard,\" she said.\n\nSome leisure centre staff have been redeployed to support work tackling coronavirus\n\nTrafford Leisure said all of its centres would remain closed until the new year, saying they would be \"largely empty and costly to run\".\n\nTo save money, its chief operating officer said it had had to furlough staff as well as leaving its pool and building unheated.\n\nIn Stoke-on-Trent, the council said it recognised the \"essential\" physical and mental health benefits of leisure facilities but had made the decision to stagger their reopening and only two of the city's gyms would not remain closed.\n\nCouncil leader Abi Brown said 75% of its leisure centre staff had been \"redeployed to critical services including welfare calls and contact tracing\" in an effort to bring down coronavirus cases and some centres had been adapted for community testing.\n\n\"If the current situation improves, we expect to restart more of our sport and leisure services from the new year,\" she said.\n\nWhile some pools have been \"mothballed\", Ms Nickerson said some would \"sadly never reopen\".\n\nSwindon's Oasis Leisure Centre is one victim, which will not reopen after its landlord Seven Capital found its operation was \"not viable\".\n\nA spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport said it had announced £100m of funding to support local authority leisure centres, as well as £7.2bn to councils to help with the impacts of coronavirus.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "People living in care homes in England will be able to have visits from family and friends by Christmas if the visitors test negative for Covid-19, the government has said.\n\nMore than a million coronavirus tests will be sent to care homes over the next month to allow safe indoor visits.\n\nVisits will be allowed across all tiers of coronavirus restrictions.\n\nThe health secretary said the move was possible due to \"unprecedented strides\" in testing technology and capacity.\n\nMatt Hancock said: \"The separation has been painful, but has protected residents and staff from this deadly virus.\n\n\"I'm so pleased we are now able to help reunite families and more safely allow people to have meaningful contact with their loved ones by Christmas.\"\n\nStrict restrictions have been placed on visits to care homes during the last eight months because of the pandemic.\n\nIn new guidance, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) says the \"default position\" is now that visits should be enabled to go ahead in all tiers - unless there is an outbreak in the care home.\n\nIt adds that hand holding and hugging may be possible if other infection control measures are followed.\n\nIt stresses the importance of visitors minimising contact as much as possible and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) to help protect their loved ones.\n\nCare homes will manage the number of visits that take place, which must be arranged in advance, with visitors urged to be mindful of the additional workload for the care home.\n\nEach care home is responsible for setting the visiting policy in that home, it says.\n\nThis will be welcome news for families in England who have waited a long time to be given the chance to visit loved ones and friends inside care homes, rather than trying to communicate through windows or on video calls.\n\nBut therein lies the problem.\n\nThe danger is that expectations will be raised of visits before Christmas which cannot all be fulfilled.\n\nThe biggest care home operators have been sent rapid testing kits but the smaller providers have not yet heard details about how they can obtain them.\n\nOne told me that, while welcoming the initiative, he was concerned at the level of administration which would be required to book in visits and organise the testing and this might mean taking on more staff.\n\nSome doubts have been raised about the effectiveness of the rapid testing technology with a relatively high number of false negatives if administered by less-trained staff.\n\nThe scheme will not be fully rolled out by Christmas but officials hope it will be more accessible to the wider public early in the new year.\n\nMore than a million quick-turnaround or \"lateral flow\" tests, which provide results in about 20 minutes without the need for a lab, are being sent out to England's 385 biggest care homes as part of the first phase of the rollout.\n\nThe guidance says the number of test kits will allow up to two visitors per resident, based on them visiting twice a week, by Christmas.\n\nAs well as the tests, an extra 46 million items of PPE will be sent to Care Quality Commission (CQC)-registered care home providers.\n\nThe Alzheimer's Society urged the government to ensure care homes do not struggle with extra administrative costs so that visits can continue.\n\nThe National Care Forum, a member association for not-for-profit social care providers, applauded the announcement, calling it a \"game-changing moment for visits\".\n\nBut executive director Vic Rayner said recognition of what the sector needs to put the policy into practice \"remains an inherent weakness\".\n\nShe added: \"It is essential that the government addresses this immediately, or else risks setting in train huge expectations around visiting, with no meaningful ability for care homes to deliver at the scale and pace required to make visiting a reality for all by Christmas.\"\n\nAnd Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said it was good news that the government has \"significantly shifted\" its position on care home visiting.\n\nBut she cautioned: \"The government has promised that everyone will be able to visit their loved one by Christmas and, while this is a laudable aim, it is also very ambitious, so we remain worried that practical difficulties of various kinds could get in the way for some.\"\n\nProf Martin Green, chief executive of Care England - the largest representative body for independent care providers - said: \"In order for these promising plans to land successfully, the sector must now be adequately supported by the government.\n\n\"We appreciate the continued risks associated with visits, but this represents a positive step forwards.\"\n\nSeparately, the government has published new guidance that may allow for some residents under the age of 65 to spend time with their families at Christmas outside of care homes - if their provider agrees and carries out risk assessments.", "Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, France's president from 1974 to 1981, has died at the age of 94.\n\nHe died of complications from coronavirus, surrounded by his family at his estate in central France.\n\nA centre-right, pro-Europe politician, Giscard d'Estaing also liberalised laws on divorce, abortion and contraception during his seven years in power.\n\nPresident Emmanuel Macron said his presidency had transformed France and his direction still guided its way.\n\n\"A servant of the state, a politician of progress and freedom, his death has plunged the French nation into mourning,\" he said in a statement.\n\nThe late president's family said his funeral would take place amid \"strict intimacy\".\n\nIn later life, Giscard d'Estaing liked to portray himself as the grand old man of French politics.\n\nAs one of France's youngest presidents - he was 48 when he came to power, he had a longer career in politics after he left high office than he had enjoyed on his way to the Élysée Palace.\n\nHe was seen by many as arrogant and aloof; his presidential popularity was short-lived and he was eventually squeezed out of office by a strengthening of opposition from both the left and the right.\n\nHe was also caught up in a scandal surrounding his support for a corrupt African dictator.\n\nValéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing was born on 2 February 1926 in Koblenz, in what was then French-occupied Germany.\n\nHis father was a civil servant who worked for the French occupying forces, while his mother was descended from King Louis XV of France via one of his mistresses.\n\nGiscard d'Estaing's education was disrupted by World War Two. He was just a teenager when he joined a French resistance group in occupied Paris before enlisting in a tank battalion in 1944, earning the Croix de Guerre in the last months of the war.\n\nHe worked for a while as a teacher in Montreal before graduating from the Ecole Nationale d'Administration and joining the tax and revenue service.\n\nIn 1955 he spent some time on the staff of prime minister Edgar Faure before winning the seat of Puy-de Dome in the National Assembly, the area from which his mother's family came.\n\nPolitical allies in 1969, Giscard d'Estaing (l) and Jacques Chirac would later become rivals for the presidency\n\nHe became secretary of state for finances in 1959, a post he held for almost four years until his party broke with the ruling Gaullists with whom they were in a coalition. However, Giscard d'Estaing refused to leave the government and founded the Independent Republicans, which allied itself to the majority Gaullists.\n\nHe was sacked from the cabinet in 1966 but, as chairman of the National Assembly committee that scrutinised the country's finances, he remained a powerful voice, latterly increasingly critical of the De Gaulle government.\n\nThrown out of his chairmanship by the Gaullists in 1968, he gained his revenge by supporting Georges Pompidou in the 1969 presidential elections, whereupon he was reappointed to the finance ministry.\n\nWhen Pompidou died suddenly in 1974, Giscard d'Estaing announced he would run for the Élysée Palace, presenting himself as a modern and moderate alternative to the austere conservatism of Gaullism.\n\nHe successfully gained the support of the centre while, at the same time, taking advantage of divisions among the Gaullists, some of whom - notably Jacques Chirac - announced their support for Giscard d'Estaing as the only hope of defeating the left.\n\nGiscard d'Estaing narrowly defeated the socialist François Mitterrand in the second round of voting with just 50.7% of the poll, becoming the third youngest president in French history.\n\nAfter years of Gaullist stagnation, he made his intentions plain: \"You want a deep political, a deep economic and a deep social change. You will not be disappointed,\" he said.\n\nAt home, he made several reforms early on in his term in office. The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18, while divorce and abortion laws were relaxed, in spite of fierce opposition from the Catholic Church.\n\nThe newly elected French president was committed to European unity\n\nHe also saw through laws on equal pay and opportunities for women, reduced the retirement age to 60 and allowed Paris to elect its own mayor.\n\nAlthough he voiced his opposition to the death penalty, he refused to commute three of the death sentences passed during his term, and the last use of the guillotine in France took place in 1977.\n\nA fan of technology, Giscard d'Estaing was a strong advocate of the French high-speed train network, the TGV, construction of which began in earnest in 1976.\n\nHe was also an enthusiastic supporter of the drive to increase France's dependence on nuclear power, following the oil crisis of 1973.\n\nGiscard d'Estaing was committed to the European ideal and developed a close relationship with Germany's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Together they turned their dream of a more integrated Europe into reality.\n\nHis main contribution was the formation of the European Council in 1974 - bringing together the heads of states of all member countries - which, in 1979, pushed forward a European monetary system.\n\nHowever, his domestic reforms worried his more conservative political allies, with Jacques Chirac resigning as prime minister in 1976. His successor, Raymond Barre, introduced a programme of austerity and unemployment began to rise.\n\nThe right won a majority in the 1978 coalition elections and Giscard d'Estaing responded by founding the Union for French Democracy (UDF).\n\nGiscard d'Estaing was heavily criticised for his support of Jean-Bedel Bokassa.\n\nGiscard d'Estaing's popularity began to wane. His standing was not enhanced after he was accused of accepting a gift of diamonds from the self-styled Emperor of the Central African Republic, Jean-Bedel Bokassa.\n\nBokassa's brutal dictatorial regime had received a great deal of support from the French government, with Giscard D'Estaing declaring in 1975 that he was a \"friend and family member\" of Bokassa.\n\nFrance played a major part in Bokassa's lavish coronation ceremony in 1977, which cost more than the annual gross domestic product of the impoverished country.\n\nIn 1979, the French satirical magazine, Le Canard enchaîné, alleged that Giscard d'Estaing had received the diamonds in 1973, when he was finance minister.\n\nHis initial explanation that he had sold them and given the proceeds to a number of charities was undermined when one of the alleged recipients, the Red Cross, denied having received any funds.\n\nGiscard d'Estaing lost the 1981 presidential election to Francois Mitterrand. He defeated Jacques Chirac in the first round of voting, but Chirac's failure to call on his supporters to support Giscard d'Estaing in the second round widened the gulf between the former allies.\n\nSubsequently, he based himself in his political heartland - the Auvergne region of central France - delivering regular pronouncements to newspapers and on television about the state of the nation.\n\nHis national standing sank so low that he became known as Monsieur Ex in Parisian political circles.\n\nHe lost the 1981 presidential election to his socialist rival Francois Mitterrand\n\nHis hopes of becoming prime minister under Mitterrand in 1986 were dashed and he refused to support either right-wing candidate in the 1988 presidential elections.\n\nBetween 1989 and 1993, he served as a member of the European Parliament and seemed destined to end his days in political obscurity.\n\nBut, in 2002, he returned to the limelight when he was chosen to head up the convention tasked with drawing up a constitution for the European Union\n\nHis selection for the job was the result of intensive lobbying by French President Jacques Chirac, who is said to have insisted on it at the EU's summit in the Belgian town of Laeken in December 2001.\n\nMany criticised the choice of a man in his late 70s for a job designed to bring the EU closer to the people, and especially the young.\n\nThere was also criticism over Giscard d'Estaing's reported demands for a salary in excess of €20,000 per month, plus expenses. He is said to have asked for a luxury suite of rooms in a Brussels hotel for a year and for a handpicked private staff.\n\nHowever, he denied that he was being greedy. \"It is simply that things should be comfortable,\" he told Le Monde newspaper.\n\nIn 2004, European heads of state signed a European Constitution that was based primarily on the work carried out by Giscard d'Estaing's convention.\n\nHis somewhat aloof nature did not endear him to ordinary people\n\nA year later, and to Giscard d'Estaing's profound embarrassment, the constitution was roundly rejected by the French people. He later complained that \"the rejection of the Constitutional treaty by voters in France was a mistake that should be corrected\".\n\nIn 2005, he and his brother purchased the castle of Estaing in the French district of Aveyron, which had previously been owned by Admiral d'Estaing. Giscard d'Estaing's family had no direct connection with the deceased naval officer and there was much criticism that he was attempting to buy his way into the nobility.\n\nIn 2009, he published a novel about a relationship between a fictional French president and the fictional Princess of Cardiff. It led to speculation that it was based on a relationship between Giscard d'Estaing and Diana, Princess of Wales, although he eventually poured cold water on those suggestions.\n\nEarlier this year, he was accused of groping a German reporter during a 2018 interview - charges he denied.\n\nValery Giscard d'Estaing was something of an enigma. Intellectually gifted, he lacked the common touch and never became popular with the French people.\n\nHis single-minded approach to greater European integration was not to everyone's taste and his aloof nature meant he often fell out with his allies.\n\nBitterly disappointed that Britain decided to leave the European Union in 2016, he described it as a \"backward step\". But the enthusiastic architect of European unity was, by now, in his nineties. He felt, he said, inclined to take the long view.\n\n\"We functioned without Britain during the first years of the European Union,\" he said, with a Gallic shrug. \"So we will rediscover a situation that we have already known.\"", "The Debenhams website has been overwhelmed by shoppers searching for bargains after the department store chain collapsed.\n\nThe firm launched a stock clearance sale on Wednesday at 07:00 as non-essential retailers in England reopen after a four-week lockdown.\n\nBut high demand led to long, virtual queues of thousands and by mid morning the site had crashed altogether.\n\n\"We have been seeing unprecedented levels of visits,\" a spokesperson said.\n\nIn a bid to keep up with the additional demand, the retailer was forced to implement a queuing system for its website, which promised customers: \"We will get you onto the site as soon as possible.\"\n\nOn Tuesday, the company spelled out how many shoppers were on its site, at one point queues stretched into many hundreds of thousands, but on Wednesday Debenhams was no longer displaying that information.\n\nSome social media users reported as many as 900,000 other customers in the queue for the website.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Craig Edward FRSA This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThe company had already been running a 14-day \"Black Friday\" sales event, with discounts of up to 70% from Wednesday onwards in-store and online across clothes and homeware.\n\nFor other customers, the website crashed completely on Tuesday evening, either before reaching the virtual queue or having reached the checkout stage for their purchases.\n\nOne social media user wrote that they had been given only 30 minutes to complete their shopping online.\n\n\"Only problem is once you get in there the homepage keeps crashing. No wonder they've gone bust,\" they wrote.\n\nTwitter user Danielle Harmer said: \"Finally get onto the website, start adding to my basket and then an error message pops up saying my queue number has been rejected and I have to join the back of the queue again! Actually livid.\"\n\nOn Tuesday shoppers were told how many people were in the queue but on Wednesday Debenhams were no longer giving that information\n\nAll of Debenhams' 124 UK stores are set to close after the failure of last-ditch efforts to rescue the ailing store chain.\n\nIt means all 12,000 employees are likely to lose their jobs when the shops cease trading, unless the administrators do a deal for all of parts of the business.\n\nSome social media users expressed sympathies for those staff members now facing uncertainty. Heather Angus wrote: \"If you're planning to go raid Debenhams with the announcement of them selling off stock, please be kind to their staff. This is awful.\"\n\nDebenhams had been in administration since April. It is now set to enter liquidation, also known as winding-up, which means it will cease to exist as a company.\n\nThe 242-year-old retailer had already trimmed its store portfolio and cut about 6,500 jobs since May as it struggled to stay afloat.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'I'll miss it', shoppers say of the 242-year-old retailer\n\nHopes of a rescue were crushed after the last remaining bidder for the company, JD Sports, withdrew.\n\nThere have been suggestions that JD Sports pulled out of bidding for Debenhams because of the collapse of Arcadia, which is the biggest concession operator in Debenhams, accounting for about £75m of sales.\n\nTough trading during the coronavirus pandemic proved to be the final blow for both Debenhams and Arcadia, which employ more than 25,000 people between them.\n\nRestructuring firm Hilco will start going into Debenhams stores on Wednesday to begin clearing stock.\n\nShoppers will still be able to buy items in-store and on the Debenhams website, until all of it is sold.\n\nAnyone who has ordered something on the website, including during the Black Friday sales, should receive it. They should also be able to return these items, under the normal rules, within 14 days, if they do not want them.\n\nThe business is also accepting payment cards, such as gift cards. If the business is sold, these cards might continue to be valid.\n\nHowever, if cards are unspent or items not delivered if Debenhams closes entirely, then shoppers may need to contact their bank, via the chargeback scheme, or their credit card provider (if they spent more than £100 on a single order) to get a refund.", "We've looked into some of the most widely shared false vaccine claims - everything from alleged plots to put microchips into people to the supposed re-engineering of our genetic code.\n\nThe fear that a vaccine will somehow change your DNA is one we've seen aired regularly on social media.\n\nThe BBC asked three independent scientists about this. They said that the coronavirus vaccine would not alter human DNA.\n\nSome of the newly created vaccines, including the one now approved in the UK developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, use a fragment of the virus's genetic material - or messenger RNA.\n\n\"Injecting RNA into a person doesn't do anything to the DNA of a human cell,\" says Prof Jeffrey Almond of Oxford University.\n\nIt works by giving the body instructions to produce a protein which is present on the surface of the coronavirus.\n\nThe immune system then learns to recognise and produce antibodies against the protein.\n\nClaims that Bill Gates plans to use a vaccine to \"manipulate\" or \"alter\" human DNA have been widely shared\n\nThis isn't the first time we've looked into claims that a coronavirus vaccine will supposedly alter DNA. We investigated a popular video spreading the theory back in May.\n\nPosts have noted that messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology \"has never been tested or approved before\".\n\nIt is true that no mRNA vaccine has been approved before now, but multiple studies of mRNA vaccines in humans have taken place over the last few years. And, since the pandemic started, the vaccine has been tested on tens of thousands of people around the world and has gone through a rigorous safety approval process.\n\nLike all new vaccines, it has to undergo rigorous safety checks before it can be recommended for widespread use.\n\nIn Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials, vaccines are tested in small numbers of volunteers to check they are safe and to determine the right dose.\n\nIn Phase 3 trials they are tested in thousands of people to see how effective they are. The group who received the vaccine and a control group who have received a placebo are closely monitored for any adverse reactions - side-effects. Safety monitoring continues after a vaccine has been approved for use.\n\nNext, a conspiracy theory that has spanned the globe.\n\nIt claims that the coronavirus pandemic is a cover for a plan to implant trackable microchips and that the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is behind it.\n\nThere is no vaccine \"microchip\" and there is no evidence to support claims that Bill Gates is planning for this in the future.\n\nThe Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told the BBC the claim was \"false\".\n\nOne TikTok user created a video about being \"microchipped\" and called a vaccine the \"mark of the beast\"\n\nRumours took hold in March when Mr Gates said in an interview that eventually \"we will have some digital certificates\" which would be used to show who'd recovered, been tested and ultimately who received a vaccine. He made no mention of microchips.\n\nThis led to one widely shared article headlined: \"Bill Gates will use microchip implants to fight coronavirus.\"\n\nThe article makes reference to a study, funded by The Gates Foundation, into a technology that could store someone's vaccine records in a special ink administered at the same time as an injection.\n\nHowever, the technology is not a microchip and is more like an invisible tattoo. It has not been rolled out yet, would not allow people to be tracked and personal information would not be entered into a database, says Ana Jaklenec, a scientist involved in the study.\n\nThe billionaire founder of Microsoft has been the subject of many false rumours during the pandemic.\n\nHe's been targeted because of his philanthropic work in public health and vaccine development.\n\nDespite the lack of evidence, in May a YouGov poll of 1,640 people suggested 28% of Americans believed Mr Gates wanted to use vaccines to implant microchips in people - with the figure rising to 44% among Republicans.\n\nWe've seen claims that vaccines contain the lung tissue of an aborted fetus. This is false.\n\n\"There are no fetal cells used in any vaccine production process,\" says Dr Michael Head, of the University of Southampton.\n\nOne particular video that was posted on one of the biggest anti-vaccine Facebook pages refers to a study which the narrator claims is evidence of what goes into the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. But the narrator's interpretation is wrong - the study in question explored how the vaccine reacted when introduced to human cells in a lab.\n\nConfusion may have arisen because there is a step in the process of developing a vaccine that uses cells grown in a lab, which are the descendants of embryonic cells that would otherwise have been destroyed. The technique was developed in the 1960s, and no fetuses were aborted for the purposes of this research.\n\nMany vaccines are made in this way, explains Dr David Matthews, from Bristol University, adding that any traces of the cells are comprehensively removed from the vaccine \"to exceptionally high standards\".\n\nThe developers of the vaccine at Oxford University say they worked with cloned cells, but these cells \"are not themselves the cells of aborted babies\".\n\nThe cells work like a factory to manufacture a greatly weakened form of the virus that has been adapted to function as a vaccine.\n\nBut even though the weakened virus is created using these cloned cells, this cellular material is removed when the virus is purified and not used in the vaccine.\n\nWe've seen arguments against a Covid-19 vaccine shared across social media asking why we need one at all if the chances of dying from the virus are so slim.\n\nA meme shared by people who oppose vaccination put the recovery rate from the disease at 99.97% and suggested getting Covid-19 is a safer option than taking a vaccine.\n\nA meme using images of rapper Drake has been used to promote false vaccine claims\n\nTo begin with, the figure referred to in the meme as the \"recovery rate\" - implying these are people who caught the virus and survived - is not correct.\n\nAbout 99.0% of people who catch Covid survive it, says Jason Oke, senior statistician at the University of Oxford.\n\nSo around 100 in 10,000 will die - far higher than three in 10,000, as suggested in the meme.\n\nHowever, Mr Oke adds that \"in all cases the risks very much depend on age and do not take into account short and long-term morbidity from Covid-19\".\n\nIt's not just about survival. For every person who dies, there are others who live through it but undergo intensive medical care, and those who suffer long-lasting health effects.\n\nThis can contribute to a health service overburdened with Covid patients, competing with a hospital's limited resources to treat patients with other illnesses and injuries.\n\nConcentrating on the overall death rate, or breaking down the taking of a vaccine to an individual act, misses the point of vaccinations, says Prof Liam Smeeth of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It should be seen as an effort by society to protect others, he says.\n\n\"In the UK, the worst part of the pandemic, the reason for lockdown, is because the health service would be overwhelmed. Vulnerable groups like the old and sick in care homes have a much higher chance of getting severely ill if they catch the virus\".", "Gwilym Owen has been given 250 hours of unpaid work and order to pay a total of £380 in costs\n\nA man who pulled plastic sheets off clothes in a supermarket during Wales' \"firebreak\" lockdown has been told to compensate Tesco over his protest.\n\nGwilym Owen was filmed pulling off the sheeting in Bangor on the first day of Wales' 17-day autumn lockdown.\n\nSupermarkets had been told they were not allowed to sell \"non-essential\" items during the firebreak period.\n\nOwen, of Holyhead Road in Gaerwen, Anglesey, pleaded guilty to damaging the sheeting and disorderly behaviour.\n\nHe was sentenced at at Caernarfon Magistrates' Court to 250 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £200 to Tesco in compensation and £180 in costs.\n\nFootage of Owen damaging the sheeting went viral after he uploaded it to Facebook.\n\nOwen uploaded the footage to his Facebook page\n\nGilly Harradence, defending, told the court Owen had not entered the store with the intention of causing trouble.\n\n\"He just wanted to highlight the unfairness and illogicality of the regulations,\" she said.\n\nMagistrates' chairman Alastair Langdon said Owen entered the shop to \"maliciously\" disrupt the running of the business and had used \"very nasty and abusive language\".\n\n\"You had no regard to the safety and welfare of staff or customers at the store,\" he said.\n\n\"Your actions must have been frightening and worrying to a number of people in the immediate vicinity.\"\n\nThe Welsh Government banned the sale of non-essential items, such as clothes, during Wales' 17-day firebreak lockdown which ran between 23 October and 9 November.\n\nMore than 60,000 people signed a Senedd/Welsh Parliament petition calling for the ban to be reversed, the largest ever submitted.", "Former Woman's Hour host Dame Jenni Murray has opened up about her decision to take her clothes off on television for The Real Full Monty On Ice.\n\nDame Jenni will strip to her underwear on the ITV show to raise awareness of the importance of checking for cancer.\n\nThe 70-year-old has had breast cancer herself, resulting in a mastectomy in 2007.\n\nAfter talking about it for years on the Radio 4 programme, she said it was time to \"put my money where my mouth is\".\n\nDame Jenni told the Radio Times that when her agent first suggested the idea to her, she said: \"'Don't be ridiculous!... I'm not baring my one remaining breast to the entire nation.'\n\n\"And then I thought about it. The Full Monty is probably my favourite film ever. I thought, 'Come on, Jenni. You've been talking about breast cancer for donkey's years.'\"\n\nThe presenter explained the subject has come up frequently on Woman's Hour, with listeners regularly being encouraged to check their breasts.\n\nAlmost one million women in the UK have missed vital breast screening due to coronavirus, a leading charity recently estimated.\n\nDame Jenni added: \"You have to be gung ho about these things. I've had two children. I've had my hips replaced. I've had a mastectomy. I've had stomach surgery. I've had an operation on my left humerus, which I managed to break six years ago, slipping on a very icy step.\n\n\"My body has been exposed and dealt with on numerous occasions, and I can't see the point of being shy about it. It's a couple of seconds of taking your bra off. What's the problem?\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dame Jenni closes her last programme with Helen Reddy\n\nDame Jenni has been cancer-free for 14 years now, and told the publication she dislikes being termed a \"survivor\", preferring \"recovered\" instead.\n\nLast month, she made her final broadcast as host of the Radio 4 show, after 33 years in the hot seat.\n\nShe signed off her tenure by playing Helen Reddy's feminist anthem, I Am Woman.\n\nThe broadcaster thinks her next eyebrow-raising venture will be a challenge - particularly the ice part - but nothing compared to what she has put her body through previously.\n\nEpisode one of Emmy-winning show, led by Ashley Banjo and Coleen Nolan, is on ITV on 14 December.\n\nAlongside Dame Jenni, will be actresses Linda Lusardi and Hayley Tamaddon; and Love Island's Shaunghna Phillips, as well as This Morning's Dr Zoe.\n\nBaring all for the blokes will be rugby star Gareth Thomas, Love Island's Chris Hughes, and actor Jamie Lomas; along with singer Jake Quickenden, Diversity's Perri Kiehly and jockey Bob Champion.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres issues a stark warning to world leaders about the state of the planet\n\n\"Our planet is broken,\" the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has warned.\n\nHumanity is waging what he describes as a \"suicidal\" war on the natural world.\n\n\"Nature always strikes back, and is doing so with gathering force and fury,\" he told a BBC special event on the environment.\n\nMr Guterres wants to put tackling climate change at the heart of the UN's global mission.\n\nIn a speech entitled State of the Planet, he announced that its \"central objective\" next year will be to build a global coalition around the need to reduce emissions to net zero.\n\nNet zero refers to cutting greenhouse gas emissions as far as possible and balancing any further releases by removing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere.\n\nMr Guterres said that every country, city, financial institution and company \"should adopt plans for a transition to net zero emissions by 2050\". In his view, they will also need to take decisive action now to put themselves on the path towards achieving this vision.\n\nThe objective, said the UN secretary general, will be to cut global emissions by 45% by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.\n\nHere's what Mr Guterres demanded the nations of the world do:\n\nOur war on the natural world will come back to haunt us, says Mr Guterres\n\nIt is an ambitious agenda, as Mr Guterres acknowledged, but he said that radical action is needed now.\n\n\"The science is clear,\" Mr Guterres told the BBC, \"unless the world cuts fossil fuel production by 6% every year between now and 2030, things will get worse. Much worse.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Is it possible to reverse the climate crisis? The BBC's Justin Rowlatt explains\n\nClimate policies have yet to rise to the challenge, the UN chief said, adding that \"without concerted action, we may be headed for a catastrophic three to five-degree temperature rise this century\".\n\nThe impact is already being felt around the world.\n\n\"Apocalyptic fires and floods, cyclones and hurricanes are the new normal,\" he warned.\n\n\"Biodiversity is collapsing. Deserts are spreading. Oceans are choking with plastic waste.\"\n\nMr Guterres said the nations of the world must bring ambitious commitments to cut emissions to the international climate conference the UK and Italy are hosting in Glasgow in November next year.\n\nAs well as pressing for action on the climate crisis, he urged nations to tackle the extinction crisis that is destroying biodiversity and to step up efforts to reduce pollution.\n\nWe face, he said, a \"moment of truth\".\n\nBut he does discern some glimmers of hope.\n\nMore from Our Planet Now:\n\nHe acknowledged that the European Union, the US, China, Japan, South Korea and more than 110 other countries have committed to become carbon neutral by the middle of this century.\n\nHe said he wants to see this momentum turned into a movement.\n\nTechnology will help us to reach these targets, Mr Guterres said he believes.\n\nTechnology could help forge a more sustainable path, says Antonio Guterres\n\n\"The coal business is going up in smoke,\" because it costs more to run most of today's coal plants than it does to build new renewable plants from scratch, he told the BBC.\n\n\"We must forge a safer, more sustainable and equitable path\", the UN chief concluded.\n\nHe said it is time for this war against the planet to end, adding: \"We must declare a permanent ceasefire and reconcile with nature.\"\n\nAnd you can hear the full speech exclusively on BBC World News and BBC World Service, on our special programme State of the Planet at 1600 GMT on 2 December.\n\nI've travelled all over the world for the BBC and seen evidence of environmental damage and climate change everywhere. It's the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced. Tackling it means changing how we do virtually everything. We are right to be anxious and afraid at the prospect, but I reckon we should also see this as a thrilling story of exploration, and I'm delighted to have been given the chance of a ringside seat as chief environment correspondent.", "The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech appears to protect 94% of adults over 65 years old.\n\nMore data released from their continuing phase three trial suggests it works equally well in people of all ages and ethnicities.\n\nThe companies say they will now apply for authorisation for emergency use of the jab in the US.\n\nThe trial involved 41,000 people worldwide. Half were given the vaccine, and half a placebo.\n\nLast week, Pfizer and BioNTech published preliminary data suggesting the vaccine offered 90% protection against Covid-19 and said there were no safety concerns.\n\nThis was followed by data on a vaccine made by US company Moderna suggesting nearly 95% protection and similarly promising results from trials of another developed in Russia, called Sputnik.\n\nWednesday's data from Pfizer and BioNTech, which builds on last week's data, suggests the vaccine is 95% effective based on 170 cases of Covid-19 developing in volunteers.\n\nJust eight were in the group given the vaccine, suggesting it offers good protection. The rest of the cases were in the placebo group given a dummy jab.\n\nIn older adults, who are most at risk from the virus and have weaker immune systems, the vaccine worked as well as it did in younger people.\n\nScientists said the data was further encouraging news, with Prof Trudie Lang from the University of Oxford describing it as \"a remarkable and very reassuring situation\".\n\n\"To go from identifying a new virus to having several vaccines at the point of applying for regulatory approval is an incredible milestone for science,\" she said.\n\nAlthough the full trial data has yet to be published, the companies say there have been no serious safety concerns.\n\nBut they did notice fatigue in 3.8% of volunteers given the vaccine and headaches in 2%, both after the second dose, although older people seemed to experience minimal side effects.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Coronavirus vaccine: How close are you to getting one?\n\nThere is also evidence that the vaccine protects against severe Covid - but this is based on only 10 cases.\n\nIt's still unclear how long protection from the vaccine lasts and if it stops people transmitting the virus.\n\nIn the trial, 42% of all participants are from diverse ethnic backgrounds and 41% are aged between 56 and 85 years old.\n\nMore vaccine good news is what we've all been waiting for. This time it's really encouraging to know the Pfizer vaccine seems to work on older people as effectively as in younger ones.\n\nBut this vaccine is still a long way off widespread use. First, regulators need to be absolutely sure in their own minds that it's safe - not least because Moderna and Pfizer both use an experimental technology that's never been approved before.\n\nThat process could still take a few weeks. Then there's the massive issue of availability. Pfizer is promising 50 million doses by the end of the year. But remember: it's a two-shot vaccine.\n\nPerhaps one of the biggest problems is that wealthy countries have already swooped in to buy up the first batches that will be ready. That's good news for a country such as the UK, but not such good news for developing countries which haven't got the money to place bids.\n\nThat's why so much hinges on other vaccines such as the Oxford AstraZeneca one, as they may be more scalable, and there are more advanced plans to get it to low- and middle-income countries through a UN-backed project called Covax.\n\nThe trial, which is testing people at 150 sites in the US, Germany, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil and Argentina, will collect data on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine for another two years.\n\nThe companies behind it expect to produce up to 50 million doses of the vaccine this year and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.\n\nThe UK has pre-ordered 40 million doses and should get 10 million by the end of the year.\n\nIt has also ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is planning to release data from its phase three trial soon.\n\nThere are hundreds of vaccines in development around the world, and about a dozen in the final stages of testing, known as phase three.\n\nThe first two to show any results - made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna - both use an experimental approach, called mRNA, which involves injecting part of the virus's genetic code into the body to train the immune system.\n\nAntibodies and T-cells are then made by the body to fight the coronavirus.\n\nThe Sputnik vaccine, developed in Russia, has also released early data from phase three based on a smaller number of volunteers and Covid cases.\n\nThere are some logistical challenges with mRNA vaccines, namely the need to store them at cold temperatures.\n\nThe Pfizer vaccine must be stored at about minus 80C, although it can be kept in a fridge for five days.\n\nModerna's vaccine needs to be stored at minus 20C for up to six months and kept in a standard fridge for up to a month.\n\nProf Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the full data would have to be submitted to bodies like the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency for approval.\n\n\"We can expect both agencies to conduct a very careful evaluation and we can rely on their conclusions,\" he said.\n\nThis process could take several weeks.\n\nCorrection 26 March 2021: This article was amended to make clear that fatigue was noted in a slightly higher percentage of volunteers than headaches after the second dose.", "Esther Dingley sent this photo of her at the top of a mountain nine days ago\n\nPolice searching for a British hiker missing in the Pyrenees are \"looking at other options\" beyond an accident, her partner has said.\n\nEsther Dingley, 37, last messaged her partner Dan Colegate via WhatsApp on 22 November, when she was on top of Pic de Sauvegarde on the France-Spain border.\n\nShe had been due to return from her solo walking trek on 25 November.\n\nMr Colegate said after extensive searches the \"prevailing opinion\" is she is not in the mountains.\n\nIn a post on Facebook, he praised the French and Spanish search and rescue teams' efforts, but said: \"Taking into account Esther's high level of experience, the nature of the terrain, the good weather she would have had, the fact she had a clearly defined route for Sunday evening and Monday, and various other factors, both search coordinators have essentially told me that the prevailing opinion in the search teams is that she isn't there.\n\n\"If she had fallen from one of the paths, they really would have expected to find her given the intensity, the closeness of the search and the fact most of the trails are really quite straightforward across open ground.\"\n\nDan Colegate and Esther Dingley had always been keen travellers\n\nMr Colegate said Ms Dingley is now listed as a national missing person in Spain and her case has been passed to a \"specialised judicial unit in France\".\n\n\"This means they will be looking at other options beyond a mountain accident,\" he said.\n\nMr Colegate said: \"While this is a terrifying development in many ways, I'm trying to focus on the fact that it leaves the door open that Esther might still come home.\n\n\"She was so utterly happy and joyful when we last spoke, I'd do anything to see her face and hold her right now.\"\n\nMs Dingley had been travelling in the couple's camper van while Mr Colegate stayed at a farm in the Gascony area of France.\n\nThe weekend she set out on the trek, the couple's story about their adventures around Europe in the camper van since 2014 was published by BBC News.\n\nMs Dingley had started walking from Benasque in Spain on Saturday and had planned to spend Sunday night at Refuge de Venasque in France, Mr Colegate said.\n\nThe couple had lived in Durham before deciding to pack up their lives and go travelling after Mr Colegate nearly died from an infection.\n\nFollow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Matthew Horne and Joanna Page will reunite to host a BBC Radio Wales show on Christmas Day\n\nThe cast of Gavin and Stacey are to reunite for a Christmas Day radio show.\n\nJoanna Page and Mathew Horne, best known for their roles as Gavin and Stacey in the hit BBC comedy, will host a festive special on BBC Radio Wales.\n\nThey will be joined by co-stars Melanie Walters, Larry Lamb, Alison Steadman, Steffan Rhodri, Robert Wilfort and Laura Aikman, Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler and singer-songwriter Shakin' Stevens.\n\nThere will also be a special message from co-creator James Corden.\n\nLast year's Gavin and Stacey Christmas special was the UK's most-watched scripted TV programme of the 2010s with 17.1 million viewers across the UK.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nAnd although we won't be treated to another special on TV - at least not this year - Radio Wales' show promises to go some way to filling that Gavin and Stacey void.\n\nPage, who hosted the station's Sunday Morning with Joanna Page show earlier this year, said she \"absolutely loves Christmas\".\n\n\"So when it came up that we could do a Christmas Day show I knew that if there was anybody I'd want to share that with, it's Mat. I love working with him, he's so much fun,\" she added.\n\nFor his part, Horne said he \"jumped at the chance\", adding: \"I love working with Jo, I love Wales and I love doing radio.\n\n\"Christmas Day is a special day and, particularly this year, it's been very challenging for a lot of people, so it's nice to feel like we might be bringing a little bit of joy.\"\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Nessa (Ruth Jones) had to ask fans for quiet during filming\n\nPage said the show would involve \"chatting to some brilliant friends and guests\", quizzes and some classic Christmas tracks.\n\nRadio Wales editor Wales Colin Paterson added: \"Having Wales' best loved couple, out of character, is a real treat. We hope their sense of fun will lift everyone's spirits.\"\n\nListen to Christmas Day with Joanna Page and Mathew Horne from 12:00 GMT until 14:00 on BBC Radio Wales, and on BBC Sounds.", "This is the day we have been waiting for.\n\nBut it is clear listening to NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens and deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van Tam that there are some huge logistical challenges from here on in.\n\nFirst of all, supply. The UK is expecting 800,000 doses in the next few days. But given there are 15 million people over the age of 65 and working in health and care sectors, and all need two doses, it is clear getting more into the country is essential.\n\nRollout is also difficult. Through a combination of the need to keep the vaccine at ultra cold storage and the fact that the jab comes in batches of 975 that cannot be split up at the moment, immunisation will only be offered from a network of 50 hospitals to start with.\n\nIt is why there is still so much hope pinned to the Oxford University vaccine, that regulators are currently reviewing. That does not need to be kept in ultra cold storage and so can be distributed much more easily. Plus there are already millions of doses in the country.\n\nThen there is vaccine hesitancy. Officials have been at pains to stress that despite the vaccine being developed in record time the full testing and regulatory process has been followed.\n\nBut the more people don’t come forward, the longer restrictions have to remain in place.\n\nThere is a long way to go yet.", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday morning. We'll have another update for you at 18:00 GMT.\n\nA hugely positive bit of news to wake up to this morning. The UK has become the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread use. The government says the Pfizer/BioNTech jab will start being made available across the UK from next week. The UK has already ordered 40m doses - enough to vaccinate 20m people, with two shots each. About 10m doses should be available soon. Experts have drawn up a provisional priority list, targeting people at highest risk. Top are care home residents and staff, followed by people over 80 and other health and social care workers.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Laura Foster explains the new three tier system for England\n\nThe health secretary has announced that relatives of all care home residents in England will be able to visit over the Christmas period if they test negative for Covid-19. He promised more than a million tests would be sent to homes over the next month, along with extra PPE. Vic Rayner, from the National Care Forum, said it was \"a huge step forward\". BBC health editor Hugh Pym says the news will be welcomed by families struggling with separation, but there's a danger of hopes being raised only to be dashed again because not all facilities will be able to meet the demand for a visit in time for Christmas.\n\nRetail discounts in the run-up to Christmas are now commonplace, but lockdown has left stores with an excess of seasonal stock to shift. That means prices are falling - good news for consumers at least - with the biggest discounts at fashion and DIY stores, according to the British Retail Consortium. Debenhams has launched a huge stock clearance - so big its website has been overwhelmed. The retail sector in general is having a really tough time, and it's often young retail staff who are especially hard-hit - we spoke to some feeling the strain.\n\nAs part of our CEO Secrets series, we've been looking at businesses that have launched during this very difficult year. This week, we hear from people whose jobs are under threat in hospitality and have decided to try something new. Bruce Tate was in a bad place after the first lockdown. His business, Need Music, handled live bookings for pubs and weddings, but was forced to close. Now he's transformed his office into a cycling cafe. Read his story and others for a much-needed dose of optimism.\n\nBruce even brought in some of his old clients to play outdoor gigs during the summer\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, ministers say the tougher tiers are needed to stop the NHS being overwhelmed, but is that true? Our health correspondent Nick Triggle looks closely.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "Students have been taking Covid tests this week ahead of leaving for Christmas\n\nStudents will have staggered starting dates for returning to universities in England after Christmas - with some not back until 7 February.\n\nThe government's plan will mean students taking hands-on courses such as medicine or performing arts returning from 4 to 18 January.\n\nOther subjects would be taught online at the start of term, with students back between 25 January and 7 February.\n\nStudents are being promised Covid tests when they return next term.\n\nIt means some students heading home in the next few days will not be in university again for nine weeks.\n\nThe National Union of Students said students would still have to pay rent on \"properties they are being told not to live in\".\n\nThe plan, to avoid a surge of students and the risk of spreading coronavirus, will see a staggered return for students over five weeks in the new year - with most courses starting online before a return to in-person teaching.\n\nThe first students returning will be for practical courses which are difficult to teach solely online - which will include medicine, nursing and dentistry; sciences which need to use laboratories; or music, dance and drama.\n\nCourses are going to be online at the start of next term for many students\n\nThose starting later will include subjects such as English literature, history and maths.\n\nStudents will be offered two lateral-flow Covid tests when they arrive back - similar to the process for their departure.\n\n\"This plan will enable a safer return for all students,\" Universities Minister Michelle Donelan said, who also announced a £20m student hardship fund.\n\nThe UCU lecturers' union, which has called for teaching to be online to avoid the spread of infection, said the plan for a delayed start to in-person teaching was a \"step forward\".\n\nVanessa Wilson, leader of the University Alliance group, welcomed the \"clarity\" about next term - and also the recognition that campus facilities would have to be kept open for students not going home at Christmas.\n\nEmma Hardy, Labour's shadow universities minister, said \"the delay in providing this guidance has caused huge, unnecessary stress for students and universities\".\n\nThe arrangements have been announced on the eve of students being able to return home for Christmas - with the \"travel window\" for students opening on Thursday.\n\nLouis will be part of the logistical challenge to get students home this week\n\nLouis Chambers, a first year studying geology at the University of Hull, will be among the students heading home this week.\n\nHIs parents are coming to take him back to Norfolk - and the university is running a system of one-hour slots for students to be collected, which he says will mean \"not so many leaving at once\".\n\n\"It will be a relief to get back home,\" he says, as he has been able to see his family only once this term, because of Covid restrictions.\n\nBut he thinks the Covid testing and \"travel window\" have been uncomplicated so far - and he has enjoyed his first term.\n\nAnd many students will already have left. Out of the six in Louis's flat, he says, three have already gone home.\n\nThe \"window\" for students to travel home begins on Thursday\n\nUniversity of Hull student services director Anji Gardiner has been organising the staggered departures through the Christmas \"travel window\".\n\nAs well as slots for those being collected by car - which run from 07:00 to 20:00 - there are coaches being laid on and a booking system for the limited capacity on trains, with the numbers travelling spread out across the week.\n\n\"We want to keep it safe - we didn't want a logjam of people trying to get home,\" Dr Gardiner says.\n\nThe mass Covid testing of students began in universities on Monday - with temporary testing centres set up in sports halls and in rooms on campus.\n\nBefore leaving for Christmas, students have been encouraged to have two tests three days apart - and to travel within 24 hours of receiving a second negative test result.\n\nThe \"travel window\", in which students are expected to move out of university, will run from 3 to 9 December.\n\nIn England, about 1.2 million students will be travelling from a university to a home address in another part of the country, including:\n\nUniversities UK welcomed the plans for more testing for students when they returned after Christmas.\n\n\"The high demand for tests from students shows they understand the important role testing can play in keeping themselves and their communities safe,\" said a spokesman.", "Shop prices are falling in the run-up to Christmas as retailers race to clear stock amid a \"deepening\" High Street crisis, a report has said.\n\nDiscounts are most common at retailers selling fashion and DIY goods, according to the British Retail Consortium's (BRC) Shop Price Index.\n\nOverall, it found prices of goods excluding food fell 3.7% in November.\n\nMarket researchers Mintel and Springboard say they see similar trends and expect further falls in December.\n\nThe BRC said the discounting reflected \"an extremely challenging year\" for retailers after trade was put on hold because of lockdowns.\n\n\"As we approach Christmas, consumers will be glad to see another month of falling prices,\" said boss Helen Dickinson.\n\n\"Where demand was weak for some products, discounting has followed, with many retailers trying to encourage more consumer spending, particularly those selling fashion and DIY goods.\"\n\nThe BRC's Shop Price Index tracked the price of 500 of the most commonly bought High Street products from 2 to 6 November - a period that crossed into the start of England's second national lockdown.\n\nDiane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at Springboard, said pre-Christmas discounts were not new, but that there would be more deals than usual this year as non-essential shops tried to make up for lost sales.\n\n\"Many retailers will have committed to orders, not had enough time to cancel and then ended up lumbered with stock,\" she told the BBC.\n\n\"They won't be able to sell things like seasonal gift sets and certain fashion lines in the new year, so we expect lots of discounts on those.\"\n\nRetailers are also trying to get people to do their Christmas shopping earlier, fearing a spike in online orders that will be hard to fulfil, said Nick Carroll, associate director of retail at Mintel.\n\nThis partly explains why this year's Black Friday sale had lasted longer than usual, with deals available as early as 1 November, he said.\n\n\"We've seen huge pressure on logistics operations and people not able to get their goods on time, so the more demand is spread out out, the easier it will be.\"\n\nThe pandemic continues to batter retailers, putting thousands of jobs at risks.\n\nThe BRC's Ms Dickinson said businesses shuttered during lockdown had \"lost billions in sales and many are now in a precarious financial position\".\n\nShe called for more government support saying that \"without such interventions, we will see countless more store closures and job losses\".", "The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said he was \"thrilled\" with the news and that the vaccine would be rolled out \"from next week\".", "The system can be used to check if workers are wearing masks and are staying far enough away from each other\n\nAmazon plans to sell companies a way to detect when staff are not wearing face masks or socially distancing.\n\nBeyond the pandemic, the system could also be used to track compliance of other workplace rules or to monitor the public - for example, to check the number of customers queuing in a store.\n\nIt involves retrofitting a box to existing security cameras that can then draw on off-the-shelf AI apps.\n\nRemote working has already led to an increase in the use of software that checks up on employees, but Amazon's new solution is focused on tracking people and products in factories, shops and other traditional workplaces.\n\nAmazon refutes the characterisation of its new product as a surveillance tool.\n\nA spokeswoman told the BBC it was designed to improve industrial operations and workplace safety, and that how it is used is up to customers.\n\n\"For example, AWS Panorama does not include any pre-packaged facial recognition capabilities,\" she said.\n\nAll its machine learning functions can happen on the device \"and [relevant data] never has to leave the customer's facility\", she added.\n\nThe AWS Panorama appliance plugs into internet protocol (IP) cameras - a standard type of digital video camera used by a huge range of companies on their sites.\n\nThe technology can be added on to existing CCTV hardware\n\nIt can automate inspection tasks, such as detecting manufacturing defects or tracking the movement of barcodes and labels.\n\nBut the tool can also be applied to people.\n\nFor example, in a retail shop, it could count the number of customers, track their movements and check the length of queues, Amazon has suggested.\n\nIn a factory or other workplace, the same tech can be used to monitor employees \"and get notified immediately about any potential issues or unsafe situations so you can take pre-emptive action\", the company said.\n\nIn the promotional material for the product, Fender guitars says it uses the product to \"track how long it takes for an associate to complete each task in the assembly of a guitar\".\n\nThe Financial Times reports that AWS Panorama can detect vehicles bring driven in places they are not supposed to be. Some major companies are already trialling the system, including Siemens and Deloitte, the FT added.\n\nThe AWS Panorama Appliance boxes need to be installed on the same network as the cameras they are linked to\n\nIt is still, however, in preview, and not yet widely available.\n\nThe Trades Union Congress (TUC), the umbrella group for UK unions, this week published its report into the use of AI-powered tools used by employers.\n\n\"The announcement of this new monitoring tool is another example of how this revolution at work is picking up pace,\" said policy officer Mary Towers.\n\nBut she warned that it must not gloss over workers' needs.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Is your boss spying on you as you work from home?\n\n\"In our report, we warn about the potentially negative effects that intrusive technology of this type can have on workers' well-being, right to privacy, data protection rights and the right not be discriminated against.\"\n\nPolling suggested that workers were already concerned about CCTV cameras being used to monitor performance when they were supposed to have been installed for security, she said.\n\nSilkie Carlo, director of privacy group Big Brother Watch, said automated monitoring of workplaces \"rarely results in benefits for employees\".\n\n\"It's a great shame that social distancing has been leapt on by Amazon as yet another excuse for data collection and surveillance,\" she said.\n\nAmazon has already faced scrutiny over how its warehouse employees are monitored. In September, a report from a US research group said Amazon used extensive worker surveillance to limit union organising activity. And the company has clashed with some of its employees who have accused it treating them \"like robots\".\n\nThis week, Microsoft apologised for allowing individuals' activity to be monitored by their employers through a \"productivity score\" designed to give high-level oversights.\n\nAfter an outcry, Microsoft removed individual user names from the product.", "The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination.\n\nBritain's medicines regulator, the MHRA, says the jab, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness, is safe to be rolled out.\n\nThe first doses are already on their way to the UK, with 800,000 due in the coming days, Pfizer said.\n\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock said the NHS will contact people about jabs.\n\nElderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list, followed by over-80s and health and care staff.\n\nBut because hospitals already have the facilities to store the vaccine at -70C, as required, the very first vaccinations are likely to take place there - for care home staff, NHS staff and patients - so none of the vaccine is wasted.\n\nA further 648 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test were recorded in the UK on Wednesday, with another 16,170 cases reported.\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson urged the public not to get \"carried away with over optimism or falling into the naive belief that our struggle is over\".\n\nHe told a Downing Street news conference that, while the \"searchlights of science\" had created a working vaccine, significant logistical challenges remained.\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech jab is the fastest vaccine to go from concept to reality, taking only 10 months to follow the same steps that normally span 10 years.\n\nThe UK has already ordered 40 million doses of the jab - enough to vaccinate 20 million people.\n\nThe doses will be rolled out as quickly as they can be made by Pfizer in Belgium, Mr Hancock said, with the first load next week and then \"several millions\" throughout December.\n\nScottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the first people in Scotland will be immunised on Tuesday.\n\nWelsh Health and Social Care Minister Vaughan Gething said the rollout of the Pfizer jab to care homes would be particularly difficult because of how it needs to be stored.\n\nMr Gething said that it was not possible to transport the Pfizer vaccine to more than 1,000 care homes across Wales.\n\nThe bulk of the rollout across the UK will be next year, Mr Hancock said, adding: \"2020 has been just awful and 2021 is going to be better.\"\n\nThere is a clear priority list for who gets the vaccine first - and care home residents and staff are top of it.\n\nBut operational complexities mean the reality will be somewhat different.\n\nWhen the vaccines arrives, it will be sent straight to major hospitals who have the ultra-cold facilities to store it.\n\nFrom there it can be moved just once - and when it is, it must be kept in batches of 1,000.\n\nThat means sending it out to care homes, where there may be only a few dozen residents in some places, would lead to a huge amount of vaccine being wasted.\n\nBecause of that, the NHS, which is in charge of distributing the vaccine, will run clinics from hospitals at first.\n\nThis will allow NHS and care home staff to get immunised first as well as, perhaps, some of the older age groups who come into hospital.\n\nIt looks like it will not be until much more of the Pfizer vaccine is available or the Oxford University one, which is easier to distribute, is approved that care home residents will be able to get it.\n\nWhile Mr Hancock said that the government does not yet know how many people need to be vaccinated before restrictions can start being lifted, he added: \"I'm confident now, with the news today, that from spring, from Easter onwards, things are going to be better. And we're going to have a summer next year that everybody can enjoy.\"\n\nMr Johnson added: \"It's the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again.\"\n\nDowning Street press secretary Allegra Stratton said Mr Johnson would not rule out receiving the vaccine jab live on television, though she said he would not want to take a jab meant for someone more vulnerable.\n\nThe free vaccine will not be compulsory and there will be three ways of vaccinating people across the UK:\n\nAround 50 hospitals are on stand-by and vaccination centres - in venues such as conference centres or sports stadiums - are being set up now.\n\nIt is thought the vaccination network could start delivering more than one million doses a week once enough doses are available.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Health Secretary Matt Hancock: \"This is a day to remember and, frankly, a year to forget\"\n\nNHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said the health service was preparing for \"the largest-scale vaccination campaign in our country's history\".\n\nBut experts said people still need to remain vigilant and follow rules to stop the virus spreading - including with social distancing, face masks and self-isolation.\n\n\"We can't lower our guard yet,\" said the government's chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty.\n\nThe order in which people will get the jab is recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations and decided by the government.\n\nMass immunisation of everyone over 50, as well as younger people with pre-existing health conditions, can happen as more stocks become available in 2021.\n\nPfizer confirmed that the first stocks of the vaccine will be for the NHS, which will give them out for free based on clinical need. People in the UK will not be able to bypass this and buy the vaccine privately to jump the queue.\n\nThe vaccine is given as two injections, 21 days apart, with the second dose being a booster. Immunity begins to kick in after the first dose but reaches its full effect seven days after the second dose.\n\nMost of the side effects are very mild, similar to the side effects after any other vaccine and usually last for a day or so, said Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed, the chairman of the Commission on Human Medicine expert working group.\n\nThe vaccine was 95% effective for all groups in the trials, including elderly people, he said.\n\nThe head of the MHRA, Dr June Raine, said that - despite the speed of approval - no corners have been cut.\n\nBatches of the vaccine will be tested in labs \"so that every single vaccine that goes out meets the same high standards of safety\", she said.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dr June Raine from the MHRA: \"The safety of the public will always come first\"\n\nGiving the analogy of climbing a mountain, she said: \"If you're climbing a mountain, you prepare and prepare. We started that in June. By the time the interim results became available on 10 November we were at base camp.\n\n\"And then when we got the final analysis we were ready for that last sprint that takes us to today.\"\n\nThe Pfizer/BioNTech was the first vaccine to publish positive early results from final stages of testing.\n\nIt is a new type called an mRNA vaccine that uses a tiny fragment of genetic code from the pandemic virus to teach the body how to fight Covid-19 and build immunity.\n\nAn mRNA vaccine has never been approved for use in humans before, although people have received them in clinical trials.\n\nBecause the vaccine must be stored at around -70C, it will be transported in special boxes of up to 5,000 doses, packed in dry ice.\n\nOnce delivered, it can be kept for up to five days in a fridge. And once out of the fridge it needs to be used within six hours.\n\nOther coronavirus vaccines are also being developed:\n\nThe World Health Organization's Dr David Nabarro said the Pfizer vaccine would not replace the other measures \"for a number of months, even a year, so we'll have to keep doing physical distancing, mask wearing, hygiene and isolating ourselves when we're sick\".\n\nHe told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme \"the vaccine will only start to dent the size of the pandemic somewhat later in the year\".\n\nThe pace has been breathtaking.\n\nFrom an unknown virus at the start of the year to a vaccine approved by the regulator and ready to use in early December is an unprecedented timescale.\n\nAt the Downing Street briefing, the MHRA's chief executive said it was like climbing Everest, with preparations starting in June and a team working \"night and day\" assessing early data and reaching \"base camp\" by early November when Pfizer/BioNtech published the trial results.\n\nAt the same time, the MHRA was adamant that the process had been robust with safety considerations paramount. A rapid emergency approval process was used by the UK regulator.\n\nThe European Medicines Agency is taking longer to reach a view and there has been some sniping from European politicians arguing their processes are more reliable and authoritative.\n\nBut the MHRA is an internationally respected independent watchdog and for now those about to receive the first jabs will rely on its ruling.\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How will I travel home in time for Christmas?\n\nThe mass Covid testing of students, so they can go home safely for the Christmas break, is starting at many universities across the UK.\n\nUniversities are opening temporary testing centres where hundreds of thousands of students will be checked for Covid this week before they leave.\n\nStudents have been asked to take two tests, three days apart.\n\nIf they test negative, many students will leave university in the \"travel window\" starting from 3 December.\n\nBut testing is voluntary and it will not be available in all universities.\n\nThe UCU lecturers' union has warned about the reliability of the testing plans and says there could be \"chaos\".\n\nInshaal says students in Bradford are concerned about bringing back the virus to elderly relatives\n\nCaleb Shaw, a journalism student at the University of the West of England in Bristol, is taking a test on Monday.\n\n\"I know I'm less likely to get seriously ill with it,\" he says, but he wants to get a test to protect his family.\n\n\"If I get a test then I can make sure I don't bring it home to them. It would be stupid to not take advantage of it,\" Caleb says.\n\nThe university is using its sports centre as a temporary testing site until 6 December with 90 staff and students helping with the testing process.\n\nInshaal Ahmad, a students' union sabbatical officer at the University of Bradford, says most students seem supportive of the testing.\n\nA student taking a swab sample at the University of St Andrews\n\nHe says many students at Bradford live in multi-generational households, including older relatives, and want to \"be on the safe side\" and not risk bringing the virus back from university.\n\nTesting at Bradford will continue until 6 December and as with other universities, booking slots for tests will also be a way of staggering the times when students can leave, within the \"travel window\" that ends on 9 December.\n\nThe mass testing is intended to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus as students travel away from their term-time addresses.\n\nSports halls and rooms on campus are being converted into testing centres, where students will take \"lateral flow\" swab tests, which will provide results within an hour, with the outcome sent by email or text.\n\nCaleb will be among the students taking the Covid test on Monday\n\nTwo tests are recommended to increase accuracy - and students will be expected to travel soon after a second negative result, with students in England and Wales encouraged to leave within 24 hours.\n\nIf students get a positive result, they will have to take another test to confirm - and if they have coronavirus they will have to stay and self-isolate.\n\nMost universities are providing testing - 130 \"expressed an interest\" in taking part in the scheme, according to the Department for Health and Social Care.\n\nBut the National Union of Students says there should be capacity for all students who want a test to get one before Christmas.\n\n\"We are not aware of how universities will decide which students are tested if testing is oversubscribed,\" says the NUS.\n\nThe UCU lecturers' union says the approach to testing has been rushed and confused and the last-minute arrangements will be a \"recipe for chaos\".\n\nThe union said it had \"grave concerns\" and \"testing so many people and following necessary safety measures would be an extremely challenging operation\".\n\nBut not all universities in Northern Ireland are planning to offer testing.\n\n\"Testing will help to break the line of transmission amongst students, especially when they are infected but are not aware of it,\" said Professor Steve West, vice chancellor at the University of the West of England.\n\nBradford's vice chancellor, Professor Shirley Congdon, told students the tests \"offer extra assurance to you, your families, friends and community\".", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.\n\nShoppers have returned to the High Street in England, after non-essential retailers opened their doors at the end of a four-week national lockdown.\n\nA three-tiered system of Covid-19 rules has now come into force in the nation, with gyms and businesses such as hairdressers also able to open.\n\nMore than 55 million people are in the strictest two tiers and cannot mix indoors with those in other households.\n\nThe government said it would \"safeguard the gains made during the past month\".\n\nAt a Downing Street briefing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he accepted that the tiered system was \"tough\", but insisted that regional restrictions and mass testing were the way to \"keep the virus under control\".\n\nHe said he hoped that places would be able \"to come down the tiers\" before Easter, while stressing that the tier restrictions would continue to be a \"very important\" part of battling coronavirus.\n\nThere were queues outside stores across England early on Wednesday as shoppers returned to High Street giants such as Primark.\n\nAnd people arrived promptly to take advantage of a stock clearance sale at Debenhams department store from 07:00 GMT.\n\nSome retailers are extending their trading hours to try to recoup the loss in sales over the lockdown.\n\nFootfall at UK shops was up by 64.5% compared to last week, but down by 24.1% on the same day last year, according to analyst Springboard.\n\nQueues were seen outside Primark in Birmingham early on Wednesday\n\nA swimmer takes to the water at London's Serpentine Swimming Club as outdoor swimming pools are also allowed to reopen\n\nJordan Roberts, 19, was among a dozen people queuing outside Selfridges in London's Oxford Street before the department store opened its doors - and shoppers were welcomed by store workers dressed as elves on roller skates.\n\nShe said she was there to do her Christmas shopping, adding: \"It feels more enjoyable being in a store and things run out of stock online.\"\n\nAnother London shopper, Tamara Rass, 44, said she hit the stores early as she expected they would be busy.\n\n\"For me, it's a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel and getting back to normality,\" she said.\n\n\"There are things in store that I can't get online and I like to treat my daughter once a month.\"\n\nElsewhere, there were also reports of \"steady\" footfall in England's town centres.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Helen Mole This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nThis Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Peter Gordon This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.\n\nTransport for London said 760,000 journeys were made on the London Underground network on Wednesday from the start of service until 10:00 GMT - up 14% on last week, but only 31% of normal demand.\n\nThere were 970,000 bus journeys made. This was up 8% on last week and 57% of pre-pandemic levels.\n\nBritish Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said businesses were looking forward to welcoming back customers, with billions lost in sales during the lockdown, adding \"every purchase we make is a retailer helped, a job protected and a local community supported\".\n\nThe government has also announced that people living in care homes in England will be able to have visits from family and friends by Christmas, if the visitors test negative for coronavirus.\n\nAnd later on Wednesday about 10,000 fans will be allowed into six games in the English Football League for the first time, other than a few pilot games, since March.\n\nEngland's new tiered system was backed by MPs in a Commons vote just hours before it came into effect, despite 55 Tories voting against PM Boris Johnson's plan.\n\nThe latest restrictions are tougher than the previous tier system that was in place before the lockdown was introduced on 5 November.\n\nUnder the system every area of the country is in one of three tiers - medium (one), high (two) and very high (three) - with the vast majority of the population in the higher two tiers.\n\nIn tier two, people are not allowed to mix with anyone outside their household or support bubble indoors, although they can socialise in groups of up to six outdoors.\n\nAnd in tier three, people must also not mix with anyone outside their household or support bubble indoors, or at most outdoor venues.\n\nOn Wednesday, a further 16,170 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK, while a further 648 deaths were reported within 28 days of a positive test.\n\nHow are the new tiers affecting you? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.\n\nPlease include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.", "Women's fashion chain Bonmarché has fallen into administration, putting more than 1,500 jobs at risk.\n\nBonmarché, which has 225 stores around the country, was owned by retail tycoon Philip Day.\n\nHis other chains - Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Peacocks and Ponden Home stores - collapsed into administration last month.\n\nAdministrators said the stores would continue to trade while options for the business were explored.\n\nDamian Webb and Gordon Thomson of RSM Restructuring Advisory have been appointed as joint administrators of the firm, known as BM Retail Limited.\n\nMr Webb said: \"Bonmarché remains an attractive brand with a loyal customer base. It is our intention to continue to trade whilst working closely with management to explore the options for the business.\n\n\"We will shortly be marketing the business for sale and based on the interest to date, we anticipate there will be a number of interested parties.\"\n\nYorkshire-based Bonmarché specialises in clothing for the over-50s.\n\nIt has been in and out of administration before, most recently in October last year, but it was rescued a month later.\n\nThis is the third time Bonmarché's been in administration. It had a 3,800-strong workforce back in 2012 before it collapsed and was then bought by a private equity firm. 160 stores closed and 1,400 job losses followed.\n\nThe chain was floated on the stock exchange in 2013. But in recent years it's continued to struggle. Philip Day built up a stake last year and then went on to buy the rest of it in a £5.7m deal, only for it to fall into administration a few months later.\n\nHe then went on to buy it back in what's known as a pre-pack deal. That allowed him to cut costs and reduce the number of stores. It also left suppliers out of pocket.\n\nDon't expect Philip to ride to the rescue again this time, said one source. Today's news means his retail empire has now completely collapsed.\n\nThe collapse of the chain adds to a grim week for the High Street, after Debenhams announced all its stores were set to close for good and Topshop owner Arcadia fell into administration.\n\nThose two firms employ 25,000 people between them.\n\nIn both cases, tough trading conditions and long-standing difficulties have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced stores to close for lengthy periods during 2020.\n\nAnd there is no end in sight for the uncertainty faced by retailers. Consumer confidence is expected to remain fragile into next year, amid fears that unemployment is set to rise as Covid continues to take its toll on the economy.\n\nRetail analyst Kate Hardcastle told the BBC it was a mistake to think that Bonmarché and other troubled retailers were suffering purely because they had lagged behind on their online offer.\n\nShe said Bonmarché had shown \"disrespect\" towards its target market of older women by failing to engage with them and taking a traditional view of retail that no longer applied.\n\n\"It was led by a team that did not understand and reflect that their customers had changed and it did not move with them,\" she said.\n\n\"These are smart, sophisticated women. They're not your pearls-and-twinset customer.\n\n\"You can't just sell stuff to people any more. You have to embrace the way that 50-plus women live their life.\"\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Col Richard Latham said it was \"a managerial fault\" that two stewards failed to report concerns\n\nStewards on duty on the night of the Manchester bombing did not think Salman Abedi was a threat because they had not been trained properly, a security expert has told the attack inquiry.\n\nCol Richard Latham said \"a managerial fault\" meant Showsec staff Kyle Lawler and Mohammed Agha failed to respond to suspicious behaviour.\n\nThey were \"hardly briefed\", he said.\n\nThe inquiry heard lives could have been saved if security had been quicker to shut the doors of the foyer.\n\nTwenty-two people were killed and hundreds more were injured as they left an Ariana Grande concert when Abedi detonated a bomb on 22 May 2017.\n\nCol Latham and his colleague Dr David BaMaung said if Mr Lawler and Mr Agha had \"properly communicated\" concerns over Abedi there would have been time to close the doors before the concert ended.\n\nDr BaMaung said: \"Irrespective of how quickly we could close the arena doors, realistically if he was going to detonate, people would die that night.\n\n\"But the potential would be if the procedure had been quickly, the casualties and deaths would have been less.\"\n\nThe inquiry has previously heard how a member of the public reported suspicions about Abedi to Mr Aghar at 22:15 BST.\n\nHe then alerted Mr Lawler to the report and the pair observed him.\n\nAbedi left his position at the back of the City Room, a CCTV \"blind spot\", to detonate his device at 22:31.\n\nTop row (left to right): Alison Howe, Martyn Hett, Lisa Lees, Courtney Boyle, Eilidh MacLeod, Elaine McIver, Georgina Callander, Jane Tweddle - Middle row (left to right): John Atkinson, Kelly Brewster, Liam Curry, Chloe Rutherford, Marcin Klis, Angelika Klis, Megan Hurley, Michelle Kiss - Bottom row (left to right): Nell Jones, Olivia Campbell-Hardy, Philip Tron, Saffie-Rose Roussos, Sorrell Leczkowski, Wendy Fawell\n\nCol Latham said a failure by Mr Lawler and Mr Agha to report concerns about Abedi to their control room was due to \"insufficient supervision and direction\".\n\nThey should have been \"clearly told in meetings about what to do if a member of the public informed them about suspicious behaviour\", he said.\n\nHe added: \"They are doing a job they've never done before and one they are hardly briefed upon and aren't given written notes. That is more than a supervisor's fault, that is a managerial fault.\"\n\nHe said the \"major factors\" were the two security stewards \"did not think that Salman Abedi was actually much of a threat\".\n\nHe said he thought Mr Lawler was also concerned about \"being criticised for escalating something which was not a real problem\" and of being accused of racial profiling.\n\nThe court heard the experts concluded there was no proper risk assessment of the terrorist threat by SMG, Showsec or British Transport Police and no effective system for identifying hostile reconnaissance.\n\nThey said there was a failure to understand the need to check the area where Abedi hid, and insufficient monitoring of CCTV systems.\n\nDr David BaMaung said fewer lives could have been lost if the doors had been closed quickly\n\nThey also said there was an inadequate policing response by British Transport Police, particularly because there was no officer in the foyer when people were leaving the concert.\n\nPatrick Gibbs QC, representing British Transport Police, asked the security experts whether an email from Sgt Gareth Wilson - which instructed officers on duty at the arena that night about what they should do during their shift - was close to a \"model briefing\".\n\nDr BaMaung told the court he felt the email briefing had been sufficient up to the point at which it was realised the most senior officer on duty was not going to get to the arena as planned.\n\nHe said he felt Sgt Wilson should have been \"more specific\" in the information he gave to officers.\n\nDr BaMaung said: \"I would class that as a pretty large event and if I was a sergeant I would brief the individuals, I wouldn't just leave it up to a group to work out amongst themselves what they wanted to do.\"\n\nCol Latham also told the inquiry there were \"missed opportunities\" to spot Abedi on the night of the bombing including him carrying a very heavy backpack affecting his gait and being overdressed for the weather.\n\nWhy not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "Last updated on .From the section European Football\n\nManchester United's Champions League campaign is hanging in the balance as two goals from Neymar helped Paris St-Germain secure victory at Old Trafford.\n\nMarcus Rashford had cancelled out the Brazilian's early opener with his third goal in four games against the French outfit.\n\nBut Marquinos' excellent second-half finish put the visitors back in front and after United midfielder Fred had been sent off for a foul on Ander Herrera, Neymar tapped home his 38th Champions League goal.\n\nThe result leaves United level with PSG and RB Leipzig on nine points in Group H and knowing they need a draw away to the German side next Tuesday to progress to the last 16.\n• None 'Maybe I should have taken off Fred'\n• None Who needs what to reach Champions League knockout stage?\n\nIn the build-up to the game, PSG boss Thomas Tuchel admitted Rashford had become \"a little bit annoying\".\n\nThe sentiment was perfectly understandable given two seasons ago the England forward scored the injury-time penalty that knocked PSG out, even though they had won the first leg of their last-16 tie 2-0 at Old Trafford.\n\nRashford was also responsible for United's 87th-minute winner in the French capital on matchday one.\n\nSo it is fair to assume Tuchel's view only hardened when Rashford's shot - after Kaylor Navas had pushed away an Anthony Martial effort - completely wrong-footed the keeper and ended up in the bottom corner.\n\nThe goal equalised Neymar's well-taken sixth-minute effort and took Rashford's tally in this season's competition to six, level with the likes of Erling Haaland and former United team-mate Romelu Lukaku.\n\nHad Martial not blazed over when presented with an open goal when the second half was still in its infancy, or had he finished off the rebound when Edinson Cavani's delicate chip came back off the crossbar, rather than blast it into Marquinos, PSG might have had the life sucked out of them.\n\nAs it was, they were the ones building up a head of steam when Ander Herrera's off-target shot was turned into Marquinos' path and he put them back in front.\n\nUnited did push for an equaliser and substitute Paul Pogba came close when he volleyed over from the edge of the area but, with an extra man, PSG always had the edge and after Kylian Mbappe had fired wide, Neymar finished the hosts off.\n\nWith 38 goals he is now two behind Sergio Aguero, who is the second highest South American goalscorer in the competition.\n\nMajor question marks will hang over Solskjaer after this result.\n\nWhile the United boss can legitimately argue the caution that got Fred sent off was debatable - he screamed for a VAR check but they do not intervene on yellow card decisions - he can barely claim the Brazilian did not deserve to be sent off at some point in the game.\n\nThe biggest flashpoint came when he clashed with Leandro Paredes shortly before Rashford's equaliser.\n\nAs the pair faced off, Fred appeared to push his head towards Paredes, who went down clutching his face. Italian referee Daniele Orsati went to the screen to check what had happened but, to Tuchel's disbelief, only issued a yellow card.\n\nWhen the same pair came together again shortly afterwards, Orsati ruled Paredes was the aggressor and cautioned him, even though Fred ended up standing on his opponent.\n\nGiven an angry Neymar went to the referee for a long chat at half-time, after he was pulled away from Scott McTominay, it felt an obvious decision to replace Fred, particularly as Solskjaer had five substitutes at his disposal.\n\nInstead, Fred returned for the second period, leaving his manager to face the consequences, with PSG's official Twitter feed announcing 'finally' as the Brazilian made his way prematurely to the dressing rooms.\n• None The away side have won all four Uefa Champions League matches between Manchester United and Paris St-Germain. Excluding games played at neutral venues, it's the first fixture in the competition's history to see the first four meetings all won by the away side.\n• None Manchester United have now lost more of their eight home games in all competitions this season (4) than they did in 28 matches at Old Trafford last term (3).\n• None Manchester United have lost four of their past seven Champions League home games (W3), as many as in their previous 52 matches beforehand.\n• None PSG have won both of their past two away matches against English opposition in all competitions (both v Man Utd); they had only won one of their first 10 such visits before this (D4 L5).\n• None Both of Manchester United's last two Champions League red cards have come at home to PSG (Pogba the other in February 2019) - their only two such meetings with the French side.\n• None Man Utd's Fred was the 49th different Brazilian player to receive a Champions League red card; only France has had more different players sent off in the competition's history (55).\n• None At 05:45, Neymar's opener for PSG was the earliest Champions League goal conceded by Manchester United since September 2015, when Daniel Caligiuri scored against them after 03:53 for Wolfsburg.\n• None Since his Uefa Champions League debut in 2013, only Cristiano Ronaldo (79), Robert Lewandowski (60) and Lionel Messi (59) have more goals in the competition than PSG's Neymar (38). However, his double was the Brazilian's first goals in his six Champions League matches away to English clubs.\n• None Marcus Rashford has scored more goals in five Uefa Champions League games for Man Utd this season (6) than he managed in 18 appearances in the competition across his two previous seasons, 2017-18 and 2018-19 (5).\n• None Rashford is the first Man Utd player to score in all three of their home games in a single group stage in the Uefa Champions League since Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2004-05. Indeed, he is just the second Englishman to score six Champions League goals in a single group stage for any side, after Harry Kane in both 2017-18 and 2019-20 (six in both).\n\nManchester United travel to West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday (17:30 GMT). That game is set to be the first top-flight match to have fans since March.\n• None Goal! Manchester United 1, Paris Saint Germain 3. Neymar (Paris Saint Germain) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Rafinha.\n• None Substitution, Paris Saint Germain. Idrissa Gueye replaces Abdou Diallo because of an injury.\n• None Attempt missed. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint Germain) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Ander Herrera following a fast break.\n• None Attempt blocked. Harry Maguire (Manchester United) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Alex Telles with a cross.\n• None Attempt saved. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) header from the left side of the six yard box is saved in the top left corner.\n• None Offside, Paris Saint Germain. Mitchel Bakker tries a through ball, but Kylian Mbappé is caught offside. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page\n• None Fast-living, expensive exploits and fallouts await in this hit new drama\n• None The former president on his cautious optimism for the future and more", "Harris moved from Gweek in Cornwall to Sea Life Scarborough to be with Pumpkin\n\nTwo otters have found love in lockdown after losing their former partners.\n\nHarris from the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, whose partner died four years ago, moved to Sea Life in Scarborough to be with Pumpkin.\n\nShe was lonely after losing her elderly partner Eric and her animal care team hoped a new male otter would cheer her up.\n\nTamara Cooper, curator at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, said it was \"the perfect fairytale ending\".\n\nBoth otters lost their partners prior to being put on an otter dating website\n\nTo ensure the best chance of success for a new pairing of Asian short clawed otters, it is best to introduce a new male into a female's territory so that the male more easily submits to the female on first meeting.\n\nSea Life Scarborough said things were going \"swimmingly\" and the otters had enjoyed a series of dates.\n\nThe curator at the sanctuary in Scarborough, Todd German, said: \"We are delighted to report that not only is Pumpkin happy once again, but Harris has settled in extremely well.\"\n\nWhen Pumpkin started to show signs of loneliness, the sanctuary in Scarborough reached out to fellow otter sanctuaries to see if there were any otters feeling the same.\n\nThe curators at the Cornwall and Scarborough sanctuaries spoke and checked the otters' temperaments would be compatible, before deciding to move Harris.\n\nThe otters have now moved into their new home together, where visitors to the sanctuary can see the happy couple.", "Salesforce has agreed to buy workplace messaging app Slack for $27.7bn (£20bn) in what would be one of the biggest tech mergers in recent years.\n\nMarc Benioff, boss of the business software giant, called the deal a \"match made in heaven\".\n\nHe has been pushing to expand the company's software offerings and fend off rivals such as Microsoft.\n\nThe acquisition comes as the pandemic has increased the focus on remote work and tools, like Slack, which enable it.\n\nTech analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities called it a \"now or never\" purchase for Mr Benioff.\n\n\"If Salesforce wants to expand beyond its core gold mine of sales and marketing departments … this was the moment and thus represents a major shot across the bow against Microsoft,\" he wrote in a note to investors after the deal was announced.\n\nSlack, founded in 2009, has won a following with its group chats, which offer an alternative to email.\n\nWhen it listed its shares publicly in 2019, it was valued at roughly $20bn.\n\nHowever, its shares sank after the launch and have missed out on the stratospheric rise enjoyed by other tech firms this year.\n\nThe company, which had about 12.5 million users as of late March, has had difficulty making inroads against Microsoft Teams, a similar product that the tech giant unveiled in 2016 and now has more than 100 million users.\n\nThe deal never happened and Microsoft instead focussed on developing its own platform. Microsoft Teams was created - a clear rival to Slack.\n\nWhen a trillion dollar company like Microsoft looks to move into your business - you should be worried.\n\nInitially, Slack was confident of the challenge, even taking out a full page advert in the New York Times welcoming the competition in 2016.\n\nLooking back on it, it's hard to see that advert as any more than hubris.\n\nBig Tech can kill smaller companies. Their sheer size and dominance in the market makes them very hard to compete with.\n\nMicrosoft started flexing its muscle. It started bundling in Microsoft Teams with its Office Software.\n\nMicrosoft Teams is now used by nearly 10 times as many people as Slack.\n\nIf Slack thought it was fun to have Microsoft as a competitor in 2016, it definitely didn't in 2020.\n\nIts legal challenges claim that Microsoft uses its heft to unfairly bully the competition.\n\nSo, this acquisition should be seen in that context. Slack was being slowly squeezed.\n\nIt has now been bought by a much bigger fish - it will be better placed to compete with Microsoft.\n\nBut, there will be many who will use this case to lament the plight of smaller tech companies, who simply can't compete with a handful of tech giants.\n\nThe two companies hope that the tie-up will put them in a better position to take on a number of enterprise software competitors, and in particular Microsoft.\n\nMicrosoft's business applications have seen a massive surge as large numbers of people shifted to work-from-home arrangements due to the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\nMicrosoft's business suite includes features that are similar to Slack's messaging service.\n\nThe tech giant' CEO Satya Nadella remarked earlier this year that \"We've seen two years worth of digital transformation in two months\"\n\nBoth Salesforce and Slack have had previous run-ins with Microsoft.\n\nIn 2016, Salesforce lost out to its bigger rival when it attempted to buy the business-focused social media service LinkedIn.\n\nThis summer, Slack brought a competition complaint against Microsoft in the European Union, saying the firm was abusing its market dominance by bundling Teams into its other products.\n\nUnder the terms of the Salesforce deal, Slack shareholders are to receive $26.79 in cash per share - roughly what they were worth at the beginning of November, before rumours of the acquisition pushed the price per share to more than $43 as of Tuesday. They will also receive some shares in Salesforce.\n\nThe deal, which will be reviewed by Slack shareholders, is expected to close next year.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Arla's UK managing director said it faces filling in an extra 30,000 pieces of paperwork from next year\n\nThe head of the UK's largest dairy farmers' co-operative has warned that prices may rise sharply in the event of a \"no-deal\" Brexit.\n\nArla is behind brands such as Cravendale Milk and Lurpak and imports about 15% of its products.\n\nIts UK boss told the BBC that if the UK could not strike a free trade deal with the EU, tariffs could add as much as 30% to their prices.\n\nA government spokesperson said it was working closely with the food industry.\n\nAfter the Brexit transition period expires at the end of December, dairy goods are amongst those which could face the highest increase in such taxes.\n\nIn theory, that could add about 40p to the price of a pack of imported butter or mozzarella, if passed on to consumers in full.\n\nResearch commissioned by Arla, from the London School of Economics, claims that 40% in total of food and agricultural products used by British households and businesses come from the European Union (EU). The study calculated that without a deal, foods imported from the EU could face charges of nearly 18%.\n\nArla imports about 15% of its products, in line with others in the dairy sector\n\nPassing a free trade deal by 1 January would take away the risk of those tariffs. But the extra border checks and other formalities that would still apply could still raise costs for businesses, and potentially disrupt imports.\n\nArla's UK managing director, Ash Amirahmadi, said his organisation faced filling in an extra 30,000 pieces of paperwork from next year. He estimated that grappling with new measures could add as much as 10% to costs.\n\nDescribing his collective of 2,300 UK farmers as a \"low margin business\", he said they would have no choice but to pass on increased costs to retailers.\n\nWith supermarkets commonly having very low profit margins themselves, he was concerned that those prices might be passed on to shoppers.\n\nAnd the cost of change could be more than financial. Mr Amirahmadi claimed dairy products are the way \"many people get their essential nutrients....and we're very concerned if we have to increase our prices.\"\n\nA government spokesman said: \"The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain and there will not be an overall shortage of food, regardless of what trading arrangements we agree with the EU.\n\n\"We are in regular contact with the food industry to support its preparations for a range of scenarios, and will continue to work closely with them to ensure people across the country have the food and supplies they need.\"\n\nBut Mr Amirahmadi pointed out that it would take years, and more investment, before the industry could source solely from the UK.\n\n\"What we're looking for is for the government to support the industry and to enable us to be competitive on the world stage.\n\n\"That includes making sure we protect our standards on foods.\"", "The NHS Covid-19 app was launched on 24 September\n\nApple has revealed the NHS Covid-19 app was the second most downloaded iPhone product on its App Store in the UK this year.\n\nOnly the video chat app Zoom was installed more times. TikTok came third.\n\nThe contact-tracing app's achievement is notable given it only launched about two months ago and is solely targeted at users based in England and Wales.\n\nThe iPhone is the UK's best-selling smartphone brand.\n\nHowever, more people use Android. The BBC has asked Google where the government's app appears on its own Play Store's rankings.\n\nAs of 18 November, the NHS Covid-19 app has been downloaded 20,056,685 times across both platforms, according to the government's latest figures.\n\nThe BBC has asked how many users have subsequently deleted it.\n\nHowever, the Department of Health and Social Care has declined to provide the information at this time.\n\nResearchers at Oxford University initially said that 80% of UK smartphone owners would need to use the app to halt the pandemic rather than just slow it.\n\nBut in a follow-up paper they produced evidence that the number of hospital admissions and deaths could be \"meaningfully reduced\" at a much lower level of uptake.\n\nOne issue that has deterred some people from using it has been that those on low incomes do not currently qualify for a support payment if the app tells them to self-isolate.\n\nThis contrasts with the £500 grant they can apply for if they are told to stay at home by human contact-tracers.\n\nHowever, the BBC has learned that the app will soon generate a unique code that will make it possible to apply for a corresponding payment via an external website.\n\nZoom has become a popular way for workers and families to stay in touch\n\nThe pandemic also had an impact on the UK edition of TikTok's end-of-year review.\n\nIt said the biggest trend was #blindinglights - a dance challenge that became popular at the start of the first lockdown, featuring NHS workers and families moving to The Weeknd's Blinding Lights track.\n\nMany key workers posted videos of themselves dancing to the #blindinglights challenge\n\nThis was followed by #isolationgames, a challenge organised in partnership with Team GB for users to perform sporting activities at home, to help make up for the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics.\n\nDownload numbers for the NHS Covid-19 app look good, and compare well with those for similar contact-tracing apps in other countries.\n\nBut we are still missing out on some key data which would tell us how well it is working.\n\nWe need to know how many people have deleted the app and - the key number - how many users have received notifications to go into isolation because they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus.\n\nThe nature of the Google-Apple system underlying the app means only limited data is available to the government.\n\nBut there should be some information which would illustrate how effective the app has been over the last two months in its core mission of contact-tracing.\n\nWhat we won't know is how many people have obeyed instructions to self-isolate.", "England's new tiers system has started, but many are complaining areas with lower than average rates of infection have been unfairly put in high tiers.\n\nIn the summer, action was supposed to be hyper-local, sometimes with different rules in the same local authority.\n\nBut now, tiers have been applied in broad areas, generally matching counties or city regions.\n\nAnd in those larger areas, the case rates were all higher in tier three than in tier two in the week to 19 November.\n\nThe modellers advising government say working on a broader scale \"may make measures more effective\" since it reduces the chances of people travelling across tier boundaries.\n\nThe only exception to the \"bigger regions\" approach is Slough.\n\nThe surrounding parts of Berkshire are all in tier two - but Slough, with a higher rate of infection, has been put into tier three.\n\nThe price of this approach is low-Covid areas can be swept up into county-wide restrictions.\n\nFor example, Tunbridge Wells and Ashford, in tier-three Kent, had about 120 cases per 100,000 in the week to 19 November.\n\nBut most local authorities in England saw more than 180 cases per 100,000 people that week.\n\nThe document describing the government's rationale for each decision lists four factors on top of the main case rates, however:\n\nTunbridge Wells and Ashford have seen rising rates in recent weeks, while the rates in the rest of England have been falling.\n\nAnd with hospitals in Kent already under pressure, the worry is the high rates of infection in Swale and Medway spread out into the rest of Kent.\n\nBut many MPs are still unsatisfied with the government's explanations.\n\nConservative MP Damian Green, who represents Ashford, asked the government to apply rules at \"a local level, districts rather than counties or regions\" as \"restrictions which people feel are unfair to their particular community will simply not be respected or obeyed\".", "Daryl Bunn's family and fiancée have been left devastated by his death, police said\n\nA man who launched an unprovoked attack on a husband-to-be has been convicted of his manslaughter.\n\nDaryl Bunn, 27, was attacked in Maldon, Essex, after a meeting to discuss best man speeches at another friend's wedding.\n\nChelmsford Crown Court heard Sonny Hazell, 25, knocked him to the ground with a single punch, inflicting a traumatic brain injury.\n\nHazell was found guilty of the 29 June 2019 killing after a trial.\n\nMr Bunn had met his friend and fellow best man earlier that afternoon before meeting up with another group at two pubs.\n\nAs the men made their way home they \"became involved in an altercation\" outside a branch of Iceland, the force said.\n\nMr Bunn hit his head on the ground, causing a traumatic brain injury.\n\nHe was airlifted to hospital in Cambridge where he died eight days later.\n\nDet Ch Insp Lee Morton said: \"The case shows that any act of violence can lead to someone being seriously injured and even killed.\n\n\"Daryl Bunn's death was needless and completely avoidable, and his family and fiancée have been left devastated.\n\n\"They have been in court throughout the trial and heard how Daryl did nothing to instigate or provoke the incident that led to him losing his life.\"\n\nMr Bunn's family previously said they had been left \"totally heartbroken\".\n\n\"Everyone who knew him would say what a lovely, beautiful soul he had inside and out, with a heart of gold, and he will be truly missed,\" they said in a statement.\n\nHazell and Jordan Hooper, 24, of Princes Avenue, Southminster were cleared of a grievous bodily harm charge in relation to Mr Bunn's friend, who suffered a broken jaw.\n\nHazell, of Waterside Road, Southminster, near Maldon, is due to be sentenced on 8 January.\n\nFind BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk\n\nThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.", "This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. \"He would push, shove and kick me out of bed\"\n\n\"It was a massive step - it was scary. I thought the little one could be taken away from me.\"\n\nWhen Beth sought help to flee her abusive partner before the first lockdown in March, she and her daughter were placed in a women's refuge.\n\nBut she fears women in that situation today might not get that as domestic abuse services warn a lack of capacity will lead to more people dying.\n\nThe Welsh Government said £1.3m had been spent to help accommodate victims.\n\nDomestic violence services say they have struggled to cope with a surge in referrals since schools reopened in September, with many cases previously going unreported.\n\nCharities NSPCC Cymru and Welsh Women's Aid say support services for children in Wales were already \"sparse\" and \"underfunded\", with people relying on a \"postcode lottery\".\n\nBeth says her 11-year-old daughter started \"hearing and seeing\" the abuse she was being subjected to\n\n\"He was accusing me of sleeping with other people while I was working,\" said Beth, which is not her real name and is being used to protect her identity.\n\n\"He would say I wasn't a fit enough mother to look after his daughter. It was then becoming physical.\n\n\"He began to push me, shove me, kick me out of the bed. One day I had a bottle of Coke poured over my head because I was accused of not calling him when his food was ready.\n\n\"It was having an impact on the little one, she was hearing and seeing things.\"\n\nBeth, from south Wales, managed to flee and spent the next eight months living in a women's refuge with her 11-year-old daughter, who has complex needs.\n\nBeth said she finally decided to call for help after her mother threatened to ring social services - but she had to wait for her partner to leave for work and her daughter to go to school.\n\nShe said making that initial phone call was the most difficult step.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Coronavirus and domestic abuse: \"You’re with each other 24/7\"\n\n\"It's the not knowing where you're going to go after that phone call, who's at the end of the phone and who's going to help you,\" she explained.\n\nBeth said social services managed to find her a refuge before she went to pick her daughter up from school that day.\n\n\"[My daughter] was all questions about why I hadn't brought my own car to pick her up,\" she recalled.\n\n\"I explained that we weren't going home and I remember her saying to me: 'We'll be ok now and we'll be safe, because daddy can't shout and do anything now can he?'\"\n\nKate Annison says her service has had to introduce waiting lists for the first time in her career\n\nA domestic abuse service in Powys says it has had to put a waiting list in place after a \"huge surge\" in cases, and feared the worst for those they could not support.\n\n\"We're really struggling with referrals and for the first time in my career, we've had to introduce a waiting list,\" said Kate Annison, who runs the children's service at Montgomeryshire Family Crisis Centre in Newtown.\n\nShe said referrals had more than doubled between August and October compared to last year, adding that children's support services often reveal more about the scale of the abuse taking place.\n\n\"Making people wait even a short amount of time could mean that they get hurt really badly,\" says Ms Annison\n\n\"The children are disclosing a lot of things that were happening over the previous lockdown or are still happening. There's been a huge surge in cases,\" Ms Annison said.\n\n\"We've had to put six people on the waiting list for support so far - that's four families.\n\n\"Making people wait even a short amount of time could mean that they get hurt really badly. These decisions we're making could ultimately result in a death.\"\n\nChildren's support services often reveal more about the scale of the abuse taking place, Ms Annison says\n\nShe said her team were already aware of a case where a family member died after being told there was not enough space in any refuges.\n\n\"We know they tried a few different services in a few different areas but failed to find any space,\" she said.\n\n\"Unfortunately, they then pulled out of trying to find somewhere and there was a fatality in that family.\n\n\"That victim was asking for support at the time they were able to, potentially when the perpetrator was not around.\n\n\"If we'd have had the capacity as a nation to put them into refuge then they would be safe now. Unfortunately, due to the lack of capacity, there is somebody who's died and young people are in care.\"\n\nThe pressure on services \"will result in people losing their lives,\" says Angelina Rodriques\n\nBoth NSPCC Cymru and Welsh Women's Aid said many services were underfunded and relied on charitable donations and grants to get by.\n\n\"What the pandemic has done has just exacerbated something that was struggling already,\" said Angelina Rodriques, of the Atal Y Fro refuge and support service in the Vale of Glamorgan.\n\n\"If a service hasn't got the finances or the resources, then all you're doing is holding women and children on waiting lists.\n\n\"Referrals are coming in every day and you can't keep up. We're doing the best that we can in this situation, but we're missing loads of people around the Vale of Glamorgan.\n\n\"It will result in people losing their lives, because they can't get the support at that time.\"\n\nDespite now feeling safe, Beth said she feared the long-term impact of the pandemic on victims of domestic abuse.\n\n\"I think it will be 100 times more difficult to reach out to those services now,\" she explained.\n\n\"If I was in the same position in March or April then I don't think I would have got out, I think I would still be there.\n\n\"You need to get out of there before that predator even knows anything about what's going on - you need to get out that door.\"\n\nA Welsh Government spokeswoman said: \"We recognise the extreme pressures facing women fleeing domestic abuse with children.\n\n\"This year we have invested over £1.3m for disbursed community accommodation for those for whom refuge might not be the right answer.\"\n\nShe added it had provided local authorities with £50m for housing support, including for those fleeing domestic abuse, as well as other grants, guidance and training.\n\nIf you have been affected by the issues raised in this story, visit BBC Action Line for information on the support available.", "Now it's the turn of SNP Westminster leader Iain Blackford.\n\nHe also welcomes the vaccine approval which he says is \"the news we have all been waiting for\".\n\nBut he says it has come too late for what he says are the three million people who have \"not had a penny of support\" during the pandemic from the UK government.\n\nHe says following a recent meeting with campaign group Excluded UK he learnt the \"shocking\" news that eight people had taken their own lives in the past 10 days.\n\nIn response, the PM says he is sorry to hear this and goes on to talk about the extra funding on offer for mental health support and the increase in Universal Credit.\n\nMr Blackford says this is not good enough and the lack of support for self-employed people in the arts and construction has been an \"abject failure\" and people have been \"abandoned\".\n\nThe PM rejects this, saying \"no-one has been abandoned\" and the tiered restrictions approved yesterday would pave the way for the economy to re-open, particularly the retail sector.", "Researchers have revealed a flaw that allowed Apple iPhones to be hacked from afar without the owner doing anything.\n\nUsually, smartphone hacks rely on user error - by clicking on a suspicious link, opening a message or downloading a malicious app - to gain control.\n\nBut Google Project Zero researcher Ian Beer has revealed how attackers could steal emails, photos, messages - and even access the camera and microphone.\n\nApple fixed the issue in May. And all up-to-date devices are secure.\n\nThe hack was possible because Apple's devices use a technology called Apple Wireless Direct Link.\n\nThis uses wi-fi to allow users to send files and photos over Apple's AirDrop technology and easily share screens with other iOS devices.\n\nMr Beer exploited this network to show how hackers could gain access to a device from a distance.\n\nIn a blog post, he explained how he was able to complete the hack, which he spent six months investigating.\n\nHe found no evidence the vulnerability had been \"exploited in the wild\", although said some people tweeted when the bug was fixed in May.\n\n\"As we all pour more and more of our souls into these devices, an attacker can gain a treasure trove of information on an unsuspecting target,\" he said.\n\nApple has not yet responded to a BBC News request for comment.\n\nProf Daniel Dresner, cyber security expert at the University of Manchester, said the lack of known exploitation was reassuring, as was the quick reactions of those involved in detection and remediation.\n\n\"It's significant given how new services could be exploited, as devices become more connected,\" he said.\n\n\"As phones seem to be the pivot point of always-on online living, they are rich pickings for finding these vulnerabilities to exploit.\"\n\n\"This showed you didn't have to be very close at all to the phone to hack it,\" Prof Alan Woodward, from the University of Surrey, said.\n\n\"It's a very simple hack. You don't even really have to understand what's going on inside the device to be able to remove a considerable amount of data from it.\"\n\nLast year, Mr Beer revealed a \"sustained effort\" to hack iPhones, using booby-trapped websites, said to have been visited thousands of times per week.\n\nOnce on an iPhone, the implant could access an enormous amount of data, including (though not limited to) contacts, images and global-positioning-system (GPS) location data, and relay it to an external server every 60 seconds.\n\nIn response, Apple accused Google of fear-mongering, as the investigation had been published six months after it had fixed the issues.\n\nHowever, it is common practice for responsible security researchers not to publish their findings until after a company has been given the chance to fix a flaw.\n\nThis video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Cyber-security researchers show off how they have \"fooled\" the iPhone X's Face ID system\n\nAnother Apple flaw was also revealed in March by mobile security company ZecOps.\n\nTheir research said a bug in the Mail app had made devices susceptible to sophisticated attacks.\n\nAt the time, an Apple representative told Reuters news agency a fix would be included in upcoming software updates.\n\nGoogle's Android devices have also previously had vulnerabilities revealed.\n\nWatchdog Which? suggested more than a billion Android devices were at risk of being hacked because they were no longer protected by security updates.\n\nAnyone using an Android phone released in 2012 or earlier should be especially concerned, it said.", "A resident from the Enniskeen estate described hearing a \"very large bang\" on Tuesday evening\n\nA man injured after a pipe bomb partially exploded in Craigavon has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, police have said.\n\nThe incident happened at about 21:30 GMT in the Enniskeen area on Tuesday.\n\nThe man suffered non-life threatening injuries to his chest and hands and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.\n\nA number of homes were evacuated, but residents have since been allowed to return.\n\nDet Insp Simpson said the alert was triggered after police received a report of an explosion at the rear of a house in the estate.\n\n\"Upon arrival officers found a man in the vicinity of where the explosion was reported to have occurred being treated by paramedics for injuries received after the device exploded,\" he said.\n\n\"The injured man, who has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and possession of an explosive device with intent to endanger life, currently remains in hospital receiving treatment for his injuries which are described as not life threatening.\"\n\nRemnants of a pipe bomb-type device have been taken away for forensic examination, the officer added.\n\nThe security alert is now over and police thanked local residents for their patience during the incident.\n\nAn Enniskeen estate resident described hearing a \"very large bang\" shortly before 21:30 on Tuesday, which he believed was a pipe bomb explosion.\n\nHe added that a while later, the police helicopter flew over the area.\n\nPolice at the scene of the incident\n\nUpper Bann MP Carla Lockhart told BBC News NI the people of Enniskeen had been subjected to attacks for quite some time and did not want them to continue.\n\nMs Lockhart described the explosion as \"a very worrying development\".\n\nThe Democratic Unionist Party politician praised St Saviour's Church for providing shelter to people whose homes were evacuated and called on anyone with information about the attack to contact police.\n\n\"Obviously information is key to answering all the questions as to what happened in Enniskeen,\" she said.\n\n\"Those who cause hurt and disruption in our communities must be brought to justice.\"\n\nLocal representatives said the Enniskeen estate was a \"close-knit community\"\n\nSDLP councillor Thomas Larkham said: \"This is the last thing that anyone in Enniskeen wants or needs.\n\n\"This is a close-knit community full of people trying to get on with their lives during a difficult time for us all.\"\n\nAlliance Party councillor Eóin Tennyson said: \"The patience of residents who have had to leave their homes as police work to make the area safe is greatly appreciated.\n\n\"Those behind this have nothing to offer only misery and destruction.\"\n\nMr Tennyson added: \"These kinds of devices have no place in our streets, there's no support in the community for this kind of activity.\n\n\"I would utterly condemn those responsible, they've been reckless in their behaviour and have shown total disregard for local residents.\"", "Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday evening. We'll have another update for you on Thursday morning.\n\nPrime Minister Boris Johnson has hailed the approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, saying the \"searchlights of science\" had picked out the \"invisible enemy\". Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Mr Johnson said scientists had performed \"biological jiu-jitsu\" to turn the virus on itself, after the UK became the first country in the world to approve the vaccine. The PM said the NHS would now embark on the \"biggest programme of mass vaccination in the history of the UK\" from next week. But he warned that it would be \"some months before all the most vulnerable are protected\". Read our explainers here on how vaccines are decided to be safe and how you will be able to get the vaccine.\n\nBoris Johnson said the \"searchlights of science\" had picked out the \"invisible enemy\"\n\nShoppers have been out in force in stores across England after the four-week national lockdown ended and the revised system of Covid tiers came into force. There were queues outside stores early on Wednesday as non-essential shops were able to open their doors for the first time in weeks. Some retailers are extending their trading hours to try to recoup the loss in sales over the lockdown. It comes as more than 55 million people entered the toughest two tiers of restrictions. Want to know what the new rules are? You can check what you can do right now and why your area is in the level it is.\n\nShoppers have returned to high streets across England as non-essential retailers can now reopen\n\nThe reopening of non-essential shops comes as another high street casualty was announced. In a torrid week for retailers that has already seen the collapse of retail empire Arcadia and Debenhams, Bonmarché fell into administration, putting more than 1,500 jobs at risk. Owner Philip Day's other chains - Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Peacocks and Ponden Home stores - went the same way last month. Administrators said Bonmarché's 225 stores would continue to trade while options for the business were explored.\n\nTesco is to repay £585m worth of business rates relief - months after paying hundreds of millions of pounds worth of dividends to shareholders. The supermarket giant said the business rates holiday, aimed at keeping struggling businesses alive during the pandemic, had been hugely important at the time, but its business had proven \"resilient\". In October, it announced half-yearly profits had risen 28.7% compared with the year before as online orders doubled and people bought more food. The company was criticised at the time for paying a £315m dividend to shareholders, having benefitted from the government's help.\n\nAnd there's good news for sporting enthusiasts. A number of amateur sports are able to resume in England for the first time in nearly a month following the lifting of the lockdown. The FA confirmed that organised grassroots football can take place outdoors in all three tiers, with certain restrictions in place. And for some parts of England, a limited number of fans will be allowed to return to stadiums. But a BBC Sport poll suggests fans are split about whether they should be allowed to return to matches before a vaccine is available. Here we look at five key points about the new coronavirus guidance for grassroots sport in England.\n\nFind more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.\n\nPlus, ministers say the tougher tiers are needed to stop the NHS being overwhelmed, but is that true? Our health correspondent Nick Triggle looks closely.\n\nWhat questions do you have about coronavirus?\n\nIn some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.\n\nUse this form to ask your question:\n\nIf you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.", "Experts are calling for urgent action to protect England's ponds, ditches and streams.\n\nSmall freshwater habitats contain an abundance of life, including rare amphibians, insects and plants, they say.\n\nYet, unlike large lakes and rivers, there is no obligation to monitor and protect them.\n\nA group of 20 scientists outline their concerns in a letter to the government's natural capital committee.\n\nThey are calling for measures to monitor, manage and protect England's smallest freshwater habitats.\n\nThe letter points out that small water bodies make up 80% of England's freshwaters and support over 70% of freshwater species, but lack any formal monitoring in the UK.\n\nDr Jeremy Biggs of the charity, the Freshwater Habitats Trust, who organised the letter, said better protection of ponds and streams could help address the biodiversity crisis.\n\n\"Small water bodies are at least as important as big water bodies because there are a lot more of them and they are very rich biologically,\" he said.\n\nFreshwater lakes of 50 hectares and above, and about a third of large rivers and streams, are monitored under EU regulations.\n\nBegwns Pond near Hay-on-Wye is a site of special scientific interest\n\nBut there is no obligation to monitor the richness of life in ditches, ponds and small streams.\n\nThese habitats support a large number of freshwater species, including crested newts, toads, fish, water beetles, dragon flies and wetland plants such as the water-violet."], "link": ["http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55391397", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55393246", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55394353", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55385729", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-55346213", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55395683", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55388001", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55381322", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-55399004", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55390371", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55403316", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55403944", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55389134", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55390304", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/55366320", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55388916", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-55384938", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55385939", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55389505", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55392619", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/sports-personality/55336369", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-55386392", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55393560", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55396027", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-55400339", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55370302", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-55398100", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55392579", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55395682", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55387700", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55162318", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-55159994", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-55173667", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-55161923", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-55144501", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55162041", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55164607", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55168633", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/55165850", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55180055", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55171974", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-55169728", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23544529", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54373904", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54097437", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55114807", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55181665", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-55167152", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55164453", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55177948", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53573289", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55164410", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55169107", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55162714", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54117766", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55047597", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55157177", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13062449", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55179100", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55162217", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55170329", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55166975", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55171563", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55177846", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55175923", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55172426", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-55171623", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55171283", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55167473", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55163380", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55165552", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55181357", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-bristol-55175933", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-55171483", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55169799", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55160374", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55157299", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54881746", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55145696", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-55177476", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55106312", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55177741", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55153899", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55168602", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55172349", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55145313", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54723147", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55135808", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55131049", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55175162", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55173200", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-55158833", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55163009", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55171163", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55151257", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55351292", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55349747", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55340234", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55340597", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55350085", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54373904", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55219607", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55342399", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55105307", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55337192", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55329741", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55348475", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55330579", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55329310", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55348474", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55323176", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55345020", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55348886", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55347723", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55346880", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55332242", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55352610", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55343507", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55330945", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-55347091", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55241015", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55349843", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55347021", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-34541363", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55323345", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55341799", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55346920", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55332206", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55329573", "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/Lockerbie_Scotland_Pan_Am_flight_103", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/55345195", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55345452", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55352605", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55330599", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55354958", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55357512", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55337327", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55358301", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55286237", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55283183", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55292318", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55287868", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-55293117", "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55293595", 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