this is bbc news. i'm annita mcveigh. the latest headlines at 9am: still no final result in the us presidential election as counting continues injust seven key battle ground states. but democratjoe biden is inching closer to the white house after winning michigan. i'm not here to declare that we've won, but i am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners. meanwhile, the trump campaign launches multiple legal challenges to try to stop the counting in four states and wants a recount in wisconsin.

as a month—long lockdown begins today in england, we'll be answering your questions on it. you can tweet me @annita—mcveigh or by posting with the hashtag bbcyourquestions. the bank of england says it will inject an extra £150 billion into the economy to help with the pandemic and interest rates remain unchanged. the chancellor, rishi sunak, is expected to give details later of how furlogh will work if more parts of the uk go into a wider lockdown. sainsbury‘s announces it is cutting 3,500 jobs. the cuts will mainly come at argos with more than 400 stores due to close in the next few years. warnings from doctors and fire services about the dangers posed by fireworks, as many prepare to celebrate bonfire night at home this year. good morning. the result of the us election

remains in the balance, as votes continue to be counted in key battle ground states. joe biden is inching closer to victory after claiming michigan overnight, with reports suggesting he will take more key states today. but the trump campaign is taking legal action in several areas, calling for counts to be stopped. so far, 43 of the 50 states have declared their results, with the democratic candidate joe biden on 215 electoral college votes, and the republican donald trump on 214. the number needed to win overall, and to occupy the white house, is 270. 0ur north america correspondent ben wright reports. there are still millions of votes to count, and this presidential race is not decided. in georgia, donald trump kept the narrowest of leads over joe biden as ballots were tallied

late in the night. in georgia, donald trump kept the narrowest of leads over joe biden as ballots were tallied late in the night. it was a scene repeated in the handful of states that will now decide this election. at the moment, it isjoe biden sounding confident. he currently has more electoral college votes than his rival and chalked up vital wins in the midwest, michigan, a democratic gain, and wisconsin looks to have gone the same way. here, the people rule. power can't be taken or asserted. it flows from the people. it is their will that determines who will be the president of the united states, and their will alone. in nevada, the two candidates are neck and neck and the state will release more results on thursday. in arizona, once a republican stronghold, joe biden stayed slightly ahead while election officials counted the remaining postal ballots. after president trump prematurely declared victory and erroneously claimed in a tweet to have won states he hadn't, republicans filed a string of lawsuits and complaints.

we're going to win pennsylvania, but they're going to try and cheat us out of it because they know it's their only path to victory. they know it's the only path to victory. we came here today and met with all our lawyers and we are going to file a suit in pennsylvania. after an attempt by the trump campaign to stop the count in michigan, the state's chief election officer called the lawsuit meritless. we're focused on getting this right in a way that can withstand any court challenges. i'll also mention we've seen this not just in michigan but in other states. a lot of times court challenges or allegations are thrown around to further political agendas, as opposed to actual legal claims. we could still be waiting a while to discover who the next president will be as an unprecedented volume of postal votes are counted. but it's the current occupant of the white house who is trying to catch up. let's focus more on one of those key states we're watching, georgia. 0ur correspondent larry madowo has

been at a vote count in atlanta. this is state farm arena in atlanta which is usually a place you play games. now there is the very serious business of vote counting. this is fulton county, the largest county in the state of georgia and these people are working overnight. it is just after 2am right now and they are trying to make sure that the last outstanding votes are counted. the state of georgia has told us there are about 90,000 or so votes that are yet to be counted and it so crucial. democrats are salivating about this state because president trump is currently leading in the count, but his lead is about 31,000 votes, so every single vote is going to count here. let me talk now with the director of elections of fulton county. thank you forjoining us on bbc world news. it is a busy time for you? it is, it's a pleasure to be here though. so how far away are you from getting to know what the final result for this county is? still a few hours away, we probably have close to 13,000 ballots to go through.

we have to scan them and then adjudicate them. ballots that were posted in by mail? these are all mail ballots, yeah, and the ones that come in, they drop them off in our drop boxes as well. for our viewers around the world who don't know exactly what the people behind us are doing, what are they doing? right now, they get a tray of ballots, they will put it through the opener extractors and then once they get them out of the envelopes they will go over to these people that are flattening them and preparing them for the scanners in the back. once they go through the scanners, we take a drive over to we take a thumb—drive over to our warehouse and there is a vote review panel over the and that vote review panel will look at any of the ballots that have been flagged by the software where voter intent is in question. what they'll do is determine how the voter, what the voter's intent was. they wanted to vote for this candidate or that candidate. so all these ballots that are being counted here, they had to

be received by when? 7pm on election day. is it possible to add any ballots after that to this group? no, we closed all of our drop boxes at 7pm on election night and if we didn't receive anything in the mail by 7pm on election night, anything that was received after that is rejected. so you say there is 140,000 of these? practically 142,000, yes. so you are down to the last 14,000 or so? yes. what is the average progress you are making in an hour? we have been doing about 3,500 an hour the last couple of hours and that is actually accelerated as the day has gone by. hopefully we will be able to push on through and get done with this by 6am, 7am. president trump's team is mounting a legal challenge because they think in some parts of the state that some ballots were introduced after that time, did any of that happen in fulton county? no, we had teams

at all 38 drop boxes and locked those boxes right at 7pm and anything that was... we only received ballots up until 7pm through the mail. anything that would have been after that we were taught in the reject pile. i spoke with you about three weeks ago when you were planning this, what has been more surprising for you now that it is actually happening? we had 25 covid infections in our warehouse since i saw you last, which pretty much devastated about 40% of my workforce. we had a lot of challenges getting ready for election day. early voting went great for us, election day actually turned out to be pretty slow in turnout. all right, good luck getting all done. thank you. richard baron, director of elections in fulton county, the largest in the state of georgia and we are expecting an update from the secretary of state of georgia about the whole election in the state,

because the whole of america is watching what happens and who will be especially the winner of the presidential race here. let's talk to professor natasha lindstaedt from the department of government at essex university. she's also a joe biden supporter. thank you forjoining us. it has been a couple of days and nights of nail—biting moments. at this point, it is still really finely balanced, isn't it? it is. i mean, if you were to talk to me 24 hours ago, things look pretty good for trump. he was way ahead in pennsylvania by almost 700,000 votes, ahead in wisconsin by about 100,000 votes, similar numbers ahead in michigan, so it really didn't look good for biden, particularly because the polls had indicated previously that biden was going to take the rust belt by 8—10 points. those polls were really wrong. and so democrats were bracing

for their worst case scenario, where it would be very tight, and that is basically what is taking place here. pennsylvania is still in play and most experts think that most of the outstanding votes coming in will lea n outstanding votes coming in will lean heavily democratic. if pennsylvania goes to biden, then it is completely over and biden wouldn't have to worry so much about other states, but if he can hold onto his lead in arizona and a slim lead in nevada, that would be another route. are we going to see this us election embroiled in legal challenges for several more days and possibly weeks? the trump campaigners challenging the vote cou nts campaigners challenging the vote counts in key states. citing irregularities in wisconsin, in pennsylvania the trump campaign said it was declaring victory on account

of all legal valets, its turn. mishkin, claiming the campaign had been denied meaningful access to the count. providing no evidence, but talking about launching legal challenges. where would a legal challenges. where would a legal challenge begin in this instance? well, it's with certainty that there will be legal challenges mounted by trump. he has already promised us. he has tried to prime the american public for months by saying that any kind of mail—in voting is not legitimate. you try to kneecap the us postal service by not funding it well enough so that votes might not be received on time. you could start by saying there needs to be a recount in wisconsin and has promised to do that. he was saying the supreme court needs to get involved in the state of pennsylvania. we don't really know how that would happen. he is already soaring to intervene in pennsylvania in their state court decision which

has allowed ballots to be received up has allowed ballots to be received up to three days after the election to be counted. he has been trying to question the legitimacy of the entire vote counting process in areas like philadelphia and in the state of michigan. do you think any of his claims, sorry to interrupt, do you think any of his claims have legal merit? no, they don't. this is what was likely tapping of the election was to be this close, which is why the democrats were worried if that were to happen because they we re that were to happen because they were hoping they could have a landslide victory and be a resounding mandate for joe landslide victory and be a resounding mandate forjoe biden. they don't have merit. we have no insta nces they don't have merit. we have no instances of they don't have merit. we have no insta nces of a ny they don't have merit. we have no instances of any real voter fraud in the history of us politics. the cases where they have tried to recount cases where they have tried to recou nt votes cases where they have tried to recount votes have never ever been overturned. so we recount votes have never ever been overturned. so we are recount votes have never ever been overturned. so we are that this type of accusation is about the narrative here. you trying to convince the

american public that this election has been not legitimate, in order to get some type of support behind his legal challenges. what i'm trying to get accurate is the process that may 01’ get accurate is the process that may or may not take place on how quickly we might get to a result. if the trump campaign is making claims but is not providing evidence, these legal challenges, will they be quashed within a matter of hours and days, rather than something that i’u ns days, rather than something that runs in two weeks? so, in theory, they should be quashed. something that could go on for weeks is if they decided to do some kind of recount and then there could be challenges to the recount and that could then drag on for weeks. but theissue could then drag on for weeks. but the issue with this president is that he shattered so many democratic norms and challenge their institutions to such an extent that things happen that i haven't been able to predict another have legal

experts. we just able to predict another have legal experts. wejust don't able to predict another have legal experts. we just don't know what could happen. in theory, they should be quashed and it should be the end of it, but he is so unpredictable. so much detail to watch in those seven states we're still looking at very very closely. thank for your time today. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, joins us from los angeles. what an extraordinary 48 hours it has been. give us your assessment of burberry are at right now?m has been. give us your assessment of burberry are at right now? it has been extraordinary, quite head spinning. as far as vote counting is concerned, it is going on over night here in several of the key swing states. among them, georgia, where there are 16 electoral college votes up there are 16 electoral college votes upforgrabs. there are 16 electoral college votes up for grabs. donald trump has a narrow lead but there are still

hundreds of thousands of votes still to count there. ditto in arizona where 11 electoral college votes are up where 11 electoral college votes are upforgrabs. where 11 electoral college votes are up for grabs. traditionally, it's been a republican heartland, arizona, they haven't voted for a democrat for the presidency in more than half a century, but the demographics, as they have in other parts of the united states, have changed. joe biden had opened up a lead they are. latest reports suggest that donald trump is eating into that lead somewhat. so it is neck and neck there. and also pennsylvania, a very important state, 20 electoral college votes up for grabs there. and hundreds of thousands of votes still to be counted. it will take at least until friday and perhaps considerably longer given that pennsylvania is one of those states where the trump campaign has launched legal challenges. i was listening to a

commentator yesterday talk about how supporters come up particularly trump supporters, she was arguing, are getting their media from certain providers, they are following certain commentators and they are not really seeing potentially the other side of the story and i don't know how much that happens on the democrat side may be as well? but do you feel right now that america is as polarised as it has ever been, especially given the comments from president trump about votes being stolen, people being disenfranchised and so forth? very much so. it is going to be no less polarised, perhaps more so, as a result of this election. the simple fact remains that what happened back in 2016 was not some sort of aberration, there really is genuine support for donald trump from about 50% of the american population. and whoever loses this

election, there are going to be a group of supporters who are going to be very disappointed. we have had protests in several key cities tonight. there has been pretentious talk of potential violence on the streets, depending on how the next few days and weeks ago, but it's clear from this result that america is divided roughly down the middle. and it's going to take some healing to put that right. david, thank you very much. david willis in la. we will now cross to atlanta, georgia. votes are being counted at fulton county. final ballots being counted there. we think they're pretty close to result there. looking at our poll

tracker in front of me, it is very finely balanced. 96% of the vote counted there. president trump on 50%, former vice president biden on 49%. it is thought that big cities like this favourjoe biden. let us see if that is borne out by what happens by the remaining 4% of the votes being counted for the state of georgia. a new four—week lockdown has begun in england, with people told to stay at home, and nonessential shops, pubs and gyms ordered to close. there are strict new rules on mixing with other households too, and the police are warning there will be tough action against anyone who breaks the rules. anna 0'neill reports.

it's lights out for blackpool, no more visitors to the famous illuminations for now. the seaside town was already under england's highest tier of restrictions, but now the plug has been pulled on virtually all entertainment. over in hull last night, people made the most of their last evening of relative freedom. this might be the last chance until christmas. we just had our anniversary. so, it'sjust a reason to come out. to celebrate our anniversary. to be fair, otherwise we probably wouldn't have bothered. and there was also a celebratory atmosphere in london's soho. it kinda feels like new year's eve, it's got that kind of new year's eve, christmas eve atmosphere in the air. it's a bit sad that places close at ten. you know, it's a bit hard because it's like, how are you meant to celebrate, my birthday‘s coming up, like, it is it cancelled? my birthday, yeah. we don't know, do you know what i mean? police could be seen, surrounded by crowds as they encouraged people to go

home and stay indoors for their own safety. the chair of the national police chiefs' council warned there would be stiff fines for those breaching the new coronavirus regulations coming into effect today. 0ur officers, and others, will be out there, and if people are not abiding by the rules, then we'll engage, we'll explain, we will encourage, but if we have to, we will enforce. so, what are the new regulations? pubs and restaurants are closed but takeaways can stay open. pubs and restaurants are now closed but takeaways can stay open. nonessential shops and entertainment venues are also closed. people can't mix with other households in homes of gardens, households in homes or gardens, but meeting one person from another household in a public space is allowed. and you should stay at home, unless you're going to work, education, essentialshopping, exercise, or medical reasons. the latest uk figures recorded a further 492 coronavirus deaths yesterday, the highest daily figure since may and 25,177 confirmed cases. it's hoped these new measures, which will stay in place for at least four weeks, will help to bring the deaths,

cases and pressure on the nhs, down. anna 0'neill, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent jessica parker is at westminster. as we go into this lockdown, the beginning of four weeks, based on that vote yesterday, some conservative mps not happy about this lockdown and the form it is taking. are they going to continue to be critical of the government of this over the weeks ahead?” to be critical of the government of this over the weeks ahead? i think over the weeks ahead, what quite a lot of conservative mps, more than just the 30— odd that rebelled last night, they want to see and hear the government is working and what they term a plan b. their concern that should, for example, the cavalry never quite arrive in force in the form of a vaccine, for example, they wa nt to form of a vaccine, for example, they want to hear from the government how they plan to help society live with this virus. the absolutely don't

wa nt to this virus. the absolutely don't want to vote for another national lockdown and i think you heard from some conservative mps last night they were effectively putting the government on four weeks notice to come up with this plan b as we enter that four weeks of lockdown. as we we re that four weeks of lockdown. as we were just hearing that four weeks of lockdown. as we werejust hearing in that four weeks of lockdown. as we were just hearing in that report, as pa rt were just hearing in that report, as part of lockdown, there are what have been described as stiff fines for those who commit the most egregious breaches of the new rules andi egregious breaches of the new rules and i suppose part of that is to try to encourage compliance. it was an issue put to robert macklin, the justice secretary this morning about compliance and whether there are concerns about people going into quarantine. i won't deny that it is a huge challenge and that is one of the reasons why we are having to take the measures we are today. sadly it's been difficult, frankly, with regards to the compliance of some people, only some people, with regards to the quarantine restrictions. i think it would be very ambitious of me to suggest that somehow we will be able to use the enforcement authorities to intervene in every case. i think sadly that's not

logistically possible. let's talk about rishi sunak. we expect a statement in the house of commons from him later about an extension to furlough and obviously the very nations of the uk have been very alert, naturally, to any suggestion that england might be getting a better deal than other parts. so what will be here from rishi sunak? i think we will hear a general update because when the announced over the weekend that furlough would be extended rather at the last minute as england was going into a full lockdown, but we haven't heard from rishi sunak in the house of commons since, so there will be an update on that i think, and there's been this question that it has been extended for england for the month, what if in future scotland, wales and northern ireland feel a lockdown is necessary? will

workers get the same entitlement of up workers get the same entitlement of up to 80% of wages for hours not work. borisjohnson has said it is a uk—wide scheme and has suggested it would be available, but details have been foggy, like the weather, so i expect rishi sunak will be pressed on how that will work and any conditions which might be attached. thank you. the bank of england is pumping another £150 billion into the economy to ease the pressure caused by the lockdowns. interest rates have been kept on hold, at a record low of 0.1%. the bank has also warned of more economic contraction this year though it says the uk will avoid what's called a double—dip recession. sainsbury‘s has announced that up to 3,500 jobs could go, after it suffered loss of more than £170 million over the last six months. job losses are likely at sainsbury‘s stores, with the potential closure of delis

and fresh fish and meat counters. it comes as more than 2,500 jobs are set to go atjohn lewis and lloyds banking group, which were both announced yesterday. let's talk to our business presenter sima kotecha. let's talk about sainsbury is first of all, i have to admit that when i heard the news first of all, that feels a bit counterintuitive because we know how busy supermarkets have been throughout this year and food sales in general have been going up during lockdown is another measures, so what is happening there? well, yes, 3500 jobs are expected to go. we haven't had confirmation on that, but you are right. supermarkets have kind of been the winner during this pandemic. they have done well but they have had to make lots of expenses due to the pandemic, whether it involves hiring more staff are boosting their online operations, so there have been

costs. these job losses are expected to come mostly from argos. you may recall that in 2016 sainsbury‘s bought argos are noticing that over the next few years it's going to be shutting 400 stores, so most of those jobs shutting 400 stores, so most of thosejobs coming from shutting 400 stores, so most of those jobs coming from there but some are expected to come from sainsbury‘s supermarket itself. as you said, the dailies, fresh fish and meat counters are expected to close down slowly. they have been in decline for a while as supermarkets have placed a lot of their fresh produce in the aisles of the supermarket, rather than in their own little section. they say they —— they say that can end up wasting food by having those delicatessens and fresh food counters in place, so thatis and fresh food counters in place, so that is evolving and changing, but sainsbury‘s does have a good track record of redeploying itself. today we're giving that some of these being cut could end up being

redeployed, these people, but whether they actually want these new jobsis whether they actually want these new jobs is another matter. some people may not wish to redeploy to a different section or another location. and financial results have shown that sainsbury‘s has made a loss of 137 million, so some redundancies are inevitable. john lewis announced yesterday more job cuts in its head office and it also announced more than 1000 job losses backin announced more than 1000 job losses back injuly. announced more than 1000 job losses back in july. so announced more than 1000 job losses back injuly. so i'm afraid it's inevitable that some people will probably lose theirjobs. sima, it is tough news. it's been a year of tough news, frankly. perhaps that goes part of the way to explaining why the bank of england is putting an extra £150 billion into the economy. what does that tell is about the bank's expectations of what will happen next with the economy and how it hopes this money might help? well, you may have heard

on the radio are on the tv today, a term called quantitative easing. the bank say that means printing money not ina bank say that means printing money not in a physical sense but creating more money. the bank of england is the only institution that can create money. and what it will do with that money. and what it will do with that money is buy government bonds. if you think of that as an investment oran iou, you think of that as an investment or an iou, basically its lending money to the government so the government can then spend its money on things like the furlough scheme. because all of that needs money to come from somewhere to help people with their finances and in turn the hope is that people will inject more money into the economy by getting that cash. it says that as the furlough scheme is one down in december, alnwick —— unemployment is expected to increase. but it says another downturn is expected, but hopefully not another recession. there was some talk of a double—dip recession but they are saying

they're hopeful that will not happen, but there will be another downturn as the scheme is unwind and tighter restrictions are put in place. 0k, thank you very much, mail—in. place. 0k, thank you very much, mail-in. -- place. 0k, thank you very much, mail—in. —— thank you very much, sima. let's return to the us elections, and get a uk perspective, because of course who wins matters very much as the uk is heading towards brexit and looking to maintain a strong us relationship. i'm joined now by the conservative mp tobias ellwood. he was born in the united states, in new york, and 20 years ago he worked on rudy giuliani's campaign to unseat hillary clinton as the new york senator. good to have you with us today. i was struck by a tweet that you wrote yesterday, let me just read it for reviewers. you said, with authorities on the rise around the world, how america handles and respects the democratic process over the next 40 towers will impact on all the next 40 towers will impact on a ll western the next 40 towers will impact on all western nations‘ credibility to uphold and protect standards during

a term of global uncertainty. how concerned are you regarding president trump's claims of voter fraud and people being disenfranchised, without providing any evidence? it is such an important point. we need to recognise the entire point is watching this, including countries such as russia and china. 0ther authoritarian states that actually wa nt authoritarian states that actually want this democratic process to fail. they want to show there is chaos, division, disharmony, there isa chaos, division, disharmony, there is a breakdown in law and order if you pursue the democratic process to its full. and we need to be able to prove the other and say that the democratic process does work, it's peaceful and provides results. and that means that the leader of the western nations needs to be an exemplar of that. we should recognise, stepping back from this, then actually the world is getting

more dangerous, it's getting more complex, there are more authoritarian regimes going on if we wa nt to authoritarian regimes going on if we want to be able to defend our values and our standards than we actually have to illustrate ourselves. and my worry is that one of the pieces we need to put back together is what the west actually stands for, what we believe in, what we are willing to defend. that is absolutely paramount that the west conducts their democratic processes in a way that we can demonstrate to china and russia, to say this is how you do it. given all that, which of these two men, in this hugely and tightly fought contest, which of these men will beat the better president for the uk to work with? it would be wrong to make judgments the uk to work with? it would be wrong to makejudgments now. what we can say command have already put a tweet out, is that i thinkjoe biden will become the president. the numbers they‘ re actually will become the president. the numbers they're actually adult. what trump did under his time, he tested the norms of the presidency to

places we have not seen before. in his own communications, but also stepping back from perhaps that unwritten rule of leading the west. we stepped back from the international stage as well. i hope both countries will work together because the gap there of international leadership has allowed our competitors, not least china, to pursue our geopolitical challenge to us, which we now need to step up to. ifi us, which we now need to step up to. if i may interrupt, you are saying that mr trump is mercurial and hard to read and changes his mind, therefore if biden were to emerge as president, would that be a more consistent partner that the uk could work with? i'm pleased on the one side that trump did encourage the world to think differently about china. for me, this is the big geopolitical threat over the next ten years. everything else pales into insignificance and we're still

in denial about that. but what he then didn't do was galvanise the west to say, china is not going away, what are we going to do it? what i think we would see with a biden presidency is the ability to reinvigorate the west to stand for what we believe in. building the strength between britain and the united states. to build up and improve international organisations so we can be proud of what we stand for, but also counter what china is trying to do. let's move on more specifically to brexit. nancy pelosi has said many times that the brexit deal or a lack of deal threatens the good friday agreement, —— if that happens then the us would not be cooperating. does a biden win, if

thatis cooperating. does a biden win, if that is what happens, put more pressure on the uk in terms of its negotiations with the eu? i'm hoping that by the time we get to the 20th of january when biden that by the time we get to the 20th ofjanuary when biden becomes president that we would have had that deal in place. let's hope that does actually happen, but...“ that deal in place. let's hope that does actually happen, but... if not? i'm not going to hypothecated. i personally believe we will get a deal. the cost of not getting a deal is so huge and damaging to both sites. back to the main point, you're absolutely right, biden will have a much more stronger relationship with the eu as a whole, not only just that relationship with the eu as a whole, not onlyjust that but he will go back to the climate change aspects of the paris accord and will want to reinvigorate nato as well. so there is much for us to work with and we will be hosting the g7, fantastic

opportunity for us to strengthen those bonds that we have. many of those bonds that we have. many of those people working with biden, we are familiar with because many of them were around in the 0bama era as well. we are also hosting the cop26 climate change event. 0nce well. we are also hosting the cop26 climate change event. once the result is settled, our government will be building for next year. the next decade will be very bumpy indeed if the west doesn't get together, particularly the us and the uk, then will be even more bumpy indeed. thank you for your time today. now the weather. this hello again. there's still some fog out there at the moment and some of it is dense, particularly across parts of southern england, south east, the midlands and staffordshire. high pressure is firmly in charge

of our weather and you can see it right across as and in the centre of that there are no isobars so there's no wind to move the fog along. the isobars are closely packed together across the far north of scotland, so here we have got gusty winds. quite a bit of cloud syncing south, could produce some drizzle across parts of northern england, north wales and even northern ireland and where we see the mist and fog clear from the south, you should also see some sunshine. but if you are in an area where the fog lifts into low cloud, that will suppress the temperatures. could see 14 or 15 in aberdeenshire. through this evening and overnight we see a return to mist and fog forming across southern areas. there will be more of a breeze so it will lift more readily tomorrow. then for many of us as we go through the ensuing days, it will be dry and we could see some splashes of rain late saturday and sunday. getting milder. hello this is bbc news. the headlines. still no final result in the us presidential election as counting continues injust seven key battle ground states. but democratjoe biden,

is inching closer to the white house after winning michigan. meanwhile the trump campaign launches multiple legal challenges to try to stop the counting in four states and wants a recount in wisconsin. protestors have been gathering outside election centres in phoenix in arizona, and detroit in michigan, claiming some votes weren't counted properly. and a month—long lockdown begins today in england, to combat the spread of coronavirus. more plans to boost the economy — the bank of england says it will inject an extra £150 billion to help with the pandemic and the chancellor rishi sunak, is expected to give details later of how furlough will work if more parts of the uk go into a wider lockdown. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's mike bushell. good morning. how footballing fortunes can change.

a week after manchester united thrashed rb leipzig 5—0, they were humbled in istanbul last night. and it started by gifting their opponents a bizarre opening goal. according to united's manager, his players forgot about the istanbul striker, demba bar in the bright orange shirt, during this corner, and the former newcastle man, has a free run on goal. it ended 2—1 to the turkish champions istanbul basaksehir. like watching under 10's football, according to former united star paul scholes. the defeat‘s another blow for manager 0le gunnar solskjaer, with united also struggling in the premier league. it is early on. and you know opinions are out there all the time. you have got to stay strong. i am employed by the club to do a job and i do that to the best of my ability, with our staff. the controversy of penalties, being awarded for un

intentional handballs, was the talking point at chelsea, the french side rennes, will feel hard done by. the referee looked at the var monitor and awarded chelsea a penalty here for handball, he also showed the rennes defender, dalbert a red card. timo werner scored the spot kick, on the way to a 3—0 win for chelsea, which keeps them top of group e. however, midfielder kai havertz missed the game after testing positive for coronavirus before kick off. in the women's champions league, last season's quarter finalists, glasgow city, are just about still standing, after the first qualifying round, but they were taken all the way to penalties by the irish champions, peamount united, who missed this kick, to lose the shootout 6—5, following a goaless draw. elsewhere swansea were beaten 3—0 in cyprus, and linfield lost 8—0 to anderlecht. reading missed the chance to go six points clear at the top of the championship after losing 3—0 to preston. it's now two defeats in a row for the royals

but this was the first loss of the season at home. brad potts scored the third for north end in stoppage time — they move up to 12th. crystal palace defender, mamadou sakho, has accepted "substa ntial" damages from the world anti—doping agency, over allegations he took banned performance—enhancing drugs. sakho was suspended briefly in 2016, after testing positive for a fat—burning substance. but uefa cleared him, when it found that the substance was not banned by wada. sakho, who was then a liverpool player, missed the europa league final against sevilla as a result of the ban, and claims the suspension, cost him a place in france's euro 2016 squad. it was a historic night, for one of tennis‘ greats in paris. rafa nadal notched up his 1000th career win, on the professional tour by beating feliciano lopez at the paris masters — although lopez was happy enough to smile for the cameras, as the spaniard celebrated the milestone, after the match. it puts nadal fourth on the men's

all—time list for matches won, behind jimmy connors, roger federer and ivan lendl. britain's hugh carthy remains in the hunt to win cycling's final grand tour race of the season, the vuelta a espana. yesterday's stage was won by belgium's tim wellens. but carthy in the pinkjersey here finished alongside his rivals and remains just 47 seconds behind overall leader primoz roglic. the race ends on sunday in madrid. now while, a round of golf, isn't allowed in england from today, you can enjoy a spectacular sight on on a course in dubai this week. all rather illuminating, at the women's moonlight classic, which is being held as a day—night competition for just the second time. the players are allowed, to use lazers to map out their shots, and of course being at night, they can expect nocturnal visitors, like these foxes on the course all week, the flags are lit up so players can see them. england's meghan, maclaren finished round one, four shots off the lead. that's all the sport for now.

now on bbc news it's time for your questions answered. you've been sending in your questions on the latest restrictions in england, what we can and can't do and the prospect of a coronavirus vaccine. here to try and answer them is the infectious disease management lecturer, dr bharat pankhania and virologist, professorjonathan ball. good to have both of you with us as ever. we have got a lot of questions, so let's see how many we can get through. i might move you on if your answers are a little bit too long. i apologise in advance. matthew in north london says both my elderly parents are in hospitalfor surgery. am i allowed to move into their house for a week to look after them when they are home. i live with my partner so i have not been able to form a support bubble with them

so far, i look at this as essential health care. prepare yourself, don't mingle with other people and make sure you are not a contact and then move in and look after them and stay there. clear-cut advice, i hope that helps and your parents recover well. a lady in cheshire says her partner lives in west yorkshire and ask and she still visit him once a week? the advice is to minimise the amount of travel and that would require some travel. also, we are not to stay with other people. we can meet one other person, single people can meet one other person outdoors so it might be permissible under that rule. the other thing to bear in mind, it is not clear whether or not these people might be living at home. if one of them is living alone they could potentially form a support bubble. whilst government

advice is to try and form support bubble locally, it is still permissible to travel for that purpose. so some possibilities depending on the circumstances. this from jerry stafford in milton ernest. i have been taking a friend to hospitalfor ernest. i have been taking a friend to hospital for radiotherapy treatment for his cancer, can i continue to do this? quite a similar theme in terms of number one for the health care? it is similar to number one and my advice is, make sure that you are not mingling with too many other people outside your connection with this person that you are taking to the hospital. because they are having radiotherapy, they will be vulnerable. keep yourself clean, so to speak and carry on doing the good work. maybe wear a mask and so on in the car with his friend? yes. jonathan, this is from diane, over 60s are classed as clinically vulnerable but still have to work until they are 66, where is the

support for people in this age bracket? this is one i had to think about very carefully. the rules at the moment, the guidance at the moment, people defined as clinically vulnerable over 70 years of age, not 60. you could be clinically vulnerable if you have specific health problems and the best way to understand you have those is whether or not you get invited for a flu vaccine every year. diabetes, chronic lung disease and things like that. the only advice for people at increased risk, if you are over 60 you are at increased risk, is to make sure you are careful in terms of social distancing and also personal hygiene. finally, it is worth bearing in mind there is a group of extremely clinically vulnerable people, but they would have received a letter advising them

firstly, that they are extremely vulnerable but also the source of help available to them. vulnerable but also the source of help available to themlj vulnerable but also the source of help available to them. i hope that as help. this question is from sophie. the government no sport is essential for mental health and physical well—being, why has it been taken away during this lockdown and when will it return? the likes of grassroots sport for people with disabilities in particular?|j disabilities in particular?” understand her concerns and i very much agree with her. the trouble is, how do you provide for every group, every sector at a difficult time like this one? what the government is saying is outdoor activities where you are going for walks on your own are where you are going for walks on yourown are ok, where you are going for walks on your own are ok, but group sporting activities have been closed and coat—tails. we are where we are and we need to reduce the case numbers and what i say is work around it and

go for long walks, go outside and don't meet with other people. that is your alternative sport whilst we are in this situation. hopefully with a big push from everyone we can get back to a situation where stuff sta rts get back to a situation where stuff starts to open up again. a lady in bolton says, can i take my carfor its mot? fortunately, you can. there are a numberof its mot? fortunately, you can. there are a number of businesses that are allowed to stay open during lockdown. that includes petrol stations, car repair and garages where they will carry out the mot. if they are allowed to stay open it means you can take it for its mot. hope it passes. why are plans not ready to vaccinate the population at a high rate as soon as a vaccination is approved, asks brian whittingham in dorchester? brian and all viewers and listeners, i would say there are and listeners, i would say there are a lot of plans being made to give the vaccine in large numbers to all the vaccine in large numbers to all the groups, but first we have to do

is target the at risk groups, so people who would be very ill where they to become infected. also front line health workers and front line other staff. there are lots of plans being made and i would say in the first instance, not everyone will get the vaccine. it has to be targeted to the vulnerable groups first. another vaccine question to jonathan, colin english asks are there different strains of the coronavirus circulating in britain? do they each need their own vaccine? asa do they each need their own vaccine? as a biologist it is a great question. —— vie are adjust. it might be evolving and what impact that might have on its behaviour, but whether or not the vaccines that are under development will work. we know there are distinct strains of viruses that have emerged over the past few months and they have spread around the world. there is some evidence as well but they might change some of the behaviour of the

virus. they might impact on how well it impacts human cells, for example. there is also emerging evidence there might be some changes that could have an impact on some of the immune responses, antibody responses that we have vaccines might produce. the good news is, vaccines generally, and your immune system, generally, and your immune system, generally produce lots of different antibodies and lots of different killer cells that go around hunting cells and destroying them and destroying the virus that way. we are hoping the rates are low enough not to give us big problems. caitlin in manchester asks, should schools and colleges close during this lockdown due to loads of students spreading the virus? so that question presupposes that students are spreading the virus and i know there is a lot of work going on, research going on to what extent thatis research going on to what extent that is the case? we do know that

actually young people can get infected but they are not very infectious. 0lder infected but they are not very infectious. older children may be infected and infectious. the problem is this, education is equally important and we need to balance the scale about, do we stop education? do we continue in a safe way? my view is we continue education in a safe way. i have advocated for many months we enable remote teaching where possible, so you swap around. fewer children at school and the other children are at home and you swa p other children are at home and you swap them around to keep the school environment safer. i think that would be a way forward. i have also seen private schools racing ahead with their remote teaching. therefore, i feel our government could invest in giving internet access and computers to poor families so that they can also do home education. it is definitely a

hot topic for discussion. jonathan, this question from linda in ilfracombe. she has a difficult situation, she needs to travel from devon to nottingham to attend a close family member's early morning funeral and asks if she can stay at hotel the night before?” funeral and asks if she can stay at hotelthe night before? i am sorry about linda's sad predicament. the government are aware of the need for certain activities to go on to allow travel. travel funerals is permissible and if you do need to have overnight accommodation to be able to attend that funeral, a game thatis able to attend that funeral, a game that is allowed. fingers crossed she can find something suitable close by. a question from chipping barnet, my parents live abroad and will be coming to visit me. they are planning to stay in my house while in england, is that allowed?m planning to stay in my house while in england, is that allowed? it is difficult. you are actually forming

a new bubble with your parents coming from abroad. if they are allowed to come into the country, which they are, they also need to exercise quarantine measures, not only visit and stay at your home, but be quarantined if they are coming from and at risk country. there is a little bit of ambivalence. if they come, please observe which country they are coming from and be careful because you know, you need to observe quarantine regulations as well as stay at your home. and perhaps if they can delay for a little bit, if thatis they can delay for a little bit, if that is possible, it might be a good idea. jonathanjohn that is possible, it might be a good idea. jonathan john in mablethorpe as, we have just idea. jonathan john in mablethorpe as, we havejust sold idea. jonathan john in mablethorpe as, we have just sold a idea. jonathan john in mablethorpe as, we havejust sold a house in france, can we travel there to empty it of our belongings? this seems quite a complicated scenario. i am assuming it may be a second home? let's start in terms of moving house and moving home. it is permissible under the current guidance and if it

fits that category then it is fine. if it isa fits that category then it is fine. if it is a second home, that is slightly more complicated. it is also further complicated by the fact this is a home in france that requires international travel, which is actively discouraged, apart from specific activities like work, for example. at the moment it sounds like there is more things stacked against doing it than there is going over to empty the house of its belongings. if it is permissible and you do go out there, when you return you do go out there, when you return you would have two quarantine as well. so the ads a level of complication. removal firms can continue to operate so if one of thoseis continue to operate so if one of those is going to go and empty the house and bring it back, that is fine. it is a complicated scenario. questions about childcare. richard saunders in bristol said, can't my wife and i still visit my daughter's

house to look after our grandchildren while she works? this would come under the category of essential childcare. you can do it, but please be careful. make sure your circle, richard in bristol, is small so that you can continue safely within your home and your daughter's home to look after your grandchildren. it is permitted. i have got a couple you haven't seen, but i'm confident you can answer. lucie morris on childcare, she says iam in an lucie morris on childcare, she says i am in an informal child care bubble, is my mum's friend allowed in my house and vice versa, are the adults are allowed to basically mingle at all within each other‘s houses? we need to differentiate between the two activities. one is providing childcare, which is permissible. but the other, which is potentially adults being able to socialise whilst that is going on, unfortunately that would be against

the rules and regulations. what it does do is increase the risk of the virus being transmitted. we need to get back to the basics and limit the time people mixed with each other so we can limit the transmission of the virus and bring cases under control. so it is drop off and pick up and thatis so it is drop off and pick up and that is it.

a real pleasure to hear from you as ever. thank you so much for answering all of those questions. thank you to our reviewers for sending their men. hopefully as ever we have covered a lot of themes that will be of interest to you and useful to you. much more on lockdown coming upfor useful to you. much more on lockdown coming up for you through the next hour and of course keeping a very close eye on the latest developments in the us election. right now, it's time for the weather. here is carol. hello again. still some dense fog patches to watch out for and some of this will lift in the next couple of hours, but some of it can stick, and if it does so, then that will suppress the temperatures.

high pressure is in charge. you can see there are no isobars in the centre of this, so no wind to move that along. however, the isobars are close together across the far north of scotland and the northern isles, so you've got gusty winds today. when the fog does lift, and it should for most of us, we will see a return to some brighter skies across parts of england and also wales. but there is going to be quite a bit of cloud coming in on the wind from the atlantic. however, as it bumps into the grampians, it should disperse and we will see some sunshine across northern scotland sunshine across north—east scotland with temperatures responding and getting up to about 15 degrees. generally we are looking at about 9—12 degrees. through this evening and overnight, we will see another cold night in prospect, particularly across the south. with once again some mist and fog patches forming. these temperatures are of towns and cities. in rural areas, they will be lower. the mist and fog tomorrow should lift more readily across the south.

because there will be more in the way of breeze as we return to some sunnier skies. for northern ireland, northern england and scotland, at times there will be quite a bit of cloud around, but we will see some brightness and some showers coming in across the outer hebrides. temperatures, 11 to about 13 degrees. but it is going to turn milder towards the weekend as the wind changes to have more a southerly component. you can see the blue has been pushed away by the milder yellow and amber. so first thing on saturday we could see some mist and fog for example across the vale of york, south—east scotland, which would be slow to clear. but there will be a lot of dry weather around, fair bit of sunshine and later in the day cloud will come in across the south—west, the wind will pick up and we will see the arrival of some rain. temperatures also picking up. 15 degrees is what we can expect across the south on saturday. on sunday, that band of cloud and rain will continue to migrate steadily northwards. the timing of this could change, as could the positioning. we think at the moment most of the rain will be in the west,

we will see some getting into eastern areas but behind it it should brighten up and our temperature range, nine to 16 in london.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. still no final result in the us presidential election as counting continues in a handful of battle ground states. but democratjoe biden is inching closer to the white house after winning michigan. i'm not here to declare that we've won, but i am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners. meanwhile, the trump campaign launches multiple legal challenges to try to stop the counting in four states and wants a recount in wisconsin. protestors have been gathering outside election centres in phoenix in arizona, and detroit in michigan, claiming some votes weren't counted properly. a month—long lockdown begins today in england