this is bbc news with the latest headlines. still no result in the us presidential election as democratjoe biden edges closer to the white house. donald trump makes more unsubstantiated claims of voting fraud. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. joe biden calls for calm and patience — he says he has no doubt he will be declared the winner. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that when the count is finished senator harris and i will be declared the winners. the counting continues, this is the scene live in pennsylvania — meanwhile in georgia it's down to the wire with fewer than 500

votes separating the two men. from today, everyone living or working in liverpool will be offered coronavirus tests, whether or not they have symptoms — in the uk's first mass testing programme. businesses and employees digest the extension of the uk furlough scheme to the end of march — and work out what it will mean for them. if you want to get in touch with me about furlough, mass testing, the presidential election from any of oui’ presidential election from any of our stories today, i want to hear what you have to say. you can reach me on twitter @annita—mcveigh, #bbcyourquestions. students at the university of manchester pull down metal barriers on the first day of england's new lockdown as hundreds of students — who said they were not warned about the measure — protest. an advert for a coronavirus "passport" app, which has been promoted by zara and mike tindall, has been referred to the medical regulator over concerns it contradicts health guidance.

hello, a very good morning to you, and welcome to bbc news. there's still no result in the us presidential election with a handful of states still counting votes. president trump has appeared at the white house repeating his assertion that he has won tuesday's us election, and accused his opponents of trying to steal it through voterfraud. in his first public remarks since the early hours of wednesday morning, mr trump said the legal action he was taking in the most closely contested states was to protect the integrity of the election — but he gave no evidence to back up his allegations. counting has continued through the night in the handful of states which will decide the election. the margins are incredibly tight. butjoe biden appears to be edging ever closer to the white house and has called for calm and patience

while the counting continues. he is currently projected to have 253 electoral college votes, and donald trump 214. 270 votes are needed to win the white house. the key remaining states are arizona, georgia, nevada, pennsylvania and north carolina. joe biden increased his lead by winning the ten electoral college votes in wisconsin. it's still unclear when a final result will be in. america remains on tenterhooks with many nervous that any legal fallout from the election could drag on for weeks. ben wright reports from washington 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.

if you count the legal votes, i easily win, if you count the illegal votes they can try to steal the election from us. we think there is going to be a lot of litigation as we have so much evidence and so much proof and it's going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land. with his chances of re—election appearing to reseed by the hour, the president made a wholly false distinction between votes cast in person on the day on votes cast in person on the day on votes cast in person on the day on votes cast by mail. both are legal and both are still being counted. some in the president's own party spoke out. on twitter the republican governor of maryland larry hogan said there was no defence for the president's comments undermining the democratic process. there is no evidence of postal voting fraud and in georgia, a state donald trump must win to have a chance of taking the white house, his early lead has been shrinking fast as mail—in ballots are been shrinking fast as mail—in ballots a re processed. been shrinking fast as mail—in ballots are processed. in pennsylvania, estate with 20 electoral college votes, donald trump's election night lead has also

been eroded. the trump campaign has filed a lawsuit to press for closer scrutiny of the ballot counting process but the state's top election official has strongly denied the allegation. the integrity of this vote is unparalleled, the same as you vote in person, you have to register, go in, sign in the poll books, all of these things are tracked. joe biden's tone, tactics could not be more different to the president he is now confident of replacing. we have no doubt that when the count is finished to senator harris and i would be declared the winners. sol senator harris and i would be declared the winners. so i ask everyone to stay calm, all people to stay calm. while there are still votes to count, thejoe biden presidency is not a certainty and his slim lead over donald trump in arizona narrowed during thursday. donald trump does not want to be a one term president and he is willing to rubbish america's democratic reputation to try and hold on. but it is the states in charge of

counting the votes and that process continues methodically, no matter what the president says. joe biden has said he will try and unite this divided country if he wins the election. if donald trump is on his way out of the white house, he has not made that task any easier. then right, bbc news, washington. —— ben wright. let's take a closer look at the voting in some of those key states. in georgia, with 99% of the votes counted we're very close to a projection on who has won that state. the race is neck and neck and trump is ahead by only a63 votes. we will talk to ben wright in washington in a few moments and he can tell us if that is even closer. both candidates are on 49.4% of the vote. in arizona, joe biden is leading. he has 50.1% of the vote. donald trump has 48.5%. 91% of the votes have been counted in the state.

in nevada, biden is leading with 49.4% of the vote. trump has 48.5%. and 89% of the votes have been counted in the state. in north carolina, trump leads with 50%. biden is on 48.6%, with 96% of the votes counted so far. in pennsylvania, the numbers are very tight. donald trump looks ahead with 49.5% of the vote withjoe biden on 49.2%. really, really close. 96% of the votes have been counted in the state. a lot of percentages to throw at you there. but the messages it is incredibly tight, very close contest in all those states. here are some live pictures from pennsylvania. this is a count in philadelphia,

where it's currentlyjust after four o'clock in the morning. i think we can bring you those pictures. it is a live account. there isn't a huge amount of activity there right now. you can see a few people in the background but the count continues in philadelphia. we can speak to our washington correspondent ben wright. hello there to you, ben. let's talk about the numbers, as we can see votes are still being counted, but the momentum appears to be withjoe biden. is he going to get to those 270 electoral college votes he needs to win today? that is the question america, the world, wants an answer to. it's not clear. what we do know is that if president trump once re—election he has to win georgia and pennsylvania. there is no other route back to the white house because of the way he stands in the electoral college about getting those two states. what we have seen over the last few hours in particular is a crumbling of the leads he had from election night

through to now in those two key states. i think the figures are the same that you read out. at the moment, he leads in georgia byjust 463 moment, he leads in georgia byjust a63 votes. in pennsylvania, his lead overjoe biden is 18,229. we haven't had much from the pennsylvania in the last hour or so, but we know there are a huge number of ballots still to be counted, we think around 150,000, and a lot of those are in heavily democratic places like philadelphia county. so eitherfrom pennsylvania or georgia we could see a really significant shift in this race in the coming hours. no question about it. forjoe biden, if he does take the lead in georgia and hold onto it and he clocks it up as a win it would be remarkable. bill clinton was the last democrat to win georgia in a presidential race in 1992. the demographics of the plays have been changing fast, urban areas

around at have clearly been shifting democratic in the last few years. the biden campaign had a faint hope of adding it to their column. it looks like it might be happening. and that will be a massive deal in terms of the result of this election. but we are not there yet and it could be that that lead, if joe biden takes it in georgia, swings back to president trump as more votes are counted. i think pennsylvania is massive, clearly, in this, and if that goes tojoe biden with all of those votes still to count then this is game over. let's talk about what is going on in the trump camp right now, donald trump persisting with claims that he has already won this election, that there is widespread fraud going on, but without, it is important to keep repeating, presenting every evidence to that effect. is support in the republican party itself starting to fall away? we have seen this family, closest advisers and rudy giuliani and the like vocal in their support for his position. but in the broader republican party, is there any sense

that they are starting to back away a bit from the president? not quite yet. what will be interesting during the course of today is whether prominent republicans like mitch mcconnell, leader of the senate, step up and defend the comments present front made in the white house a few hours ago. —— president trump. they have been passengers on the journey, trump. they have been passengers on thejourney, gone along trump. they have been passengers on the journey, gone along with it over the journey, gone along with it over the last four years and been supportive, but i think we can guess that privately many of them will feel very uncomfortable to see their president make the sort of remarks he did about the electoral process and denigrating the entire way american democracy works in the way he did last night. so we will see if they come forward. he sounded like someone they come forward. he sounded like someone who knows he is potentially looking at a fairly imminent defeat in this election, that's what he looks like in the white house last night, and he has a massivejob to do and there needs to be a hell of a

surprise in the way these votes are coming and if he is to turn this around. 0k, ben, thank you very much. we can speak now to gina reinhardt — associate professor in the department of government at the university of essex. good to have you with us today. do you think the words "i concede" are in donald trump's vocabulary? my gosh, that's a good question. i don't think he has ever said that before and he certainly doesn't intend to say them. i wouldn't be at all surprised if biden wins the election and trump refuses to actually say those words and just sort of talks around it instead. so ifjoe biden gets to the 270 electoral college votes, and as we have said the margins are really fine in those states which are still counting, and donald trump doesn't concede, does not formally say those words, what happens next? what is the constitutional position? well, what will happen is the electoral

couege what will happen is the electoral college vote will take place in mid—december, and that is the final decision of who is the president. before then, if all the states come in with their decisive tallies, and if any recounts result in any other sort of updates, once the states and those election commissioners are set there is really nothing donald trump can do to stop losing office. but that doesn't mean he has to say he lost it. and he may continue. i think that what we are likely to see, however, is that somebody... he will eventually be convinced that he just looks silly trying to continue to claim office when the rest of the country has realised that it's not his. i wonder who is going to convince him of that, if that is what you are suggesting will ultimately happen. well, it may not if he is still able to perpetuate

the myth that there is something fraudulent going on. but i think as various courts come in and continued to say you have no grounds to allege the fraud, like they have in georgia and michigan, i think that eventually most of his camp will have to realise what's happened and that they will turn their rhetoric to something else like this country is doomed forfailure to something else like this country is doomed for failure and people made a terrible decision and they will start saying that eventually. is it possible that this could end up is it possible that this could end up in the supreme court? that's what donald trump keeps talking about. he referenced that in the statement that he saw. interestingly, the major us networks pulled away from that before he finished speaking as he continued to make those unfounded assertions that fraud was going on. is it possible this could end up in

the supreme court, the highest court in the land? it is but the current circumstances do not suggest it will. in other words, circumstances do not suggest it will. in otherwords, it circumstances do not suggest it will. in other words, it would need to bea will. in other words, it would need to be a state, or multiple states that really have no means of deciding and no means of counting their votes. that's what happened in their votes. that's what happened in the year 2000. in al gore versus george bush. he went to the supreme court for a decision where a decision could not be made. you can't just walk into decision could not be made. you can'tjust walk into the supreme court and so i want you to find against this state that has made a valid and legal decision. that's what he's threatening. unless we come to a situation where a state just sort of throws up their hands and says we don't want to do any more, it is unlikely the supreme court will get involved. just briefly, gina, what are your thoughts on what this is doing to american democracy and to america's position in the world? there is no

doubt that the longer this goes on and the more trump alleges fraud and wrongdoing, the worse it is for american democracy and the worse it is for democracy in general. people continue to look to the united states as a beacon and a leader in terms of democracy itself, and our american political institutions have been undermined by donald trump since he began running and they will continue to be so as long as he is in office. 0k, professor gina reinhardt, associate professor at the department of government at the university of essex, thank you very much. the uk's first mass testing programme gets under way in liverpool city today. hundreds of thousands of people living or working there will be able to access repeat coronavirus tests — whether they're showing symptoms or not. if successful, the government say pilots could be rolled out to millions by christmas. joining me to talk about this

is professor calum semple, professor of child health and outbreak medicine at the university of liverpool. you have been involved in helping to coordinate all of this. professor semple, thank you forjoining us. liverpool has had some of the highest cases of covid over the last few months and remains a hot spot. how many people are we talking about testing? of everyone eligible to be tested, if they come forward for the initial and follow—up checks? tested, if they come forward for the initial and follow-up checks? we have a population of 500,000 in the liverpool city itself and in the wider region we have nearly 2.25 million people. we are not expecting eve ryo ne million people. we are not expecting everyone to get tested this week but the aim is to get a large proportion of the people in the liverpool central area tested through this pilot. and it is a pilot, it means we are learning as we go about this, but there are some really good news stories here. potentially this will allow people to release from quarantine, particularly contacts of positive cases, to be released from quarantine and early meaning the city can get back to work and

essential services can be supported ina much essential services can be supported in a much more timely manner. i'd like to get into the detail of what you can achieve with this testing in a second, but just you can achieve with this testing in a second, butjust a question first on the logistics. i know the army are involved in helping to roll this out. it also depends on the willingness of the people who live and work in liverpool to actually come and take part in this pilot. do you need to get a certain percentage of people taking part for it to really work? yes, obviously the more people involved the better this will work. the idea here is to break hidden transmission chains. these are the asymptomatic phase of transmission which is now recognised to bea transmission which is now recognised to be a lot more important in the amplification and spread of disease. what assurance can you offer people on the effectiveness of this test? its ability to identify not only people who are displaying symptoms or have high levels of the virus in their bodies, but those with low levels of the virus who are com pletely levels of the virus who are completely asymptomatic. because

this was a query that was raised with me by another scientist earlier this week. absolutely right. there has been some controversy about lateral flow testing for some time. none of these tests are perfect. but we think we have a test that's good enough now to identify people when they are infectious. and we only need to probably get three out of four, orfour out of need to probably get three out of four, or four out of five chains identified in this way to have a significant impact on amplification. so no test is perfect. there is no test out there that is 100% sensitive or 100% specific. we think the one we have now is good enough and we are going to put behind it confirmatory tests that will allow us confirmatory tests that will allow us to doa confirmatory tests that will allow us to do a sort of second stage to check that the positives are true positives. that sophisticated way will allow us to learn and that's why we are calling it a pilot in liverpool. we go out to other cities and we will be in a much better

position to know what the field performance, the real world performance, the real world performance come of this test is. performance, the real world performance come of this test ism would be absolutely wonderful if this could make the significant difference that you hope it can. in terms of getting in touch with contacts terms of getting in touch with co nta cts of terms of getting in touch with contacts of people who do test positive through this pilot, is that any different to the test and trace programme that exists at the moment? we saw yesterday that that had its worst ever week, 59.9% of people who had been in contact with someone testing positive for the virus is not reached. this will be different. for starters, the process has been led by liverpool, it was liverpool city council, liverpool health partners, the partnership between big hospitals and universities and civic leadership, it is us driving this process. so local tracing, local testing, local tracing, is what you are saying. a combination of local knowledge and national but

local knowledge will be key. how quickly can this be scaled up if it proves effective in the way you hope it will? let's be really honest here. the reason universities are involved is because we have a lot of stu d e nts involved is because we have a lot of students and staff but also a lot of expertise in independent evaluation of process. so you are going to see here are truly independent evaluation of the process, we will say this is what works and this is what didn't work. it might be we just say this shouldn't go forward. but i'm optimistic that we will make this work and we will learn from it. and then whatever does go forward will be effective. the very best of luck with that. professor callum semple, good to talk to you, thank you for your time. students at the university of manchester have torn down security fencing that was put up around parts of the campus accommodation on day one of england's lockdown. the university has since apologised and say all the barriers, which were put up without any warning to the residents, will be removed this morning.

andy moore reports. the moment when students tore down what they called a wall. the erection of the barriers had generated enormous anger, with crowds of students marching through the fallowfield campus. the university said the fences were meant as a security measure to help avoid what it called the mixing of households. but construction started before residents were informed. students saw them as yet another infringement of their liberty. we have no access to communal spaces and now they are locking us up. they are locking us up from our green spaces, they are locking us up from seeing people in other halls. it is not our fault. it is not our fault! cheering manchester university's vice chancellor has now apologised for the concern and distress caused by the fence. professor dame nancy rothwell said it was never their intention to stop students entering

or leaving the site. dismantling of the barrier will start this morning. the university says it will be replaced by extra security patrols. andy moore, bbc news. we are nowjoined by first year student, ewan murgatroyd — who attended last nights protest. thank you for talking to us. from halls, i assume, thank you for talking to us. from halls, iassume, that looks thank you for talking to us. from halls, i assume, that looks like a typical hall room from my experience of them! let's talk about these barriers going up. when did you first realise that was happening?” was ina first realise that was happening?” was in a lecture yesterday morning and then a lot of students were in and then a lot of students were in an accommodation group chat and so i checked mine, i'm in richmond park, eve ryo ne checked mine, i'm in richmond park, everyone was saying they are putting fences up and everyone was just like really confused, so i walked down into the campus and then i saw fences everywhere. it was just really confusing because we were not even warned about it or told, we we re even warned about it or told, we were just closed off and we were all just kind of really shocked that

they didn't even inform us. zero communication? zero communication on the behalf. the only time they informed us was about 5pm and an e—mail apology from the president and vice chancellor about 9pm last night. i've got that statement in front of me from the president and vice chancellor which says then sincerely apologise for the concern and distress caused by the erecting ofa and distress caused by the erecting of a fence around our fallow field halls of residence, this wasn't our intention, quite the reverse. the fencing was erected over concerns voiced from staff and students on the site about safety and security, particularly about access by people who are not residents. there was never any attempt to prevent stu d e nts never any attempt to prevent students from entering or exit the site. do you accept the apology? do you accept the rationale and explanation? i think i you accept the rationale and explanation? i think! understand the meaning behind it but security measures have already increased in the last few weeks on campus, there

has been a lot more security presence. every time i have left campus late at night to come home from work or go to the shop, i have been asked by security guards if i've got my student id on me. every student has to carry a student id ca rd to student has to carry a student id card to be able to scan to get into the building and we all have our own individual keys. and each flat has a separate key and a separate key for your room. i think safety —wise it is already pretty secure. 0k. your room. i think safety —wise it is already pretty secure. ok. so the university are saying the fences are being taken down from this morning will stop you have seen that, have you? yeah. alternative security measures including additional security patrols are being put in place. it sounds like you are already pretty happy about the level of security and the checks that exist around the halls of residence. yeah, definitely. do you understand why some students were dragging these fences down as night and jumping up—and—down on them? was it

an overreaction? i think to start off with we were just very angry and ididn't off with we were just very angry and i didn't think it was going to go to that extreme at all, i just went to the protests to show solidarity with eve ryo ne the protests to show solidarity with everyone and to show that it's not 0k, everyone and to show that it's not ok, we are living in halls and we are being restricted. we are not allowed to leave our rooms. we were not protesting... i don't think people were taking them down just because of the fences, that was the final kind of catalyst into this mess we are in. if i could just try to get from you, what was the feeling that drove some people to pull some of the fencing down was mike if that was the last straw, as you put it, what was it that made you put it, what was it that made you feel you were hemmed in, being hemmed in even further, you already are because of the virus to a certain extent? was that the feeling that drove this response?” certain extent? was that the feeling that drove this response? i think it was, we are paying £9,000 a year to the university online and it is not

the university online and it is not the same experience is what it once was. i have not been on the campus yet which i'm paying £9,000 a year full and on top of that we are paying over £6,000 a yearjust for this accommodation with no access to common rooms or communal facilities. we are not able to meet anyone else on this campus. do you accept a lot of that is beyond the university's response ability? of course. but i think the university knew that before we came here and that we were misled to come into holes. we are restricted within our own bedrooms. people are angry here because they expect us to stay in all the time. i think putting the fences up just intensified the fact we were already trapped in in a way. i think it was just another reminder that we are not allowed to go out. we already know that and i think the fences reinforced that for us and i think for a lot of students who were angry

because the communication on behalf of the university was not efficient at all and that is where the anger lies and they claim to say that they ca re lies and they claim to say that they care about our mental health when we have u nfortu nately care about our mental health when we have unfortunately already care about our mental health when we have u nfortu nately already lost care about our mental health when we have unfortunately already lost a student this term due to anxiety and mental health issues and i think that shows they are really not taking that into consideration. we must leave it there but thank you for joining must leave it there but thank you forjoining us, must leave it there but thank you for joining us, ewan must leave it there but thank you forjoining us, ewan murgatroyd, who isa forjoining us, ewan murgatroyd, who is a first year university student in those fallowfield halls of residence. we heard yesterday the furlough scheme will be extended till the end of march, and will continue to cover the wages of workers who are unable to do theirjob because of coronavirus restrictions. chancellor rishi sunak has also extended help for the self—employed. let's get more from our political correspondent nick eardley. as people digest the news of what the chancellor announced yesterday, what is the broad reaction to it? good morning. ithink

what is the broad reaction to it? good morning. i think there is some concern on the tory backbenches for a couple of reasons, one is that they are worried that extending furlough until the end of march potentially paves the way for fairly significant restrictions, even further lockdowns coming in over the course of the winter. i've got to say, the government is pushing back against that. we heard borisjohnson last night saying several times in that press conference, really hammering home that he thought the 2nd of december, this expires, then it is up to parliament, but there are some nerves about this potentially allowing further lockdowns in the new year. the second kind of big question it is throwing up is how it is paid for because this is going to add a lot more debt to the country's books, and there are some saying, is this the best way to help the economy? would you not be better trying to keep businesses open? trying to encourage people back to work. the

government is adamant, absolutely adamant that the health picture has changed, the economic picture is changing quite significantly again, and that this intervention is needed to make sure that businesses have some certainty over the next few weeks. and talk to us about the data that was used for going into this lockdown in england which began yesterday. questions persisting about this, this data to reason may referred to as dodgy data. as i say, still lots of questions about the numbers of the government has used, whether they justify this lockdown, essentially. one graph in particular that was used in the prime minister's delayed press co nfe re nce used in the prime minister's delayed press conference on saturday, anyone watching it will know there were several. but there was one in particular that talked about the trajectory of the number of daily deaths. it had a range that

suggested that by the 8th of december, he could have up to 1500 deaths every day from coronavirus if there were no interventions made. that would have been much higher than in the first way. that has been replaced over the last 2a hours and the upper range for the number of deaths is still extremely high, it is still 1000 a day, but it has come down quite significantly in the broad range that it covers. the government's scientific officers are saying it doesn't change the advice of ministers were given, it doesn't change the fact that without taking action you could have had the situation where the number of people going into hospital and consequently the number of people dying was much higher than in the first wave. but i think it will add to some of the questions. you mentioned theresa may, there are a lot more conservative mps who have concerns over the data and i think this will only add to some of that tension

between the government's advisers and some conservative backbenchers. nick eardley at westminster thank you. let's turn to some discussion of the extended fellow scheme announced by the chancellor. joining now is azad zagana, senior european economist at schroders. thank you for talking to us on bbc news. do you broadly understand the concerns of some people about where exactly this extended fellow is going? yes, it is supporting wages, but business owners are saying there are other financial demands that they have to meet which they are simply not able to? absolutely. there are a number of areas where the various now support schemes which have been unveiled by the chancellor failed to support different sectors, different types of people in different types of roles and with different employment status. we have seen the largest

share of thejob status. we have seen the largest share of the job losses we have seen so far since march have been for part—time and so far since march have been for pa rt—time and self—employed so far since march have been for part—time and self—employed people. this scheme and the new schemes that we re this scheme and the new schemes that were unveiled don't support these. what else could the chancellor have done with this money that he is putting into furlough through to the end of march? i know we have a gas coming on soon, end of march? i know we have a gas coming on soon, owner end of march? i know we have a gas coming on soon, owner of a business talking about the rent he has to pay for his premises. could the money have been diverted elsewhere? more support for businesses could have absolutely been offered. but we are pretty unhappy with the extension of the scheme because it is poorly targeted and wasteful and has not supported part—time workers very well. the new plan would have been better used but supported further and would have given more certainty for businesses to the end of next year, rather than just two march.

the group of people calling themselves the excluded continue to try and make their voices heard. i have had a tweet from gary who says directors of solid, honest companies who pay their suppliers first and only a themselves what they can afford our deliberately eliminated from the fellow scheme and it is a scandal. the government has not done anything specific, beyond increasing the benefits scheme people can apply for if they have no other source of income. people like this one more direct intervention so they can keep their business is there any sign the government is going to change tack on that? i don't think so, these individuals who have been investing in their own companies for some time, they have not taken dividends so they cannot show the government they would have earned something from the business over recent years to be able to get the support. they are the ones being punished. these

are the ones being punished. these are the ones being punished. these are the small businesses that are most likely to hire new staff, compared to even larger companies. sadly, that means we are going to see reduced job creation in the future, certainly for the next few yea rs future, certainly for the next few years because they are not being supported adequately. thank you very much for your thoughts on all of that. european economist. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor good morning. a frosty and foggy start this morning and it continues to lingerfor a few start this morning and it continues to linger for a few more hours start this morning and it continues to lingerfor a few more hours in one or two spots but into the afternoon it becomes a day of good spells of sunshine. more cloud across scotland at times and in the western isles it could produce rain or drizzle but most will be dry. not as one today across eastern scotland and is in england where we saw 18 degrees. towards the south—west, it will be windy. most will be dry and sunny this afternoon. into this

evening and overnight, fog will return to parts of the south and south—west. parts of central scotla nd south—west. parts of central scotland and north—east england will be prone and anything northwoods could be frost around for the start of your weekend. it will slowly lift and shift to some good spells of sunshine. the fog towards parts of the midlands, wales will lift and expand out into an area of low cloud. these patches of rain towards the south—west, most will be dry on saturday but the chance of rain across western areas on sunday. more details later. hello this is bbc news with anita mcveigh. the headlines: still no result in the us presidential election as democratjoe biden edges closer to the white house. donald trump makes more unsubstantiated claims of voting fraud. from today, everyone living

or working in liverpool will be offered coronavirus tests, whether or not they have symptoms — in the uk's first mass testing programme. businesses and employees digest the extension of the uk furlough scheme to the end of march — and work out what it will mean for them. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's mike bushell. good morning. we told you about the pressure mounting on manchester united manager ole gunnar solskjaer. there'll be more speculation surrounding the future of celtic manager neil lennon this morning. it was a terrible night for the scottish champions, in the europa league. they were thrashed a—1 at home by sparta prague to leave them bottom of their group, and condemn them to a third successive home defeat, for the first time in 30 years. rangers blew a two goal lead, as ten man benfica scored an injury time equaliser in a 3—3 draw in lisbon. the only highlight for

steven gerrard's team, was alfredo morelos, overtaking ally mccoist, as rangers, top european goalscorer. it was a landmark night for harry kane. the england captain scored his 200th tottenham goal on his 300th appearance for the club with this first half header in their 3—1 win over ludo—gorets in bulgaria. we didn't need to play very, very well to win the game. we did our job, we played serious, we took it serious and we played with greater attacking force starting with harry kane. we took the game very serious. they are not a weak team, we are better than them and we showed this. arsenal had to come from a goal down, against norweigian side molder, with nicolas pepey, among the scorers in a a—1, win to maintain their 100% record in europe this season. and molder didn't help themselves either — scoring two own goals. like arsenal, leicester made it three wins from three in their group,

with an impressive a—0 win at home to sporting braga of portugal. kelechi ihanacho scoring two of leicester's goals. england manager gareth southgate thinks next thursday's friendly against the republic of ireland will be a useful exercise for his side. the match has been scheduled just three days before the nations league match against belgium, with another game against iceland three days later. everybody has recognised the opportunity to provide entertainment for people, to show some signs that something close to normality can ta ke something close to normality can take place, to give hope to people really. for me, when we talk about international friendlies, really. for me, when we talk about internationalfriendlies, other sports call them test matches, that is as they are really. for the players that play on them they are a massive moment for them and their families. for us, they are a great opportunity for us to learn and

improve. olympic swimming champion adam peaty has warned a "generation" of athletes may be lost, because of leisure facilities closing during the latest lockdown in england. swimming pools are among the facilities which have been closed, with culture secretary oliver dowden, commenting yesterday that the aim is for grassroots sport to return as soon as possible. peaty says any closures are damaging. without a month of leisure activities, gym activities people have to train outdoors. it is looking very bleak and my worry is we will have a year of this, or a few more months of this and we will lose a generation of athletes. it is ha rd lose a generation of athletes. it is hard for us at the top of the level, getting paid for a cup, but what is keeping them going and looking at the olympics and saying, i want to do that? saudi arabia has rejected criticism, after it was confirmed it would host its first formula 1 race next year. amnesty international has said the race injeddah, will be used to mask saudi arabia's "appalling" human rights record. saudi arabia's sports minister says staging the race "reflects

the transformational, journey the country is on". maybe we do some things differently than other parts of the world. but for us, we are improving, we are opening up. you know, we have nothing to hide. now to snooker and mark allen has labelled ronnie o'sullivan a "bully" after the pair had an altercation during their champion of champions quarter final. o'sullivan complained that allen was distracting him by moving in his eyeline, while he was playing shots. the disagreement went on for some time with the players ignoring the referees plea to continue with the match. allen eventually won the match to set up a semi final againstjudd trump tomorrow. finally the saying goes the rain in spain falls mainly on the plain. but last night most of it fell on the town of villareal on the east coast —

aptly enough, the football clubs nickname is the yellow submarines. great weather for the sport of swamp soccer, but amazingly after this, the europa league match did go ahead. look at the colours in the water. incredible. that's all the sport for now. that is quite mesmerising, but not great conditions for sport. i am amazed the match went ahead. thanks very much. let's get more now on the us election which remains on a knife edge. counting has continued through the night in the handful of states which will decide the outcome. the democratic party contender, joe biden has urged his supporters to have faith in the process, and to remain calm. president trump has insisted he won tuesday's election, and accused his opponents of trying to steal it through voter fraud. in his first public remarks since the early hours of wednesday morning, mr trump said the legal action he was taking in the most closely

contested states was to protect the integrity of the election — but he gave no evidence to back up his allegations. let's get more from some of the key states still to declare — michelle fleury is in philadelphia in pennsylvania. what we understand, the latest update we've got from top election officials in this state is that the majority of the ballots have now been counted, but the race is still too close to call. donald trump has had a lead here in the keystone state, but it has narrowed, even in the last few hours it has shrunk. it was, in some ways, what people had expected. let me explain what i mean by that. in—person votes tended to favour republicans. you may recall donald trump had urged his supporters to vote early. democrats who tended to vote by mail, accounting for about two thirds of the postal votes are going for biden. that's why you are seeing this late

swing, they take longer to count. our correspondent james clayton is in las vegas, nevada and explains how close we are to a result there. nevada is still on a razor‘s edge. it is just far too close to call. there's only about 10,000 votes betweenjoe biden and donald trump. if you want to know who's going to win this election, you need to come to this place. clark county election center. it's where a vast majority of the votes that haven't been counted yet in nevada are being counted because clark county is where 70% plus of all the nevada residents live. it's the county that contains las vegas and there are a lot of votes still come about 190,000 votes, that we still don't know about. we don't know which way they've been cast. we believe we're going to get an update at about 10am pacific time tomorrow, that's about 6pm gmt. that may only be

on about 50,000 votes. so it may well be the case that when it comes to knowing how this state has gone we won't know that much more tomorrow. and actually, the registrar here has said that it may be saturday, sunday, even next week, until we get a result here. and of course, it is possible that we don't get a result for the us presidential election until we get a decision here. more now on the chancellor's announcement yesterday that the furlough scheme will be extended till the end of march. and will continue to cover the wages of workers who are unable to do theirjob because of coronavirus restrictions. our business correspondent, katie prescott reports joining me now are two people whose businesses are affected by the current lockdown, the first is jeremyjoseph, owner of the g—a—y and heaven nightclubs in london and manchester. and i'm alsojoined by rowena howie,

owner of revival retro, a boutique womenswear shop in london. thank you both so much forjoining us thank you both so much forjoining us today. jeremy, you have launched a legal campaign in the last month against the government over the cu rfew against the government over the curfew and that the situation is even worse because you cannot even open at all. what is that going to mean for the business and how much will the fellow extension help, or not? there is quite a lot about the furlough. yesterday they announced until march. one site i was thinking, amazing that its staff looked after until march. i don't know, i started worrying a little bit. why did they say march? do they know something we don't, is this going to go on longer than december? it started making me read into things and i started to panic a little bit. the biggest problem is,

furlough was set up to protectjobs. but what rishi sunak is failing to do and we keep talking about this and they keep ignoring it, it is only worth protecting jobs if there arejobs to go back only worth protecting jobs if there are jobs to go back to. they are not protecting businesses. we are closed, earning absolutely nothing but all my businesses are being charged full rent. the bar in old compton street, my rent for three months is £127,000. ijust paid it about a month ago. it will beat you again in december which is when we reopen. why am i supposed to get that rent from? it is all very well going, let's protect thejobs, but you have to protect the businesses first. you have got to pay the rent and you have no premises for staff to come back to. i can see what you are saying. you are nodding along to jeremy as he was saying that, tell us jeremy as he was saying that, tell us about the situation with your

boutique because i know you have described london as being like a ghost town right now and there isn't the opportunity for people to come into your shop because of the lockdown. nor is there necessarily the desire for people to shop in the way they once did? central london has been a ghost town even before this lockdown. the furlough announcement was really welcome but we have yet to see the details. it is important that furlough is really flexible, otherwise it will not help at all. clearly, we have got no customers to serve in the shop and unless we get orders online, there is going to be nothing for us to have to do on that regard. but having said that, we need it to be flexible because other parts of the business are still going on. what do you mean by the flexibility? for instance, earlier in the fellow scheme there was a three—week

notification period where you had to switch between. i still have supply chain delivery is still outstanding because coronavirus has interrupted them. i don't know when they will arrive, so i need the flexibility to bring staff into do the work that is to do, at the point i need them to do it. he talked about the rent payments, jeremy you have to make. are you in any discussions with the owners of your properties to talk about the laying rent payments, anything like that can help you through this period? to be honest, we have spoken to our landlord. at the moment they are not willing to negotiate. one of my landlords the g-a-y, negotiate. one of my landlords the g—a—y, we have been paying rent from march in full and we have been paying the rent enclosure with reduced capacity, reduced hours and their reduction. they are not willing to negotiate. they are allowed to put their staff into furlough and claimed the furlough

benefits. one of the comments that was just benefits. one of the comments that wasjust made then, benefits. one of the comments that was just made then, they keep making announcements without details. they have announced about the furlough, but we don't know those details, will it be flexing furlough, will we be able to bring staff in and out? how long before we get repaid because we are a closed business, but at some times in the original scheme they were talking about, you could not claim until mid december. ami could not claim until mid december. am i going to be subsidising 160 am i going to be subsidising160 staff wages until december before we can claim back the furlough? are we going to be paying national insurance and pension, are we going to be paying a percentage? they make these announcements without announcing details. what are the details and when will we get them? obviously you would like a lot more details from the government, and you would like to see something beyond thejob support would like to see something beyond the job support for your businesses.

more broadly, how confident are you that this lockdown, if we tie together those two issues of health and wealth, how confident are you that once we get out of this lockdown, if we do indeed get out of it on the 2nd of december, that will bea it on the 2nd of december, that will be a turning point? given we have no definite use on a vaccine? we talk about the 2nd of december, i do have about the 2nd of december, i do have a bricks and mortar shop people can come to and this would be a very busy time of year. we are talking day by day, week by week, let alone month by month, season by season and what will happen next year. right now it is all about consumer confidence. there was a lot of talk about when fellow ended on the 315t of october whether people would be worried about losing theirjobs. i hope now the fellow has been extended until the 315t of march, even though i have comment as an

employer, as a business owner i hope this gives the public the confidence to go out and spend and spend that small businesses. buying from shops like mine online and there have been things like crowdfunding, pay it forward and things like that. i'm not sure how they could support g-a-y but i not sure how they could support g—a—y but i would love it if they could support both of our businesses while we are close. good luck to you both with your businesses and we appreciate you talking to us today. news coming in from the us election we are hearing joe biden has pulled ahead of donald trump in that count with 99% of the vote counted. just a little earlier we heard from our correspondent in washington, ben wright, that there were just a60 votes between the two men. donald trump was ahead at that point, but

we now understand thatjoe biden has pulled ahead of donald trump, hugely significant because those two states that everyone is looking at, georgia and pennsylvania. georgia is one of them and ifjoe biden does indeed win this, and we think the result could come within a few hours, then it seems almost certain that he will be the next president. they wouldn't be the next president. they wouldn't be the next president. they wouldn't be the pathway to victory, as us politicians like to talk about, for president trump. we will bring you more detail on that as we get it. remembrance day services may have been cancelled this year — but the royal british legion is calling on the public to come together in other ways to honour those who have served in our armed forces. for the first time in poppy appeal history, there won't be any collectors on the streets and people will be observing the two minute silence from their doorstep. graham satchell reports. this was armistice day in bedworth in warwickshire last year.

they've held a parade here since 1921 but this year, in lockdown, things will be different. we have produced 19,000 of these documents — these flyers — to put in people's windows, asking them to remember the fallen on armistice day at 11 o'clock along with us on their doorstep. the ceremony in bedworth normally ends with thousands of poppies dropped from the sky over the war memorial. it is one tradition they're determined to maintain with a slight change. we're going to take the poppies to the people. we're going to direct it around the town — the perimeter of the town, so that people, on their doorsteps, will get the poppies, hopefully. the parade is coming to you, or the poppies are coming to you. can you see that all right? yes. how lovely! must be a very proud moment for you, betty. it was wonderful. this is 97—year—old betty webb getting her mbe.

betty is a veteran of bletchley park. bletchley, home to the code breakers, credited with shortening the war, saving countless lives. betty has laid a wreath on armistice day for as long as she can remember but not this year. sadly, of course, this year we don't quite know what we're going to do about marking the occasion. i just think it's very sad that we have got to bow to the fact that we mustn't congregate in big numbers. i can see that but it's still, for me, it's very sad. jim hooper was a glider pilot in world war ii. after d—day, he flew 30 men and equipment into holland and fought at the battle of arnhem, where he was taken prisoner. we had a lot of wounded, a lot killed. and that was it.

and this german standing over me with a stick grenade and others surrendering as well and that was it. that was the end of my sojourn in parma and arnhem. and on remembrance sunday, do you take a moment to remember your lost friends? yes. well, yes i do, actually. notjust on remembrance sunday. on many other occasions. and, yes, the names of many i still remember. in plymouth, nine—year—old maisie has transformed where she lives from bluebell street to poppy street. she's delivered posters to neighbours to put up in their windows and put poppies on all the lamp posts. i think we should be remembering the people who served us in the army

because they risked their lives for us. maisie's dad james was medically discharged from the army in 2017. it's hard to describe the pride i have for her and the fact it's all come from her heart is just truly amazing. the royal british legion is urging everyone to gather on their doorsteps at 11 o'clock on sunday morning, to come together as a nation, to remember. graham satchell, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. there has been lingering fog for one or two but for most this afternoon the will be sunny spells. cloud at times across scotland, thick towards the western isles. patchy rain but most will be dry. more sunshine across northern

ireland. blue skies for many across england and wales were quite a breeze blowing towards the south—west. lighter winds elsewhere and feeling cool. cool across eastern scotland and north—east england compared with yesterday. mist and fog return and fog develops widely toward south—west england, the south and south—east wales. milder night tonight, anywhere from the midlands northwards you could see frost into tomorrow morning. fog through central belt tomorrow which will slowly be shifting. fog on the hills will expand more widely into low cloud over eastern wales and the midlands. few showers towards the south—west but turning milder.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. still no result in the us presidential election as democratjoe biden edges closer to the white house. the counting continues — in georgia it's down to the wire. joe biden takes the lead by just 917 votes. the democratic contender calls for calm and patience — he says he has no doubt he will be declared the winner when counting is completed. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. donald trump has made more unsubstantiated claims of voting fraud and launched legal action against some results. if you count the legal votes, i easily win.