joe biden is edging closer to the white house — with just a handful of states still counting votes in the presidential election in georgia, one of the key states, mr biden isjust ahead — but president trump remains adamant the democrats are stealing victory. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. 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 president has launched legal battles but hasn't presented

any evidence of fraud. we'll have the latest live from georgia and washington. also this lunchtime... mass covid testing begins across liverpool — the army is helping with a pilot project to try to find out how far the virus has spread. if it helps get us back to a normal life. then i'm happy for anything like that, really. i think it's quite pointless because you can invalidate the test ten minutes later. depending on where you go and who you come in contact with. a family in south wales has lost a grandmother and her two sons to coronavirus within days of each other. and, a different feel to remembrance day. the royal british legion urges us to pay tribute to the armed forces this year in alternative ways. and coming up in the sport later in the hour on bbc news... after a difficult week for manchester united we hear from ole gunnar solskjaer with his future at the club being questioned.

good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. joe biden is closing in on the white house, with just a handful of states still counting votes. donald trump has repeated his assertion that he won tuesday's presidential election, and accused his opponents of trying to steal it, through voterfraud, without providing any evidence for this. joe biden, the democratic candidate, is currently projected to have 253 electoral college votes, and donald trump for the republicans 214. 270 votes are needed to secure the presidency. in georgia, joe biden has pulled narrowly ahead — with 99% of the votes counted. if he does win the state, there's no pathway for donald trump to achieve the required 270.

with both candidates on 49.1; per cent of the vote, there are currentlyjust over 1,000 votes between them. the other key remaining states are nevada, pennsylvania, north carolina and arizona — afterjoe biden increased his lead by winning the ten electoral college votes in wisconsin. president trump said the legal action he's taking in the most closely contested states is to protect ‘the integrity of the election‘ — but he gave no evidence to support his allegations of fraud. ben wright reports from washington. music: midnight train to georgia by gladys knight. cheering. joe biden had georgia in his sights, dropping in during the final week of the campaign. it's a solidly republican state. it hasn't voted democrat in a presidential election since 1992. with votes still being counted,

joe biden holds a narrow lead over donald trump in the state. president trump cannot win re—election without winning georgia's 16 electoral college votes. the margin is razor thin and a recount is possible. but ifjoe biden ends up taking the state, donald trump's path back to the white house is blocked. pennsylvania is another must win for the president but overnight, his lead overjoe biden dwindled as thousands of postal ballots from largely democratic areas were counted. if mr biden wins the state, he wins the white house. camera shutters click. president trump's reelection hopes appear to be fading by the hour and at the white house last night, he denigrated america's electoral process and made a slew of unsubstantiated claims about voting and 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. we think there's going to be a lot of litigation because we have so much evidence, so much proof, and it's going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land.

mr trump made a wholly false distinction between votes cast in person on the day and votes by mail. both are legal and both are still being counted. while supporters of both candidates demonstrated outside the philadelphia convention centre, pennsylvania's top election official strongly defended her state's voting process. the strength of the integrity of this vote is really unparalleled. same when you vote in person, right? you have to be registered, you go in, you sign in the poll book, all these things are tracked. good afternoon, folks. leading the counts in nevada and arizona too, joe biden‘s tone and 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, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. so, i ask everyone to stay calm, all the people to stay calm. 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's the states in charge of counting the votes and that process continues methodically, no matter what the president says. thank you very much. the president's campaign is pressing for legal challenges in several states but it'sjoe biden who is now closing in on the white house. ben wright, bbc news, washington. the race in georgia is one of the tightest of the election. 0ur correspondent larry madowo is in atlanta. bring us right up to date, larry. the republican national committee announcing a claim here in georgia. joe biden finally taking a lead, 1000 votes, the slimmest of margins. it looks like president trump ‘s presidency might be coming to an end right here in georgia which is particularly devastating because this has been a solidly republican

state and it became democrat for the first time in this election. joe biden needs this to the presidency, without georgia, president trump essentially cannot make it to 270 and therefore will not be able to ta ke and therefore will not be able to take the presidency. another important thing is that president trump ‘s entire argument about illegal ballots is falling apart in a republican state because it is a governor who is republican, local officials, supervising the selection, all republicans so he cannot claim illegal votes are being added when they are not supposed to be happening, it's going to be devastating moment for president trump if that ends up being here but in the state of georgia, if the margin between winners is less than 0.5% of the total vote a recount can be ordered and it looks like this might be heading to recount territory. we have to wait until november the 20th when the election is certified for that to be but it looks certain that this might end up being a recount ofjoe biden keeps

up being a recount ofjoe biden keeps up this lead. we heard a moment ago and the secretary of state telling the bbc the only votes left to count oui’ the bbc the only votes left to count our military and provisional ballots, said today that this morning, the whole world watching what happens here if it is to end donald trump ‘s presidency. what happens here if it is to end donald trump 's presidency. long day ahead for you. so how close isjoe biden to securing the white house — and could donald trump still stop him? let's take a look at the electoral map with reeta chakrabarti. with that news thatjoe biden is edging ahead in georgia the electoral numbers are increasingly suggesting donald trump ‘s chances of staying in the white house are gradually receding. this is the electoral map as it stands, the grey states the ones we don't have a result, you can seejoe biden shot by 17 electoral college votes, donald trump by 56. let's look at georgia. the state we are all

looking at. there you have it, the bald figures, nothing to separate the candidates. we havejust bald figures, nothing to separate the candidates. we have just checked in the last few minutes, joe biden has a 1096 vote lead in georgia. still 66 counties there where they are still counting the votes and the trend has been towardsjoe biden. this will be a great result for the democrats if they succeed in flipping it because the democrats have not won here since 1992 with bill clinton. let's go back to the main map, the other state being closely watched, pennsylvania, in the north—east. donald trump has a lead their ownjoe the north—east. donald trump has a lead their own joe biden the north—east. donald trump has a lead their ownjoe biden of about 18,000 votes butjoe biden is edging ever closer. let's look at the actual electoral map. the number of votes joe actual electoral map. the number of votesjoe biden needs to secure, i'lljust use my blue pen here.

let's assume george it goes democratic. that bringsjoe biden one vote short of securing the presidency. if georgia goes blue it means donald trump has no way back to the presidency. he simply cannot secure enough electoral college votes if georgia pose. let's make the assumption that pennsylvania also goes blue, that takesjoe biden over the magic line of 270 up to 289 and let me show you one more thing. we make an assumptionjoe biden hangs on to nevada which hillary clinton won for the democrats last time and he also manages to flip arizona for there is a very tight race going on. would takejoe biden up race going on. would takejoe biden up to 306 electoral college votes which is the great number donald trump one by in 2016. thank you very much. 0ur correspondent gary 0'donoghue is in washington. goodness, gary, so very tight. just

feels like there is a real air of tension around all of this. yes, there is and i think particularly, there is and i think particularly, the unfolding situation in georgia is going to cause a great deal of anxiety inside the white house. that isa anxiety inside the white house. that is a must win for the president, is an absolute must win. things are still very tight there. the trend is going on the wrong direction by the president. i think it's pretty likely there will be a recount there but let me give you one number when you talk about a recount. they had a recount in wisconsin back in 2016 when hillary clinton lost by 20,000 votes. that recount changed 131 votes. that recount changed 131 votes so recounts did not attend to make massive differences and if they are relying on that inside the white house, i think they will be relying on something that isn't going to

really deliver what they want. because they may need to do this in more than one state, of course, if georgia goes, pennsylvania goes, it's not then just a question of flipping one state, you have to make multiple challenges across the board. and as we heard, you have this ironic, ironic possibility that actually, joe biden could end up with precisely the number of electoral college votes that donald trump got last time around adding insult to injury for a president who feels those insults very deeply. i think we will see more rhetoric from the white house and the republicans today, more challenges, the votes are still being counted, we are expecting announcements in arizona and nevada later this morning. and, of course, all eyes on pennsylvania because once pennsylvania goes to joe biden, if it does and he

overhauls that margin, then, really, it is all over. gary, for now, thank you. the time isjust the time is just coming up to 13 minutes past one. our top story this lunchtime: final ballots are being counted in georgia, one of the key states, where mr biden has just edged ahead — but president trump remains adamant the democrats are stealing victory. if you count the legal votes, i easily won. if you count the illegal boats, they can try to steal the election from us. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. coming up in the sport in the next 15 minutes on bbc news, the fans are coming back in scotland. from this evening, a limited number of supporters will be allowed back into selected grounds.

a mass testing scheme for coronavirus has begun in liverpool. people who live or work in the city are being asked to come forward regardless of whether they have symptoms, to try to establish a clearer picture of how far the virus has spread. six new centres have been set up for the pilot, and hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to help. it's hoped mass testing of a population could make repeated lockdowns less likely. dan johnson reports. here's what's needed to get a testing programme like this off the ground. 2,000 soldiers to organise enough capacity to offer tests to everyone in this city, regardless of age, occupation or symptoms. it is asymptomatic as well as symptomatic, anybody who wants to have a test can have access to a test. one of the things is going to be we will find more cases, and that means our infection rate will go up in the short—term.

at this site, the car park is going to be set up as a drive—through centre with the swab tests, the sort of thing we've seen across the country through most of this year, the tests that give a result within 2a hours, although they're hoping here it will be possible on the same day. and then here at the tennis centre, this will be a walk—in where the really rapid result tests are available, and the hope is they will give an answer within 20 minutes or half an hour. there have been questions over the reliability of those tests. 0fficials here are confident, but will people come forward? i'm not saying i wouldn't get it done. 0bviously i'd like to know a bit more about it. but if it helps get us back to a normal life, then i'm happy for anything like that, really. ijust think it's quite pointless, because you can invalidate the test ten minutes later depending on where you go and who you come in contact with, so i don't really see what the point is. i think we should go ahead with the testing, because i think it would help everybody else to see if we can do the rapid tests, you know, to see if it works,

to do the test, to see if we can get quick results back. i think it's good. why not? people are complaining before there were not enough test, not enough testing. well, there's tests now. if you want to exercise your option to do it, why not? case numbers in the city are still high. 330 per 100,000 people. that's double the average across england, and growing pressure on local hospitals is the reason liverpool was chosen for this mass testing pilot. the idea here is to break hidden transmission chains. these are the asymptomatic phase of transmission which is now recognised to be a lot more important in the amplification and spread of disease. the soldiers are staying at a holiday parkjust up the coast, and they're all being tested. this is a major logistics challenge, initially for the next fortnight. the key is all about synchronising things and getting the right logistics in place, so the soldiers

have got to set up these test sites. we've got to advertise that to the people of liverpool. we've got to connect in with the nhs clinicians and our civilian team—mates, and integrating all of that little lot is the absolute prize. this is a large—scale pilot, open to half a million people. it will be watched closely to see how many come forward, how quickly the results are delivered and whether it can help us all control the spread of the virus. danjohnson, bbc news, liverpool. new coronavirus infections in england have stabilised at about 50,000 a day, according to the office for national statistics. its latest survey suggests the steep rise in cases had started to level off at the end of last month. so, what effect could the new lockdown have? 0ur health correspondent james gallagher has this assessment. lockdown is the measure nobody wanted, but the government has decided we need.

the aim is to avoid hospitals buckling under the weight of coronavirus and to stop people dying. the number of covid patients in hospital is already rising. without a lockdown, there are fears about the nhs‘s ability to cope with covid and the impact it would have on other patients too. remember, this virus can spread easily. at the start of the pandemic the number of people each infected person passed the virus onto, known as the r number, was three. this is explosive growth. the changes we all made to our lives did make a difference. 0n the eve of lockdown, the r number was around 1.2. look at the impact — the virus was spreading far more slowly. but cases were still growing. lockdown should make it so hard for the virus to spread that cases actually fall. but we don't know how

well it's going to work. there are around 50,000 people being infected every day. some estimates suggest that, after a brief rise, infections could fall by more than two—thirds by the end of lockdown. but in a worst case, four weeks of pain might lead to just a 10% or 20% drop and leave us in a sticky situation. this huge uncertainty comes partly from schools. millions of children will still be in the classroom this time and we don't know what that means. it will take around two weeks before we can tell how well lockdown is working. the worry, though, is that as soon as we lift restrictions cases could start to rise again. some scientists think we could face yet more waves of covid that need to be controlled with a lockdown. the hope is this one will buy time

to research a vaccine, improve the testing programme or at least get us closer to spring, when the warmer weather will make it harder for the virus to spread. the government has defended data used in a presentation to justify the lockdown in england. a graphic shown at the downing street news conference on saturday suggested that up to 1,500 people could die with coronavirus every day by early december — but that figure has now been revised down. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley is in westminster. explain nick eardley is in westminster. what has happenec a explain what has happened. there was a whirlwind of data in that press conference on saturday and one of the slides in particularfrom conference on saturday and one of the slides in particular from the chief scientific adviser has caused some controversy because it suggested that in a scenario you could see up to 1500 deaths a day by early december. matters far more than in the first wave. but graf has had to be revised because the data showed that the figure was more

likely to be 1000 a day. still a huge number but more in line with what we saw in the first wave. the government is adamant this does not change the arguments around lockdown. it says the science is still clear that it is necessary. michael gove has been seeing today he is absolutely sure it was the right decision to make. pointing in particular to what james was just talking about, the figures around nhs capacity, seeing if we did not go into lockdown there is a risk the nhs would be overwhelmed. this matters because there are tory mps who are increasingly sceptical about some of the data they are seeing and they want more information about how some of the conclusions are being reached and at the same time the statistics authority said the government needs to be more transparent about the data to explain more to people how decisions are being made. number10 has explain more to people how decisions are being made. number 10 has said this afternoon it wants to make this

as transparent as possible. this is as transparent as possible. this is a row they probably could have done without. thank you. a covid testing app which was promoted by zara tindall, the queen's granddaughter, has been referred to the medical regulator because of concerns that its marketing contradicts government guidance. the v—health passport is intended to help get fans back to sporting events — and one of its adverts shows zara tindall and her husband mike having an antibody test, then being told they are clear of covid. lucy manning reports. it has high—level endorsements. hi, i'm zara tindall. an 0lympian who happens to be the queen's granddaughter. hi, i'm mike tindall. and her husband, a former england rugby player. it is an app launched to try to get covid—free spectators back watching sporting events. the fans can see and have the confidence to come back to the sport. but it has been reported to the medicines regulator and this is why. zara tindall takes an antibody test

and, a few minutes later, is told she is infection free. as you can see, you are clearly negative covid—19, covid infection. good news for you as well, mike, you are in the same situation, so it is just a valid test with no presence of covid—19. it would have been really awkward for you if one of us had had it and the other didn't. but antibody tests cannot tell if someone currently has covid, only possibly if they've had it in the past. there is a push to get fans back, but this is false information, claims the professor who put in the complaint. they take their masks off when they are told they do not have covid. we will all be thinking that we are safe at that point. so if people use these tests, they get a negative result and then they go and think that they have not got covid when they still could be infectious. that might mean that people don't social distance and so on. and that might increase the risk of actually spreading covid. antibody tests take blood and can potentially show people if they've had coronavirus previously. but the company says its antibody

test is different in that it can show people if they have covid three to four days after they've got the infection. but that could still miss those at the start of the disease. the company, vst enterprises, said the test chamber is illustrative. it said, "in this particular instance, the v—health passport was demonstrating how a rapid covid test kit could be used. it will work with any test that is recommended by government." zara tindall is not the queen's only grandchild involved with covid tests. peter philips‘ firm is much clearer that antibody tests should not be used to diagnose covid. but there is still doubt as to how useful they are at the moment. the vast majority of antibody tests for covid antibodies are not there yet. there are lots of good developments coming down, but they are not there yet. so you have to be very careful with these.

v—health could be a game changer for fans getting back to watching the sports they love. testing companies are trying to help the desire for life to resume, but there needs to be balance with the public being sure the tests do as they say. lucy manning, bbc news. a 74—year—old woman and her two sons from the rhondda in south wales have died of coronavirus within five days of each other. gladys lewis and her sons dean and darren, both in theirforties, lived in the same block of flats in treorchy. 0ur reporter stephen fairclough has been speaking to dean's widow claire, who's now self—isolating. eight days ago, gladys lewis lost her fight against covid. the following day, her oldest son dean died at his home. his youngest brother darren, who had down syndrome, died on monday. they all lived in different flats on this blog in treorchy. dean's wife claire is devastated.

my father—in—law is broken. he's lost his wife and his two children. and he keeps on saying to us, "it should have been me, "it should have been me." it's so difficult to try and help him. and hold me and my children together. because my children are absolutely devastated. and my sister—in—law, she doesn't know what to do with herself, she is the baby of the family. she's lost her two big brothers, who she absolutely idolised. my mother—in—law had a heart of gold. she worked most of her life in the care profession. in home care. she was old school carer. anything that anybody would need doing, she would do it. dean was, he had a heart of gold, like his mam. he would do anything for anyone. darren loved football, football was his life. and his soaps.

he would... he could light up a room. the community have been absolutely amazing. but people are still thinking that this is just a big joke and it's not real. believe me, it is bloody real. still gatherings going on, still people meeting up. and other things. people just don't seem to think that it matters, people don't think this is going to happen to them. well, look at our family. it has happened to us. friends have raised over £12,000 to help the family. there will be a joint funeral in two weeks. one more reminder of how covid continues to devastate families. stephen fairclough, bbc news, treorchy. though remembrance day services have been cancelled this year, the royal british legion is calling on the public to come together in other ways, to honour those who've served in the armed forces.

for the first time in the history of the poppy appeal, there won't be collectors on the streets — and people will observe the two—minute silence from their doorstep. graham satchell reports. bagpipes skirl. 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. can you see that all right? yes. how lovely! must be a very proud moment for you, betty. that 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. 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. 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. 0n 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 that 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. time for a look at the weather. here's louise lear. when i think of the month of november i think of fog and fireworks. we may not have had the

organised displays last night