this is bbc news — with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm geeta guru—murthy. joe biden says he's confident he's going to win the us presidential election — and insists he will fight to ensure every vote is counted. the numbers tell us it's clear, tell us a clear and convincing story — we're going to win this race. joe biden is ahead in the four remaining states that will decide the outcome — where final ballots are still being counted. we'll bring you the latest in the race for the white house — we're live in washington shortly. a week into its second lockdown, france passes 60,000 coronavirus cases in a single day — its highest one—day total since the pandemic began. the uk government bans all visitors from denmark — due to outbreaks of a mutated form of coronavirus in the country's mink farms which has spread to humans.

scotland becomes the first nation in the uk to ban parents or carers from smacking or hitting their children. and, in half an hour here on bbc news — click scrubs up to meet the many—armed robot on wheels that's making keyhole surgery more available. hello, and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. stay calm, stay patient — the words ofjoe biden, who says he is on track to win the us presidency. speaking at his campaign headquarters a few hours ago, the democratic party candidate said he had a clear and convincing lead. this how the race looks four days on from election day.

mr biden has 253 electoral college votes, with president trump on 214. remember, 270 is the number required for victory. a final result is taking so long because they're still counting ballots in several knife—edge states, including pennsylvania and georgia. lebo diseko has the latest. joe biden supporters danced through the day and into the night in the city of philadelphia. their candidate's lead in this state is steadily growing and they can taste the victory. winning in pennsylvania would mean joe biden becomes the president. with the count nearing completion, he is inching his way there. but with some votes still to come in, it may be some time before a result is declared. we don't have a final declaration... on friday evening, joe biden addressed the nation. he stopped short of declaring victory, but his tone and message

deliberately presidential. the numbers tell us it's clear — tell us a clear and convincing story. we're going win this race. just look at what has happened since yesterday. 2a hours, we were behind in georgia. now we're ahead and we're going to win that state. 2a hours ago, we were behind in pennsylvania, and we are going to win pennsylvania. on twitter, donald trump again expressed frustration at seeing his election night lead "miraculously disappear." but it was the counting of postal votes that shifted the numbers so dramatically — a process donald trump had told his supporters not to trust. but as results trickle in from other battleground states, the picture building is not in his favour. in both nevada and arizona, joe biden‘s is ahead. georgia's results are so close, an automatic recount has been triggered but it's unlikely that would change

the result by more than a few hundred votes. donald trump has filed legal action in several states in an effort to turn his fortunes around, and there's no evidence of the widespread fraud that he alleges. the legal hurdles may create a bumpy path, butjoe biden increasingly seems to be on firm footing on his road to the white house. and i've been speaking to lebo about the current position of the republican establishment. certainly, mitch mcconnell the senate majority leader, the leader of the republicans in the senate essentially, has tweeted saying that all the votes need to be counted and that illegal votes should not be counted. that isn't really evidence, they haven't presented evidence of widespread illegal votes cast. but he also said that the opportunity to challenge things in court is part of the american way. and, key, he said there will be a peaceful transfer of power.

some people have raised that as a concern. certainly, donald trump's children have said on twitter that they are not happy that the republican leadership has not been more vocal in supporting their father. mike pence then shortly came out and tweeted his support for the president, saying he stands by him. reports thatjoe biden is assembling a leadership team, i'm sure those negotiations have been going on for some time in the event that victory is declared? i would imagine they have been going on for quite some time. what's interesting is that they have almost started acting like a transitional team is in place. as if they have already had that victory. we saw the address thatjoe biden gave to the american people, very presidential in its tone. he is steering away from declaring victory, he has not done that as yet, but he is certainly acting

as if victory is his already. you keep being asked this and you can't tell us exactly, but is it likely that the us tv networks will declare will declare forjoe biden this weekend, today, tomorrow? i would be a rich, rich woman if i knew the answer to that! we had thought that maybe there might be a declaration yesterday, it may come over the weekend, there are still votes being counted. the key state to watch is pennsylvania because ifjoe biden takes that, if that state declares forjoe biden, it is the state that decides whether he has won or not, then that pushes him over that 270 mark there. georgia as well is doing the end of its counting and then it will begin its recount. recounts generally do not

really shift things much, there were recounts last time round in 2016, only a couple of votes added. even in the infamous 2000 controversial election, there was onlyjust over 1000 votes that were different after recounts there. the gap between donald trump and joe biden may be growing — but the race in the remaining battleground states is still incredibly close. reeta chakrabarti takes a look at the electoral map and where the presidency will be decided. this is the state of play at the moment. this is the electoral map, and you can see the states in grey are the ones that are still to be decided, and there are some very close races going on. it's so close in georgia that they're going for a recount. arizona is also extremely close. pennsylvania in the east, which we have all been focused on all day, well, there we have seenjoe biden edge his way past donald trump. and the democrats are now confident that they will take pennsylvania. what happens if they do?

well, let me turn pennsylvania blue using the blue pen, and you can see that takes joe biden past and you can see that takesjoe biden past takesjoe biden past the winning line, and he will then have won the election. but what's interesting... i will take pennsylvania away from him. joe biden has other routes to the white house too. let's assume that he succeeds in keeping nevada — hillary clinton won that in 2016 — and that he manages to flip arizona as well. that gets him to 270 as well. so there are different routes forjoe biden to the white house. i will return the map to the state of play to show you that for donald trump, it's more difficult. he's got to win pennsylvania. and then also three of the four other major swing states in order to stay in the white house. a much more uphill task. daniel lippman is a white house reporter for politico and joins us live from washington. in sorry to ask the same old boring

question, but when do you thing we will actually get this race called? i have been wrong in the last couple of days, as has everyone in washington who expected an early result. people thought it would be a landslide on election day and that is not proved to be in the case. the smart money is sometime this weekend, given that bayad in‘s lead in pennsylvania is only growing, making it much harderfor trump to claw back to a victory in that state. —— given thatjoe biding's lead. tom will not have to concede, does he? what you think the republican establishment view if it is called forjoe biden?” republican establishment view if it is called forjoe biden? i think they will say congratulations to president—elect biden and they will call for a peaceful transfer of power. there is no scenario that trump is going to stay in office and get dragged out by security agents

onjanuary get dragged out by security agents on january 20. he get dragged out by security agents onjanuary 20. he recognises that would be terrible for his brand, which has already suffered enough. even his voters and supporters who recognise that they bossed, that would not endear him to then, as unions claim to be loyal to him for the next four years as he markets a book and goes on a speaking tour does his various real estate projects. i think you will go quietly. he will always claim that this was a fraudulent election, but he won't try to stay in office like some dictator. how long can any legal challenges delay final confirmations? for a few weeks, they can have a legal challenges, but eventually i think comp would just recognise reality and not file any more legal challenges once the courts are saying the game is up. when they certify a lot of those results, that is basically an

indication that you can't really reverse. the new york times is reporting thatjoe biden might in on some key appointments to his team as early as this week. isn't that what you're hearing? can you shed any light on who those names might be? that is generally driving with what i'm hearing, but it depends on them winning, not to put the cart before the horse. people like ron mcclain, who was vice president chief of staff, is likely to be the chief of staff, is likely to be the chief of staff in this new white house. the former secretary of defence for secretary of state. there are a number of interesting candidates, including susan rice, although she would be harder to get confirmed because there is likely to be a republican senate, meaning a lot of those appointments are going to be more moderate. the base will not be

happy, but they recognised the senate will be controlled by mitch mcconnell, at least injanuary, so that things are much harder for them to ram through liberals. in terms of the republican base, how many of them are buying the line from tom that this election might be stolen from them? and how many do you think will broadly support whatever the confirmed outcome is? even trump's campaign and white house staff are planning their next move, figuring out how to getjobs new to washington. i think there will a lwa ys washington. i think there will always be some portion of the base, maybe 20—25%, who will say that the election was stolen. most republicans, even those who support trump, they recognise reality so they are not going to be like the last japanese soldiers on that island fighting in world war ii fighting years after the election is

over. so, chance that hasn't been to the white house in several days? one a senior official at left his job on friday. 0ther campaign staffers are looking forjobs on capitol hill. very interesting, many thanks indeed for your time. it's now certain that the balance of power in the us senate won't be known until january. neither of the two senate races in georgia produced a clear winner, with no one securing more than the required 50% of votes. it means that two run—off elections will be held on january 5. earlier i spoke to former foreign office minister, sir alan duncan, about what impact would a change in the presidency have on the relationship between the us and the uk. i hope we have, but i think given covid and the nature of the trump presidency, that's probably presidency,

that's probably less than one normally might have seen. i think the trigger point is when the whole of the american system says, "we now have a president—elect." then there isn't so much protocol as a bit of a race, where you want to be one of the early ones to have a conversation with the president—elect, out of basic courtesy to congratulate him, but also to begin on the working relationship which will then inevitably follow. it is a bit of a race because there are always people who will say that someone else got there first and therefore you do not matter any more. so it is not so much protocol as clever diplomacy to try and get near the front of the queue in order to say, well done, mr president elect. given that the closeness of boris johnson and donald trump, will we have fallen down the list fallen down the list of european leaders

thatjoe biden‘s team will get in touch with? i think the hard truth is that the special relationship has has for some time been becoming less special. i think we had a defence and security relationship. i think however we have become less confident in our own foreign policy, where we have become supplicants, sucking up a lot, as the main element of our foreign policy. of course, if the whole administration has had rather sycopha ntic changes, then the whole foreign policy looks different. for instance, there is the personality of the borisjohnson and donald trump relationship, where they are seen to be similar in some ways. i think that brexit will have turned out to be entirely negative. 0ne, because of the personalities involved around it. i think that trump was very pro, biden was almost certainly against it.

that makes the relationship between the presidency and europe more complicated, it makes us more separate. crucially, the whole issue of the island issue of the island of ireland enters into the mix in the way that hasn't done as awkwardly until now. donald trump's chief of staff, mark meadows, has reportedly tested positive for covid—19. mr meadows made headlines in 0ctoberfor saying "we're not going to control the pandemic," as cases surged across the us. mr meadows was last seen at a white house party on election night. his condition and the circumstances of how he might have become infected are so far unclear. france has recorded more than 60,000 new coronavirus infections — its highest daily total since the start of the pandemic. the country — like a lot of europe — is one week into a second lockdown, with the aim of curbing the spread of coronavirus. meanwhile, denmark has begun culling its mink population because it's worried about a coronavirus mutation found in the animal.

paul hawkins reports. staff working flat—out at the victor provo hospital in northern france. intensive care capacity has been increased from 20 to 30 beds in recent weeks, as more covid patients than the first wave come in. translation: at the beginning of the second wave, it was more vulnerable people and elderly people coming to the hospital. but for several weeks now, that is no longer the case. the average age of patients in the unit has lowered. we have people aged a0 or 30 who had to be ventilated. the government claims that intensive care units like this one will be overwhelmed by the middle of november without the current lockdown. france hit its highest one—day total since the pandemic began with just over 60,000 coronavirus cases. that is why, until the 1st of december, people can only leave their homes to go to work, to buy essential goods,

seek medical help or to exercise. in italy, it is a similar story. much of the country is in lockdown, including here in milan, capital of the lombardy region, where the one—day death toll hit 445, a six—month record. bars and restaurants here are also shut, but people can exercise near their homes if they wear masks. hairdressers remain open. so, too, are the country's eight mink farms. animal rights groups are calling for them to be shut down by january. there are fears the animals could become contaminated with a mutant form of coronavirus, similar to the one found in mink in denmark which affected 12 people. the danes are the world's biggest producer of mink fur. but that hasn't stopped the cull of all 70 million animals in denmark in an effort to stop the disease spreading further. this unique mutation has a reduced response to antibodies, which can ultimately affect the efficiency of a potential vaccine.

that is why denmark isn't taking any risks. 0ur correspondent andy moore is in denmark and has the latest. these are some of the toughest restrictions imposed yet by the uk on another country since this pandemic began. there are about four flights arriving in the uk today from denmark, there is a ferry due to arrive near grimsby later this afternoon. the first british airways flight has already arrived at heathrow this morning, i think you can bet that the passengers on board that plane would have been the subject of special attention from the border authorities. the new regulations, basically, if you're a british national you will have to go into quarantine for two weeks with your family. if you passed through denmark, even in transit, in the last fortnight, test and trace

will be onto you and will be telling you you must also isolate for a period of two weeks after you left. denmark — if you're a foreign national, you will not be allowed into the uk. it's that decisive, you just will not be allowed in. so what is the concern? this is a new variant of coronavirus, it is spread from humans to mink, then from the mink back to humans. it's believed to have affected 200 people in denmark. one particular strain that seems to have affected 12 people is causing a lot of concern. the danish authorities say it's very serious, they think it might be resistant to a vaccine. so the attitude of the british authorities at the moment is, "let's close the gate, raise the drawbridge, try and do all we can to stop this new strain coming into the uk. and then later on we can figure out with the who, with other

scientists, to figure outjust how dangerous this strain might be." but at the moment they just want to stop it getting into the uk. greece has become the latest european country to reimpose a lockdown as infection rates rise throughout the continent. for the next three weeks, people can leave their homes only for work or a small number of specific reasons and must text a central hotline in advance. greece was reporting about 400 cases a day at the end of october — the number is now six times higher. all non—urgent operations have been cancelled at several major hospitals in greater manchester and birmingham, in england, because of an increase in covid—19 patients. the trusts say they're having to divert resources away from procedures like hip and knee replacements, but that cancer treatment and life—saving care were to remain a "priority." in a small number of hospitals,

there will be a few patients who won't get the treatment that they need as quickly as possible. but obviously, what will happen is that those patients will be prioritised on the basis of clinical need. of course, hospitals will do all of the important emergency surgery but it means that, for example, people who might need knees replaced or who might need hips replaced, they will take a bit longer than the hospital would ideally like, but if you have got your beds full of covid patients, there really is not much choice. scotland's ban on parents smacking their children has become law today, making it the first part of the uk to ban physical punishment of under—16s. it means that parents and carers will no longer be able to use physical force to discipline their children, as india grant reports. scotland is going to be the first country in the uk to ban smacking. it comes with a question mark about how much the state can intervene in how parents discipline their children. i completely agree with it and i'm quite glad that scotland is one of the first countries in the uk to actually implement it. however i think there's more

measures that need to support it. it doesn't really affect me in the slightest, we don't use smacking because it wouldn't work with our two, they don't care. i think for some it's probably now a safer option because some people would probably use more force than is necessary. i don't think there's ever a reason you should hit children. i don't think there should ever be an excuse. the loophole that's been there, i don't think that should have ever have been allowed to be there. the new law doesn't actually create a new offence, itjust removes the defence of reasonable chastisement of a child. in scotland, it was already illegal to physically punish a child in another way — using an implement, shaking them or hitting them on the head. but now any form of physical discipline is illegal, even if it's a lighter slap on the child's arm or bottom. the only exception is if you're protecting a child from physical danger, say, if they are about to run into a road.

i spoke to one lawyer who said that the law could still be challenged. there is always scope for a human rights challenge. recent history tells us that when the state intervenes on parenting issues, interest groups have got involved. so it remains to be seen whether there will be a human rights challenge. the bigger question is whether such a challenge would be successful. how easy it this going to be to enforce? this is going to be a matter for the police to sort out. one would hope the police would exercise their discretion, and one would hope the prosecution will do likewise in cases like that. the law comes into force today, with wales also banning samcking in two years time. the question now is whether the rest of the country follows suit. the president of guatemala has warned that as many as 150 people may have died during storm eta. bad weather has hampered rescue efforts while roads are still blocked

and large areas remain flooded. dozens of houses have been buried in mudslides caused by torrential rains. the turkish president, recep tayyip erdogan, has fired the central bank governor — as the currency continues to fall in value against the dollar. the governor had been in thejob for less than 18 months. the turkish lira fell below eight to the dollar last month for the first time. brazil's main environmental groups say carbon emissions rose by 10% last year, threatening to undermine the country's commitments under the paris climate accord. the climate 0bservatory said increased deforestation in the amazon was the main cause. it blamed the policies of president bolsonaro. brazil released nearly 2.1 billion tonnes of c02 into the atmosphere last year. the actor, johnny depp, says he has been asked to resign from the latest fantastic beasts film after losing a libel case over a newspaper article, which called him a wife beater. warner brothers thanked depp for his work so far, but said the role of the dark

wizard, gellert grindelwald, would now be re—cast. you're watching bbc news. i'm geeta guru—murthy, thanks very much for being with us. high street chains, edinburgh woollen mill and ponden home, have been placed into administration — putting thousands ofjobs at risk. more than 860 workers have already been made redundant at the clothing and homeware stores. the chain's owner is still trying to strike rescue deals to save its other businesses. our business correspondent, emma simpson, reports. edinburgh woollen mill — a business that relied on older shoppers and tourists, but they have stayed away from the high street during the pandemic, and the business has been head measuring sales. it's proved too much. before the pandemic, the chain had 384 stores across the uk. 56 have already closed and 750 staff

made redundant. the jobs 56 have already closed and 750 staff made redundant. thejobs of 56 have already closed and 750 staff made redundant. the jobs of the remaining 1800 strong workforce are 110w remaining 1800 strong workforce are now at risk. its sister chain, ponden home, has also collapsed. it had 73 stores at more than 300 staff. eight shops and concessions have close so far and 106 and workers let go. this retail group also owns a stable of other brands, including peacocks, its fate is hanging in the balance. more time has been given to see if these businesses can secure a rescue deal. it has been about week fourjob losses in retail. firstjohn lewis with 1500 votes to go at head office. then sainsbury‘s and the news that 3500 workers would lose theirjobs here and it would close most of his argos stand—alone stores. now the whole future of this chain is in doubt as administrators raced to find a solution. now it's time for a look

at the weather with tomasz. well, for some of us this morning, it was a bit foggy and misty, but plenty of sunshine out there too. not a bad day for most of us. in fact, beautiful weather across scotland — the lowlands, the lake district, into lancashire. some of that mist and murk lingering a little bit further south and east. temperatures not bad today — 16 in the south, cooler in the north, around 8 for glasgow and edinburgh. a touch of frost early in the night for scotland, but through the night the clouds will increase, and that heralds a change for tomorrow. sunday is expected to be overcast across the bulk of the uk for most of the day. some rain around too, flirting with parts of wales and northern ireland. the heavier rain will be further west. in the east, you mightjust end up with a cloudy day. the chances are it'll brighten up in the south during the afternoon. promising temperatures — 16 in the south, 11 in the north.

this is bbc news. the headlines: joe biden says he is confident he is going to win the us presidential election but insists he will fight to ensure every vote is counted. the numbers tell us a clear and convincing story. we are going to win this race. joe biden is ahead in the four remaining states that will decide the outcome, with the final ballots being counted. donald trump remains defiant vowing to press ahead with legal challenges. a week into the second lockdown, grants passis into the second lockdown, grants pass is 60,000 covid—19 cases in a single day, its highest since the pandemic began. the uk government has banned visitors to denmark due toa has banned visitors to denmark due to a mutated form of the coronavirus ina mink to a mutated form of the coronavirus in a mink farm which has spread to humans. scotland became the first nation in the uk to ban parents