good afternoon. it's been four days since the us election and, still, no result has been declared. in his latest speech to the american public, democratic challengerjoe biden says he is going to win. he's ahead in the four remaining states that will decide the outcome, where final ballots are still being counted. donald trump currently trails joe biden by 39 votes in the electoral college. whoever gets to 270 first will become president. lebo diseko reports. joe biden‘s 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's 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 to 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 leads 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 isn't in his favour. in both nevada and arizona, joe biden is ahead. georgia's results are so close that an automatic recount has been triggered, but it's unlikely it 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. cheering lebo diseko, bbc news, washington. our north america correspondent, gary o'donoghue, joins me now from washington. gary o'donoghue, joins me gary. gary o'donoghue, joins me yes, still counting in ti crucial gary. yes, still counting in those crucial states continuing. pennsylvania where much of the focuses. the lead there currently for biden is 29 thousand votes and they have counted around 96% of the voting in its entirety. a lot of the remaining voting is in strong democratic areas so joe remaining voting is in strong democratic areas sojoe biden expects to extend his lead there. anotherfigure for you, expects to extend his lead there. another figure for you, joe biden expects to extend his lead there. anotherfigure for you, joe biden is up anotherfigure for you, joe biden is up by anotherfigure for you, joe biden is

up by about 4.2 million votes on donald trump. it is a substantial national majority. not the thing that gets you president, that is the electoral college. if you look at the other states where the counting is continuing, in georgia, arizona, nevada, joe biden is ahead on that score as well. all focus on pennsylvania. once that is called, joe biden becomes the president—elect. but the legal challenges continue, the recount will continue in places like wisconsin and georgia, but those don't really change much. one thing to finish off with, in wisconsin in 2016, 10,000 to finish off with, in wisconsin in 2016,10,000 majority, 20,000 majority for donald trump there. the recount actually only changed 131 votes. gary o'donoghue in washington, many thanks. the uk has imposed an immediate ban on all visitors from denmark,

amid concerns about a new coronavirus strain that has spread to humans from mink. uk nationals or residents will be able to return to britain from denmark, but will have to isolate for 1h days. katie prescott is at heathrow. yes, this announcement was made during what is called the golden hour, at four o'clock this morning, when most planes are on the ground. the sudden nature of it really shows how concerned the government is about this mutating strain of coronavirus moving from mink farms in denmark into the human population, affecting about 200 people so far. it means anyone now travelling from denmark from danish territories into the uk will be banned from entering unless they are a british citizen, a uk resident or a british citizen, a uk resident or a visa holder, in which case, they will have to quarantine for 1h days. how we can also affects pilots and cabin crew of those flights coming in from denmark. that's quite a challenge also to track down anyone who has arrived from denmark in the last 1a days, before this ban was imposed, in order to try and get

them to sail a site as well and that process is ongoing. we are not expecting huge amount of disruption —— to self—isolate. travel is really limited, it may affect a few businesses, and in terms of businesses, and in terms of businesses, freight and holly are allowed to continue bringing things into the uk, or bell that might well change today, the government has said to expect an announcement on that later —— although that might well change. thank you very much. let's take a look at some of today's other news. it's understood borisjohnson and the european commission president, ursula von der leyen, have spoken today to discuss progress in brexit trade talks. ahead of the call, sources on both sides described it as a stock—take. formal negotiations are due to resume in london on monday. a uk negotiating source told the bbc discussions could still "go either way." scotland has become the first part of the uk to ban the smacking of children, after legislation passed through the scottish parliament last year takes effect today.

the changes see scotland become the 58th country to outlaw corporal punishment, after the removal of the defence of justifiable assault. greece has become the latest european country to reimpose a national lockdown, after seeing a 20% increase in coronavirus cases over the past week. for the next three weeks, people will only be allowed to leave their homes for work or a limited number of other reasons and must text a central hotline in advance. the bbc is expected to hold a new inquiry into claims that the journalist martin bashir misled the brother of the late princess diana, in order to gain access to herfor an interview in 1995. the daily mail has published what the earl spencer says are notes made during a meeting, in which he claims mr bashir fabricated allegations about members of the royal family, in order to gain his trust. in the year which marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the second world war, this weekend's remembrance services will be a far more sedate affair,

with people being urged not to leave their homes to pay tribute to those who have fought and lost their lives in favour on socially distanced events. our correspondent jon donnison reports. unlike last year, there will be no crowds at the cenotaph this sunday. in these strange times, remembrance day too will be a little different. with much of the uk under partial lockdown, people are being asked not to take part in traditional services honouring the millions who fought and lost their lives. at the royal albert hall, the royal british legion‘s festival of remembrance was socially distanced and addressed by prince charles. in this challenging year, we have perhaps come to realise that the freedoms for which they fought are more precious than we knew, and that the debt we owe them is even greater than we imagined. at the festival, which will be broadcast on bbc one this evening, the duchess of cornwall paid tribute to both nhs and military nurses

who have battled the pandemic. as we know, behind each act of service lies a sacrifice. this can take many forms — missing your much—needed rest, enforced separation from your families, and even putting your own lives at risk. today, as we reflect on sacrifice, we remember those nurses who have given their lives in the fight against covid. this year, more than ever, for many remembrance day will be a time for quiet reflection, at home. jon donnison, bbc news. and you can see the royal british legion‘s festival of remembrance tonight at ten past nine on bbc one. with all the sport now, here's sarah mulkerrins at the bbc sport centre.

good afternoon. the first round of the fa cup is under way, with non—elite clubs involved — they've been given special permission to play, despite the latest lockdown rules barring grassroots sport. tonbridge angels of the national league south are taking on league two's bradford city. and the visitors are already 2—nil up. anthony o'connor and billy clarke with the goals. you can watch that on the bbc sport website and iplayer — and on bbc two at 5:30, it's fc united of manchester against doncaster rovers. everton are taking on manchester united in the lunchtime kick—off in the premier league. and after going behind, united are 2—1 ahead, bruno fernandez with both their goals. later on, chelsea, who're seventh, face sheffield united, who are trying not to think about their position at the bottom of the table. it's difficult not to look at league

tables, i have always said that, i have tried not to look and i have told the players not to look because it does last for a few months. and there are quite a number of games left for us to change the position of the football club and that is what we believe we can do. winger anthony watson will miss england's first autumn nations cup match, against georgia next saturday. he's played a big part in england's six nations triumph this season and he started the victory over italy that secured the title a week ago. but he has an ankle problem and has been left out of the training squad. australia just edged past new zealand by 2a points to 22 in an ill—tempered tri—nations match in brisbane, to avenge last week's record defeat. both sides had a man sent off in the first half — flanker lachlan swinton becoming the first australian player to be red—carded on his test debut, for planting a shoulder into the jaw of sam whitelock. taniela tupou scored the second of austrlia's two tries and they held off a late all blacks fightback, wallabies winger marika koroibete with two brilliant tackles in the dying seconds.

cricket now, and england's nat sivver helped melbourne stars to victory over perth scorchers in the women's big bash league. she took two wickets — removing opener beth mooney with the catch as well. the stars were set 119 to win and sivver scored 33 not out, as they won by eight wickets. that's all the sport for now. you can see hello, you're watching the bbc news channel — with me, geeta guru—murthy. 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 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. our correspondent, james clayton, is in nevada — where the atmosphere is still very tense. this is obviously a very close election here in nevada. we are about 50 metres away from clark county election centre, where they're counting the vast majority of the ballots left to be counted in nevada, and there's a big trump demonstration just outside. people are carrying flags, people are carrying signs saying "stop the steal." obviously, this is a crowd that is extremely annoyed, peeved,

about what they see as a grievance of voterfraud. i have to say, there is no evidence that has been presented of voter fraud here so far. but that's what this crowd passionately believe. there are also, i have to say, qanon flags here and proud boys flags here, that group linked to white supremacy. there are a lot of guns here, we've seen people carrying... there's one gun over there, i'm not a gun expert but it looks like a semiautomatic gun. as you can see, things are quite heated here. they feel passionately that trump can still win this. obviously, when people are carrying guns, when people are this angry, tensions can rise. there are worries that perhaps in the next few days — at the moment, this is fairly good natured — that in the next few days

this could really turn, the mood could get sour and things could really boil over. that's the worry. at the moment, it's ok here. with me is our world affairs editor, john simpson. obviously, nothing is confirmed yet, but if this is the end of the trump era, how would you reflect on this? has this been an aberration any sense within the us democracy or a change to a micro—sign of changing politics? there has been a change in politics, otherwise trump could not have been elected in the first place and it stayed there. i think this looks as though this is the end of a very, very turbulent and difficult period, not just very, very turbulent and difficult period, notjust in america but around the world. nato has suffered terribly over the last four years. america's relationship with other

countries has suffered very, very badly. i think the first thing joe biden will do, assuming he does become president, is to get on the phone with all the nato leaders and try to kind of win them back into the fold. of course, he will be talking to britain about brexit too. you have met joe talking to britain about brexit too. you have metjoe biden, what kind of man is he? he is very much an american politician. i mean, he looks good and looks are kind of the most important thing, in some ways, at that kind of level. i would say, he is not like clinton, a sort of brilliant intellectual, or obama himself who he served on there. but he is bright, he knows how to argue a case. but the key thing i think about him is that he is instinctively a kind of agreement

man. he has promised already to reach across the aisle to republicans, he did that in the past. he was doing that when i actually met him in 1995i think it was. he has got real abilities to win over people of different political persuasions. he does have an extraordinary personal back story. how much does that matter in us politics? i think it does matter a lot. it matters mostly in the way that ordinary people relate to him, and it is possibly easier to relate tojoe biden, and it is possibly easier to relate to joe biden, the and it is possibly easier to relate tojoe biden, the man who grew up with a bad starter, a working, lower—middle—class background who made spectacularly good. the irishness of his background. all of these things are attractive to

american voters. when we look at where we are now, obviously still in a very fragile state within the base position, trump does not look like he wants to concede. lots of comparisons and fears about authoritarian instincts. you have met and covid many real authoritarian regimes, how would you put the current state of democracy, is it fragile or not? i personally don't think it is fragile at all. i think a country that can absorb four yea rs of think a country that can absorb four years of the most disruptive and at least controlled president in its history and can have an election in which he is voted out, not by a very large majority, is a country with a very strong system indeed. it looks chaotic. the chinese and russians both loved it, they say is this the kind of system that you want? but in fa ct kind of system that you want? but in fact it will work, it will produce a

new president. i think after a while, trumpism will start to fade. what does that mean for other readers here? we mentioned brexit, borisjohnson is seen as an ally and style a nd borisjohnson is seen as an ally and style and instincts to trump. or that reflect badly on the british government, will it bode ill for a potential trade deal? joe biden really doesn't like borisjohnson, and he said some quite hostile things about him. he certainly doesn't like a brexit. at the same time, ithink doesn't like a brexit. at the same time, i think is actually an anglophile. i think we will see him judging everything to do with britain and brexit through the prism of ireland. how it affects ireland, how bad it will be for ireland if, for instance, there is a no—deal brexit. personally i think that now

that biden seems to be coming in, i think we will hear a lot less about a no—deal brexit because i think america would really set its face against that. presumably, there will bea against that. presumably, there will be a trade agreement between britain and america, because there has been probably on a very much the lines already negotiated. in a broader way, if trump goes, does it change the way the style of leadership, not only for boris johnson about for bolsonaro or president modi, or others who have developed a certain brand of politics? i think the key to that kind of populist government will have vanished. i think every populist, i'm not really including borisjohnson in this because i don't think he is entirely a

populist, but people like bolsonaro, for instance, they are only there because trump was there. with trump gone, i think the gas goes out of the building as far as they are concerned. britain is entirely in a different position, but thejohnson government is going to have to find a way of coming to terms with the biden government, a very different government from the one it has been used to. china, a lot of questions whether biden will take a gentler sta nce whether biden will take a gentler stance towards china, but the democrats have got major concerns on that front? biden has said he will not be soft on china and i don't see how he could be. i think in that respect, donald trump has kind of establish new sets of goalposts, and i think it would be impossible for joe biden to go back to a gentler,

easier, more friendly relationship with china. i think he's got to be as firm as donald trump, otherwise he won't look weak. the same will have to be true of russia too. finally, what have you made of the last roller—coaster few days? how big a shift is it? i saw the 2000 election, i was there in florida. that was nail—biting. i haven't got an awful lot of news left, really. many thanks, john simpson. donald trump's chief of staff, mark meadows, has reportedly tested positive for covid—19. mr meadows made headlines in octoberfor 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. 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 have been 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 will 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 smacking in two years time. the question now is whether the rest of the country follows suit. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. i hear is sunny here in london? it is for many

this afternoon. for some, sunny here in london? it is for many this afternoon. forsome, it sunny here in london? it is for many this afternoon. for some, it is very misty and foggy outside forces. fog lingering across north—east parts of england, some to the east of wales, that now clearing. one cloud is pushing in from the south—west bringing the odd isolated showers across parts of devon, cornwall, may be south—west wales. is pushing in from the south—west bringing the odd isolated showers across parts of devon, cornwall, may be south—west wales. as they strive for most of us and it's only fog lingers, temperatures in that 4 or 5 degrees at most today. more in the way of general blue cloud development across the country overnight as it turns which are for northern ireland, wales, the south—west, the temperatures do not drop away too much to stop clear skies across parts of scotland, temperatures could drop below freezing for one or two. fairly cloudy, outbreaks of rain pushing off what you might try and brighter for the afternoon for northern ireland, wales and some parts of england. a damp afternoon

for scotland and parts of north—east england. bye for now. in our this is bbc news. the headlines: joe biden says he is confident he is going to win the us presidential election and 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 which will decide the outcome where the ballots are still being counted. donald trump backed by his supporters remains defiant, vowing to press ahead with a legal challenge. france passes 60,000 coronavirus cases in a single day, its highest total since the pandemic began. the uk government has banned visitors from denmark due toa has banned visitors from denmark due to a mutated form of coronavirus in

minkfarms to a mutated form of coronavirus in mink farms which has spread to humans in the country. now, catch her if you can, mariam mola is a self—made businesswoman and a courier con artist, in this game of cat and mouse she is exposed by her victims as the