this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. coronavirus breakthrough — relief as us pharmaceutical giant reveals a vaccine shown to be more than 90% effective. i've never felt professionally such a moment ofjoy, and we werejustjumping up and down in the chairs of joy for humanity, joy for medical advances to put an end to this dreadful pandemic. it comes as the us passes more than ten million cases. joe biden sets up a special task force — and this is his message on face coverings. a mask is not a political statement. but it is a good way to start pulling the country together. donald trump continues to claim the us election was stolen

from him and refuses to concede despite a lack of evidence. now he's sacked his defense secretary, mark esper. and understanding the history of human evolution — we find out what a team of researchers has learned — after digging up a two million—year—old skull. welcome to the programme. leading scientists are cautiously welcoming news of a new vaccine against coronavirus that's proved more than 90% effective in early results. the vaccine, developed by pharma giant pfizer and its partner biontech — has been tested on nearly a4,000 people in six countries, with no safety concerns being raised so far.

some experts though point out that the announcement was made on the basis of very early analysis, with the vaccine not yet formally approved. our medical editor fergus walsh reports. this is a huge day for science, and perhaps the world. for the first time, a covid—19 vaccine has been shown to protect against the disease. plenty of caution is needed, but the preliminary results of the pfizer—biontech trial are highly promising. there were more than 43,000 volunteers on the trial, which began in july. half got the coronavirus vaccine, half a dummy, or placebo jab. interim results showed 94 of the volunteers fell ill with coronavirus — nearly all in the non—vaccinated group. as a result, pfizer says the vaccine is more than 90% effective. it's such a great day for science and humanity. you know, i've never

felt, professionally, such a moment ofjoy. and we werejustjumping up and down with joy for humanity, joy for medical advances, to put an end to this dreadful pandemic. the vaccine uses a tiny amount of the genetic sequence of the spike protein which sits on the surface of coronavirus. synthetic material, known as rna, is injected into muscle cells in the arm. this stimulates the creation of antibodies — y—shaped proteins, which should bind onto coronavirus, preventing future infections. killer t cells are also produced. these should identify and destroy cells which have become infected. scientists around the world have moved at an extraordinary pace to develop coronavirus vaccines. there are 47 in human trials. the uk government has advance orders for six of them, including a0 million doses

of the pfizer—biontech vaccine. that's enough to immunise 20 million people, as you need two doses. pfizer says by the end of the year, 50 million doses will be available globally, but only a minority will come here, to the uk. the government's also ordered 100 million doses of the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. we're still awaiting their results. it's thought around four million doses will be available here by the end of the year. at the number ten press briefing, there was a sense of cautious optimism. of a significant moment in the fight against covid. i have to say that this is really a very important scientific breakthrough. i'm certain of that. but the prime minister said there were several hurdles to clear before the vaccine could be used. and he urged people not to slacken their resolve. we cannot let our enthusiasm tonight run

away with us, folks. i'm very sorry to say this. it's more vital than ever now that we follow the basics, that we wait and see whether this vaccine lives up to its promise, we continue with the measures we have in place. and many scientists agree that we can't be sure yet if this vaccine is a game changer. these are very early results. what we really need to wait for is the longer term follow—up of all these participants in the trial to understand how effective this vaccine is say, four, six months after receiving the doses. pfizer will apply for emergency authorisation for the vaccine. if regulators give approval, the first doses could be used here before christmas. a small first step towards ending the pandemic. let's hear more now from one of the people

in that report — mikael dolsten, the chief scientific officer at pfizer. he explained to fergus walsh more about how effective the vaccine actually is. i'm very pleased and excited and proud to share with you that the vaccine had more than 90% efficacy. as reported to us yesterday on sunday by the independent data monitoring community. so this is an amazing efficacy and on par with the best very well proven viruses such as for measles and ebola recently. very strong. now, there were more than 43,000 volunteers on the trial. how many cases of coronavirus we re how many cases of coronavirus were picked up and how many of those were in the vaccine group and in the placebo or dummy group? we reported 94 cases.

and i was only given the feedback or pfizer was given the feedback that it is more than 90% vaccine efficacy. to give you a comparative assessment, if there would've been 100 cases, this means that there would be more than 19 controlled in the less vaccinated. i have to say we only analyse these only months after starting the vaccination so after starting the vaccination so this was only the first earliest time point and there is actually even opportunity that the efficacy may continue to strengthen but it was more than 90% at this stage. so we should conclude from that, i know that the company yet does not have the actual numbers but we should conclude than that of the 94 who got infected, at least nine out of ten of those we re least nine out of ten of those were in those who got the dummy

jab? that's a good summary, a very good summary. and the world has been waiting for this news for a long time. how exciting is it to be part of this? we were sitting and waiting to hear back from the data monitoring community, a few of us with masks on. i have never felt professionally such a moment ofjoy. and we were justjumping up and down ofjoe for humanity, joy for medical advances to put an end to the strip pandemic. and a little later we'll be speaking to a scientist at the university of pittsburgh who is also working on a coronavirus vaccine. who is also working to who is also working see how optimistic he is about to see how optimistic he is about the new development. us president—electjoe biden has started asembling his team to prepare for taking over the presidency at the end of january. he spent the day

appointing members to his coronavirus task force. he said tackling the pandemic was key to rebuilding the us economy. the current occupant of the oval office, president trump, is still refusing to concede victory to mr biden. 0ur north america editor jon sopel reports. donald trump at his rallies repeatedly said that once the election was over, you'd not hear much more about covid. covid, covid! covid, covid, covid, covid! a plane goes down, 500 people dead, they don't talk about it. it's covid, covid, covid, covid. by the way, on november 4th, you won't hear about it any more. it's true. covid! fat chance. there's a fresh infection outbreak at the white house... because we follow the science... ..with his chief of staff and the person leading the legal fight against the results among those to have gone down with it. 10 million americans have now been infected. and from the president—elect today, a markedly different message. it doesn't matter your party,

your point of view. we could save tens of thousands of lives if everyone would just wear a mask for the next few months. not democrat or republican lives, american lives. shares in the us have soared on news from pfizer on the vaccine, an announcement welcomed byjoe biden and donald trump. but how the president must have wished it had come two weeks ago. the president spent the weekend playing golf, and while we know no more about his future, he today fired his defense secretary mark esper by tweet. well, not fired, he was terminated. donald trump hasn't spoken on camera since thursday, probably a record for this presidency. but his close aides are appearing, and to the question will he concede, this is the answer. that words not even in our vocabulary right now. we're going to go and pursue all of these legal means, all of the recount methods. we're going to continue exposing and investigating all these instances of fraud or abuse and make sure, again,

that the american public can have full confidence in these elections. as donald trump vows to explore all legal avenues to continue the fight, some around him are beginning to consider another option. it is that he eventually concedes, but then runs again in 2024. it's happened once before. in the late 19th century, president grover cleveland lost and fought again and won. with a crane appearing on the skyline today, it's perhaps confirmation that one way or another, donald trump is facing removal from the white house. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. well as you heard there, president trump is challenge the result of the election in key battleground states. earlier today one of the republican party's most prominent voices, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell spoke to lawmakers, and came to trump's defence.

if any major irregularities occurred this time of a magnitude that would affect the outcome, then every single american should want them to be brought to light. and if the democrats feel confident they have not occurred, they should have no reason to fear any extra scrutiny. we have the tools and institutions we need to address any concerns. the president has every right to look at allegations and to request recounts under the law. i'm nowjoined by republican strategist and consultant brett 0'donnell. he heads o'donnell and associates a political and corporate strategic communications consulting firm. you have worked i think with five presidential candidates preparing them for debates over the years. do you think any of them would have taken president trump bonsai position? well,

one of them did. george w. bush fought hard into thousand to ensure that every google vote was counted and when it was, he became president of the united states was a —— every legal vote. i think every american should want to make sure that every photo cast legally is counted and that those that aren't are not counted. —— every vote. i think that's what the president wants and i think that once we note that every legal vote has been counted and those that should not be counted are thrown out, then i think he will accept the results whether that means a second term or it means that joe biden becomes president. but the numbers are infinitesimal, aren't they? if you have 150 million voters and you have 150 million voters and you are quibbling over may be 5-10,000 you are quibbling over may be 5—10,000 votes, that's not going to swing it, is a? but it actually could. just as you said, 150 million people voted in the election but five states

have come down to roughly 120 to 130,000 votes that are in dispute. so, ithink to 130,000 votes that are in dispute. so, i think that if the campaign wages a good legal fight and makes sure that in those states where the race is extremely close, that every single vote that is being counted in that race should be counted in that race should be counted and those that are legal that should be counted are counted, then i think the campaign will be satisfied. but at this point there has been some descriptions of irregularities and so let's see. the president is entitled to make sure that the results of the election are fair and certified. do you think he has got a good chance? i don't know because i don't know what is happening in those states. but certainly we have seen the massive problem in michigan near traverse city where both

we re near traverse city where both were kinderforjoe biden that should've been counted for president trump. —— votes were counted. those folks were overturned and returned to president trump. let's just have a full investigation. look, the sanctity of the ballot box is critical to any democracy. and so every american, democrat or republican, should want a full accounting to make sure that every legal vote is counted. accounting to make sure that every legal vote is countedm he is forced out, do you think he is forced out, do you think he will go to the inauguration? i don't know about that. every president has. i think the president has. i think the president has. i think the president has said that if he loses fair and square, and he will accept the results and there will be a peaceful transition of power. that's what makes our democracy great. that's what makes any democracy great is the chance for the peaceful transition of power where there is a continuity of

government in the united states. and things are razor close, this election is razor close. we had the senate being decided on the backs of two senate races in georgia and the house of representatives, nancy plaza whilst seats come upwards of 12-14 plaza whilst seats come upwards of 12—14 in this last election for the —— nancy pelosi. we have a sharply divided country and it is important get this right. brett o'donnell, thanks for joining right. brett o'donnell, thanks forjoining us here in bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news the armenian prime minister says he's signed a deal with the leaders of azerbaijan and russia to end the conflict in nagorno—karabakh. nikol pashinyan promised to disclose details in the coming days, but described the deal as inexpressibly painful. russian peacekeepers are expected to be deployed to patrol the front lines. a number of ceasefire agreements were brokered during the conflict but all failed. about a thousand people have been killed during six weeks of the fighting.

at least 50 people have died in honduras since storm eta hit central america last week. a relief operation is under way in the country's economic heartland in the sula valey. the storm left a trail of destruction through central america after it made landfall in nicaragua on tuesday. in guatemala, around 150 people died or are missing in landslides. britain's prime minister boris johnson suffered a heavy defeat on monday over proposed laws that would allow him to breach the terms of britain's european union exit treaty. the house of lords voted to remove a key clause which would give ministers the power to unilaterally override parts of the exit treaty relating to northern ireland. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: waiting for the smoke to clear. joe biden is calling for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. could the biden presidency have a real impact on the climate?

the bombastic establishment outsider donald trump has defied the pollsters to take the keys to the oval office. i feel great about the election results. i voted for him because i genuinely believe that he cares about the country. it's keeping the candidate's name always in the public eye that counts. success or failure depends not only on public display but on the local campaign headquarters and the heavy routine work of their women volunteers. berliners from both east and west linked hands and danced around their liberated territory. and, with nobody to stop them, it wasn't long before the first attempts were made to destroy the structure itself. yasser arafat, who dominated the palestinian cause for so long, has died. the palestinian authority has declared a state of mourning. after 17 years of discussion, the result was greeted with an outburst ofjoy.

women ministers who'd long felt only grudgingly accepted among the ranks of clergy suddenly felt welcome. this is bbc news. the latest headlines. the first effective coronavirus vaccine has been developed, capable of preventing more than 90% of people from getting covid—19 — according to a preliminary analysis. but experts warn of logistical challenges ahead. the us meanwhile has passed ten million cases of coronavirus. president—electjoe biden has set up a special task force and called on americans to wear facemasks. more now on the vaccine development. dr paul duprex is based at the university of pittsburgh as is also working on a coronavirus vaccine.

i asked him where he is on the optimism batter on how successful this pfizer vaccine was. “— successful this pfizer vaccine was. —— optimism ladder. we should be cautiously optimistic. but isn't it wonderful that we can be optimistic? because vaccine development is hard. vaccine development is slow. but vaccine development is beset by many, many hurdles. and what we have today is interim early results from a vaccine modality that has never, ever been licensed before. so i think "cautious optimism" is a really good phrase that we use for where we are today. it's great to see the world's vaccine community come together and develop these creative, novel ways to deal with what is the scourge of humanity at the moment, covid—19. president—elect biden has made the fight against climate change one of his top four priorities calling for net zero

carbon emissions by 2050. 0ur science editor david shukman looks at the possible impact that a biden presidency could have on global efforts to tackle climate change. the battle to save our planet by getting climate under control. joe biden believes the changing climate is an urgent threat, unlike donald trump, who withdrew from the only international agreement to tackle it. the united states will withdraw from the paris climate accord. now there'll be a huge push for renewable energy — on an epic scale, says mr biden, for the us to be carbon neutral by 2050. a difficult challenge, but climate experts say it's needed. biden understands time is short and intends to act vigorously

and with the greatest ambition of any us president ever, internationally where he has huge authority. and that means huge incentives for other countries to reduce their emissions even as he tries to regulate us emissions ourselves. oh, my god. fires, droughts and all kinds of extreme weather are set to intensify as global temperatures rise. so mr biden promises action on his very first day in office. he's pledge to rejoin the paris agreement. negotiated five years ago amid great celebrations, it was then abandoned by mr trump. the agreement is about cutting the gases that are heating up the atmosphere, and many hope that it will make all the difference to have america, the world's largest economy, taking part once again. unless we all address climate change, we will all be vulnerable to climate change, so it is very refreshing

to know that we are going back into a collaborative frame of mind that helps everyone. but coal mining and many heavy industries are at stake. joe biden is offering green jobs instead, but he's bound to face opposition in the senate and maybe the courts as well. this comes as more than 100 countries are now talking of going carbon—neutral around the middle of the century, and america's new leader will be working to make that happen. david shukman, bbc news. australian researchers say the discovery of a 2 million—year—old skull in south africa has uncovered a new chapter in the story of how humans evolved. the fossil belonged to a small—brained, large toothed male. it took a week to excavate and more than 300 hours to put back together — a bit like a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing

and no picture to follow. now theirfindings have been published. earlier i spoke to the palaeoanthropologists who did just that — la trobe university husband and wife team jesse martin and angeline leece in melbourne. yeah, so there's really two things that makes this thing so significant. the first is that it is so complete and so beautifully preserved — which is just really uncommon in the fossil record. the second is that it actually represents a cousin species. it's not in our lineage. it's a side branch, but it lived on the landscape at the same time as our direct ancestor, homo erectus. and how many different species were there, jesse? well, this is a really interesting time period, two million years ago. we know from the site that we worked on that we had our earliest ancestor, homo erectus, and this this other really strange, small—brained big—toothed species called paranthropus robustus.

but from another site just down the road, we also know there is an australopithecus species called australopithecus sediba. it was really, really busy for human evolution two million years ago, and it would have been a lot of competition for our earliest ancestors. and angeline, the competition would have been, what, about survival. so if you are a meat eater, you are probably 0k because you could find different sources of meat, but not if you were a herbivore? that's right, and you mentioned that we had very small teeth, while paranthropus robustus had very large teeth and that is completely about dietary changes. so these three species are trying to live on the landscape and not outcompete each other. where our ancestor, homo erectus, was likely eating meat, para nthropus robustus was likely eating grasses and other hard foods so doing quite a lot of grinding and processing using those teeth.

that is it for me and the team. hello there, we've got a bit more murky weather to come over the next few hours. now, this weather watcher picture, i quite like it. this is the fourth rail bridge of course or at least half of it. the other half is subsumed beneath low cloud, the fog and the murk. futher southwards meanwhile, we've got these bands of rain crossing england and wales moving at a northeastward direction thanks to an area of low pressure. this weak low pressure is also drifting northeastwards. but some of this rain is actually washing the fog out of the atmosphere. so, it's not quite as murky as it has been. still some mist, still some cloud. the really dense fog is away from that rain across northeast england, particularly eastern scotland and some patches through the central belt. and where it is worse, the fog, visibility down to 100 metres so it is really quite dense. tricky travel conditions

are to be expected if you're out and about over the next few hours. a mild night though and a mild start to tuesday. this little low pressure will continue to push its way northeastwards with a few more bursts of rain during the morning, a lot of cloud and remember the murky weather too for east scotland, northeast england. that mist and fog taking awhile to lift into low cloud. through the day though, i'm optimistic that we'll see an improvement in the weather. a little bit more in the way of sunshine breaking through the cloud. there will still be a few showers dotted around, mind you, into the afternoon but it's another mild one. temperatures 13—15 celsius. there be some further change in the weather midweek though. another area of low pressure is going to move in. this one is much more potent. this band of rain will get all of us, and the rain will become really quite heavy and squally. so, sudden heavy downpours and as well as that, it's going to be very windy as well with the strongest winds just rolling in on and ahead of the front. also becoming quite when you just behind also becoming quite windyjust behind the front as it works and across the south

coast of england. now, the wind gusts could be stronger to bring down a few tree branches. so, we could see some localised disruption. and this band of squally rain with strong gusty winds will continue to push eastwards as we go on through wednesday night. now, as that band of rain clears eastwards, we'll see something of an improvement in the weather to take us into thursday as this ridge of high pressure builds in behind us. that means that we'll have some descending air. that will break the cloud up nicely and will see the weather brighten up with some decent spells of sunshine. thursday probably the sunniest day of the week but then further changes on friday. more rain is on the way.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the first effective coronavirus

vaccine has been developed, capable of preventing more than 90% of people from getting covid—19 — according to a preliminary analysis. the developers, pfizer and biontech, describe it as a "great day for science and humanity". but experts warn of logistical challenges ahead. as the us passes ten million cases of coronavirus, president—electjoe biden has set up a special task force, including specialists who have served both democratic and republican administrations. he has warned of the effects of a second wave and called on americans to wear facemasks and to follow other safety guidelnes. donald trump is still not accepting defeat in the us election, and his campaign team has filed a lawsuit against pennsylvania, alleging its mail—in voting system was neither transparent nor verifiable.