this is bbc news: i'm mike embley with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. coronavirus breakthrough — relief as us pharmaceutical giant reveals a vaccine it shows is more than 90% effective. i have never felt professionally such a moment of i°y professionally such a moment of joy and we were justjumping up and down in the shares ofjoy for humanity and medical advances, to put an end to this dreadful pandemic. it comes as the us passes more than 10 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 defence secretary, mark esper. hello to you. 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—i9 vaccine has been shown to protect against the disease. plenty of caution is needed but the preliminary results of the pfizer biontech trial a highly promising. there were more than 43,000 volunteers on the trial which began in july. 43,000 volunteers on the trial which began injuly. half got the coronavirus vaccine. half are dummy or placebo jab. interim results showed 94 of the volunteers fell ill with covid—i9. nearly all of them in the nonvaccinated group. as a result, pfizer says the vaccine is more than 90% effective. it's such a great day for science and humanity. i've never felt, professionally, such a moment ofjoy. and we we re such a moment ofjoy. and we werejumping up and down in the shares of joyful humanity werejumping up and down in the shares ofjoyful humanity and i°y shares ofjoyful humanity and joy for medical advances, to put an end to this dreadful

pandemic. the vaccine uses a tiny amount of the genetic sequence tiny amount of the genetic sequence of the spike proteins 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, why shape proteins that should bind onto coronavirus, preventing future infections. killer t cells are also produced. they should identify and destroy cells which 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 40 million doses of the pfizer biontech vaccine. that is enough to immunise 20 million people as you need to make 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 has also ordered 100 million doses of the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. we are still awaiting their results. it is thought around 4 million doses will be available here by the end of the year. at the number 10 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 oui’ their resolve. we cannot let our enthusiasm tonight run away with us, folks. i am very, very sorry to say this. it is 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 of 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. dr daniel kuritzkes is chief of the division of infectious diseases at brigham and women's hospital, and a professor at harvard medical school. he's in boston. thank you very much for talking to us. there are still quite a lot of questions, aren't there, and i'm sure your questions are better than mine. what are your concerns? i think this is,

first of all, a really extraordinary treatment. i think we need to look at what are the safety data — extraordinary achievement. although, today, there doesn't seem although, today, there doesn't seem to be a safety concern. we do need to wonder about what the duration of protection might be but as more people become vaccinated with this vaccine, assuming it is rolled out, we will see the rates of infection decline and the duration of immunity may become a little bit less of an issue. professor, they're likely to be problems of the fact that it needs to be given in to make doses some time apart, also, i think it needs to be stored at very cold temperatures, doesn't it? there are many vaccines we give in multiple doses. the hepatitis b is given in two doses. young children when they get theirfirst doses. young children when they get their first flu vaccine get to make doses. it's a bit of a nuisance but not a huge hurdle. the cold chain is a bit of an issue. it is much more rigourous than we have experienced in the past but i

know that the companies have been working hard in developing solutions to that and i am confident they can be dealt with as well. does this news have relevance for the development and deployment of other vaccines? i think one can't stress enough, this is not a race to the first vaccine. we will need multiple vaccines. no single company is going to be able to produce enough vaccine for all the people across the world who need it. the more vaccines that are need it. the more vaccines that a re successful, need it. the more vaccines that are successful, the better. the good news is that the target of this vaccine is the same target of the other vaccines. the other vaccines have already shown in preliminary studies that they generate the same kinds of immune responses as this vaccine. so the success of the pfizer vaccine really points the way to anticipating success of the other vaccines 110w success of the other vaccines now in phase three clinical trials. does this news, does it feel to you like a game changer, and if so, how soon do you expect most of the population to fill a difference? it is a game

changer but patients are still needed. it is going to take the better pa rt needed. it is going to take the better part of a year to roll out this and potentially other vaccines to all of the people who need it. we will still need to be wearing masks and to be physically distancing ourselves, and be careful about being indoors and in crowds for months to come until a substantial proportion of the population has been vaccinated. professor, thank you so much. you're very welcome. 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 frontlines. 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.

the crowd behind me is trying to storm the building of the government of armenia here. the u nrest started government of armenia here. the unrest started immediately after the statement on the end of the hostilities in nagorno was made public. and the conditions in which armenia agreed to stop the hostilities. for many armenians, they consider it a capitulation. many armenians believe we should have fought to the end. they didn't believe they were losing the war. and this belief was bad by often misleading state m e nts was bad by often misleading statements by the military. 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. our 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 regularities occurred this time of a magnitude that would affect the outcome, then every single american insured wants them to be brought to light. and if the democrats feel confident they have not occurred, they should have not occurred, they should have not occurred, they should have no reason to fear any

extra scrutiny. we have the tools and institutions we need tools and institutions we need to address any concerns. the president has every right to look into allegations and to request recounts under the law. mitch mcconnell there, the senate majority leader. 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 when the ministers who'd long felt only begrudgingly 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 preliminary findings. but experts warn of logistical challenges ahead.

the us meanwhile has passed 10 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 news that president trump has said he's dismissed his defence secretary, mark esper. mr trump made the announcement on twitter, and gave no reasons. during the summer, the two clashed over the president's suggestion that the military could be used to end the widespread protests against racial discrimination and injustice. he's now been replaced by christopher miller who currently serves as the director of national counterterrorism centre. we can now speak to long time washington insider moe vela, who was former senior advisor to president—electjoe biden. you were former senior adviser to the president—elect. just first on this announcement about mark esper, esper himself described american cities as battle spaces and said that the protesters needed to be dominated. it's absolutely

flabbergasted and, honestly. to hear that coming from the united states of america, and i am sure that so many people are watching the show right now, hopefully agree with me, this isa hopefully agree with me, this is a very, very sad and scary time in our country, as you know leading up to the election our democracy and many of our opinions was at stake. we feel like we have overcome that challenge and then donald trump, you know, opens another chapter in his book of chaos by firing secretary esper, so it just doesn't end. what does it say to you about the likely path of the next 70 days until joe biden is supposed to be inaugurated? there must be some concerns now about doctor fauci's position? there is no doubt about that concern for doctor fauci but the next 70 days, honestly, i'd just shudder because this isn't the

way, this isn't the american way. our transitions of power have always been peaceful and sea mless have always been peaceful and seamless and cooperative, and this, honestly, is heartbreaking, heart wrenching, it's disgusting. it's despicable, and i guess if you area despicable, and i guess if you are a petulant child like donald trump you are going to a lwa ys donald trump you are going to always act like a petulant child and just when we hoped, maybe once before he leaves he will have some semblance of grace and dignity but he just can't muster that up, he just doesn't possess those capabilities. it is going to be a long 70 days. there are many millions of americans who deal, have a very different point of view about mr trump new. just let me ask you, as a long—time adviser to joe let me ask you, as a long—time adviser tojoe biden, let me ask you, as a long—time adviser to joe biden, he let me ask you, as a long—time adviser tojoe biden, he is known as a dealmaker, someone who works across the aisle but it looks as if he is going to have a hostile senate and he certainly has a much reduced majority in the house of representatives. how difficult are they going to be to get anything done? mitch mcconnell

famously made it very difficult for barack obama to get anything done. i will tell you this. if there is anybody in the united states, and this is not a political talking point, this is coming from somebody who called him my boss and who calls him my dearfriend and i will tell you this. if there is anybody in the united states who can actually do that, it is joe biden. his entire career and who he is, his mere essence ofa human and who he is, his mere essence of a human being, and who he is, his mere essence ofa human being, as a human being, is that ability to work with people with different etiological perspectives, different ideas stop his a man that can bring people together in an uncanny way so he's got a very special gift. if anybody can do it, joe biden can and let's just hope that that is what we have transpire. thank you very much for talking with us. you very much for talking with us. my pleasure to be with you, thank you. let's get some of the day's other news. 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. myanmar‘s ruling party is claiming a resounding victory in the country's second parliamentary election since the end of military rule. sunday's election was viewed as a referendum on its leader aung san suu kyi and her national league for democracy party. it remains popular at home, but has been highly critized overseas over accusations of genocide agains the rohingya muslim minority. huge crowds came out in bolivia to welcome back the fomer president, evo morales who crossed from argentina into bolivia almost a year after he went into exile. he resigned and left bolivia in november 2019 after he was ousted, with mass protests breaking out over allegations of fraud — which mit researchers this year found no evidence of. borisjohnson suffered a heavy defeat on monday over

a proposed law 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. joe biden has made the fight against climate change one of his top four priorities, calling for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. our 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. his pledge to rejoin the paris agreement. negotiated five years ago amid great celebrations, it was then abandoned by mrtrump.

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 greenjobs 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. the bbc has promised to launch an independent investigation into claims made by earl spencer, brother of the late diana, princess of wales, that he was deceived by the reporter martin bashir, ahead of the princess's

explosive television interview in 1995. earl spencer says the former panorama reporter had used false bank statements as part of his attempts to encourage the princess to grant him an interview. the bbc‘s director—general says the corporation is taking the matter very seriously. our correspondent jonny dymond reports. it was one of the biggest tv interviews of all time. princess diana laying bare her loveless marriage, her love for another man, her suffering. you always think you're prepared for anything, and you think you have the knowledge of what's coming ahead... butjust how did martin bashir get the interview? diana's brother, charles spencer, says martin bashir showed him forged bank statements suggesting that one of his staff was selling secrets. it was a tumultuous time for diana.

she thought she was being spied on, that her life might be in danger, that she was being briefed against by prince charles' staff. well, my husband's side were very busy. martin bashir‘s forged bank statements looked like evidence of dirty tricks. it was, her brother says, an attempt to win access to diana. and matt wiessler, the graphic artist that created those bank statements, has now spoken out. i got home from work and i got a phone call from martin bashir, and he wanted me to do a favour for him and it was really urgent and really important. martin asked me to make up a couple of bank statements that he needed the following day, and he did say that they were just going to be used as copies. so, on that night, i was just making some props for filming purposes. charles spencer says

he's speaking out now, 25 years later, because he found out recently that the bbc knew about the forged bank statements. the bbc did hold an inquiry in1996 when the bank statements were first made public. never published, it cleared martin bashir of wrongdoing. the men and women who ran bbc news in the ‘90s have all moved on. the new director—general has acknowledged the deceit and promised an independent inquiry. there are a lot of questions. but so far, no answers from martin bashir — now the bbc‘s religion editor. seen up and about this weekend, the bbc says he is recovering from heart surgery and is unable to answer questions. jonny dymond, bbc news. there is much more on all the news for you on the bbc news website and outwit a needs.

that's it for now, thank you very much for watching. 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'll 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 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 preliminary findings. 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 10 million cases of coronavirus, president—electjoe biden has set up a task force of specialists who have worked with both democratic and republican administrations. he has warned of the effects of a second wave and called on americans to wear facemasks and follow other safety guidelnes. president trump is still not accepting defeat in the us election, and his campaign team has filed a lawsuit against pennsylvania, saying its mail—in voting system wasn't transparent or verifiable. the white house has also been giving details of legal challenges to the result, but still without evidence. now on bbc news, it's click.