welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: coronavirus breakthrough relief as an american pharmaceutical giant reveals a vaccine it says is more than 90% effective. i have never felt professionally such a moment ofjoy, and we were justjumping up and down in the shares ofjoy for humanity and medical advances, to put an end to this dreadful pandemic. the armenian prime minister has signed a peace treaty to end six weeks of fighting in nagorno—karabakh. he called the agreement ‘painful‘. as coronavirus cases in the us exceed ten million, president—electjoe biden sets up a taskforce and tells americans to wear facemasks.

donald trump is still claiming the election was stolen from him and refusing to concede, despite a lack of evidence. now he's sacked his defence secretary. 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 44,000 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 werejust jumping 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 40 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 dose. 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. fergus walsh, bbc news. well earlier i asked one of the scientists who advised pfizer on the vaccine, drjeremy faust, and asked him his reaction to the news of this latest breakthrough. i have to say today is one of the best days we have had in the year 2020.

and to have the safety data which we absolutely insist upon, but a 90% number that we are hearing is exceeding the expectations that i had. there are some big question marks on what that means, we will get into that, but the top line is that this is a great day for science, and finally, a real reason for optimism. as you say that is so good to hearfor so many people, let's hear your question marks. they have to do with what this number, 90% means. certainly what they are telling us is 90% effective in preventing covid—i9, which is not the same thing as coronavirus infection. covid—i9 is a syndrome, it's like hiv causes aids, they are not the same thing, they are the virus and the syndrome. this data says that 90% effective against causing the syndrome, that's wonderful news. the issue is you could still get the virus and transmit it to others who could then maybe get it and die, we don't yet know what it means in terms of the infectivity,

so in terms of our ability to go out and have people take their masks off and resume thier lives, we would not be there yet, even with this data. what we call sterilising immunity, the ability to not get infected at all, to not be in, contagious, that is the ultimate goal, but it looks like we prevent the syndrome, and it's a big step if that's true. are you concerned that it has to be given in two doses, i think some time apart, that it has to be stored at very low temperatures, and also possible side effects? i think one of the things that has been positive is we have not put all of our eggs in one basket, so some of the vaccines will have a rougher safety profile in terms of the side—effects. some people may not be excited to have a vaccine that causes fevers for too long and other places may not have the ability

to have the freezes to get this vaccine safely stored, so it will be interesting to see how the lock and key works, which places will have which vaccine, are we all going to get the 90% or better vaccine, or some people will have an 85% vaccine? they will not have the freezes ready, so it will have to get there a few months in advance, so that's a big issue. safety is extremely important, we insisted on this in our letter to pfizer and the fda, and the worst thing to happen is news liek this to come out today and then find out the safety not being there. we won't have any kind of authorisation until that data is available, and we have waited this long, but we still have to wait longer before we open the champagne bottle, so to speak. 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 underway 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 one hundred and fifty people died or are missing in landslides. boris johnson 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. myanmar‘s ruling party is claiming a resounding victory in the country's second parliamentary election since the end of its 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. mr morales 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. the armenian prime minister says he's signed a "painful" peace treaty with azerbaijan to end the fighting in nagorno—karabakh. during more than a month of conflict the armenians have steadily lost territory and over the weekend azeri forces took over the regions second largest town, as mark lobel now reports. azerbaijan's territorial gains have been armenian losses during over a month of heavy fighting, with devastating casualties on both sides. capturing the disputed region's second—largest town was not just a symbolic victory for azerbaijan, it may have

been the decisive one, forcing armenia's prime minister into a climbdown. in a statement on facebook, he described the declaration is incredibly painful for both himself and his people, but he said it's the best possible ending after analysing the current military situation with experts. he prays the many martyrs who had died defending the fatherland, promising address to the nation to the nation in the coming days. there was added pressure on azerbaijan to reach a deal after it shot down this russian military helicopter over armenia. azerbaijan apologised to russia for killing two crewmembers and injuring a third in what they claimed was an accident. as pa rt of the agreement, russia is now deploying around 2000 peacekeepers to the disputed area. translation: the azerbaijan republic and the republic of armenia will stop at their present position.

russian peacekeeping forces are to be deployed along the contact line in nagorno—karabakh, and the corridor between nagorno—karabakh and the republic of armenia. internally displaced persons and refugees will return to nagorno—karabakh and the bordering areas. turkish peacekeepers are being called in as well to police the disputed area, that found itself once again in a regional tussle between turkey back azerbaijan, which claims to have retaken land lost in the 90s, from russian backed armenia. but those gains have come at a price. there has already been over one month costing the lives of thousands of civilians and military personnel. following this deal, armenia's prime minister described it as neither a victory nor defeat for his nation,

promising victory in the end, but azerbaijan's resident was insistent that armenia had capitulated. over the past month, there have been several false dawns, so this one will be watched closely. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the bbc launches an independent investigation into claims made against the reporter responsible for the explosive interview with diana, princess of wales, in 1995. 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 world 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 initial tests. experts are warning of logistical challenges ahead.

the armenian prime minister says he's signed a deal with the leaders of azerbaijan and russia to end the conflict in nagorno—karabakh. he described the deal as "inexpressibly painful". the us president—elect, joe 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. mr biden‘s transition team has urged the general

services administration, which is a federal us agency, to recognize biden‘s election victory. they want this so a transition of power can take place and the federal funds allocated to the incoming team can be released. david marchick is the director of the center for presidential transition. earlier, iasked him what should happen for the transfer between administrations to start. the general service administration, which basically manages the real estate and procurement for the federal government also has the authority to start the transition process, and that process has not yet started, u nfortu nately. the standard for making that decision is whether there is a clear outcome to the election. the outcome to the election has been clear, president george w bush, a republican, said that yesterday. all of the networks have declared the outcome, the election‘s not very close, and so we should get on with the formal transition for the benefit of our country and our allies, like the united kingdom. what implications does this have? if an incoming team doesn't have access to everything it needs, presumably those

implications are national, notjust for the incoming administration? absolutely right. so, let's go back to the year 2000 when we had a shortened transition there because one state, florida, made the difference in the outcome of the election. 537 votes. eight months after george bush took office, two planes hit the world trade center and we were in our biggest crisis since pearl harbour. so when the 9/11 commission, a commission of wise people looked back at 9/11 and what happened, one of the things they found was that the shortened transition made it more difficult to get the right officials in their seats and that compromised our readiness on 9/11. so it's absolutely critical, absolutely imperative to get people started, to get the process going and to get the government ready forjanuary 20.

in 70 days or so until president biden is inaugurated, there's the possibility for an awful lot of complications and lack of cooperation, isn't there? is there anyway this process can be forced? it's never been tested. what should happen is like, what has happened in the last 223 years, since george washington handed the keys to john adams. we've always had peaceful transitions of power. it's part of the democracy in the united states and its absolutely critical that the outgoing administration work with the incoming administration. for example, today we found that there was a breakthrough with a potential covid vaccine. it's critical that the outgoing administration and the incoming administration work together to make sure that that vaccine is available not only for more than 300 million americans but also people across the world, including in the united kingdom, so there are truly international implications for this transition to go well.

just briefly if you could, how nitty—gritty is the stuff that the incoming administration is not being given access to? is it codes for office doors? how much are they not knowing? oh, no, it goes well beyond that. there are intelligence briefings, national security briefings, briefings on operations, foreign policy briefings so that the incoming administration can find out what the state department is doing with the foreign office. there's information on our healthca re programmes, on education, there'sjust a huge amount of collaboration that needs to happen between the outgoing and the incoming. it is a very different system than in the uk, where the transfer of power can happen in a day. here it is a two—month process and the new president needs to appoint 4,000 political appointees and they need to get going fast to be ready on day one. david marchick.

two british diplomats have been expelled from belarus accused by the authorities in minsk of ‘activities incompatible with the status of a diplomat‘. the foreign secretary dominic raab said their expulsion for legitimately observing the recent protests in minsk was wholly unjustified. local reports suggest they were collecting information about the internal political situation from human rights organisations following august's disputed presidential election. the public inquiry into the grenfell tower disaster has heard that a manager at arconic — the company which made the cladding panels partly blamed for the disaster — said in an internal e—mail that a poor fire test result should be kept "very confidential". he also warned in emails that the type of plastic used in cladding panels was very dangerous on the outside of buildings. arconic maintains it was for the architects to ensure their designs were safe. 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 cha rles' 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 in 1996 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. more for you on all the news on

the bbc website and our twitter feeds. thank you so 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 low 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. preliminary findings suggest it's capable of preventing more than 90% of people from getting covid—19. the developers, pfizer and biontech, describe it as a "great day for science and humanity". experts are warning of some logistical challenges ahead. as coronavirus cases in the us pass 10 million, president—electjoe biden has set up a taskforce of specialists who have worked with both democratic and republican administrations. he has warned of the effects of a second wave and called on all americans to wear facemasks and follow other safety guidelines. 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