this is bbc news. i'm tim willcox, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. president—elect on the president — joe biden says donald trump's refusal to concede the election is an embarrassment. how can i say this tactfully? i think it will not help the president's legacy. britain's health secretary says the national health service could be ready to roll out the new coronavirus vaccine in weeks — but warned distribution would be a colossal undertaking. the logistics are complex. the uncertainties are real. and the scale of the job is vast. russian peacekeeping

forces begin deploying in nagorno—karabakh, the peace deal signed has prompted celebrations in azerbaijan and angry scenes in armenia. and tributes are paid to the veteran palestinian peace negotiator, saeb erekat, who has died after contracting coronavirus. hello, and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. it was pushback time today for the us president—elect — against republican efforts to undermine his victory. as donald trump tweets his outrage, mr biden's strategy — to be deliberately calm. speaking in delaware, he told reporters he was getting on with the job of building

the next administration, and seemed relaxed by the prospect of the trump administration refusing to engage in any handover. we're already beginning the transition. we're well under way. and the ability for the administration in any way by failure to recognise our win does not change the dynamic at all and what we're able to do. we announced yesterday, as you know, the health group that we've put together today. we'll be going and moving along in a consistent manner, putting together our administration, the white house, and reviewing who we'll pick for the cabinet positions. and nothing's going to stop that. so i'm confident that the fact that they are not willing to acknowledge we won at this point is not of much consequence in our planning and what we're able to do between now and 20 january.

mr biden was asked what effect president trump's refusal to concede would have — here's how he responded. ijust think it's an embarrassment, quite frankly. the only thing that... how can i say this tactfully? i think it will not help the president's legacy. i think that, i know from my discussions with foreign leaders thus far, that they're hopeful that the united states' democratic institutions are once again viewed as being strong and enduring. mr biden also promised to "dramatically ramp up" health care protection once he assumes power, saying he would build on the affordable care act, otherwise known as obamacare. his comments came as the us supreme court began hearing arguments — brought by states governed by republicans — seeking

to overturn the legislation. the president elect accused "far—right ideologues" of trying for a third time to strip health care coverage from millions of americans during a pandemic. obamacare's a law that every american should be proud of. it's why people with pre—existing conditions are protected in this country. it's a law that delivered vital coverage, as i said before, for 20 million americans who did not have coverage. it's a law that reduced prescription drug price costs for nearly 12 million seniors. it's a law that saved lives and spared countless families from financial ruin. so this effort to bypass the will of the american people, the verdict of the courts in the past, the judgements of congress, in my view, is simply cruel and needlessly divisive. we've also heard from the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, on what he thinks about the current standoff between the trump

and biden campaigns. he was asked if a delay from the state department to engage with the biden transition team could hamper a smooth transition of power. this was his reply. there will be a smooth transition to a second trump administration. all right, we're ready. the world is watching what's taking place. we're going to count all the votes. when the process is complete, they'll be elector—selected. there's a process, the constitution lays it out pretty clearly. the world should have every confidence that the transition necessary to make sure that the state department is functional today, successful today, and successful with a president who is in office on 20 january in the afternoon will also be successful. our correspondent nomia iqbal is in wilmington injoe biden's home state of delaware. she says pompeo's comment reflects the larger republican pa rty‘s defence of donald trump. it's pretty astonishing, really, isn't it? and just listening there

to mike pompeo's words — this is america's top diplomat, the man who says to leaders of other countries around the world, "respect your democratic processes, listen to the will of the people." and he seemingly doesn't want to do that here. he seems to have fallen in line with other republicans. we heard from william barr earlier today, the government's attorney, that they back donald trump's unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and the election being stolen. donald trump is still tweeting away, claiming that there's no evidence at all to back any of it. but the world is moving on — joe biden said that earlier today, talking about how he's been chatting to world leaders and, as far as he's concerned, the transition is happening, and he mentioned that crucial date, 20 january, which is the day biden will become president. it's worth pointing out that the gsa, which handles the transfer of powers

is refusing the request from joe biden's team to authorise that. that's right, they need the money to make the transition happen around $10 million, and that is holding things up. and you have to wonder why this is happening? i think lots of republicans are falling in line with donald trump because it's what they've been doing for the last four years — which is basically not standing up to him. and they think there might be some logic in them may be backing the president, hoping that the courts will do the work for them. because as i mentioned, there needs to be evidence. at the moment, itjust seems like a political fight, not a legalfight. because when this goes to the court, it won't make it past the first step, because you need evidence to back all this. based keep saying to "count the votes" —

the votes are being counted and they show thatjoe biden is ahead, that he's won on the electoral college system. you know, i don't know how long it'll take you know, i don't know how long it'll take for the trump team orfor donald trump to acknowledge that. we know donald trump doesn't like to admit defeat. here in btitain the health secretary, matt hancock, says the nhs should be ready to roll out a coronavirus vaccine by the start of december — if it is approved. but he urged caution, warning it would be an enormous logistical task, and it wasn't clear how many people would have to be vaccinated in order for life to return to some sort of normality. it comes as the uk recorded its highest daily death toll since the middle of may — 532 more people have died. here's our medical editor, fergus walsh. this is liquid hope, the first covid vaccine proven to be effective, in production in germany. if regulators approve it for use, a few million doses of the pfizer biontech vaccine should be available in the uk

before the end of the year. the health secretary said the military and nhs staff would be on standby to roll out a vaccine from the start of december. the uncertainties are real, and the scale of the job is vast. but i know that the nhs, brilliantly assisted by the armed services, will be up to the task. so, who will get it first? put simply, the older you are, the sooner you will be eligible for a covid vaccine. currently in pole position are elderly care home residents and staff. then people aged 80 and over, plus front line nhs workers. the vaccine will then be allocated to younger age groups in bands of five years. but that is dependent on it being effective in older adults, and we're still waiting for that data.

adults under 65 with underlying health conditions will also be given some priority. there should be enough doses of the pfizer vaccine to immunise 20 million people, so younger adults may have to wait for other vaccines to come through. the pfizerjab is not intended for children. vaccinators go into care homes to immunise vulnerable, older residents. gp surgeries will play a crucial role, some may be open seven days a week. large venues, like sports halls, are also likely to be used for mass immunisation. the pfizer vaccine trials were mainly conducted in the united states and germany. initial findings suggest it's 90% effective at preventing covid—i9. caution is needed, but the early results are surprisingly good. even the optimists amongst us

were hoping for 50—60%, so this puts this vaccine straight up at the top of the league in terms of vaccines that we have and how effective they can be. traditional vaccines use a weakened or inactivated whole virus, but the pfizer covid jab uses only a tiny amount of genetic code found in the spike protein on its surface. this synthetic rna is what prompts the immune system to recognise and remember coronavirus. this bodes well for other covid vaccines, which also use the spike protein to create immunity. results from the oxford astrazeneca vaccine trials are expected in a matter of weeks. how do you feel? i feel fine. if they, too, are also positive, it would be another decisive step out of the shadow cast by this pandemic. fergus walsh, bbc news. russia is deploying hundreds of peacekeeping troops

to nagorno—karabakh and surrounding territories, after it brokered a peace deal between armenia and azerbaijan. over the last six weeks, more than 1,000 people have been killed — most of them were ethnic armenian fighters. more than 100,000 have been displaced. the region is internationally recognised as azerbaijan's, but it has been run by ethnic armenians since 1994. the deal triggered celebrations in azerbaijan, and angry scenes in armenia, where protesters called for the resignation of the prime minister. 0ur international correspondent, 0rla guerin, reports from the azerbaijani capital, baku. a nation buoyed up by victory. no social distancing in baku. for azerbaijanis, there is plenty to celebrate in the overnight peace deal signed, sealed and

delivered by russia. and just look at the president, ilham aliyev. he's mocking the armenian prime minister, nikol pashinyan. "what has happened, pashinyan?", he asks. "this will probably be the talk of the town for many years." in the armenian parliament, it was more of a scandal. protesters cried betrayal... ..attacking the prime minister's nameplate. he said the deal was unspeakably painful, but there was no other choice. so azerbaijan gets to keep the gains made in battle in recent weeks. that includes the second largest city in nagorno—karabakh — but not the capital. armenia has to withdraw

from swathes of territory it occupied around the disputed region. russia gets boots back on the ground in this corner of the caucasus'. its peacekeepers and its tanks already rolling between the two sides. tell all the world, we'rejust coming home. that's a home she has never seen. her parents were pushed out of nagorno—karabakh nearly 30 years ago. so, could she live there now with armenians who remain? yeah, we can live. like, what is the problem with us? but, actually, it takes a long time. maybe years? yeah, maybe years, maybe, i don't know, decades. maybe only our own sons, our daughters, our sons will see this. crowds are coming and going here, young and old, family groups. people have been gathering to celebrate and there is a real sense here that a key victory has been achieved after

many long years of waiting. it's notjust the end of the past six weeks of fighting, it's the recovery of territory that is seen here as a missing piece of the homeland. many on both sides fought and died for that territory in the last war in the 1990s. today, plenty of visitors at the alley of the martyrs in baku. the peace deal does not return all of nagorno—karabakh. so, for azerbaijan, it's not a complete victory. but, for armenia, it is a crushing defeat. 0rla guerin, bbc news, baku. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a long—awaited vatican report finds two popes and other officials ignored allegations of sex abuse against a former us cardinal.

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 forso, 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... us president—elect, joe biden, says donald trump's refusal to accept defeat is an embarrassment that would reflect poorly on mr trump's legacy. he said nothing can stop the transfer of power. the uk's health secretary says the national health service could be ready to roll out the coronavirus vaccine in three weeks' time. but he warned distribution would be a colossal undertaking. a vatican report — that took two years to complete — has found two popes and top officials from the catholic church ignored allegations of serial sex abuse by a former cardinal in the united states. this is theodore mccarrick who was expelled from the priesthood last year — the first cardinal ever to be

defrocked over sexual abuse. vatican officials say they found popes john paul ii and benedict xvi had been told of mccarrick‘s assaults, but chose to believe his denial. here's our rome correspondent mark lowen. well, here it is. the a60—page report that took two years of work and interviewed 90 witnesses, some of them in interviews up to 30 hours. and it really is a damning litany of cover—ups, complicity, and errors notjust by individuals, but of the entire culture within the catholic church that allowed cardinal mccarrick to rise to the top echelons of the church — in spite of serial allegations of abuse over the decades. in terms of the implications for popejohn paul ii, now a saint — he was declared a saint in 2014 — he was said

in the report to have been warned and told of mccarrick‘s crimes. and yet he chose to believe three american bishops who concealed his crimes instead. mccarrick himself wrote a letter to the then—pope john paul ii denying all the allegations against him, moving on to benedict xvi as pope, who was also informed of his crimes against adults and minors. but he instead simply asked him to lead a lower—profile life. then with pope francis himself, who was informed of some of the previous allegations then waited until 2017 when there was a concrete proof, in the words of the report, of an allegation of a crime against a minor, which was presented to pope francis, then pope francis took action, ordering this report and stripping mccarrick of the priesthood and forcing him out of the college of cardinals — the first cardinal to be forced

to resign over sex abuse. mark low reporting there. the head of the catholic church in england and wales has been heavily criticised for putting the reputation of the church ahead of its duty to survivors of child abuse. the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse examined more than 3,000 accusations up to 2015. it said cardinal vincent nichols had not shown "compassion towards victims in the recent cases". cardinal nichols told the bbc he offered to resign, but pope francis wanted him to stay in his post. the head of the english football association, greg clarke, has resigned after using out—dated and offensive language when discussing diversity in the sport during a meeting with mps. he has apologised for using unacceptable words, saying they were a diservice to the game. the equality charity kick it 0ut said his remark belonged to the "dustbin of history". a warning, our sports editor dan roan's report includes language some viewers

may find offensive. football's been through a lot lately, the loss of fans sparking financial crisis. today in parliament, the sport's leaders were asked to provide some answers, but instead a new controversy. during questions on diversity, the man at the very top of the english game said this... if you go to the it department at the fa, there are a lot more south asians than there are afro—caribbeans. they have different career interests. but that wasn't all he said — clarke then referring to black players using an offensive and outdated term. high—profile coloured footballers and the abuse they take... a few minutes later came this... would you want to withdraw that language? cos isn't that exactly the kind of language that means that inclusion is not a reality even though football is very diverse? 0ne, if i said it, i deeply apologise. secondly, i am a product of having worked overseas. i worked in the usa for many years, where i was required

to use the term people of colour cos that was a product of their diversity legislation and positive discrimination format. sometimes, i trip over my words. clarke's no stranger to controversy. in 2017, a year after being appointed, and in front of the same committee, he had to apologise after referring to institutional racism as "fluff." the chairman survived that episode, but today's comments, coming amid efforts to tackle discrimination, immediately led to calls for him to step down. it's a sort of grisly compilation album of ignorant stereotypes. so, i think that says that there's an underlying attitude and that's the problem. i think it's legitimate to ask the question, "is that the right person to be leading this organisation? " tonight, the fa dramatically announced that clarke had stepped down after what he called "unacceptable words" that did a disservice to our game. this has been another grim day for the sport, greg clarke's resignation, the last thing english football

needed, after what was already a period of crisis. with the grassroots game suspended and turnstiles still shut, agreement over a bailout to help clubs survive has proved elusive and there's increasing tension over the future structure of the club game. the hope was that football's authorities would join forces today. instead, it's reeling from an episode that, for many, is indicative of why the game has struggled to move forward. dan roan, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. clashes have broken out in the peruvian capital between security forces and protesters angry at the impeachment of president martin vizcarra on corruption charges. police fired tear gas to keep protesters from the congress building where the speaker was sworn in as mr vizcarra's replacement. guatemalan officials have called off a rescue operation at the site of a huge landslide caused by tropical storm eta where dozens of people are thought to buried.

the national disaster agency said the conditions in the village of queja had become too dangerous to continue. almost 90 people remain missing. the chief palestinian negotiator saeb erekat has died at the age of 65 after contracting coronavirus last month, on top of previous serious health problems. palestinian president mahmoud abbas has declared yolande knell looks back at his life. you might not have known his name, but you'll have seen his face. for three decades, whenever palestinian and israeli leaders met, saeb erekat took a prominent place. the president urged... fluent in english, he studied in the us and the uk before becoming a key figure in the secular fatah movement back in the occupied west bank. in 1991, he drew attention, wearing his palestinian keffiyeh scarf at the madrid peace conference. he was close to the palestinian leader, yasser arafat.

and with the breakthrough 0slo peace accords, he became a peace negotiator... applause ..sticking to thejob after president mahmoud abbas took over through rounds of on and off talks. a viable two—state solution is the only way... he was a strong advocate of the two—state solution — the long—standing international formula for peace abandoned by the trump administration. he opposed arab gulf states normalising relations with israel but remained a moderate voice. and the only way to have peace in this region is to solve the palestinian question. is to solve the israeli—palestinian conflict. is to end the israeli occupation. saeb erekat had a lung transplant in the us in 2017 and had earlier survived a heart attack. his health deteriorated soon after testing positive for covid—19. palestinians will feel his loss strongly, at a time when relations with israel are at a new low and prospects for the creation of an independent palestinian state, the goal of his life's

work, look increasingly dim. yolande knell, bbc news. you're watching bbc news. hello. the mist and fog some of you've seen over the past few days, not as much of an issue over the next 2a hours or so. reason on wednesday behind that is that it'll be a little bit too windy at times, and that wind could bring in thicker cloud with rain in the north and west. these are the weather fronts responsible, they'll only slowly push their way through, so many eastern areas will be dry through the bulk of the day. but it is here across east anglia southeast that we start off with the coolest conditions and 1—2 mist and fog patches. they'll be fairly short—lived though, and will lift up and clear. as we said, much of wales, good part of england will stay dry. there could be some patchy drizzle in the west, but across ireland and into western scotland, rain will come and go all day. and you can just see this narrow band of bright colours — an indication there will be some pretty intense rain particularly during the afternoon. overall a fairly mild day, tempered somewhat

by the breeze, and that wind will be strongest particularly towards the west. these are the areas that will see wind over a0 mph, it may be touching 50 mph at times. most gusty though on that bright band you can see there, the heavy rain pushing its way through eastwards across scotland, particularly across england and wales as we go through wednesday night and into thursday morning, allowing clearing skies behind, thankfully temperatures not dropping too much. as we go into thursday morning, coolest conditions, unlike on wednesday morning, will be in the west. wet weather to begin with on the far east of scotland and across east anglia. quite windy here, but that wind will clear away with the rain. that little brief ridge of high pressure, a window of fine weather perform more cloud and rain arrives. so for many of you, a dry day with some sunshine, as well. best of the sunshine and western areas through the morning make the most of it, clouding over into the afternoon. patchy rain and drizzle possible by the end of the day, heaviest of the rain and western scotland into the western northern ireland. a little bit cooler than recent days. as we go through thursday night

and into friday, that rain will spread its way eastwards. it'll push through mainly during the night for many of you, lingering across some eastern areas first thing. sunshine comes out, a few showers in the west, but by and large, the daytime at least will be a dry day for many. again, a little bit cool in the breeze compared to how we start the week. but as we go into the weekend, low pressure close by with sets of weather fronts pushing through. we'll have to watch just how deep this area of low pressure gets into the northwest on sunday. could be particularly wild and windy here. so while there still will be some rain at times this weekend, better chances of sunshine between the downpours on sunday.

this is bbc news.

the headlines. the us president—elect, joe biden, has said the transition process is well under way, whether the trump administration acknowledges his projected election victory or not. mr biden told reporters that donald trump's refusal to concede defeat was an "embarrassment" and would reflect poorly on the president's legacy. russia has been deploying troops in nagorno karabakh after armenia and azerbaijan signed a deal to end the military conflict in the disputed region. fighting there since september has left several thousand people dead. the peace deal has prompted celebrations in azerbaijan and angry scenes in armenia. a long—awaited vatican report has found that popesjohn paul ii and benedict the sixteenth ignored allegations of serial sex abuse against the now disgraced us cardinal, theodore mccarrick.