this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm mike embley. president elect on the president — joe biden says donald trump's refusal to concede the election is an embarrassment. this is bbc news. the headlines: the us president—elect, how can i say this tactfully? joe biden, has said i think it will not help the transition process is well the president's legacy. under way, whether the trump administration acknowledges his projected election a long—awaited vatican report finds two popes, victory or not. and other officials, mr biden told reporters ignored allegations that donald trump's of sex abuse against refusal to concede defeat was an "embarrassment" and would reflect poorly a former us cardinal. on the president's legacy. a long—awaited vatican report russian peacekeeping forces begin deploying in nagorno—karabakh, has found that popesjohn paul the peace deal has prompted celebrations in azerbaijan ii and benedict the sixteenth ignored allegations of serial and angry scenes in armenia. sex abuse against the now disgraced us cardinal, theodore mccarrick. and tributes are paid the report found that both to the veteran pontiffs had been told palestinian peace negotiator, of mccarrick‘s assaults saeb erekat, who has died but chose to believe after contracting coronavirus. his denials. 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. joe biden, the man elected to be the next president of the united states, has said nothing can stop now on bbc news: the transfer of power. catch her if you can. a week after americans voted, mr biden has been continuing to build his administration despite president trump's refusal to concede defeat. mr biden said that was an embarrassment that would reflect poorly on mr trump's legacy. let's speak to our north america correspondent ben wright who is in washington. so, the transition goes ahead. mrtrump is not so, the transition goes ahead. mr trump is not conceding, but also the general services administration is not helping with the transition and that really makes a difference. yes, it does. the general services

administration is responsible for freeing up federal funds to help with their transition in opening access to agencies which, of course, is vital during the 70 days that president—electjoe during the 70 days that president—elect joe biden has to prepare for taking the reins of office on the 20th of january and that's how the process should be working, but this time for years ago, donald trump was meeting president 0bama at the white house for initial discussions on beginning that process of cooperating to ease the transition. none of that, of course, is happening, certainly not at that level. it seems to have been no discussions whatsoever between president trump andjoe biden, but whatsoever between president trump and joe biden, but the work of transition continues despite the unorthodox circumstances and all of this. of course, in the last 24 hours or so, president—elect has revealed the names of his covid task forces, the number one priority of his administration when he takes power and when he was asked about this earlier in delaware, he said that the work

of transition would continue even though they were not getting the normal sort of cooperation. we are 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. joe biden sounding very relaxed about the whole thing. that is his style, of course, but there are all sorts of rumours and who knows of any of them are true that the president may be planning more campaign style rallies, he may be planning to sack the head of the fbi or even military action against iran. how is he reacting to all of that? he is still president and will be untiljanuary the 20th and joe biden was quick to say that. he said donald trump remains in charge until the inauguration and we don't know yet how donald trump or choose to use this time. we have already seen the sacking of the

defence secretary. there has beena defence secretary. there has been a rejig at the pentagon. you are right that the white house has suggested that he plans to use some time in the next few weeks to hold rallies in an effort to raise money for the legal challenges that their trump campaign is pursuing in a numberof trump campaign is pursuing in a number of states in a hope of nibbling away at the vote count thatjoe biden nibbling away at the vote count that joe biden has nibbling away at the vote count thatjoe biden has racked up. nobody thinks that will make any difference at our to the outcome. joe biden is the president—elect and will be inaugurated onjanuary president—elect and will be inaugurated on january the 20th, but he was very restrained, i thought, 20th, but he was very restrained, ithought, when 20th, but he was very restrained, i thought, when he was asked about this earlier on. the furthest he went on expressing an opinion about the president's opinion was this. 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. a lot of republicans seem to be rallying around mr trump has make position. i think the secretary of state in particular raised quite a few eyebrows with what he has been saying. you are right. republicans in congress and in their ministration are sticking with the president for now and there is a bizarre situation where foreign world leaders including the british prime ministerand including the british prime minister and the chancellor of germany have called joe biden for congratulatory conversations well at the same time the american chief diplomat maintains the idea in public that he things that can bea public that he things that can be a second term to donald trump is my presidency. it is a very strange situation but this is what he said earlier on. 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 20th january in the afternoon will also be successful. so it remains a very strange situation. make pompeo, one of a numberof senior situation. make pompeo, one of a number of senior republicans who is sticking with the president for now and allowing him to continue to talk without any evidence whatsoever that there has been voter france, that they in some way to change the outcome of this election. mitch mcconnell has been saying the same in recent days for some meanwhile, as we have been hearing, joe biden just some meanwhile, as we have been hearing, joe bidenjust gets on with planning for power. and the story keeps on moving. thank you very much indeed, for the moment. 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 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 lawmakers. clarke was criticised for using a racially offensive term when referring to black footballers. the 63—year old apologised, but later quit saying his comments were a disservice to our game. air pollution in delhi has reached its worst level this year. officially it is listed as severe — and local residents say the smog is making their eyes and throats hurt.

november is usually the worst month for air quality in india, as farmers burn stubble, but those who are breathing the air say the clearer skies they enjoyed during the coronavirus lockdown earlier this year make it feel worse than usual. 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 popesjohn 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 460—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. 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 3000 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. 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 a thousand 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. our international correspondent, orla 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. orla guerin, bbc news, baku. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the scramble to meet the logistical challenge of distributing hundreds of millions of doses of coronavirus when it becomes available.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: us president—elect, joe biden, says president 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. a long—awaited vatican report has found that popesjohn paul ii and benedict xvi ignored allegations of serial sex abuse against the now disgraced us cardinal, theodore mccarrick. us supreme courtjustices have signalled they are not minded to strike down the affordable care act, better known as 0bamacare, after hearing arguments to invalidate the law brought by texas and other republican—led states and joined by the trump administration. during two hours of legal argument, the judges seemed skeptical about the republican argument that the entire law must fall if a single key provision, called the individual mandate, is deemed unconstitutional.

abbe r gluck is a professor of health law at yale university. she joins us from new york. thank you very much for your time. this has to be one of the most challenged laws in american constitutional history, isn't it? could you, as briefly as possible, tell us what this latest challenge is about and just how high the sta kes a re. about and just how high the stakes are. sure. first of all, the stakes cannot be overstated. the affordable care act has transformed one fifth of our economy, the entire american health care system and brought new benefits to more than 109 americans including 20 million who would lose their health care if the hall law is struck down. the hall structure would be appended. they are trying to wipe the entire laugh from the books. they are arguing that provision you mentored mentioned, the mandate, is unconstitutional because the republican—led conduct mistake might congress was able to only do one good

thing, reducing the penalty for not complying with it. this was valid under congress's power to tax, so it should go. that matters little. the mandate has not been enforced, it is not important to the law, but they go further and say this one provision is so important to the rest of the statute that the rest of the statute that the whole last should go down. riposte the whole last should go down. ri poste rest the whole last should go down. riposte rest because congress, in fact, failed to repeal the law and decided to leave it standing. —— preposterous. law and decided to leave it standing. -- preposterous. lots of republicans think it is a socialised medicine, the state doing too much and it should be up doing too much and it should be up to individuals. there was lots of nervousness about democrats this time about this particular challenge. how was this more conservative bench affecting the case? you are correct, there was a concern because of amy connie barrett coming to the bench, but there is concern that this is an existential challenge to the entire alarm. notably to your point, this is the first affordable care act challenge and there have been many

conservative legal scholars siding with the law because the case is still politically minded, but the concern was a lwa ys minded, but the concern was always that the current would be political and would strike the entire statute down. today's argument were very encouraging in the opposite direction. this may be a big question, but i have to ask you to be brief about it, we are hearing this term at severability and many people including me will not understand it. can you explain it? severability is an assumption record applies which says when the court invalidates one provision, should the rest of the statute fell to pieces? the court says no, we strongly presume that the statute is severable, it can be cut and the rest of the statute can stand unless congress decides otherwise. this is all about what congress said, did it say to strike down the la? no. it implies it wanted to continue the law because congress left the law because congress left the affordable care act standing after 70 failed attempt to repeal it.

professor, thank you very much indeed. the companies behind an experimental coronavirus vaccine say they'll apply for emergency approval to use it before the end of this month. if approved, and we have a ways to go, one of the challenges that follows will be how to get the drug to those who need it. everything from manufacturing billions of doses to transporting the vaccine will take international cooperation and money. here's our global health correspondent tulip mazumdar. as the scientists offer a glimmer of hope, the grave—diggers continue their grim task. all around the world, loved ones are laid to rest. so, with the news this week of a potentially very effective vaccine, countries are racing to prepare for a possible roll—out. this is an absolutely unprecedented situation we find ourselves in today with over 200 vaccine candidates, 40 of them in clinical development within ten months of a new virus being discovered. but actually getting any successful products into communities is an epic

logistical task. keeping vaccines cold or even deep—frozen on a colossal scale will be one of the key challenges. health workers will also have to locate vulnerable elderly people in very remote areas because, as the world health organization has repeatedly said, doing this protects all of us. no one is safe until everyone is safe. we know that demand for a successful vaccine will far outstrip supply in the initial months. so, three of the big global health and vaccine organisations have come up with a new system called covax. it aims to ensure everyone, anywhere in the world who needs the vaccine most gets access to it first. it wants to procure 2 billion doses to protect at least 1 billion people in the next year. first, health workers, then the over 65 is will be prioritised. so what you really want is a situation where you can

begin to roll those vaccines out, to begin to dampen down the epidemic, but if you have a region that has a raging epidemic, you may want to put more priority in that region to be able to bring it down than another place that already has pretty good control. most rich countries are still making side deals directly with pharmaceuticals though. the uk, for example, has signed up for more than 300 million doses of six different vaccines. the us hopes to get 300 million doses of various vaccines by january. but remember, all of this is a bit of a gamble. the world health organization says any vaccine for covid—19 must be at least 50% effective, and we are going to need more than one. we simply don't know yet how much protection these other vaccines could give or how long any protection will last. the wait for life to return to some semblance of normality continues, but we are edging ever closer to that goal.

tulip mazumdar, bbc news. the palestinian president as has declared three days of mourning. the chief palestinian negotiator saeb erekat has died at the age of 65 — he contracted coronavirus last month, on top of previous serious health problems. yolande knell looks back on 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 oslo 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.

golf now, and the masters starts at augusta on thursday, seven months after it was originally scheduled. many players, like spain's jon rahm seen here on the 16th hole, have taken to the course for some practice before the tournament tees off. and if this effort, slightly sped up, is anything to go by, he mightjust be the man to beat! and all on his 26th birthday. not one he will forget. there is much more on this and much more on all the news for you anytime on the bbc website and on our twitter feeds. thank you very much for watching, do come again.

hello. the mist and fog some of you've seen over the past few days, not as much of an issue over the next 24 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 winds over 40 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 before 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 or 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 00:28:28,482 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 the downpours on sunday.