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 the transition process is well under way, whether the trump i think it will not help administration acknowledges his projected election victory or not. mr biden told reporters that donald trump's the president's legacy. refusal to concede defeat was an "embarrassment" and would reflect poorly a long—awaited vatican report finds two popes, on the president's legacy. and other officials, ignored allegations of sex abuse against a long—awaited vatican report has found that popesjohn paul a former us cardinal. ii and benedict the sixteenth ignored allegations of serial russian peacekeeping sex abuse against the now disgraced us cardinal, forces begin deploying theodore mccarrick. in nagorno—karabakh, the report found that both the peace deal has prompted pontiffs had been told celebrations in azerbaijan of mccarrick‘s assaults but chose to believe and angry scenes in armenia. his denials. and tributes are paid to the veteran palestinian peace negotiator, saeb erekat, who has died after russia has been deploying troops in nagorno karabakh contracting coronavirus. 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 the transfer of power. 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. our north america correspondent, ben wright, has been looking at the current state of the transition process. this time four years ago, donald trump was meeting president obama 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 doesn't seem there have been any discussions 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 biden has revealed the names of his covid task force which will be the number one priority of his administration when it takes power and when he was asked about this earlier in delaware, joe biden 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 mr biden reacting to all of that? yeah, because he is still president and will be until january 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 will choose to use this time. we have already seen the sacking of the 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 the trump campaign is pursuing in a number of states in a hope of nibbling away at the vote count thatjoe biden has racked up. nobody thinks that will make any difference at all to the outcome. joe biden is the president—elect and will be inaugurated onjanuary the 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's 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 the administration are sticking with the president for now and there is a bizarre situation where foreign world leaders including the british prime minister and the chancellor of germany have called joe biden for congratulatory

conversations at the same time as the american chief diplomat maintains the idea in public that he thinks there can be a second term to donald trump's presidency. it is a very strange situation but this is what mike pompeo 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. 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. italy, the first european country badly hit by the pandemic, has recorded its worst daily figure for coronavirus—related fatalities since mid—april. 580 more people have died. britain has registered its worst daily number of deaths since may, 532. 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 ago—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 vaccine

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 popes john 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 obamacare, 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. amy goldstein is a national healthcare policy writer at the washington post. i know you've been waiting a while to come on air for us. thank you very much for your time. this has to be one of the most challenged pieces of legislation in american history. what has happened and what is making people think that actually the law is safe at the moment? well, this is the first time, the third time that the affordable care act has gotten as far as the supreme court in the ten years since it was enacted. the law, known as the aca or obamacare, as you say, was a very broad statute that was passed by democrats and decades ago and has brought about the biggest

changes in the us health care system in several decades. it's bright health insurance to an extra 22 or so million americans, it has provided people with any kind of health plan, insurance protections including for people with pre—existing medical conditions, so whether this last ounce of files is a big deal. in this case, unlike the last two, the big issue has to do with some changes in tax law that a republican congress made three years ago. among those changes, the penalty for people who did not carry health insurance that have been part of the aca was wiped out and the question now is whether that makes the aca unconstitutional in that part 01’ unconstitutional in that part or in all of it. and i think for many republicans, this larger smacks of socialised medicine, putting too much burden on the state and not enough on individuals. is there any surprise that the supreme court was such a strong

conservative majority does not seem inclined to shake it down? well, one never knows what the supreme court is going to do and today was the oral arguments in the case. their eventual decision will not come until probably very late in the spring or early next summer, so one should be careful when predicting, but what was notable is that even a couple of the conservative justices including chiefjustice of the conservative justices including chief justice roberts seemed sceptical of the big argument is that the la had been making and that involved something kind of nerdy sounding and legal terms called severability. that basically boils down to the question of whether if part of the law is invalid, the rest of the law can stay or whether the rest has to go and it was that question of severability that justice roberts and one of the trump justices sound is as if they were not quite willing to go along with today, but that is just

go along with today, but that isjust in oral go along with today, but that is just in oral arguments. go along with today, but that isjust in oral arguments. they will want to flesh out the argument of both sides and there will be quite a number of months before they make a decision. i know that joe biden has been talking about building on obamacare, but that depends presumably on whether he can get a senate majority and how big that majority is. that's right. it was interesting, during the democratic primary is before the general election, joe biden was actually a more moderate democrat in what he was calling for in terms of father health care changes, i like people like bernie sanders, the vermont —— unlike people like bernie sanders, the vermont senator, who wants to come much further. butjoe biden has been building on obamacare by making it easier for more people to get federal subsidies, letting more people get covered under the marketplace that the law created, expanding coverage to people on medicaid, low income people on medicaid, low income people who live in states who have chosen not to expand

medicaid under the law, so he has a whole series of steps that he would like to take, all of which require congressional approval. it will be interesting to see how this plays out once there is a run—off election for two senate seats both happening to be in georgia which will happen early injanuary and georgia which will happen early in january and that will determine whether republicans stay in control of the senate 01’ stay in control of the senate or whether the senate is divided, effectively giving the democrats the edge because vice president elect harris will be able to break a tie, so there isa able to break a tie, so there is a big question looming about the political fate of any enlargement of the law. thank you so much for that. good to be with you. more american states have with you. tightened restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus on a day when more than 60,000 people were receiving hospital treatment for the disease, a new record. a member of president—electjoe biden's coronavirus advisory board — dr michael osterholm — said there was now no question that hospitals in the us were about to be overrun. one hospital in the state

of idaho had to turn away patients at the weekend because there was no room. the infectious diseases expert, dr anthony fauci, said that although people were tired of social distancing measures, they needed to persevere until a vaccine was available. 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, one of the challenges that follows will be, how to get the drug to those who need it. 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 chief palestinian negotiator saeb erekat has died at the age of 65. 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.

that's it for now. thank you so much for watching. 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 in 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 west of 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 00:28:28,877 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 the downpours on sunday.