this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm kasia madera. donald trump lays a wreath to mark veterans day. a week on, he still refuses to conceded defeat in the election. president—electjoe biden has also paid his respects, laying a wreath at a ceremony in pennsylvania. together we stand! pro—democracy lawmakers in hong kong have resigned, en mass, after four of its members are labelled by china as unpatriotic and expelled. 50,000 people have now died of covid—19 in the uk — europe's highest recorded number of deaths. in the us, a record number of americans are in hospital receiving treatment for the virus. but in taiwan, today marks seven months since there

was a domesitcally transmitted case of covid—19. we'll be live in taipai to find out more about the country's success battling the virus. hello, and welcome. donald trump has made his first official appearance since election night to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier at arlington national ceremony, on armistice day. this was the scene earlier. donald trump still refuses to concede defeat in the us presidential election. president—electjoe biden also attended a veterans day event in philadelphia, pennsylania. — — vete ra ns —— veterans day. meanwhile, georgia's top election offical says the state will conduct a recount of all paper ballots cast in the election, because the margin is so close.

0ur correspondent, lebo diseko, joins me from washington. soa so a recount by hand in georgia? yes, this goes a little bit further than they need to, then we expected them to. we knew there would be a recount because of the tight margins, under .5% triggering an automatic recount there. but doing it by hand and also the secretary of state, who's essentially the top election official there, saying this is an audit as well as a re—canvassing of the votes there will stop and he's come under huge pressure from his own party — he's a republican, there two incumbent republican, there two incumbent republican senators there who have been calling for his resignation over the way the election has been handled. it is worth noting that nowhere in the whole country has there been any evidence that's been accepted there been any evidence that's been a cce pted by there been any evidence that's been

accepted by a judge of this kind of widespread voterfraud accepted by a judge of this kind of widespread voter fraud that the trump team is alleging. meanwhile, president—electjoe biden‘s team are saying they are considering legal action if the gsa doesn't recognise action if the gsa doesn't recognise a transition. it's getting really complicated now. yes, i think a lot of people had not heard of this — a small office that's like a little bureaucratic office that has this budget for the transmission, $6 million. and they also give access or facilitate things like office space, and also briefings between the incoming and outgoing bridging. —— administrations. they have not recognised the transition. so that means money cannot be released, it also means the briefings cannot happen. and that has real national security implications — things like classified information cannot be shared. and that is why the biden

campaign are saying they may consider legal action. they are not there yet, but in the coming days if things don't change, they might do. the gsa, another detail of the us election that we will be getting our head around. thank you so much for talking us through that. lots more on our website. pro—democracy lawmakers in hong kong have resigned en masse from the legislative council, after four of their colleagues were expelled for backing independence. it comes after china granted the authorities new security powers, to quell dissent. this report from our china correspondentjohn sudworth contains some flash photography. it was a slow walk out of parliament, and a sign ofjust how swiftly china has moved to quell hong kong's pro—democracy movement. four politicians who had spoken in favour of us sanctions on hong kong, disqualified within minutes of the announcement from beijing. last year's mass protests,

fuelled by fears that china was undermining hong kong's freedoms, have been stopped by a sweeping national security law, but few would have imagined that parliamentary opposition would be targeted too, by new powers handed to the city's pro—beijing leader. translation: from now on, every lawmaker must support the basic law of hong kong and be loyal to the people's republic of china, in order to build a political system dominated by patriots. in protest, the remaining pro—democracy lawmakers announced that they were all resigning, leaving hong kong's leaders without any effective opposition at all. this act resignation is notjust in protest against beijing's rule by decree — it's no longer rule of law.

it's not even rule by law, it's rule by decree. hong kong's fractious parliament was not always a model of democracy but it was one of the few spaces left for dissent. now it's gone, too. au nok—hin is a former member of hong kong's legislative council. hejoins me now. life from an airport. you actually stood down from the legislative council, how do you feel about what's happened today with these four —— the dismissal of these four members? yes. actually the four legislators's resignation implies the end of party politics in hong kong right now. the position made by the standing committee of national people's congress is defective iron

case for autonomous defection in hong kong. especially for democrats. if you oppose the administration from the mantle, you are potentially violating national security law. you can be disqualified immediately. even though legal procedures... the career no longer has any dignity. and actually, i think it is another important piece of legislation right now. so what do you think realistically the future for it is? are we once again going to see people out on the streets? 0r are we once again going to see people out on the streets? or is that simply too impossible now, is it too dangerous? it is too dangerous right now. actually the police in hong kong are trying to deal with any collective action in hong kong in any kind of way. so wherever there are people calling

for protests, there is lots of risk that's going to be taken. and that is why recently we did not have any collective action in hong kong any more. and after the national security law, whatever your speeches or participation in protests, you taking further risk for being arrested. it is not only for the national security law, but they are just trying to do everything they can to tackle down the freedom of the hong kong people. so realistically, what is your assessment of what happens next? actually, i think the liberty in hong kong, especially for the freedom of expression and political spectrum is extremely important right now. but certainly to say

under the disqualification of four members in the resignation of democrats, it seems there would only bea democrats, it seems there would only be a rubber—stamp right now. and there are a lot of things at the hong kong government wanted to do without the people's mandates, including trying to impose a policy which allows the mainland hung congress to vote. but not for the other peoples overseas. so that is illogical, but only for serving their political interests. and i would say if such legislation is going to be passed, that would be the ruin of the electoral system in hong kong. it is fascinating to get your insight as a former member of hong kong's legislative council. thank you so much for your time, thank you. thank you.

let's turn to the covid—i9 pandemic impacting many parts of the world. in the us, there have been more than a million cases of covid—i9 recorded in the past ten days, and hospitalisations for patients being treated for the virus are at the highest level since the start of the pandemic. the bbc‘s anthony zurcher has more on how the election ofjoe biden may change the way the us will deal with the pandemic, which donald trump has largely left in the hands of state governors. the president doesn't have a whole lot of direct authority to, say, impose a nationwide mask requirement. what the president can do, and what donald trump hasn't done, is require masks on things like interstate commerce. so there are times when it's relations between the states that the federal government has more power. and there's also indirect pressure that an administration, a president, a federal government can put on states, because there is a significant amount of federal funding that goes to states on a wide variety of areas. and if you start threatening that funding, then there's the potential

that state governors will start to snap to attention. sojoe biden has talked about aggressive steps, but he's going to have a challenge trying to bring some of these recalcitrant governors around. in italy, almost 33,000 new cases have been reported today — which takes the total number of confirmed infections past one million. the government last week imposed nationwide curbs including a curfew. tuscany and four other regions have been designated as "orange zones" — that means bars and restaurants are closed but shops remain open. people are free to move within their towns and cities but not leave them. meanwhile, the uk has become the first country in europe — and the fifth in the world — to record more than 50,000 deaths because of coronavirus. the bbc‘s health editor is hugh pym has more on the grim milestone. that figure ofjust over 50,000 is those who've died within 28 days of having a positive test.

there is a broader definition covering others who may not have had a test at all, but where covid is listed on their death certificate. and that figure for the uk is now above 61,000. what's the international comparison relative to population? well, the uk is pretty high amongst leading economies. belgium, spain, and brazil have a higher death toll relative to population, but the uk is ahead of the us and france, and well ahead of germany. of course, each country does measure these things in slightly different ways, so we will have to wait a bit longer for what's called excess deaths — that's everything over and above a long—term average. now, case numbers and new hospital admissions, if you look at those charts, they do appear to be flattening a little bit. deaths are a so—called lagging indicator, reflecting infections picked up a couple weeks ago. and health officials do say this death figure could rise for a couple more weeks.

hugh pym there. here in london, the british prime minister's chief communications officer and adviser is resigning. lee cain, who is on the left, had been tipped for promotion to borisjohnson's chief of staff. 0ur uk political editor laura keunssberg says his departure is a sign of turmoil behind the scenes in downing street. this was notjust some random resignation. multiple sources have told me today that he had been offered the job to be the prime minister's chief of staff. but through the day, it became obvious that wouldn't work out. there was stiff resistance from some quarters, including, iunderstand, from the prime minister's partner who objected to that appointment being made. so, huge questions of rival factions inside downing street vying for influence through the day.

and tonight, it's also been suggested to me that other departures may follow mr cain out the door in some kind of protest. potentially dominic cummings, the prime minister's most senior adviser who has been very, very close to mr cain, working very much as a duo in terms of offering their advice to borisjohnson, and there are also whispers tonight about the position of the government's eu negotiator, david frost, who again worked with borisjohnson at the foreign office, again alongside mr cain. now i would stress that the actual reality of those other departures are farfrom confirmed. but one outsider has just told me in the last few minutes, they can't describe how messy this all feels on the inside. there are serious concerns on both sides, if you like, in the government. and, farfrom giving a picture that this is an administration that is all focused on trying to deliver the right choices to help the country through this pandemic — instead tonight, it appears as an administration that's ridden

by rival factions who are fighting over influence over the prime minister himself. and of course, at the end of the day, while every government has rivalries and split loyalties, there's only one person in charge — and at the end of the day, that's meant to be the prime minister. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: thousands of armenians protest against the deal reached over the disputed region of nagorno—karabakh. we'll have the latest from the capital, yerevan. 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 vocal 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... donald trump lays a wreath to mark veterans day. a week on, he still refuses to conceded defeat in the election. and pro—democracy lawmakers in hong kong resign en mass after four of its members are labelled by china as unpatriotic and expelled.

thousands of people have taken to the streets of the armenian capital, yerevan, to protest against a deal to end the fighting in the disputed region of nagorno—karabakh. the deal, brokered by russia, has been celebrated by neighbouring azerbaijan as a victory. but the agreement is deeply unpopular in armenia. steven rosenberg has this report from yerevan. wailing at a military cemetery in yerevan, there are so many families grieving. so many fresh graves. burning incense — the armenian way of sending prayers to heaven. the sense of loss here is made more acute by defeat. this family lost a son recently in kara bakh. they're angry with russia for not backing armenia against azerbaijan.

"president putin," he says, "has betrayed all christian people." his wife blames defeat on armenia's own leaders. "for years," she says, "they've been selling us out, selling our land with the blood of our sons. they'll pay. the parents of the dead will gouge out their eyes." "go away," she shouts. "traitor," they say. they're talking about armenia's prime minister, nikol pashinyan. these protesters believe that by ceding territory to azerbaijan in around karabakh, mr pashinyan has betrayed them.

we are here to demand the prime minister, nikol pashinyan, to resign. the only one person decided to give land. but this land is not his land. it is our nation's land. in hiding since the peace deal, nikol pashinyan used social media to argue he had no choice but to sue for peace. but few here are convinced. for weeks, the message from the government to the people was, "armenia can never be defeated." but with this peace deal, armenia has lost this war. and that has left the nation feeling shocked and angry. meanwhile, armenians continue to mourn. the human cost of this war has been huge. the sense of loss almost too much to bear. steve rosenberg, bbc news, yerevan. let's go back to our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, but this time with a focus on a success story. today marks seven months since there was a domestically transmitted case of covid—i9 on the island of taiwan. as we've been hearing,

the world as a whole is hitting new records, but in the other direction — so what can taiwan teach the us and the world? let's speak to professor hsien—ho lin, an infectious disease epidemiologist from the national taiwan university. he joins us from taipei. thank you forjoining us. looking at the figures, seven deaths in taiwan out of a population of 23 million, just 550 confirmed cases. it is just staggering to think how that's possible. yes. so i think there are some major appeals of the current success in taiwan. so we've had a strict border control since the very beginning, and we have targeted testing of the cases, coupled with a very efficient contact tracing

programme. and in terms of the population reactions, people are following the suggestions of social distancing and wearing masks. so i think we were able to do that without a major lockdown in the past several months. you touched on masks, let's pick up on that. the taiwanese government banned the export of masks very early on. were you convinced that masks were the way forward, even when the world health organisation was not disputing that, but not being as clear when it came to masks? you mean at that time? since the beginning, because this is obviously... yes, the evidence has been evolving, but at that time, i was still looking at the firm evidence that masks worked the best. but at that time, we had eliminated —— a limited choice in terms of

prescription. so i supported for the importance of masks at that time, and one major reason to make her reason for banning the exportation of masks was to preserve the stock, so medical professionals had access to facemasks. what about track and tracing when it comes to taiwan? how on top of that are you when it comes to the population? so that taiwan cdc has been doing a very good job in terms of testing and tracing. and pa rt in terms of testing and tracing. and part of the reason is that the contact tracing team has been exercising these kinds of activities even before the covid—i9 pandemic. and i think maybe one key reason for the success of contact tracing is that we were able to keep the total

number of cases low so that even public health systems were not overburdened by the number of people that needed to be traced. so i think that needed to be traced. so i think thatis that needed to be traced. so i think that is the key. professor, thank you so much. incredible statistics, thank you so much for sharing. thank you. funeral ceremonies have been held for the palestinian negotiator and politician, saeb erekat, who died on tuesday after contracting coronavirus. 0ur middle east correspondent, tom bateman, reports from jericho. a final farewell to the man they called a stubborn negotiator but an unstoppable force for his people. they mourned outside the family home as saeb erekat‘s coffin was carried in convoy through the streets ofjericho, the west bank city he grew up in. to these people, saeb erekat was a hero. he was able to explain to the world their hopes for an independent palestinian state, and today, that dream seems as far away as ever.

at the graveside, a military tribute. and his family said goodbye to a father and grandfather. i was truly blessed to be raised in this man's house, the martyr for palestine, for the palestinian cause. saeb erekat was an intellectual, a politician, a person of thought, a person of diligence, of hard work who believed in palestine, who had dedicated all his life to serve the palestinian cause. saeb erekat was a crucial figure in the israeli—palestinian peace talks of the 1990s. he worked tirelessly for an end to israeli occupation close to the then—leader, yasser arafat, and never giving up on the pursuit of a two—state solution. for one former israeli prime minister who sat across the table from him, his death marks another loss for a fading peace process. we had arguments, we had differences, we didn't

agree on many things. but at the bottom line, he was against terror and he was in favour of full, comprehensive peace between israel and the palestinians. the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, led the tribute. a leader in his mid—80s kept shielded from crowds due to the pandemic. saeb erekat had a lung transplant three years ago. his health dramatically worsened after he contracted coronavirus last month. he chose diplomacy, using his skills on the world stage. but today, palestinian politics are as divided as ever, its leaders increasingly isolated. no wonder one of his last messages was it wasn't his time to go, as he hadn't finished the work he was born to do. tom bateman, bbc news, jericho. much more on our website. you can reach me on twitter —

i'm @bbckasiamadera. thanks for watching. good evening. wednesday has brought us a transition to much more unsettled autumnal weather. for the remainder of this week, that's going to be the theme, in fact. this was the picture in suffolk a bit earlier on, a lot of grey cloud around there. heavy rain towards the west is now going to be tracking its way eastwards, so overnight tonight, windy conditions for all of us and rain will be pushing its way east. so, it's all down to this weather front here, which is heading its way in from the atlantic. quite a lot of isobars on the map showing the strong winds with that squally rainfall that we're going to be seeing. could be the odd rumble of thunder. gusts of wind typically about 30—a0 mph, strongest towards the west, the winds easing a little bit as that rain pushes its way eastwards through this evening and overnight. but wherever you are, you could well notice those brisk winds through the course of tonight with the heavy rainfall, too. during the early hours of thursday, it looks like that rain will linger

for a time around the east coast. it should gradually clear away. still some showers moving through in its wake, but a little bit quieter first thing tomorrow morning. and it will be frost free with temperatures in our towns and cities between about 7—10 celsius, a touch cooler than this in the more rural spots first thing. but thursday is a quieter day compared to wednesday because we've got this bump of high pressure, so that's just bringing mostly dry conditions. less windy weather on thursday as well, but there will be a few showers to start off the day, most of them easing away, so a lot of dry weather with some sunshine breaking through. but there'll be more cloud piling in from the west later on in the day ahead of that persistent rain pushing in across northern ireland and western scotland. i—2 showers ahead of that, too, and temperatures about 10—13 celsius, so a touch cooler than recent days, but still mild for the time of year. now, as we move through thursday night and into friday, we've got this next frontal system bringing yet more rain

and squally winds eastwards across all of the uk. that frontal rain clearing from the southeast through friday morning, leaving some sunshine and scattered showers, most of them in the northwest where they could be heavy and potentially thundery. so, rainfall totals really mounting up across the west of scotland, for instance. a touch cooler, about 9—13 celsius on friday, and then look away now if you don't like the wet weather because the weekend is looking very unsettled. more areas of low pressure and a frontal system with lots of isobars moving in from the atlantic. so, this is the outlook for the weekend. plenty of heavy downpours, some strong winds at times, especially in the south. bit of brightness in between those autumnal showers. bye— bye.

this is bbc world news.

the headlines... president trump has made his first ‘official appearance' since his post—election press conference last week, laying a wreath to mark veterans day. he's still refusing to concede defeat in the election. joe biden also attended a ceremony in pennsylvania. all pro—democracy lawmakers in hong kong have resigned from the legislative council after four of their colleagues were expelled. it follows a ruling from china saying only those it regards as patriots can serve. the uk has become the first european country to exceed 50,000 coronavirus related deaths, with a further 595 deaths in the past day. in italy, the number of confirmed cases has passed one million. in the us, there have been more than a million cases recorded in the past ten days, with a record number of americans now receiving treatment in hospital for covid—i9.