this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm kasia madera. donald trump makes his first official appearance since the election to pay tribute to fallen soldiers on veterans day. as the president still holds back from conceding defeat, officials in georgia confirm they'll recount the votes cast in the state. all: together we stand! pro—democracy lawmakers in hong kong resign en masse after four of their colleagues are expelled by china for backing independence. hospitalisations for covid—19 reach a record high in the us, while the uk becomes the first country in europe to see more than 50,000 people killed by coronavirus. but in taiwan, they've celebrated seven months with no

cases among their citizens. what lessons can be learned from their approach to the outbreak? 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. 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

in washington has been watching developments. 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. and he's come under huge pressure from his own party — he's a 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 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're considering legal action if the gsa doesn't recognise a transition. it's getting really

complicated now. yeah, 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 administrations. they have not recognised the transition. so that means that 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're not there yet, but in the coming days if things don't change, they might do. 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 correspondent john 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. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. au nok—hin is a former member of hong kong's legislative council. i asked him what he makes of the dismissal of those four pro—democracy lawmakers.

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 de facto iron cage 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, as a former member, 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? or is that simply too impossible now,

is itjust 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. for sure, t 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 the political spectrum, is extremely important right now. but certainly to say under the disqualification of four members and the resignation of 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 hong kong 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. let's turn to the covid—19 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 under the trump adminstration has largely fallen on to the 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 on wednesday — 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 including a curfew. 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 hugh pym has more. 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. 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 longerfor 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. one of the boris johnson's closest aides has dramatically resigned from his role in the british government. lee cain held the key position of director of communications at 10 downing street. his departure is being seen as part of a wider power struggle. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg has more. 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, i understand, 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. 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, his first official appearance since last week's election. as mr trump still holds back from conceding defeat, officials in georgia confirm they'll recount the votes cast in the state. 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. steve 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 and around karabakh, mr pashinyan has betrayed them. we are here to demand the prime minister, nikol pashinyan, to resign. 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 get some of the day's other news... in ethiopia's northern tigray region, the government has issued a decree ordering the total mobilisation of its people. state television said the authorities had ordered the population to defend itself against what it described as the flagrant aggression of the federal government. hundreds of fighters from both sides are reported to have been killed during a week of clashes. several people, including a greek official and a saudi guard, are thought to have been injured after a blast at a non—muslim cemetery, in the city ofjeddah, where foreign diplomats were attending a remembrance day ceremony. the event was reportedly organised by the french embassy in saudi arabia — and france has called on its citizens in the city to exercise maximum vigilance.

police in the angolan capital luanda have used tear gas to disperse demonstrators protesting against rising living costs, unemployment and the postponement of local elections due to coronavirus. angola is one of africa's biggest oil exporters but most of its people live in poverty. anger at the government has increased in recent months because of corruption and police brutality. in the uk, the centenary of the burial of the unknown warrior — was marked at a special service. prince charles and the duchess of cornwalljoined figures from government and the armed forces for the service at westminster abbey. the uk also marked the anniversary of the armistice — with a two—minute silence. it's now seven months since there was a domestically transmitted case of covid—i9 on the island of taiwan. that makes it arguably the most successful place at tackling the pandemic. the world as a whole is also hitting new records but in the other direction — infections have now surpassed the 50 million mark with cases

rising as bad as ever in the us. president—elect biden has promised a more aggressive approach to tackling the outbreak. so what can taiwan teach the us and the world? professor hsien—ho lin is an infectious disease epidemiologist from the national taiwan university. he told me more about why taiwan's approach has been so successful. 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, obviously. yes, the evidence has been evolving, but at that time, i was still looking for the firm evidence that masks worked the best. but at that time, we had a limited choice in terms of interventions. so i supported for the importance of masks at that time, and one major

reason for banning the exportation of masks was to preserve the store, so medical professionals had very good 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 the taiwan cdc has been doing a very good job 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 this 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 is the key. the situation in taiwan.

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 crucialfigure 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. an extremely rare purple—pink russian diamond has sold at auction in switzerland for $26.6 million. the 14.8—carat diamond, called "the spirit of the rose," is the largest of its kind to be auctioned, as almost all pink diamonds are under 10 carats. it was sold to a telephone bidder who chose to remain anonymous.

do speak out if you'd like to tell us who you are. thanks for watching. hello there. the weather will quieten down for a day or so before it turns more unsettled as we move towards the end of the week and the weekend. but today's dry and settled weather is thanks to a ridge of high pressure. but it won't last long as cloud and showers start to push into western areas. now that's the overnight wind and rain clearing away from the east coast. this ridge of high pressure settles things down briefly before the next low pressure moves into the west of the uk through the afternoon. so we could have a hang back of clouds and showers for a time across the east, hanging around shetland pretty much all day. and much of the country is dry with plenty of sunshine around, but you'll see the clouds thickening up out west. outbreaks of rain pushing in here, more prolonged rain pushing in for western scotland by the end of the day, along with

the strengthening winds. temperatures down on what we had yesterday, 10—13 celsius. now it's dry for much of central and eastern parts of the country as we head through the course the night, but this band of rain, some of it heavy, and strong winds slowly pushing eastwards followed by some blustery showers. very windy conditions across the northwest of scotland, but a pretty blustery night for most areas. those temperatures generally in single figures — high single figures, mind you, we could see 9—10 celsius across the south of england. so this is the pressure chart for friday, low pressure to the north west of the uk, lots of isobars in the northwest, so very windy here. but it will still be quite gusty with this band of rain lying through central parts of the country for friday morning. that should eventually clear way to the north sea, and skies will brighten up for most of the afternoon. but there'll be lots of showers rattling into northern and western areas — some of these will be heavy and quite frequent

with rumbles of thunder across the northwest of scotland. those temperatures 10—13 celsius, and with the wind it will feel on the cool side, despite it being fairly mild. the low pressure really dominates the scene as we head to the weekend. you can see lots isobars on the chart, particularly across the south of the country, and plenty of weather fronts indicating some rain. after the last few cool days, it looks like it'll turn milder again into the weekend, particularly on saturday. something slightly cooler pushing in from west as we head through sunday, especially through the north of the uk. so a pretty wild weekend in store, some heavy rain around, strong winds, gales across the south coast. very mild for a time on saturday, feeling a little bit fresher on sunday.

this is bbc 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 at the tomb of the unknown soldier in arlington cemetery. president—electjoe biden paid his respects at a ceremony in pennsylvania. while president trump still holds back from conceding defeat, the state of georgia has announced its first ever vote recount. joe biden leads there byjust 14,000 out of the five million votes cast. the counting will be done by hand. 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.

that's it for