this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. my name is mike embley. president trump makes his first official appearance since the election, at a wreath laying ceremony 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. 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.

president 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—elect biden also attended a veterans day event in philadelphia, pennsylania. meanwhile, georgia's top election official says the state will conduct a recount of all paper ballots cast in the election because the margin is so close but he says there is no sign of widespread fraud. 0ur correspondent, lebo diseko, joins me from washington. bring us up to date first of all on the recount. yeah, the

georgia secretary of state, the top official in the state essentially in charge of the elections they they will be this manual recount, different from the type of recount they would ordinarily do, an extra measure to recount those ballots because it is so tight there but interestingly, saying on tv here that he does not think it will make much difference to the actual outcome. generally speaking, recount only adult takeaway 100 or $0 recount only adult takeaway 100 or so votes in each direction, that he doesn't think it will make a difference — at a recount only adds or takes away but he is coming under pressure from two republican senators in georgia, calling for him to resign after handling of the election but he stands by the way the election with carried out and sees no evidence of electoral fraud. carried out and sees no evidence of electoral fraudi know you have personal

experience, president trump tweeting that nobody wants to report that pennsylvania and michigan did not allow pole watches and observers to watch all observed. this is responsible for hundreds of thousands of votes that should not be allowed to count, therefore, i easily win both states, he said. you were in michigan news that?” states, he said. you were in michigan news that? i was and it was an allegation that came from both democrats and republicans is that they were not allowed to observe the ballots being counted. that actually was not the case. there is a limit on how many people were allowed to watch the 134 people from each side, the 134 people from each side, the democrats and republicans and independents were allowed to observe what was going on andi to observe what was going on and i spoke to an official that's at one point they realised there were so many people there, in excess of 200 odd people for each side in the room and it was just getting too much so they asked people too much so they asked people to leave and there were these incredibly angry scenes of people demanding to be let back in the room, banging on the windows they're saying that

they should be letting. it was not true that they were not allowed to observe what was happening there. in the case of pennsylvania, the issue seems to be around the distance that the poll watchers were meant to keep interns of the distance to people counting ballots up. there is the case that the supreme court in that state is due to hear about that but again, really, things turning nasty. there is a state official in philadelphia, a republican, who has stood by the way that the election was carried out and he has been receiving death threats after being called out by donald trump on twitter. thank you for that. there's been international criticism of china after pro—democracy lawmakers in hong kong resigned en masse from the legislative council. the mass resignations came after four of their colleagues were expelled for backing independence. earlier, beijing had granted the hong kong authorities new security powers, to quell dissent. john sudworth reports from beijing.

apologies, we are now crossing to washington. thank you for your time. would you say that the battle for democracy in hong kong is pretty much over? i would say that i think it is showing how much china and the pcp see the threat of hong kong continues to its total control, not just continues to its total control, notjust in hong kong but the mainland and want to make clear the point that you were referencing, that they were not disqualified. they were allegations of independence but they were disqualified from really performing their function and using filibusters and legislative manoeuvre to block draconian laws being passed in hong kong. that's important for people to recognise. they were simply doing theirjob. but i suppose crucially, is there anything that can be done about it,

either within hong kong or the rest of the world outside breslow well, i definitely think this is a dark time. and this is a death sentence to the one country, two systems but i think that what this has become clear now is that it reaffirms for everyone watching who has known this is happening in hong kong and showed the rest of the world that hong kong is now a failed political system, and that has far—reaching ramifications for the international community, to think that this whole system of government has now failed, not only has the pcp bypass election, they have bypassed the basic law when implemented the basic law when implemented the national security law, they are now bypassing the courts in hong kong and ultimately they are bypassing the will of the people in hong kong, and that will have, i think, continued and expanding escalating consequences. will it go? china

is such an economic power in the world, cannot do what it wa nts 7 the world, cannot do what it wants? i think what you are seeing that china is scrambling this global standing, it has taken a great hit because of the pandemic. there is now more alignment in the global community. i do believe as you say, it's hard to imagine one country, even though the united states could actually stand up to china by ourselves and what is emerging now is that the british government, the eu and other countries standing together in a much more multilateral way and i think that's the next step here that must be taken in order to really counter and push back against some of these crackdowns that are happening. very good to talk to you, thank you very much. the us is seeing a surge in coronavirus. currently, an average of over 900 people a day are now dying

with the disease. more than a million new cases in november pushed the total confirmed cases to over 10 million nationally with just under 240,000 deaths so far. experts warn hospitals across the country could soon be overwhelmed. joining me now from st louis, missouri, is dr mati hlatschwayo davis. she's an infectious disease physician at the washington university school of medicine. thank you for your time, i can imagine you are very busy indeed. how do you view these latest figures? this is devastating at a really bad point and devastating at a really bad pointandi devastating at a really bad point and i venture to say we have not seen the worst yet. we have not seen the worst yet. we have reached over... inaudible... have reached over... inaudible. .. completely unacceptable for a country with these resources and capacity. with flu season here, with the cold and people coming indoors, this will only get worse and i

imagine we could enter some very dire measures soon. do you see the chances of those measures being put in place under this administration or soon enough under a new administration? the issue is we are operating in a power vacuum. as you know, we have just finished a very contentious selection and the white house is yet to address us in regards to the pandemic, although president—elect biden and vice—president elect harris coronavirus task force is refreshing for those of us in the medical and public health arena, then what they can do untiljanuary 20, so it's up to the country to band together and put in place preventative measures until we can get to a widely received vaccine, which you want to be until the middle of next year for most people or more therapeutics that can help. the bigger issue though

is hospitals are already reaching capacity and, with that issue, and with limited resources by way of ppe and small rural hospitals and private hospitals, we really are infor private hospitals, we really are in for some trouble here.|j know you do a lot of research particularly marginalised communities and i think you have concerns about how they may respond to a hope of a vaccine? absolutely. what we saw was that black and brown, andi saw was that black and brown, and i mean black latinx and native american, particularly are the communities hardest hit, disproportionately affected, and have big issues of mistrust, resulting in us unable to get the numbers we see representing them adequately in vaccine trials but more troublesome to me from the beginning and especially 110w the beginning and especially now is what does a rollup plant look like, that includes them and makes them feel confident in taking a vaccine. the

preliminary numbers are quite hopeful, i don't want to hang my hat on that until the data has been made available to external advisory boards to review, however, without a plan that addresses the long—term mistrust that has really seen an underrepresentation in trials, i fear we will have trouble adequately getting them this vaccine. we will be coming back to this but for the moment, thank you very much. thank you. in italy, over 33,000 new infections and they imposed a cu rfew last infections and they imposed a curfew last week, tuscany and for other regions have been designated orange zones, meaning bars and restaurants closed, shops can still open and people can be within their towns and cities but not to leave them. 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. 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. 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 local campaign headquarters and the heavy routine work of their women volunteers. berliners from both east and west linked hands and danced around their liberated territory. and, with nobody to stop them, it wasn't long before the first

attempts were made to destroy the structure itself. yasser arafat, who dominated the palestinian cause forso, long has died. the palestinian authority has declared a state of mourning. after 17 years of discussion, the result was greeted with an outburst ofjoy. women ministers who'd long felt only grudgingly accepted among the ranks of clergy suddenly felt welcome. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: donald trump lays a wreath to mark veterans day, his first official appearance since last week's election. as the president 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 masse, after four

of its members are labelled by china as unpatriotic and expelled. the regional government in ethiopia's northern tigray region 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 between regional forces and federal troops. the bbc‘s kalkidan yibeltal has the latest from addis ababa. 550. that's the number provided by the tigray authorities here in addis ababa of the number of fighters they say they killed when they say they were fighting on the side of the tigrayana people's fighting on the side of the tigraya na people's liberation front. this number was not independent verified that it comes as various reports indicate have been hundreds of casualties from both sides. yesterday, the federal police

here in the capital said that they had arrested 17 military personnel including top officials because they are accused them of colluding with the tplf when the northern area was attacked. but these are not just the arrests we are hearing. there are at least six journalists in detention being investigated for crimes. different rights groups have can “— different rights groups have can —— express their concerns over arrest. this side is in acting the country. there are reports indicating there is an influx of refugees across the border to the sudanese territory. more refugees are expected as the conflict continues. authorities say they are going to enter the military operation only when perpetrators they accuse of

attempting to destabilise the country get justice attempting to destabilise the country getjustice but many are not sure how soon that is going to happen. kalkidan yibeltal, bbc news, addis ababa. 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. the alisian 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 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, mr 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 bring you this breaking news from the afp news agency

that president—elect joe news from the afp news agency that president—electjoe biden has named his long—time ally as white house chief of staff, ron klain. he was chief of staff whenjoe biden was vice president and saw management of the stimulus bill in 2009 and the stimulus bill in 2009 and the response to the ebola out week. we will bring you more on that. peru's new interim president manuel merino has announced his pick to lead a new cabinet after the former president martin vizcarra was impeached over bribery allegations. but protestors furious at the former president's impeachment continue to march on the streets of the capital lima, despite appeals for calm. mark lobel‘s report includes some flashing images from the start. further unrest on the streets of lima. hours after the

swearing in of a new president, these protesters think will damage their country. police have fired tear gas and arrested people. translation: they have damaged private property and continued to come. we have to disperse them. politicians called for unity, currently up in flames. the row flared up after mondays impeachment of former president martin vizcarra on bribery allegations prompting his removalfrom office. allegations prompting his removal from office. protesters are unhappy at this change, with elections months away in the country in the midst of a coronavirus crisis and economic policies to usher in as the country battles a recession. moments after the vote, and on live television, one protester had this message for a politician who backed the removal of martin vizcarra. protesters sense a coup as an interim government is with the ushered in. the interim

president, this man, manuel merino, has been sworn in. the speaker of congress, this businessman and member of the centre—right popular action party is peru's the resident in four years. sticking stability, his chosen and experienced former defence minister who was sworn in on yesterday ——on wednesday, to lead his cabinet. translation: public security, peace, health crisis, economic challenges, finding people work. those are the challenges. also, there are april's collections when we need to hand over power to whoever is elected. the new prime minister also appealed for protesters to calm down, to help the government get out of the crisis. but with a nationwide protest call for thursday evening, there may be a stormy few days ahead.

funeral ceremonies have been held for the palestinian negotiator and politician, saeb erekat, who died on tuesday after contracting coronavirus. the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas hosted an official ceremony in ramallah, before saeb erekat‘s coffin was taken for burial in jericho, where he lived. 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. you 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. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter —

i'm @bbc mike embley. hello there. the weather is going to 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 will settle 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, could hang 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 degrees. now it's dry for much of central and eastern parts of the country as we head through the course of 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 north—west 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 or 10 degrees 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 north—west, 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 degrees, and with the wind it will feel on the cool side, despite it being fairly mild. but the low pressure really dominates the scene as we head on into 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 across 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 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 pennyslvania. while president trump still holds back from conceding defeat, the state of georgia has announced its first ever vote recount. joe biden leads there by just 14,000 out of the 5 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.