hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. covid—19 cases worldwide pass 52 million — and hits new records in the us. the us is still the worst hit. we have got to double down on the fundamental public health implementation that we have been talking about incessantly and appropriately. california is close to hitting a million confirmed infections — after texas which passed that milestone earlier this week. we'll be speaking to a doctor on the frontline in dallas. britain has summoned china's ambassador in london as a protest — after four pro—democracy politicians were expelled from the hong kong assembly. it breaches both china's commitment that hong kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy and the right to

freedom of speech guaranteed under paragraph three of the declaration. amnesty international says it has evidence scores of civilians have been killed in what it calls a ‘massacre‘ in the ethiopion region tigray — as thousands flee the conflict into neighbouring sudan. five days sincejoe biden was declared the winner in us election — and we're stil waiting for donald trump to concede defeat. we'll be looking at what that means for american democracy. the coronavirus pandemic has been hitting new records around the world. the number of confirmed cases worldwide has now passed 52 million. wednesday's death toll hit a record 12,000. and today the who has given a fresh warning — we may all be tired of the virus, but it is not tired of us. those are not the only new records set in the last few days — in europe, italy passed one million cases on wednesday, making it one of the top ten worst affected countries in the world.

in the uk more than 50,000 deaths have now been linked to the virus. spain too has reached a milestone number of deaths — the toll there has surpassed 40,000. we'll have more on all of this shortly. but first, to the us, where covid—i9 continues to spread at speed. california is close to one million confirmed infections. new york state has new restrictions coming into place. and this is the national picture. first fatalities. on wednesday close to 2,000 people died. the overall total is 2a0,000. there were also 144,000 new cases on wednesday. every day for the last week, we've seen over 100,000 new cases. and unfortunately this is not going to get better in the short—term. here's the country's leading infectious diseases expert, dr anthony fauci. this is a situation particularly when you are now going into the

middle of the fall with the cool weather and the soon to be in the winter, when people are going to be congregating out of necessity because of the weather indoors, that makes for a very challenging and ominous situation. now some areas are being hit worse than others. this map from the centre for disease control shows that states in the centre of the country are suffering the most — those marked are in the darker blue. north dakota has the highest number of cases per 100,000, followed by south dakota, iowa and wyoming. here's dr mati hlatscwayo davis from washington university on the worsening situation. hospitals are already reaching capacity and with that issue and with limited resources by way of ppe in the small rural hospitals, we really are in for some trouble here. all those states reopened in the spring, and retail stores and restaurants remain open. the new york times has put together this map of how different states are dealing with the virus. as you can see — many states

across the mid—west and the south have reopened or are in the process of doing so. in vermont you can play golf. in florida you can get a tattoo or go to a bowling alley. but while the economy is open there, the hospitals are filling up — here's one doctor. so we have gotten smarter this time around compared to the second surge, we consider this the third search. we thought march was bad and then we got hit injuly and august and that was really bad and they were starting to get hit again. we are seeing an uptick in cases but we have gotten smarter in knowing when we can remove patients from isolation. some states have paused the reopening as cases have risen — and others have been forced to tighten things again. indiana is bringing back restrictions in certain areas, illinois has issued new stay at home guidelines, maryland has reduced indoor dining capacity, and ohio has warned there could be more closures. and let's take a look at new york.

it was one of the hardest hit states in the early days of the pandemic. it opened up again over the summer, but now it has again introduced restrictions. bars, restaurants and gyms must close from 10pm and people can only meet in groups of 10 or less. here's a tweet from the city's mayor bill de blasio on tuesday. today's indicators — 94 patients admitted to the hospital, 817 new cases. this is our last chance to stop a second wave. we can do it, but we have to act now. here's naomi grimley with more on new york. cases are rising they are. they are even talking about closing the schools which is something european countries have tried to keep sacrosa nct countries have tried to keep sacrosanct but even then new york they are worrying about forcing schools to go online. cases in california have surged again. these are pictures from outside dodger stadium in los angeles. in normal times this traffic might have been the baseball was on — but these are people waiting in line for a covid test. testing has been expanded to meet increased demand. and when california reaches a million cases it will only

the second state to do so. here's the mayor of los angeles — tweeting. "we're facing a surge in covid—19 cases. we cannot act like this virus has gone away. we cannot let our guard down. it's still here. it's still deadly. we might be tired, but we can't let up. please avoid gatherings. wear your mask. keep your distance. get your flu shot." to texas now — it became the first state to hit one million cases earlier this week. if it were a country it would rank 11th in the world for number of cases. in el paso, so many people have died that 10 mobile morgues have been sent to the city. these pictures are from tuesday. and these pictures are from the city of lubbock — mobile medical tents have been sent there. doctor robert hancock is the president of the texas college of emergency physicians and joins us live now. thank you for your time. can you help us understand the

pressure that is currently being exerted on health care in texas? yes, as we are seeing hospitalisation dramatically increase over the last couple of weeks, it first started putting strain on more rural hospitals where they had limited capacity to begin with and as those got overwhelmed, the old way of handling it would be to tra nsfer the old way of handling it would be to transfer those patients out once they were over capacity to i see you in bigger cities. the bigger cities are filling up so there is nobody to accept those patients any more so we are having critically ill patients in emergency departments that really would be better served in icus. el pasois would be better served in icus. el paso is probably the worst of the big cities right now for sure but we are seeing the same trend start throughout the state and it is starting on the more rural areas and 110w starting on the more rural areas and now we are seeing starting on the more rural areas and now we are seeing the more metropolitan areas where there is nowhere to put these patients, no i see you beds, they wind up in the er

for many hours or days in instances which puts a strain on the emergency physicians and nurses. and are you satisfied with the public health messaging in texas and the various restrictions in place to try and control the virus? so restrictions in place to try and controlthe virus? so much restrictions in place to try and control the virus? so much of this comes down to personal responsibility, of the people that follow a ny responsibility, of the people that follow any of these mandates and i feel like we have reached a point where there is a lot of fatigue from people and complacency, where even if you have some restrictions in place, getting people to follow them has been difficult. we did see an u nfortu nate has been difficult. we did see an unfortunate trend during the previous lockdown where a lot of people had other significant diseases and medical issues but then would not get treated because of the lockdown or couldn't get to their physicians are what we found in the last lockdown as there is ups and

downs sides to this and we obviously don't want people to be harmed by other conditions, but i do feel like we will need additional restrictions and some changes as this goes forward. i am afraid we are just starting. and to what degree is your treatment of covid patients preventing you and your colleagues treating patients with other medical issues? that is inevitable when you have no icus beds available and you have no icus beds available and you have got the emergency physicians who are very well trained to manage critically ill patients for the first three or four hours of their presentation, are now managing some of these people for days, which is better managed by a pulmonary critical care doctor or an icu doctor, so what happens as it ties up doctor, so what happens as it ties upa lot doctor, so what happens as it ties up a lot of our resources. that is a lot of work on our part and it ties up lot of work on our part and it ties up our nurses. where you normally have a nurse in an icu has two

patients, in an er some of the patients, in an er some of the patients are having to manage seven 01’ patients are having to manage seven or eight critically ill patients because there is nowhere else to put them and inevitably that trickles down to other patients who are having heart attacks, strokes, other conditions. there isjust no available bed space capacity. thank you very much for speaking to us. perhaps we can check in with you again ina perhaps we can check in with you again in a few days. protests in armenia have continued for a third day. protesters are demanding the resignation of the prime minister after he signed the peace deal which ended the conflict. armenia has been fighting azerbaijan for the last six weeks. both countries also fought over the region in the late 80s and early 90s and it was back then that the region declared independence from azerbaijan and effectively became pa rt azerbaijan and effectively became part of armenia although that was never recognised by the

international community. after a long pause the fighting began again in september and armenia lost ground. this new deal means azerbaijan holds on to areas that it has taken back in this conflict, armenia is also agreeing to withdraw from several other areas. these were the protests in the armenian capital today. a number of opposition leaders and activists we know have been detained and protesters are calling for their release and the bbc‘sjonah calling for their release and the bbc‘s jonah fisher has calling for their release and the bbc‘sjonah fisher has been listening to their demands. this is the biggest demonstration we have seen s0 the biggest demonstration we have seen so far here. thousands of people marching through the centre of the capital calling for the country's prime minister to step down. periodically they break into cha nts down. periodically they break into chants of calling him a traitor and calling out for him to step down. they sold our land. he sold armenia.

let me ask you a question. he says he had to make a peace deal because armenia was losing. he has to resign because he is the person who presented their lands to azerbaijan, the terrorists are fighting against peaceful population. this is not peace, because when you give our land to an enemy, it will start. it may be after five years or ten years it will start, this is not peace. your prime minister said he had no choice, that if he kept on fighting... he had a choice. he had a choice ten days ago and one month ago, he had to choose now. a choice ten days ago and one month ago, he had to choose nowm a choice ten days ago and one month ago, he had to choose now. if he resigns what problem does that solve? would you go back to war with azerbaijan? armenia is strong enough to continue war. and as part of this peace agreement that has been signed

now azerbaijan will keep a significant chunk of it and armenia will have to give up some more territories alongside. russian peacekeepers are already being deployed, as you can see, hear there is considerable pressure on the prime minister here in armenia. whether he will be able to survive it we will have to wait and see. and more background on that conflict on the bbc news website. it's been nine days since the us election and president trump still hasn't conceded. at a press conference earlier today, the democratic leader, chuck schumer attacked the republican party, and the president's ongoing refusal to recognise the results of the election. when it comes to the election, republicans, congressional republicans, congressional republicans don't have the evidence, they don't have the proof. they don't have anything, neither does the president. congressional republicans are deliberately casting doubt on our elections for no other

reason but fear of donald trump. these republicans are all auditioning for profiles in cowardice , auditioning for profiles in cowardice, so this morning i have a very simple message for senate republicans. the election is over, it wasn't close, president trump lost, joe biden will be the next president of the united states, kamala harris will be the next vice president of the united states. senate republicans, stop denying reality, stop deliberately and recklessly sowing doubt about our democratic process. there have also been calls from within the republican party to move along with the usual processes of government transition. 0klahoma senator james lankford is one of only a handful of republicans in the senate to have even acknowledged thatjoe biden won. he told a local radio station that joe biden should receive start receiving briefings from us intelligence agencies, as president—elects normally do — and that if he didn't, he would intervene. however — later in the day

he appeared to back—pedal slightly — saying that president trump is "fully within his right to ask for recounts and for every legal question to be fully vetted and resolved." meanwhile — president—electjoe biden is moving ahead with forming his own administration, picking his long—term aide, ron klain, to be his incoming chief of staff. mr klain has been a top aide to mr biden since the 1980s. he was also a senior aide to president barack 0bama, and chief of staff to vice—president al gore. attention will now shift to biden's picks for cabinet posts — although there have been few clues so far on when announcements will be made. here with us now is our washington dc correspondent, gary 0'donoghue. i guess my first question is, as the white house telling us when we might hear from white house telling us when we might hearfrom president white house telling us when we might hear from president trump, white house telling us when we might hearfrom president trump, notjust on the election but there is a spiralling pandemic going on as well. not giving many clues at all to be honest. the press secretary this morning was asked about that

and she said we will hear from him in good time but didn't give any kind of timescale. clearly he is waiting to see how some of these legal cases panned out in the courts in terms of the election. as for the pandemic, he has been pretty silent on that and that is in a country where the daily numbers have doubled since the beginning of november. and how did uss chuck schumer‘s statement earlier that we have just heard? i think he is adding to the pressure on senate republicans. some of them have started to break ranks, there have been a couple of others, like chuck grassley, former chair of thejudiciary like chuck grassley, former chair of the judiciary committee and like chuck grassley, former chair of thejudiciary committee and current chair of thejudiciary thejudiciary committee and current chair of the judiciary committee lindsey graham, to varying degrees suggesting joe biden should be getting these briefings, and a whole bunch of former national security officials, republicans and democrats, have written to this

general services administration which is meant to organise all the cooperation with the incoming administration, to put pressure on them as well, but as things stand nothing seems to be shifting the president, and as you know, it has been a week today since he said anything in public apart from what he has been saying twitter about his allegations around the election. so he may not be budging but i wonder if away from all the microphones you could find anyone in washington who thinks he has a chance of stopping joe biden being the president?” don't think there is a lot of realism about that. it was a very interesting nugget from one of the cases being heard over in arizona, where one of the lawyers for the trump campaign said, we are not claiming the election has been stolen. we are not claiming it is fraudulent, we are disclaiming big m ista kes fraudulent, we are disclaiming big mistakes are made in the counting, s0 mistakes are made in the counting, so maybe things are being said in court rooms that don't quite reflect what is being said to the general

public through the megaphone of twitter and other platforms, but i think you are starting to see just some republican starting to break away, not saying trump move over in away, not saying trump move over in a sense but just away, not saying trump move over in a sense butjust saying, maybe there is no harm giving him the briefings, which has happened to most presidents in the modern era. china's interpretation of one country two systems britain's objection to the actions of the chinese government carries some weight — because of a treaty signed between the two countries when the uk returned hong kong to china in 1997 after more than 150 years of british control. under a system called "one country, two systems" — hong kong was to be kept as a special administrative region with much more autonomy than mainland china. this principle is referred to as basic law — hong kong's mini constitution. and the uk says that agreement has been broken. here's one minister from the foreign office. china says the resignations are a blatant challenge to the authorities, let's hearfrom one of those who walked out. power is all

rested in the chief executive's khan, and we all know that. the chief executive of hong kong is basically a puppet coming from the central government. the chief executive of hong kong is effectively hong kong's later and is appointed by the central government in china. in the latest act of defiance one opposition lawmaker u nfu rled defiance one opposition lawmaker unfurled a banner saying carrie lam was hurting hong kong, she will stink for 10,000 years. carrie lam is responsible for the expulsions of the four lawmakers. a former legislator quit just over the four lawmakers. a former legislator quitjust over a month ago and he says he was surprised by what happened. this also shocked me because these four legislators that actually from the moderate wing of the democratic camp. they do not

support either self—determination or independence of hong kong, so they did nothing in violation of the national security law and other laws, so i think it is because beijing decided to disqualify the moderate wing, that the whole camp feels there is no future for them to stay in the institution. that is why they collectively resigned today. britain's objections carry some weight because of a treaty signed when hong kong's return to china after more than 150 years of british control. under a system called one country, two systems, hong kong was to be kept as a special administrative region with much more autonomy than mainland china. this principle is referred to as basic law, the mini constitution of hong

kong, and the uk says that agreement has been broken. here is one minister from has been broken. here is one ministerfrom the has been broken. here is one minister from the uk has been broken. here is one ministerfrom the uk foreign office. it is my unfortunate duty to report to this house our view that this breach the legally binding declaration. it breaches china's commitment that hong kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy and the right to freedom of speech guaranteed under article three of the declaration. china's interpretation of one country two systems differs significantly — as this former chinese official explains. there is all the incentive, all the reason for china to prevent the one country to system principle, but allow me to emphasise, the principle itself does not allow any sedition 01’ itself does not allow any sedition or violating chinese sovereignty. on that condition all democratic rights should be protected. this is all connected to what happened a few months back when china passed a new security law

which makes it easierfor authorities to punish protestors — and to deal with anything it sees as serious challenges to its authority in hong kong. as part of this — crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces are now punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison. damaging public transport facilities can be considered terrorism. and beijing now a new security office in hong kong, with its own law enforcement personnel — neither of which come under the local authority's jurisdiction. well, this was the scene in hong kong's assembly this morning — you can a whole bloc of seats empty because of those lawmakers who resigned. and despite rebukes from the uk and the us — the message from the chinese is defiant. the western politicians fully revealed their double standard. we are to the relevant individuals to act by the norms governing international relations and stop any way interfering in chinese internal affairs including hong kong affairs.

any of the attempt to pressure undermine chinese sovereignty, security and interests will not succeed. it is interesting to hear the uk saying, this treaty is being broken, but what can it do about that? the uk is certainly applying some pressure to china but which has been applied since months ago but it doesn't seem to be very effective. china seems not very caring for what the international community has been saying. the us has also criticised china for what it is doing in hong kong right now, but beijing is not reacting very positively to it. beijing usually called all of this as foreign interference into its domestic affairs. and beijing will also know that donald trump is approaching the end of his term in office, joe biden waiting to begin his. do you think there will be

continuity of policy towards china? that is very likely. first of all in the coming ten weeks when the trump administration can still impose china policies, iwould administration can still impose china policies, i would expect them to continue to confront china because the trump china policy has been partially driven by a group of very hawkish china heads in his administration and these people who wa nt to administration and these people who want to make their china policy stick so they can still break a lot of china on their way out and this does first of all harm to the us — china relations which is already at the lowest point in decades. but when it comes to the biden administration, when they fight the pandemic and prepare the relationship with foreign allies, this will lay the foundation for a more comprehensive china policy, and

i thinkjoe biden knows very well that china right now is different from the china in 2016. it is more certain, more powerful, and he will deal with china very differently from 2016. and i have only got one minute, but these lawmakers who have left, will they be replaced by lawmakers more sympathetic to beijing's? that is likely. hong kong has declared the local election to a year later and it was a shock to eve ryo ne year later and it was a shock to everyone that all this pro democracy legislators resign so we were seeing the empty seats in the hall. it will be likely that they will be pro—beijing legislators and this is exactly what beijing wants. always good to have the only programme, thank you for your help. remember, all the stories covered on outside source, extra background information

online on the bbc website. when we come back we will talk about us democracy. most of us saw some shine shine today but the clouds has been gathering more recently across the north—west of the country. that was how the weather looked in cumbria through the afternoon. the cloud you can see spelling and is associated with this area of low pressure, cold front set to move on through the night on this front will have some strong winds on and just ahead of the front, so it will become quite gusty for all of us for a time through the next few hours with the rain really quite heavy as well as it moves across from northern ireland into scotland, england and wales. gusts of wind could reach 40-45 in wales. gusts of wind could reach 40—45 in places so it is going to be pretty blow away and the rain will be intense very short time, one of

those weather fronts that might wake you up for those weather fronts that might wake you upfora those weather fronts that might wake you up for a time overnight. following the front, fresher air works and to northern ireland and as we enter tomorrow morning the cold front pushes eastward so rain for a time across the midlands, central and southern england on into east anglia and south—east england. then there will be some sunshine so the weather improving on the brighter and drierfor weather improving on the brighter and drier for most weather improving on the brighter and drierfor most of weather improving on the brighter and drier for most of us but there will be showers across northern and western areas in the showers will be accompanied by blustery winds across the north—west of the uk, winds falling lighter across the south—east later in the afternoon. this weekend sees low pressure in charge, a whole tangle of weather fronts crossing the uk, each of these bringing zones of heavy rain saw heavy rain both saturday and sunday in strong winds at times as well. on saturday, the strongest winds will be blowing through the irish sea so wales, western areas of england picking up the strongest gusts, 40 or 50 england picking up the strongest gusts, 40 or50 mph, england picking up the strongest gusts, 40 or 50 mph, outbreaks of rain driving northwards, some might

start off bright across the north of scotland, we will also see a soaking at some point. brighter spells at times across eastern england, it is going to be mild with the temperature 11 in edinburgh and glasgow to around 16 in london. more wet and windy weather to come on sunday, our main band of rain clears through england but rain at times for scotland and northern ireland still quite heavy. strongest winds through the english channel and those gusts could reach around 50 or even 60 mph so particularly blustery here, fresh air eventually working on for most of us as we head through sunday afternoon.

hello, i'm ros atkins. welcome to outside source. covid—19 cases have passed 52 million globally as the pandemic continues to hit new records. the us is still worst hit. we have got to double down on the fundamental public health implementation that we've been talking about incessantly and appropriately. california is about to become the second state to hit a million infections after texas. records are being broken in europe too — the uk records over 33,000 new infections in the past day — the highest since the pandemic began. brexit talks between the uk and eu are entering their final stage.

access to fishing and rules on state aid are still the major sticking points. projust —— pro just —— progress projust —— progress is being made. we will continue to engage in these discussions. it's the sensible thing to do. more on the global spread of coronavirus. more than 52 million cases have now been confirmed, and countries around the world are battling second waves of the disease. lots of updates. first to france, where the prime minister says hospitals are under pressure. translation: last week, between 400 and 500 people died every day of covid. this means that today in france, one death out of four is because of covid. we have also seen in the last few days one hospitalization every 30 seconds and one admission

into intensive care every three minutes. italy passed the milestone of one million cases yesterday. today, the authorities there reported 38,000 new cases, up 5,000 on yesterday, and 636 deaths related to coronavirus. in this care home in the north of the country where they're trying to allow residents to hug relatives by putting plastic sheets between them, some residents haven't touched their loved ones since march. hospitals are once more struggling to cope with the numbers of patients. in naples, people have been treated in their cars in hospital car parks. and in turin, ambulances are backing up outside. russia is seeing cases increase dramatically. on thursday, it reported a new record high of 439 new deaths. it's the remote provinces which are being hardest hit. sarah rainsford has been to the town of kotlas, a thousand miles from moscow. "tell them to stop calling for ambulances,"

a russian paramedic pleads. she says there's no one left here to respond. just back from picking up one patient with covid, her team has already been called out again. they are taking precautions, but many colleagues have fallen sick, piling even more pressure on the rest. up in kotlas, this doesn't look like the victory over the virus russia's politicians once claimed. a record surge in infections is now hitting remote regions like this one hard. another ambulance has just arrived with medics in full ppe, so presumably more covid patients on board. and in fact, there's a lot of activity here at this hospital. a senior official recently said they were very few beds left here. they‘ re operating under extreme pressure and the number of covid patients, new cases in this region, is still rising. these were the scenes inside recently after a sudden

increase in admissions. the sick left in corridors, even on benches. a medic says she's caring for a hundred patients on her own. life here is a world away from the wealthy capital, but the virus doesn't care. nicolai and angeliqua are both health workers, angry that local officials didn't use the summer to prepare for this and that the risks they're taking on a minimal wage. translation: it makes your hair stand on end. out of nowhere, this is ongoing. we sometimes panic about where it will end. their own town hospital has turned two floors into covid ward and this second surge has only just begun. sarah rainsford, bbc news. in ukraine, president zelensky has been admitted to hospital with coronavirus. his office says it's not too serious, but nevertheless, he's in isolation in hospital. here's naomi grimley. he's the latest in an a line

of world leaders who've been hospitalized for covid—19, including president trump and borisjohnson here in the uk. president zelensky fell ill on thursday. he had a positive test on monday. he's been taken, we're told, as a precaution to hospital with his chief of staff and that an office has actually been set up in the hospital so he can carry on working. one thing to stress is he's 42, so statistically, he should be in a good position to recover. let's turn back to the uk now, and the government here has reported the highest daily number of cases since the pandemic began. the figure for thursday was 33,470, a rise of 50% on the previous day. it's not clear why there was such a large jump, although this is of course just one day's data. we must see what the further data is in the week. yesterday the uk became the first country in europe to record more than 50,000 deaths from coronavirus. the bbc‘s health correspondent, catherine burns, has been speaking to people who've lost loved ones in the second wave of the pandemic.

peter davies and steve lived less than 40 miles from each other and died 11 days apart, both in the second wave of coronavirus. peter was a family man, he died the week before his 57th wedding anniversary. he was a brilliant dad who also noted on his grandchildren. he was overweight, but healthy until he went to hospital with a water infection. he wasn't an ill or frail man, he died purely of covid. if cova didn't exist, my dad would be here. steve was a teacher, but that barely begins to sum him up. he was ina barely begins to sum him up. he was in a rock band, a photographer and a biker. wherever he went went on his bike, he would take an ice cream selfie. he had asthma and type two diabetes but didn't think he would get covid. at the end of september, he and his wife became sick at the same time. it was awful because we

we re same time. it was awful because we were both so ill. his auctioning levels are quite low, enough to make us levels are quite low, enough to make us realise that he needed medical attention. sue hoped and believe steve would be ok right until the end. the shock came when i got a call in the early hours of friday morning to say he developed complications and his heart is stopped. the reason why his heart had stopped was from a clot on his lung. we did everything we possibly could. the last vision i have of my dad before his last day was him in the back of an ambulance. sorry. that's the last vision i have of him as being ok, really. these people are not numbers 01’

as being ok, really. these people are not numbers or statistics, they're people who are loved. they missed usually. -- they are missed usually. maybe hundreds of civilians and ethiopia are being killed. the conflict started eight days ago when the government began a military offensive against local forces who control the region. it accuses them of attacking a government military base. the local ruling party fall that a fragrant of aggression. we know hundred the people have been killed. here are the latest features we have. federal troops in the region... jets have attacked arms be going to the regional government. and the military is claiming a series of successes. this video said

to show troops taking control of an airport. this is a commander. translation: we have come here with high morale. we have come here with high morale. we are determined that this force has to either surrender or be destroyed, wherever it is. it's almost impossible to independently verify red information from this region. we got this video from reuters on monday and we know of journalist are being turned away from a military base that reportedly came under attack. you can see suvs and pick—up truck outside the base filled with government soldiers. this is an account of one man who's on the border. translation: we could hear a lot of gunfire. the whole village panicked. thanks to out whole village panicked. thanks to our special forces and militiamen, a lot of our soldiers' lives were saved. we know thousands of them are now fleeing. these pictures have

come in from neither ranks a lan —— neighbouring sedan. it's estimated that half who arrived were children. shortages of basis commodities, there are reports of intermittent electricity supplies, banks are closed and cash shortage is not only affecting civilians, but our operation as well. of course rising anxiety amongst the population, including our staff, as one can imagine. this hasn't come out of the blue. tensions between ethiopia's federal government have been simmering for years. when prime minister came to plough her in 2018, —— came to power. you can imagine

that upset some people. the relations soured further in 2019. the prime minister dissolved the ruling coalition, which was made up ofa number of ruling coalition, which was made up of a number of ethnically based parties. he moved them all into one single political party and the t grade people's liberation front refused to join. the tpl —— tigray. that was declared illegal. that's the tension that's been building. the prime minister says his argument is not with the people of tigray, it's specifically with the party. their objective was clear, to make the country vulnerable by instigating. this conflict is in some ways about ethiopia, but it has many wider implications. here's the analysis of william davidson. there's also the

considerable risk that ethiopia's neighbour gets involved in the conflict. there is some tension about whether that's occurred. also there are refugees blowing into eastern sue don —— sudan. if the conflicts spread, it could weaken the government. it can cause problems in some where distracted ethiopian military could leave something of a security vacuum there. ultimately, this conflict does have the potential to generate and that could have very see various regional implications —— very serious. this is also playing out in the ethiopian capital. the police have arrested over 200 people on suspicion of selling chaos. bombs and bullets have been confiscated.

the humanitarian situation seems to be bad, but like everything else, we're not getting clear information. due to the communication lack in the region. so now, it seems that it's difficult to call for humanitarian assistance, but we know is thousands of ethiopians are freeing the region —— fleeing the region and they are also fears that there might be an influx in that area. so it seems the humanitarian crisis might continue s0 humanitarian crisis might continue so long as the fighting continues and so long as there is a shortage of basic supplies.

fishing rights and state help is still the sticking point. the uk has to knuckle down to get this deal, saying failure to reach an agreement will be damaging all around. brenda's want the deal. we all represent people. we've all had a shock to our system because of covid—19. it's a piece of legislation which seeks to regrow why don't i override the withdrawal agreement. of the withdrawal agreement called the northern ireland protocol, which both britain and the eu signed up to. northern ireland is of course part of the uk and the republic of ireland is in the eu, and there have been no border checks of any type between the two since a peace deal, the good friday agreement, in the 1990s. everyone wants to avoid

border checks coming back, but how do you do that if the republic is in the eu's single market and northern ireland isn't? there's no easy answer, but last autumn, boris johnson agreed to put some customs checks between northern ireland and the rest of the uk, so customs checks within his own country. that unlocked the stalemate until the government announced its new legislation, which would allow the uk to "disapply" those rules. the irish taoiseach says the two men have spoken about the legislation. i had ihada i had a very frank conversations with borisjohnson. i had a very frank conversations with boris johnson. —— i had a very frank conversations with borisjohnson. —— conversation. i think the eu has taken infringement proceedings against the uk in relation to that. my belief is

that would in essence neutralise the internal market bill. the house of lords with such a strong majority rejected the bill because they felt a broke precedent and not adhering toa a broke precedent and not adhering to a treaty at the time. the house of lords may have rejected it but borisjohnson plans to use his majority in the house of commons to force it through anyway. it's aiming at pulling off both objectives, getting the legislation passed and agreeing a deal with the eu. this was the cabinet minister michael gove in the house of commons. progress is being made but divergences remain. that said, the uk will continue to engage in negotiations on a free trade agreement and the negotiation team will continue to work hard to find solutions that fully respect the united kingdom. the worst number of

infections that the pandemic began in one day. amidst all this, the fallout continues over the resignation of one of borisjohnson's closest aides, lee cain. downing street's director of communications has been at the prime minister's side since the successful "vote leave" brexit campaign in 2016, alongside boris johnsons's chief adviser, dominic cummings. here's leila nathoo on the rows behind the scenes that drove mr cain's departure. it is usually significant. the departure have lee came has come in the way of this —— lee cain. it's really exposed them to the floor. i think that is quite damaging for downing street. certainly you hear criticism, why are we focusing on the departure of aids? when actually the departure of aids? when actually the government should be focusing on the government should be focusing on the pandemic —— on aides. i think there will be those who think this

can marka there will be those who think this can mark a moment, a shift, and the approach of downing street and certainly people in the tory party. in government who want the prime minister to use lee cain's departure asa minister to use lee cain's departure as a moment to reset and change the approach of government, because there's been a lot of criticism about how number ten has been working. stay with us on outside source. a donald trump continues to deny his defeat in the presidential election. donald trump continues to deny his defeat in the presidential election. we take a look at the health of american democracy. here in the uk, a nurse has appeared in court in cheshire charged highways england says the two mile stretch will remove noise and visual distraction from the campaign groups are worried the wiltshire landscape could be damage. here's more from

duncan kennedy. the 8303, gateway to southwest but routed past the written shift of this world heritage site. the 30 years, they've debated how to save stonehenge. but now the government says the a 303 is to be buried into a tunnel, creating a traffic free landscape. what heritage say it will transform the mortgage —— monument to. heritage say it will transform the mortgage -- monument to. to remove this noisy and polluting road from this noisy and polluting road from this very important prehistoric landscape. the terminal would be two miles long and government insists it won't be any major damage to the archaeology here. it's only when you get here on the ground when you realise just how close the stones are to the a303. this is a road that attract between 30 and 50,000 cars a day

somehow the landscape to each side of the tunnel will be gouged out into deep cuttings with dual carriage ways in them, huge tunnel entrances, masses of concrete, major road interchanges to each side of the world heritage site. this is devastation on a major scale. been many promises before to put the a303 into a tunnel, the main work here is finally accepted —— expected to start in three years time. covid—19 has now reached 52 million confirmed cases in california is

very soon to become the second us state to hit a million infections. more than 70 people have died attempting to cross the mediterranean sea into a another 47 migrants were rescued. staff have reported that a boat carrying 123 migrants departed last night around 9pm from the shores of the city of pounds. the boat u nfortu nately the city of pounds. the boat unfortunately capsized up early this afternoon. survivors have been rescued by local fishermen and bolivian coast guard have been brought to shore and reported that the majority of those on board have lost their lives. among them, women and children. there were pictures

shared by our staff and scenes they described of absolutely horrific. this is the ninth shipwreck since the beginning of october in the central metal. central we the beginning of october in the central we have some information on the on some of the survivors, mainly from nigeria. we are still conducting interviews with the survivors and providing them with the needed health existence. every week we produce a video with bbc news on one of the main issues of the week. this week, it's no surprise we're looking at the us. america is in unchartered territory. joe biden has won, but the president believes this. they are trying to steal an election, they're trying to rig an election, they're trying to rig an election and we can't let that happen. joe biden has won, but this

is the secretary of state. there will be a smooth transition to a second trump administration. the president will not accept defeat, will not help the transition of power. so, is american democracy in crisis? there's no shortage of people making the case. the new statesman says "darkness has fallen on american democracy". an article in the foreign affairs magazine argues the problems are long—term and that... and the president has been nothing if not consistent. he alleged there was widespread voterfraud in 2016. there wasn't. he's saying the same this time, again without evidence. and he's sharing videos like this. asking "‘is this what our country has come to?‘ those are mail—in ballots being collected in a normal and legal way. but are those actions having an impact? we know some americans no longer

trust the system. and their words echo the president. there are questions about the integrity of those results.” there are questions about the integrity of those results. i think there's a tremendous amount of fraud and what —— based on what we've heard. facebook has had to take down groups devoted to this. and we're seeing it on the streets too. trust in us democracy is being eroded by the president and, crucially, by a slew of misinformation online. but for all that, the system itself is working. then there's the media organisations which project the result. all of them, including fox news, say biden has won. and the vote counting has continued, despite the president's interventions. just because the president says something doesn't make it so, and the system shows every sign of understanding that. there are though pressures

within the system. the electoral college system rewards wins in individual states. given the electoral college majority he needs. msnbc host chris hayes argues that's a risk. not to mention you can lose the popular vote and become president, as donald trump did. and all of these factors mean american democracy is being scrutinised by a watching world. in a way, it always has been. back in 1989, president reagan spoke of the us as ‘the shining city upon a hill‘.

now some never accepted that idea, but certainly america has long been vocal in its promotion of democracy. that becomes harder when the president and some americans believe their democracy cannot be trusted. whether that constitutes a crisis depends on whether those beliefs outlast the trump presidency. history and ten minutes on social media suggest they will. bye— bye. hello again. most of us saw some sunshine today but the clouds have been gathering more recently across the northwest of the country. how the weather looks in cumbria through the afternoon. you can see the cloud filling in here, associated with this area of low pressure. cold fronts set to move and as we go through the night and this front will have some strong winds on and just ahead of the front as well. it's going to become quite gusty for all of us for a time as we go on through the next few hours, but the rain really quite heavy as well as it moves across from northern ireland into scotland, england and wales. those gusts of wind could reach 40—45 miles an hour in places, so it will be pretty

below e. the rain is going to be quite intense for a short time. it might even wake you up for a time overnight. following that front, fresher air into northern ireland and as we head into tomorrow morning, the cold front continues to push eastward. rain across the midlands into east anglia and south east england, clearing. then there'll be some sunshine, the so weather improving. there will be showers across northern and western areas and the showers will be accompanied by a blustery wind across the northwest of the uk. the winds falling lighter across the southeast later in the afternoon. this weekend sees low pressure in charge, or a whole tangle of weather fronts are crossing the uk. each of these brings zones of heavy rains, so these brings zones of heavy rains, so there'll be heavy rain both saturday and sunday and strong winds at times as well. on saturday, the strongest winds will be blowing through the irish sea, so wales, western areas of england probably picking up the strongest gusts. 40, maybe 50 mph. it might startle price

against the north of scotland, we will —— it will be soaking at some point. it is going to be mild, temperatures 11 in edinburgh and glasgow to about 16 in london. more wet and windy weather to come on sunday, our main band of rain cleared through eastern england but rain at times for scotland and northern ireland. the strongest winds working through the english channel and gust could reach around 50 or even 60 miles an hour, so particularly blustery here. fresher air working as we head through the sunday afternoon. that's your latest weather. bye for now.

this is bbc news. i'm kasia madera. the headlines at 8pm — the number of people in england waiting more than a year for hospital treatment hits a 12—year high as nhs staff battle the second wave of the pandemic some hospitals are once again cancelling non—urgent treatments. i'm in quite a lot of pain. some days are worse than others. sometimes ijust go into a spasm. you are just left in a wasteland with no idea what's going on. the uk economy's roller coaster ride a big rebound over the summer, but signs of another dip as the second lockdown bites. baby deaths at the countess of chester hospital — a maternity ward nurse is charged with murdering eight children.