this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. conservative mps urge the prime minister to reset his government after the departure of his top adviser dominic cummings. several states in the us bring in new restrictions to try to curb the surge in covid—19. the us president—elect, joe biden, strongly criticises donald trump's handling of the crisis. mr trump has insisted he won't put the us into lockdown, and comes close to admitting he could leave the white house next year. i will not go... this administration will not be going to a lockdown. hopefully, whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be? i guess time will tell. ethiopia's government warns that

fighting with local forces in the tigray region appears to be spreading into neighbouring areas. a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the uk is expected to be brought foward to 2030, a decade earlier than originally planned. and diwali with a difference — the festival of lights is celebrated in a socially—distanced way by hundreds of millions of people around the world. everybody, in their mind, they are scared about coronavirus, but at the same time, they are kind of adjusting to the new normal. hello and welcome, if you're watching in the uk or around the world. stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here

and across the globe. here in the uk, downing street sources suggest yesterday's sudden departure of the prime minister's chief adviser, dominic cummings, came about after relations between the two men "went off a cliff edge". borisjohnson is now said to want to "move on" following a week of turmoil in the prime minister's top team. it comes as trade talks with the eu near their conclusion. here's our political correspondent nick eardley. leaving by the front door for the last time — dominic cummings, who had been boris johnson's most senior and influential aide, but whose time at the heart of government is over. when boris johnson became prime minister, he turned to his allies from the brexit referendum. mr cummings and his vote leave colleagues were brought in to make sure brexit was delivered and to shake up the way the government worked. but mr cummings was deeply controversial, often finding himself in the limelight, in particular after he refused

to apologise after driving to barnard castle from london during lockdown. sorry i'm late. we agreed that we should go for a short drive to see if i could drive safely. but it's tensions in here which have proved his downfall, with faction fights in number ten bursting into the open in recent days as different groups fought for influence over the prime minister. boris johnson's fiancee, carrie symonds, was one of those who'd raised concerns, but for months, many of borisjohnson‘s mps and even some ministers had been unhappy at the style of government with mr cummings in number ten and that very few people seemed to have the prime minister's ear. i think that, with hindsight, mrjohnson might feel that he has squandered quite a lot of political capital unnecessarily in seeking to defend the indefensible, but the fact of the matter is we are now where we are and we can move forward and i would like the prime minister to see this as an opportunity

to muck out the stables and get in a team of people that he really needs and deserves behind him. now the vote leave era in number ten looks to be drawing to a close. it'll be up to the prime minister and those left in downing street to decide what happens next. our political correspondent, jonathan blake, explained a little earlier how yesterday's events unfolded. well, this torrid week of tension at number 10 did come to a head yesterday afternoon. we know the prime minister had a meeting yesterday afternoon with lee cain, his former director of communications, and dominic cummings and it was said the prime minister wanted to, at that meeting, clear the air and move on. there are conflicting and colourful accounts about what was said and what happened in the hours after that. it is being claimed the prime minister accused the two men of briefing against his fiancee carrie symonds and that version

of events is hotly disputed by others. one source in the room at the time described it as a lovely conversation between the three men at which they reminisced about their various achievements together. and then yesterday evening, as we saw, dominic cummings left number ten by the front door carrying that cardboard box, a very deliberate move that he would be going for good and as we know this morning, that is the case, bar from home working between now and christmas. what that shows you, regardless of the detail of what happened, is that this a feud went right down to the last hours and minutes of these two men and their time in downing street. and there was a bit of bad blood still to the end and they left under something of a cloud and the terms of their departure might be disputed, but there is no doubt this has been a watershed week for downing street.

joining me now is bronwen maddox, the director of the institute for government. which does a lot of research into the machinery of government. i suppose these kind of personality clashes, if that is what we have seenin clashes, if that is what we have seen in the last few days, make the process of actually governing that bit more difficult? yes, unless they resolve tensions that have been there for sometimes. this goes beyond this week. the government has done some things during the coronavirus pandemic but it has not got the communication is right, they have been pretty dire. it needed to sort that out and it needed more public trust, which took a battering when dominic cummings was revealed to have gone to barnard castle in the first lockdown. this has been brewing since then. the restlessness of mps and backbenchers shows how strange some of the government's key relationships have been. this was coming. the government really was getting to the end of the line of

where it could get as an acerbic approach in key relationships as it has had on the dominic cummings. you spend a lot of time talking to people at whitehall, officials, ministers and advisers. you start to get a picture of how the machinery of government is functioning. what effect was that communication strategy, and those sometimes abrasive personal relations, having on the business of making decisions and trying to come up with effective policies? it's beaded somethings up and it got in the way of a lot of other things. —— it sped some things up. dominic cummings was right in a lot of his analysis. what is frustrating about government and what does not work well sometimes. but as always, the solutions are

much harder than the diagnosis. like everyone, he found it very hard to change those things. in doing so, having bought quite a degree of antagonism to some of those relationships... that's not to say... every government has the right to change people and get people to see things its way, to try to get things to move more quickly. it takes most governments some time to do that, about six months anyway, and on top of that this government has had a pandemic. dominic cummings did have a supper no falls quality to it, which meant some people who perhaps would have been helpful to the government would not have been as helpful as they could have been. —— suffering no. as helpful as they could have been. -- suffering no. you talked about the relationship between boris johnson and his party. i wonder about the relationship between politicians and the public. we had

controversy politicians and the public. we had c0 ntrove i’sy over politicians and the public. we had controversy over the journey to barnard castle, which he disputed whether it broke the rules of lockdown. lots of people thought it did and there was a lot or public angen did and there was a lot or public anger. the prime minister defended him and protected him at that point, because he could have blown him aside and he would have got a lot of easy plaudits for doing that, but he stuck by him. he feared to have fired him now, not least because of disparaging text messages that were sent about the prime minister'spartner. the political capital or getting rid of him might be undermined if people think it was him being personally affronted rather than about the things dominic cummings did in government. most things can be a catalyst but i think this does go back to barnard castle, actually, and the huge damage. i can't think of many political stories that cut through in that way, when everyone you met that week, whatever walk of life, was

making a dominic cummingsjoke or angry about it. whether or not it broke the letter of the rules, it broke the letter of the rules, it broke the letter of the rules, it broke the spirit. the government's trust, and it showed up in the polls, took a battering at that point. if boris johnson polls, took a battering at that point. if borisjohnson realised how much he would lose combat, i wonder if he would have kept him at that time. maybe. personal loyalty is a rare and likeable quality. the prime minister would say, look, this person is essential to my government in terms of the clarity and the energy he brings to the whole strategy. but as you say, for the prime minister to have squandered that much capital or just prime minister to have squandered that much capital orjust another six months of his key aide, it doesn't look like a greatjudgment at the time. i am sure it is one he has thought back to a lot, but in any case now he has taken the decision. this could be part two of

ajohnson government decision. this could be part two of a johnson government for this reason, and because we are coming out of the transition period with the eu. from january we really will be separate from the eu, de facto. does this present an opportunity for borisjohnson to does this present an opportunity for boris johnson to perhaps does this present an opportunity for borisjohnson to perhaps talk about some of the other things that he talked about in the election campaigna yearago? talked about in the election campaign a year ago? he won a big majority but thus far, partly because of covid—i9, he has not been able to do much about them. yes, you get the sense the prime minister and his team are desperate to talk about what they can do for parts of the country that voted for them, and others which didn't, in terms of bringing more prosperity to britain. there are things which make this potentially a very solid issue, brexit, the american president... the good news on the vaccine, the sense we might be seeing the end, the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic. things that

allow the government to change the nature of the conversation, which i am sure it badly wants to do. thank you so much forjoining us this weekend. we will be talking about those subjects with my guests throughout this weekend on editions of dateline, the first transmission of dateline, the first transmission of which is in half—an—hour on bbc news. talks on a post—brexit trade agreement have made less progress in the past week than the eu had hoped for. an eu source said one of the meetings was "short and brutal". one of the uk contingent said "big gaps" still remained between the two sides, with sticking points around fishing quotas and trading standards on goods. there are just seven weeks for any deal to be agreed and ratified, before the end of the transition period on january 1st. the us president—elect, joe biden, has strongly criticised donald trump's handling of the coronavirus crisis, warning urgent action is needed

before he takes office injanuary. some states are now banding together in an effort to curb the spread of covid—i9. in total, america has had over 10.7 million cases, 244,000 deaths, and more than 900 people a day are dying with the disease on average. 0regon, new mexico, and california — where people face long queues at test centres — want an end to non—essential travel. the governor of oregon has taken the additional step of ordering social gatherings to be limited to six people. the new york governor, andrew cuomo, says the governors of six states in the northeast are to hold an emergency meeting to coordinate responses. that will take place this weekend. meanwhile, donald trump has made his first public comments since mr biden was declared the winner of the election. for the first time he admitted he might not be in the white house come january 20th.

i will not go... this administration will not be going to a lockdown. hopefully the... whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, i guess time will tell, but i can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown. president trump still refuses to concede the presidency, even with projections showing joe biden has won the state of georgia. this brings his total number of electoral college votes to 306. donald trump is projected to win north carolina, reaching 232 votes. not far different to the position hillary clinton ended the campaign on in 2016, but of course she conceded defeat. for more on the significance of the situation, here's our north america correspondent, peter bowes. that is exactly the number that president trump won four years ago

against hillary clinton, and he said it was a landslide in terms of a victory. well, the situation is exactly reversed now and he is on the losing side. and again, president trump is hugely aware of how things look — the optics, as they're sometimes described — and that is an optic that he won't be enjoying seeing on american tv screens, in particular at the bottom of the screen. that is the kind of detail that the president doesn't like and perhaps might go some way towards explaining his behaviour right now. the bakery chain greggs has announced plans to cut more than 800 jobs because of a fall in sales due to the ongoing coronavirus restrictions. managers have warned employees the firm may cease to be profitable if sales continue at lockdown levels. the headlines on bbc news: conservative mps urge the prime minister to reset his government after the departure of his top adviser dominic cummings. several states in the us bring in new restrictions to try to curb

the surge in covid—19. the us president—elect, joe biden, strongly criticises donald trump's handling of the crisis. mr trump has insisted he won't put the us into lockdown, and comes close to admitting he could leave the white house next year. in ethiopia, the government says that local forces in the mountainous border state of tigray have fired rockets at two airports to the south. tigray officials say the missile attacks were in retalation for government airstrikes in the region. the claims are the latest escalation in a growing conflict between the ethiopian military and local forces there. addis ababa says the rockets targeted the cities of gondar and bahir dar. human rights groups have sounded the alarm over reports of mass killings. the un said if they were verified, they could amount to war crimes.

fighting in the region erupted last week killing hundreds of people and displacing thousands across the border into neighbouring sudan. ethiopia's human rights commission says it will investigate abuses in the conflict. the government accuses tigray fighters of attacking a military base, instigating the conflict and of wanting to destablise the country. prime minister abiy, who won the nobel peace prize last year, has promised a swift end of the conflict and yesterday called on local tigray forces to rise up and join the government. translation: this mischievous force is surrounded on all sides. it is in its final throes of death. your children are suffering death and injuries on the front line. rise up against the clique or defect to the ethiopian defence forces. use this opportunity given to you by your country. in the next two or three days, save yourself. i'm nowjoined by our correspondent

in addis ababa, kalkidan yibeltal. fill us in on the background. what is the latest on the reports of rocket attacks and even suggestions that a massacre may have taken place? yes, there is much we don't know about this conflict but there are things that we know. we know that two rocket attacks happened in a state near the northern most state of tigray. government says they were fired by people loyal to the liberation front, the dominant political power in tigray. they are taking responsibility for the attacks, which happened in retaliation for air strikes that we re retaliation for air strikes that were happening by the federal government and the federal army in the region. so we know that this

conflict is escalating and things are getting worse. but we don't know whether there are casualties in this latest rocket attack. what about the reports of a massacre? the eu and human rights organisations say that it verified they would amount to war crimes. —— union—macro and human rights organisations. what you hearing? a few days ago there was a report by amnesty international calling it a massacre, the killing of scores, possibly hundreds in a small town there. they haven't confirmed the perpetrators but they say that eyewitnesses told them the killers were retreating forces loyal to the tpl f. they have denied it, but we are seeing the human cost of the conflict. the un say that if this report is true it could amount to war crimes and human rights

commission are saying they are going to investigate the killings. so we are seeing the human cost of this conflict. not only the killing of civilians, the possible killing of civilians, the possible killing of civilians, we are seeing an influx of refugees and internally displaced refugees, and humanitarian agencies not able to provide aid in the area because of the conflict and the communication breakdown. thank you very much. typhoon vamco has caused extensive damage in the philippines, flooding many parts of luzon, the largest and most populated island. the storm, known locally as ulysses, made landfall in the bicol region. the same area was battered by the super typhoon goni a week ago. howard johnson reports from manila. the governor of cagayan province today declared a state of calamity. what that means is he can now access greater funds to distribute to his population, aid money as well as gain extra search and rescue support from the government.

what we've seen already is nearly 4,000 search and rescue personnel, according to the authorities, searching the area. the philippine coast guard, very active in helping people off their family homes, off the rooves of their family homes, trying to escape the rising water levels. this area is an agricultural area in the north of the philippines, and it was hit by this storm on wednesday. but can you imagine for the people who have been suffering this storm, they have been there night after night, waiting for support. at the moment, many people are still hoping that support will come before the night sets in again. the philippine president rodrigo duterte will visit the area tomorrow. no doubt he will inspect the nearby magat dam, that was simply overwhelmed by the huge amounts of rain that were dumped on the area by this storm. the 21st cyclone to hit the philippines this year. what happened was the dam had to release water otherwise it would have simply been overwhelmed.

that water has flooded this area, affecting not only cagayan province but also isabela province to the south of cagayan. our philippines correspondent howard johnson with that report. the festival of lights, or diwali, is being celebrated today by hundreds of millions of hindus, sikhs and jains around the world. but festivities this year have been limited by coronavirus. meena trivedy is a music teacher and dancer. she teaches religious songs and joins us now from north west london. thank you for being with us and happy diwali. i hope you are going to be enjoying it this weekend. how different is it going to be experiencing the events of diwali? first of all, happy diwali, thank you for having me and happy diwali for everyone celebrating this festival of lights. all around the globe. so yes, it is going to be very different this time. we just

have to make it as special as we can, by staying at home. obviously i have made lots of sweets, lots of food, and as you can see, plenty of things. i haven't compromised, it is just that we can't see our family and friends. but on that occasion we arejust going to and friends. but on that occasion we are just going to use zoom calls so we can see everyone and wish happy diwali to everyone. if it's ok, i can speaka diwali to everyone. if it's ok, i can speak a little bit about rangouli. where does it come from? what does it signify? it comes from india and everyone makes rangouli during diwali. occasionally it can be different for everyone because everybody‘s new year falls in the

different time of the lunar calendar. the new yearfalls different time of the lunar calendar. the new year falls on the next bay of diwali so i have made this rangouli, which comes from two words. it means a row of colours, basically. it's a tradition that they put a rangouli pattern outside their house, just to welcome the guests. not only to the guests, but also welcoming the goddess lakshmi, who is the goddess of prosperity and wealth. we all like to welcome prosperity, particularly in the new year, even more so prosperity, particularly in the new year, even more so after the year we have had! you talked about the importance of guests, and as you say, this is so different. it is different in temples as well, they

would usually be full of people marking diwali. it is supposed to be a festival of light, offering light to open up the darkness at this time of year. but it's going to feel different, isn't it, without family and friends? everything is going to be virtual this time. we are going to do the same thing but staying at home, not visiting people, not visiting friends, family. everything is going to be virtual, doing celebrations through zoom just virtually and we are going to see our friends virtually and we are going to see ourfriends and virtually and we are going to see our friends and family just virtually and we are going to see our friends and familyjust on zoom, tha nkfully our friends and familyjust on zoom, thankfully we have some media that we can at least enjoy our festival by just visiting them we can at least enjoy our festival byjust visiting them virtually! you area byjust visiting them virtually! you are a music teacher, so i can't help but ask if you would sink us 20 seconds of a diwali song to n.

but ask if you would sink us 20 seconds of a diwali song to ni will sing a very popular song. which every indian nose. so they can hum along with me. —— knows. she sings diwali song.

thank you very much! thank you very much for marking diwali in such a colourful and lively way. lovely to talk to you. thank you very much, happy diwali. now let's get the latest weather. the weather is dominated by an area of low pressure which means it is going to be wet and windy at times. that has been the story today, because of this weather front sweeping in from the west. wishing steadily to the north and east, the best of any dry and bright weather will be in the north—east of scotland. through the afternoon, we will see bands or showery rain spilling across the country. some heavier bursts in the south—east, to be replaced by yet another. perhaps some late afternoon brightness in

the south—west and northern ireland, it will be windy generally today, with gusts of 40 mph, perhaps close to 55 in the south and west. but it is mild, 11—15 across the country. it does look as though we will continue to see unsettled weather into sunday. but it will be more a case or scattered sharp showers, and still windy, particularly in the south.

hello and welcome to the programme which brings together some of the uk's leading political columnists, bbc specialists and the foreign correspondents who file their stories for audiences back home with the dateline: london. this week, a promise of relief from the pandemic, a vaccine that works. asjoe biden tries to trigger transition, president trump's first admission that someone other than donald trump may soon be in the white house. has beijing hastened hong kong's transition away from accountable government?

joining me: henry chu is london editor for the los angeles times. steve richards hosts the podcast rock'n'roll politics — he's been reporting british politics since the days of madchester and britpop. and with me in the studio is celia hatton, the bbc‘s asia pacific editor. welcome to you, and to both of you, henry and steve, joining us remotely. lovely to talk to you all. monday's announcement of a vaccine said by the drug companies to be effective against the covid virus in 90% of cases holds out the hope of an end to the pandemic. here in the uk, the number of people who've died from the virus passed 50,000, not the highest number globally but one of the highest rates. what impact government communication has had on the health of the nation is debatable. that many in the governing conservative party think it's been poor was evidenced by the semi—public struggle which erupted in downing street this week, and ended with the departure