the conflict in northern ethiopia spreads with rocket attacks on two cities and reports of fighting across the eritrean border. a thumbs—up from donald trump as thousands of his supporters line the streets of the us capital. here in the uk, conservative mps urge the prime minister to reboot his government after the departure of his top adviser, dominic cummings. it does give the government a chance to reset all sorts of things —

its relationship with parliament, the way it deals with press. austria announces a national lockdown of almost three weeks to try to stop rocketing coronavirus cases overwhelming the health service. 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. (pres) hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. rockets have been fired at the eritrean capital, asmara, hours after a senior official in the tigray region of neighbouring ethiopia threatened missile strikes on the country. a conflict between ethiopia's federal government and the administration in the tigray region is escalating. the tigray people's liberation front

see eritrea as supporting ethiopia's federal government. in an earlier attack, the tplf fired rockets at two ethiopian airports in retaliation for government air strikes in the region. let's take another look at the territory in the north that's at the heart of the dispute. the ethiopian government says the rockets targeted the cities of gondar and bah—her dar. these pictures show some of the estimated 17,000 ethiopian refugees who've crossed the border into sudan to escape the fighting that erupted last week. amnesty international says hundreds of civilians have died in what it calls a massacre. the un has also issued this condemnation. while the details of the alleged mass killings reported by amnesty international in may cadera in south—west tigray have not yet been fully verified, the high commissioner is calling for a full inquiry. if confirmed as having been deliberately carried out by a party to the current fighting,

these killings of civilians would, of course, amount to war crimes. let's hear from some of those refugees who've fled to neighbouring sudan. translation: in hamra, we were bombarded from two directions — from the amhara region and from eritrea. we ran forfour hours, then fled on foot. translation: i went out with my father, my mother and my child with only what we wore, and now we have no money or anything. we fled from death. translation: forces entered and burned our homes and killed people. they left nothing. we fled to sudan. kalkidan yibeltal is our correspondent in the ethiopian capital, addis ababa. he has the latest on those reports of mass civilian casualties. since the fighting

broke out last week, there has been communication breakdowns, so clear information is hard to come by. so we don't know the exact — what's exactly happening there. but, as per the reports by amnesty international, it seems that scores, even hundreds might have been killed — these are civilians. amnesty international is calling it a massacre. and the un is saying that, if what happened in this report is true, that could amount to war crimes. eyewitnesses told amnesty that the killings happened by retreating forces loyal to the tplf, but the tplf denied those claims. in addition to killings, we are also seeing refugees, an increase in refugees into neighbouring sudan, and also internationally displaced people and humanitarian emergencies — and not being able to provide assistance to this area because of the fighting, since transportation is interrupted. so we are seeing more and more dire reports of the human cost of this conflict.

jens hesemann is the senior field coordinator for emergency response with the un high commission for refugees. hejoins me from kassala on the eastern sudanese border with tigray province. thank you so much forjoining us. you're on the border, what are people telling you about why they are fleeing? the refugees are arriving here in sedona are definitely afraid. they talk to us about scenes of war in ethiopia. they say that they fear for their lives, they are worried about their safety, and they are traumatised in some cases, as well. some people have said to us that they continue to be worried, they look over their shoulders the whole time. there are reports that people are still hiding in the bush. just today we had another 3000 arrivals from ethiopia, so another 3000 arrivals from ethiopia, so the influx continues from that

country. it is very worrying here, the mobilising, the humanitarian response at large scale. it's very difficult to reach some of these isolated border areas, but we are working with unicef and others to get help to these people. so our people fleeing violence happening in tigray, are they dutch or are they fleeing with a fear might be to come? it is very difficult to say a blanket statement for all the people. what i can say is that we have people who say to us that they have people who say to us that they have fled actual violence, some of them have lost family members, and they are worried about the situation very much. 0thers they are worried about the situation very much. others say they think they are no longer safe in ethiopia, so that's why they have left the country to come to sedan. it's obviously very hard to know what's happening in tigray province because of communications difficulties. but

people that are fleeing are bringing their belongings and livestock — are they prepared for a long stay on the border? that is the impression we are getting. some have not brought much luggage, but others are coming with their cultural equipment, their livestock, their tractors even in some cases. 0thers livestock, their tractors even in some cases. others have even brought their harvest, as one of our teams reported today. a family came over with the harvest from their agriculture. it's the harvesting season right now in that area in ethiopia, and they cannot harvest their crops at the moment. it must be asked ordinary scenes to see so many people crossing the border. you talked about efforts to suppress them, is sedan looking forward to having so many refugees on the borderfor such a length having so many refugees on the border for such a length of spoken a lot with local communities, and

there is commitment to giving them asylum, and that's really encouraging to see. they don't have much but they have a willingness to share. they're providing tents to the arrivals as we scale this humanitarian response. the immediate authorities are saving drinking water, food and sanitation at the borders. at the moment as we speak, we still have about 20,000 people in the border areas just coming we still have about 20,000 people in the border areasjust coming into suit on, and that is not a real place to deliver humanitarian response. we need to move away from the border to provide safety to the new arrivals. thank you so much for taking us through all that with the un on the sudanese border there. thank you very much. now to the us, where president—electjoe biden's victory is strengthened by his win in the state of georgia — which gives him 306 electoral votes

— well over the 270 he needed. despite that, donald trump has not recognised his defeat — and so are his supporters. thousands of supporters of donald trump are rallying to back his unsubstantiated claims of voterfraud. they have been gathering near freedom plaza, just east of white house. just as they started to gather earlier today, this happened. donald trump's motorcade passed the demonstrators and did a circuit of freedom plaza, before carrying on to his golf club in sterling, virginia. the rally is expected to be met with counter protesters, who are organising a pro—biden march to the supreme court. joining me now from washington is our correspondent will grant. good to see you. first of all, is there anything being done to dispel this myth that the us election contained fraud? well not by the

trump campaign ortrump administration, there isn't. certainly the vast majority of people here who turned out to freedom plaza today who hoped to catch that glimpse that you showed of mrtrump catch that glimpse that you showed of mr trump passing by on his way to play golf remain convinced some type of fraud has taken place, even though there's no evidence to support that. they believe he should continue with his increasingly forlorn legal efforts. in fact, they've left their position now at freedom plaza and i started making their way towards the supreme court. but it hasn't been a very well attended event, it may be a few thousand — not the hundreds of thousands that donald trump claimed on twitter. you mentioned the legal attem pts on twitter. you mentioned the legal atte m pts by on twitter. you mentioned the legal attempts by the republicans and the white house. can you give us a sense of where things are at in that area? some are falling flat already. they've abandoned one in arizona because in maricopa county, the particular number of ballots that

they were contesting wouldn't have been sufficient to overturn the state going to joe been sufficient to overturn the state going tojoe biden. similarly in pennsylvania, a request for 67 counties to be recounted and recast has been rejected. where else? michigan, a federaljudge has there not a request there to block out certain votes from detroit. bit by bit, these legal battles are meeting obstacles. know whether the gop will go around those obstacles or leave it there depends on the state. but none of these attempts look like they'll be in any way sufficient to overturn one of the states, let alone the several that donald trump would need to retain the white house forfour more years. would need to retain the white house for four more years. keen eyes on those legal attempts. will grant in washington, thank you very much. here in the uk, several senior conservatives have urged the prime minister to use the departure of his chief adviser, dominic cummings, to "reset government". mr cummings walked out of downing street last night after the resignation of another

seniorfigure, the director of communications, lee cain. the former brexit secretary, david davis told the bbc that ministers are now hoping for "more of a say" in how the country is governed. a warning — this report from our political correspondent, nick eardley, contains flashing images. the dominic cummings era in government is coming to an end. borisjohnson wants to clear the air in downing street, and that means his chief aide, seen here this morning leaving home, won't be returning to number ten. the way this place works matters to us all — to how decisions are made, to the direction of policy. after the very high—profile departures of recent days, and some of the drama inside, some tories are hoping for a change. it does give the government a chance to reset all sorts of things — its relationship with parliament, the way it deals with the press. and many of the failures of the last

nine months have not been mr cummings's fault, they've been intrinsic in the system. there have been many unhappy tory mps in recent months, angry at high—profile u—turns, worried the prime minister wasn't listening to them. one of them told me changes in the top team would be important. it's going to make an enormous difference. over the past year, there has been a significant and growing gap between the number ten operation and the parliamentary party. we're enormously fond of him, and we felt we were losing him. and some colleagues felt that he'd been lost altogether. but now, we're looking forward to marching in lockstep alongside our prime minister. this is the prime minister last night, with another key aide, lee cain. mr cain quit after a power struggle over whether he'd be mrjohnson's chief of staff. allies say his departure was amicable, but those unhappy with his role included the prime minister's fiancee, carrie symonds. the man who ran number ten

for theresa may says the prime minister now has a chance to get things back on track. there's a big opportunity for him here, depending on the decisions he now makes. but i think in terms of the chief of staff role, the key thing i would say is that the most important word in the job title is staff, not chief. you're there not to try and deliver your own political agenda, your own views about what should happen to the country, but to make the government machine work for the prime minister. and there are big decisions to be made. the government has to decide in the next couple of weeks whether to sign up to a trade agreement with europe, and what happens when the lockdown in england ends on 2 december. ultimately, those decisions are for the prime minister, not for his aides. but after the departures of recent days, some tories are hoping the process might be a lot smoother. nick eardley there. the latest government figures

for the uk show there were 26,860 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. that means that the average number of new cases reported per day, in the last week, is now 2a,702. 1,617 people have been admitted to hospital on average each day, over the week to last tuesday. and a62 deaths were reported, that's people who died within 28 days, of a positive covid—19 test. it means on average in the past week, a11 deaths were announced every day. it takes the total number of deaths so far across the uk to 51,766. the headlines on bbc news... the conflict in northern ethiopia spreads with rocket attacks on two cities and reports of fighting across the eritrean border.

a thumbs—up from donald trump as thousands of his supporters line the streets of the us capital in support of his unsubstantiated claims of voterfraud. conservative mps urge the prime minister to reset his government after the departure of his top adviser, dominic cummings. austria is going into lockdown again from next tuesday. the country reported a record number of new daily infections on friday of 9,586. that figure is nine times higher than at the peak of the first wave earlier this year. for the 2—3 weeks, schools and nonessential shops will close. people can leave their homes only for work, helping another person, essential shopping and exercise. chancellor sebastian kurz said the closer people stuck to the rules the shorter the lockdown would be — and the better the chances

of saving christmas. translation: nobody wants schools to be closed. nobody wants tourism and trade to stand still. and nobody wa nts to trade to stand still. and nobody wants to be banned from meeting relatives, family members, parents and friends, especially in the run—up to christmas. but we must. and i'm convinced of this. take this step together. so i ask you to help over the next few weeks. together we can turn the tide. in the capital, a partial lockdown had been put in place at the start of november amid rising numbers of cases. joining us from vienna is our correspondent, bethany bell. how are people taking news of this fresh lockdown? well, i think a lot

of people had been fearing, expecting that something... and for traders, this is a big blow. but it's a very complicated time. there had already been this partial lockdown where restaurants, cafes and bars were closed. but the measures haven't brought down the numbers, the numbers here are soaring, and what the authorities say is there going to implement these almost three weeks of lockdown now in the hope that they can save the run—up to christmas to allow shops to have some of that christmas shopping, and to allow people to meet together for christmas itself. but they say it is all dependent on whether they can bring the numbers down. what are authorities saying about why the numbers are so high and going up so quickly? austria,

like... of coronavirus cases, and it is now that they say they are taking these efforts to stop this while they can. but it is a complicated problem. bethany, we are having a bit of a problem with your live, but thank you so much for taking us through that and so sorry for the problem. armenia says it has uncovered a plot to assassinate the country's prime minister nikol pashinyan. the alleged plot involved several of the opposition leaders who were detained earlier this week after they organised demonstrations against the prime minister, after he signed a controversial peace agreement with azerbaijan. as part of the peace deal agreed a week ago, several territories will be returned to azerbaijan. they were part of azerbaijan until the karabakh war in the early 1990s, when they were taken by armenia's forces. this map shows how territory has

once again changed control — following several weeks of fighting. the first region to be returned to azerbaijan will be kel—bajar, on sunday. from yerevan, jonah fisher reports. the war over, its dreadful human cost is becoming clear. this is a road near the largest town in nagorno—karabakh. it was the site of armenia's last stand a week ago. and there are scores of bodies and destroyed vehicles on the ground. armenia now says at least 2,300 of its soldiers died during the six weeks of fighting. azerbaijan has declined to publish its casualty figures. for armenia, this loss is notjust about lives, but territory. in kelbajar, just outside nagorno—karabakh, the villagers are packing up their things to leave before the land is handed to azerbaijan on sunday.

some chose to burn and destroy their homes, rather than let them be taken over by their enemy. 27 years ago, it was the other way around — armenians driving out azerbaijanis from kelbajar after they'd won the war. having negotiated this week's peace deal, russia has troops on the ground, overseeing its implementation. several thousand have been deployed to keep the warring sides apart and to maintain a land corridor between armenia and what's left of its nagorno—karabakh enclave. this war has been a victory not just for azerbaijan, but for russia, too. jonah fisher, bbc news, yerevan. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's 0lly foster.

we are approaching the end of the third round at the masters. there has been some terrific scoring at augusta national, at one point there was a nine—way tie for the lead, but the world number one dustin johnson made his move very early, an eagle on the second, and three more birdes by the turn. the american is the outright leader on 16 under at the moment. just picked up another birdie. compatriot justin thomas five shots behind. you can see the non—american challenge from m frattelli and ancer. another good day for rory mcilroy, a round of 67 but after that poor first round, he's on eight under. defending champion tiger woods is out of running by his own admission on five under. there's a two—way tie at the saudi ladies international. lydia hall from wales and denmark's emily pedersen are both on ten under going into the final round on sunday. hall was heading for a really low

score with four birdies on the front nine, but she posted a three under 69 for her third round. pedersen, who had led by two strokes overnight, described her round as "all over the place." she shot a 71. lance stroll has become the first canadian to take pole for a formula one race since jacques villeneuve in 23 years ago. the 22—year—old mastered the wet and greasy conditions at istanbul park better than anyone else to claim the first pole of his career. lewis hamilton could only manage sixth on the grid for the turkish grand prix. but he'll become world champion if he doesn't lose more than seven points to mercedes team mate valtteri bottas, who'll start from ninth. ijust mailed i just mailed pretty ijust mailed pretty much every corner and, you know, pieced it together nicely. it's such a great

way to bounce back after a few weeks. it's been a rough ride for me. so it feels good. i have no idea what car i got underneath me tomorrow. i have no idea if it's drive, i note, or have no idea how it will feel. if it's wet, than i know it couldn't feel as bad as today. but you know, we're all in the same boat out there, we are all in the same boat out there, we're struggling. there's a been a huge shock in the rugby championship — in their 30th meeting argentina have beaten new zealand for the first time. they stunned the all blacks 25—15 in sydney. fly half nicolas sanchez with all the puma's points, a try, six penalties and a conversion. it's all the more remarkable because argentina last played 13 months ago. that's the first time the all blacks have lost two test matches in a row since 2011, they were beaten by australia last weekend. it's kind of surreal, whatjust happened out there. not the result,

just playing that game was surreal for us. we were sitting down, just watching the boys get on the field after everything that has happened this year in argentina. it's even happening now. so just this year in argentina. it's even happening now. sojust being out there and playing like they did — i would've said the same even if we lost. i would've been more disappointed, but as proud as i am right now. and finally, jannik sinner has his first atp tour title, it came at the sofia open in bulgaria. the 19—year—old needed three sets to beat the vastly more experienced canadian vasek pospisil. he's the youngest italian in the open era to win a tour title. he's already the youngest player in the top 100 and next week will move up to 37th in the world. roger federer always said he'd be good. that's all the sport for now.

the festival of lights or diwali is being celebrated today by hundreds of millions of people in india and around the world. even though festivities have been limited in many areas by the coronavirus pandemic, there have still been some spectacular displays — including this record—breaking celebration in the indian city of ayodha. you're watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. hello. the wind and the rain which has characterised the start of the weekend isn't finished with us again. there will be some further heavy rain at times and quite strong winds, not a wash—out everywhere, some of us have had a little sunshine occasionally today and will again tomorrow, but very clearly low pressure in charge. around that these weather fronts coming in with spells of rain or indeed just heavy showers. that continues overnight and into the morning, and most of the downpours as the night goes on will be through western parts of scotland, northern ireland, wales and western

areas of england, and we could well see some further rain, coming a little bit more widespread into south—east england as we start the day tomorrow. 0vernight temperatures, very mild for some of us for the time of year, just dipping down into single figures, but nowhere particularly cold, and a further area of rain sweeping east across england and wales as we start the day tomorrow, staying wetted to parts of northern ireland and south—west scotland as the afternoon goes on, and then another dose of heavy rain pushing into south—west england for a time during the afternoon. that will be accompanied by very strong and gusty winds right along the south coast here, and you could see some gusts around 60 mph, maybe nearer 70 in the channel islands. and along southern and western coast, these strong and gusty winds combined with high tides bring a risk of further coastal flooding in places. that area of rain zips across south—east england to end sunday, keeping showers coming in particularly towards northern and western scotland and into north—west england, going into monday morning.

will be cooler tomorrow and overnight, and into monday morning. a little ridge of high pressure tries to building on monday, and that will offer something quieter for many of us, but you see that weather front coming in from the west. so although we will start the day with a few sunny spells, cloud will increase from the west and we will see some more rain heading on towards northern ireland, wales, western parts of england and eventually into western scotland. but we hold onto some hazy bright of the longest on monday across eastern parts of scotland. and then beyond that for a few days, still low pressure around, so there will still be further spells of rain or showers, and as that starts to pull away late in the week, the sting in the tale of next week's weather is quite a significant drop in temperatures.

hello this is bbc news with reged ahmad. the headlines conservative mps urge the prime minister to reset his government after the departure of his top adviser, dominic cummings. a thumbs up from president trump as thousands of his supporters line the streets of the us capital in support of his unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud financial pressure builds for the 2.9 million people in the uk who are still excluded from the chancellor's coronavirus income support schemes 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. now on bbc news, our world. five years ago, an electrician called ali motamed was shot

and killed in al meera,