this is bbc news. the headlines at 7pm: scientists behind the first covid vaccine to be successful in early trials say its full impact will be felt next year, but warns of a hard winter ahead. the bigger impact will happen until summer. the summer will help us anyway, because the infection rate will go down in summer. the side effects of statins may be down to patient anxiety and have nothing to do with what's in them, according to a new study. we'll speak to one of the scientists involved. i have kept a list of the insults against des o'connor. farewell to one of our best—known entertainers — des o'connor has died at the age of 88. prince charles and the duchess of cornwall become the first royals to attend germany's national remembrance for victims of war and tyranny.

and lewis hamilton wins a record—equalling seventh world title after claiming victory at the turkish grand prix. good evening. one of the scientists behind the first covid vaccine to emerge from early clinical trials with high levels of success says it won't start to make a significant difference until next summer. professor ugur sahin, whose company biontech developed the vaccine with the pharmaceutical giant pfizer, told the bbc today that normal life should be resuming this time next year, if mass vaccination programmes had taken place by then. our health correspondent sophie hutchinson reports. tiny vials of the new biontec/pfizer vaccine, which hold the world's hope

for an end to the pandemic. but today, one of its creators, from the husband—and—wife team, warned there are still many months to get through. this winter will be hard. we will not have a big impact on the infection numbers with our vaccine this winter. the bigger impact will happen until summer. the summer will help us anyway, because the infection rate will go down in the summer, and what is absolutely essential is that we get a high vaccination rate before autumn and winter next year. there are still many unknowns about this new vaccine. how long does immunity from it last? its creators say you might need a jab every year, every two years or every five years — it is just too early to tell. and how effective is it in older people? up to 40% of those who took part in this trial, that has been deemed so successful, were older people, and we should get more data on them

in the next few weeks. and will it stop transmission from one person to another? well, it's creators again say it seems to have been so successful at reducing illness in people that they are very hopeful that it could have a big impact on transmission too. i am very confident that transmission between people will be reduced by such a highly effective vaccine, maybe not 90% but maybe 50%, but we should not forget that even that could result in a dramatic reduction in the pandemic‘s spread. but we will not know for sure until we see the data in a few months. others have sounded a note of caution about the possibility the virus could mutate, and that any successful vaccine needs to be able to adapt at speed. we mustn't take our eye off the ball. the virus is an rna virus and is highly likely to change and we need to keep a watchful eye

out for that and be able to respond if necessary. but there is genuine excitement about the vaccine, which will be given to those who live and work in care homes as a priority. 10 million doses should be here by the end of the year. let's take a look at the latest figures released on coronavirus. another 24,962 new infections were recorded in the latest 24—hour period, which means an average of 25,329 new cases per day in the last week. there were an average of 1,656 hospital admissions per day in the week to last wednesday. another 168 deaths were reported today, that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. it means an average of 413 deaths per day in the last week.

the total number of uk deaths is now 51,934. and we'll find out how coronavirus and many other stories are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are chief executive at the left—wing think tank the new economics foundation and a former labour adviser, miatta fahnbulleh, and political commentator and former conservative party press chief, giles kenningham. most of the debilitating effects of statins are not caused by the drug, but by people believing it will make them sick, a uk study suggests. the phenomenon is known as the "nocebo effect" and may account for 90% of the ill health associated with the cholesterol—lowering drugs. the imperial college london researchers hope the findings will help more people stay on statins. nearly 8 million people in the uk take statins to lower their cholesterol. however, up to a fifth

of people stop taking them due to side—effects, such as muscle aches, fatigue, feeling sick and joint pain. that's what they look like, we've been steering them for a bit! not the most interesting of pictures. this is a much more interesting picture! howard jones is a co—author of the report at imperial college london, hejoins me now. expand on this idea, a lot of people will have heard what a placebo is, but what's a nocebo? good question. as many people know, the placebo effect is where you take a drug and evenif effect is where you take a drug and even if you think it's going to help you, and even if it is a sugar tablet, you do feel better. the nocebo effect is the opposite, and we wonder if this will be a problem with statins, because when people pick up their newspaper in the morning, they learn to expect that statins will get them aches and pains, and we wondered if we give

them a sugar tablet, would that give them a sugar tablet, would that give them aches and pains? and what did you find? we run a trial where, for a third of the year, people took nothing, but for two thirds of the year, they took statin or placebo, and it didn't know which is which, and it didn't know which is which, and we find that people did feel worse when the took statins, but felt 90% as bad when it took sugar ta blets. felt 90% as bad when it took sugar tablets. so what are their complaints that people have about statins and what is causing the symptoms, even though they're not caused by the drug? the most common thing we think of our muscle aches and pains, and 60% of the people in oui’ and pains, and 60% of the people in our trial felt that, but let anyone in whose side—effects were so bad they had to stop the tablets, and we try to be as representative as possible the general population. with regards to where it comes from, it's really good question, we don't fully understand the placebo effect and our understanding of the nocebo

effect is even worse. but what's it is interesting is why are statins so bad for causing nocebo symptoms? because people tolerate a lot of other drugs, and it is probably because people have been conditioned by the media to expect to feel worse on them. you do see some contradictory headlines at times, so what do you do next with this research? because statins can clearly benefit a lot of people but people aren't going to want to take them if they are suffering this nocebo effect? what is interesting is, our trial involved 60 patients and all of them, when they came to us, weren't able to take statins any more, but we sat down with them at the end of the trial, at a full year of taking the tablets, and we showed them their results, and half of them we re them their results, and half of them were able to restart these drugs. so actually, just spending time with patients and explaining where their symptoms might be coming from and personalising things a little bit to them, can make a big difference. but

it does show the power of the psychosomatic effect when it comes to drugs, whether they're real or placebo. absolutely. we don't want people thinking that patients are making it up or shouldn't be a relieved, our patients were really suffering in the trial, 71 times in my control, people had to stop ta blets my control, people had to stop tablets because their symptoms were so tablets because their symptoms were so bad, they were not making it up. but what was amazing was that the amount of times they had to stop the ta blets were amount of times they had to stop the tablets were very summer whether they were taking statins orjust taking sugar tablets. fascinating, and we will speak to you more later, but for now, thank you for talking to us. thank you. the uk's chief brexit negotiator lord frost has travelled to brussels today for more eu trade talks, warning that the process may not succeed. the aim has been for a trade deal to replace the brexit transition arrangements, which last until the end of the year, which is why time is running out

for any deal reached to be approved and implemented. here's our political correspondent, nick eardley. for weeks, brexit talks have continued in the background. this is europe's chief negotiator, michel barnier, in london last week. but there hasn't been as much progress as some hoped. reporter: are you optimistic, mr barnier? 0ne meeting was described as short and brutal. but both sides agree we have now reached a crunch point. i'm just getting on with myjob. this morning, this man, the uk's chief negotiator, lord ross, tweeted, "there has been some progress in a positive direction in recent days." he added, "but we may not succeed. people and businesses must prepare for the change that is coming on the 31st december." and this was the message from the environment secretary this morning. on many areas, progress has been made and agreements exist, and a lot of text has been drafted. there are these sticking points

around for instance, fisheries, around state aid rules, that can be resolved. we are not asking for anything miraculous. we are really asking for what other countries like norway and canada already have, so it should be possible to reach that agreement. it has been a dramatic few days in downing street but despite the departure of dominic cummings — the man who helped run the campaign to leave the eu — the government says its position on brexit hasn't changed and many in europe, like ireland's foreign minister, want a deal done. this is very difficult but it's also very doable. the consequence of not getting a future relationship agreement in place before the end of the year, i think is very significant, for britain and ireland in particular, but also for a number of other eu countries as well. so, there is a real reason to get this done. we have heard for a while now that a deal is possible if the significant gaps can be bridged, but it comes down to this — the transition period which we are in at the moment,

where very little has changed, expires at the end of the year. there's not much time left to agree a deal and get it ratified. for that to happen, there will have to be movement and it will have to come sooner. time is running out... the government wants to make it clear, whatever happens in trade talks, there will be changes at the end of the year, but exactly what they will look like is still being figured out. tributes have been paid to one of britain's best known entertainers, des 0'connor, who has died at the age of 88. the comedian, singer and television star had a career spanning almost 70 years. today, he was remembered as a consummate professional and one of the great old—school entertainers. 0ur arts correspondent david sillito looks back at his life. i've kept a list of the insults against des 0'connor. des 0'connor was, in the ‘70s, famous, a star, and on morecambe and wise, the butt of hundreds of gags. but the singer and comedian took it

all with good grace. number one — eric: i'vejust heard some good news. ernie: what good news? eric: des 0'connor‘s got a sore throat. nothing seemed to dent that clean—cut, deep—tanned optimism. number two — ernie: des 0'connor is a self—made man. eric: i think it's very nice of him to take the blame. # be sure it's true when you say i love you, love you, love you...#. his interest in show business had started in the raf and he had been a butlin‘s red coat and learned his craft struggling to get laughs in theatres such as the windmill, with an audience that had come for the naked flesh more than the comedy. this fella was always in every day in the front row

and on about the third house of the fourth day, i forgot, i dried, just couldn't remember what was next. this fella said, "you tell the one about the parrot next. "oh, thank you very much!" # loneliness # alone, you'll always find me #. by the ‘60s, he had star billing. he made more than 1,000 appearances at the palladium and recorded 36 albums. the son of a dustman from the east end of london, he had gone from a childhood blighted by rickets to tv stardom, but he was never going to be one of the cool gang. a little old lady came up to me one day to the stage door and said, "mr 0'connor, i have enjoyed your show. "here's £5. "could you send me your new lp?" i said, "you can get it for £3 in the shop, "you don't have to give me five." she said, "no, the last time i went into the shop and asked "for a des 0'connor lp, the guy said, "you're kidding." laughter. as the decades rolled by, he remained an almost ageless fixture in the schedules. he married four times. he was never really fashionable and so never fell out of fashion.

it was a career of 60 years of professional, unflappable, good—natu red charm. you have my word. well, that's good enough for me. and when the joke was on him, he was always the first to laugh. laughter and applause. des 0'connor, who's died aged 88. the headlines on bbc news: scientists behind the first covid vaccine to be successful in early trials say its full impact will be felt next year — but warn of a hard winter ahead. the side effects of statins may be down to patient anxiety and have nothing to do with what's in them according to a new study. farewell to one of our best—known entertainers — des 0'connor has died

at the age of 88. the prince of wales and the duchess of cornwall have become the first members of the royal family to attend germany's annual commemoration of victims of war and dictatorship. the ceremony in berlin marks germany's national day of mourning. and in a speech at the german parliament, the prince said the bonds between the uk and germany would endure after brexit. 0ur correspondent damien mcguinness has more. a day of remembering the victims of war, but also a reminder of the miracle of reconciliation between two countries who were once enemies. this is the first time that a member of the royal family has come for this commemoration. the meaning of this national day of mourning has evolved over the years. for the nazis, it was about glorifying war, but for modern germany, it's about pursuing peace and remembering all victims of oppression.

a message echoed by the wreath of poppies laid here by prince charles. today's visit comes at a crucial time for the uk's relationship with its near neighbours. in a speech in the german parliament building, at times speaking in german, prince charles said that although the uk has chosen a future outside the european union, britain and germany will remain close. wir werden immer freunde, partner und verbundete sein. "we will always be friends, partners and allies," he said, and called on the two countries to reaffirm their bond for the years ahead. the parliament building was damaged by the allies in the second world war, but it was later redesigned by a british architect, a fitting place to talk about how war can be replaced by friendship. police in north london stopped

a baptism service from going ahead this morning after about 30 worshippers gathered in breach of national coronavirus restrictions. the angel church in islington was warned it would be fined if it broke the law. caroline davies reports. a very different start to a sunday at the angel church in islington. police arrived after the pastor, regan king, said on the radio that he intended to hold a baptism service at the church this morning, against the government coronavirus restrictions, saying he served a higher law. you can go to the garden centre, you can go to normal shops. we believe that the church is essential in its role to care for the mental and emotional well—being of those around us, and so we are staying open. regan king's son was born two days ago. the pastor says his intentions for the service have been misunderstood. this is primarily for local vulnerable people, and it's just been flipped, it's been skewed in such a way that it's portraying us as angry lawbrea kers.

that's not what we are about. after a conversation with the police, the pastor changed his plans. we now know that the baptism that was planned to happen today isn't going to be happening. it's going to be delayed until after lockdown. and the congregation have, for the most part, gone down the road to the square. a legal support group did meet in the church while other worshippers came to a compromise with police, holding a short, socially distanced service outside. no fines were issued. the pastor is one of 122 churches to have launched a legal challenge against the government's ban on communal worship during the lockdown. leaders and representatives from the church of england, the catholic church, 0rthodox judaism, muslim, hindu, sikh and pentecostal communities have also written to the government, saying they consider there to be no scientific justification for the wholesale suspension of public worship. the government told us that places of worship do remain open during this period of new restrictions for private prayer and other vital

functions like funerals. they say they are continuing to work closely with senior faith leaders and the places of worship taskforce. as the lockdown continues, so too do the arguments between individual freedom and public safety. the leader of ethiopia's tigray region has confirmed his forces have bombed the airport in the eritrean capital, asmara. the attack widens the conflict which erupted between the ethiopian government and the regional governing party in tigray last week. leaders in tigray have accused eritrea of siding with ethiopia. tens of thousands of people have been escaped to sudan. will ross reports. 0n the 12th day of the conflict, refugees continue to pour over the sudanese border in their thousands. they've been forced to abandon their homes in ethiopia as the fighting intensifies. these are arduous journeys for young and old. many have witnessed

appalling violence. translation: there is no food, there is looting. we lost our belongings, i lost my siblings. we came to sudan on foot and my children are not eating. translation: we have pregnant sisters on the streets. the militia chased us to the border. there's looting and stealing and killing, like in rwanda. 0n the streets, people haven't eaten for three or four days. i don't know where my kids are. it's hard for aid agencies to get help to this remote area of sudan, and if the number of refugees rises sharply, they'll struggle to cope. we are starting to provide assistance services, we are working with various agencies and you can see some start of an assitance provision, but much more needs to be done. ethiopia's military has been fighting troops loyal to the politicians running

the country's northern tigray region, the tplf party, which for years was the dominant politicalforce in ethiopia. the tplf has admitted attacking a federal army base last week, an event which the government said forced it into this war. but now there's been an a worrying escalation in the conflict. the leader of the tigray region has confirmed that tigrayan forces bombed the airport in the eritrean capital asmara on saturday. debretsion gebremichael accuses the eritrean president isaias afwerki of backing the ethiopian government and sending soldiers into the country to try to topple their common enemy, the tplf leadership. it's true that the ethiopian prime minister abiy ahmed is close to the autocratic eritrean leader. after coming to power in 2018, he reached out to make a peace deal with ethiopia's long—time foe.

but mr abiy denies the involvement of eritrean troops. in a tweet, he said... the stability of ethiopia is seen as vital for the whole region. ethnic conflicts have been a problem for some time, but this new crisis has taken the country to a precipice. with its key ally, america, distracted by its own political drama, there are worrying signs that this could be just the start of a devastating conflict. well, us president—electjoe biden‘s incoming chief of staff, ron klain, has been speaking to nbc‘s meet the press. he says donald trump's tweets in which he seemed to acknowledge donald trump has appeared to acknowledge for the first time

that his democratic rivaljoe biden won the us presidential election, but he's also reiterated unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud. on twitter, president trump said biden won because the election was rigged. despite losing the election earlier this month, mr trump has so far refused to concede, and his legal efforts have so far been unsucessful. well, us president—electjoe biden‘s incoming chief of staff, ron klain, has been speaking to nbc‘s meet the press. he says donald trump's tweets in which he seemed to acknowledge a win forjoe biden is the first step towards transition. accept it as a further confirmation of the reality that joe biden won the election, and not through any of the rest of that tweet, not through fraud or anything else the president is baselessly alledging — he won because he got more votes. he got more votes in the popular vote by a lot. he won the same number of electoral votes that president trump himself called a landslide four years ago. but look, if the president is prepared to begin to recognise that reality, that's positive. donald trump's twitter feed does not makejoe biden president or not, the american people did that. what we want to see this week is the general services administration issue that ascertainment, so we can start to do the kind things like meet

with vaccine officials, get the intelligence briefings for the president—elect and vice president—elect, that is really the measure of how this is moving forward this week. let's speak to our correspondent in washington, will grant. where in washington, will grant. is the pressure coming‘ encourage where is the pressure coming from to encourage president trump to concede fully thatjoe biden is the next us president? this wasn't fully by any means, was it? this wasjust a couple of words which he very quickly rowed back on. if he indicates he is leaning in that direction, that is clearly what the democrats want. but i think the pressure is building a boat because there is pressure building on individual key republicans in the senedd, in the house, and people inside donald trump's inner circle, who potentially want to leave in a slightly more dignified fashion than

this holding on until the bitter end. of course, public health officials are playing their role too. anthony found she has pointed out just how severe too. anthony found she has pointed outjust how severe the current coronavirus pandemic is in the united states, and as a result, is creating real difficulties in combating that if the transition tea m combating that if the transition team forjoe biden can't get their hands on the information they need where is the sign that senior republicans that he might be forced to listen to are making the case for joe biden as well as to listen to are making the case for joe biden as well as i'm not sure there are necessarily making a case for him, what i think they are beginning to do is that they are beginning to do is that they are beginning to do is that they are beginning to acknowledge that he needs to get the security briefings. ina way, needs to get the security briefings. in a way, that is making the case, isn't it, saying that we need to deal with the reality in front of us. deal with the reality in front of us. we have seen that from lindsey graham and chuck grassley and others. i think this is the way things will eventually work out. on the other side is donald trump it's own legal challenges to the results,

and those are currently coming to nothing. in the past 48 hours, we have seen at least three places where those are full in town, important places like pennsylvania and so on. the more mothers to one and so on. the more mothers to one and don't lead to a change not only in the individual states and the result as a whole, it would bring us toa result as a whole, it would bring us to a point where donald trump has to say, i don't accept this result but i'm not going to challenge it to any further. thank you. a racing pigeon from belgium has set a new record after being sold for £1.11 million. new kim, a two—year—old female, was initially put up for auction for around £150 but was bought by a bidderfrom china for the record amount. new kim has won a number of competitions in 2018, including national middle—distance races, but has since retired. now it's time for a look at the weather.

hello. the strong, squally winds of today across parts of southern england, especially along the coast, will be gradually easing through the night. still some rain out there, but a lot of that by the end of the night confined to northern and western parts of scotland, running down into northwest england. a fair amount of cloud around, clear spells and temperatures dipping lower than they have done on recent nights. a bit of rain around to start the day tomorrow, but a lot of that drifting away and by lunchtime, much of the uk will be dry. sunny spells around, but here comes the next system. wales, western parts of england and northern ireland, thicker cloud in the afternoon and outbreaks of rain from that. not as windy as it has been over at the weekend, these are average speeds, with some gusts up to 40mph in some places. temperatures up to 13 degrees. through monday night, this rain here will spread north and east across the uk.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. scientists behind the first covid vaccine to be successful in early trials say its full impact will be felt next year — but warn of a hard winter ahead. the bigger impact will happen until summer, the summer will help us a nyway summer, the summer will help us anyway because the infection rate will go down in the summer. the side effects of statins may be down to patient anxiety and have nothing to do with what's in them according to a new study prince charles — and the duchess of cornwall become the first royals to attend germany's national remembrance for victims of war and tyranny farewell to one of our best

known entertainers —