this is bbc news. i'm james reynolds with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. barack obama tells the bbc his successor, president trump, is partly responsible for polarisation in america today. that is attributable to our current president who actively fanned division because he felt it was good for his politics. —— some of that is. the trump administration is resisting pressure to begin the transition to us president—electjoe biden as the country's coronavirus crisis deepens. self—isolating but showing no symptoms of coronavirus. the british prime minister, boris johnson, will remain at 10 downing street for two weeks, after meeting an mp who later tested positive. countdown to a new era.

spacex's first operational crewed flight to the international space station prepares for lift—off. and, it's a magnificent seventh world title for lewis hamilton — as he wins the turkish grand prix — to become the most successful driver in the history of formula one. former us president, barack obama, has told the bbc that america is more divided now, than when he was in office. british historian, david olusoga met him to discuss his long—awaited memoir, "a promised land", a reflection on the volatile racial divide in the us. the bbc‘s james landale has more. congratulations, mr president. the election of the united states‘s first black president was seen by many as a watershed moment that was a step

to ending divisions that had scarred the us. barack obama now believes those divisions have deepened, not just of race but of inequality. we are very divided right now, certainly more than we were when i first ran for office in 2007 and more divided than we were four years ago when donald trump first won the presidency. some of that is attributable to our current president, who actively fanned division because he felt it was good for his politics, but it preceded him and it will outlast him. in part, he says, that is because some americans feel they have lost the grip on the ladder of economic advancement and can be persuaded it is someone else's fault. it is fuelled by conspiracy—fuelled

social media. crazy conspiracy theories, and what some have called truth decay, where the facts don't matter. that has contributed enormously to these divisions. and oh, yes, he believes the current president has played his part. what has been interesting, obviously, and sad during the election, is that that kind of lack of fidelity to the truth has consequences when it is being promoted by the most powerful elected official in the country. fixing that truth decay, he suggests, will take time and potentially better regulation of the internet and the media. i think at some point it will require a combination of regulation and standards within the industries to get us back to the point

where we at least recognise a common set of facts before we start arguing about what we should do about those facts. as a new president prepares for his first term, his predecessor is mulling the legacy he left his country. mr obama says the us was better off after his eight years in office, but he accepts the fault lines in american culture remain. james landale, bbc news. there are warnings that president trump's refusal to concede in the us presidential elections could have grave consequences for the fight against the coronavirus in the us. president—elect biden‘s team still hasn't had authorisation to begin transition efforts between his pandemic advisers and the white house coronavirus task force. joe biden‘s top adviser says the transition needs to begin this week to allow the country to focus on tackling the pandemic. ron klain was speaking to nbc‘s meet the press. joe biden is going to become the president

of the united states in the midst of an ongoing crisis. that has to be a seamless transition. we now have the possibility, we have to see if it gets approved, of a vaccine, starting in december orjanuary. there are people making plans to implement that vaccine. our experts need to talk to those people as soon as possible so nothing drops in this change of power we are going to have onjanuary 20th. the us‘s leading infectious diseases expert, dr anthony fauci, has been echoing these warnings. he said it would obviously be better for public health provision if he could start working withjoe biden‘s team immediately, and that "you don't want to stop "and hand it to them — you want to keep it going." the bbc‘s will grant in washington explains the significance of dr fauci's warnings. when you put out the numbers like you just showed then, i think it's a snapshot, isn't it, ofjust how serious this coronavirus pandemic, this latest and most severe spike the united states is going through, is. and i think that is clarifying minds around washington,

around the country, no doubt, in terms of the job ahead. now, thatjob is simply not made any easier when the outgoing president, the incumbent, simply refuses to accept the result of a race that more and more is now seen as completely cut and dried. so clearly become from joe biden‘s team is for that now to end. —— the call from joe biden‘s team. and i think what anthony fauci is doing is, as somebody who is coming at this from a public health perspective and not a political one, he is saying, "look, "normal transitions are aided by the ability to sit "down around a table, but political differences "to one side and do what is best for the public health "provision of americans." and i think it simply reached that point where he is trying to appeal to the greater good, if you like. we can now speak to dr krutika kuppalli, who's assistant professor of medicine at the division of infectious diseases at the medical university of south carolina.

how damaging would it be if mr biden‘s team can't get access to those briefings from the official coronavirus task force before he is sworn in? that would be incredibly damaging. we have an awful coronavirus pandemic going on this country right now that is out of control. we have over 180,000 cases here on friday and we need to be able to have access to privileged information that the trump team has. we need to know information about the vaccine distribution plan that they have come up with, we need to know information about stockpiles of ppe and other information that the trump team has been developing over the course of the last few months. so the biden team needs that information that's on information that's on information they can get at the last information. that is information that takes weeks to months to get. the chance -- transition hasn't formally happened yet, but that has a

subject from speaking to foreign leaders like the pope and the chinese president. what is to stop them from phoning up doctor fauci and saying i need information? i think that is difficult for him given the tense situation right now in the united states. so i think he is trying to follow protocol as much as possible and so hopefully working the appropriate lines of communication will hopefully get them the information that they need. our scientists in they need. our scientists in the official task force are allowed to talk to scientists onjoe biden‘s task allowed to talk to scientists on joe biden‘s task force? allowed to talk to scientists on joe biden's task force?” think unofficially they may be able to but again it's really difficult when they are not able to get the classified information, that is the information, that is the information they are not able to get and that is the information they need. is there one particular area that you worry about being dropped? well, i think again the information about the vaccine distribution plan, it sounds

like we may have a vaccine in the next few months and if we don't know what that plan is it is hard to prepare. again the information about what ppe stockpiles look like given the surge of cases right now here in the united states, we don't wa nt to in the united states, we don't want to be in a situation that we we re want to be in a situation that we were in in the spring where we were in in the spring where we didn't have enough ppe. we need to understand what those look like so if we need to start ramping up production, if we need to invoke the defense production act when biden comes into office he knows what those numbers look like and need to be able to prepare. doctor dr kuppali, think you so much for joining us. here in the uk, prime minister borisjohnson has been told to self—isolate after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for covid—19. mrjohnson spent about 35 minutes with a member of parliament who has since tested positive. downing street said the prime minister is not showing symptoms. 0ur uk political correspondent nick eardley has more. borisjohnson was contacted today by the test and trace programme in the uk and told

that he had come into contact with someone who has tested positive. my understanding is he had a meeting with a group of conservative mps on thursday. since that meeting, one of those mps, lee anderson, developed symptoms and has subsequently tested positive. borisjohnson was contacted as a result. it is a pretty big deal. he will have to stay at home for the next ten days, it means he will not be able to be in parliament. i'm told he will be working from downing street. he does still intend on communicating with the country. it is a big week for borisjohnson. he is trying to reset his government after some faction fighting in his office over the last few days. there are conversations taking part with the parliamentary authorities in the uk to see whether he can still contribute to the commons. but i think it is fair to say this couldn't have come at a worse time for boris johnson. it is also worth bearing in mind, he was extremely ill with coronavirus early

in the year. but we also don't know exactly what getting the virus means for your future immunity. he doesn't have any symptoms right now. i am told he is absolutely fine and is feeling well, but under the test and trace programme in the uk, he has to self—isolate. let's keep it to cape canaveral in florida. you can see preparations for the launch of the spacex falcon rocket come on top of that rocket is the dragon capsule, four astronauts will be on board, nasa has said on its social media feet the propellant loading has begun and expects to have a lunch in about 16 minutes' time... we will bring you fat launch as it happens. —— that launch. moving onto other news,

the united states has denounced attacks by ethiopia's tigray region on neighbouring eritrea. in a statement, the us state department's top diplomat for africa, condemned what he called — "efforts to internationalise the conflict in tigray" and urged "immediate action to protect civilians and restore peace". earlier, the leader of the tigray region confirmed his forces had 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. 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. on 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 assistance 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 political force 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 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. will ross, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come... countdown to a new era. spacex's first operational crewed flight to the international space station prepares for lift—off. benazir bhutto has claimed victory in pakistan's general election and she's asked pakistan's president to name her as prime minister. jackson's been released on bail of $3 million after turning himself into police in santa

barbara. it was the biggest demonstration so far of the fast—growing european anti—nuclear movement. the south african government has announced that it's opening the country's remaining whites—only beaches to people of all races. this will lead to a black—majority government in this country and the destruction of the white civilisation. part of the centuries—old windsor castle, one of the queen's residences, has been consumed by fire for much of the day. 150 firemen have been battling the blaze which has caused millions of pounds worth of damage. this is bbc news. the latest headlines. the former us president, barack obama, tells the bbc of deepening divides in america which he says have been encouraged by donald trump.

the trump administration is resisting pressure to begin the transition to us—president elect, joe biden — as the country's coronavirus crisis deepens. 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 isjust 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.

sophie hutchinson, bbc news. the british driver, lewis hamilton, has become the most successful in the history of formula one motor racing. victory at the turkish grand prix sealed his seventh world title, equalling the record of michael schumacher. hamilton had already won more individual races than schumacher. speaking shortly after his win in istanbul, hamilton said it was dream come true but he felt he was only just getting started. theo mason—tompson is a motor sport journalist for the social media platform drivetribe. he's in london. hejoins me now. theo how did you read when you cross the chequered flag? my initial thoughts were just absolute elation. there were tears of jov- elation. there were tears of joy. having followed lewis since his days in gp two and 2006 and watching him come all the way through to today, it was just absolute elation. i couldn't be happier for was just absolute elation. i couldn't be happierfor him. what makes him so good?|j

couldn't be happierfor him. what makes him so good? i think it is just what makes him so good? i think it isjust his what makes him so good? i think it is just his absolute determination that no matter what the race conditions are, no matter how his car is faring that day or the day before, he just has the drive to always get up and go better and always do what he can to win, and those factors i think that other drivers kind of play around in their mind, he goes, "right. this is a challenge i have no wit me face it and it be overcome as best i can." of course he is now known notjust for his winning achievement but this year in particular his social activism. talk about how important that is for him.|j feel that as a black formula 1 driver and a sport that has been dominated his sport —— historically by white males i feel the way in which he has carried himself really shows that he is about change and i fear that the way he has conducted himself away from the track has had a positive effect not only a way for the check but at the track as well. i

feel that the formula 1 community as a whole are doing more to pick up on what lewis has done and they are running with it and we see that with the adjuster that happens before each race now where either drivers can stand or ta ke either drivers can stand or take the knee as a mark against racism which also goes to the promo that films before that. my promo that films before that. my favourite question now. he has seven titles, schumacher has seven titles, schumacher has seven titles, schumacher has seven titles. hamilton or schumacher for you? i would say thatis schumacher for you? i would say that is a very hard question but i will give the answer of lewis hamilton. i have been watching formula 1 now for about 20 years so i have seen five of michael's title wins and the way in which he has gone about that. and compare and contrast with lewis and i just feel that lewis is just a cut above for me. although that is not to take away from anything that michael did but i just feel that lewis is just that with a bit better than what michael was. theo

mason—tompson is been great to talk to you thanks so much. thank you very much. in the next few minutes, a new era in space travel is set to begin, with the launch of spacex's first operational crewed flight to the international space station. nasa is using elon musk‘s aerospace company to fly its crew to and from the iss. it's the first "operational" mission in the private—public partnership between nasa and spacex, following a successful test flight in may. these are the live pictures from the kennedy space center at cape canaveral in florida. launch is scheduled for about four minutes' time, 27past the hour, and it must leave exactly on time in order to catch the space station as it passes overhead. one man knows more about this than most. i'm joined by our science correspondentjonathan amos. for fewer stressing this for

the first time, what can they expect a 27 minutes past? well, a big flash of orange to start off with, james, as the falcon rocket lips away from the kennedy space centre, climbs skywa rd kennedy space centre, climbs skyward up the east coast of the united states and in across the united states and in across the atlantic over the west coast of ireland and on up into orbit and that ride will take about 12 minutes. and everything is looking pretty good at the moment. we hadn't enforced day delay because of weather but the weather seems to be cooperating on the space coast today. so are hopeful that the falcon with its dragon capsule at the top with its four astronauts, my caucus, shannon walker, a japanese restau ra nt shannon walker, a japanese restaurant and another estimate will have a pleasant ride to the international space station. it is a 27 hour

journey that they will be cooped up in a little capsule. iam sure cooped up in a little capsule. i am sure they will all get on very well together and they will be pleased i am sure when they arrive at the space station which is a circling overhead at about a10 km up moving at seven km a second, extraordinary thing the space station, it has been permanently occupied now for 20 yea rs, permanently occupied now for 20 years, 20 years this november just gone. so sit back and enjoy i would say. two minutes ago, you say sit back and enjoy for subcu think that is what the astronauts will be doing? —— sit back and enjoy. the astronauts will be doing? -- sit back and enjoy. they are very experience these people. they have done all of the simulations, they know precisely what to expect. i just take the japanese astronaut for a moment. in writing this dragon, he will become only the third person in history to write three

different space records into opera. having proofs gone on a shuttle and on so used. the only other people to have done something similar werejohn young the great american astronaut who rode the very first space shuttle and another who did mercury, gemini, and apollo. but these guys know what they are doing. very experienced and the dragon capsule, and the falcon rocket has been working superbly well. over recent years so we are getting very close now, james. about a minute to go, a minute and a half or something like that. do not worry about all of that. do not worry about all of that venting that you see, that is the liquefied oxygen, they need that to burn it with the kerosene to give them the thrust to take them skyward. and it does that right up to the moment of launch, they keep that going... they oxidize to

make that... t -30 t —30 seconds, crew for one, one for all. d-15 d—15 seconds. configured for flight. d—15 seconds. configured for flight. ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. zero. ignition. lift off. vehicle is pitching downrange.

propulsion is nominal. telemetry nominal. stage one throttle down. falcon nine is supersonic. max q. you are watching bbc news. and we are watching the launch

of spacex, the first operational mission run by the company operational mission run by the com pa ny towards operational mission run by the company towards the international space station. with me isjonathan amos. jonathan those laid—back voices we are hearing from mission control suggests so far so good. so far so good, james. it's an extraordinary thing to see a rocket launch at night. i was lucky enough to have seen many shuttle launches both in the day and during the night, i much prefer to see them go at night. when you see a rocket liftoff, the first thing is you see it, this incredibly bright light, it's like another son in the sky and then you hear it, and then you feel it. you get this rumble that goes right through you, right through your body. and as the noise subsides, all you can hear of the cars in the car park, all of their alarms have gone off because the cars have been

shaken by that vibration. it's a fabulous site, fabulous feeling to watch a rocket climb into the sky. and this mission seems to be going very well at the moment. the falcon has flown something like 100 times 110w. flown something like 100 times now. so, they know the system extremely well, they built it right from the word go over ten yea rs right from the word go over ten years ago to do human launches. and so, it has got all of the sensors onboard. if they know that something is not right, they can abort the mission. would a bit of an uncomfortable moment that would be for the estimates because they get p°pped estimates because they get popped off the top and brought back down on parachutes but they have practised that not with people on board i should say but they have practised that manoeuvre and it does work. and they have people waiting for them all the way up the eastern seaboard of the united states just in case that

happens and indeed, all