this is bbc news. i'm tim willcox with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the world health organization warns against complacency after a second firm announced successful trials of a covid—19 vaccine. i broke into an ear—to—ear grin when i heard the numbers. it really exceeded our best hopes and it is an incredibly exciting moment for us. as coronavirus cases in the us top 11 million, president—electjoe biden warns more people could die if the trump administration doesn't co—operate with the transition process. "light at the end of the tunnel" — the postponed tokyo olympics and paralympics will go ahead, according to the ioc. and in another bitterly contested vote, new zealand

crowns a "chubby parrot" as bird of the year. hello and welcome. we begin with more good news in the search for a covid vaccine. after clinical trials in the united states, the firm moderna says its vaccine is almost 95% effective. it's one of around 50 vaccines now being tested on people worldwide, and its success — along with pfizer's announced last week — raises hopes that others could also be effective. however, the world health organization has warned that with cases surging in europe and the us, now is not the time to be complacent. our medical editor fergus walsh reports.

another dose of hope — and further evidence that vaccines will provide a way out of this pandemic. thank you. stunning early results from this trial, from us firm moderna, have eclipsed the strong results just a week ago from pfizer biontech. i broke into an ear—to—ear grin when i heard the numbers. it really exceeded our best hopes, and it is an incredibly exciting moment for us as a company, and as a world, as we start to develop tools to fight the virus. 30,000 volunteers in the us took part in the trials. half had two doses of the vaccine a month apart, the rest dummy injections. early analysis shows there were 90 covid cases in those given the dummy treatment and only five in the vaccinated group. moderna says this shows the vaccine is over 94% effective at preventing covid. what's more, there were 11 cases of severe disease, but none among those

who got the vaccine. moderna, like pfizer, have used a completely new method for creating vaccines which doesn't need the virus itself. it uses the genes for the coronavirus spike protein. this synthetic code, known as rna, is created in the laboratory and forms the vaccine. this teaches the body to recognise and build an immune response to coronavirus. before we can all throw away our facemasks and ditch social distancing, we're going to need to protect the world from covid. that will require billions of doses of coronavirus vaccine, and it's why clinical trials must continue. like this one, which began today in southampton and other sites across the uk. the jab from the belgian firm janssen is one of six covid vaccines pre—ordered by the government.

over time, we will learn which of those works better in different ages and different people with different conditions, and also how to use the vaccines in combinations to give people the best and longest—lasting immunity. caution is needed — we still need full safety and effectiveness data for the moderna and pfizer jabs. but there is a real sense that some of the most vulnerable to covid could be immunised before christmas. fergus walsh, bbc news. the world health organization has cautiously welcomed the moderna results, but has also been urging caution. and not to hope too much. it is really exciting, all this news about vaccines, a new testing capacity being introduced and all the other great technologies that are coming on board, but we've got still some time to go, everybody,

before the vaccines really will make a dent on the nature of the pandemic. we are still, in much of europe, in a bit of a lockdown right now, and there is nervousness, understandably, then when the lockdown is released, then there will be another spike and people will once again be in difficulty, so please keep up the precautions, please continue to maintain physical distancing, masking, keeping yourself isolated when you're sick, doing lots of good hygiene and looking after the people who are particularly at risk. david nabarro. us president—electjoe biden has warned that donald trump's refusal to begin the transition following his election defeat earlier this month could cost lives. donald trump is continuing to insist, without evidence, that the presidential poll was rigged and has yet to concede. joe biden expressed his frustration at

the politicisation of measures to deal with covid—19, such as mask—wearing. does anybody understand why a governor would turn this into a political statement? it's about patriotism. it's about being patriotic. it's about saving life. for real. this is not hyperbole. it's about being patriotic. and i think you're seeing more and more, as this god—awful virus continues to spread, almost unabated, that governors are stepping up. our correspondent lebo diseko in washington has more on the transition difficulties facing joe biden‘s team that continues to be impeded by donald trump. he was asked about what the consequence of all this reluctance or refusal, really, on the part of the republicans to co—operate and share information with the incoming team is, and he said, how do you get these millions of americans vaccinated 7 what is the plan? what have you done? what are you planning to do?

if we don't have a plan, how do we do it? and if we don't know that, many americans could die. it was really a stark warning there. this is not something that only affects plans to roll out the vaccine. it also affects national security as well. a lot of those briefings are classified and he is just not getting them. kamala harris gets some of that information because she is on certain senate committees, butjoe biden isjust not getting that information at all, and there was that contested election back in 2000, those 37 days that delayed the transition. and when the 9/11 report came out, it said that that impacted on george w bush's administration's ability to respond to that and even george w bush's own former chief of staff saying there may not have been a 9/11 attack if they had not had that delay in getting information and getting these security briefings.

yeah, i mean, the economic consequences of this pandemic are still not really known. joe biden talking about what his plans were for that. he wants to work across the aisle, doesn't he? but he said that, what was the phrase he used, we can deliver immediate relief. how? he says he really wants to push for a new stimulus package, essentially. he thinks that something along the lines of that $3 trillion dollar one we saw earlier on this year is what needs to happen. he also spoke about his own plans. he says that he wants to have more unionjobs, more clean energy jobs in the future. he wants to reward work

rather than just wealth, but none of this, none of this is going to be easy to do if you cannot talk to the administration now and when there's so much uncertainty as well. and i was just really struck by the fact that he had called this address, this press conference, to give his plans but some of the first questions were about the transition, what is happening, how is this hampering your plans and what are you going to do about it. lebo diseko. in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, tokyo 2020 was delayed by a year. now, the head of the international olympic committee has said he's confident the olympics and paralympics will take place in front of spectators next year. more than 11,000 athletes from around 200 countries were due to take part in the games, now due to begin injuly 2021. tokyo organisers now say it could go ahead with a "limited" audience, fewer staff and delegates from each country. and there are now hopes that an effective vaccine against covid—19 could be available within the next year. rupert wingfield hayes sent this report from tokyo. this is a hugely important trip for the international olympic committee chief. thomas bach is here to

sell the rescheduled tokyo olympics — not to the japanese prime minister, but to the japanese people. he immediately sought to address widespread doubt here that the olympics can be held safely if the covid pandemic is not yet over. in order to protect the japanese people, and out of respect for the japanese people, the ioc will undertake a great effort so that as many as possible of the olympic participants and visitors will arrive here vaccinated, if by then a vaccine is available. this makes us also very, very confident that we can have spectators then in the olympic stadium next year, and that also the spectators will enjoy a safe environment. news from america that a covid—19 vaccine developed

by pfizer appears to work is very good news and has significantly boosted hopes that tens of millions of people can be vaccinated before nextjuly. but the japanese public remains deeply sceptical. this country has not been hit hard by covid—19 — fewer than 2,000 people have died so far — and many here put that down to japanese culture, universal mask wearing and closed borders. almost all foreigners have been barred from entering japan since april. last week, japan hosted its first international sports competition since the pandemic began — 30 gymnasts from japan, the us, russia and china, competing in front of 2,000 spectators. that is a far cry from the 15,000 athletes and tens of thousands of support staff, media and international spectators who would need to be granted entry to japan for the olympics to happen.

forjapan‘s prime minister, it is a hobson‘s choice — go ahead with the olympics and risk creating a so—called "super—spreader event", or cancel having already spent 25 billion us dollars of public money. a lot is riding on the success of that vaccine. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. officials in the united states says a huge storm heading for central america has become a category five hurricane. iota has been gaining strength as it approaches the eastern coasts of nicaragua and honduras. it's expected to make landfall on monday night. much of central america is still recovering from hurricane eta, which caused devastation two weeks ago, killing about 200 people. you're watching bbc news. stay with us. still to come: the british

diplomat who jumped into a river in china to save a drowning student. 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 antinuclear 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 civilizations. 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. you're watching bbc news. our latest headlines: trials of a second vaccine for coronavirus bring promising results. the us firm moderna revealed the outcome of phase 3 trials showed it's almost 95% effective. as coronavirus cases in the us top 11 million, president—electjoe biden says more people could die if trump administration doesn't co—operate with transition. as we mentioned earlier, president—elect biden and vice president—elect harris have been speaking about their plans to tackle the impact of the pandemic on the economy. kamala harris spoke about the disproportionate effect on minority communities.

we all know that this pandemic and this recession have hit communities of colour particularly hard. black americans and latinos are three times as likely to contract covid as others and more likely to die. native americans are more than four times as likely to be hospitalized as others. and last month, the unemployment rate for black americans was almost twice the rate of others. a little earlier, i spoke to helene gayle. she's president of the chicago community trust and committee co—chair of the national academies framework for an equitable allocation of a covid—19 vaccine. she told me more about the ideas surrounding who to prioritise for the vaccine. yeah, i think everybody recognises that communities of colour have been personally

impacted by this pandemic and want to think about ways in which to address that and to mitigate the inequities, the economic inequities, the health inequities, and one of those ways is to consider how we make the vaccine available to the populations most hard—hit. this is not a biological distinction, this is predominantly an economic distinction? yeah, i think it is important to recognise, and the way that we looked at this was not based on race and biology but really based on what are the reasons that people are more at risk for getting this virus or more at risk for having serious consequences, if the infection, if they do in fact do acquire the infection, and those risks are really more socioeconomic. they are the jobs people hold, the homes people live in,

the ability to work from home or not work from home, pre—existing health conditions that are also determined by one's life options and life choices. so we really looked at our vaccine framework from the standpoint of, what are the things that put people at disproportionate risk and how can we make sure that those we re can we make sure that those were taken into consideration, when we thought about our framework. that would seem like a strong argument. counterintuitively, could some members of the community there believe that they were the sort of guinea pigs for a vaccine roll—out and might actually not want to take part in this? that's exactly why, one of the reasons why we did not make it race—specific, because it is not the biology. and if we had said, "black people, brown people, go to the head of the line," i think there would have been a lot of resistance

about, saying, "we are going to put you out there as guinea pigs." we are saying, the reasons why you are at greatest risk are socioeconomic, are based on systemic racism and what it has done to people's life choices, and that's how we thought about our allocation framework, not in terms of a biologic risk. and how much traction is this getting within the states? i think people appreciate that logic. i think there's been a lot of agreement and recognition that allocating vaccines based on people's risk is the way to really go about doing this, and it also puts in place an equity framework, so, so far, we have gotten a lot of support and people feeling like this framework that we developed in fact does look at equity, does look at mitigating health inequities and does it in a way that recognises what the underlying issues are

and really speaks to that. dr helene gayle. here in the uk, there's growing concern amongst health bosses in the city of hull in northern england — as the area has become the worst hit in england by covid—19. the leader of the city council has described the local situation as a "health emergency" and urged the british prime minister boris johnson to take more action. vickyjohnson reports. stepping through to the sharp end of this pandemic, hull's intensive care unit. out on the street, people are getting tired of the restrictions. here on the front line, they are battle weary. it's overwhelming. i've never had a year like this in my whole career as a nurse. you have a sense of dread about what the next few months will be. during the first peak in the spring, they had 112 patients at hull royal infirmary with coronavirus. today, there are more than 150.

but they're expecting even more. it feels like it could rapidly escalate out of control. with nothing that we can really do to prevent it. we're getting busy and it's getting busier at an alarming rate. we're getting patient after patient and we're seeing a greater number of admissions than we saw last time. laura isjust 31. she admits she never took the threat of the virus seriously, until now. i didn't wear a mask because of my mental health. i didn't think i was going to get it. itjust proved me wrong. i've never really been ill. sharon's been in icu for a fortnight and admits she's been fighting for her life. very bad. yeah. i maybe thought at one point, "is it going to go too far, they can't do anything for me?" and ray had this message to those who don't think

things are that bad. for the doubters out there who don't believe in it, it's here. and this is very busy. the nurses don't stop. staff here have tried so hard to keep other services going, but now routine operations and appointments are having to be cancelled. staff who would normally work in operating theatres are going to be redeployed here to support the nurses and doctors working here in intensive care. as in march, coronavirus is disrupting the whole functioning of the hospital. eight months into this pandemic, the doctors and nurses are quite simply running on empty. i've got nurses in there who have been here a lot longer than what i have, but they're starting to buckle, and you rely on them staff. they are seeing it at home, work, there has been no let—up since the last time. does it take its toll? it does. i have two little ones at home,

and to have to come home from here, and i go home and i try and click into mum. which is quite difficult. because you know you've been in here, you know you have been infected patients. —— with infected patients. —— with infected patients. most of us are getting fed up with the restrictions on our lives, but the nurses here think we could do more. i personally don't cope well in a lockdown situation, i hate every minute of it, but i would be the first to say restrictions now are probably not tight enough because we are getting too many patients coming in. sentiments echoed by the trust's chief executive. today, the leader of the city council has called the local situation a health emergency and has urged the government to take action to support the city. vickyjohnson, bbc news, hull. something different now. a british diplomat has become something of a hero in china, after he saved the life of a student who was in danger of drowning in a river near chongqing in south—west china. stephen ellison, who took up his post as consul generaljust a month ago, jumped in to save the young woman.

our diplomatic correspondent james landale has more. a sunny day by the river, but look closely on the left. someone's fallen in. there is a moment of shock. no one moves. the woman's clearly struggling. she is beginning to lose consciousness. but step forward stephen ellison, the consul general in the area, with natty socks. the 61—year—old diplomat didn't hesitate. there is no time to think. there is no time to consider. there is no rational decision. there was a girl in difficulties. ithink if... if no one had taken action, she would have lost her life. as he pulls for the bank, he lifts her face clear. for a short time, he feared the worst. but then she is breathing again.

i'm sure someone would have jumped in, i had to get my shoes off and jump in. they eventually haul her up and our hero climbs out. i have had a few comments from any friends on the socks. i didn't have time to take my phone out. that's gone now. mr ellison has been hailed a hero in china, where his courage has been shared with millions on social media and done much to improve britain's reputation. the woman, a 24—year—old student, has recovered and invited her rescuer to dinner next weekend. well done, him! while the world was busy watching election drama unfold in the united states, another highly anticipated vote was also taking place in new zealand. but the bird of the year vote was also hit by allegations of an attempt to rig the election, when 1,500 votes for the little spotted kiwi were traced to a single ip address.

suspicious! the official results are in, and we can reveal that the country's 2020 bird of the year is the flightless ka kapo, the world's largest parrot. new zealand's most famous kakapo, sirocco, gained the world's attention for this unfortunate encounter with a zoologist in a bbc nature documentary a few years ago presented with stephen fry. oh, wow. ow! look, he's so happy! one of the funniest things i've ever seen! you are being shagged by a rare parrot! he's really going for it. wow, you've chosen him. you are in pain, aren't you? he's fine, but it's

really sharp claws. he is now, though, word of the year. and that is it from me. bye— bye. year. and that is it from me. bye—bye. —— bird of the year. hello. we're all going to be sitting under a fairly hefty whack of cloud in the next few days. that cloud is being pulled in from the atlantic and it comes along with some very mild air. if it does thin and break in a few spots, which it may do with a little bit of help from the hills, we could see our temperatures and eastern regions shooting up today. but as we continue to pull in the south—westerly air into western scotland, there's going to be a lot of moisture around. here, some fairly relentless rain and across the hills, the totals keep adding up. i think we'll see perhaps some rain setting in from western wales and parts of northern ireland with the higher ground, especially through the day as well. a lot of cloud around, as i said, but some sheltered eastern spots will see the sun coming out and the temperatures could shoot up to 16, even 17 degrees, but widely,

we're in the mid—teens on tuesday despite the grey skies. through tuesday evening over into wednesday, still lots of cloud around, still that rain across western scotland. it will be a mild start to wednesday in many areas, temperatures down no lower than the low teens. what will actually happen through wednesday is during the daytime, our temperatures will come down, some as this weather front advances from the west. yes, it will bring rain, it'll be another windy story on wednesday too. the east starts with some sunshine. we mayjust cling onto the mild air here into the afternoon with a little bit of brightness across east anglia, temperatures could get up to 16 degrees. behind the front, it's clearer, it's brighter but it's consequently colder. temperatures just 10—11, so chillier in the figures to start the day. this perhaps shows the transition best, though. wednesday into thursday,

we sweep away the mild atlantic air and we're plunged into arctic air, a northerly blast setting up as our area of low pressure that's been with us for quite some time gets replaced by a brief ridge of high pressure. very clear air coming down from the arctic. there'll be some beautiful sunshine around on thursday, some showers, though, for scotland, cold enough to be wintry. gales down the north sea coasts. it will be particularly cold when we factor in the wind, and a few showers possible for wales and eastern england on that wind as well. the biggest change for thursday is how it will feel. for the likes of scotland, temperatures will feel closer to freezing when you factor in the wind.

this is bbc news.

our headlines... the world health organization has welcomed the announcement that a second company has developed a successful coronavirus vaccine, but has warned against complacency. the head of the agency said he was concerned by a surge in cases in europe and the americas. the latest vaccine is made by the us firm moderna. the us president—elect, joe biden, has warned that donald trump's refusal to begin the transition following his election defeat earlier this month could cost lives. mr biden said more people might die from covid—19 unless the president worked with the incoming team to coordinate vaccination programmes. thousands of people have been evacuated from the coasts of honduras and nicaragua as hurricane iota bears down on the region damaged two weeks ago by another storm. forecasters say the hurricane threatens to destroy many homes, wreck power supplies and make the area affected uninhabitable for months.