welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: the world health organisation 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 cooperate with the transition. reporter: what do you see as the biggest threat to your transition right now, given president trump's unprecedented attempt to obstruct and delay a smooth transfer of power? more people may die if we do not co—ordinate. hurricane iota bears down on central america forcing thousands of people in nicaragua and honduras to evacuate their homes.

"light at the end of the tunnel" — the postponed tokyo olympics and paralympics will go ahead, according to the ioc. a british diplomat is hailed as a hero in china afterjumping into a river to save a woman from drowning. 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 percent effective. it's one of around 50 vaccines now being tested on people worldwide, and its success, along with szier‘s announced last week, raises hopes that others could also be effective. however, the world health organisation 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 ones 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 pfizerjabs. but there is a real sense that some of the most vulnerable to covid could be immunised before christmas. fergus walsh, bbc news. more than one million americans have been infected with covid—19 in the last week. there's a severe risk in the coming weeks that hospitals across the us will be overwhelmed by the numbers. despite this wall street was buoyant with the financial markets soaring because of the news that moderna's vaccine could be available before the end of the year.

nada tawfik reports. she has completed remdesivir. the united states may be entering the most dangerous period of the coronavirus crisis. and this time, it's affecting the entire country. in north dakota, hospitals are so overwhelmed that covid—positive asymptomatic medical workers can continue to treat patients. it's a drastic change of fortunes for a state that was among the few to avoid a lockdown in the spring. now it's in emergency mode, breaking record after grim record of hospitalisations and deaths. 0ur situation has changed and we must change with it. in response, the republican governor, doug burgum, issued a mask mandate after resisting one for months and imposed other restrictions on large gatherings. but the move remains contentious. health officials are concerned that fatigue with the pandemic is sitting at the worst time as the cold weather and holiday season approaches.

it should have done earlier, it should have been a heavy nationwide mandate. we could be opening things up by now. nationwide mandate. we could be opening things up by nowm nationwide mandate. we could be opening things up by now. it is against the rights of the people, under call your local cou nty people, under call your local county sheriff. those other people who have to enforce this. health officials are concerned that fatigue with the pandemic is sitting at the worst time as the cold weather and holiday season approaches. doctor anthony fauci has been back on tv, warning that another 200,000 people could die over the next few months if public health measures aren't followed until a vaccine is widely available. and that a smooth presidential transition is essential. the virus is not going to stop and call a timeout while things change. the virus is just going to keep going. we want a smooth process for that, and the way you do that is by essentially having the two groups speak to each other and exchange information. yet the president's refusal to formally begin the transition process has left president—electjoe biden‘s team at a disadvantage and unable to talk to current officials such as doctor fauci.

joe biden spoke on the virus and the economy, and said that more people will die if there is not co—ordination. if we have to wait, it puts us behind a month and a half, so it's important that it be done and that there be co—ordination now, now or as rapidly as we can get that done. joe biden‘s leadership will be tested notjust by his plan to stop the rampant spread of the virus but his ability to counter the messaging coming out of the trump camp. doctor scott atlas, one of the president's covid advisors, encourage people to "rise up" against new restrictions in michigan. the governor, gretchen whitmer, who has become a frequent target of the president and his supporters, was shocked by his statement. it actually took my breath away, to tell you the truth. we are in the midst of the worst weeks of this pandemic. hope is dimming that the current occupant

of the white house will prioritise the threat of covid. comejanuary, it's anyone's guess what kind of situation joe biden and the country will find itself in. nadia tawfik, bbc news. well earlier i spoke to democratic communications strategist mary anne marsh, i asked her how unusual it was for the vice—president elect to be receiving briefings more than the president elect. that is exactly right. and joe biden made a very smart move today. using his speech about the economy more to get donald trump to work with him than really talking about getting americans back to work. because unless donald trump starts to co—operate, and republicans cooperate as well, it's going to be very tough to get americans back to work, back school, back to their lives and beat back covid. he used his meeting before this speech with business leaders and union leaders, labour, often like dogs and cats, saying, look, if i can bring them together to work together and create newjobs in this country, to fix our economy, certainly i can get donald trump and the republicans

to work with me, too. that was the message he sent today. and it was much... and it was just like turning up gas on a gas stove, it was just that much harder on trump today asjoe biden‘s really trying to pressure him to do that. in addition, you had barack 0bama these last few days and in interviews last night on his book tour, talking about the need for donald trump to co—operate and michelle 0bama weighed in today as well. she did not campaign throughout this election, rarely speaks on politics now, with the exception of the democratic convention, she talked about how important it is for everyone to work together, at this time in the country's history. mary anne, you know that every leader says we want everyone to work together, i want to work for the people who voted for me and the people who didn't. yet we know that there are something that 72 million americans who did not want joe biden as president. many of them, it's quite possible, because of what the president has been saying, think the whole process was illegitimate.

how to pull them onside? well, i think more importantly, in a democracy, 77 million people voted forjoe biden. he won an overwhelming mandate. he will end up with 306 electoral votes, which is exactly what donald trump got four years ago, which he declared an "overwhelming" victory. so that's really what matters here. i think over time, asjoe biden reminds everyone what a real president looks like, how our government should function, what it's like to try to save lives, but people back to work, back to school, reminding them of what our country used to be and can be again, i think many of them will start to move over. there will always be a hard—core 25% or 35% who will follow donald trump to the ends of the earth, but the rest of the country and the people who supported him, overtime, pretty shortly, i think they will come back onboard when they see the benefits thatjoe biden and his team can bring to this country to get it back on track. just briefly, mary anne, if you could. there's a worrying historical precedent, here, isn't there? isn't there real concerns that after the 2001 problems with — between bush and gore,

who won that eleciton, essentially, that people took their eye off the ball in national security terms. it's one of the reasons, perhaps, there was — people just weren't prepared for 9/11. that's a perfect example of one of the threats we face, and that was not really known at the time. even though bush got briefings right up until the end, we know what we are facing: an economic crisis, a healthcare crisis, a pandemic the likes our country has not seen in over 100 years. so it is up to all of us to work together, and donald trump has to be part of that, too. mary anne marsh, thank you very much indeed. thank you. the western edge of hurricane iota has made landfall over nicaragua, forcing thousands of people there and in neighbouring honduras to evacuate from the coast. the category five storm is hitting parts of central america already badly damaged by hurricane eta two weeks ago. the us national hurricane centre has warned

of catatrophic winds, a life—threatening storm surge and flash—floods. iota is the strongest atlantic hurricane of the year. both the government and several ngos are providing assistance to those who have been evacuated jorge hernandez is from unicef nicaragua. earlier he told me what the situation is like in the country. the hurricane is hitting already the atlantic coast, the north corinthian coast of nicaragua. it's a hurricane category five that we have not had in the last 20 years, it reminds us the damage that was brought to us back in 1998, it was catastrophic. we expect this not to be different, so we are already preparing and we have been preparing for this. it must be difficult to prepare in an area which is already been hit so recently by another hurricane? yes, infact, i have

to acknowledge that communities here have a very strong sense of community, and they organise themselves in a very quick manner, and i have to say most of the communities that are in danger of being washed away by the reins and wins have been upgraded to safer places. the paramount goal here is not to lose a life, we understand that livelihoods, infrastructure, and social economic infrastructure will be lost, but that can be restored eventually, with the work of the nicaraguans themselves, and with the help of the international community, but the definite goal here is that we don't have life lost to the hurricane. when you look to the future, it must be that claim change

is only going to get worse, how do you prepare for that when you look to the future? as i said before, we are preparing, the nicaraguans to face this kind of event, because there are no ways that we can stop them from coming because of climate change. communities have been trained in how to prepare themselves when these events hit, so, building capacity at the level of the communities is one of the key efforts that the government of nicaragua, with the support of the international community is doing to lessen the effect of climate change.

thank you very much for talking to us. let's get some of the day's other news. peru's congress has named a new president. francisco sagasti is the country's third leader in a week. he replaces manuel merino, who resigned on sunday following the deaths of two anti—government protesters. he'd only been in power for several days, since the impeachment of martin vizcarra. african leaders are trying to persuade ethiopia's government to agree to a mediation process to end its conflict in tigray and prevent the fighting spreading. the ethiopian government says it must first carry out a law enforcement operation. hundreds of people have been killed in two weeks of fighting. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the british diplomat whojumped 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 anti—nuclear movement. the south african government has announced that its 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: trials of a second vaccine for coronavirus bring promising results — the us firm moderna revealed the outcome of phase 3 trials showed its almost 95% effective. as coronavirus cases in the us top 11 million, president—electjoe biden says more people could die if the trump administration doesn't cooperate with transition process. let's go back to the british prime minister who's self—isolating along with six conservative mps and two political aides, after a breakfast meeting in downing street last thursday. one of the mps tested positive for coronavirus after the 35—minute gathering in a state room. downing street insisted that social distancing rules were observed. this report from our political editor laura kuenssberg contains some flash photography. the moment you might dread

from your phone or inbox — a message from the coronavirus trackers to stay at home and stay away. the prime minister stuck in number ten too. they pinged me, and i've got to self—isolate, because somebody i was in contact with has developed covid. it doesn't matter that i'm fit as a butcher's dog, feel great — so many people do in my circumstances. and actually it doesn't matter that i've had the disease and i'm bursting with antibodies. we have got to interrupt the spread of the disease. on thursday, borisjohnson met with half a dozen mps, at least meant to be keeping their distance. but on saturday, lee anderson from ashfield tested positive. the five others who were there are all self—isolating now too. meetings are allowed in person for work, but even in downing street, strict rules are meant to be followed to make sure it's safe. but now the prime minister's holed up between his desk and the downing street flat — not because he has the disease,

but because he's spent time in close quarters to one who has. but after days of dizzying allegations about what has been going on in government, this was meant to be a moment for ministers to get back on track. the government, like all other businesses and organisations over the past few months, has been learning to do things differently. we're doing a lot of meetings online, the prime minister has already this morning, you've seen the video's he's put out. we're getting on with delivering people's priorities. like cracking on with rolling out a vaccine — which labour wants — and sticking to the rules. this is frustrating for the prime minister, i understand that. it's important that he self—isolates. it's important for all of us to say we have got to comply with the advice and the guidance. rules may have never bothered some in government that much. burning downing street feuds have flamed into public in the last few days. dominic cummings — who couldn't ever resist playing the pantomime villain — walking off into the dark. a lot of metaphorical blood has been split on downing street's

posh carpets of late, so the prime minister wanted to use this week to clean up — with announcements on the environment, meetings with mps, no small matter of brexit talks that go on too. but an e—mail from the tracers has has seen him locked indoors. perhaps it's coronavirus that's still in charge. government's can plan for resets, relaunches, restarts, but no minister can plan for real life. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. 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. 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 0lympics — 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. 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 general only a month ago, jumped in to save the young woman. 0ur 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. he 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 great 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 suddenly, she is breathing again. i'm sure someone would have jumped in, i had to get my shoes off andjump 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 iphone out. that's gone now. he 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. james landale, bbc news. good going, and always someone with a phone, of course. the four astronauts on board the dragon capsule are due to arrive at the international space station in the next couple of hours. they blasted off from florida on sunday night on one of elon musk‘s space x capsules. before the launch the astronauts were driven to the rocket in another of elon musk‘s products — a tesla. and eagle—eyed viewers noticed the registration plate of one of the cars was l—8—e—r—t—h. and if you're a fan of vanity plates or private registrations you'll know that spells out ‘later earth'. not surprisingly it's been getting a lot of attention on social media.

thank you so much for watching. 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 in 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 atlanta 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 coast. 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, the headlines: the world health organization has welcomed the announcement that a second company has developed a coronavirus vaccine, but the who is warning against complacency. the head of the agency has said he's extremely concerned by a surge in cases in europe and the americas. 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 co—ordinate 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.