hello, i'm karin giannone, this is outside source. more good news on vaccines against the coronavirus. the latest data from pfizer shows its vaccine is even more effective than first thought, protecting 95% of over 65. in the united states, the number of people to have died from covid passes a quarter of a million. three suspects in a kenyan court after a bbc africa investigation exposes the trafficking of stolen babies. the government says more action will follow. no action will be spared in ensuring we protect our children. we

will have the latest on the us election for you and also coming up, new research on dinosaurs suggest they were thriving right up until they were thriving right up until the moment that meteorite wiped them out. let's begin with some good news... us pharmaceutical giant, pfizer, says latest data suggests its coronavirus vaccine is even more effective than we first thought. pfizer and biontech have released preliminary data which suggests the vaccine is 94% effective in people aged over 65. last week, the companies said the vaccine was more than 90% effective. and earlier this week, there was impressive data on another vaccine, made by us company moderna, suggesting nearly 95% protection. here's our medical editor fergus walsh.

the us new york times has created this vaccine tracker. they include vaccines russia and china have improved without waiting for the results of trials. scientists give the vaccine to thousands of people, compared to volu nteers thousands of people, compared to volunteers who receive a placebo instead. doctor kate broderickjoins us instead. doctor kate broderickjoins us from california. welcome, what you make of this flurry of good news? it is wonderful news for humankind and also fantastic news for vaccine development, for humankind. hopefully people can see there's a light at the end of the tunnel and for vaccine development

it says that as scientists we thought we could do this and we have proved vaccine will protect people. it is fabulous news. why is the news is so important about the pfizer vaccine, 94% in the over 65? is so important about the pfizer vaccine, 9496 in the over 65? that is crucial. as we know, the elderly population tend to be disproportionately affected by covid—19. unfortunately in general, the elderly population tend not to respond as well to vaccines, it is just a natural fact. so this data tells us that vaccines in general will be able to protect the people who really need to be protected. how far away from the news we have been getting over the past few days, having the vaccine, this good news, how will it make a difference? that is the big question. this is all

fantastic news and i hope it gives people hope that this pandemic will be over but let us not underplay the massive effort that it is going to ta ke massive effort that it is going to take to vaccinate almost 8 billion people on the planet. people should not have the expectation this will happen overnight but should feel confident that this vaccines look like they are working on that really is good news for everyone. you are in san diego in california, tells how bad the situation is there, we have been hearing about the cases in the united states. yes, unfortunately, i think it is a little bit of frustration which is understandable and some complacency which has led to a lot of people maybe not taking as much care as they should do. so we have really seen some very high levels of infection, actually higher than they we re

infection, actually higher than they were the first time around. that is really concerning. my one concern about this fantastic news about the vaccine is that people think, everything is solved now, we can get back to normal. unfortunately it is not as simple as that. thank you very much forjoining us from california. we appreciate your time. let's look at coronavirus in the us — the number of people who've died with the virus has now passed a quarter of a million and daily deaths continue to rise. this graph shows the past four weeks. the us is regularly recording more than 1000 deaths a day — and has the highest death toll in the world. well, you'd expect to hear from the president on statistics like that. but as our north america editor jon sopel points out: "this is the sixth tweet from the president on #election2020 in last hour. still not a word since that election on surge in #coronavirus cases, with icus at breaking point, shortage of beds, the us

about to cross 250k deaths. and on president's daily schedule today? nothing." the worst affected state is north dakota. roughly one in 1000 people have died from covid—i9 there. and masks have onlyjust been made mandatory. vox highlighting the two witht his tweet: "north dakota had the lowest mask—wearing rate in the country in october, according to survey data. the state also has the highest per capita rate of covid—i9 any state in the county, according to the cdc as of november six." and the federation of american scientists says north dakota has the highest, global mortality rate in the world, followed by the czech republic, then south dakota — which has still not made masks mandatory. anthony zurcher is in washington. with staggering figures like these in the united states, what is the president doing? he is not doing

much right now. that could be because, i was with him in the run—up to the election, he wanted people to stop talking about coronavirus after the election, it was all being drummed up to undermine him politically. if you contract the disease, you will get better from it like contract the disease, you will get betterfrom it like donald trump. now we have gone past the election, perhaps he feels he does not want to be called out for saying it was going to go away. the vice president has been continuing to meet with the coronavirus tax course but there is no public presence from this administration on a national level. —— task force. we are not hearing from the white house or the government public health community. there will be a new administration

in two months, what can president—elect biden do when he has a president who is refusing to hand over the keys? that is a challenge and something thatjoe biden mentioned in delaware at a press conference, the delays in allowing officials to communicate with public health officials could end up costing lives. trying to do the best they can, holding meetings with their own coronavirus task force announced by president—elect biden, it would help them to be in contact with government officials in order to preserve for distributing the vaccine which they will be in charge of in january. and vaccine which they will be in charge of injanuary. and also to get the figures and information that public health officials have which is not public about the spread of the virus and all the steps are taking right to suppress it. without this information they can only hazard guesses and talk to people outside

of government and make preparation as best as they can but the reality is they need that information to be fully prepared for the day whenjoe biden takes over. thank you very much. we will be back to you in a minute. at 21.30 bbc news will be joined by the top american infectious disease expert dr anthony fauci to discuss the us's latest coronavirus surge. we'll also be speaking to dr atul gawande from president—electjoe biden's virus task force and uk epidemiologist professor neil ferguson — as part of a thirty—minute focus on what the latest vaccine breakthroughs means for you, so make sure to tune in. to europe now. and we'll start in germany. thousands of people gathered in berlin to protest against the government's coronavirus measures. police used water cannons to break up the rally, because protesters were not observing the rules.

more than 100 people were arrested. germany's parliament is considering laws to allow the government to impose restrictions on social contact, rules on mask—wearing, and the ability to shut shops and stop sporting events. the bill passed the upper and lower houses of the german parliament and will be fast—track to the president who has now signed off on it. we can show you pictures from the parliament, members of the adp party used black barriers to refer to the death of european law. translation: we in the bundestag and government are legitimised by parliament. the protection of health is not absolute, it must be weighed against other fundamental rights. physical integrity is also written in the constitution. italy has registered more than 34,000 new daily cases. and 753 new deaths. italy has the second highest death toll in europe, behind the uk.

mark lowen is in rome. how bad is it? the numbers are not good at all. 753 deaths is the highest number of days since the 3rd of april so it is a very worrying numberfour of april so it is a very worrying number four italy. remembering of april so it is a very worrying numberfour italy. remembering italy was in full—blown lockdown back then. most of those deaths were people infected 15—20 days ago when the infection rate was exceptionally high in italy, there was a hugejump last month. now the infection rate is slowing down a bit. example, in the last week, cases rose by 3% but the last week, cases rose by 3% but the week before they were up by 25%. the week before that, up by 50%. you can see the curve is flattening a little bit which is comforting to the government. for a while back in

the government. for a while back in the summer, italy was doing so well and better than european neighbours in avoiding a second wave but this has swept across the country now, not just the has swept across the country now, notjust the north like the first time. yes, that is the difference between now and the first wave when the real focus of the infections was in lombardy in the north, one of the richest regions with one of the best health systems. now covid is everywhere in italy and particularly worrying around naples, the rate is very high there and also down in the toe of italy in calabria, the poorest region in italy. so hospitals there are really struggling to cope. we spoke to a gp today who said there was a scarcity of oxyg e n today who said there was a scarcity of oxygen tanks in campania. in calabria, three regional health commissioners were named by the government in the last ten days and

all three have resigned. it is not a good picture in the south. the government will be hoping that its tiered approach, red, orange and yellow zones, depending on the risk, will begin to payoff the next few weeks. the government has said we're reaching the peak of the second wave in the hopers those numbers will start falling dramatically in the next two weeks. thank you very much. the daily average in the uk is almost 23,000. 529 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, people who died within 28 days of a positive test which means on average 416 deaths were announced every day which takes the total number of

deaths in the uk to over 53,000. ministers in the uk are looking at relaxing coronavirus restrictions in december so families can celebrate christmas together. here is our health editor. what will be crucial is reducing transmission of the virus, getting the r number below one to show the virus is receding. the challenge for westminster is what sort of regime to have december the 2nd, once this lockdown ends, how you bring back a tiered system. what we learned today is this calculation used by experts on the sage committee, for everyone day of relaxation, you need five days of tougher restrictions. whether that would apply either side of christmas or after christmas is really not completely clear at this stage. what has become very clear today is that

scientific advisers are working very ha rd scientific advisers are working very hard to come up with some sort of package of measures to allow at least some mixing of families over the christmas season. we will finish coronavirus in australia. —— our coronavirus in australia. —— our coronavirus update. since the start of the pandemic, it's recorded just 907 deaths and fewer than 28,000 cases. most of those were in the state of victoria — and the capital melbourne went into a strict lockdown for more than 100 days. that ended in october. well now the neighbouring state, south australia, has ordered a six—day lockdown which authorities are calling a "circuit brea ker", after a cluster of cases there. under the new rules, only one person per household will be able to leave the home each day, and only for specific purposes. outdoor exercise will be prohibited. pubs, restaurants, cafes and most shops will close, as well as schools and universities. well this has been the response — long queues to get into supermarkets. shaimaa khalil is our correspondent in australia.

the approach is to go hard, to go fast, to try and lock this in as fast and accurately as they can. we now know there are 22 cases in that cluster. it started with hotel quarantine, one worker passed that virus to 13 members of the same family and now it is growing. so several days on, i think the authorities do not want to take chances. they are telling south australians, if we do this strictly enough, if we lock down the state for six days this will give it a chance to do contact tracing as fast and accurately as possible and also cut the road on more spread of the virus. the other thing they are concerned about, mentioned by the chief health officer, is that this particular strain of the virus is breeding very rapidly with an incubation period of 24 hours. people who are symptomatic showing very few symptoms. that is why they want to feel that they are on top of it and that is why the six—day lockdown

has come in. to the us now — where president donald trump has fired a top election official who contradicted his claims of voterfraud. chris krebs was the head of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency — known as cisa. he was fired by tweet — "the recent statement by chris krebs on the security of the 2020 election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud — including dead people voting, poll watchers not allowed into polling locations, "glitches" in the voting machines which changed..." "...votes from trump to biden, late voting, and many more. therefore, effective immediately, chris krebs has been terminated as director of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency." now, it's worth pointing out that president trump's claims about voter fraud in the election have been unsubstantiated and a number of his lawsuits have already been dismissed in court — we'll have an update on some of the legal cases shortly. but first, this is the statement

mr trump is referring to — it says the election was the "most secure in american history" — and "there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised." as the head of cisa, mr krebs has become the public face of the efforts to prevent interference in the election campaign. here he is in a video posted before the election, talking about the organisation's rumour control page. the website debunks various claims of election fraud — many of which have been amplified by the president himself. the last line of defence in election security is you, the american voter, so be prepared for efforts that call into question the legitimacy of the election. i am confident that american voters are going to decide the 2020 election. and you should be to. so get out there and vote with confidence and help us protect 2020. well mr krebs has himself taken to twitter — saying he was "honoured to serve."

he also referenced star wars — tagging two actors in the franchise — saying "in defending democracy, do or do not, there is no try. this is the way. and he's not the only official to be fored ——fired by mr trump after his defeat — the defence secretary mark esper was fired last week. and both those dismissals will leave gaps in the country's security structure. here's marcus fowler, a cyber security expert who has worked for the cia. this gap in this level of uncertainty in terms of the us response is embolding, it is emboldening foreign adversaries. they may assume a muted or at least inconsistent response from the broader us government that is allowing them to be more aggressive on the cyber front and take advantage of that vulnerability, that uncertainty and a bit of the chaos with something like this removal as well as the removal of the secretary of defence. here's anthony zurcher in washington.

even with his track record of terminating via twitter, this was quite a filing by donald trump. terminating via twitter, this was quite a filing by donald trumpm was, it was telegraphed in advance in fact. chris krebs did not believe he would be in hisjob a week ago. finally the hammer came down. donald trump resented the fact he was out there talking about how secure the election was. funnily enough, they we re election was. funnily enough, they were focusing on foreign threats to us elections, following the russian interference in the previous election but here it was the president himself who was calling into question the security of our election and talking about unfounded allegations that there was widespread fraud as a result of the election. it is a stunning development, given we are only a few months away from a new administration. usually you do not

see presidents firing, usually they are looking for newjobs when the new administration is coming in. are looking for newjobs when the new administration is coming inm there anyone else watching twitter with trepidation and winning their next four firing? there has been talk about the director of the fbi, the head of the cia also being on donald trump's potential list of people to be replaced at the last minute because he disagrees with their take on various foreign policy and intelligence issues but there have been no indications that any of thatis have been no indications that any of that is coming, at least at the beginning of the next few days. stay with us, we will come back to you in a few minutes. this all comes as election officials are carrying out a recount of votes in the state of georgia — with the results expected soon. these are pictures of the vote counting — it's being done by hand. just a fraction of one percent separates mr trump

and joe biden in the state, with mr biden ahead. a campaign aide for mr biden has told the reuters news agency that the results will be certified later today. and the top election official in the state — a republican — has criticised president trump's approach to the election, saying he lost votes by discouraging mail—in voting — here's a tweet from a local journalist who spoke to him. "the typically mild mannered georgia secretary of state comes out swinging in our interview — says donald trump cost himself the election by discouraging mail in votes: "he would have won by 10,000 votes he actually suppressed, depressed his own voting base". so let's take a look at some of the other states where legal challenges are ongoing — in pennsylvania, joe biden has been projected to win — but the trump campaign has mounted a number of legal challenges there. it's argued that republican poll watchers were kept too far away from where the votes were being counted, so they couldn't properly observe. there had been a six feet perimeter around vote counters because of covid concerns.

but the state supreme court yesterday ruled that election officials had acted properly. the trump campaign has also announced today it will be seeking a partial recount in the state of wisconsin — wherejoe biden is also projected to win by more than 20,000 votes. the recount is for the milwaukee and dane counties — both heavily democratic areas, wherejoe biden received more than 60% of the vote. but local election officials said it would be unlikely to change the projected result — a recount in the 2016 only saw a few hundred votes change. anthony zurcher is back with me from washington. the trump legal team were adamant week ago these court challenges were going to overturn the biden victory, what are they saying now they may have been confident a week ago and they still say they will ultimately prevail but the reality is the chance of any significant vote swing are so unlikely as to be minuscule.

only a few hundred votes changed in wisconsin a few years ago when they did a recount. in georgia, they found several thousand votes they forgot to tabulate which gave 800 votes to donald trump butjoe biden are still ahead by 14,000 votes. so there is not any area where vote tabulation will push it back towards donald trump. when does this have to be ramped up by, how long before the electoral college declared the official result? that deadline is december 14 when there are votes in state capitals. it then has to be ratified by the president. over the next few weeks, each state will certify their vote total which begins the process for having the electorate cast their ballot in

december. if there is any stunning revelation, but if not, there will be no possibility of a change to the result of the election and joe biden will be president injanuary. result of the election and joe biden will be president in january. thank you very much. let us bring you one line from the afp news agency regarding coronavirus and the united states, we just learned that new york state public schools articles from thursday because of the spread of the virus. —— new york city public schools. the governor has made this announcement because of the spread of the virus. new york was hit so very hard in the first wave of the coronavirus. let us remind you of a new story, good news that the coronavirus vaccine developed by pfizer appears to protect 94% of adults over the age

of 65, even more effective than previously thought. i will be back inafew previously thought. i will be back in a few minutes. good evening. we are in for a brief cold snap of weather through tonight and tomorrow. it is a change in one —— wind direction. we had this mild south atlantic front and we exchange that through the night for a north artic blast of air. quite a bit of rain through the day, eventually clearing in the east, heavy showers following behind, look at this turns to snow over hills and mountains in scotland. it could turn wintry over hills but also icy as well with temperatures dropping close to freezing, especially in the glens and valleys. for the south, temperatures hold up because of the strength of the wind. a golden night man last night, lots of showers

initially. this windows with us tomorrow but it is a brief cold snap because this ridge of high pressure is bringing more settled weather and behind that more atlantic weather fronts, cloudy skies on the way. strong winds through the night, gale force winds strongest in the east, lots of wintry showers in the morning over the hills in scotland. showers elsewhere, potentially heavy but easing in intensity as we go through the day to allow sunny skies to prevail but it will not help our temperatures. they measure from 4-10 c, temperatures. they measure from 4—10 c, well down on today and if you if add—on the effect of the wind especially in the morning, it will exacerbate this chill, especially in scotland, northern ireland and northern england. but it is brief by friday, the west and south—westerly

winds return, cloudy skies bringing rain. this weather front runs across on saturday. still a lot of cloud. the next weather front across thursday into friday there will be smarting of snow across the hills in scotland. it looks wet for many parts of the mainland and northern ireland, dryer later on but quite cloudy and cold with all that cloud around. that weather front is a weakening feature, heading south on saturday, clearing the site on sunday morning.

hello, i'm karin giannone, this is outside source. more good news, on vaccines against coronavirus. the latest data from pfizer shows its vaccine is even more effective than first thought, appearing to protect 94 percent of over—65s us regulators clear boeing's 737 max — to fly again, more than 18 months after they were grounded — for two deadly crashes. three suspects appear in a kenyan court — after a bbc africa eye investigation, exposes the trafficking of stolen babies. the government says more action, will follow. no effort to be spared ensuring that we protect our children and ensure

all of our children and their mothers their safety. also coming up in the programme... new research on dinosaurs suggests they were thriving — right up til the moment a meteorite wiped them out. the us regulator the federal aviation authority has given the boeing 737—max airliner permission to fly again, nearly two years after it was grounded, following two fatal crashes. the 737 max was boeing's best—selling plane, but every one in service — nearly 400 around the world — were suspended from service, after the incidents. 189 people died in the first crash, on indonesia's lion air, in october 2018. five months later, another 157 died in a second crash, involving ethiopian airlines. automated software caused both planes to nosedive

shortly after take—off. pauljair—o—gay lost his wife, three children and mother—in—law in the ethiopian airlines crash. the bbc spoke to him last year about his campaign to stop the planes flying again. we still have our lawyers fighting with boeing in court. and the faa are supporting boeing, they can't even produce the documents they have been asked to produce. so what are they hiding? so, they can come and stand before cameras and tell the world, "these planes are safe." who's going to believe them? not me. the decision to let the plane fly follows lengthy investigations which led to changes to its design, and to pilotn training. the head of the faa gave his own personal backing to the plane. based on all the activities that we have undertaken during the past 20 months, and my personal experience

of flying the aircraft i can tell you now that i am 100% comfortable with my family flying on it. boeing released a statement saying it would "never forget the lives lost in the two tragic accidents" — adding that the "lessons learnt as a result" had reshaped the company. the boss of its commercial airplanes arm said samira hussain is in new york. you've been listening to a briefing by american regulators. what have they been saying? that went on to reiterate that this is in fact the most scrutinised claim. for more than 20 months you have american regulators that have been looking over all of these changes have been made to the 737 max. it's not going to start flying immediately. the faa, the american regulators still need to reprove the plans. ——

approval. and putting additional pilot training before they can go backin pilot training before they can go back in the air. in terms of commercial operation we don't expect to see these planes flying until the end of the year or even right into the beginning of next year. it's been an absolutely dire time for boeing. can't recover from the reputational damage that this has done? ultimately, whether people go into these planes, whether the public trust these planes again will be up to the individual. and it comes be up to the individual. and it comes at a time when we are already seeing that people are not getting on planes and going anywhere these days because of the global pandemic. looks can be heard from a gentleman who lost his family and just how difficult it has been for him, and how he does not trust that plane. there were several levels of oversight that failed to point out the kinds of issues that exist with the kinds of issues that exist with the plane. so you might be hearing

from regulators and the playmakers that they are safe but ultimately it's going to be a very personal decision for every individual. you may remember how yesterday we told you about the bbc africa eye investigation which exposed a child trafficking syndicate in the capital nairobi. well today police in kenya made arrests. this was the scene inside court. three medical officers who work a public hospital in nairobi were arraigned, prosecutors say they are being investigated for possibly colluding with child traffickers. the allegation came to light in this bbc africa eye documentary — which uncovered a series of illegal networks in which children were stolen from homeless mothers and sold on the streets for as little as 450 us dollars. kenya's interior minister thanked the media for uncovering what was happening. iam happy i am happy that the members of the public and thank you sincerely.

those that volunteered in the commissions for us and i think the media. for exposing this. and the minister responsible for social protection said further action, would be taken all of the government agencies involved in children protection have been mobilised. they will get to the bottom of this issue. and no efforts will be spared in ensuring that we protect our children, and ensure all of our children and mothers are safe. our correspondent — emmanuel igunza — has the latest on the story. a search or general did issue a statement that they have managed to break a syndicate of child trafficking and then shortly afterwards there were three senior medical officers who were arrested and then arraigned in court. police are asking for 24 or more hours to detain them as they continue with the investigations because they say this is a serious issue, and they

are doing all they can to address the syndicate that has been going on in the country. we also had, from the interior minister, who says he is satisfied with how the police have dealt with these matters that came into the public following that pvc africa i investigation. and if you want to find out more about bbc africa eye's year—long special investigation(oov) you can go to the bbc website where the team have written an article, diving deeper into exactly what they found — that's at bbc dot com forward slash africa. alternately, you can watch the full hour—long documentary just go to youtube.com/bbcafrica — it's also on bbc world news, on saturday night at 0100 gmt. here in the uk — the national audit office has found that normal standards of transparency were set aside by government ministers at the start of the pandemic, as they scrambled to get supplies of personal protective equipment. and firms recommended by mps

and peers were given priority in contracts. lucy manning has this report. the £21 million man. spanish businessman gabriel anderson got that mentor in consulting fees in the uk ppe deal. he got paid for helping the centre of a miami jewellery company who had won the contracts. so it was ultimately british taxpayers money. from pendants to pmqs. does the prime minister think £20 million to a middle man was an acceptable use of taxpayers money? the prime minister answered from self isolation. we were facing a very difficult situation where across the world they were not adequate supplies of ppe. nobody had enough ppe. we shifted heaven and earth to get 32 billion items of ppe to this country. the public spending watchdog says it will investigate

these payments and today it criticised the government for the way it had bought ppe, saying it had not been open enough about the way decisions are made. how did companies get to supply hospitals with the ppe they desperately needed? it turns out there was a vip fast—track retentive companies are recommended by ministers, mps, peers or officials they were ten times more likely to get a government contract. bbc news revealed in august a small pest control company had problems with the masks they supplied. they were put on the vip fast—track by mistake. the spending watchdog also fight potential conflicts of interest. public first was paid more than half £1 million for focus groups. its founders previously worked for and advised michael gove. the company says it worked on a pay—as—you—go deal.

as the bbc also revealed, another company goatee £250 million contract and andrew mills who was helping was also a government trade adviser. and we reported the masks that were bought for £150 million could not biggest in the nhs. the devious political connections to get the contract? absolutely not. how can the man leading your bed was a government trade adviser? —— your bid. it is a coincidence. he managed to find out who to call. experience the company said they we re experience the company said they were not aware of any the ap fast—track route. we did not get a reply from our inquiries or offers for help so i was really surprised when i saw these contracts being awarded to companies that do not have the investment and supply chain, the expertise.

ppe was needed fast but did speed overtake buying the right equipment at a fair price? for many years — the remote british territory of south georgia was at the heart of the global whaling industry, which devastated stocks of these massive sea mammals. now it's a very different story. whales have returned — and the island is being seen as a ‘beacon of hope' for worldwide conservation. a major new piece of art, has just been commissioned to help tell the amazing story. our science correspondent victoria gill reports. wild, forbidding, beautiful. the rugged coastline of south georgia now teems with wildlife. but it has a dark past. for decades, this island was at the centre of the whaling industry, and telling that story, of a whaling station that became a haven,

was the motivation for one scottish artist's industrial scale design. i was kind of fortunate because i struck upon this idea quite early on. i always think that's a kind of lucky thing, and the idea just seemed to cascade. inspired by the rivets that held together whaling ships and the barnacles that cling to the whales themselves, michael visocchi's idea is called commensalis: the spirit tables of south georgia. like so many projects, this has been delayed by the pandemic, but the island's government and the south georgia heritage trust will begin working with mr visocchi on its development in 2021. it will be situated at grytviken, the largest whaling station on the island. the many tourists who visit the island every year on cruise ships will all come into grytviken. at the moment they see the remnants of a whaling station.

it's quite difficult for them to understand it. so, what we're going to do, hopefully with michael's commission, is can help them to interpret the past but also reflect the present of the island, which is a resurging ecosystem. once caught here in their thousands, humpbacks, and even rare blue whales, are now returning to south georgia's waters. so this site, the charity says, is an all too rare beacon of conservation. an ecosystem that's showing signs of real recovery. victoria gill, bbc news. stay with us on outside source — still to come... thailand's protestors continue their campaign against the government with another huge demonstration in bangkok.

millions of britons — young and old — are coping with record levels of loneliness and isolation during lockdown as we head into winter. elaine dunkley has been speaking to one charity in huddersfield that's helping bring people together. loneliness and isolation feels... it feels like being in a grave. it's cold, it's dark, and it's pointless. we are trying to find the next of kin of this gentleman that we are really concerned about at the moment. loneliness and isolation drives everything. at huddersfield train station is platform one. it's a charity on the front line of isolation, loneliness and crisis. i've never struggled before in my life, but before this time you could go and unload a bit of your baggage with a friend

oi’ whoever, 01’ you can go out and socialise with somebody and let that steam off, you can't at the moment. you're sat at home looking at the four walls, and you end up getting in that dark place. this 19505 carriage is used as a workshop, a place for men to talk and get mental health support. lockdown and regulations has stopped many coming here. before the pandemic, we were seeing up to 50 guys a day. they came in here and they wanted community and they wanted connection. when covid came, that stopped the connection, and so far this year we've had 15 guys on suicide watch. last year, we had one. platform one works with more than 500 men across yorkshire, but such is the demand, it has now opened its doors to women. traumatic experiences are going to creep up... sophie suffered childhood trauma. during this isolation, working from home has had more of an effect on me to want to self—harm. platform one offers hope,

but there is also fear. with christmas around the corner, loneliness will be felt more acutely because of the pandemic. elaine dunkley, bbc news in huddersfield. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is the latest data from pfizer shows its vaccine is even more effective than first thought, appearing to protect 94% of over—65s. mike pompeo is set to become the first us secretary of state to visit an israeli settlement on the west bank. the visit marks the one year anniverary of the white house's decision to break a 40 year precedent by declaring it does not consider israeli settlements on palestinian territory to be illegal. in the past few hours, mr pompeo took part in a joint address alongside israeli prime minister benjamin netrenyahu, and the bahraini foreign minister, who is visiting israel for the first time since the two states normalised relations, earlier this year. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, has the details

from jerusalem. this a visit by mike pompeo is expected to be his last as a us secretary of state. he goes over three days. the first part of it is quite regular. he is expected to come soon tojerusalem to meet the is really prime minister and also the bahraini foreign minister who's here on the first official visit by a delegation since the abraham accords, the normalisation deals between bahrain, israel and the united arab emirates that were signed at the white house. it will bea signed at the white house. it will be a big moment. but there was less clear is what happens on the second day of mike pompeo public visit. that's when it's really media by the reported he will go to visit his jewish settlement in the occupied west ba n k jewish settlement in the occupied west bank and they will also go to the is really occupied heights. a

big departure for us foreign policy. the parliament in thailand is voting on whether to accept changes to the constitution demanded by pro—democracy protesters. these were the scenes in bangkok earlier. demonstrators returned to the streets — they want reform of the monarchy and the resignation of the prime minister. these student—led protests have been going on sincejuly — but they were at their most violent on tuesday, when 40 people were injured in clashes with the police as protesters tried to reach the parliament building. this report is from our correspondent in bangkok, jonathan head: this is quite a contrast to the chaotic scenes that we saw outside parliament in the last 24—hour. this crowd of virtually ordinary folk have come to join a peaceful rally and are listening to speeches that are talking about what is going on in parliament. everyone is sitting very quietly here and you get the sense that this protest movement is slightly lacking in direction right now.

all of them had been backing one of seven proposals that have been discussed in parliament. this one they wanted was for sweeping reform of everything in the constitution, even including the status of the monarchy, something very sensitive which is a core demand of this movement. we now know that parliament, the mps and the appointed senators have completely rejected that notion. they have approved two other proposals to start the process of constitutional amendment. these are very modest steps. thailand has had lots of constitutions, that have not necessarily lead to better governance and under the current system being talked about in parliament, it could take years for a new constitution to come forward. very disappointing for everyone here but the reality is, for all the way in which they have expanded the debate in thailand about what should happen, ultimately change can only take place within thailand's institutions. that means within a parliament that all of these people say is compromised by being under a military draft a constitution

where you have these appointed senators and a military backed party that has unfair advantages and yet it is that parliament which must now decide what happens next to thailand and its chosen baby steps, not the dramatic step forward that everybody here was hoping for. the uk has announced a new green energy plan that will ban new vehicles powered by fossil fuels. the prime minister borisjohnson says it is part of his 10—point plan to create jobs and address climate change. across the world, it is the uk that is leading the world in tackling, i think, one of the greatest problems that this planet faces. one of the measures in what the prime minister calls a ‘green revolution' is that from 2030, the sale of new wholly diesel and petrol cars will be banned — a decade earlier than originally planned. some hybrid vehicles will be allowed. but providing enough charge points for electric cars will be a huge challenge,

as roger harrabin explains. charging your electric car is a major issue. putting one of these in some places is like fighting a unicorn. the government is spending £1.3 billion to expand the charging network, but that was just over 1% of what its spending on high—speed rail, hs two. the uk is not the only country planning to phase out cars powered by fossil fuels. globally — norway has the most ambitious target and hopes to phase out diesel engine vehicles from 2025. sweden — like the uk — has also promised to stop the sale of fossil—fuel powered cars within ten years. and china — which is the world's largest car market has announced several plans — but is yet to set a date. another of the uk's announcements today involves providing more green energy to the national gridthere will be more money for new nuclear power — including sixteen mini nuclear plantsand a target to replace 600,000 gas boilers a year by 2028, by installing low—energy heat pumps.

the ambition is to convert the uk to a zero carbon exonomy by 2050, which has been welcomed by environmentalists. i think ithink in i think in terms of making progress in resetting the agenda is an exciting day in terms of getting us back on the front foot. is that enough? no of course is not enough and we will be looking next week to the chancellor in terms of what's coming out in the spending review. to carry out these plans the uk government has committed £4 billion in new spending — as part of a broader £12bn package — and it says it hopes 250,000 new green jobs wil be created. but critics say the £4bn allocated is far too small for the scale of the challenge and many of the plans have already been announced. we are talking right now about is pocket change. much of the money that the government has committed is repackaged old commitments. my question to the government is how many times you going to repackage the same commitments and expect us

to notice? of the 12 billion that they are promising in the announcement only for billion of thatis announcement only for billion of that is new money, and that'sjust not enough. with more on what different countries are doing to reduce emissions, here's our chief environment correspondentjustin rowlatt. we are seeing large numbers of countries sign up to the idea that they are going to reduce emissions to zero, so any emissions they can't get rid of it will find ways to capture and store and keep out of the atmosphere. so we have seen, i mean, already europe, china to get the general assembly six or seven weeks ago said that it would have net zero, and carbon neutral, he called it, ambition by 2060. joe biden has ambitious carbon cutting plans which include a net zero ambition. the un now claims 125 countries have signed up to net zero plans for 2050 or thereabouts. now, what that means is we've got more than two thirds of world gdp, more than two thirds of emissions covered by countries that do say they want to bear down on cutting carbon. i mean, that is the transformation, if you like, in the calculus of fighting climate change.

whether they will deliver on those promises, you know, is yet to be seen. what would have happend to dinosaurs if they hadn't been wiped out by a meteorite hitting earth 66 million years ago? well the popular thinking has been that they may have been dying out in any case. but new research here in the uk suggests they could have continued to dominate the planet but for that devastating moment. andy moore has the story. an asteroid the size of the isle of wight hurtling towards the earth at 20 times the speed of a bullet. this is what scientists believe caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. but there's disagreement about what was happening before that. some scientists say dinosaurs were already in decline, and the asteroid was the final nail in their coffin. but this new study says the dinosaurs were thriving — and if it wasn't for the asteroid, the earth might be a very different place.

a lot of studies in the past have had the idea that the dinosaurs would have died out anyway if the meteorite hadn't have hit the earth. but what our study has shown is that that wasn't the case and that, had the meteorite not hit the earth, the dinosaurs probably would have done really well, which could have led to a world where the mammals didn't evolve as much as they have, and it could have led to a world in which we don't exist. the scientists in this latest study examined various dinosaur family trees to come to their conclusion. they used statistical modelling to fill in gaps in the fossil record. dinosaurs ruled the earth for tens of millions of years, and if it hadn't been for a chance encounter with some interplanetary debris, they might have carried on ruling the earth for millions more. andy moore, bbc news. and our main story, the latest data from pfizer shows that its vaccine is even more effective than

previously thought. thanks for watching outside source, i will be back at the same time tomorrow. good evening. we are in for a brief cold or snap of whether through tonight and tomorrow. it's a change in wind direction. we've had this milder atlantic south—westerly where exchanging that through the night for a much colder northerly blast of arctic air. with our south—westerly we've had quite a bit of rain through the day, that will drag its heels eventually clearing southern and eastern areas, heavy showers falling behind look how it turns to snow over the hills and mountains of scotla nd snow over the hills and mountains of scotland is that colder air digs in. it welds are notjust scotland is that colder air digs in. it welds are not just a scotland is that colder air digs in. it welds are notjust a bit scotland is that colder air digs in. it welds are not just a bit wintry of the hills here but a little icy as well with temperatures dropping close to freezing. particularly in the glens and the valleys. for the south temperatures holding up because the strength of the wind but a colder net than last night and lots showers initially. and that

northerly wind is for the day tomorrow but a brief colder snap because although we are bringing a ridge of high pressure and more su btle ridge of high pressure and more subtle weather alternates to look at the next atlantic set of weather fronts to bring in some cloudier skies once again. still those strong winds through the night, the gale force transferring the strongest easter area through tomorrow morning with lots of wintry showers still coming down over the hills of scotland. showers elsewhere and potentially so heavy with hail and thunder but tending to ease in intensity and infrequency as we go through the day to allow sunnier skies to prevailfor through the day to allow sunnier skies to prevail for most. through the day to allow sunnier skies to prevailfor most. but through the day to allow sunnier skies to prevail for most. but it won't help our temperatures. the church on thermometer measuring from four to 10 celsius were well down on those of today and if you enter the effect of the wind in particular the morning will exacerbate the chill. really feeling it across scotland in particular. parts of northern ireland and northern england. as i say it's a real cold snap because by the time we get to friday we are you to see our weather fronts of the atla ntic to see our weather fronts of the atlantic again to the west or southwest winds, cloudier skies

bringing some this with a friend working its way south through saturday and sunday and not producing that much rain but still a lot of cloud. and i was our next weather front concert through thursday night into friday will see a smattering of snow initially of the hills north of scotland because the hills north of scotland because the cold air still with us. looks fairly wet for many parts of maine in uk and northern ireland drawing up in uk and northern ireland drawing up the later on but staying probably quite cloudy and feeling damp and cold because it got all that cloud around. that weather front is a weakening feature as a head southwards on saturday clearing the southwards on saturday clearing the south eventually on sunday. the warnings are online.

this is bbc news, i'm kasia madera. the headlines at 8pm... looking for some festive cheer — but there are warnings that a few days of family gatherings may mean many more days of tighter restrictions on either side of christmas. coming into christmas, we need to be very careful about the number of contacts that we have to reduce transmission before christmas, and get our cases as low as possible. pfizer says its new covid vaccine is almost 95% effective for people over the age of 65. digging down deep to transform the way we heat our homes — the plans to replace 600,000 gas boilers a year with electric heat pumps. borisjohnson says he is "very proud" of the way the government sourced supplies of ppe — despite a report saying politically connected firms were given their own