welcome to bbc news. i'm ben bland. our top stories: a report into possible war crimes by australia's special forces in afghanistan outlines ‘unlawful killings‘. the australian military isssues an apology and admits discipline broke down. credible information regarding deeply disturbing allegations of unlawful killings by some. the race for a workable coronavirus vaccine moves a step closer. pfizer says its vaccine is almost 95% effective. officials in the us state of georgia say they'll complete their presidential vote recount just a few hours from now. president trump still shows no sign of conceding.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. there's credible evidence that australian special forces unlawfully killed at least 39 civilians, farmers and prisoners in afghanistan. that's the conclusion of a long—awaited investigation by the australian defence force into misconduct by its forces. the inquiry investigated 57 incidents and heard from hundreds of witnesses. it uncovered, quote, a "shameful record" of a "warrior culture" by some soldiers, according to the chief general angus campbell. he apologised to the afghan people. to the people of afghanistan, on behalf of the australian defence force, i sincerely and unreservedly apologise for any wrongdoing by australian soldiers. i've spoken directly with my afghan counterpart, general zia,

to convey this message. general campbell also outlined a culture of toxic competitiveness within the special air service regiment. the report says that none of the alleged unlawful killings were described as being in the heat of battle. these findings allege the most serious breaches of military conduct and professional values. the killing... the unlawful killing of civilians and prisoners is never acceptable. it's my duty and that of my fellow chiefs to set things right. it's alleged that some patrols took the law into their own hands. rules were broken, stories concocted, lies told and prisoners killed.

it's a very long process after what we've just heard, the disturbing findings from the long—awaited report that took four years to put together. we heard from the prime minister last week that a special investigator will now be appointed within the home affairs department to take those findings, collate evidence and bring them to the public prosecutor. this is going to take a very long time. as he said, there are many is it -- as he said, there are many is it —— incidents as we heard from general angus campbell, many incidents to investigate further on that process is going to be highly complicated but, you know, it's really interesting to watch general campbell today because after his address, he was asked whether he expected the report to be that bad and he said that

despite knowing that something was wrong there, he said, "i didn't expect to hear what i heard about some of the practices in some of the alleged unlawful killings by members of the special forces in afghanistan. 50 what changes can we expect to see as a result of this? a couple of things. one is, this is something general campbell spoke about within his address, a number of times, he said this isa a number of times, he said this is a result of a culture, a result of the toxic competitiveness but also a result of the culture that encouraged this kind of unlawful killing and he said there is going to be an oversight panel that is going to be outside the army's chain of command that is going to look at what needs to change within these special forces and within these special forces and within these special forces and within the practices. it was interesting that he said this was going to happen —— this had been happening now for a few yea rs been happening now for a few years but there were some

pockets of resistance in the army regarding change but we know the prosecutions would ta ke know the prosecutions would take place, the special investigator is going to start doing that but really, i think, the focus today is going to be about this highly, highly in co mforta ble about this highly, highly in comfortable reading, the redacted report that has been released, especially the fact that it wasn't just the violation, it was the nature of the violation, the fact they we re the violation, the fact they were quite deliberate, the fact that a number of the special forces personnel almost acted with an airof forces personnel almost acted with an air of impunity. one thing that is going to stand out for many people here is one, the fact that none of the alleged perpetrators, none of the alleged circumstances where the alleged circumstances where the perpetrators didn't know exactly what they were doing, so exactly what they were doing, so it was deliberate but also general campbell mentioned what he described as a shameful practice, in some of these alleged instances, junior soldiers were coerced to kill prisoners as an initiation, a

practice called blooding, so not only are those business allegedly killed but actually that some of those soldiers we re that some of those soldiers were forced into killing them and he said, he described this practice as not only unlawful but appalling and shameful so i think very, very uncomfortable reading, notjust for the military but also the government. both are going to come together to find out exact what needs to happen, and the steps, and he said many will be kept updated about what needs to be done in terms of changes within the culture of the military. to the latest on covid—19 now. the number of deaths in the us has passed a quarter of a million. with cases still rising, the biggest school system in the country, in new york city, has now scrapped all in—person teaching. but there's some good news about the coronavirus vaccine

being developed by pfizer and biontech. final trials show it is 95 per cent effective in people over the age of 65. what's more, it has passed safety checks, making it ready for approval by authorities around the world. our medical editor fergus walsh reports. yet more good news on vaccines. last week, pfizer were the first to show that there vaccine is effective against covid. the vaccine is more than 94% effective among the over—65s and showed the same consistent protection among volunteers from different ethnicities. there were 170 cases of covid—19 across more than 40,000 volunteers. 162 of those were among the volunteers who got dummy or placebo jabs, and only eight in the vaccinated group. there were no serious safety concerns, but a small minority of volu nteers suffered significant headaches orfatigue. i think this is good news and also very encouraging

that the vaccine seems to show equal protection in elderly people, because that was a question we couldn't answer after the first announcements last week. our immune system usually declines as we age, so it's highly significant that the vaccine protects the elderly, who are most at risk from covid. the pfizer vaccine has be stored at —70 degrees, which creates some logistical problems, but it remains viable for a few days in a normalfridge. it's thought regulators could approve the vaccine by early december. the uk has bought a0 million doses, but most of these will arrive next year. nonetheless, it seems increasingly likely that some covid immunisation will begin before christmas. fergus walsh, bbc news. in the past two weeks, pfizer and biontech — and moderna — have announced hugely successful trials of their covid—19 vaccines. others are in development, while a third major trial — from belgian companyjanssen — is going on in the uk. according to the who's vaccine

tracker: there are 155 vaccines around the world in pre—clinical trials. some of the leading contenders in the race for a vaccine are pfizer and biontech in germany, the university of oxford and astrazeneca vaccine in the uk. and in the united states, moderna and novavax. the oxford university, astrazeneca vaccine had a successful phase 1 and 2 testing period. phase 3 testing is being carried out on participants in countries including the uk, braziland india. sinovac, the chinese pharmaceutical firm, says its vaccine is nearly ready and will be rolled—out early next year. sinovac is one of the four chinese vaccines in last—stage human trials, (gfx russia vladimir putin announced that the country has approved —— vaccines in last—stage human trials, russia vladimir putin announced that the country has approved

the world's first coronavirus vaccine from the gamaleya research institute. the drug has not been tested in large numbers — and not by the most rigorous of methods. i'm joined now by dr peter hotez, a vaccine specialist and and dean of the national school of tropical medicine at baylor college of medicin in texas. that is certainly the hope, because clearly we are having a lot of trouble enforcing social distancing of masks in some countries, we have not had that culture because of an absence of federal leadership. so that requires you to become more dependent on biotechnology solutions like vaccines. i think we're going to have a pretty robust ecosystem. all of these vaccines pretty much work these vaccines pretty much work the same way including ours. we are not scaling up production of our covid vaccine in india, bioe in hyderabad, and we can do this because in some ways it's an old school problem in

virology, all about using a strong immune response to the spiked protein of the virus, meaning the virus binds to our tissues with the spiked protein, producing high levels of virus neutralising antibody and t cell health and you will get a vaccine and there are multiple ways to do that so we are seeing the first probably to coming out through pfizer and the moderna, also the oxford astrazeneca vaccine will follow but there is an ecosystem in place, you might not see 155 but you might see a dozen making it through licence share and you need that because ultimately we want to vaccinate the entire planet, and get everybody vaccinated. there is no—one organisational company that has that capacity and each vaccine has different strengths and weaknesses. so with the moderna and pfizer vaccine, it looks very exciting in terms of

protection but it's sort of unwieldy in some ways in terms of that freezer requirement which makes it tough vaccinating in places such as indonesia. it's doable. i'm glad you touch on that point about the global nature of the need to vaccinate as many in the world is possible against this covid virus because the pandemic is highlighted inequalities. i just wonder pandemic is highlighted inequalities. ijust wonder how much of a danger there is that even the vaccine could highlight inequalities in that wealthier developed nations can afford to take a chance and preorder millions and millions of doses, poorer countries simply don't have the resources to do that. that is the risk, and that may be where we are moving towards, although a number of us are trying to not let that happen. particularly the covax sharing system that is pioneered by the world

health alliance and sepi, which is set up so we don't have the 2—tiered systems of vaccines for north america, europe and japan and the more traditional vaccines for the rest of the world. even though some of the older traditional vaccines might end up working well, and the more we can equitably distribute these vaccines for the better, so that is the aspirational goal. we will see. we certainly didn't want to wait that is why we are moving forward with our vaccine. really good to get your expertise, thank you so much. stay with us on bbc, still to come: president trump still refuses to concede the election but the recount in georgia is unlikely to go in his favour. benazir bhutto has claimed victory in pakistan's general election, and she's asked pakistan's president to name her as prime minister. jackson's been released

on bail of $3 million after turning himself into police in santa barbara. it was the biggest demonstration so far of the fast—growing european anti—nuclear movement. the south african government has announced that it's opening the country's remaining whites—only beaches to people of all races. this will lead to a black majority government in this country and the destruction of the white civilisation. part of the centuries—old windsor castle, one of the queen's residences, has been consumed by fire for much of the day. 150 firemen have been battling the blaze, which has caused millions of pounds worth of damage. this is bbc news, the latest headlines:

a report into possible war crimes by australia's special forces in afghanistan outlines dozens of unlawful killings. the australian military issues an apology and admits discipline broke down. ben saul is an international law professor from the university of sydney, where he joins us today. what did you make of the investigation and the conclusion we heard within the last couple of hours? the findings of investigation are shocking and sickening and i think this gal of the problem surprised everybody. 39 people murdered, including prisoners, children with their throats being slipped, farmers, prisoners, and it's happened over a period of many years. and the only positive news is that the enquiry has been very thorough, interviewing hundreds of people over four years and

has really revealed deep—seated behaviour in the military. what steps do you think need to be taken to steps do you think need to be ta ken to restore steps do you think need to be taken to restore the military after this? the good news is that the australian government and military are taking this really seriously. already, australia has apologised to the government of afghanistan and pledged to provide full compensation to victims and theirfamilies, which compensation to victims and their families, which is something pretty rare in these conflicts in which western powers of been involved in in recent yea rs. powers of been involved in in recent years. importa ntly, there have been referrals to there have been referrals to the australian federal police to launch possible war crimes prosecutions. that would take a period of years and in addition, sweeping cultural reforms to training being proposed for the armed forces.

that is a difficult bit, isn't it? the cultural shift that is needed. that cannot happen overnight. it takes a long time to achieve. i mean, some of the practices that our correspondent was outlining in the report with some soldiers we re the report with some soldiers were just pressured into committing some of these acts, how does the military achieve that kind of culture change? report talks about a really problematic warrior culture where certain senior soldiers we re where certain senior soldiers were hero worshipped and actions could not be questioned. and anyone who tried to report on the misbehaviour was physically intimidated and this is one of

the reasons why the report found more senior commanders actually had no idea what was going on in the ranks below them. that is a massive problem obviously because military, discipline and structure belies the fact that they exercise control over their subordinates and that has been severely lacking. and there are reports that senior commanders are not at fault for what was going on beneath them so they are likely to face charges does are unlikely to face charges. many of the soldiers involved are no longer in the armed forces but some of them are, so i think that turnover of personnel will make a difference and also the seriousness with which the military chain of command is taking this kind of reform, hopefully, should make a difference. britain, the united states, canada, australia and new zealand have accused china of breaching its international obligations in hong kong with a concerted campaign to silence its critics. the countries' foreign ministers say beijing has

undermined the rights of people in hong kong to elect their representatives. most opposition politicians resigned from the territory's legislative council last week. beijing gave the city government the power to eject lawmakers deemed to be disloyal. let's discuss this more with the australian senator eric abetz. he is a conservative senator for tasmania and the chair of the senate foreign affairs, defence and trade committee. senator, just outline your feelings on this about the way that these opposition voices have now been silenced as the five eyes intelligence community puts in hong kong? the five eye countries around the world have shown themselves around the world to be fighters forfreedom, democracy, for the rule of law and as a result, when the uk, departed from hong

kong, guaranteed this and the sinai british grey agreement which was sanctioned by the united nations has been clearly breached by beijing and the disregard for democracy is something that the five eyes need to stand up for and i congratulate the five ministers involved for their exceptionally strong statement, not only to beijing back to the rest of the world that five eyes m ea ns rest of the world that five eyes means democracy and will call out the breaches. is clamped down on opposition within hong kong, opposition voices, it can hardly be said to have come out of the blue. i mean, the increasing tightness of control that beijing has been exerting over recent months and years on hong kong was clear. do you think the international community failed to act quickly enough?” to act quickly enough? i was just speaking earlier today with hong kong watch, who are

seeking the release of the 12 pro—democracy activists currently imprisoned and i would have to agree with the assertion that the freedom loving countries of the world have been too slow to react to the beijing regime, the dictatorship, which is clamping down, be it on pro—democracy in hong kong, uyghurs, fallon gong, christians, the list goes on and on, the human rights abuses are there to be seen and should have been called out an early hour, and we can reflect on that. the good news is it is being called out, as it should be. i appreciate you joining being called out, as it should be. i appreciate youjoining us to speak about the hong kong situation be given you chair the trade defence and committee, what is your reaction to the war crimes report that has emerged within the last couple of hours and in

the last couple of hours and in the context of this, beijing may well point to australia and say well, who are you to point the finger over human rights abuses as you just refer to?l number of issues there. first of all, the findings are heinous and as a result they have been referred to the appropriate authorities to be com pletely appropriate authorities to be completely fair, believing in the rule of law, we must acknowledge at this stage they are only allegations and let's see where the appropriate justice system takes us in relation to that. in relation to the chinese regime, the dictatorship, let's be very clear, the dictatorship actually is the one that drives the concentration camp of the week goes, and it is clamping down on pro—democracy. the allegations that it happened in afghanistan did not have the

information of the australian chain of command, of the australian defence force, if we are to accept the findings. senator, thank you for your time. it's now two weeks since the us presidential election and donald trump is still not conceding tojoe biden. he's still making unsubstantiated claims of ‘massive' voter fraud. in one of his tweets today, the president claimed that in detroit there were more votes than people and that he won the state of michigan. twitter added a warning, pointing out that claims of election fraud are disputed. the trump campaign has also put up $3 million for a partial recount in two heavily democratic areas of wisconsin. meanwhile, the time limit for georgia to carry out a manual recount of votes, which was triggered by the narrow margin of mr biden‘s victory, expires in just a few hours. cheering. veterans for trump and america! it's not over! the whole world's watching us! right now, they're watching us to see if we have a democracy! in the trump—supporting heartlands, they're keeping the faith and almost daily taking their passion for their president to the streets in sheer disbelief he could possibly have lost. there's more people for donald trump, and you can see that through donald trump's rallies

that he's had. the amount of people that showed to those versus joe biden rallies, it's a huge difference. thousands and thousands of people difference. in the rural south, it's sometimes hard even to imagine a world outside where donald trump is loathed. what you hear is that he fought for real americans, the people just like them. well, there are parts of this country that felt forgotten before donald trump, feel that he represented them and fear that they'll be forgotten again once he's gone, which is part of the reason they're clinging on to the hope that somehow he'll stay in office. and so everywhere you go, they'll repeat the conspiracy theories about how the election was stolen. i think the majority of it's a lie, because ballots were brought in unnoticed in the back rooms, through the backdoors, people that have died years ago are still voting. # in america # in the divided states of...

# ..america.# through his music, jim white has chronicled the culture of the south and of his country, one he now says is riddled with the kind of division no president can cure. he says discussion about civil war is commonplace. it's not a possibility, it's happening. it's happening. it is a virtual civil war. people are turning against each other, you know, brother against brother. i talk to people that go to family reunions, they can't talk to half of their family. they can't talk to them. they stopped going to family reunions because they could not bear to be around such hateful rhetoric as what trump puts forward. horns honk. beyond the smiles, many told us they'd never accept this election was anything but rigged.

the history of the south tells us when people feel, rightly or wrongly, they're being silenced, they will fight back. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in the florida panhandle. time now for the weather. hello there. much colder today than it has been of late thanks to an arctic blast, but this arctic blast is going to be quite brief because milder air looms in the atlantic and will arrive on friday for many areas. so today, cold. it will be windy as well to start with, and we'll have a mixture of sunshine and showers. the pressure chart shows why it's windy — northerly winds, lots of isobars across northern and eastern areas, hence the gales — but this ridge of high pressure will continue to nudge in through the course of the day, so the winds become lighter and will also kill off many of the showers, too. behind me there is that milder air with the frontal system that will start to make inroads on friday. so, today starts cold, windy, gales across northern and eastern areas, wintry

showers continuing across scotland. these will tend to ease down. and we'll have some showers across england and wales, these becoming confined towards the south east. many places seeing a lot of sunshine into the afternoon. the cloud will start to thicken up, though, across northern ireland ahead of this next frontal system. a chilly day to come, much colder than of late. temperatures are 4—10 degrees, but when you factor in the wind, certainly across northern and eastern areas, it's going to feel much colder than those values suggest, perhaps even subzero across central and eastern scotland. now, as we head on into tonight, it turns cold across central and eastern areas with a touch of frost. rain will start to push in to western areas. could see a few showers moving in ahead of it. and these will be wintry with some snow over the scottish hills as it bumps into the cold air. temperatures slowly recovering out west with the rain, but it stays quite chilly further east. but that cold air gets pushed out of the way as we head through friday, as the milder west to south—westerly winds move in off the atlantic. so it's a chilly start across northern and eastern areas, dry, too, but the rain out west will slowly

spill its way eastwards. could see some transient snow over the scottish mountains as it moves its way eastwards. behind it, it turns a little bit drier for northern ireland, for wales and the south west of england by the end of the day. and here, at the end of the day, it'll be much milder — 12—13 degrees. still fairly chilly across the east — 9—11 degrees. now, as we head on into the weekend, it stays pretty u nsettled. low pressure to the north of the uk, higher pressure to the south. across the north, it's going to be windy with gales on saturday across scotland with some showers, but lighter winds for england and wales, perhaps one or two showers on sunday. i think it's going to be mild for many of us on saturday. turns colder, though, across the north of the uk on sunday.

this is bbc news, the headlines: a report into possible war crimes by australia's special forces in afghanistan outlines dozens of unlawful killings. the australian military has isssued an apology and admits that discipline broke down amidst a "warrior culture". the inquiry investigated 57 incidents and heard from hundreds of witnesses. new data from pfizer and biontech says their coronavirus vaccine is 94% effective in the over—65s, and works well in people of all ethnicities. the pharmaceutical firms want to get approval to use the jab as early as mid—december. the us death—toll from covid—19 has passed 250,000. the are more than 11 million cases in the country. it comes as new york city says its temporarily closing public schools again from thursday over fears of a second wave of the virus. now on bbc news,

wednesday in parliament.