this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. as americans are asked to stay home for thanksgiving, joe biden says president trump is refusing to cooperate. it will be another incident where he will go down in history as being one of the this is bbc news. the headlines: most irresponsible presidents in american history. georgia's secretary of state announces a recount of ballots americans are being urged not confirmsjoe biden as winning to travel during next week's thanksgiving holiday — the country's most important family holiday. the number of patients hospitalized with covid—19 has the presidential vote. jumped nearly 50% in the last two weeks. president—electjoe biden has called for unity in what he described by by douglas stewart. as a national emergency. georgia's secretary of state brad raffensperger has announced a hand audit of ballots confirms mr biden as the winner of the —— shuggie bain by by douglas stuart. presidential election and douglas stuart's novel in the state.

about growing up in glasgow wins one of the world's top prizes forfiction. around 15,000 votes out hello and welcome. of a total of five million separated mr biden and president trump, prompting a recount as per state law. starting in the us. philippines president rodrigo it's a sign ofjust how serious duterte has declared a state of calamity for the island the coronavirus pandemic has of luzon after it was hit become, the us centers for disease control has urged by devastating typhoons americans not to travel during next week's thanksgiving goni and vamco. holiday, america's most important family holiday luzon is the country's most of the year. the number of patients hospitalised with covid—19 populous island and is home in the united states to the capital manila. has jumped nearly 50% more than 70 people have died in severe flooding. in the last two weeks. in california, the state's department of public health has a draft report about one ordered an overnight of the british government's curfew in most areas. most important members, here's the head of infectious home secretary priti patel, disease in the us, dr anthony fauci. we're not talking about shutting down the country. we're not talking about locking down. we're talking about intensifying the simple public health measures that we all talk about —

mask wearing, staving distance, avoiding congregate settings, doing things to the extent that we can outdoors versus indoors. if we do that, we'll be able to hold things off until the vaccine comes. that news conference followed one by the president—electjoe biden, in which he laid into president trump for blocking the transition, which he said would make fighting coronavirus more difficult. and there is no excuse not to share the data and let us begin to plan. because on day one, it's going to take us time if we don't have access to all this data, it's going to put us behind the eight ball by a matter of a month or more, and that's lives. how many would be lost as a consequence of that? i can't tell you. president—elect biden on coronavirus in america. across the atlantic, the world health organization is warning one person is dying every 17 seconds in europe from coronavirus. our science editor david shukman reports on the global second wave.

intensive care in italy is under pressure yet again as the second wave of coronavirus breaks across europe. medical staff have learned new ways of caring for covid patients, but they can't save them all. last week, europe registered over 29,000 new covid—i9 deaths. that is one person dying every 17 seconds in the european region from covid—i9. un, deux, et trois... as in many countries, doctors and nurses in switzerland are exhausted from the first wave, and they're now stretched again. the numbers being admitted to hospital with covid—i9 give a good sense of how serious things are. these lines show how in france, spain and belgium, there was the peak earlier this year, then a drop in the summer. next, the second wave and, more recently, signs of numbers

starting to fall again. for comparison, this is what has been happening in the uk. hospital admissions are still rising. and let's take a look at the united states — numbers there still climbing very fast. in maryland, huge lines for coronavirus testing and the grim certainty that among the people infected, some won't make it. in el paso in texas, mobile morgues have been brought in. the covid death toll across the nation is set to rise. unless there is a concerted effort by all the governors in all the states to get on top of this virus quickly, within the next 60 days, we're going to see widespread death, suffering, sadness. there are countries getting things right. in taiwan, the new normal means masks everywhere and rapid tracing of new infections. the total today, just eight —

the result of responding quickly. by moving very early on in the pandemic, it did help them probably continue to have a hold on the virus within their country. but i think what this virus is showing us is that you just can't become relaxed, you cannot become complacent. in south australia, the whole city of adelaide is in a six—day lockdown after a new cluster of cases. it's one of many different approaches while we wait for the vaccines. david shukman, bbc news. while the coronavirus pandemic intensifies, donald trump's personal lawyer has laid out wild, far—reaching conspiracy theories regarding alleged voter fraud in the 2020 election. during a 90—minute press conference, rudy giuliani went from quoting hollywood films to claiming a communist plot was behind the mass switching of votes tojoe biden. 0ur north america editor jon sopel reports.

this news conference was billed as the moment the trump legal team would present its evidence of electoral fraud — fraud so great that the result of the 2020 election should be overturned. instead, it was a repetition of some outlandish allegations from a number of court cases that have already been dropped. i know crimes. i can smell them. you don't have to smell this one — i can prove it to you 18 different ways. i can prove to you that he won pennsylvania by 300,000 votes. i can prove to you that he won michigan by probably 50,000 votes. part of the focus was on a vote—counting machine used in some states that, it was alleged, had been fixed to damage the president. the web of the conspiracy stretched wide. what we are really dealing with here — and uncovering more by the day — is the massive influence of communist money through venezuela, cuba and likely china in the interference with our elections here

in the united states. as questions became heated, rudy giuliani was clearly having a bad hair dye. a reporter demanded to know what evidence there was. "you don't understand the legal process if you're asking for evidence," one lawyer fired back. but even some fierce republican combatants are saying enough is enough. these accusations have been made and mr giuliani and miss powell — either on behalf of themselves or on behalf of the president's campaign — have an obligation to the american people now to either prove these allegations or withdraw them. you can't leave this kind of stuff out there in the aftermath of an election. and the president—elect isn't much impressed, either. he will go down in history as being one of the most irresponsible presidents in american history. it's — it's just out of the — not even within the norm at all. at the white house, they're getting ready

for the inauguration in january and donald trump is fighting by any means possible to ensure it's his. he's invited michigan republican legislators here tomorrow to try to persuade them not to certify that state's results. american democracy is being tested. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. georgia's secretary of state brad raffensperger has announced a hand audit of ballots has confirmed joe biden as the winner of the presidential election in georgia. he said there's "no doubt" the state will certify biden‘s victory on friday. i'm joined now by our north america correspondent peter bowes in los angeles. what else are we hearing out of georgia? well, this was a hand recount of the votes in georgia, an automatic recount because the margin between the two candidates was so small,

less tha n two candidates was so small, less than 0.5%. and as you have just said, this recount has really found that there is no change in the result. most cou nters change in the result. most counters reporting exactly the same results. some reporting a difference of maybe four or five votes. really just a handful of five votes. really just a ha ndful of votes. five votes. really just a handful of votes. the highest margin of error anywhere was very .73 of a percent so very little change. joe biden still wins the state by about 12,000 votes. peter, what impact do you think this will have now? well, it is going to have clearly no impact on the overall result because it was assumed previously he was the project winner of georgia. that joe biden, combined with the results from the other states, would become the next president so would become the next president so there is absolutely no change there. 0fficials so there is absolutely no change there. officials in georgia are saying that if president trump wants another recount, he is legally okayed to do that because that margin of error is so small and that

would mean that the re— scanning of all of the paper ballots, there is no indication at this stage the president trump and his team want to do that, so essentially we are back where we are, having confirmed this result in georgia, there are other recount pending the state of wisconsin, this was announced about 2k hours ago, the president has put in about $3 million to have the votes counted in two states. these are two of the most highly populated states in wisconsin, also predominantly democratic areas and again, we really don't expect the final result to change and it seems as if the tactic there is to perhaps unearth some examples of voter fraud that the president could use to at least, in part, prove his or support his argument that he has been coming up with, ever since the election, and that is a very strong argument at least as far as he is concerned that mike that the election was stolen but as i say there really is no evidence. no evidence and do you think there is any sign of

a concession from the white house, from president trump, is any closer or not? it does not look as if it is. we have heard from rudy giuliani, he has been reporting that, and in a very long news conference he and other lawyers claimed to have had examples, affidavits from people who claimed that they are aware of election fraud. it is one thing to hold a news conference, another put these claims through a court of law and so far, the cases that have come beforejudges have not been successful for president trump but looking at the president's twitter feed over the last few days, he does not at the moment seemed to be in any mood to concede. thank you for that, peter. also in georgia is a crucial senate rates, two senate seats up for grabs. what impact will this have? dr ralph reed is with us.

you are of course a former chair of georgia republican party. let's get to grips with this idea of the recount in georgia first of all. we have had it confirmed effectively for the second time now thatjoe biden w011 second time now thatjoe biden won the state of georgia. what impact do you think that declaration has now on this crucial senate race in the state ? crucial senate race in the state? well, i think it depends upon what plays out with the other legal challenges. but what we do know is whether or notjoe biden ultimately prevails and certainly, he is ahead in the states right now, and the trump legal team is attempting to reverse those gains. 0r attempting to reverse those gains. or if donald trump were to prevail, there is no question that if these two senate seats in georgia are of apocalyptic dimensions for both parties. because should joe biden prevail, losing both of

these would mean that he would not have control of the senate, mitch mcconnell would control the us senate, and that could have huge consequences for court appointments, for his executive appointments, and for legislation. doctor, there is absolutely no doubt the significance. i have never heard a senate race being described as apocalyptic! it is certainly significant. how do you view both candidates's chances now then injanuary? well, i think that we have to assume that this is basically a rerun of the general election, that we just had. you know, rerun of the general election, that wejust had. you know, the separation between president trump andjoe separation between president trump and joe biden is 13,000 votes a nd trump and joe biden is 13,000 votes and change out of 5 million. the votes separating

senator david perdue from his challengerjon 0ssoff is 86,000 out of 5 million. and the governor's race was decided in this state two years ago by only about 50,000 votes out of 4 million. so it is going to be very close. very competitive. hardfought. it will go all the way down to the wire and be a photo finish. a photo finish. are you prepared to call the race? no. my organisation faith and freedom coalition which is and freedom coalition which is a faith —based evangelical christian organisation in the united states, we will knock on $500,000, make over 1 united states, we will knock on $500,000, make over1 million phone calls —— 500,000 doors. and put voter guides in about 2000 churches in the state. we expect a huge turnout of conservative, socially conservative, socially conservative evangelical christians and the roman

catholic allies. i think that will make the difference on january five. we will have to wait and see. not long to wait, january, as you said, those two tenancies will be decided. thank you so much for coming on the programme and speaking to us. “— the programme and speaking to us. —— those two senate seat. dr ralph reed. stay with us on bbc news. shuggie bain. still to come: what a debut for scottish writer douglas stuart: his novel based on his life growing up in glasgow wins the booker prize. 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: americans are urged to stay at home for thanksgiving, joe biden lashes out at president trump for failing to cooperate over covid—19. georgia's secretary of state has announced that a recount of ballots by hand confirms joe biden as winning

the presidential vote. researchers in oxford, in southern england, who are working with the pharmaceutical company astrazeneca say trials have so far shown a promising immune response for people in their 60s and 70s. final data on how well it works should be ready by christmas. britain has ordered 100 million doses of this vaccine. here's our medical editor, fergus walsh. it is volunteers like ian from southampton who are crucial to vaccine trials. how are you feeling today? we were there injuly when he received the first of two doses as part of the oxford—astrazeneca trial, but we're only finding out today how the over—70s are responding to the jab. why did you sign up for the trial? i've become aware that the side effects of this disease are so much more than just a respiratory illness. you know, if i can

help, here i am. the phase two study involved 560 volunteers. 240 were aged 70 or over. they were given two injections a month apart. the results showed the covid vaccine produced a robust immune response across all ages, including the over 70s. older adults reported fewer side effects, which were, in any case, generally mild, and included sore arms, fatigue and headaches. as you get older, your immune system becomes less effective and that leaves you more vulnerable to infections and it usually means that you're also less able to respond to vaccines. so our results are really, really encouraging, because this means that we might be able to offer protection to the vulnerable age groups, the elderly, who are particularly susceptible to severe disease. vaccines work by training

the immune system to recognise and remember the enemy — in this case, coronavirus. the oxford vaccine stimulates the creation of specialist y—shaped proteins known as neutralising antibodies. in the event of future exposure, these should latch on to the coronavirus and prevent infection. it also stimulates the creation of t cells — another key part of the immune system. these should sweep up after the antibodies and destroy any cells that have become infected. but we don't know yet whether the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine actually protects against disease. those vital results from bigger trials are due soon. if it works, there could be three effective covid vaccines coming on stream before christmas. we need about 60—70% of the population to take up the vaccine.

so once the vaccines get approval, it's really important to get the message out that these vaccines are safe and we do need people to have the vaccine in order that we can start to relax all these social distancing measures in the new year. astrazeneca said tonight it has delivered 4 million vials of its vaccine for the uk. the government's ordered 100 million doses, which cost around £3 each. it's cheaper, easier to produce and store than the pfizer and moderna vaccines, but they're both more than 90% effective. the hope is the oxford—astrazeneca jab will work just as well. fergus walsh, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. the us secretary of state mike pompeo has become the first top us diplomat to pay official visits to both a jewish settlement in the occupied west bank and to the golan heights, seized by israel from syria in 1967. the trump administration has taken a staunchly pro—israel

position, both on settlements and onjerusalem in defiance of international law. negotiations on the future trading relations between britain and the european union have been suspended after a member of the eu team tested positive for coronavirus. the british team is returning to london and the talks, which are at a critical stage, will continue remotely. philippines president rodrigo duterte has declared a ‘state of calamity‘ for the entire island of luzon after it was hit by devastating typhoons gonni and vamco. luzon is the country's largest and most populous island which is home to the capital manila. it's been hit by severe flooding and more than 70 people have died. 0ur correspondent howard johnson is one of the first foreign reporters to visit the worst affected region of cagayan in the north of the island. this is what he witnessed. last week this was described,

the flooding, as a pacific 0cean the flooding, as a pacific ocean and yesterday i saw a sea of mud. the water line, i could see marks on trees, above head level and i could see plans com pletely level and i could see plans completely covered in mud, streets completely inundated with the stuff. i went to a marketplace that was completely ruined and people there telling me their livelihoods had been slashed by the storm, the most recent storm. not only that, two storms prior to that had overloaded a nearby dam and it was because of that that the dam opened its gates and flooded the area. what we are also seeing is lots of agricultural fields. also seeing is lots of agriculturalfields. this is an agriculturalfields. this is an agricultural region in the north and i saw a lot of fields that had been completely decimated. the department of agriculture put the cost of the economy at more than $250 million and think about that, given that there is a covid—19 lockdown that has put the

economy into recession. this is a poor region of the philippines so many people are suffering. it is the story of a young boy growing up in glasgow in the 1980s with an alcoholic mother. shuggie bain was written by the scottish writer douglas stuart — based on his own childhood. it is his debut novel and itsjust won him the uk's most prestigious literary prize — the booker. 0ur arts editor will gomperz has been speaking to him. covid restrictions meant the champagne wasn't flowing and the shortlisted authors weren't present, but the booker prize show still went on, and with a sense of occasion, as the winner was announced. shuggie bain, by douglas stuart. the glasgow—born author now lives in new york, where he's a successful fashion designer. douglas, congratulations. that looked like a genuine surprise? i was incredibly surprised. i think part of the reason that it took me so long to write the book is because i felt like an imposter.

i've felt that way since i was a young man, to be honest. books were never really seen as something that a boy from the east end of glasgow should be doing with his life. i wasn't sure that my voice would be welcomed within publishing circles. and so this isjust beyond my wildest expectations. douglas stuart's novel, shuggie bain, which took him a decade to write, is a compelling, moving, unflinching account of working—class life in 1980s glasgow. at its heart is a relationship between the alcohol—dependent agnes and her young son shuggie, who has his own issues to resolve. shuggie stood on the bed and put his arms on her shoulders. they swayed that way for a while. she kissed his nose, he kissed her nose. the chair ofjudges said the decision to give the award to shuggie bain was unanimous. if you like fine writing, read it. if you like to connect emotionally with the characters, read it. shuggie bain is a character that is unforgettable. the 2020 shortlist was the most diverse in the prize's 52—year history — a reflection, according to last

year'sjoint winner, of a publishing industry changing, albeit very slowly. we shouldn't be seduced into thinking that the publishing industry has revolutionised its practices simply because i won the booker, and because the list this year is very diverse, and because we know that there have been breakthroughs. because when you do look at the statistics, you realise there is still a very, very long way to go. shuggie bain will no doubt go on to enjoy the famous booker bounce, with a significant increase in sales. those readers will discover a troubled love story set in a bleak landscape, told with remarkable compassion. will gompertz, bbc news. a quick reminder of our top story. americans are being urged not to travel during the thanksgiving holiday next week, the most important family holiday in the country. the number of patients hospitalised with covid—19 has jumped

number of patients hospitalised with covid—19 hasjumped nearly 50% in the last two weeks. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. hello there. the short—lived cold snap, it's on its way out now, as we start to see mild air making inroads off the atlantic but laden with moisture. we'll see a lot more cloud and outbreaks of rain spreading eastwards across the country during the course of today. you can see the cold air still looms across the eastern side of the country to begin today, but gradually, that milder air will move in on a strengthening west—southwesterly breeze. so it starts off dry and chilly, maybe some early brightness in the east. very soon, the cloud thickens, with patchy rain spreading eastwards. mainly light and patchy, a few heavier bursts across scotland, perhaps even some brief wintriness briefly over the higher ground, before that mild air moves in. the winds also picking up, particularly out across the north west, gusts of a0 to 45 miles an hour into the evening. and here, it will be turning milder by the end of the day —

12, 13 degrees — but further east, still quite chilly under that cloud and rain. but as we head through the course of tonight, it does look like it'll turn milderfor all. it stays rather cloudy, but drier for england and wales. scotland, northern ireland, a new cold front will be sinking southwards, bringing outbreaks of rain. behind it, it will turn cooler with some blustery showers, but double figure values for most. so into the weekend, then, we've got that new cold front sinking southeastwards across the country gradually. behind it, the air will be turning cooler. and along that cold front, there will be a band of cloud and some patchy rain moving out of northern ireland and southern scotland and heading south into england and wales through the day. behind it, skies brighten up. we'll see sunny spells but some blustery showers for scotland and northern ireland. it'll be very windy here, particularly northern scotland, with widespread gales. so, turning a bit cooler later in the day across the north, but mild for england and wales. quite a bit of cloud around, 13—14 degrees. that cold front then moves southwards and ends up lingering across southern england on sunday, but behind it, you'll notice we're in that cooler air mass, so it could be cloudy

across southern england throughout the day. but for much of the country, actually bright on sunday with some good spells of sunshine. but it stays breezy in the north, with further blustery showers across northern and western scotland. winds lighter in the south. those temperatures lower than on saturday — eight to around ten or 11 degrees in the south. and then as we head on into next week, it looks like it turns milder again, with south—southwesterly winds moving in, but a low—pressure system will bring outbreaks of rain, 00:28:30,042 --> 2147483051:50:59,735 particularly to the north 2147483051:50:59,735 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 and the west of the country.