this is bbc news. the headlines at 5pm... the cabinet is meeting to agree a tougher three—tiered system of local restrictions to come into force in england when the lockdown ends early next month. they'll also finalise a relaxation over christmas across the uk. pubs and restaurants in england could be allowed to stay open longer, with an easing of the 10pm curfew. as new infections continue to slow, scotland, wales and northern ireland are all being consulted on shared arrangements for the festive period. the nhs in england is to get an extra £3 billion, but the chancellor warns of tough times ahead for the economy, as the country deals with the consequences of the pandemic. the economy is experiencing

significant stress. we've seen that particularly in the labour market, with people'sjobs. we know that three quarters of a million people have tragically already lost theirjobs, with forecasts of more to come. a usjudge has dismissed president trump's latest challenge to his election defeat as a "frankenstein's monster" of a case. and... ..a moment she'll never forget — a baby elephant is rescued — afterfalling down a well in india . the prime minister will announce tomorrow what sort of covid—19 restrictions may be in place in england over christmas. borisjohnson is believed to be

meeting with his cabinet at the moment to discuss the details, including allowing limited household mixing over the festive period as well as a new tougher tiered system of restrictions, which will begin once england's month—long lockdown ends on 2nd december. talks also continue between the governments of the home nations to come to a common agreement for the whole of the uk over christmas. here's our political correspondent helen catt. it's confirmed. england's nationwide lockdown will end on the 2nd of december. the regulations expire on that date, and the prime minister will be making a statement tomorrow and setting out further plans, but we will be going back into a more localised approach, a tiered system, which i think is enormously welcome. the new tiers will be tougher than before and more areas will be in higher levels. the government says it's to keep the gains made in lockdown. but 70 of borisjohnson‘s own mps have already written to tell him they won't vote for the system unless he can show it will save more lives from covid than it

costs in other ways. maybe they want to re—evaluate the effects of some of the tiers, but they also need to look at the balance of the whole approach and see what the tiered approach means actually banning. and labour says it needs to see the detail. we really expect government needs to have learned from what has happened previously, all the problems we have had previously. we did not have a clear system of restrictions, there was a huge amount of ambiguity. one measure that caused particular controversy was the 10pm kick—out time for pubs and restaurants. that looks set to be reviewed, where they are allowed to reopen. when we introduced the curfew, that was something that was in common with many other countries and cities around the world. but, as we've learned more, there are opportunities for us to look and refine things, and that is one of the things on our list. also on the list, christmas. the government has promised special arrangements to allow us to see loved ones and is trying to agree them with scotland, wales and northern ireland.

the government may have its covid winter plan, but it could take more than seasonal goodwill to get it through. helen catt, bbc news. well, christmas restrictions for england are being discussed at the moment in the government's cabinet meeting, which the bbc understands is currently under way. earlier i spoke to our assistant political editor, vicki young, before cabinet met, and she told me what a source has told her we could expect. they are very keen across the four nations to make sure there is a joint approach for obvious reasons — that people will be meeting up with family and friends in all of those different countries. there have been meetings. there was one yesterday afternoon and they do seem to have made a lot of progress. so we do have this joint statement being put out here saying they do recognise the importance of allowing family and friends to see each other, and they talk about doing that in a careful and limited way, while recognising that this will not be a normalfestive period.

so they are talking about a limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days. my understanding, and this isjust one cabinet source at the moment and it has not been signed off by the cabinets in wales and scotland, but it seems to be that it could be three households being allowed to meet up over a number of days, maybe five days. now, there are all sorts of discussions around this, you can see the problems here. if you said, for example, from the 23rd to the 27th of december, you can meet up, does that mean that everyone is travelling on the 22nd or the 23rd, all getting onto trains, getting onto the roads? you can see the problems that might be there. all of this is pretty difficult, but they do very much want to try and do it as a joint approach and they do seem to be heading in that direction. and uncertainty about which tiers the country will be divided up into now, because the rates,

the r numbers, are very different, aren't they, around england in particular? yes, they are. and so, what is happening here, and of course this is for england, we know those national restrictions will, by law, come to an end on the 2nd of december. so the big question, and that is what the cabinet is meeting to discuss in the next half—hour, is what is going to replace that? and i think people should be not too optimistic that things are going to change hugely. there will be a difference, but may not be that different for some people. we know that scientists have been pretty unhappy, they do not feel the restrictions have been tight enough in some of the tiers, particularly tier i, which they feel has made no difference whatsoever. they have also called for a beefing up of restrictions in tier 3. that is what is going to be discussed now, what are they going to do about what will be open and won't be open. the chancellor today seemed to signal heavily that retail, nonessential retail,

would be open. the 10pm curfew for pubs would go. of course, if the pubs are not open, that is slightly irrelevant, isn't it? so there are also tough questions that are yet to be answered for businesses and people knowing exactly what they are going to be able to do and then where does, as you say, each region go in all of that? they will be told on thursday, and i think the emphasis being on "being told," there will not be negotiation with devolved administrations. but unease on the backbenches for the government as well. what is it called now? the covid recovery group? it used to be the northern something group, didn't it? but now they want to have a cost—benefit analysis of what these new tiered systems will be. does anyone have that information? if they do, they have not shared it. and that has been the problem. and this has been a criticism all along, that although minister has talked about weighing up the two things, of course, saving lives, but also the economy and actually, the other effects that these restrictions do have on people's lives. that has been what he has been weighing up all along. but conservative mps,

a lot of them here, 70, writing to the prime minister saying, "look, we will not sanction these restrictions unless you can prove that they actually work and that it is not outweighed by the downside." that could cause a problem for the prime minister because he has promised mps they will have a vote on the new arrangements after the 2nd of december. he could end up having to rely on labour votes if they go along with it. up until now, they have voted for tighter restrictions. a slight decrease in the number of people testing positive for coronavirus in the uk. the latest official figures show 18,662 people tested positive in the past 2a hours. that is down just over 1200 since yesterday. the statistics also record 398 people died after having tested positive for covid within 28 days. that is up from 341 yesterday. what is the likely impact of a return to the tiered system when

lockdown ends in in one in ten days' time? which areas of the country are likely to see themselves returning to the tightest levels of restrictions? here is dominic use. it's a busy sunday in hebden bridge in west yorkshire. those who can are making the most of the chance to get out and about. but even as the christmas decorations are given a final touch, for some businesses, the days to come are filled with uncertainty. we can't plan anything, we can't think ahead about, all right, maybe in two weeks' time, lockdown could be lifted, but there is also the chance it might not be. before this latest lockdown, the local council, calderdale, was poised to enter tier 3. but despite the recent restrictions, covid infection rates have stayed stubbornly high. i mean, look around you. you know, this is a market that, in a time of lockdown, people are desperate for connection, people want to be out meeting each other. and we have to find a balance, i guess. ultimately, we have got to look at the bigger picture. it's very easy to focus on christmas

as the big family thing, and it is, but one christmas might not have as big a deal for less christmases in the future for some members of our families. this map shows the areas with the highest rates of covid—19 infections. in england, parts of the northwest and northeast, east and west yorkshire, north lincolnshire and the east midlands could well find themselves back in tier 3. meanwhile, parts of west and central scotland are already in the country's highest level of restrictions until december the 11th. and northern ireland is facing another two weeks of lockdown from friday, having just reopened some services. the uk government is in talks with the administrations in scotland, wales and northern ireland to try to agree a unified approach to covid restrictions over christmas. but scientists warn any easing will have consequences. the virus doesn't care that it's christmas. it will keep spreading regardless. it's happened in canada, with canadian thanksgiving. we are going to see the same in the states with american thanksgiving. i think it's just telling people

we know how the virus transmits, and how much risk are you willing to take at this point in time with your family and your loved ones? it seems certain the tier restrictions in england will be toughened up. cabinet ministers will discuss the changes this afternoon, with an announcement due later this week. but many families will be determined to get together over christmas, whatever the government says. dominic hughes, bbc news. chancellor rishi sunak is set to announce an extra £3 billion of funding for the nhs next week, but has warned of tough times ahead for the economy. despite the boost to the health service due to be pledged in the spending review on wednesday, today the chancellor said the impact of coronavirus on the economy must eventually be paid for. as you can see from this graph, public sector debt currently stands at over £2 trillion. you can see a sharp rise in that debt in 2020, as the government borrowed money to deal with the current crisis. 0n the andrew marr show this

morning, the director of the institute for fiscal studies, pauljohnson, said that the level of borrowing this year was, as a fraction of national income, the highest ever outside of the two world wars. we have probably the biggest output in recorded history, it bounced back in the summer but it is now, the economy, 10% smaller than it was a year ago. we have borrowed an eye watering amount of money to do with the pandemic, have it we? at least £350 million this year, depending on the governance do next over the next few months, that would make it the most we have ever borrowed outside of the second and first world was. we saw the financial crisis but this is much bigger. does that mean we

must stop borrowing? we clearly have to reduce borrowing at some point, at the moment, i think the government is right that we need to support the economy, particularly whilst we are in lockdown and that may well mean more worrying this year. it will be more worrying over the next three or four years, far more worrying than we were expecting a year ago. but if we continue with spending and tax we have at the moment with a small economy, then not only will borrowing beehive, but that will be rising. that becomes unsustainable at some point. the chancellor told the andrew marr show that the high level of spending was justified. now is the right time to focus on responding to the crisis, and that means, yes, we will be borrowing quite frankly an enormous sum this year to help us do that, but that is the right thing to do for the long—term health of the economy and public finances, and we are doing that

to protect people's jobs, their livelihoods, support businesses, as we've talked about, but also provide the funds necessary to fight coronavirus, and that will be at the centre of the spending review next week. we'll be providing those funds, whether it's for testing, for vaccines, for the nhs, and that's the right thing to do now, and that is an approach that's been endorsed by the imf, the 0br, the bank of england and others. mr sunak is facing criticism following reports he might announce a pay freeze for millions of public sector workers at next week's spending review. shadow chancellor annelise dodds explained her opposition to the idea to andrew marr. what this measure would do is it would say to our firefighters, hospital porters, teaching assistants that they will have less spending power in the future. that means they won't be spending in our high streets, they won't be spending in our small businesses, and that's a very good way of knocking confidence out of our economy at a time when, as i said, the uk is an outlier. 0ur economic downturn has been deeper than that

in the rest of the g7. what needs to be done now by government is to build economic confidence up, not shoot it down. i spoke to our business correspondent katy austin a little earlier and asked her whether the chancellor had given any indication how all this borrowing was going to be paid for in the long term. what we have got here is these two sort of competing realities, if you like, where in the immediate term you have the chancellor saying, "look, we still need to be putting the money up to notjust fight coronavirus, but to support businesses, protectjobs through it. and also, we need to invest in the future, we need to be thinking about the money we will put towards these big infrastructure projects which will benefit the economy in the long—term, enable a bigger recovery," if you like, that the government likes to say, build back better. that is one of their slogans around this. there is that aim that we need to be spending on important things, but there is just this reality that

borrowing has got so high and the chancellor has talked about the need to make it more sustainable and make public finances more sustainable. how might he do that? that is the big question. he seems to be saying in interviews today we will not go to austerity this week, that is not how we will approach it in the immediate term. there has also been speculation about tax rises. the chancellor has been signalling it is not the time for that, at least not now. that is the big debate now, that there is going to have to be some sort of action to raise money. the question is how soon you can do that without it being counter—productive and preventing a recovery. interest rates incredibly low, as we all know, but is growth really the solution for this without tax rises? the issue... the situation around borrowing is that right now, it is basically quite cheap to borrow because those interest rates are very low. the assumption is that we can carry on doing that for now. things will change, of course, if interest rates started

going up, if it became more expensive to borrow. this is a really difficultjudgment about how long you keep doing that and exactly how and how fast or severe the option of raising revenue to make up for the deficit and to improve the debt situation, how you do that. leaders of the world's biggest economies are wrapping up the g20 virtual summit with a pledge to make coronavirus vaccines available to everyone and support the economies of debt—ridden poor countries. let's go to our chief international correspondent. a very different g20 this year being virtual. what is the communique agreed on at the end of this? i think, really, the communique agreed on at the end of this? ithink, really, the top item has been this way at the beginning and all the statements and conversations here is about tackling

the global pandemic at the pandemic that has forced even the world's most powerful leaders to meet online, staying at their own tables in their homes and offices where ever they live. but also the global pandemic, affecting countries around the world, the health and the wealth of countries. there has been a co nsta nt of countries. there has been a constant mantra, no one is safe until everyone is safe. the communications dresses their commitment of all of the g20 leaders —— the communique addresses their commitment. to diagnostics, to therapeutics. they say they have secured the immediate financing needed to close some of the gaps in the main initiatives that will ensure the vaccines are distributed. short on the detail of where the money will come from, but emmanuel macron, the french president, was clear. he said, the response to the coronavirus pandemic will be a test

of our g20 organisation. saudi arabia have been excited about hosting this. i wonder, because of the virtual nature, how much of the criticism of saudi arabia, on issues like women's rights, human rights, how much has been diluted by not having world physically there? how much has been diluted by not having world physically there ?m certainly did not erase the criticism. everything went online, in the same way this was an online summit. human rights groups staged what they described as an online counter summit, more videos, attem pts counter summit, more videos, atte m pts to counter summit, more videos, attempts to hijack the hashtag g20 saudi arabia. at the embassy international, there were photographs projected of the three most saudi dissidents who are

languishing behind bars on the walls of the louvre museum in paris. the activists, the human rights groups, the european parliament who called for a boycott, they tried to shine a harsh light on this summit, but of course, here in saudi arabia and other capitals around the world, the issue of human rights was not on the agenda. women's empowerment was, youth engagement, lots of other values that the world would subscribe to, but leaders of the g20 say questions like human rights are things we deal with bilaterally, quietly. none of them heeded the call is to boycott this major gathering, whether it is online or in—person. gathering, whether it is online or in-person. do any sense about any sense of anxiety, trepidation, about the change in leadership in the united states? we put this question

toa number of united states? we put this question to a number of senior saudi arabian officials, including the minister of foreign affairs and to minister of investment, and the response is the same. there is a 75—year—old strategic relationship between saudi arabia and the united states, and when we point out that a joe biden, during his election campaign, talked about the kingdom as a pariah, emphasising human rights, they shoot back and say donald trump said terrible things about us during the campaign and talked about making us pay for whatever we gained in the relationship. at least in public, they are taking a very confident line. they are the world's top oil exporters. they are a major strategic partner in this region. they know you the united states needs them in terms of counterterrorism, trying to end endless wars in places like yemen, so endless wars in places like yemen, so they are confidently for them is greater than the criticism of them. let's see how it works out in that

balance. thank you very much indeed. a search for two missing fishermen whose boat sank off the sussex coast has this afternoon been called off. a major rescue effort for the crew of thejoanna c — which is registered in brixham in devon — began near newhaven, yesterday. 0ne crew member was found clinging to a buoy and taken to hospital. despite an extensive search for two other crew members, the coastguard has confirmed the search efforts have now ended. eastbourne and newhaven‘s rnli lifeboats, two coastguard rescue helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft were all involved. 12 other vessels also responded to appeals for help. a spokesman for hm coastguard — which had been coordinating the rescue effort — said all their thoughts were with the families and friends of the two men who could not be found. six people are being treated in hospital in cardiff after a violent disturbance in the city centre last night. one person is in a serious condition

with head injuries and three of the injured are thought to have stab wounds. two people have been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder. the archbishop of canterbury will take a sabbatical next year, for "reflection, prayer, and spiritual renewal. " justin welby will begin his break in may 2021, and isn't expected back at work before september. lambeth palace said it was "normal practice" for archbishops to take time off from their official duties. cancer research uk says some patients with rare cancers are struggling to get access to experimental drugs even if their doctors want to try them — a situation not helped by coronavirus. the drugs are not formally licensed by regulators but can be offered to patients on the advice of cancer consultants. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, has been speaking to one 20—year—old patient. we have been trapped in this absolute horror film. when it all started, i was just 19 years old.

i'm now 20, and my whole life has been completely turned upside down. marsha has a rare form of cancer. at the start of the year, she went into hospital for extensive treatment, but then lockdown intervened. the hospital began shifting patients. she wasn't sure what would happen to her. literally, a life and death situation... she spoke to me in march from her hospital bed. i'm unsure if there will be enough nurses that will be able to look after me, if i'll even be able to get my treatment. it is all very scary. shall i try sitting down? the treatment did go ahead, funded by private health insurance. she had eight rounds of chemotherapy, and major surgery to remove a tumour. she's having ongoing care, but she needs a vital drug, pembrolizumab, to give the best hope, and the health insurer won't pay, because it hasn't been licensed or specifically cleared by the regulator nice for her cancer.

to me, this is purely about money, which essentially places my daughter's life on a scale with over £60,000. how can we possibly let people die when there is treatment available? specialists at imperial college healthcare trust who have been treating masha said they recommended the drug would be the most appropriate next line of treatment, but the health insurer, axa ppp healthcare, said, "there is little substantive peer—reviewed evidence to show it is safe and effective. we are continuing to cover treatment that is eligible." amidst all this uncertainty, how does marsha find the courage to keep going? if i'm not strong then... what other choice do i have, you know? you know, if you're not strong then do ijust... do i give up? do ijust curl up and just let all of this happen to me? i can't. i still have so much to live for.

# happy birthday to you #. marsha and herfamily have praised the staff who cared for her. she is now having the drug she needs. a charity has helped finance it and the family has run afundraising campaign. they want to draw attention to the plight of those cancer patients who, for whatever reason, miss out on life—changing treatment. hip, hip, hooray! thank you so much! hugh pym, bbc news. ethiopia's military has warned people in the capital city of the northern tigray region that tanks might open fire as it attempts to overthrow the regional leaders in charge there. it's the third week of open conflict between the central government and regional leaders that has forced thousands from their homes. prime minister abbey ahmed has also said that he won't even allow african union envoys to travel to the region to hold talks with local leaders there.

in a tweet, mr ahmed warned that he would do "all that is necessary to ensure stability" in tigray. ethiopia's military plans to use tanks to encircle the capital of the area. over the last two weeks, it has bulldozed roads and destroyed bridges in its advance on the city, which is home to around half a million people. hundreds of people have been killed and more than 30,000 refugees have fled to sudan since fighting began. the prime minister's senior advisor spoke to our correspondent and said that negotiations with tigray were not an option. we don't negotiate with criminals. when it comes to criminals, we bring them to justice, not to a negotiation table, and this has been the declared stated position of the government. i think our african brothers and sisters would play the most significant role if they put

pressure on the tplf to surrender. if the envoys are not able to travel to tigray to meet with the tplf, how will they be convinced to surrender? so, just going back to that point, can they travel, once they come to addis and meet with the prime minister, can they also go to tigray? tigray is currently under military occupation. we believe that the military operation will come to an end soon. if the tplf wants to put an end to the current conflict, all they have to do is surrender and, for that, nobody needs to go to mekelle to make that point clear to them. ajudge in pennsylvania has dismissed a lawsuit from the trump campaign that sought to invalidate millions of postal votes. judge matthew brann said the suit, which rested on allegations of voting irregularities, was "without merit". the move paves the way for pennsylvania to

certinyoe biden‘s win — he leads by more than 80,000 votes. finally, a baby elephant who strayed into a village in india has been rescued after falling down a well. the female calf had to be sedated and lifted out by a crane, which took more than 12 hours, and is now said to be healthy. the well had been covered with bushes and had no perimeter wall. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller hello. a pleasant end to the weekend, weather—wise, with most of us getting to see some sunshine at some stage of today. still had a few showers around. western scotland, northern ireland, north—west england.

they'll continue into the night and become few and far between by the end of the night. a thicker cloud we've seen towards the south coast of england, some of it will push further north again across more of southern england into parts of wales. capable of delivering the odd spot of rain. where we've got clear spells it will be cold enough for a patch of frost going into monday morning. a day that starts with a decent amount of sunshine. we'll keep sunny spells across eastern areas whereas in the west, the cloud increases. we'll see some outbreaks of rain in northern ireland, especially western scotland. looking very wet here for the afternoon. the wind picking up as well, some gusts in the western isles getting back to around 50,60 mph. we may see some showery rain pushing into parts of wales and west in england later today. milder in the west, still quite chilly to the east. quieter weather for the second half of the week ahead as high pressure builds in again. a chance for overnight frost. morning fog. most places dry. you are watching bbc news.