this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. donald trump accepts that a formal transition of power can begin sojoe biden can take office — but he says he'll continue to contest the election result. people arriving in england from abroad will soon be able to cut the quarantine period from m days to five, if they pay for a private covid test. having consulted very extensively with medical experts, we believe the five days plus a very reliable test is sufficient time now to release people and the test capacity is there to do this now. talks between the four nations continue as they try and agree a uk wide plan for christmas. and if you'd like to get in touch about any of our stories, you can

contact us on @annita—mcveigh, #bbcyourquestions. an appeal is launched for help finding two missing notebooks written by charles darwin, which include his famous tree of life sketch. and coming up this hour... china launches a mission to try to bring back rock samples from the moon for the first time in more than a0 years. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. donald trump has accepted that a formal transition of power can begin for president—electjoe biden to take office.

in a tweet he said federal agencies should "do what needs to be done" for the handover to begin. but he's still not conceded that he lost the election. cheering and applause. a step closer to the white house. the green light for president—elect joe biden formally to begin the transition process with the trump administration. three weeks after the election, the general services administration, the government body that helps with the handover, finally acknowledged that mr biden was the apparent winner. president trump tweeted that he had approved his administration's co—operation with the handover, but without conceding the election. "our case strongly continues, we will keep up the good fight, and i believe we will prevail." the president added that in the best interest of the country, he was recommending that his team does what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols. it opens the door to a fund of more

than $6 million forjoe biden to set up the new administration. the president—elect will get access to top security briefings, office space and key government officials. the biden team welcomed the move. "today's decision is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing the nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track." the turning point may have been a decision in the state of michigan to certify the state's election result. mr biden won the state by more than 150,000 votes, a major blow to donald trump, who's disputed the count. there are a lot of people in the united states, it's staggering, who will believe in all of this fake information that they're getting through mostly social media. it's a really big problem, that problem is not going to be solved overnight. but the one big issue for us and for the entire world, donald trump will no longer be in office.

the country is still divided over the election result, but there is a growing acceptance amongst republicans band mr trump is on his way out. the president has given the go—ahead to the gsa to start that transition and with that comes a sense... a message to the american people. so while he is right to continue to fight for every valid and legally cast vote, it is also a move in the right direction to see that the decisions that are coming out are leaning toward a president biden. with few legal avenues remaining for the president to challenge the election, joe biden is building a team of veteran washington figures. he is expected to nominate janet yellen as the next treasury secretary — if confirmed by the senate, the former head of america's central bank will be the first woman in thejob. the former secretary of statejohn kerry is returning

to government with a seat on the national security council and a full—time role fighting climate change. the message — safe hands and experience first. the biden administration, now with an official government website, is taking shape. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. more on the us presidency injust more on the us presidency in just a moment, but breaking news, we're hearing from the high court that harry dunn's parents have lost their high court battle against the foreign office over whether their son's alleged killer had diplomatic immunity, a pelova harry dunn's pa rents immunity, a pelova harry dunn's parents with avenues from the high court this morning. —— a blow for harry dunn's parents. 19—year—old harry dunn's parents. 19—year—old harry was killed when his motorbike and the car were involved in collision outside an raf base in

august last year. the car was being driven on the wrong side of the road by american anne sacoolas, whose husband worked at the raf base. she left the country after the united states said she was entitled to diplomatic immunity. her parents and their lawyers are arguing that the foreign & commonwealth office wrongly decided that she had diplomatic immunity, but in the last few minutes the high court has ruled that this was not the case and so harry dunn's parents have lost a high court battle against the foreign office over whether the sun's alleged killer had diplomatic immunity. we will return to more on that story very soon. but picking up on the story that donald trump has accepted that a formal transition of power can take place, joe biden is putting together

his team to form his administration where he takes office injanuary. let's have a look at some of the people he has picked. we already know that antony blinken is set to become secretary of state. he will be joined byjake sullivan as national security advisor, one of the youngest people to serve in that role in decades. veteran diplomat linda thomas—greenfield will be america's ambassador to the united nations. deputy national security advisor in the 0bama administration avril haines is set to be director of national intelligence, and as we saw, former secretary of statejohn kerry becomes special presidential envoy on climate change. let's speak to leslie vinjamuri, she's the director of the us and americas programme at chatham house. good to have you with us. donald trump accepting that a formal transition of power can begin, what are your thoughts on the timing of this now that it has happened and it is the closest we will get to seeing him admit defeat? i think it

probably is, and him unlocking the key, the gsa unlocking the key so that vice president biden, president—elect biden and his team can have access and begin their practical process of transition is absolutely vital, they have delayed it for a very long time and as we know, in the context of a pandemic where coordination and sound strategy is absolutely critical, it is good to see that happen. nonetheless we saw the president tweeted overnight that the election is still fraudulent hunters not held in his eyes to be legitimate, but the tide has turned and the new administration is taking shape, as we have seen, and it is moving forward. this is absolutely vital. we know that you check —— the distressing patent president trump's tweets and his messaging is that lots of americans do not have confidence in the legitimacy of the actual process despite the fact that numerous observers, domestic and

international, has confirmed it has been an incredibly legitimate process , been an incredibly legitimate process, very sound and secure and the lead by president—elect biden is approaching 6 million votes, it is a very secure election which is now moving forward. let's talk about that, joe biden promised that if he won he would put together a really diverse cabinet, a way diverse team of people, so for example we have the first latina and emigrant secretary of home security, we have the first women in a number of roles including the defence secretary, so what do you make of the appointment so what do you make of the appointment so far? these are very capable people, deeply experienced, we see a lot of diversity across the range, we see several women, as you mentioned, the former deputy

homeland security adviser who will now be leading the department, he has deep experience. it is not only diversity but very deep experience in washington, in leadership roles. they are a team of individuals who worked together very closely, they know each other, they know congress, many of them have worked in congress and her background previously and many have worked for vice president biden when he was vice president previously, so they know him, they know how to work with him, the administration will come together very quickly, it will coalesce, it will know what job very quickly, it will coalesce, it will know whatjob needs to be done, and they own american‘s foreign and domestic policy, janet yellen will be in the treasury department, she was previously cherished the site, so they know america's domestic and foreign policy, they own the

su ccesses foreign policy, they own the successes and their mistakes and they acknowledge the changes that have taken place at the american electorate, american‘s democracy underworld in the last four years, soi underworld in the last four years, so i think despite what some people would say as a team that will try to revert back to the policies of 0bama's years, i think it will be quite a lot different, there will certainly be better to take america back into the world but not without a really firm understanding of the challenges. that is interesting, because i wanted to explore with you to what extent this team of people can reach out and build the bridges we have talked about throughout this campaign? john is another experienced politician and climate envoy, there is a certain synchronicity to that, lots of people were aghast at donald trump putting the us out of the paris climate agreement and john kerry was the man who signed that for the us in 2016? absolutely, and went donald trump announced he was taking the

united states out of paris, john kerry, no longer in an official position, immediately took it on board as one of his leading initiatives, to make sure he worked with state governors, university president, mayors to make sure that america could enable and meet those commitments made under paris, so he has worked on this throughout the trump administration and his personal capacity and has been deeply committed. it is a very important team coming together, but if you listen to antony blinken he spoke at chatham has 15 months ago, it is very clear that stakeholders in labour across united states need to be engaged in every stage of the process , to be engaged in every stage of the process, at the negotiating table, pa rt process, at the negotiating table, part of the decision—making process so when agreements are made, certainly not very contentious issues like global trade, people have helped to form the appellation.

they are very committed to europe, tony pinkham said we need to go back to our base, sure it up, that begins with our closest european partners, especially the uk —— antony blinken said. soi especially the uk —— antony blinken said. so i think we will see a return to europe, return to multilateralism but eight feet sense of the devastation in the current tragedy of the pandemic and the need to be negotiate the terms of america's global engagement, because democracy needs to work for people at home. thank you very much, leslie vinjamuri from chatham house. let's return to that breaking news. harry dunn's parents have lost their high court battle against the foreign office over whether their son's alleged killer had diplomatic immunity. harry died last august when his motorbike and a car that was being driven on the wrong side of the road by anne sacoolas were in collision.

0ur correspondent damien, joins us with the update from the courts. at the minute we just have to basic outline, their legal challenge has failed, desperately disappointing for harry dunn's family. they were challenging the uk government, the foreign office, they were saying, had acted unlawfully in agreeing that anne sacoolas had diplomatic immunity, and the basis for that, they were saying, was that she was not herself working at this raf air base, she was the wife of an american worker the and therefore predation should not have extended to her. the court has said she did have diplomatic immunity was entitled to his leave, but at the same time the family argued in court that the foreign office had kept the

local police in the dark anyway and obstructed the police investigation, they had shown text messages sent from the foreign office to members of the us embassy here saying that anne sacoolas should be able to get on the next flight out. she left the country, leaving this jurisdiction, going back to the united states, meaning she is beyond the reach of uk law. the court has said there was no obstruction of any chested. the problem the family now have is that she is back in the us, attempts to extradite her have been refused by the us which says the cases closed and this challenge too has been turned down. do they have any other legal avenues left open to them? they do, one question would be whether they seek to try to pursue this further, and they have been veryjagged in the legal cases. they tried at one point to stop pursuing

a case against the police which they dropped earlier in the saying it became clear the local police were not at fault —— start pursuing a case against the police. this is trying to get a case dismissed in the us courts where they are trying to pursue damages. thank you for providing us with an update on the breaking story. people arriving in england from abroad will be soon able to reduce their quarantine period by more than half. the transport secretary, grant shapps, has announced that people will be able to pay for a coronavirus test, to be taken five days after arrival. from the 15th of december, travellers will have to self—isolate forjust five days then take a test, and then end quarantine if the test comes back negative. but you can't use an nhs test — you'll have to use an approved private provider. that could cost up to £120 per person. and the foreign office advice against travellling to most places remains. so big holiday companies are unlikely to travel to those places, and it won't be straightforward getting

comprehensive insurance if you do decide to travel there. and this is only for people travelling to england. the strict 1a day rules remain in the rest of the uk, although authorities in northern ireland and scotland told us they are looking into a similar system, but nothing is confirmed yet. this latest announcement follows the plans set out by borisjohnson to replace england's lockdown on december 2nd. a toughened three—tier system will be introduced — with details on which areas will be placed in which tier expected on thursday. shops, gyms and hairdressers will be allowed to reopen across the country. here's more from our political correspondent iain watson. the three—tier system of regional restrictions are set to be reintroduced in england on december the 2nd. the good news is shops, gyms, swimming pools and hair salons will all reopen, but some rules will be tougher than before in tier 3, with pubs and restaurants closed except for takeaways and deliveries.

in tier 2, pubs can only open if they serve substantial meals. and the really bad news? i should warn you now that many more places will be in higher tiers than, alas, was previously the case. so it won't be all over by christmas. but the still self—isolating prime minister is hopeful he can reach agreement very soon with the devolved administrations across the uk, to ease up a little over the festive season. but don't get the party hats out just yet. this is not the moment to let the virus rip for the sake of christmas parties. tis the season to be jolly, but tis also the season to be jolly careful. especially with elderly relatives. and the medical advice? rules are for christmas, too. if people do all those things very seriously, we will have much less impact from christmas, whilst people still are being able to enjoy it, than if people choose to actually take a very much less public spirited approach to it,

and go wild over that period. so, christmas might not be quite so festive this year. but with vaccines and rapid testing, normal life may well begin to be resurrected by easter. the prime minister said he could see an escape route from the pandemic, but it feels like there's still a long road ahead. iain watson, bbc news. meanwhile, from the 15th december, as we've been hearing, people arriving in england from abroad who are subject to quarantine rules will be able to significantly reduce their self—isolation period, if they pay for a covid test after five days and get a negative result. the transport secretary grant shapps has been explaining the new policy. it is for anybody who travels, we don't specify which group of people, and we've changed the rules because at the moment it requires 1a days of self—isolation, quarantine. this will reduce it to five days, and having consulted very

extensively with medical experts, we believe five days plus a very reliable test is sufficient time now to be able to release people and the test capacity is there to do this now. let's go straight to westminster and talk to our political correspondent helen catt. hello again, helen. the four nations of the uk are getting together, continuing talks to try to come up with a coordinated plan around any measures or restrictions for the christmas period, and grant shapps was also asked about how he might manage or how travel congestion might be managed around any travel window. what more can you tell it about those talks and how they are going? ministers from the four nations are talking about these plans, grant shapps said earlier he thought they were very close to reaching an agreement and they had agreed that in principle they wanted

to lift restrictions over christmas he waited wee to allow families to get together, they also agreed they wa nted get together, they also agreed they wanted them to be the same across northern ireland, scotland, wales and england, just to make life easierfor us all. what and england, just to make life easier for us all. what they have been having to figure out between themselves is at the moment quite different rules on each part of the uk on the you can meet and how you can beat them, so they were starting from different places, trying to agree common rules, including discussion on what even constitutes a household, but mainly they have been talking about how long should any period of lesser allowances or restrictions lustful, and also how do you deal with the impact on public transport if you have lots of people potentially moving around in a short time window. transport secretary for england grant shapps suggested we would have to play our part. i am forever in contact with

my equivalents in the four nations, theissue my equivalents in the four nations, the issue of having to tie it up, lots of us have relatives in different parts of the uk and it would make no sense if you had different data on which you could travel in different parts of the uk, we want to resolve that and i am sure it will be. we will be appealing people to look very carefully at the transport route they take and make the choice by travelling actual. it is the reality of the situation, we are trying to do everything with the network to make it as it is possible but it is worth being, that it is a busy time to travel all the time, it is a problem. helen, as we await the announcement for england on thursday about which areas will be going into which tiers and which levels of restriction will be placed on them, there is a natural anxiety in some places that they might be going into the highest tier? we will find that on thursday which tier each area is

going into and the government will decide, but their recent concern, particularly around cities in the north of england who women hire tiers before going into lockdown that they will be back in the highest tier once again. boris johnson has said more areas will be in higher tiers than they were, he has been very clear, the expectation is very few areas will be back in the lowest level of tier 1, which quite a lot of the south of england was still in before we went into lockdown, but the highest tier is causing the most anxiety. mayor of the liverpool city region steve rotheram spoke to us earlier, liverpool is one of the areas where the government says that restrictions have really worked in combination with mass testing, they had seen that as a success in driving down infection rates, so he hopes that will be taken into account when the government is deciding on it tier. we certainly hope that we won't be going back into the highest tier.

the progress that we've made since we were put into tier 3 has been remarkable. we had infection rates of 750 per 100,000 in two of our areas, and today we are down to about 180 across the city region per100,000, so huge progress. thanks to everybody who's taken part in the mass testing, and we hope that all of that hard work will pay off when these tiers are announced. downing street is being very clear that it believes tier 3 is not the same as lockdown, lots of things will be open like hairdressers and chins, nonessential shops will be open, it is not the same as being in lockdown —— hairdressers and gyms will be open. we look at the breakdown of which areas are going into which tiers on thursday and we might get the final decision on christmas, although that may come before se four nations agree in time. thank you, helen catt.

sweden — which until now had avoided imposing a coronavirus national lockdown — has been forced to introduce stricter measures following a surge in cases and deaths. a ban on public events of more than eight people is now in force. 0ur correspondent in stockholm, maddy savage told me more about the new measures a little earlier. there is definitely a tougher tone here. there's been a lot of criticism as you reflected on, of sweden keeping more of society open. than most european countries. despite having higher numbers of cases in proportion to its population size. that was at the start of the pandemic. over the summer here, august time, cases dropped a lot. we were seeing a couple of hundred a day and there was a lot of praise for sweden's strategy but now we are seeing several thousand cases a day and that has led the government to seek tougher action. there is a rule of eight for public events, so things like gigs, concerts, theatre performances, demonstrations, that has come in very recently, in the last few hours. from friday, there was also an alcohol ban after 10pm.

definitely more legal restrictions in contrast to the focus on voluntary guidelines which has basically been the focus for the government and the swedish public health agency since the start of the crisis. maggie savage. the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown have been a source of anxiety for many of us, but charities say people with obsessive compulsive disorder have been particularly badly 0cd action has told the bbc that it's seen an unprecedented rise in those needing support for the condition in the last three months. divya talwar reports. i have to clean this door handle until my 0cd tells me to stop, otherwise i'm going to die. jothunior needs to clean this door at least 100 times, otherwise he thinks he'll catch coronavirus. he has obsessive compulsive disorder, or 0cd, around a fear of contamination from germs. he has managed his 0cd for years,

but, since the pandemic, it has taken over his life. now, the reason why i use the prongs is because i can't touch the food myself with my hands and i can't have it touch the sides, otherwise i'll throw it away. my 0cd is saying take this one. so if i go for this one, i'm feeling very sick and very scared that i'm going to die if i touch it. john has been keeping these video diaries to show how 0cd affects him in almost everything he does. now i'm going to wash my hands. 0cd is an anxiety disorder where people likejohn have unwanted, obsessive and intrusive thoughts or images that can drive them to carry out compulsive behaviours again and again, to try and get rid of the anxiety caused by the thoughts. i am going to do it four times. it is like a constant conflict in your mind between the intrusive thoughts and yourself. it is alarming, it is distressing, it's numbing. it makes me anxious

every single day. i have panic attacks over it. it's just horrible. i hate it. i really, really do hate it. and the coronavirus has made it worse. you know, my germ contamination, if i touch something, if i don't touch something, if i don't do something in a certain way i'll die. and i'm frightened of it. since the start of this pandemic, many people have found dealing with their 0cd much harder. charities have told us they have seen a big increase in people turning to them for help. 0cd action's helpline supported more than 1500 people between may tojuly of this year. that is more than double the number over the same period last year. we have seen an unprecedented demand for all of our services, with over 100% increase in demand across the board. and we think, largely, that is due to lockdown and the impact that has had on people in terms of isolation and the fears that lockdown

is causing in terms of uncertainty. tuna. i have to use a spoon to get it out, because i can't tip it in, because if it hits the sides... 0cd is treatable, but proper help on the nhs isn't always available immediately. john's on medication and has tried therapy. he's found helping others with 0cd by sharing his own challenges online allows him to manage his condition better. divya talwar, bbc news. we can now speak to guillaume boiron who has experienced obsessive compulsive disorder and now tries to help others with the condition, and leigh wallbank, chief executive of the charity 0cd action. settled, increasing amounts of plant, feeling chilly. thank you both very much forjoining us today. how long have you been

living with 0cd and what form does it take for you? hello. 0cd has been present for quite a few years. it's way, way better and i have been fighting it a lot and you have those unwanted, intrusive thoughts and then you over check a lot and you are always in that state of, 0k, something bad is going to happen, something bad is going to happen, something wrong is going to happen, that's why it is quite energy consuming. reading a little bit about your background and story before this interview, it's interesting to see actually being indoors more has helped you. it sounds as though it has helped you deal with 0cd to an extent, but the flip of that is it's not really forcing you to confront the condition if you don't have to go out so i don't know how you weigh that up. do you think overall being inside has been betterfor you? that up. do you think overall being inside has been better for you?m has not at all. you know, when you

have 0cd, there are a lot of triggers around so it can be either in your place outside and so for a lot of people it is mainly outside, triggers from the outside and being forced to be indoors forces people to be in there is a place which is not necessarily a good thing. it's better to get out there and confront the things that might trigger these thoughts in order to ultimately ove rco m e thoughts in order to ultimately overcome the condition? that is what you are saying. exactly, 100%, as long as you go gradually, step—by—step. yes, that is the best way, in my opinion, to get better. leigh, great to have you with us today and thank you for contributing today and thank you for contributing to the report. there has been a huge surge in the number of people contacting the chardy, how have people been dealing with 0cd during

the pandemic? people's stories are very wide—ranging and everyone that contacts us has an individual story but one of the things that has hugely contributed to people's stories during the pandemic has been the fact that as with all of us, coronavirus plays on those very human fears that we all have of the unknown, the lack of control and those real human fears we have of safety and for people with 0cd, that is much, much heightened and i'm sure guillaume would agree with that and there's that, one huge factor, and there's that, one huge factor, and there's that, one huge factor, and the other huge factor is as was said in the report, it has been difficult for people to access treatment, particularly during the pandemic. that has been more difficult and i think also, some of those coping factors that many of us have,in those coping factors that many of us have, in our day—to—day lives, had been really difficult so connection with people and you know, that

increased isolation that i think we have all found, has had a huge impact on many people with 0cd during the pandemic. what would your advice be to people who have not been able to access help but are having these feelings?” been able to access help but are having these feelings? i think if somebody thinks they might have 0cd but has never access to treatment, we would really encourage people to seek support. so one thing that we are really keen for everybody to understand about 0cd is that it can bea understand about 0cd is that it can be a very debilitating condition but it is hugely treatable so if you feel you might have 0cd, some of the things guillaume has been describing, we would encourage you to approach your gp and we really understand that 0cd can be a very isolating thing, very difficult to talk about so if it's something you wa nt talk about so if it's something you want to talk to somebody about in confidence first, call the helpline to work through for that conversation might look like. very

good advice and guillaume, what would you say that point? what advice would you offer to someone going through these feelings, to cope with these behaviours? as you say, you have things much more under control which is wonderful. what can you tell people from your experience? one of the many things i suggest is trying to be as open about it as possible. being able to speak about it the fact that you have some wanted, intrusive thoughts, it makes it way easier. we all have a lot of thoughts, it's just people with 0cd have a hard time not dwelling on those, so if you speak about it with your partner, your friends, you speak about it with your partner, yourfriends, your you speak about it with your partner, your friends, your family, going to the chardy, for example, being part of the support groups, thatis being part of the support groups, that is what i would recommend. 0pening that is what i would recommend. opening up about it is a real game

changer. also really good advice from you. thank you both for your time today. guillaume and leigh, thank you so much. for details of organisations which offer mental health advice and support, go online to bbc.co.uk/actionline. as we've been hearing, people arriving in england from abroad will be soon able to reduce their quarantine period by more than half if they pay for a covid test after five days. the government says the rules will come into force from the 15th of december, and the tests from private firms will cost between £65 and £120. the travel industry welcomed the policy but described it as "long overdue". michael 0'leary is the chief executive of rya nair and hejoins us now from dublin. very good to have you with this, thank you for your time today. some of the travel industry have welcomed this because you have been very

vocal today saying it is a figleaf that does not work. why not? firstly, it's that does not work. why not? firstly, its welcome in that at least there is some kind of movement on these silly and ineffective quarantine measures but we think the government should have widened it, followed european policy which also allows people to take negative test three days before departure should be allowed to arrive in the uk and not quarantine. allowing people into the uk for five days before they undergo a test is not the best or most sensible way to limit the spread of covid—19. requiring people to arrive in the uk having taken and obtained a negative covid test would bea obtained a negative covid test would be a much better policy and that is what we advocate. it's all about, literally, the direction of travel, you think that is a much more workable system if there is a test taken at the point of departure before arriving into the uk, just to before arriving into the uk, just to be absolutely clear? yes, a much better, more effective, easy for

customers to understand. i think lots of people who want to reunite at christmas, we are adding extra flights today, seats for christmas, lots of european nationals who live and work in the uk who have not seen theirfamilies for and work in the uk who have not seen their families for nine months are going home for christmas and we also wa nt to going home for christmas and we also want to welcome lots of british people who live and work in europe into the uk. i think being with theirfamilies for a into the uk. i think being with their families for a week or two, there are less opposition to getting predeparture there are less opposition to getting predepa rtu re tests, there are less opposition to getting predeparture tests, they are expensive at 8100 euros every test but people will give that to give theirfamilies the but people will give that to give their families the security that they can travel and do not have to quarantine on arrival. do you think the price of the private tests and still potentially, looking at the uk government plan, having to quarantine for a period on arrival backin quarantine for a period on arrival back in the uk, do you see that as a significant barrier to the travel industry, the airline industry, building a business again?|j industry, the airline industry, building a business again? i think it isa building a business again? i think it is a significant barrier though in reality, what we know from people's own behaviour is that they

will still travel and ignore the requirement to get a test five days after arrival, that is what the vast majority of people, they will do, they will ignore it, there is no way they will ignore it, there is no way the government and police can follow up the government and police can follow up on quarantine regulations anyway so we think it is a less preferable system. it's better than what has preceded it which isjust ineffective quarantine and no travel regulations at all but clearly i think the industry would recover substantially, significantly, until easter next year when it's clear there will be reasonably widely available vaccines especially for people in the covid high risk categories and i think all of these travel restrictions and quarantines will be removed in time for summer 21. what are your thoughts on qantas, the australian carrier saying international travellers will need to be vaccinated with proof of vaccination against coronavirus to fly with them. they haven't talked about domestic routes but international travel, is that something you envisage demanding of your travellers? qantas operate ten,

12, 14 your travellers? qantas operate ten, 12, 1a are internationalflights, carry very few people anyway, they won't apply it to the australian domestic routes, short—haul routes come the european union, you have free movement of people, open borders, such a restriction would not be able to be implemented but it falls away, once we remove the risk to the health services and to people generally, covid—19, that comes with vaccination of high risk groups, the elderly, once we remove that, that will happen by about easter 21, frankly the requirement for these travel restrictions or quarantine disappears anyway. easter 21, in terms of your planning for the year ahead, is that the point you are focusing on? as to the stage in the year when business can start and i really emphasise that, start to look not normal but improved?” really emphasise that, start to look not normal but improved? i think people sitting at home over

christmas with their families, i think people especially with children, families with children in school will start booking easter holidays, easter sunshine breaks with reasonable confidence and they can certainly break down and booked their summer 21 holidays with absolute confidence. we will supplement that confidence, we still allow people to make bookings and change flight dates if they want into easter, summer, 21 but we don't think it will be necessary. i think you will see a roll—out of the vaccine and the availability of vaccines, unprecedented roll—out that we have never seen before in history, multiple vaccines, widely available, therefore the requirement on the impact, thankfully, of covid—19 will begin to recede on all of our lives and allow all of us and ourfamilies to of our lives and allow all of us and our families to return to some kind of normality which clearly we have not had this year. we absolutely hope so. michael 0'leary, thank you very much. thank you very much. michael 0'leary expressing optimism and hope that we all have for a

change next year and hopefully those vaccines with the safety data, once that has been checked, the roll—out of this vaccines will come good. spain's king felipe vi has started a 10—day quarantine period after being in close contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. the 52—year—old monarch suspended his public engagements, after chairing a scientific meeting in madrid. spain has registered more 1.58 million covid—19 cases — western europe's second highest tally after france — and over 43,000 deaths. finland's sanna marin is the world's youngest serving prime minister and heads a coalition of five parties all led by women. the bbc has had exclusive access behind the scenes to explore how the coalition works in practice as the prime minister discusses finland's new equality programme. megha mohan reports for the bbc‘s 100 women season. please enter the conference password.

helsinki's house of the estates is about to host the world's youngest female prime minister and her all—female led centre—left coalition government as they discuss their new equality plan, a flagship policy the whole coalition has to agree on. finland has had a coalition government forever, so we are used to trying to make compromises and find consensus between different parties and ideologies, and i think it's also a big strength for us. there is kind of this tendency of some people to say that because there is women, you will make a certain type of policy? 0r "it's easier for you to agree when you're all women," and so on. and that's not, i think, necessarily the case, and that's why i also want there to be a focus around policy of the government. a government praised for its progressive representation, but some of its leaders are still reluctant to celebrate it quite yet.

i think the representation with five white educated females is not very representative, in the end. if we really look at the equality here, it doesn't show yet. one of the issues being addressed in the equality plan is gender minorities. trans rights activists have for years asked for reform to the trans act, a law that currently requires those seeking legal gender recognition to be infertile or undergo sterilisation. it's been three years since the european court of human rights said that forced sterilisation should not be allowed in terms of recognising personal gender identity, but it is the case still in finland. what do you think about that? everyone should have the right to determine their own identities. we have had a female president, we have the youngest female leader of the country, but alone that doesn't... it's just a token alone.

it has to have the support of the system behind it before it actually makes a difference. changes to the trans act will come into effect in 2021. alongside germany, taiwan and new zealand, finland's female—led government has been praised for its quick, decisive response to coronavirus. well, of course there are countries led by men that have also done well, so i don't think it's a gender—based issue. the most important thing is that we try to make the decisions based on the best knowledge that we can use, and also that we are trying to make decisions in a way that helps ordinary people in their ordinary lives, in a crisis and also in normal times. ambitious decisions made all the more challenging by the pandemic. megha mohan, bbc news. liisa husu is a professor of gender studies at 0rebro university.

she joins us from the finnish capital helsinki. good to have you with us and thank you very much for your time. how much of an impact do you think having women in these significant leadership roles has made to society there and to the way the country is run and reacts with the rest of the world ? run and reacts with the rest of the world? i think we should look at the past 114 years, finland has had women in parliament since 1907 and the universal suffrage right to run for office which was founded for all finnish women and men in 1906, it's very significant. women have taken pa rt very significant. women have taken part informing very significant. women have taken part in forming the country ‘s future for 114 years, for now. that is very, very important. there is

quite strong support amongst the population to gender parity in politics, 90% of finnish people according to a national survey, think there should be women and men deciding about politics so there is quite strong support for gender balance in the political sphere. you have a much greater history of being the norm, the way things are done, therefore, in finland, than many other countries around the world. absolutely. compared to art nordic neighbours we were forced to give women full political rights really early. but still over half of finnish men today think that gender equality has been achieved in society but only one fifth of women society but only one fifth of women so there is quite diverse views amongst female and male population. that view is not based solely on how

many women you have in very senior leadership roles, especially political leadership roles? there are political leadership roles? there a re lots of political leadership roles? there are lots of other factors as well. tell us more. it's about overall view of gender equality in society and we have quite gender segregated labour market, still gender wage gap but women are more dissatisfied with gender equality than men in society. but i was thinking about the current cabinet, the last 30 years has seen a huge increase of women gaining political positions, top positions, over a large spectrum, it's not only a token woman here and there but there has been ourfirst a token woman here and there but there has been our first speaker of there has been our first speaker of the parliament, director of the bank of finland, foreign minister, finance minister, defence minister, these firsts but they have been followed by seconds and thirds and when this coalition, most of the coalition, female ministers who grew

up, this was going on, the last 30 yea rs up, this was going on, the last 30 years so i think it's been, definitely, formative experiences that women can do, women can influence in all kinds of positions, in society, and that is very, very normalised. when you think about the society as a whole, politics is the fieldwork women have been most successful, if you look at the economy, business, academia, army, church, there is much, much less gender balance and much less women in power positions. we have been talking today a bit aboutjoe biden and the team that he is putting around him including women in at number of key posts that they haven't held before, example, secretary of defence at the treasury, and so forth, in the us and what difference you think that and what difference you think that and having kamala harris as vice

president in the us is going to make too i suppose people's psyche in terms of having women in these key positions because we wouldn't be talking about this if it wasn't still more unusual? yes, it has a huge symbolic significance of these firsts and of course, they are also very competent experts whojoe biden is supposed to appoint so they are really, really firsts but they are also very confident indeed so i think that is fresh air in the us landscape and political scene, definitely. very good news, everyday, about these new i think. professor, thank you very much for your thoughts on that story today.

and you can find much more from the bbc‘s 100 women season online. just go to bbc.com/100 women. there is a wonderful variety of stories on there — and remember to keep returning to the website as more and more stories will appear in the days to come. cambridge university library has announced that two notebooks written by charles darwin, worth many millions of pounds, have been missing for 20 years. one of them contains the 19th century scientist's famous tree of life sketch, exploring the evolutionary relationship between species. following a number of intensive searches, curators have now concluded they have probably been stolen and they've launched a public appeal for help in trying to find them. 0ur arts correspondent rebecca jones has this exclusive report. imagine losing something in here. cambridge university library is vast. 200 kilometres of shelving, 10 million books, maps and manuscripts and amongst it all, two missing notebooks by charles darwin.

each of these notebooks which are the same as the ones we are looking for, are about the size of a postcard. they are written in landscape so across the page and they have, of course, darwin's writing. the notebooks have been digitised but the originals have not been seen since november 2000 when they were taken to be photographed in a temporary studio in the university's grounds. it wasn't until two months later that librarians realised they were missing. they assume they'd been put back on a different shelf and there were a number of extensive searches. now, a new team thinks they got it wrong. i have reluctantly come to the conclusion that these notebooks have probably been stolen. that is heartbreaking for me, heartbroken this has happened, i have spent my whole career devoted to the preservation of cultural heritage and i will spend all my time here trying to determine the possibility of recovery of these items. in 1837, a young charles darwin had recently returned from the galapagos islands aboard hms beagle.

in his notebooks, he is working through scientific ideas inspired by his trip. and in one of them, he sketches the tree of life. these notebooks really are darwin's attempt to pose to himself the question about where do species come from? what is the origin of species? it is almost like being inside darwin's head when you are looking at these notebooks. they are jottings of all sorts of information he is writing down. to have such an iconic object go missing is really a tragedy. your help could be critical in seeing the notebooks' safely returned. the library has launched an appeal calling for help from the public, former staff and researchers, in locating the notebooks by one of the best—known scientists of all time. it will take another five years to complete a full search of the building here so it is still possible the notebooks could turn up. in the meantime, their disappearance has been reported to cambridgeshire police. and if you have any information

about where they might be, the library would love to hear from you. rebecca jones, bbc news, cambridge. china has launched a mission to try to retrieve rock samples from the moon. its robotic chang'e—5 spacecraft departed on a long march 5 rocket, and if successful should return to earth in mid—december. it's more than 40 years since the americans and the soviets brought home lunar rock and "soil" for analysis. china aims to be only the third country to achieve this feat, which will be an extremely complex endeavour. now to a dog who's a very good boy indeed. kuno — the hero military dog — who has been awarded the animal equivalent of the victoria cross for saving soldiers' lives in afghanistan. quite the achievement for a four—year—old. tim muffett has more.

kuno was supporting uk forces in afghanistan last year as they targeted al-qaeda extremists. pinned down under heavy attack, kuno was instructed to tackle an enemy gunman. fantastic dog as he was, he absolutely took that moment and, despite being hit by a couple of gunshot wounds, he managed to achieve what he set out to do, and he broke the deadlock and saved lives. the ministry of defence have asked that kuno's handler remains anonymous. i moved over to him and he was hobbling around and he was clearly in a bad way. his paw was all mangled up, it didn't look good. so we bandaged that up. he had what's called a through and through on his thigh, so the bullet has gone straight through his thigh and out the other side. kuno is being awarded the pdsa dickin medal. introduced in 1943, it's the highest award in animal can receive while serving in military conflict. as well as dogs, horses, pigeons and even a cat have previously been honoured.

it's in commemoration of trying to honour that bond that society recognises it has with its animals, and the reliance it has on its animals. now thriving in retirement, kuno became the first military working dog to be fitted with custom—made prosthetic limbs. kuno receiving this medaljust makes me feel massively proud of him, and i think he just completely deserves it and it's welljustified, and it's really good to see his efforts and his courage recognised. and on to another dog story! imagine this — you're walking your new puppy in the local park when, suddenly, he's snatched by an alligator and pulled under water — what would you do? it was a dilemma faced by richard willbanks in florida, who didn't hesitate to dive in after his king charles spaniel. you can see richard wrestle

with the alligator, prising open its jaws, allowing little gunner to escape unharmed. and he did it all without dropping the cigar in his mouth. impressive! you're watching bbc news. joanna will be here with you next to ta ke joanna will be here with you next to take you through up until 1pm. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood. hello again. for many of us today, fairly cloudy, little bit of sunshine in the south—east, east anglia, the channel islands, we also have rain in the forecast. low pressure to the north of us with its attendant weather fronts introducing the rain and the squeeze in isobars across the irish sea and south—west scotland, here we have gusty winds. the rain continues, notjust in scotland and northern ireland but also across parts of cumbria, the cloud can up in wales and the south—west for drizzle and we have sunny breaks coming in across east anglia, the south—east and channel islands with temperatures up

to about 13 degrees. as we head through the evening and overnight our weather front start to move slowly south eastwards, eventually clearing western parts of northern ireland, western scotland, with clear skies following behind and a few showers. ahead of it we have a fair bit of cloud coming our way, it is still mild but already we start to see the colder air filtering south, behind that very same cold front. the cold front moves south on wednesday, the isobars slide, gusty winds across the northern and western isles but the milder air hanging on in the south—east represented by the yellow, colder air following behind this fragmented band of rain. eventually the rain gets into the far south—east, clearer skies in south—west england, wales, northern ireland, scotland, with some showers in the north the temperature rise, 8—10 for many of us, 12 or 13 in the south—east. all of us feel the cooler air coming our way during thursday as the weather front moves away, a ridge of high pressure building,

not much in the way of wind so we start with some frost, widespread on thursday. some fog overnight, lifting into low cloud, you see we have cloud across parts of scotland, north—west england, northern ireland but there will be a lot of dry weather around, temperature range from six to maybe 11 or 12. the remnants of the weather front across southern areas in the english channel. as we head through friday, through the weekend to the early part of next week, there will be a lot of dry weather, quite settled, increasing amounts of cloud, feeling chilly.

this is bbc news, the headlines at 11. people arriving in england from abroad will soon be able to cut the quarantine period from 14 days to 5 — if they pay for a private covid test. having consulted very extensively with medical experts, we believe the five days plus is a very reliable test, it is sufficient time now to release people and the test capacity is there to do this now. talks between the four nations continue as they try and agree a uk wide plan for christmas. harry dunn's parents lose their high court battle over whether their son's alleged killer, anne sacoolas, had diplomatic immunity. donald trump accepts that a formal transition of power can begin sojoe biden can take office — but he says he'll continue

to contest the election result. an appeal is launched for help finding two missing notebooks written by charles darwin, which include his famous tree of life sketch. and coming up this hour, china launches a mission to try to bring back rock samples from the moon for the first time in more than 40 years. people arriving in england from abroad will be soon able to reduce their quarantine period by more than half. the transport secretary, grant shapps, has announced that travellers will be able to pay for a coronavirus test, to be taken five days after arrival. from the 15th of december, travellers will have to self—isolate forjust five days then take a test, and then end quarantine if the test comes back negative.

but you can't use an nhs test — it would have to be an approved private provider. that could cost up to £120 per person. and the foreign office advice against travellling advice against travelling to most places remains. so big holiday companies are unlikely to travel to those places, and it won't be straightforward getting comprehensive insurance if you do decide to travel there. and this is only for people travelling to england. the strict 14—day rules remain in the rest of the uk, although authorities in northern ireland and scotland told us they are looking into a similar system, but nothing is confirmed yet. this latest announcement follows the plans set out by borisjohnson to replace england's lockdown on december second. a toughened three—tier system will be introduced — with details on which areas will be placed in which tier, expected on thursday. shops, gyms and hairdressers will be allowed to reopen across the country. here's more from our political correspondent iain watson.

the three—tier system of regional restrictions are set to be reintroduced in england on december the 2nd. the good news is shops, gyms, swimming pools and hair salons will all reopen, but some rules will be tougher than before in tier 3, with pubs and restaurants closed except for takeaways and deliveries. in tier 2, pubs can only open if they serve substantial meals. and the really bad news? i should warn you now that many more places will be in higher tiers than, alas, was previously the case. so it won't be all over by christmas. but the still self—isolating prime minister is hopeful he can reach agreement very soon with the devolved administrations across the uk, to ease up a little over the festive season. but don't get the party hats out just yet. this is not the moment to let the virus rip for the sake of christmas parties. tis the season to be jolly, but tis also the season to be jolly careful.

especially with elderly relatives. and the medical advice? rules are for christmas, too. if people do all those things very seriously, we will have much less impact from christmas, whilst people still are being able to enjoy it, than if people choose to actually take a very much less public spirited approach to it, and go wild over that period. so, christmas might not be quite so festive this year. but with vaccines and rapid testing, normal life may well begin to be resurrected by easter. the prime minister said he could see an escape route from the pandemic, but it feels like there's still a long road ahead. iain watson, bbc news. meanwhile, from the 15th december, as we've been hearing, people arriving in england from abroad who are subject to quarantine rules will be able to significantly reduce their self—isolation period, if they pay for a covid test after five days and get a negative result. the transport secretary grant shapps has been explaining the new policy.

it's for anybody who travels. we don't specify which group of people and we change the rules because at the moment it requires 14 days of self isolation or quarantine. this will reduce it to five days. and having consulted very extensively with medical experts, we believe that five days plus a very reliable test is sufficient time now to be able to release people. and the test capacity is there to do this now. the parents of harry dunn have lost their high court battle against the foreign office, over whether their son's alleged killer had diplomatic immunity. mr dunn was just 19 when he was killed — after his motorbike crashed into a car being driven on the wrong side of the road — outside raf croughton in northamptonshire in august last year. the driver was american anne sacoolas — whose husband worked as a technical assistant at the base. she left the country a few weeks after the incident when the us said

she was entitled to diplomatic immunity. sacoolas was ultimately charged with causing death by dangerous driving last december — but an extradition request was rejected by the us state department injanuary — a decision it later described as "final". the family had gone to the high court to see the high court ruling was wrong but they have lost that, we have just heard from the foreign secretary. he said my thoughts are with harry's family, while the judge acted lawfully throughout i appreciate it not have any solace in terms of justice. we appreciate it not have any solace in terms ofjustice. we stand with them and will support the family with their legal claim in the us. we are not going to talk about donald trump

because the health secretary is answering questions about lessons to be learned by the select committee. the virus will not be eradicated but if all those vulnerable people get vaccinated by easter what role the social distancing look like after easter? the answer isn't depends on the impact of the roll—out of the vaccine on the transmission of the disease and the number of people who have a serious morbidity or indeed die from virus. the same tools and data we use tojudge die from virus. the same tools and data we use to judge what should happen now to social distancing interventions are essentially the same methods because they are the things we are trying to protect

against, cases of coronavirus, optimisation and very much deaths from can avail this. —— deaths from coronavirus. vaccine trials can successfully test tens of thousands of people in the three trials for whether they protect an individual. there is some evidence and the astrazeneca trial of protection from transmission and you not only protect yourself but to reduce the likelihood of you transmitting and we have been able to measure that because end of the astrazeneca trial unlike the others there was regular testing of participants all the way through. however you cannot know the true impact of that are calibrated mathematically until you have seen the impact of having vaccinated a large numberof the impact of having vaccinated a

large number of people. people watching at home wants to get a senseisit watching at home wants to get a sense is it possible that we could be back to normal after easter? after easter we think you will be getting back to normal. there are some things that are no regrets, washing your hands more and some parts of social distancing there are no regrets things that i think will become commonplace. but those damaging social distancing interventions that have big downsides whether economic or social in terms of our well—being, i should hope that we can live to those after easter. if these two vaccines are approved by the regulators which is an independent decision. this joint

enquiry is about learning the lessons going forward from what we have experienced in the pandemic and you said many times you want following the science. let me start by asking do you think you got the right scientific advice at the outset? this is a slightly dangerous but i am going to question the premise of your first question which i always try to say i was guided by the science and i notice and your evidence session the scientist from edinburgh said people followed the science, i always try to take the approach of being guided. you did say follow in number of times.” approach of being guided. you did say follow in number of times. i may have said it colloquially but the approach i took and far more rigorously tried to describe was being guided? let's get on to the substance because it is between following an guided as it applies

automatic as opposed to ministerial judgment. it is based on the science which is a truer reflection of what we do. the scientific advice i think was the best that was available and it is tough because we started knowing nothing at all about this virus and nothing about its biological properties on impact on humans and nothing about how it transmitted and the social side of it and that information boat over time. when you say it was the best that was available, it was not the same as a scientific advice and south korea and sage did not model test and trace as it is, the modelled testing at the early stages but the plan was clear to stop testing once you had community

transmission. in south korea it was a strategy right through the pandemic from the start, we did not get there until the end of april so i want to come back, did you get the best scientific advice at the outset? what i would say, on testing it is wrong to say the advice was to stop testing and we did not stop testing, we erupted top of the time. the problem was that the linear increase in the availability of testing was essentially slower...m is not that i want to be disrespectful but there are so many questions to get through, the advice was very questions to get through, the advice was very clear to stop community but that was not the advice being followed in asia. this is aiming at the wrong target. stopping committee testing was a consequence of focusing tests on hospital because

it has a direct impact on treatment. the difference, the big difference was in south korea and others they had experience of sars and moved to npis much earlier... sorry to enter up, it was notjust... euclid advice was to stop committee testing.” up, it was notjust... euclid advice was to stop committee testing. i was told to stop commuter testing and also stop contact tracing. the world health advice was to carry on so did you get the right scientific advice at that point? i think i got the best scientific advice that my scientific advisers could give me. can we learn from it? that is what

this process is about. let be put at a different way, there is no doubt we can and should and must learn from all the international examples and our own experience here about how we can best deal with a pandemic of any sort. projects signus, the problem was not how it was conducted, the lessons we re how it was conducted, the lessons were noted and acted upon, we would not have had the coronavirus act and d raft not have had the coronavirus act and draft without it, it was an important project. the problem was it starting from the assumption that you are going to have a pandemic flu that was already rampant and widespread because it was an exercise about what you do any period where lots of people are dying. it did not ask the prior question of what tape a pandemic is

most likely, what are the different characteristics of different pandemics like flu or coronavirus and can we act to stop getting to the position at which project signus started off and those are the prior questions i think is very important for everyone around the world to be asking as part of the lessons. that is why you have an edge the setting up is why you have an edge the setting up of is why you have an edge the setting upofa is why you have an edge the setting up of a british version of the institute that will do that how rising scanning. we clearly did learn lessons from around the world which is why you set up when you came back from your own boat with illness the big testing programme, test and trace programme. 0ther countries used test and trace as a way of avoiding lockdown, we

actually ended up having to have a second lockdown. as that because the test and trace programme did not meet your expectations on whether other factors? i put very little weight on the idea that... know, the test and trace programme ahead of the second lockdown was functioning to... reduce transmission enormously. and by the time of the second lockdown it had already broken the chains of transmission hundreds of thousands of times. the problem was as happened so many other european countries, the overall number of cases was going up so overall number of cases was going up soi overall number of cases was going up so i don't play that at the door of test and trace at all because they had expanded unbelievably fast and the circumstances. as we will see we

are constantly improving the testing and tracing but the biggest fall off between the actual cases and the community and the total number of people who got contact traced was actually the gap between people who are asymptomatic getting a test and that was the biggest gap. just a couple more from me, why did sage say in september they thought test and trace was only having a marginal impact controlling the transmission. because there are some many other things that were leading to a point pressure on the number of cases. that is why we had to bring in stronger npis. it seems strange when you have made this huge investment

of £12 billion, massive increases and testing that in september they would say that all that effort is only having a marginal impact. the thing is you have got to look at what test and trace was doing an totality as opposed to the very specific part that you mention. n totality b would not have had the ability to test the people be dead unless we had boat capacity. —— the people we did unless we built capacity. not have widespread community testing unless we took action by the central point that the ability to use test and trace on its own cannot keep the virus under control and i think that is true in

all countries suffer an instance and some of the far east countries when they see a number of cases they were putting huge testing capability and i think that must testing it does have that ability to do that anyway that testing of symptomatic people and then that contact tracing finds it much harder to do. no one uses test and trace without npis to control the virus to lay this at the door of test entries is wrong. finally from me, the importance of compliance was talked about when asked to isolate and we have had a fairly low compliance rate, around 20% but she talked about new york city when it was up to 95% compliance to isolate. what have you learned growing followed about how

we can boast? i think the incentives to self—isolate are important, the £500 payment is very important. i am sceptical of some of the very high numbers when there are reports of very high proportions of people following those rules. i would want to look into the surveys or the incentives of people answering those questions. likewise i am highly sceptical of very low numbers. for example 20% as, the question is asked and a particular way about whether they fully and that isolation abided by... said at home entirely and what matters is the radical reduction in the number of contacts. this isn't to say it is not an incredibly important in when

we have learned throughout the crisis and put in stronger measures. who is responsible for getting the compliance rate up? test and trace yes but actually a cross government effort because it requires law enforcement, treasury for the payment and financial support people get. so it is a cross government effort and put together. thank you. you have mentioned already scientific advice that jubilant receiving and i don't think any of us want to be critical of those who receiving the advice but we have talked about the composition of sage and the high proportion of modellers as part of that. have you made any attempt to widen the diversity of scientific advice you are taking?

well, absolutely and i think i listened to some of those comments, i thought it was a bit strange to see sage does not have any public health, erm, expertise when it is chaired by one of the worlds finest epidemiologists. if i asked jenny harris to come and, if at that was that description, the part that i heard at the end of the session was not an accurate description of sage. nevertheless on your direct question, absolutely licensed to a broad range of advice. the formal way the advice is brought to ministers is through the csa and cmo and we listen very carefully to them. i also listens to all sorts of voices and scientific arguments and i will go and read some of the material directly. you also need a

process. . . material directly. you also need a process... can i stop you and ask you, one of the areas we were told very early and the pandemic that there was a kind of deficit of wise engineers, manufacturing engineers who would be contributing to things like screens, machines for hospitals and face kits so are these kind of individuals no part of the advice given to government? well,... i don't think having engineers and the operational erm, skills and capabilities on sage would be right at all, that is not the job of sage, it isa at all, that is not the job of sage, it is a scientific advisory committee who of course we use all

the skills you mentioned, enormously in the assessment of what is the right policy and the roll—out. in the assessment of what is the right policy and the roll-out. still if we talk about, we heard from the chair talking about test and trace and light of capability and one of the reasons for like of capability was limited numbers of test kits. it is these very people that would actually be able to advise on how we can best increase capacity and that area. ifind can best increase capacity and that area. i find it strange that you are saying they would not form part of the advice early on. of course they formed part of the advice, it is just nothing to do with sage.” formed part of the advice, it is just nothing to do with sage. i will move on. and march the uk was rejecting the idea of lockdown, we could see it happening in other countries worldwide and across europe and we know for example germany had a very robust response

early on. we kept hearing about reducing the peak and flattening the curve . reducing the peak and flattening the curve. the director of the welcome trust has said we were too slow to lock down and as a result of the epidemic took off and we were not able to control it. should we have put our lockdown measures and place earlier in the pandemic? this was a point at which we did directly follow the science is ribbon guided and took that advice... the scientific advice was coming from modellers as my previous question was asking about the diversity so i am asking you enhance a should be have lockdown earlier knowing what was happening across the world and europe? there are so many ways to answer the question, the first thing isiam answer the question, the first thing is i am not sure that putting engineers onto sage would have made

any difference to the advice at that juncture and that is something of a red herring. advice on engineering requirement for any policy is quite separate. there will be of course rightly a debate about this question you ask about what the advice should have been at the time. what i would say in defence of the advice we were given which we followed as there is we put our lockdown measures and earlier within the pandemic curve than other comparable countries in europe. and what is more the four nations of the united kingdom moved at the same time despite... may essentially basing the decisions on advice of the four cmos and

scientific advice that came to them. lam scientific advice that came to them. i am slightly confused because five minutes ago you told the chair you do not follow scientific advice, you are guided by it i know use a you did follow scientific advice, which is it? i was very precise in what i said, in this instance and the period you are talking about absolutely we took and listened and followed the scientific advice that was given and based our decisions on that. my point about saying that the better phrase is to be guided by science as there are times when that was not the case. there are many examples when the scientific, i can rememberthe examples when the scientific, i can remember the advice being different. for example right at the start of the pandemic when we're bringing people back from china before the virus had escaped, before we knew the spiders had escaped from china

the spiders had escaped from china the advice was not to quarantine those people. the mac before the virus had escaped from china. that is why ministers of the tick the advice on board and make a decision. the case you were mentioning of the march lockdown, we took that scientific advice. finally, what lessons have we learned from the first lockdown? we have learned a huge amount of lessons and i don't know. can you make it brief? the best example is a school. we have ke pt best example is a school. we have kept schools open and the second peak based on a rigorous analysis

that was done of the impact of schools being open on the transmission of the disease, the impact of the disease on children and thena impact of the disease on children and then a judgment on top of that as well at the wider societal benefit of schools being open. not least for educations of the scientific advice was schools are low—risk than we thought, we do not really know first time round and added to that was the social benefits of education and that is one of the things we learned. thank you. thank you. following on from being guided by an following science, these can restrict and, the government took a different view because sage given advice on the zist because sage given advice on the 21st of september and we did not introduce national restriction until the 31st of october. what was the

reason the reason is that we wanted to pursue the regional tiered approach because of the lower, wider implications of that. the scientific advice takes into account the epidemiology of course, but ministers will take into account other considerations. at the time, the rate of both the prevalence and the rate of both the prevalence and the rate of growth of the virus in many parts of the country was very, very low and we judged that whilst of course we understood the science advice on the epidemiology, that it would have been disproportionate to have put in place a national lockdown at that time. then, of course, lockdown at that time. then, of course , over lockdown at that time. then, of course, over the forthcoming six weeks or so, things changed and the

trigger that persuaded me that we needed to go into national lockdown having been essentially the architect of the tiered system and a big supporter of it, was that the trigger was that we saw case rates going up and suddenly quite sharply going up and suddenly quite sharply going up and suddenly quite sharply going up in almost every part of england's, therefore even in the low prevalence areas you could see that there are going to get a high prevalence if we didn't act, so that isa very prevalence if we didn't act, so that is a very good example of the difference being guided by following the science. so in rejecting the call for a national circuit breaker, was that because you didn't think it was that because you didn't think it was not necessarily going to work or it wasn't necessary? at that time a circle circuit breaker would have been disproportionate. the challenge with the idea of a two—week break is what happens afterwards? that is the

debate we are currently engaged in an england right now in terms of what happens following the prime minister's announcement yesterday of what happens after a lockdown. a lockdown is a lockdown is a lockdown. you can call it a circuit breaker if you like. here the second time round we went for a four week lockdown, think critically turning toa lockdown, think critically turning to a tiered system which is better calibrated having learned the impact of the tiered system in september and october, where the third tier wasn't strong enough to get the r number below one and the cases falling, so we needed a slightly tougher third tier so that we could have confidence we could bring cases down under the tiered system. do i understand that you don't believe a two—week circuit breaker would have

ended up being two weeks, it would have been longer? something would have been longer? something would have had to come after it because until we get a vaccine that can effectively stop this thing, npis orbitals that are most effective. the questions of how to get to a point at which we can have, we can sustainably keep the virus under control, and let's go back to the strategy, right? the strategy is suppress the virus, protect the economy and the nhs until the vaccine can make a sale. we will use mass testing as much as we can to suppress the virus, but unfortunately npis are also necessary. whether you have a two—week lockdown or a four week lockdown, that is simply a stronger set of npis to get the numbers under control coming down, then we will

replace it with the system of tiers. what way will christmas trip this year? i don't yet know, mark. it would look exactly the same as normal, that is for sure. it is important that we continue to respect the spread of the virus. i'm not reading on the discussions with the devolved authorities on what the exact measures will be. just for my constituents, at the end ofjuly a lot of my constituents felt like there are a celebration of aid was cancelled, and quite a lot of my hindu community felt that diwali was cancelled for them. are we considering the perception of unfairness when we are looking to this year? yes, i am very sensitive to this point. we did think about it

and we engaged and we have discussed it. the conclusion that we have come to, which i agree with very strongly is that christmas is a national holiday, it is the biggest national holiday, it is the biggest national holiday that we have. of course it has particular importance for christians, but it is an important national holiday for everybody in this country. so whilst of course we considered the impacts on those of other faiths and none, christmas is a special time for everyone in this country. finally, i know we are very hopeful that by the spring time things will be back to a relative normality, but between now and then, would you expect another national lockdown to happen? no, i very much hope not to by having a system of

tiers which is calibrated to bring the virus under control, where it is necessary. thank you. i am going to go back and asked some questions with regards to the diagnostic capacity earlier in the year. on the 4th of february, sage highlighted the government to shortages around diagnostic capacity. why is that it took the government until april for the government to announce its new testing strategy? well, this is a really important question. in the period of the very early periods, public health england did a brilliantjob at public health england did a brilliant job at developing a test at huge rapidity. they began scaling up at huge rapidity. they began scaling up the testing capacity. it was clear that we needed to go faster.

so in around mid—march we brought into responsibility for delivering testing capacity from just public health england, that became pillar one, andl health england, that became pillar one, and i took in the hands into the department the responsibility for delivering testing capacity and we built on top of the pillar one, which is the pag nhs testing capacity, we also expanded, we introduced pillar to, which became the lighthouse laboratories programmes. pillar three was for antibody testing, pillar four for survey and surveillance testing. it was then that i was able to really drive the radical increasing capacity for testing that we can see

today. given the government took theirtime in today. given the government took their time in increasing the capacity, diagnostic capacity, what has the government learn from this delay? what i would say is that our challenge at the start was that we started with a very small diagnostic capacity. we started with diagnostic labs in the nhs and pag, but they we re really labs in the nhs and pag, but they were really focused on the nhs labs, on the diagnostics for patients, and then pag capacity essentially a scientific capacity. what we didn't have was the large—scale community testing capacity. i think the main lesson i take away is having built this global scale diagnostics capability, we now test more people than any other country in europe.

having built this, we must hold onto it and afterwards we must use it not just for coronavirus, before everything. i want to have a change in the british way of doing things where, if in doubt get a test doesn'tjust refer to where, if in doubt get a test doesn't just refer to coronavirus, but refers to any illness you might have. why in britain do we think it is acceptable to soldier on and going to work if you have flu symptoms were runny nose, thus making your colleagues ill? i think thatis making your colleagues ill? i think that is something that is going to have to change. if you have in future, i hope, flu—like symptoms, you should get a test for it and find what is wrong with you and if you need to stay at home to protect others, then you should stay at home. we are peculiarly unusual in outliers and still going on and going to work and it is the culture,

as long as you can get out of bed you should still get into work. that should change. this year there have been far, far fewer respiratory and other communicable diseases turning up other communicable diseases turning up in the nhs, i think that is partly because of social distancing, because the social distancing measures have an impact on the transmission of other diseases as well. i want this massive diagnosis capacity to peak or to how we treat people in the nhs, so that we help people in the nhs, so that we help people to stay healthy in the first place rather thanjust people to stay healthy in the first place rather than just looking after them when they are ill. given that we have universities who wanted to help, do you not think we should have brought them in much earlier than was done? we did do that to a large degree. there were some

concerns and we should have gone further, and i'll explain why we didn't do that. we brought in the capacity that universities have, and in particular their lab machines. they were brilliant, the universities, and helping us build the lighthouse lab in milton keynes, the lighthouse lab in milton keynes, the first one. the challenger in testing, though, isn't just the first one. the challenger in testing, though, isn'tjust the machines and the lab itself, it is the whole logistics chain, from getting a test near to somebody, or indeed by post, through to getting the results and tests sent to them digitally into your page and record. the logistics around testing our refuge and far more complicated than the actual testing device itself, once you got the machine. the challenge with the university labs and other labs was one of scale, which is to scale about the pace we

needed to be needed essentially testing laboratory factories, so we now are increasingly using the university capacity, but that is because we have got such capacity in the mass lighthouse labs that we are able to also grow and to stitch in the smaller scientific capacity and to this, so it was about scale. it isa to this, so it was about scale. it is a bit like in ppe when they complain to me they could produce 10,000 gallons but we didn't give him a contract. well, 10,000 ounces just a matter of scale. we were trying and we absolutely succeeded in driving a massive expansion in scale, and for that we needed huge labs. just picking up on that last bit that you mention, i think there was an issue with communications

systems that were used in the laboratory centres that you built, and the university and established pub —— public health mechanism that slowed down progress and communication and functionality, but i wanted to talk about...” communication and functionality, but i wanted to talk about... i will absolutely acknowledge that and another lesson and benefit that countries like south korea had was they had their it systems in place to be able to do a lot of this, and building those it systems at pace has been a huge and very difficult effort. what proportion of contact tracing is carried out by local teams? i will try to find the figures for you, we published them every thursday. the broad picture is an increasing proportion because we

are getting the contacts to local teams as early as we can, but what i am really pleased is that we built the massive central capacity of contact tracing as well because otherwise we simply couldn't have coped with the scale of contact tracing needed. if you talk to my international counterparts about contact tracing, the ones we don't have a central system are absolutely tearing their hairout, have a central system are absolutely tearing their hair out, because you need the massive central system and the boots on the ground that really know the local area, the key is to stitch up between the two. we have found now that local tracing system isa found now that local tracing system is a much more effective than the national ones, but my constituency in brentford national ones, but my constituency in bre ntford have national ones, but my constituency in brentford have a good programme that they are rolling out. how much additional resources have been provided to local authorities to help the ruling out of this? an

additional eight points per resident per counsel has been passed over to support this effort. how does that compare to what was given to private companies for contact tracing? compare to what was given to private companies for contact tracing ?! compare to what was given to private companies for contact tracing? a lot of that is spent on private companies to the local contact tracing. if you want to get a public—private tracing. if you want to get a public— private split you tracing. if you want to get a public—private split you have to look at a different set of figures because then you are looking up to is employed directly by public authority, as opposed to he is brought in by contract. i can get that splits, but it is immaterial, what is mattering is the service you're delivering. it seems that the local service has been better than the national service. no, it is a combination of the trigger works. the reason that the local service could work a lot better is because of boots on the ground, but i can't do that without the national system

taking the big numbers, so what happens is the national system is the first to get engaged and they cover off around 60% of the contacts. they do the easy ones, don't they? not necessarily, depends on the circumstances of individuals. the local system for example does ca re the local system for example does care homes, and they are much easier to contact rate than any other setting. the local system does schools, and if one person in a bubble ina schools, and if one person in a bubble in a school test positive, everybody else in that bubble is a contact and obviously that means that if you just look at the raw percentages, then the numbers look like you have done an amazing job, so contact tracing at school, contact tracing in a nursing home is easier than contact tracing individuals and those are largely done by the local area. that is why

this unfortunate attempt which some people try, which i'm sure you won't, to imply that public sector good, private—sector bad, or local good, private—sector bad, or local good, national bad, both of those things are completely counter—productive things are completely counter— productive when we things are completely counter—productive when we are trying to save lives. we think it is more public, you get much more value for money and is much more effective, reaching 80%, where the private sector because a lot of money and averaged out about 48%, so i think it is that that the comparison should be.” i think it is that that the comparison should be. i have described why those figures are not the right way to make the comparison, and it isjust unfortunate, and i will put on the re cord unfortunate, and i will put on the record after this exchange my thanks to all those working in the private sector contact tracing because i really dislike it when people try to do them down. rosie cooper. rosie,

you need to take off mutes. you are still muted. i was going to have to say it at some stage! i took off newts too early! we are hearing about potential concessions being made if you test negative several times a week, and possibly a major reduction to isolation procedures if you test negative daily. can you talk about if there is the funding capability sorry, the funding and capability sorry, the funding and capability to deliver this across the uk in reality, notjust being a wish list, but can we actually deliver it? and how can we establish

this security and identity of the person being tested, how is that assured? person being tested, how is that assured ? make person being tested, how is that assured? make it a situation where somebody gets a test done by the wrong individual, not the named individual? these are two great questions. i will ask jenny individual? these are two great questions. i will askjenny harries to come in on this book at the scientific advice behind this is important, as well. on the capability to do this, the answer is we can only do this because of the enormous test capability that we have built. we had almost nothing at the start of the year. thanks to these unbelievable private—sector companies that have done amazing science and to produce these testing capabilities. we do have the test capacity. i was going to say, then

your second question asks it, the challenges to logistical arrangements, identity assurance and making sure that we get the tests to the right people. this is currently being trialled from this week in liverpool, and then we will rule it out to the nhs and social care staff, and from that, injanuary, should those pallets go well, we will rule it out nationally. we have the test kits, that is in hand. the ha rd the test kits, that is in hand. the hard bit is the logistics. the point that you ask about identity assurance is very important, because we will want to know that people are doing the test. the evidences when people test positive they are much, much more likely to isolate, so the isolation figures that chair referred to earlier don't distinguish between people who

actually have tested positive themselves. the evidence that we haveis themselves. the evidence that we have is the people who have tested positive for themselves a much more likely to follow the self isolation, not least because they may well be ill, so all the points that you have raised our part of the challenge of rolling out the programme. if i could bring in jenny rolling out the programme. if i could bring injenny on the science. thank you. we are going to leave the health select committee now asking questions of the health secretary matt hancock, and the advisers being brought in. the point of that particular session is to look at lessons learned of covid so far, and he was then going back to the beginning it was a situation where nothing was known of the virus, and he was talking about how he was guided by the science, at times

directly followed it, and other times diverged from what the scientific advice was. he said looking forward that he believes the damaging social distancing interventions in terms of economic impact on our well—being should be lifted after easter, so that is in tune from what we have been hearing for a little while. he said the handwashing and social distancing are likely to be with us for some time after that. on christmas, he was asked about the perhaps unfairness on trying to ensure that families can get together over christmas, and the foreign nations are meeting later to discuss that. he said it is something that they do sit —— that they considered and they decided that christmas was a special time for everyone in this country, it is the biggest national holiday for everybody in the country, so thatis for everybody in the country, so that is why they are trying to ensure that families can get together for that. the other news breaking this morning is the family of harry dunn. they took the foreign

office to the high court to contest the decision by the foreign office that the alleged killer of harry dunn, and suki less, did not have diplomatic immunity last year, when his motorbike crashed into a car that was then driven by the american. she is married to a man who was working in northamptonshire. the united states did say he had diplomatic immunity and she returned to the states. the family of harry dunn contested that in court. dominic raab has issued a statement on that legal action, let's listen to what he said. i think it is important that the high court found

that the foreign office behaves properly, but it is of no solace to the family of harry dunn. we are on the family of harry dunn. we are on the side of the family. we call and continue to call for anne sacoolas to return home. we are continuing to offer support with their gs claim in relation to this case. the family say you say they are on their side, but they don't know that you are. we have behaved properly and a good faith and as the court found today we have been supportive of the police investigation, so any implication other ways has been rejected. we have continued to raise this with the secretary of state, the prime minister has raised with the prime minister has raised with the president. they are initiating a claim in the us courts and we have

said we will support them with that, i have offered a submission in support of them. we are negotiating with the us to change the arrangements at the crime base to make sure this kind of injustice can happen again. cambridge university library has announced that two notebooks written by charles darwin worth many millions of pounds have been missing for 20 years. one of them contains the 19th century scientist's famous tree of life sketch, exploring the evolutionary relationship between species. following a number of intensive searches, curators have now concluded they have probably been stolen and they have launched a public appeal for help in trying to find them. our arts correspondent rebecca jones has this exclusive report. imagine losing something in here. cambridge university library is vast. 200 kilometres of shelving, 10 million books, maps and manuscripts and amongst it all, two missing notebooks by charles darwin. each of these notebooks which are the same as the ones

we are looking for, are about the size of a postcard. they are written in landscape so across the page and they have, of course, darwin's writing. the notebooks have been digitised but the originals have not been seen since november 2000 when they were taken to be photographed in a temporary studio in the university's grounds. it wasn't until two months later that librarians realised they were missing. they assume they'd been put back on a different shelf and there were a number of extensive searches. now, a new team thinks they got it wrong. i have reluctantly come to the conclusion that these notebooks have probably been stolen. that is heartbreaking for me, heartbroken this has happened, i have spent my whole career devoted to the preservation of cultural heritage and i will spend all my time here trying to determine the possibility of recovery of these items. in 1837, a young charles darwin had recently returned from the galapagos islands aboard hms beagle. in his notebooks, he is working through scientific ideas inspired by his trip.

and in one of them, he sketches the tree of life. these notebooks really are darwin's attempt to pose to himself the question about where two species come from? what is the origin of species? it is almost like being inside darwin's head when you are looking at these notebooks. they are jottings of all sorts of information he is writing down. to have such an iconic object go missing is really a tragedy. your help could be critical in seeing the notebooks' safely returned. the library has launched an appeal calling for help from the public, former staff and researchers, in locating the notebooks by one of the best—known scientists of all time. it will take another five years to complete a full search of the building here so it is still possible the notebooks could turn up. in the meantime, their disappearance has been reported to cambridgeshire police. and if you have any information about where they might be, the library would love to hear from you.

rebecca jones, bbc news, cambridge. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello, again. for many of us today it will be a cloudy day, but for some it will also be wet, particularly so across scotland and northern ireland, where we have some steady rain and at times that will clip cumbria as well. you can see a lot of cloud across wales and the south—west, they can offer some drizzle. gusty winds today also through the irish sea and south—west scotland. through this evening and overnight, a weather front continues to journey southward, fragmenting as it does so. i had this clears guy's and showers. ahead of it we are still in milder conditions. you can see the colder air moving further south, and that will be the trend into the weekend as well. eventually

a weather front bring some rain into the south—east. behind that for scotland, northern england, northern ireland and wales, there will be sunny skies, a few showers but feeling colder than it has done.

this is bbc news, the headlines at 11. people arriving in england from abroad will soon be able to cut the quarantine period from 14 days to 5 — if they pay for a private covid test. having consulted very extensively with medical experts, we believe the five days plus a very reliable test, is sufficient time now to release people and the test capacity is there to do this now. talks between the four nations continue as they try and agree a uk wide plan for christmas. harry dunn's parents lose their high court battle over whether their son's alleged killer, anne sacoolas, had diplomatic immunity. we have made clear right from the outset we are on their side, we

continue to call for anne sacoolas to return home to face justice. donald trump accepts that a formal transition of power can begin sojoe biden can take office — but he says he'll continue to contest the election result. an appeal is launched for help finding two missing notebooks written by charles darwin, which include his famous tree of life sketch. people arriving in england from abroad will be soon able to reduce their quarantine period by more than half. the transport secretary, grant shapps, has announced that travellers will be able to pay for a coronavirus test, to be taken five days after arrival. from the 15th of december, travellers will have to self—isolate forjust five days then take a test, and then end quarantine if the test comes back negative. but you can't use an nhs test —

it would have to be an approved private provider. that could cost up to £120 per person. and the foreign office advice against travelling to most places remains. so big holiday companies are unlikely to travel to those places, and it won't be straightforward getting comprehensive insurance if you do decide to travel there. and this is only for people travelling to england. the strict 14—day rules remain in the rest of the uk, although authorities in northern ireland and scotland told us they are looking into a similar system, but nothing is confirmed yet. these new no smits today and what the industry has been calling for, they have been very aggressive in sta nce they have been very aggressive in stance saying we needed more testing done when people came back to the uk. i should done when people came back to the uk. ishould point done when people came back to the uk. i should point out these tests are not cheap, a family of four

could end up paying £500 and there is also the matter of policing it, whether you will be checked on a few so you have done a test, have you really and have you paid for that. that needs to be enforced but generally grant chaps has bowed to pressure that you should hello these testa take place, some say a bit later than what he initially promised so he was talking about the industry wanted these tests when english lockdown ended on the 2nd of december but they are coming on the 13th and he explained to us why those tests are coming in now. it's for anybody who travels. we don't specify which group of people and we change the rules because at the moment it requires 14 days of self isolation or quarantine. this will reduce it to five days. and having consulted very

extensively with medical experts, we believe that five days plus a very reliable test is sufficient time now to be able to release people. and the test capacity is there to do this now. bringing in those tests has generally been welcomed by the industry, for example i spoke earlier to the boss of heathrow airport and they have struggled, lost £1 billion since the pandemic took hold, they went from the busiest airport in your up which they were very proud of, know the alvis second busiest behind alice. one of the reasons they say they dropped to second was we did not have enough tests when people returned from abroad but generally speaking he has welcomed the announcement.

let's celebrate the fact the government has finally got out and made this happen. it's taken a lot of hard work and grant shapps and full credit to him for pushing this through. and this will mean that some people at least will be able to get some wintersun around christmas time and businesses will start to be able to travel again. it's welcome that at least there's some kind of movement on the city and ineffective quara ntines, but we think the government should have widened it, followed the european policy, which is to also allow people who take a negative,

get a negative test in three days before departure should be allowed to arrive in the uk. and not have to quarantine. allowing people into the uk for five days before they undergo a test is not the best or the most sensible way to limit the spread of covid—19 requiring people to arrive in the uk, having taken and obtained a negative covid test would be a much better policy. and that's the one we're advocating. we were hearing from matt hancock saying he thinks after easter the damaging social distancing interventions in terms of economic impact should be lifted. these sorts of arguments could then become academic. when you are talking about heathrow losing its status as the busiest airport in europe, is that optimism that at least once those things that to return to normal the business welcome back. there is optimism that things will return to normality say from next easter onwards but in terms of the industry recovering it is going to take yea rs, recovering it is going to take years, at of not be fixed and 2021 alone, it will be to three years that happens. heathrow had to get a

500 staff, ryanair, all airlines have lost thousands of the pandemic. ryanair in the six months to september made a loss of £174 million. and the same period last year they made a profit of over a billion, that isjust year they made a profit of over a billion, that is just one airline so they have really suffered, an 80% fall in passenger numbers so it will not be fixed overnight, not fixed, eastern when maybe things are back to normal, it will take these firms a long time to recover.

washing your hands more and some parts of social distancing another great thing is i think will become commonplace. but those damaging social distancing interventions that have big downsides whether economic or social in terms of our well—being, i should hope that we can live to those after easter. if these two vaccines are approved by the regulators which is let's go straight to westminster and talk to our political correspondent helen catt. there is going to be a cobra meeting this afternoon between the four nations to try to hammer out some of the details. that does not necessarily mean get a final decision today on what shape of these arrangements are going to be.

what we know they are aiming towards as for a limited number of households to form a bubble over a short of time, what they have been trying to thrash out out how many and how long, how many days this would apply for. around the uk at the moment and england day before countries that are different rules in operation. there are a set of common rules regardless of where brn the out trying to agree on that because they realise people want to meet over christmas. there are other things to think about, for example the impact on public transport. if you give people a small window to move how do you cope with that. grant shapps suggested we mate have to play a part in that. i am forever and contact with my equivalent numbers and the formations and this issue of trying to tie it up, a lot

of us have family in the united kingdom different parts and it would make no sense if you have different daysin make no sense if you have different days in which you could travel so remote days in which you could travel so re m ote to days in which you could travel so remote to mixture that is resolved and diane pretty sure it will be. he said people would have to plan their johnnies and think carefully about whether to travel at all but he seemed to think it was medicals to getting a deal between the formations. some breaking news, the european union has reached a dealfor the supply of up to 160 million doses of the covalent leg covid—19 vaccine. edible formally be approved tomorrow. there are no three

vaccines and prospects. moderne, pfizer and the university of oxford as of yesterday. those trials are at as of yesterday. those trials are at a slightly later stage than the other vaccines whose trial results we re other vaccines whose trial results were announced previously. that is a big dealfor the eu to get supplies, 160 million doses. harry dunn's parents have lost their high court battle against the foreign office over whether their son's alleged killer had diplomatic immunity. harry was killed when his motorbike crashed into a car being driven on the wrong side of the road by american anne sacoolas outside raf croughton in northamptonshire on august 27 last year. sacoolas, whose husband jonathan sacoolas worked as a technical assistant at the base, left the country a few weeks later after the us said she was entitled

to diplomatic immunity. reacting to the news the foreign secretary dominic raab says he stands with the family of harry dunn. i think it is important that the high court has phoned the foreign office behaved more fully and in good faith throughout but i know that for be no source to the family of harry dunn, my heart is with them. we have made clear we are on their side, we have called and continue to call for anne sacoolas to return home to face justice. continue to call for anne sacoolas to return home to facejustice. i negotiated with the us to change the adage mitts to a case like this cannot happen again and we are also continue to offering support with the us claim in relation to this case. the family say they do not think you are on their side, what can you offer to say we are doing our utmost to provide justice. we have behaved properly and in good faith and we have been supportive of the police investigation and any suggestion otherwise has been rejected. i have raised this with

the secretary of state, the prime minister with the president. they are bringing, initiating a claim in us courts, we will support them with that, i have offered a submission in support of their case and i negotiated with the us to change the adage at at the crown case to make sure we could give them the reassurance that this kind of injustice could not happen again. a committee of mps says the government must make clear how it will protect leaseholders from having to pay towards removing flammable cladding from their homes. the commons housing committee said a 1.6—billion—pound fund set up after the grenfell fire was not enough to cover the cost of the repairs needed. the government said it was looking at "developing affordable solutions". scotland is today expected to become the first country in the world to make "period products" freely available for women and girls. holyrood will vote later on legislation to introduce items such as tampons and sanitary pads forfree in public buildings. there was originally opposition to the plan,

with ministers arguing the cost could exceed the estimated £9.7million a year. you're watching bbc news. donald trump has accepted that a formal transition of power can begin for president—electjoe biden to take office. in a tweet he said federal agencies should "do what needs to be done" for the handover to begin. but he's still not conceded that he lost the election. let's take a closer look at some of the peoplejoe biden has chosen to form the backbone of his new administration. he has named cuban—born lawyer alejandro mayorkas to head the department of homeland security — the first latino and immigrant to be named to the position. as you have heard, joe biden is expected to pick former federal reserve chairjanet yellen as his treasury secretary — she would be the first—ever female head of the us. treasury. deputy national security advisor in the 0bama administration avril haines will be

the director of national intelligence — if confirmed, she would become the first woman to lead the intelligence community. we already know that antony blinken is set to become secretary of state. he previously served under barack 0bama in the state department. he will be joined byjake sullivan as national security advisor — one of the youngest people to serve in that role in decades. he previously worked at the state department under hillary clinton. veteran diplomat linda thomas—greenfield will be america's ambassador to the united nations, and former secretary of statejohn kerry becomes special presidential envoy on climate change. gary o'donoghue is our correspondent in washington. do you think this is as close as donald trump will come to conceding he lost? i think so. donald trump will come to conceding he lost? ithink so. it is difficult, it is impossible to predict what the president might do

any next few days but he says yes pressing ahead with some of these court cases and that is why that is not a concession per se but he is allowing the various agencies to do that coordination set out in the statutes that gets the biden administration some money, access to those individuals and briefings they need to over the coming days to make sure that as a smooth transition. need to over the coming days to make sure that as a smooth transitionm the meantime he remains president and has been making a lot of decisions in that short window since the election. what can he continue to do and what are the indications? there will be more appointments, a couple of big appointments that are not in the list that we will look for with a great deal of interest, particularly secretary of defence, who will get thatjob at particularly secretary of defence, who will get that job at the pentagon, a crucial role, and who

will be put in place to remake the department ofjustice which is one of the federal departments that has had its reputation damaged over the last four years to who will become the attorney general. waiting to see those appointments as well and there isa those appointments as well and there is a wider point about the diversity of the cabinet, he has promised half women and the cabinets we may see a female defence secretary, there is one name being floated around quite substantially who would be well—suited to that particularjob. you can also start to plan his national security strategy now he has access to presidential daily briefings and the intelligence community more broadly. also on the climate su joe biden said he wants to re—enter the paris climate change agreement, he has appointed an envoy to do that. we are told there will

bea to do that. we are told there will be a domestic equivalent inside the white house and that is something that will please the progressive left in this country enormously. thank you. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, the chairman of the english football league rick parry says the return of fans will be a lifeline for many clubs. up to 4000 will be allowed to attend matches from next wednesday when the lockdown in england is lifted. there are 21 fixtures scheduled for tuesday, but those could be moved to get fans into those games as well it has taken everybody by surprise, we we re it has taken everybody by surprise, we were not expecting anything before christmas. it will take time to get it right and in theory we will be as flexible as we can the games on the 1st of december can be moved to the second but we do not know which clubs will be in which

teal yet, we need to know this is done properly so i think it is one step at a time. away from the elite level, we'll also see the return of some grass—roots sport next week. former player and bbc pundit robbie savage has been campaigning throughout the pandemic for children to be allowed to take part in organised sport, and heading into the winter months he says it's even more important getting home from school, nights drawing in, some children do not have facilities to kick a ball in the garden or hit a tennis racket or cricket but. no an opportunity to get out and the fresh air outdoors and run ourown, get out and the fresh air outdoors and run our own, build friendships, when lose or draw it is so important that these kids are out there and the big thing for me now is when we are back the parents have to socially distance on the side. if they do not we have to follow the guidelines so you have to be

ruthless as a coach and a few see pa rents ruthless as a coach and a few see parents mixing you have to tell them to follow the guidelines because they do not be could get shutdown again and the kids were once again suffer. the champions league returns tonight. chelsea can qualify for the last 16 if they beat renne and the other result in their group goes their way. they beat the french side 3—0 at stamford bridge earlier this month. frank lampard's sides are unbeaten so far with seven points at the halfway stage. if they can qualify with 2 games to spare, it would be useful considering the busy schedule coming up. i have looked at the schedule through december and it is brutal. we are doing a job we love and want to play regularly about some of the games and i'm christmas i hope it changes. we are due to pay arsenal on boxing day and aston villa two days later. we need to prepare for this game to try to win it which will be really tough but if we were to make one step into the next round

it would be an opportunity to maybe look at players that need game minutes or to rest players but we would still want to win this group. that chelsea game kicks off at five—to—six. manchester united are also playing this evening, they are at home to istanbul bashak—sheheer. i'll have more for you in the next hour. jack grealish has pleaded guilty to two charges of careless driving including one in connection with a crash during the lockdown and much, and incident on the 29th he has pleaded guilty to two charges of careless driving. elsewhere and football he is being linked with a move to manchester city, the news

reporting on is what has been happening at birmingham magistrates' court but he has pleaded guilty to two charges of careless driving. members on the left of labour's ruling national executive committee have staged a walk—out in protest at the election of veteran mp dame margaret beckett as chair.some of the nec‘s members say dame margaret's election does not follow protocol, and accused the labour leader sir keir starmer of undermining the role of trade unions within the party. a new law is being presented in parliament to strengthen nhs staffing with volunteer workers — similar to the armed forces reservists and police special constables. the nhs reserve staff bill would provide a formal bank of trained and vetted volunteer staff to support nhs hospitals and trusts during periods of high demand. it's intended to support, and not replace, the permanent workforce. let's speak now to alan mak mp who is presenting this bill in parliament today. i gather you have got the support of

the health secretary as well. yes, the health secretary as well. yes, the health secretary is fully behind this, we will launch a pilot in every region of the nhs to see how this would work best originally. the aim is to provide the nhs with extra resources during times of increased demand, seasonal increases but also major incidents. i hope be a vaccination programme to bring an end to the covid—19 pandemic so i am very optimistic. we saw during the crisis before coming back out of retirement, students are stepping up, many wanting to volunteer. over 47,000 clinical volunteers step forward during the pandemic, doctors unnecessary had been retired but 750,000 nonclinical volunteer signed up 750,000 nonclinical volunteer signed up to be nhs responders. in male constituency i saw as a people who wa nted constituency i saw as a people who wanted to help. a huge wellspring of

support and this is a formal structured organised way of utilising those goals to help in our communities. it sounds like such a sensible idea, you want the fight has not happened before. —— you wonder why it has not happened before. people help on a local basis but giving a uniform, a proper status and training will help boost reserve numbers. the police and fire service have existing successful reserve programmes, the nhs is the only emergency service which does not have one and a thickness will be a positive step forward. part of the su with the health service has been there were a lot of vacancies and nursing and other positions within the health service that meant when covid—19 hit the service was already understaffed. how important will it be to make sure that is a clear line between making sure staffing levels are as they should be and these

reserve lists are not used to basically plug a gap. the nhs recruitment of full—time staff will continue and the reserves and there to support and not supplant. the other for emergency situations, large public events, critical incidents and seasonal increases but also the vaccination programme. and the police and fire service we have regulars working very well along reserve and that is not strain or tension at m covered at the nhs will bring out the criteria, what with the katie debbie? you can put themselves for that question much chronicled as everest twitches for fight doctors and nurses will have to maintain those qualifications to come back but also a much bigger body of nonclinical people with professional skills, drivers,

logistics experts, communications, it, anyone with a valuable skill who can help the nhs and tough times is welcome. people at home thinking they would like to put that hand up, when might they be able to do that? you mentioned pilot schemes. we are watching pilots next year to see how the work regionally, see the best structure and a regional situation but people should be thinking about where we want to step up and i am asking members of parliament to be the champions and their own constituencies so hopefully they can get in touch with mpr and me and keep them posted as the scheme rolls out. it is not automatic, the bill goes to parliament later. what with the process before making this properly happened. the health secretary is behind this and a team working on either no to details and rolling out the pilot. the bill has been adopted and substance so at the government level this step is to see how this works on the ground, it has

a very exciting opportunity for people to get involved. thank you. if ita if it a bit of sunshine and other bills, across scotland and the far north—west, for the breaks of rain to come. wet few days, that rain will be shifting later but mild for the time in november, temperatures and double figures for everyone. colder conditions to scotland and northern ireland with a mixture of clear skies and showers, cloud and occasional rain pushing through when it will stay mild, temperatures not dropping than seven — nine. much plated tomorrow, showers here and there, brightening to the west through the day. claudia with occasional rain or drizzle, heavier busts in the midland, temperatures staying in double figures but

turning colder tomorrow, miss sunshine temperatures dropping through the day and night so enter thursday morning there will be a widespread frost and a bit of fog for some as well. more details later. performances, demonstrations, that has come in very recently in the last few hours. from friday, there was also an alcohol ban after ten o'clock, so definitely more legal restrictions in contrast to the focus on volu nta ry in contrast to the focus on voluntary guidelines, which has basically been the focus for the government and the

hello, this is bbc news with joanna gosling. the headlines: people arriving in england from abroad will soon be able to cut the quarantine period from 14 days to five, if they pay for a private covid test. having consulted very extensively with medical experts, we believe that five days, plus a very reliable test, is sufficient time now to be able to release people and that the test capacity is there to do this now. the four nations of the uk discuss christmas arrangements this afternoon in a cobra meeting. harry dunn's parents lose their high court battle over whether their son's alleged killer, anne sacoolas, had

diplomatic immunity. we've made clear right from the outset we are on their side. we have called, and we continue to call, for anne sacoolas to return home to facejustice. donald trump accepts that a formal transition of power can begin sojoe biden can take office, but he says he will continue to contest the election result. an appeal is launched for help finding two missing notebooks written by charles darwin, which include his famous tree of life sketch. sweden, which until now had avoided imposing a coronavirus national lockdown, has been forced to introduce stricter measures following a surge in cases and deaths. a ban on public events of more than eight people is now in force. our correspondent in stockholm maddy savage told me more about the new measures a little earlier. well, there is definitely

a tougher tone here. there has been a lot of criticism, as you reflected on, on sweden keeping more of society open than most european countries, despite having high numbers of cases in proportion to its population size. that was at the start of the pandemic. over the summer here, august time, actually cases dropped a lot. we were seeing a couple of hundred a day, and there was a lot of praise for sweden's strategy, but now we are seeing several thousand cases a day and that has really led to the government to seek tougher action, so there is a rule of eight for public events, so things like gigs, concerts, theatre performances, demonstrations, that has come in very recently in the last few hours. from friday, there was also an alcohol ban after ten o'clock, so definitely more legal restrictions in contrast to the focus on voluntary guidelines, which has basically been the focus for the government

and the swedish public health since the start of the crisis. spain's king felipe v! has started a 10—day quarantine period after being in close contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. the 52—year—old monarch suspended his public engagements after chairing a scientific meeting in madrid. spain has registered more than 1.58 million covid—19 cases, western europe's second highest tally after france, and over 43,000 deaths. the pandemic and lockdown have been a source of anxiety for many of us, but charities say people with obsessive compulsive disorder have been particularly badly affected. 0cd action has told the bbc that it's seen an unprecedented rise in those needing support for the condition in the last three months. divya talwar reports. i have to clean this door handle until my 0cd tells me to stop, otherwise i'm going to die. jothunior needs to clean this door at least 100 times, otherwise he thinks he'll catch coronavirus. he has obsessive compulsive

disorder, or 0cd, around a fear of contamination from germs. he has managed his 0cd for years, but, since the pandemic, it has taken over his life. now, the reason why i use the prongs is because i can't touch the food myself with my hands and i can't have it touch the sides, otherwise i'll throw it away. my 0cd is saying take this one. so if i go for this one, i'm feeling very sick and very scared that i'm going to die if i touch it. john has been keeping these video diaries to show how 0cd affects him in almost everything he does. now i'm going to wash my hands. 0cd is an anxiety disorder where people likejohn have unwanted, obsessive and intrusive thoughts or images that can drive them to carry out compulsive behaviours again and again, to try and get rid of the anxiety caused by the thoughts. i am going to do it four times. it is like a constant conflict in your mind between the intrusive thoughts and yourself.

it is alarming, it is distressing, it's numbing. it makes me anxious every single day. i have panic attacks over it. it's just horrible. i hate it. i really, really do hate it. and the coronavirus has made it worse. you know, my germ contamination, if i touch something, if i don't touch something, if i don't do something in a certain way i'll die. and i'm frightened of it. since the start of this pandemic, many people have found dealing with their 0cd much harder. charities have told us they have seen a big increase in people turning to them for help. 0cd action's helpline supported more than 1500 people between may tojuly of this year. that is more than double the number over the same period last year. we have seen an unprecedented demand for all of our services, with over 100% increase in demand across the board. and we think, largely, that is due to lockdown

and the impact that has had on people in terms of isolation and the fears that lockdown is causing in terms of uncertainty. tuna. i have to use a spoon to get it out, because i can't tip it in, because if it hits the sides... 0cd is treatable, but proper help on the nhs isn't always available immediately. john's on medication and has tried therapy. he's found helping others with 0cd by sharing his own challenges online allows him to manage his condition better. divya talwar, bbc news. for details of organisations which offer mental health advice and support, go online to bbc.co.uk/actionline. people in england face an anxious wait to see how restricted they will be in the run up to christmas, but news that the national lockdown will end

next wednesday has at least brought some early festive cheer. the prime minister did, however, urge caution with a vaccine not expected until spring. so what is the mood in the country after the latest covid curbs announcement? jayne mccubbin has been finding out. in england, they're getting ready to open up again, non—essential shops back in business. it will be absolutely great to open the doors again. we'll be able to trade as normally as possible. people can come in and browse, and just get back to doing christmas and making it as magical as we can. gyms will reopen places of worship, hairdressers, beauticians, hospitality too. you know, it's been tough. so to be back open, to have faces, music, voices back in there, for christmas as well, willjust be wonderful. but be warned, this will be far from business as usual, with the return of a tougher tier system. simon's cafe and others like it will reopen only in areas out

of the most restrictive tier 3, and those tiers won't be announced until thursday. this is a week away for england. there's been queues for clothes in wales, after they emerged from theirfirebreak. borisjohnson knows excitement is building about the prospect, the possibility of any kind of christmas. many of us want and need christmas with our families. we feel after this year we deserve it. but this is not the moment to let the virus rip for the sake of christmas parties. tis the season to be jolly, but it's also the season to be jolly careful. especially with elderly relatives. despite the caution, nicola sturgeon confirmed a uk agreement to relax restrictions for christmas is days away. i think that's going to really help people, i think, in terms ofjust their mental health. i think that's so important.

i feel it might be just a bit too early for that. and it's going to be lovely at christmas, but it's the after effects in january and february, that worries me. # one day more. # another day, another destiny. # shopping for online delivery... this was the marsh family back in march. their rendition of one more day made them a lockdown sensation. today, they urged people to hold on forjust a few more months. yeah, fundamentally, heart says, would love to see people, head says, i want lots more christmases with all of those people, and so if we need to, we just have to — i think you said the other day, take it on the chin. to use a football analogy like we're 1—0 up now, with vaccines and testing. and so when you're 1—0 up in the last five minutes, you don't go and try and score another goal. you organize and you hang on to what you've got. after the first national lockdown, the prime minister said a second was an unlikely nuclear option. yesterday, there was a new promise.

the national restrictions in england will end on the 2nd of december, and they will not be renewed. hollow words forjamie, who lost his dad to covid at the start of the first wave. he has little confidence in what lies ahead. i think all this is extremely difficult. we've seen the tiered system before. we've seen it fail. that's how we end up in a second lockdown that wasn't supposed to happen. and whilst promised again that we're not going to go into a third, i think frankly and personally speaking, it feels pretty disingenuous to be alternating between extreme restrictions and then liberalising. i can't see any other way, other thanjust prolonging this is back and forth. my dad passed away right at the end of march, the 29th of march. and frankly, what i've seen since then is isjust failing to get a grasp of the mistakes that caused dad's death amongst tens of thousands of others. and almost a refusal to admit that mistakes have been made, makes it almost impossible to learn

from those mistakes. even with a vaccine on the horizon, the prime minister has warned a long, hard winter lies ahead. the post—brexit trade talks are entering what could be their final few days if a deal is to be done before the end of the year, when britain will leave the eu's single market and the customs union. one of the big outstanding issues remains what is known as the ‘level playing field'. earlier this month, the eu negotiator michel barnier, who is now in self—isolation after a member of his staff contracted covid, tweeted a picture of himself in search of a solution. who is now in self—isolation after a member of his staff contracted covid, tweeted a picture of himself in search of a solution. our reality check correspondent chris morris explains. the last time michel barnier was in london he came here to regent's park ona london he came here to regent's park on a break from intense london he came here to regent's park on a breakfrom intense negotiations looking for a level playing field. anything he can do, we can do, so here we are. what is the level

playing field and why is it so important in the brexit talks? well, joining me on our socially distant playing field or two people you know the answer, joe may is a splinter because i picked corresponded, and catherine prebble works for various german newspapers here in london. joe, the level playing field, what it is -- joe, the level playing field, what it is —— what is it about? joe, the level playing field, what it is -- what is it about? it is about creating conditions for fair business between the uk and eu are not along one side to get sand from their example through things like wea ker their example through things like weaker employment standards or environmental standards. why is it so important for the eu? the eu wants to protect its businesses, its markets. it is the well's largest single market, and the access to a market of 500 million people comes with some kind of condition. but there is a problem because the uk

sees the whole thing rather differently. the uk think softy is one of the most important benefits of brexit and anything that would mean tied to eu rules would be an anathema to the uk government. that is kind of where we are stuck as these negotiations move into extra time, so the question is, who is prepared to give ground and where? catherine, how much will the eu give ground on the level playing field?” don't think a lot. the single market is the biggest achievement of the eu. they fear that the uk could undermine those standards and regulations in the future, and then they have the astute competitor on its doorstep, so i don't think it will give a lot. so how are we going to get this over the line? with the best will in the world, there is a ha rd best will in the world, there is a hard deadline coming up at the end of the year. joe, what is the

potential compromise on the level playing field? the uk may agree not to go below certain standards with the eu, say the environment, labour, and that could be enough to assuage the eu concerns. the uk might be willing to sign up to an independent regulator, which might be enough to convince the eu not to worry. so it might be enough. are you optimistic that a deal can be done? cautiously optimistic. i think both sides would lose lots that there is no deal, and both sides have a lot to win if there is a deal. thank you both are joining us here in regent's park. so the goal of reaching a deal might seem a logical outcome, but on the level playing field, both sides will have to give ground on some fundamental issues, and that is why there is no guarantee that the keel —— that a deal will actually be done. the headlines on bbc news:

people arriving in england from abroad will soon be able to cut the quarantine period from 14 days to five, if they pay for a private covid test. the four nations of the uk discuss christmas arrangements this afternoon in a cobra meeting. harry dunn's parents lose their high court battle over whether their son's alleged killer, anne sacoolas, had diplomatic immunity. a new report is warning afghanistan is becoming a significant producer of the dangerously addictive and illegal drug methamphetamine, or ‘crystal meth‘. afghanistan is already the source of the majority of the world's heroin, but the research, carried out by the european union's drug monitoring body, warns meth production could eventually become an even bigger industry. secunder kermani reports. addiction, squalor and misery. under this bridge in the west of kabul, lives left broken by drugs. for years, heroin use has been a major problem here but now many

are turning to a new cheaper fix, crystal meth. afghanistan already produces the vast majority of the world's heroin, made using these poppies. now it's emerging as a major producer of crystal meth, another dangerously addictive illegal drug. the boom has been fuelled by the discovery that this common afghan plant can be used to make the key ingredient ephedrine. poor afghans in rural communities can produce it in makeshift labs like this one before sending it on to be refined into meth. so this is classic ephedrine lab...

using satellite images, a team of researchers has been tracking the growth of the ephedrine labs. they found more than 300 in one district alone. the realisation that you could produce methamphetamine from a wild crop in the mountains, this ephedra crop, has been a fundamental game changer. you've gone from imported over—the—counter medicines at a high cost, to being able to use a low price commodity that is growing in its abundance and simple chemistry. in the past, the us has carried out air strikes on suspected drugs labs. the taliban are believed to charge them taxes, but the labs are so easy to rebuild, the campaign soon stopped. meth with suspected links to afghanistan has been discovered as far away as australia. here, a seizure with a street value of more than $50 million dissolved

in mineral water bottles. what we are seeing and what we are monitoring is an increase in methamphetamine coming from afghanistan and the surrounding countries around there. and the forensic analysis you've done on the meth, does it suggest it was produced using this ephedra plant? so all of the profiling results that we received from these seizures indicate to us that the starting product is the ephedra plant. obviously for us, that yields critical information. meth from afghanistan may be exported around the world but it's causing misery back here too. continuing instability means the amount produced and the number of lives ruined is likely to rise. secunder kermani, bbc news. soon to star in marvel‘s first asian superhero film, michelle yeoh says it has taken time for hollywood to offer more diverse roles to asian actors.

named on this year's bbc 100 women list, michelle yeoh is known internationally for her work in films, including the james bond movie tomorrow never dies and crazy rich asians. she talked to us about her work with the un as a goodwill ambassador and how she wants to inspire girls to do anything they set their minds to. was i welcome to america as an asian actor? at that time it was a little bit of a shock to the system when you go from asia and into america and suddenly you're known as a minority. that word, to be honest, was something new to me. if you looked at, even on the tv or any of the movies from hollywood, there were very, very little asian

faces on screen. and when there are, a lot of the times they were very stereotypical. at the beginning when you read the scripts it always has to explain where this age and looking person came from. it is from the laundromat, or chinatown. you 90, the laundromat, or chinatown. you go, seriously? what has happened it has changed over the last two years, because i think all of these different movements, all these voices are being heard, and also when there is a box office success, like for example crazy rich agents, then you cannot deny that is what then you cannot deny that is what the audience wants, and that is a giant step for us. we see ourselves as sometimes being funny or whatever it is, but we should laugh together, andi it is, but we should laugh together, and i think that is what happened with crazy rich agents. we alljust embraced each other and said, hi—fi, that pretty cool.

now that more mature actresses have taken on the roles as producers, not just allowing themselves to be sidelined, those who have been very successful actresses have stepped forwards and stepped up. they have successfully created many, many more rules for strong woman and they are stories that need to be told. if i can do it, then i want those little girls to say, i can do that too. i think that is the most important message. i think that is the most important message. cambridge university library has announced that two notebooks written by charles darwin, worth many millions of pounds, have been missing for 20 years. one of them contains the 19th century scientist's famous tree of life sketch, exploring the evolutionary relationship between species. following a number of intensive searches, curators have now concluded they have probably been stolen and they've launched

a public appeal for help in trying to find them. our arts correspondent rebecca jones has this exclusive report. imagine losing something in here. cambridge university library is vast. 200 kilometres of shelving, 10 million books, maps and manuscripts and amongst it all, two missing notebooks by charles darwin. each of these notebooks which are the same as the ones we are looking for, are about the size of a postcard. they are written in landscape so across the page and they have, of course, darwin's writing. the notebooks have been digitised but the originals have not been seen since november 2000 when they were taken to be photographed in a temporary studio in the university's grounds. it wasn't until two months later that librarians realised they were missing. they assume they'd been put back on a different shelf and there were a number of extensive searches. now, a new team thinks they got it wrong. i have reluctantly come

to the conclusion that these notebooks have probably been stolen. that is heartbreaking for me, heartbroken this has happened, i have spent my whole career devoted to the preservation of cultural heritage and i will spend all my time here trying to determine the possibility of recovery of these items. in 1837, a young charles darwin had recently returned from the galapagos islands aboard hms beagle. in his notebooks, he is working through scientific ideas inspired by his trip. and in one of them, he sketches the tree of life. these notebooks really are darwin's attempt to pose to himself the question about where two species come from? what is the origin of species? it is almost like being inside darwin's head when you are looking at these notebooks. they are jottings of all sorts of information he is writing down. to have such an iconic object go missing is really a tragedy. your help could be critical in seeing the notebooks' safely returned. the library has launched an appeal calling for help from the public,

former staff and researchers, in locating the notebooks by one of the best—known scientists of all time. it will take another five years to complete a full search of the building here so it is still possible the notebooks could turn up. in the meantime, their disappearance has been reported to cambridgeshire police. and if you have any information about where they might be, the library would love to hear from you. rebecca jones, bbc news, cambridge. let's get more now on the news that harry dunn's parents have lost their high court battle against the foreign office, over whether their son's alleged killer, ann sacoolas, had diplomatic immunity. our correspondent duncan kennedy has been getting reaction from harry's family. disappointment, initially. we have had many tears and tantrums, but we have kept her feet on the ground and taken some deep breaths. we have already lodged an appeal, so that is

now being placed. it is upsetting, of course it is, but it is just a blip. it isjust of course it is, but it is just a blip. it is just another hurdle. we have come across many of them. yes, we have. so we are going to keep going. we need a new set of boxing gloves perhaps, the ones that we have had for the last 15 months i think we have worn them out a bit, but we are good. we have a fantastic tea m but we are good. we have a fantastic team of qcs, and lawyers behind us, with the support of dominic raab as well, we know that we have so much confidence in them. they knew right from the off that she did not have immunity at the time of the crash, she did not have immunity at the time to to carry‘s light. their confidence instills confidence in us. absolutely. iam harry confidence instills confidence in us. absolutely. i am harry will prevail, it doesn't matter how it ta kes. imagine this — you're walking your new puppy in the local park when, suddenly, he's snatched

by an alligator and pulled under water — what would you do? it was a dilemma faced by richard willbanks in florida, who didn't hesitate to dive in after his king charles spaniel. you can see richard wrestle with the alligator, prising open its jaws, allowing little gunner to escape unharmed. and he did it all without dropping the cigar in his mouth! now it's time for a look at the weather. hello. it has been a pretty wet day so farfor some of hello. it has been a pretty wet day so far for some of you before late november it is a chilly quite mild. temperatures today either side of 12 degrees right across the uk, with a bit of sunshine for some. a different story by the end of the week, temperatures will be around 5 degrees, with some frost and fog. the colder air at the moment is to the north—west of this weather

front, which is buckling across northern ireland and the west of scotland, keeping it wet here for a few more hours. things will improve tonight, turning wetter into the evening in north—west england, and parts of western wales. the further south and you are clearer skies to finish the day. signs of the colder weather pushing into northern ireland and scotland tonight. this weather front is at last on the move. to the south and east of that, a mild night in store, to the north and west it will be that bit fresher, with a bit of frost for one or two. here is the big picture coming into wednesday. a weather front is pushing its way southwards and eastwards. it will be cloudy across southern and eastern counties of england, with outbreaks of rain at times, including to the midlands. for the north—west west and midlands, wales, a lot of sunshine,

but much colder, holding on to around ten or 12 celsius in the south—eastern channel islands. at the colder air in place forjust about all of us going into wednesday night, a much colder night to come, widespread frost into thursday morning, and some tench patches of fog. some of the fog may linger around all day for one or two sheltered valleys. for most, thursday will be a crisp and light there were plenty of sunshine, some cloud lingering around the english channel, magic and issues for the channel, magic and issues for the channel islands. there will be more problems with fog into friday morning. the fog lights will be on, theice morning. the fog lights will be on, the ice scraper out. it will stay cool through friday, and write their way into the weekend. most cases dry, afair way into the weekend. most cases dry, a fair bit of cloud around, one to or two of you may get away with a bit of sunshine, too.

donald trump accepts a formal transition should begin forjoe biden to take office. he says the agency overseeing the handover must "do what needs to be done" — but he doesn't concede — and says the fight goes on we'll have the latest, live, from washington. also this lunchtime... as the health secretary confirms that things should get back to normal after easter — we're still waiting for news on the four nations' plans for christmas test negative — and we'll reduce your quarantine — the new rules for people travelling to england from abroad from the history section to the crime section: the missing darwin notebooks that cambridge university library now says were stolen 20 years ago and meet kuno — the hero dog who's receiving the animal victoria cross — for saving british soldiers fighting in afghanistan, despite being shot himself.