this is bbc news. i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. president trump pardons michael flynn — his former national security adviser, who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. people in england find out today which restrictions they face when the lockdown ends next week. we follow the exiled leader of belarus‘ opposition party on her mission in europe in our series, 100 women. and, argentina, and the world, say goodbye to diego maradona, one of football's all—time greats.

hello and welcome. we have a packed programme for you but, first, president trump has pardoned his former national security adviser, michael flynn. the retired army general served three weeks in office at the start of the trump administration before pleading guilty to lying to the fbi during the investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. 0ur correspondent in washington nomia iqbal reports. i hereby grant you a full pardon. it is donald trump's final weeks in office and like all presidents before him, he is granting concept reversal hardens as he heads out the exit door. it is former national security advisor who

we fight before its prosecution that get the full pardon. lock herup! that get the full pardon. lock her up! that's right! lock her | her up! that's right! lock her up! michael flynn matt problems began in 2016 where donald trump won the election and he had private conversation with the russian ambassador over interference with elections and later lied to the fbi over the contacts. michael flynn admitted what he did as part of admitted what he did as part of a plea deal with special counsel robert mueller who was investigating russian influence but in the last two years he has been trying to withdraw the guilty plea while awaiting sentencing. president trump off pa rt sentencing. president trump off part and has now taken the matter out of the courts and away from a president biden controlled justice department. speaker of the house, the democrat nancy pelosi, called itan act democrat nancy pelosi, called it an act of corruption and a former employer of the president backed that view. it's no surprise that his loyalty to donald trump has paid off and expect to see of

these types of pardons for chump loyalists, no matter how previous their crimes were. in his tweed, trump showed his loyalty back, and wish michael flynn and his family a happy thanksgiving. it followed a different message from the man who beat him in the election. joe biden address the country on the need to call the coronavirus pandemic and urged americans to think twice about the traditional plan of travelling home for the holidays as prices spike across the country. — such as cases spike across the country. you need to remember we are at war with a virus, not with each other on one another. this is the moment we need to steal our spines, double our efforts and recommit ourselves to the fight —— steel our spines. remember, we are all in this together. he says it is not political but patriotic, drawing a contrast to president trump who he replaces in eight weeks time.

nomia iqbal, bbc news. people in england will find out this morning which tier their local areas will be placed in, when the lockdown ends next week, with most expected to face the two highest levels of coronavirus restrictions. the health secretary, matt hancock, is to make the announcement in the commons. the allocations will be reviewed on the 16th of december. here's our political correspondent helen catt. the shutters will come up on shops, gyms and hairdressers everywhere in england next week as lockdown ends but what else opens again will open —— dependably lived. the governmental will announce later this morning which level of its new tier system will apply in each area and what is likely to happen? 0nly apply in each area and what is likely to happen? only a handful of areas they are expected to go into tier one, where groups up to six will meet again indoors or outdoors. pubs and restaurants can open with last orders at nbn and closing at 11 pm. most of

england is about to be in tier two, groups of up to six will be able to meet outdoors but not indoors unless there is a support bubble. ups can only reopen if they open as restau ra nts a nd reopen if they open as restaurants and alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal. some areas will be in the highest level of restrictions, pubs and restau ra nts restrictions, pubs and restaurants will be forced to provide takeaway only and no mixing of household except up to six people in public outdoor spaces, like parks. london is expected to be put into tier two, some areas of northern england have already had months of tight restrictions in fear they are headed for tier three. i think it's more likely than not that the government put us in tier three. given the state m e nts in tier three. given the statements that ministers have made about the majority of people being disappointed and practically nobody being in tier one, i think giving a clear steer that they are going to err on the side of caution. 0ther to err on the side of caution. other areas like lincolnshire

were in the lowest tier before lockdown in cases of thought in some parts of the county but not others. they are among several authorities and mps of the bill to the government to ta ke the bill to the government to take into account are not to impose pieties across entire county. we have areas on the east coast which are pretty high at the moment although they are coming down and we have other areas inland which are below average and theme verse two force businesses and families to go through the highest restrictions when there is absolutely no need in those particular areas. the government says it will look at local context as a factor and that could include if a commuter — area is that could include if a commuter — area is a that could include if a commuter — area is a commuter zone 01’ commuter — area is a commuter zone or has students. rapid community testing will be offered to areas that go into tier three. in liverpool it's been credited cut levels of transmission and the government says doing that means it made me back down the tears and it

is promising to review the allocations by december 16. helen catt, bbc news. what impact will it have across pubs and restaurants across the uk, i will have that discussion in about 25 minutes when we talk business. crowds of people in argentina remained on the streets late into the night to mourn the death of the football legend diego maradona, who's died of a heart attack at the age of 60. argentina has declared three days of national mourning and later today maradona's coffin will be put on display in the presidential palace in buenos aires. natalio cosoy reports. brought to tears and brought to his knees, a fan pays tribute to diego maradona. here at the home of the soccer cloud, an informal default shine in memory of the cloud greatest player. all across buenos aires

and argentina they gathered to celebrate a glorious and colourful life. —— club. if you wa nt to colourful life. —— club. if you want to know what maradona meant for argentinians, you need only to come here to the centre of buenos aires this evening tojoin with centre of buenos aires this evening to join with hundreds of maradona fans dressed in argentina and buckeye junior kids who came here to chat, shout and to cry for their hero. translation: he is eternal and here, diego maradona will continue to be history. he made this known all over the world. translation: i want to cry. i really wa nt translation: i want to cry. i really want to cry. argentina is gone. argentina died today. at every champions league match, a minutes silence was held in his memory. the latest generation of players and coaches say goodbye to one of

the great. he made the football world better. his performance and what he did in apperley, 18 from the south and a special national team in argentina 1986 was something unbelievable. —— in naples. in naples and barcelona they grieved but it is here, in argentina, whether pain is felt that deepest. what football has lost a legend but this country has lost one of its favourite sons. natalio cosoy, bbc news. a british—australian academic, kylie moore—gilbert, has expressed relief and thanks at her release from two years detention in iran for espionage. ms moore—gilbert, who always denied wrongdoing, was freed in exchange for three unnamed iranians imprisoned abroad. the australian government praised diplomatic engagement with their iranian counterparts. mark lobel reports.

the first pictures of kylie moore—gilbert, an australian academic on her way to freedom. releasing her face mask in front of the australian ambassador to iran after two years in prison. she was facing another eight years in an iranian prison, wrongfully imprisoned and convicted. and it is incredibly essential that we did the work that was done to secure her release and see her coming home. state tv also reveals three arrivals, seemingly in exchange for the british—australian's release, being heralded by iran's deputy foreign minister. the melbourne university lecturer‘s exit comes after she was tried in secret on charges of spying, which she denies. she was held in a notorious prison in the desert and let it be known she had rejected an offerfrom iran to become a spy. in a statement, dr moore—gilbert thanked australian officials and said:

the prison conditions would not have been good that kylie had been living through, especially in the section with the revolutionary guard — where she had been detained because we know that ill—treatment and torture is quite prolific there. the british government has yet to secure the release of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, a british—iranian charity worker who was jailed on spying charges in 2016 and has always maintained her innocence. her husband, richard ratcliffe, says this latest release shows deals are being done, but didn't know what it meant for his wife's situation. iranian state media insists they had exchanged a zionists

spy but dr moore—gilbert supporters say they are over the moon, an amazing friend and colleague is on her way home. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the zebra fish that could teach us how to heal wounds without leaving a scar. president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world. the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number 10 to see the queen, she told her cabinet, "it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany's first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot air balloon had to be abandoned

after a few minutes but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it's not hot air we need, it's hard cash." cuba has declared nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90. castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 1960s. it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, with the cuban missile crisis. pandemic, the government decides to cut foreign aid. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: president trump pardons michael flynn, his former national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his contacts with russia. people in england will find out today which level of restrictions they will be facing when the lockdown ends on the second of december.

it's been more than three months since the disputed election in belarus which saw alexander lu kashenko hold election in belarus which saw alexander lukashenko hold onto power. the protests, which erupted after the vote, are continuing every day. but with mr lukashenko showing no sign of stepping down, authorities in belarus are becoming increasingly violent in their attempts to suppress the dissent. countries in europe are now considering further sanctions against the regime in an attempt to break the stalemate. 0ur europe correspondent jean mackenzie, has been following the leader of the opposition, svetlana tikhanovskaya as part of the bbc‘s 100 women series. now one of the world's most guarded women, svetlana tikhanovskaya is exiled and wanted. this is where she and her team now plot the downfall of belarus's regime. i have to make it extremely difficult decisions every day. decisions that will make the moment of our victory closer. here, she's shown a video

of a protester in belarus being beaten by secret police. how are you this morning? horrible. horrible? why? i think he will die. as lukashenko clings to power, his grip on his security forces is holding firm. these violent crackdown are no longer a surprise, yet still they have the ability to shock. this regime, it seems that they don't have borders at all. as soon as he doesn't have money to pay riot police, they will refuse to serve him, they will come to our side. it's widely believed that tikhanovskaya won the election in belarus and european leaders see her as the legitimate president. she spent the past months persuading them to starve the regime with targeted economic sanctions. she is on the way to meet the prime minister of latvia when she finds out the protester

who was beaten has died — 31—year—old roman bondarenko. now we're going to insist on more help from european countries because we see that our authorities there are escalating their violence. and only a0 people on the sanction list? are you joking? you have to expand this list to hundreds of names. the prime minister agrees to help and in the days that follow, so does the eu. finally, a moment to pause and a vigilfor roman. this grief is felt painfully back in belarus where people have been protesting against the regime for more than 100 days. all of these people in belarus going out every sunday, knowing that maybe they will not come home this evening. this is really hard news.

underneath the fatigue of her attritional fight is sober determination to keep the rest of the world with her. she knows this is the only hope she has. jean mckenzie, bbc news. you can find much more from the bbc‘s 100 women season online. just go to bbc.com/100women. 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. let's return to the us now, we heard earlier thatjoe biden has encouraged people to refrain from high—risk activities over the thanksgiving holidays. the death toll from coronavirus in the us stands above 262,000 with almost 2300 deaths in the

past 2a hours alone. i'm joined by dr mark morocco, a professor of emergency medicine at ucla, with a special plea for thanksgiving and the holiday season. thank you for being on the programme, i know it is late wednesday where you are, you are not quite into the thanksgiving day yet, but what is your message for americans the thanksgiving? well, happy thanksgiving to you in london, sally. the message behind the column, really, was a call for unity, a call for an united states in the last few years we have had severe disagreements about how we see this virus and how we see this challenge that we need to meet and we think that we are entering the next six weeks to eight week period where we have the ability as citizens to take action, simple action, easy to do the things that we have talked about everywhere, mask wearing, social distancing, washing your hands, avoiding large crowd through the holidays and if we

do that we cannot the top of this curve and make a difference between a winter that could be inconvenient and painful and one that could be frankly disastrous. use a disastrous, just the numbers that i've read out, 2300 deaths just in the last 2a hours? it would seem that the virus is spreading rapidly in some parts of the united states stopping to what extent are you hearing that people are heeding that the thanksgiving has to be different? i think we are beginning to see people really beginning to see people really begin to look at the numbers, asi begin to look at the numbers, as i said in my column, it is like a great sea of grass and the virus is a fire and we are dry blades and it is looking to spread from sea to shining sea. we are seeing hotspots in the united states that we didn't see any virus that all not very long ago and i think that those numbers and those examples are beginning to get people's attention and we are hoping now that the election is past and we can get, the same way that

happens in a war and this is a war against the virus. we need a unified single voice as americans and really, globally as well to deal with this pandemic. is a little like those monster movies where the earth comes together because the aliens have attacked, well, the aliens have attacked, well, the aliens have attacked, well, the aliens are here and they are viruses but we have in our hands are and not dangerous things that we can do to help us things that we can do to help us all get to the thanksgiving gifts that we enjoy in our world as human beings, our family, ourjobs world as human beings, our family, our jobs and world as human beings, our family, ourjobs and our regular lives. so how is your thanksgiving different this year? well, i'd traditionally work thanksgiving and the thanksgiving weekend holiday so that others can have it off. we will be different in our hospital because we will not be able to have our traditional thanksgiving potluck which is probably, if you have ever been and a big urban hospital, a diverse place like los angeles, eve ryo ne diverse place like los angeles, everyone brings their own family and culture's favourite

dish so you can literally have the best four or five dish so you can literally have the best four orfive meals dish so you can literally have the best four or five meals of my entire life have been at work on thanksgiving or christmas potluck days, so we will miss that but we will be waiting, we are preparing for the patience to come with and without covid-19, the patience to come with and without covid—19, like the virus, once you enter a clinical presentation in our emergency rooms across the country and across the world, we don't care if you are conservative or a liberal or where you are from, if you're from the coast or the centre of the country, we are going to treat you the same way, the same whether virus doesn't distinguish between people. we all need to be in this and be thankfulfor all need to be in this and be thankful for that. we are very grateful that you took the time—out to talk to us on bbc news and happy thanksgiving to you all, i hope you have a good shift despite the lack of potluck, that sounds like a lovely treat. we're going to do our best, all the best to you and as well. a british genetic research project, a world first of its kind, is seeking to eradicate scarring

within a generation. scientists at bristol university will study the genetic code of the tiny zebra fish, which are able to repair their tails, skin, and internal organs without leaving a scar. the translucent striped fish share about 80% of human disease—making genes. you may find some of the scenes in john mcguire's report upsetting. when delilah was just 17 when delilah wasjust 17 months old she suffered extensive and severe burns in an accident. she spent two months and intensive care and has had numerous operations ever since. my numerous operations ever since. my scars don't grow with me, so if my didn't have that skin g rafts if my didn't have that skin grafts then they would just be really tight and extremely painful. the biggest concern is how her injuries and scar tissue restrict her physical activities up yellow i can't

play with my friends the way that i would want to, and i can't alwaysjoin that i would want to, and i can't always join in and stuff, and after a while it does really hurt. and there are emotional consequences, although her positivity is extraordinary. when i was younger i use to be seen differently, because we know was younger they were a lot more visible and also a lot of my friends when i was younger didn't really understand because we were so didn't really understand because we were so young, but now my classmates understand that i'm just the same as them. so, here at the university of restore, scientists are working to eradicate scarring. they are studying zebrafish, native to rivers in india, but more like us rivers in india, but more like us than you might think. because share we a lot of the same genes, we think around 80% of disease—causing genes in humans, the zebrafish also have an equivalent but they are not

exactly the same, so there are some differences and how that gene functions in the fish compared to how it might function and asked. they have an amazing ability to repair and regenerate their own bodies, crucially, without leaving scars. so is there something in the flesh's genetics that could be replicated in humans? they are able to regenerate many different issues, including their tail, and their skin essentially. also the retina, their heart, any kind of damage that they get that is similar to damage we might get. so we might be able to produce a certain type of white blood cell or promote the function of another type of white blood cell and the combination of that might be the way to reduce scarring in human patients in the future. the scientists will also consider how various skin colours scar differently. this is the first research project of its kind in the world and the charity funding it has a

bold ambition, to achieve scar free healing within a generation. scarring is common, there's lots of people affected, it's costly, it costs the nhs billions of pounds a year to treat bad wounds and ha rd to year to treat bad wounds and hard to heal scars but what a lot of people don't appreciate is that the deep emotional problems caused by scarring, people who are afraid to go out, children who are bullied at school, for example, and of course the ultimate solution, in due course, is to eradicate scarring. these days, we often talk about mental scars and by treating people in a way that leaves no physical markings, that may go a long way to reducing those mental scars also. it's fascinating, isn't it? quite incredible what can be achieved. we have so much more for you on this programme, all the top business stories. i will be speaking to the chief executive to the british institute of and keeping for what the prospects are for pubs

and england as we had towards christmas, mostly in tier two. i will see you soon. hello. we've plenty of fine weather in the forecast for the uk for the next few days, thanks to a building ridge of high pressure. but that ridge of high pressure will bring with it an increased chance of many of us seeing frosty nights. could be some chilly days, as well, as under the ridge of high pressure, there's an increasing chance of us seeing fog developing by night and lingering into the coming days. today perhaps not so bad, though. we will have a weather front still pushing a bit more cloud into southernmost counties of the uk first thing, a little bit of rain for kent. 0n the whole, though, the majority seeing sunshine from the get—go. but even with the sunshine, after a chilly start, our temperatures won't recover to the heights we've seen

previously this week. we're looking typically at highs of 7—9, the odd spot getting up to 10 or 11. you may well notice this weather front trying to come into the north—west. these two fronts tend to try and squeeze the high through thursday and friday, but through the centre of the high, we have the greatest risk of seeing some fog as we move into the small hours of friday. and here, too, ithink, our chilliest spots, dipping down below freezing. a little bit more cloud to the far south—east and the far north—west will perhaps mean our temperatures may stay above. and through friday daytime, those fronts, as you can see, just cap either end of the uk. through the core of the uk, you may all think we're set up for a lot of sunshine. some areas will get some decent sunshine, but some of that fog is going to really struggle to clear. there's not much breeze set to work on it, and the sunshine isn't particularly strong at this time of year. and if the fog does stick, temperatures, 2—3 degrees are possible. but as you can see, even in the best of early brightness on friday, we're

looking at 6 or 7. as for the weekend, i suspect fairly similar temperatures and a fairly similar—looking picture overall. some chilly nights to come. you'll notice that our high looks a little different for saturday and sunday, it extends across us from the continent. just a chance as well on sunday that we'll see a weather front trying to push into the north—west. but the effect overall is still the same — a lot of fine weather, light winds, but that chance of some fog forming by night that lingers through the day or lifts up into low cloud, hence sunshine for many parts of the uk may well be at a premium as we head on into the weekend.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. tiers before christmas: england's regions to find out what restrictions will replace lockdown on december 2nd. amid dire warnings from the hospitality industry. plus, the worst slump in 300 years and the highest borrowing levels ever seen in peacetime. the uk chancellor counts the economic cost of covid. as you've been hearing, in a few hours time the uk

health secretary will outline the restrictions different