president trump says he will leave the white house if the electoral college certifiesjoe biden's victory when it meets next month. the comment is the closest mr trump has come to acknowledging his election defeat, although he continues to insist on his unsubstantiated claims of massive fraud. the argentine football legend, diego maradona, has been buried on the outskirts of buenos aires, next to his parents. his cortege travelled through the streets after the 60 year—old had been lying in state where thousands queued to file past his coffin. the ethiopian government says it is distributing aid to people displaced by the fighting in tigray, hours after it launched its final offensive against the dissident leadership there. it also said it had established a humanitarian corridor, although this hasn't been verified by the united nations.

now on bbc news, newscast. to date we're going be joined by the former international development secretary. hi, how are you. i am very well because we will start off with a little quiz. you are bound to get this stop everyone knows the uk? current target for spending on international aid is 0.7%. which countries are higher or lower than that? do you remember these statistics?” think i will be right in saying norway and sweden.” think i will be right in saying norway and sweden. i was going to give you the countries and then you tell me higher or lower. you have met your match. france? lower. correct. united

arab emirates. lower. they are, but if you join we spent 0.5, they spent a 0.55 so they will be just they spent a 0.55 so they will bejust a bit they spent a 0.55 so they will be just a bit higher. that is a trick question. russia? lower. 0.0 7%. trick question. russia? lower. 0.07%.i trick question. russia? lower. 0.0 7%. i did sound confident about that. this is an interesting one. germany, higher or lower? i think we would have been higher but now we will be lower. germany 0.61 %. germany might lower theirs as well. we have spent a long time persuading them to increase their aid spent. that is interesting. this is like a preview of what christmas day will be like. can you invite us all undeserved. are you hoping

the lockdown continues? turkey, higher or lower? i am going to say higher because they have so much of the refugee crisis from syria to deal with u nfortu nately for syria to deal with unfortunately for them. correct. the first guest on newscast to get them all right. who could be better qualified. we are looking at the decision of reducing international aid in the spending review. first of all we will talk about the new tier system. it is adam in the studio. and laura in the studio. and chris in my cupboard. we have had another date will be learnt about the

new system for controlling coronavirus and i was thinking back about what we have been through. the pre— lockdown, swedish lockdown. the full lockdown. the reopening. the local lockdown. a few more. speculation about the circuit breaker. tier system version one. english lockdown. tier system version two. that is just england. of course scotla nd just england. of course scotland had the fire break. just england. of course scotland had the fire breakm is probably what you feel so tired. this is boris johnson. the allocation of tears will be reviewed every 14 days, starting on the 16th of december so your tear is not your destiny. every area has the means of escape and i have no doubt that together we can get through this winter, suppress the virus until

vaccines come to oui’ suppress the virus until vaccines come to our aid and then we can reclaim our lives and all the things that we love. the medium of podcasting does not lend itself to a graph oi’ does not lend itself to a graph or map but if you were to sketch out the map of england what would you say? it looks broadly, broadly, broadly most of the north of england and distracted form of tears, most of the south in the less strict tier two and then a nice lump in commonwealth, isle of wight, isles of scilly and that is about it but there is a north — south divide in the big picture. when you look at the numbers, all of this conversation today has been dominated by the sense of the return to tears yet to numbers that leap out that before, when we we re

that leap out that before, when we were in the dss to be for the national restrictions, 23.5 million in tijuana. it will be 700,000 by the middle of next week. and how things feel is totally different. and it is about different areas. devon, kent, wilts. mps are thinking, my bit of my area we do not have any covid in the town 20 case away the hospital may have covered 19 cases. the decisions around the areas have been made quite explicit so the criteria including how is the local hospital doing, also what is the rate and a table now where every area has a little set of notes done by officials to explain to their working. that

is one big difference anything the government is being more transparent even that amount of information is different but it is also the case that their decision is now taken centrally. these decisions were taken by officials in whitehall, the prime minister signed off. the government deciding this. there is going to be a review every fortnight so to be a review every fortnight so the site is were clear you could be in a tearfor a long time, there is a possibility of people changing relatively quickly. there are a few areas in the south the highest tier. focus on the north—east, north—west. if you are in manchester and you run a comedy club, you have been shut for a while and will be shut for a while and will be shut for a

while but. jessica, the managing director of froch and bucket. it is really disappointing. christmas is a great period for us and it is just 2020 done for us. no chance of having any opportunity to trade. you have written 2020 of stephen in two weeks time to review it and manchester go down to tier two, it does not matter to you? at best we might get one week and an sucha best we might get one week and an such a short amount of time to market it. how can i start planning and promoting and selling shows? if you take all the ups and downs, all the different schemes and things we have had and systems we have had for managing the virus, what does it mean for your business? finances? it makes it really ha rd now. business? finances? it makes it really hard now. we are in such

dire straits perhaps we may have to go find me and rely a lot on the talent and customers to support us through this period. how is that going? it is going really well, actually. it is another couple of months otherwise today's news would have been really devastating. really, so that you can only survive as a business that is not trading because of the generosity of people donating money to you? yes, we keep slipping through the nets in one way or another for financial supports and grants so financial supports and grants so this is the only way we can do it. jessica, thank you very much. i am sorry that not a lot of laughs in any direction but it will be great to popping as soon it will be great to popping as soon as it will be great to popping as soon as i am allowed. great, lovely to see you. jessica told me that she has had some very

high profile and effectors donating to save her comedy club. i don't know if i'm allowed to say but there is a comedian who does a lot of stuff with another member of his family. say no more. we will keep you guessing. this thursday, classic lineup. boris johnson, patrick vallance and who i am now culling professor christmas make but he did not sound like anyone looking forward to a nice christmas. at the beginning of the week we had the 0k, the beginning of the week we had the ok, you can go and see yourfamily had the ok, you can go and see your family anywhere in the uk but you have to be careful about it. and chris whitty was not surprised to be asked about it at 30 revealed to the nation that he will be on the wards but hats off. that is pretty

impressive but he also had this kind of warning. it is an opportunity for families but would i encourage someone to hug and kiss their elderly relatives? no, iwould not. you can do it but it does not make sense. it would not want to do that ina sense. it would not want to do that in a period that we might be able to protect other people this is very much what i think people will do. in answer to your direct question, i will be on the wards. that is impressive. somebody else on

the podcast you can put the names together and it has a christmas in it. yes. if you really think about it. you have been on the news talking about the tier system. what are your final thoughts about where we got to at the end of the day? the... it is all about geography. geography matters because there are different incidents of the virus and therefore risks depending on where you are in the country and yet, if you are a sceptic of the way the tears have been cast and we are hearing plenty of noise, they can make the same argument because they can say if you look at kent or lincolnshire or lancashire, all in ts three, —— tier three, if the tear had been more subtle

you could have kept areas in a lower tier so it is a kind of inevitability that if you go with a geographical based approach can have the argument used against government which it is using about having a different picture around the country. i do love how each week you to find some way to crowbar in the relevance of geography as a subject. i am not the once again that it is not the once again that it is not what i do wonder if there is something going on, perhaps trying to be invited to be fellows of the royal geographic society, if you are not already. all politics is local after all. the professional geographers working on bbc news have been hard at work working ona have been hard at work working on a tool so that if you type in your postcode, because what tier you come under. and hopefully it does not crash!m

works perfectly well. i go to the bbc website. remember the rules are different in scotland and northern ireland. the spending review. that is what going to talk about now with a cabinet minister. you have done loads ofjobs in government. education secretary. more on that shortly. you are at the treasury for quite a lot of time, looking at these sort of numbers. how does it feel thinking back about spending time on reviews? in 2010 we had

a different thing. the bond markets were massively ramp up. it is tough, having tough decisions, easy decisions are decisions, easy decisions are decisions that you take that affect people that are millions of miles away who don't have a vote and really can't particularly articulate what that spend does for them. i think it was a weak decision, actually. i think it is no

substitute for a longer term plan on how you deliver global britain and how you do the challenges that britain faces but the reality is whether we spend 99.7%, 99.3%, 99.5% of our gross spend 99.7%, 99.3%, 99.5% of ourgross gni on spend 99.7%, 99.3%, 99.5% of our gross gni on domestic policies. i don't think it makes that much difference but it does make a big difference internationally whether we spend 0.50.7. when france spends less and germany spends less and we will still be spending roughly what they are. this is a time when we should be persuading their international obligations. if we look at the fact that we we re we look at the fact that we were raising our investment in defence, we are spending now quite significantly above the nato 2% commitment now. what we

ought to be doing is paying other nato partners. it will be harder to do that. we are focusing on saving lives and galloping —— development, we should be proud of what we're doing supporting refugees.

naera people around britain who put their hands in their own pockets. i think it was wrong to suggest it is

either all and think it was wrong to suggest it is eitherallandl think it was wrong to suggest it is either all and i think there is no substance — — substitute either all and i think there is no substance —— substitute for the government preparing its finances in the long run. the chancellor said earlier this week he was still in crisis mode. eventually the government is going to have to come on to setting out a longer term strategy. actually having everyone in our country contributing to the economy properly is going to be. you doa economy properly is going to be. you do a lot of work as far as social mobility is concerned. is levelling up mobility is concerned. is levelling up more than a slogan? s we are yet to see a levelling up a plan and we need one. it is complex policy agenda that requires long—term action. i welcome the levelling up fund but of course that will be helpful, but levelling up is about

removing the barriers that hold people back. some of those might well be transport related but a lot of them aren't. we will see what the impact is on schools being shut and there are still many children out of schools. the government will have to set out a plan on how it closes those gaps in education that open up early on from as early onwards. also how it connects those people up to the opportunities and part of this is the net zero agenda, the newjobs that are coming through and making sure there are parts of the country that can benefit from those opportunities. parts of it other tech agenda that needs an overall strategy if you are going to make sure that up actually happens. this spending review we saw this week was getting through but what people want to know fundamentally is how they are going to get on in their lives.

i wonder overall, justin, how you would mark borisjohnson's homework pre— much a year on from his big general election when 18 months on since he became prime minister, how was he doing and how is the government doing? is he up to it?” think he has the right vision in relation to levelling up. he has to make that more tangible in terms of how practically he is going to deliver it. i sat through a lot of spending reviews and a lot of the jets where chancellors have thrown money at capital and infrastructure and transport but we still have massive inequality in opportunity so he has to do something different and demonstrate how that will have impact. we are yet to see that plan. we all accept it has been an almost impossible challenge with this one off pandemic in the sense that happened nobody really have anticipated. it is i say, if you're government that has a mission, can't be blown off course by anything including a pandemic and that is why he really does need to make sure

this reset is a real one and that's also why i think backing up on his aid commitment was a mistake because all he is doing is creating more tension within his own party and i think the reset wasn't just about ringing the country together, it was also about bringing his party together. on the 0.796 think, that has to be changed as a piece of law which requires a process in the house of commons. do you think the government will be able to get that legislative change through or will there be enough tory rebels who think it is a terrible idea tojoin with labour and the lib dems and eve ryo ne with labour and the lib dems and everyone else to thwart it and maybe it will end up being —— staying at 0.7, orthey it will end up being —— staying at 0.7, or they will have to find another way to get it done?” 0.7, or they will have to find another way to get it done? i don't know exactly what is going to happen in the sense that they will be either thought or rebellion if it goes to a vote in the house of commons was up it doesn't look from dominic raab's statement today that there will be a legislative change but only time will tell. itjust seems pretty mad that the

conservative party's ended up having another internal fight which i think people very much hoped had stopped with the departure of dominic cummings. interesting you say that because you know borisjohnson very well, you parted your ways on brexit, you are very much on different sides of the argument, or at least the argument he came down on in the end. you are being quite diplomatic but you are also sounding really quite frustrated, say they haven't got a plan on levelling up, they haven't got a proper plan on climate, they have a disappointing aid budget... when you put it like that, laura! what lots of people would say it trademark is your common sense, it sounds to me that you are quite disappointed by what yourformer you are quite disappointed by what your former colleagues up to. they have to get cracking, they have this golden opportunity, they won a mandate, they got a majority, they

now have the control to be able to genuinely make a difference at a time when we know that covid has made the levelling up agenda even more important and they really need to get on with it. justine, you brushed past a few moments ago the changes in personnel in downing street in the last couple of weeks andl street in the last couple of weeks and i think you are hinting that you we re and i think you are hinting that you were glad that a certain mr cummings was no longer finding employment in that particular street. i wonder what you make of his departure and then the appointment of a new cheese of staff as announced today —— chief of staff as announced today —— chief of staff. coming from a different style tha n of staff. coming from a different style than the one i thought was successful. laughs. you might be out of parliament but that is a politician's answer if ever i heard one. a very different style to the one. a very different style to the one that i find successful... laughs. so you loved him, then. i think he had an approach that was

naturally divide and conquer and that might have won a political campaign but! that might have won a political campaign but i think in terms of the substance of what politics is about which is actually building a coalition to change lives for the better, i don't think it delivers on that at all. now you are out of parliament, is there stuff you have rediscovered? a parliament, is there stuff you have rediscovered ? a love parliament, is there stuff you have rediscovered? a love of the jigsaw puzzles that you could do while you are in carbonate or fighting puzzles that you could do while you are in carbonate orfighting a hard brexit or, i don't know? —— were in cabinet. watching tv, i finally saw the first series life on mars and how did! the first series life on mars and how did i miss that the first time? you have gone back in tv time like they did in the tv show because that was like 200a! they did in the tv show because that was like 2004! exactly, so i am going back in tv time to do,000 four and then they are going back in tv time to the 19705 so it is

brilliant. i'm doing lots of binge watching. finally, i have to say, i have caught up with the rest of the country and got netflix so we are watching the crown. coming to the bit in this controversial 5erie5... you will never believe what happens! we won't tell you the ending, justine. i am watching it as well, i don't even know who the queen is yet. chris mason, you are a man of popular culture. justin, it has been great to have you one. sjustin thoma5 you will be watching this on iplayer in 17 years at this rate. ——ju5tine.

hello there. if you need to head out on the roads on friday morning, fog could cause one or two problems, certainly some poor visibility in places particularly acro55 parts of england and wales. the fog slow to clear through the day and it will feel cold out there. two weather front5, one to the northwest, one to the south bringing some cloud and patchy rain. but in between, very light wind5, temperatures have been dropping, it's going to be a very cold start to friday morning. widely around freezing, some 5pots below and we will also see some fog. indeed, some freezing fog acro55 parts of england into east wales as well. these are the areas most likely to be affected. slightly different across the far 5outhea5t, here it's more likely cloud bringing the odd spot of rain. some early 5un5hine through wale5, part5 of northern england, and then for northern ireland and scotland, it's a slightly different story again. this band of cloud and weather front bringing some outbreaks of very patchy rain, and that band of cloud

with those bits and pieces of rain not moving far at all through the day. the fog struggling to shift as well acro55 those parts of england and wales starting off so murky. i think in many places, it willjust linger as low cloud all day long. a bit of rain creeping in towards the english channel coa5t5. temperatures, if you stick with fog all day long, maybe just 3—4 degrees. even in some brightne55, 8—9 the best we can expect. and then through friday night, the fog will once again reform with a lot of low cloud and some spots of rain and drizzle working northwards across england and wales. lowest temperatures likely to be across the far north of england, al5o southea5t scotland — some 5pots here will see a frost because of clear skies overhead. and there will be a slice of 5un5hine for some on saturday. particularly across scotland, perhap5 northern ireland as well. but for england and wales a lot of cloud, some misty, murky conditions. temperatures just a little bit higher, though, down towards the south, 11—12, possibly 13 degrees. the milder airjust trying to sneak its way in. now for the second half of the weekend, high pressure remains in charge — this frontal system up to the far north—west might ju5t bring a little bit of rain in northern and northwestern scotland.

otherwise a lot of drier weather, but again a lot of cloudy weather and any fog for the morning will struggle to clear during the day, and those temperatures for most of us in single digit5, at best around ten degrees.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm nancy kacungira. donald trump comes close to acknowledging election defeat — says he will leave the white house if the electoral college formally confirmsjoe biden as next us president. football fan5 line the streets of buenos aires to say goodbye to a true legend of the game, diego maradona, before he was finally laid to rest in a private ceremony. british prime minister, boris johnson, comes under fire a5 55 million people in england face tough new coronavirus restrictions. and how to vaccinate 1.3 billion people —