this is bbc news, i'm james reynolds. our top stories... iran blames israel for the assassination of its top nuclear scientist, accusing it of seeking to provoke war. new figures reveali new figures reveal 1 million more americans have caught covid—19. emergency teams are struggling to cope. iran has promised severe revenge for the assassination of its top nuclear scientist, blaming israel for his murder. mohsen fakhrizadeh died in hospital after gunmen attacked his car outside tehran. israel has previously

accused him of masterminding a covert nuclear weapons programme, though it hasn't commented on his assassination. our security correspondent gordon corera has more. the scene of an ambush. the highway where gunmen targeted a vehicle carrying one of the most important figures in iran's nuclear programme. mohsen fakhrizadeh was a scientist and senior defence official. but western intelligence services have long believed he was the driving force in iran's quest for a nuclear bomb. iran has always said its nuclear programme was peaceful — but it's been claimed fakhrizadeh was leading work on project amad to develop a weapon. in 2018, he was singled out by israel's prime minister. this is how dr mohsen fakhrizadeh, head of project amad, put it — remember that name, mohsen fakhrizadeh. so here he is, right here. and he says, "the general aim is to announce the closure of project amad." but then, he adds,

"special activities" — you know what that is. iran's foreign minister quickly responded to his death with this tweet... israel is widely assumed to have been responsible. but why now? iran's nuclear programme was constrained under an international deal signed in 2015. but in 2018, donald trump pulled the us out of the deal — and iran has been growing its stockpile of nuclear material. mr trump is reported to have looked at — and then decided against — a military strike just two weeks ago. but israel may now be seeking to take advantage of the window whilst he's still in office.

this is very clearly timed in order to impede restoration of the iran nuclear deal. trump has made it very clear he's wanted to kill the deal, he hasn't succeeded in four years, he has two months left. and this is an effort to do so in order to provoke iran's own hardliners into resisting diplomacy. the killing is already causing anger in iran, but it's not yet clear how it might retaliate — and what that would mean for attempts to resurrect the international deal. iran has been under economic blockades for the last few years. it is a country of 80 million people facing the most severe covid pandemic in the region under sanctions in which it cannot access basic medicines and health care, and medical equipment for its people. it is important to bear that in mind, and the iranian government surely is aware of the extreme pressures it's facing at home. emergency vehicles were

still at the scene hours after fakhrizadeh‘s death. the struggle over iran's nuclear programme has been going on for close to two decades. but, in the midst of an american presidential transition, this looks set to be a moment of tension and uncertainty. gordon corera, bbc news. the come six days after claimant coronavirus cases in the united states have crossed 13—million markjust six days after the country reached 12 million infections. more than 264,000 americans have now died from the virus and, with thanksgiving weekend, is expected to lead to a further rises in cases over the coming days. 0ur north america correspondent david willisjoins me now. please bring us right up to date. james, coronavirus cases here are growing very rapidly, more than1 here are growing very rapidly, more than 1 million here are growing very rapidly, more than1 million new here are growing very rapidly, more than 1 million new cases recorded over the space of the last week alone. about 100,000

people are testing positive every single day here at the moment, and about 1500 americans are dying. there was a lot of concern, as you mentioned, about the thanksgiving weekend, that that might bring even more cases, because people traditionally get together for feasts to celebrate the thanksgiving holiday. indeed, despite health experts pleading with people not to travel, it seems millions have chosen to ignore that advice. today, black friday here in the united states, traditionally one of the busiest holidays in the high street shops — they are a p pa re ntly high street shops — they are apparently quite deserted, but apparently quite deserted, but a lot of monies being spent online. it's $10 million being spent online to avoid shopping malls and so on. and in the last hour, there's been a new stay—at—home order issued here

in los angeles, the second largest city in the united states, and la county comprises about 10 million people. this new stay—at—home order is designed to prohibit public and private gatherings with anyone outside your immediate households. and it comesjust two days after restaurants here we re two days after restaurants here were ordered to suspend outdoor dining. the fear here and across the united states is that health facilities could well be overwhelmed by the number of coronavirus cases here, james. number of coronavirus cases here, james. david willis, thank you so much. four french police officers are being held for questioning after a video showed them beating up a black music producer in paris. the video, which is silent and sped—up, has sparked president macron said france has been shamed by the incident. here's our correspondent hugh schofield in paris on what happened. an incident on saturday evening in paris, what we know

is what we see in the video, which was taken in the very cramped reception area of a music studio up there — which belonged to this man, michel zecler. and what we see on video is him being beaten over a period of five minutes by three officers who are crammed very closely together. there's a bit of a struggle, but it's quite clear the police are winning, and they hit him with their fists and with a baton, and they kick him. what happened before, we don't know. what happened after, we know reinforcements came and somebody, a police officer, threw a tear gas grenade into the building. and then the man, michel zecler, was taken off and held on suspicion of resisting arrest, and he was to be charged. but the prosecutor looked at the evidence, looked at the video which became public a couple days ago, and decided that the police were lying. and now it's the police who are facing possibility of charges — four officers overall now who have been suspended and who may well face criminal charges for, a, what they did to the man, and then for lying

about what happened. you're watching bbc news. we're joined now by retired sergeant cheryl dorsey from the los angeles police department. sergeant dorsey, you train officers. when you see the video of french officers attacking a man in his own studio as far as we know without any proper cause, how do you react? well, it saddens me, but i'm not surprised. this is not something unique to the united states. great deference is given to the police officer's version of events, and thankfully now we have video which shows these officers were lying, and are all too willing to manufacture probable cause to put this young man injail. the french government is preparing a law which would ban people taking

pictures of police in some circumstances if it is proved it is an malicious intent. we only know this incident because of the footage, because those officers were filmed. surely more footage is better than less 7 more footage is better than less? absolutely. and i hope your government will resend approving the global security law, because imagine had we not had the video that we've seen showing what actually occurred, it would be the officers‘s version, 3—4 of them versus michel zecler. and you know how that would've ended in a court of law, they would've assumed that because the officer said it, it was true. and now he would have a criminal record for something that should never have happened. and all this because he didn't have a facemask? do draw these links to instances of police brutality you've studied in america? i've never studied it but i've witnessed it and lived it. it's part of the police culture, it's what officers do when they are allowed to offend again and again. so i'm hopeful

there will be a consequence for these officers and their behaviour, and more importantly it sounds to me like they don't have the temperament or skill set to be police officers. here in the united states, when you area in the united states, when you are a proven liar, you are no longer able to serve because you cannot be trusted. in everything you touch is now tainted. is there a single tactic that police forces around the world could adopt which would lower the chances of incidences happening? it's difficult to say, but i certainly think accountability would be a great first step to rebuilding trust in the community. when you first admit there's a problem, we need to next fix it. accountability — there should be a disciplinary process that's commiserated with the crime or the conduct from the police officers. sergeant dorsey, thank you so much. think you.

let's speak to the foreign policy analyst, anthony cordesman. he's based at the centre for disease control and prevention strategic and international studies. it may be that this killing is never publicly claimed, but are we right to think that a country which would gain most of his killing, israel, is also the country that carried out the country that carried out the attack? i think we need to be extremely careful. it's possible that israel would try to preempt the biden administration. but in doing so, obviously, getting a new us president in office after you have essentially tried to block aus have essentially tried to block a us negotiation would create problems for israel with the united states. the other thing is, this is an important scientist, someone who co—ordinates a lot of the

nuclear and other research for the islamic revolutionary guards in iran. but killing him doesn't stop the nuclear programme. it is more an assassination of a senior figure than something that really alters what's going on inside iran. and here, ithink it has not been helpful to have media coverage talk about project amad, which ended in 2003, and ignore the fact that there was overwhelming evidence that there was a new nuclear programme immediately called the sp nd, which continued until at at least 2015. now we are talking about at least in some ways a different word. and one difficulty you have here is

killing one senior scientist doesn't alter the pace of events — and they include new centrifuges, a return to the enrichment of not weapons grade, but enriched uranium, the fact that there may have been continuing nuclear weapons efforts, including two sites that they have not allowed the international atomic energy agency to inspect. there also are many areas where iran has made major progress since 2015 that potentially affect its nuclear programme. can ijust jump nuclear programme. can ijust jump in — this is the second significant assassination this year, following the killing in january of iran's most

influential military figure, qasem soleimani. how might these two killings affect iran's capabilities or ambitions? well so far, they've not really had that much impact on either. if anything, iran seems to be more successful than the united states in winning influence in iraq. that's still reversible. but they certainly have made major progress using the popular militia forces there. you are watching a salt essentially on the edge of completing his control over syria —— bashar al—assad, which is now tied closely to iran. you see iran able to deploy precision guided systems in yemen. so these two assassinations have certainly had a political impact,

increased tension, but it is not a case where iran has somehow lost military momentum. and you saw also these strikes earlier this year on key saudi facilities, precision strikes. that's the source of about 20% of the world's oil imports going through the gulf. and if anything, iran has demonstrated it has far more sophisticated strike capabilities now than it did in 2015. thank you so much for joining did in 2015. thank you so much forjoining us. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... one of iran's top nuclear scientists, mohsen fakhrizadeh has been assassinated after gunmen opened fire on his car. after gunmen opened new after gunmen opened figures reveal1 million more new figures reveal 1 million more americans caught covid—19 in less than a week, 1500 and now dying every day. emergency teams are struggling to cope.

the business has more than 500 stores and has been run by sir philip green for almost 20 yea rs. philip green for almost 20 years. demonstration could be appointed as early as monday. ina appointed as early as monday. in a statement, they said... here's our business correspondent emma simpson. to miss selfridge and topshop, the jewel in the crown. some of the jewel in the crown. some of the best—known names on the street. they make up the arcadia group, with more than 500 stores. topshop alone has some 250 shops and concessions, and 170 odd towns and cities across the uk. bricks and mortar stores have become an albatross of any —— around any big company's next. and there will be new or fashion

companies who started their businesses digitally who are much nimble and able to adapt than many of the arcadia businesses. the owner is sir philip green — colourful and controversial. he built one of the biggest clothing empires in the biggest clothing empires in the country, courting celebrities along the way. but then he sold it for a pound and it collapsed a year later. could you not look at me like that all the time? it's really disturbing. leaving him facing the fury of mps and having to cough up millions to the pension schemes. he's gone from zero to hero, now it looks like he's going back to zero again. philip's style worked really well for a while, but it's been working progressively less well. today's retail industry needs huge investment, and it's never been his style to invest much in his businesses, as was example fired by the dividend of about £1.2 billion that he

and his family took out of business sometime ago. this business sometime ago. this business had been in trouble long before the pandemic, this second lockdown now looks to be the final nail in the coffin. ina the final nail in the coffin. in a statement, the company said... grant docherty only started his job at a burton's concession in carlisle in february. he was made redundant last month. i wasn't surprised at all. we did see some warning signs, especially with quite a lot of the customers, the footfall reducing quite a lot. but my heartjust goes out to all the people, i know how they feel. it is quite a difficult position to be in, especially with the high street in general kind of looking in troublesome times. uncertain times for the 13,000

staff, the company says the stores will reopen next week as covid restrictions are lifted but it's now a business on the brink, potentially the biggest retail failure of this pandemic. emma simpson, bbc news. as europe battles a second way of coronavirus infections, there's been some encouraging news for the uk. but it's a varied picture across the country. hugh pym reports on some very country. hugh pym reports on some very different approaches. empty streets in belfast today, with northern ireland beginning a two—week circuit breaker lockdown to try to stem the spread of covid—19. nonessential shops are closed, apart from click—and—collect services. and pubs, restaurants and cafes can only do takeaway and deliveries. we are asking people,

for two weeks, to please abide by the public health advice so that we can then come together in and around that window at christmas. as northern ireland enters a new lockdown, england prepares to leave one next week. and already, there's intense debate about the introduction of tiered restrictions. the government has set out how it decides which areas should go into which tiers. first of all, looking at case rates across all age groups, then rates amongst the over—60s, how rapidly are rates are going up or coming down, and how many tests done come through positive. finally, how much pressure is there on the nhs. but questions have been raised in some areas about the decisions. newcastle's in tier 3, for example. in northumberland, a local conservative mp‘s had to respond to complaints from people about being lumped in with newcastle. in east sussex, which is in tier 2, officials say that with cases, the trend is increasing in several areas.

but with local hospitals, things are fairly stable. in neighbouring kent, in tier 3, they say there have been big case rate increases and those in people aged over 60 are a particular concern, and hospital admissions are increasing. for cumbria, in tier2, cases in some areas are said to be increasing, but some of this is likely due to a large school outbreak. and in neighbouring lancashire, which is in tier 3, officials say case rates in over—60s are very high, and there is still pressure on the nhs. at present, the levels of covid within the community is still very high. and that will drive admissions coming into hospital. if people are mixing in the community, that means that after christmas, if people don't follow the rules, we may see a further surge. in newcastle, a specialist intensive care unit has been created for covid patients, though the latest r number for the north—east of england,

showing how much the virus is spreading, is, like the north—west, below the overall uk figure. london and the south—east are higher. hugh pym, bbc news. a funeral worker has apologised for taking a picture of himself next to the open casket of diego maradona. he was seen making the thumbs—up gesture next to maradona. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson reports from buenos aires. in death as in life, maradona was feted by millions of argentinians. they've marked his passing these past few days, and the country is still officially in mourning. so this news that funeral workers posed for pictures next to his body has angered many here. in the poor neighbourhood where diego maradona was born, people are still paying homage to the football player at his old childhood home. people here feel particularly protective over him.

this man has lived next door for most of his life. hugely proud of his former neighbour, but he pitied him too. translation: he said to me one day, "i'll swap a week of my life with a week of yours. let's see how long you last being diego maradona. i have lots of money, i can buy what i want. but i'm not in charge. i can't even control buying t—shirts. i go in, and outside is a sea of people." down the road, i meetjuan. he played on these dusty pitches with maradona as a teenager. this was the ground that the world's best footballer learned to play on before moving on to the professional pitches. "yes, he was talented, but the team we played in was also pretty skilful," he tells me. "he was just one more. we never imagined he would be number one, or even the best football player on the planet." diego maradona's humble beginnings inspired millions here in argentina.

"he was one of us," the people say, "he understood us." that level of recognition, though, even he struggled to cope with at times. he was loved to the point of obsession here — an obsession that will only continue to intensify with his passing. katy watson, bbc news, in buenos aires. "we're not far from the take—it—or—leave—it moment" — that's the view of europe's chief negotiator, as face to face brexit talks resume this weekend. michel barnier has now arrived in london saying he was "very happy to be back" and would continue "with patience and determination". earlier, his opposite number, david frost, warned that for a deal to be possible, it must fully respect uk sovereignty. one of the main sticking points is fishing and the level of future access that eu boats will have to british waters. the uk leaves europe's trade and customs area in just five weeks' time. jon kay reports from newlyn in cornwall. while we sleep, they work at the far

south—west tip of britain. we're catching ha ke, mainly, and we've got a bit of haddock and cod. going straight back out anyway, so hopefully we can catch a bit more. by the time they return, there could be news on brexit. british negotiators will spend the weekend trying to land a deal. now is the time for them to deliver what they say they can deliver. make no mistake, it's make—or—break time for the cornish fishing industry. it's fish that the uk and eu are now scrapping over in these final talks. most of what comes into newlyn is sold and eaten in europe. so any deal — or no deal — will have a real impact here. we're in a bit of a no—man's land, really. four years after the promises of the referendum, they'll soon know what brexit really means. the prize is clearfor us. it's about control of our waters, it's about exclusive rights to the 12 mile for ourfishermen and

a fairer share of quotas. and on the risk side, if you like, we've got access to traditional markets. how confident are you that you'll get a deal that you're happy with? i think we're cautiously optimistic. the two sides don'tjust have to agree on fishing, but on how our ports will operate. some fear long delays and more paperwork from the new year. we feel that we're in a dark room or a cliff where we're putting our foot out and hoping for the best, but all i can say is that the people that have prepared have done all we can do so far. they've been fishing out of here for centuries, long before quotas. once a huge industry, some think it can be again. but times have certainly changed. these days, there are only about 12,000 fishermen and women around the uk. the sector contributes about £450 million a year to the economy, but, to put that into context, it's only 0.02%.

some question whether that's big enough to put an entire brexit deal at risk. but in newlyn, it's not just about numbers. it's about traditions, culture. these men are going out, they're risking their lives, and they're feeding their communities. and in the bigger picture, actually, they're providing fish for the entire of the uk and beyond. it's something to be proud of. and that's why it has to be saved and preserved. both onshore and at sea, crucial days lie ahead, the forecast still unsettled around our island nation. jon kay, bbc news, cornwall. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @jamesbbcnews. now if the weather with ben. hello. after what was a chilly day for many on friday, the

weekend process to make a promise of something milder. but it will be often quite cloudy, grey and murky in many spots. we start off on saturday morning with a touch of frost, parts of the far north of england, maybe ireland and scotla nd england, maybe ireland and scotland as well, any in scotla nd scotland as well, any in scotland increasingly confined to the north, but this lump of cloud with mist and merck drifting northwards across england and wales, the odd spot of rain with that and some higher temperatures down towards the south, 12—14 c. the channel islands should get away with some sunshine to the day, clear skies here through the night. but for many other spots, we see a lot of clouds drifting northwards, some misty and murky conditions, the odd spot of rain holding on to some conditions. here there will be a touch of frost, a cloudy day for most on sunday with...

this is bbc news, the headlines. the united nations has urged restraint after the assassination of a top iranian nuclear scientist. moh—sen fachree—zaday died after gunmen fired on his car. western intelligence agencies accused him of being one of the founders of the country's nuclear weapons programme. iran has accused israel of being behind the killing. the united states has now recorded more than 13—million covid cases — just six days after the country reached 12 million infections. more than 264,000 americans have been killed by covid—19 and experts are warning that thanksgiving weekend is likely to lead to a further rise in cases. three french police officers have been suspended after an online video showed them beating up a black music producer in paris. the incident has sparked outrage across france. president macron described the images as bringing shame to france.