this is bbc news, i'm ben brown. our top stories: uk prime minister borisjohnson attempts to see off a parliamentary rebellion on his new coronavirus restrictions, by telling backbenchers the tiers could end in february. ethiopia's military claims victory, saying it's in control of the regional capital tigray — anti—government forces say they'll fight on. the number of covid hospital patients hits a new record high in the united states. peak rail fares should be suspended over christmas in the uk to avoid travel "chaos", according to the labour party. dave prowse, the british actor who found international fame as the man behind the mask of darth vader

in the original star wars trilogy, has died. hello, and welcome to bbc news. the uk prime minister, boris johnson, is attempting to head off a rebellion by his own mps over his new tiers of coronavirus restrictions, by promising them another vote at the end of january. the tier system takes over when the england—wide lockdown comes to an end on wednesday. in a letter to his mps, the prime minister said these measures in turn could be eased for some areas during december, and promised a second vote in the new year. in his letter he said that the tier system in england would come to an end on the 3rd february — what he calls a "sunset" expiry date. tiers will be reviewed every two weeks, with areas being able to move down the tiers

from december 16th. the prime minsiter also committed to publish the circumstances that need to change for an area to move down a tier. here's our political correspondent, iain watson. it's a testing time for the prime minister. he's facing a rebellion from some of his own mps, when the commons votes on his new three tier restrictions in england on tuesday. so last night he wrote to his conservative colleagues with a new formula to try to shrink the size of the revolt. in his letter, he promised that if mps back him this week he will give them a new vote on the restrictions on january 27th. if he loses that vote, then the restrictions will end on february third. and he says a review of restrictions next month means some areas could come out of tier three by december 19th, but that'll still depend on the evidence. and the newly appointed ministerfor vaccines had this message for any conservative mp thinking of rebelling. if we work together we can very quickly move from the tier system

to coming down those tiers, to tier 2 and tier i, with the mass testing. the prime minister's also offering a fortnightly review of the tiers, but has he done enough to win over the rebels? well, one of them told the bbc he wasn't impressed. we asked for a lot of information and that letter doesn't contain that information, so unless we get it between now and tuesday, then it doesn't change anything, i'm afraid. borisjohnson wants to avoid relying on labour votes to get his restrictions through the commons. they're asking for more help for the worst affected areas. the prime minister says he wants to squeeze the disease, but first he'll have to squeeze the rebellion in his own ranks. iain watson, bbc news. let's go through this with our political correspondent, ellie price, she's here with me now. how worried are the government about a rebellion from their own backbenchers? well, i think are pretty worried because prime ministers aren't in the habit of giving concessions to their mps u nless giving concessions to their mps

unless they absolutely have to, and you saw the cabinet minister, michael gove, yesterday had a different approach in an article in one of the papers, where he appealed to his mps and said, look, it is for mps to take difficult decisions, not just ministers. today we see a slightly more softly, softly approach from the prime minister, in which they seem to be these concessions on this idea of a sunset clause on the new tier system by the end of january that mps can vote on again and the government has said it will release an impact statement, a sort of cost benefit analysis of what these tiers might mean on monday and speaking to mps i know they are waiting for that information and they want this evidence of why we are in the tears and quite how we are going to get out of it and exactly how it all adds up. but there is great anger in the back benches, i was talking to one mp yesterday who said, he had no confidence in the cack—handed way this has been handled and of the no confidence that they have the

evidence to get out of it. but he still hadn't made his mind up on how he will vote on tuesday. so a lot of angen he will vote on tuesday. so a lot of anger, but the government does have anger, but the government does have a big majority. what are the chances of it actually losing its? let's look at the context of this, at the beginning of november, it seems like a long time ago, but at the beginning of the lockdown here in england about 3k conservative mps voted against that, but of course it still pass because it had support from labour. we don't know what labour's position will be on this one. we suspect they probably will back the government because frankly they haven't said they won't, so it would have to be a big rebellion, about a0 conservative mps also, for there to be a defeat. i think this is unlikely, but of course with it sunset clause in the future of this is slightly pushing problem on in a few months voting time because those mps who may be persuaded to vote on tuesday may still be annoyed when it comes to the vote again injanuary. thank you very much, and ellie price, our political correspondent. the ethiopian government says it's

hunting for the leaders of the tigray region, a day after it said federal troops had seized control of the main city, mekelle. —— mek‘ele. there's been no independent confirmation and no word on casualties. the whereabouts of the head of tigray‘s ruling party are unknown. meanwhile, the us embassy in neighbouring eritrea has said on twitter that six explosions have been reported in the eritrean capital asmara. they happened late on saturday night. the embassy didn't specify the location or cause of the explosions. mark lobel reports now on the tigray conflict. a big military win trumpeted on ethiopian state tv. there's praise for the heroic national defence force on capturing tigray‘s capital in what is described as its peoples‘ liberation. but is it that simple? translation: our forces have freed more than 7000 members of our northern command and taken back control of our base. we have recovered tanks,

armoured vehicles and heavy weapons that were looted. we are hunting anti—peace elements hidden in holes. but we only have one side's word for what is going on in the region, as tigray‘s phone lines and internet links are down. even if the capital mek‘ele has been taken, it is unclear how its adversaries the tplf — veterans of guerrilla warfare — will respond. it's possible that the tigrayan people's liberation movement has simply moved its forces into the mountains, into the rural area, and this could go on for some time, depending on the support that the tplf has from the tigrayan people. indeed, it's their support either way that could be vital in determining what happens next — that's after enduring over three weeks of fighting around them. the capital has reportedly been shelled, so many of its 500,000 people are almost certainly living elsewhere. but tigray‘s 6 million population,

including one tenth of whom who rely on humanitarian assistance, there are reports food, fuel, cash and medical supplies have run very low. many of them will also have been displaced, including over a0,000 people who have fled into neighbouring sudan. in sudan's umm rakouba camp, with very little clear information from across the border, many have an uncomfortable wait with their lives on hold. they are afraid of intercommunal violence. this is why i think that going forward, it will be important for the government of ethiopia to establish peace, to have a silence of the guns, but also to ensure that there are no retaliation or reprisals between communities, because this is what many have mentioned to me as a primary source of fear. there is concern, too, at the nobel peace prize—winning european prime minister abiy ahmed's refusal to engage in mediators, including envoys sent by the african union.

since the ethiopian government's refused to even allow them to travel to the tigray region, the ethiopian government has basically rejected any calls for international mediation and also domestic mediation, but the only way i think this could be resolved is through political dialogue. analysts now believe this conflict seems more likely to remain within ethiopian‘s borders, albeit with no clear end in sight. mark lobel, bbc news. the uk government has secured another 2 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine from the us, which proved 95% effective after trials. the uk now has 7 million jabs on order from the american company, moderna. if the vaccine is approved, doses could be delivered by next spring. the uk has called on the european union to bring "fresh thinking" to post—brexit trade talks, which downing street says could end this week.

the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, has been in london this weekend for talks with his uk counterpart. but big differences remain overfair competition and fishing. the transition period ends in five weeks. the british labour party says peak railfares should be suspended over christmas, to reduce the risk of overcrowding during off—peak periods. a surge in journeys is expected when restrictions on family visits are temporarily eased between the 23rd and 27th of december. labour is urging the transport secretary to present a travel plan to parliament tomorrow. the nigerian president muhammadu buhari has expressed grief over the killing of at least a0 people in the north—east of the country. the victims are said to have been agricultural workers who were tied up by the attackers near maiduguri before being knifed to death. it's one of the worst attacks in recent months in a region where boko haram insurgents and the islamic state west africa groups are active.

the united nations has warned against escalating tensions in the middle east after the assassination of iran's top nuclear scientist, mohsen fakhrizadeh. iran's leadership has blamed israel and promised to avenge his death. the iranian president, hassan rouhani, appeared to indicate that retaliation wouldn't happen immediately. the israeli authorities have remained silent over the killing. local media report that fakrizadeh's body has been moved to a shrine in mashhad ahead of the funeral on monday. hospitalisations due to coronavirus have hit a new record high in the united states. according to the covid tracking project, there are now more than 91,000 people in hospital beds, and that number has been rising almost every day since late october. the current surge is showing no sign of slowing down and on friday the number of people infected with the virus surpassed 13 million.

0ur north america correspondent, david willis, is following developments. let me give you one number. it is 2,752. bear that number in mind if you can, it is the figure in april, on a single day in april this year, of the number of people who died here in the united states because of the coronavirus. and for six months, that figure, 2,752, has been the all—time high, the benchmark, the grim benchmark for deaths here in the us. but now we are seeing death tolls that are remarkably similar. 2,300, for example, on wednesday of this week, just three days ago. i was telling you before that we are now looking at an average of 50 americans dying of the coronavirus every single hour at the moment here. no wonder that the hospitalisation rate is worrying health officials here because they're fearing that the rate we're going, the system here just

won't be able to cope. david willis reporting. canada has banned the export of some prescription medicines in order to prevent a shortage in the country. the decision is in response to a us plan that would allow for drugs to be imported from canada to make them cheaperfor americans. a number of canada's drug suppliers had warned that the plan, implemented by president trump, would cause shortages. family and colleagues have paid tribute to the two people killed in the london bridge terror attack, which happened a year ago today. jack merritt, who was 25, and saskia jones, who was 23, were stabbed by a convicted terrorist at a prisoner rehabilitation event. in a statement, saskia's mother michelle thanked those who have supported the family through a difficult 12 months. a look at our headlines now...

uk prime minister borisjohnson attempts to see off a parliamentary rebellion on his new coronavirus restrictions, by telling backbenchers the tiers could end in february. ethiopia's military claims victory, saying it's in control of the regional capital of tigray — anti—government forces say they'll fight on. the number of covid hospital patients hits a new record high in the united states. the british actor who found international fame as the man behind the mask of darth vader in the original star wars trilogy has died. in the original star wars dave prowse was 85. in the original star wars at nearly two metres tall, the former bodybuilder and weightlifter‘s frame was deemed suitably menacing for the role. but his voice — a bristolian accent from south—west england — wasn't. darth vader's lines were re—recorded by the american, james earljones. lizo mzimba reports.

at six foot six with a towering figure, dave prowse was physically perfect for the part of darth vader in the original star wars trilogy in the 1970s and 1980s. looks like you two need a lesson in crossing the road! at the same time, he was also the face of road safety, presenting videos and visiting thousands of schools as the green cross code man. we won't be there when you cross the road, so always use the... robot: ..green cross code! it's very interesting, because when i became darth vader, when the star wars film came out, i almost got the sack from the government because they thought that my image as darth vader would have a detrimental effect on my image as the green cross code man. a champion weightlifter, he eventually tried acting, playing a succession of small roles, including one in stanley kubrick's classic a clockwork orange, sharing scenes with malcolm mcdowell. and then came the role of the physically imposing

darth vader. he had the bulk, he had the build, but he also had a bristol accent. start tearing the ship apart piece by piece until you've found those tapes. find the passengers of this vessel. i want them alive! you are part of the rebel alliance and a traitor. take her away! when the first star wars film came out he found that his dialogue had been replaced with the booming tones of james earljones. i have traced the rebel spies to her. now she is my only link to finding their secret base. he may never have been the voice behind the villain, but the man behind the mask of darth vader is how he will always be remembered. obi wan never told you what happened to your father. he told me enough! he told me you killed him. no. i am your father. and for so many, he played the most

iconic cinema villain ever seen. dave prowse, who has died at the age of 85. mass covid testing for students in scotland will begin tomorrow in an effort to stop the spread, ahead of the christmas holidays. students will be offered two rapid response tests, three days apart, before they return home. if both tests are negative, university leaders are urging students to travel as soon as possible. leah duncan—karrim is a student at the university of edinburgh. thank you for being with us. what do you think of this and are you going to have these tests? yeah, i am, so iam to have these tests? yeah, i am, so i am booked in for my first test on the 9th of december. i think the availability for them has been quite difficult, but so far i am quite

impressed with how quickly they have managed to implement it. ok, and what are your fellow students thinking about it? are they happy to have these tests? oh, yeah, i think we are all very grateful for it, especially people who are planning to go back to england in two lockdown areas over the festive period. so what have you been told exactly about your travel plans and when and if you can travel? so we have been told that the tests will be held in the beginning of december, which means that if we do have a positive result we don't have time to isolate before we can go home for christmas and that if it does come back as positive we then have to get another test, which will confirm whether we do or don't have to runa confirm whether we do or don't have to run a virus. what has it been like for you as a student going through this? clearly not ideal, but just talk us through what it has been like, both academically and socially as well, i suppose. so it has been really quite strange, so i have done two years in the uk of

full social life, involved in a lot of societies and now we are in lockdown i haven't seen my classmates for the best part of a year since i left my year abroad, so it is very isolating. isolating in terms of your studies as well? i guess everything is online, what is that like? yeah, so i have about ten hours of week a week of lectures online and i don't have any interactions with people outside of that, really. and you are studying chinese, aren't you? whatjust tell us chinese, aren't you? whatjust tell us what. .. you chinese, aren't you? whatjust tell us what... you are —— like you are ona us what... you are —— like you are on a year abroad in beijing, tell us what happened with that. yes, i was abroad in beijing until december and then i came home during the festive period and then my year abroad was cancelled due to coronavirus. my second semester cancelled due to coronavirus. my second semester was cancelled due to coronavirus. my second semester was due to start in february and we were very suddenly told we weren't allowed back in the country and we had to come back and we re country and we had to come back and were having emergency classes put on in edinburgh and after a month of those again we were cancelled when the pandemic reached the uk. what do

you think it is like the students like you in terms of your mental health? 0bviously like you in terms of your mental health? obviously a lot of people feeling very isolated, feeling this isn't the university experience they have signed up for. how are people getting through it, would you say?|j think it has been really tough. so the university offers counselling services, some mental health support, but i think certainly it is not at the level it should have been a nyway not at the level it should have been anyway then you take it into a pandemic situation where people are far more isolated, there are significant numbers of people who need access to that and it is just... the option is not there any more. so i think it is really difficult. leah duncan-karrim, good to talk to you, leah duncan—karrim there, a student at the university of edinburgh. he's been described as the world's loneliest elephant after living in miserable conditions in a zoo in pakistan for the past three decades. but now, kaavan will live out the rest of his years at a wildlife sanctuary in cambodia.

these are the latest pictures of kaavan being prepared for his departure from islamabad. it follows a five—year campaign, supported by the pop singer cher. secunder kermani reports. this is the story of one of the world's most famous pop stars, and the world's loneliest elephant. after 35 years in captivity, at times left chained up, kaavan is being set free. tens of thousands of people signed a petition on his behalf. his most vocal supporter, superstar cher. earlier this year she described news of his upcoming release as one of the greatest moments of her life. kaavan was given to pakistan as a gift by the sri lankan government back in 1985. but he has been badly treated at this zoo, enduring poor conditions. life got even worse after his only companion died eight years ago.

the way kaavan is swaying his head from side to side as a common sign of distress, and it is something that he spends a lot of time doing. it is why campaigners have been so keen to move him. now kaavan will be taken to a wildlife sanctuary in cambodia, after a court shut the zoo down until its facilities are improved. good boy! a specialist international charity has been preparing him for thejourney, trying to get him used to the crate he will fly in, using food to encourage him to obey the commands. it is like any other dog training, or training your cat or whatever. a bit bigger than a cat! big! it depends on the cat! i think the main deal is that he feels comfortable with whatever you do, or at least excited enough to follow, and maybe to follow you, somehow. because as soon as he is kind of afraid, as soon as he shows some mistrust, yeah,

than you can go back home. # the end is near.# kaavan weighs around five tonnes. moving him will be a huge logistical challenge. but the charity's leading vet has discovered how to keep him calm. singing to him. his favourite song, frank sinatra's my way. secunder kermani, bbc news, islamabad. voters in switzerland will decide later on whether or not to make businesses financially and legally liable for human rights violations or environmental damage. the law would affect their supply chains anywhere in the world. if the swiss vote in favour

of the new laws, the country could impose some of the world's strictest corporate responsibility rules. recent polls indicate that a slim majority supports the initiative to amend the swiss constitution. jean—cedric michel is a partner at the swiss law firm kellerhals carrard, and hejoins us now from geneva. give us an idea what this law would mean in switzerland and it sounds pretty draconian? good morning. it is draconian, but the standard is very simple, those international companies having a seat in switzerland must abide by human rights for whatever activity they have in the world and anywhere in the world, so basically we can say it is draconian, but abiding by human rights is not draconian, it is basically what everybody should be doing. but in effect -- it affects anywhere in their supply chains, doesn't it, so individuals will be able to sue companies? yes, individuals or groups, ngos, would be able to sue the company, but when you talk about the supply chain

international companies would not be responsible for all of its supply chain and this is one of the debates during the campaign, it would be responsible for the activities of all the subsidiaries and controls, so all the subsidiaries and controls, so there is a logic behind there, if you control something you must ensure that subsidiary abide by human rights, whether you are in the world. this will have problems anywhere else in europe, wouldn't it? yes, but that is where this is going, so there is an eu law being put up and there is a general consensus in the world that multinational companies must abide by human rights, whether they perform their activities and whether their supply chain is. —— where ever they perform their activities is it and wherever their supply chain is. do think this will go through? yes, it was way ahead by ten or 15 votes in october and now we have probably got a slimmer margin. the difficulty in switzerland is you need to have the majority of these popular vote

and the swiss canton is and the weight of the swiss canton is very different from a smaller rural ca nton different from a smaller rural ca nto n drew different from a smaller rural canton drew to a big city like geneva, so that is a hurdle, but hopefully the initiative will prevail today. we will see what happens. jean—cedric michel, many thanks for being with us. it is my pleasure. you are watching bbc news. we've all had to get used to wearing masks. in normal times, it's easy to tell when someone is giving you a friendly smile, but with face coverings it's not so straightforward. india grant has more on the art of the "smize" — smiling with your eyes. smizing or smiling with your eyes, it's an idea popularised by supermodel tyra banks. with our faces covered by masks a lot of the time, our eyes and what they signal are really important. and in 2020, we've all had to learn how to smize. so can these people in aberdeen tell if i'm happy to see them?

um, with one eye, yes. laughs it looks like you probably are. yeah, i can tell that you're smiling because i can tell from people's eyes if they're smiling or not. yes, you are smiling, i can tell by your eyes. i think you have to smile a bit more when you're wearing a mask, it does comes over in your eyes. no, no idea, to be honest. you are now, i see your eyes. psychologist david smith walked me through the science of the smile and how it takes over your whole face. actually, a lot of the smile is in the eyes. back in the 16th century there was a french anatomist, duchenne, who looked at what the markers of a real smile versus a fake smile are. a lot of it is down to the eyes, it's the muscles surrounding the eyes called the orbicularis oculi. what happens is during a real smile, these muscles contract. so a smile can go a long way in making others feel good. in aberdeen, this bar

is still allowed to serve alcohol, a reason to be cheerful. how are masked staff making customers feel welcome? i think you need to obviously have your body language and people can see you are smiling with your eyes and just even with the tone of voice, so although the mask covers your face, you can still speak to people in other ways. the regular guests coming back in, they do know when we smile, they still can see the smile through the eyes, so i think it's both of us, it's 50—50 situation. 12 months ago it would have been absurd to have to say to people, "yes, i'm smiling." and smizing or smiling with your eyes was something that only top models did. we've all had to wear face masks and that's made people's expressions harder to read. but now with a vaccine on the way, we've all got one big reason to smile. india grant, bbc news.

louise is going to surmise her way through the weather forecast for us now. hello there. there's a stillness to our weather at the moment, light winds, but a lot of low grey cloud for many, and that's meant for some misty, murky mornings as well. this was the story in devon. in fact, across parts of the south—west and wales, we might see a little more brightness generally through the day and we could keep some sunshine in the north—east of scotland. but generally speaking, it's going to stay cloudy and murky with the odd spot or two of drizzle from time to time as well. top temperatures 6—13 degrees and mild in the far south—west. now, generally, as we move into monday, we'll see this weather front introducing more in the way of cloud and rain and a fresh breeze and from a north—westerly direction. so there are signs of the weather story changing as we go through the week. but on monday, we're going to see some cloudier, wet weather sinking its way steadily south and east. bright and breezy conditions follow on behind, mild for all of us,

but it will get cooler and more unsettled as we go through the week.