this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk government attempts to see off a parliamentary rebellion over new coronavirus restrictions in england, by telling backbenchers the tiers could end in february. having the vote on regulations in january with sunset in february is the right combination of accountability and transparency with the public need now. ethiopia's military claims victory saying it's in control of the regional capital of tig—rye — anti—government forces say they'll fight on.

the eu's chief negotiatior michel barnier continues talks in london over a post—brexit trade deal, with fishing rights a major sticking point. sydney records its hottest november night on record as bushfires burn in several areas of australia. the man behind the mask of darth vader — tributes are paid to the british actor dave prowse who's died at the age of 85. he absolutely loved meeting the fans, signing autographs and posing for photographs. he was a really generous guy. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. the uk prime minister 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, borisjohnson 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 of 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 minister 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 3rd. 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. our political correspondent ellie price explained the significance of the change in tone. it's not in the prime minister's habit of giving concessions where they absolutely don't need to. and there is a strength of feeling, i heard from one conservative mp yesterday who said he had no confidence in the cack—handed way this is being dealt with, nor the way they were going to get us out of all of this. i think this will go some way to making some conservative mps feel a bit better, but then others, i heard from another mp this morning who said it's all good news but i still haven't decided how i'm going to vote. the crucial things will be tomorrow, there's going to be an impact assessment release. that's looking at the economics, the social side of how these tiers,

the effect these tiers will have on that sort of thing. but i think it's interesting the tone actually from the government this morning. yesterday, we head for michael gove, the cabinet office minister who said mps need to take tough decisions alongside ministers. this morning, it's more of a softly softly approach and we heard from the foreign secretary also this morning. the truth is, we are concerned. we've got the five criteria for which tier you are in and how you progress down the tiers. one of those is pressure on the nhs, we were clear about that from the outset. michael gove is right to warn about that. on the other hand, we are listening and we do understand. colleagues say to me, mps say to me we just want to understand that the measures you are taking take into account, not just the cost and benefit of tackling the virus, but also the non—covid health, economic and social implications. we will publish more analysis on that and we do take seriously the principle of parliamentary accountability. so that was dominic raab talking this morning and if there is a big enough tory rebellion then the government are going to need

labour votes, what's the labour position on this at the moment? labour's position has been so far that they haven't decided. i think it's quite telling that they haven't so far said they will vote against the government. of course, just looking at the context of all this, there was a sizeable conservative rebellion right back at the beginning of the month when mps were voting on this mini lockdown in england, around 3a conservative mps voted against the government but it passed because it had support from labour. so it will be interesting to see, as i say, labour say they haven't made their mind up yet. but this morning, labour's shadow foreign secretary was also talking about labour's position. we will act in the public interest, so we need to know first of all, these measures are tough enough in order to get control of the virus. otherwise what we are asking businesses to do is go through significant pain, people laid off, some businesses at risk of collapsing, without being able to show this is worth it, that it will actually set us on a path to recovery in the future. the other big issue the government's

dealing with is the brexit trade talks, we talk about this every day, but we have been hearing more about that from dominic raab again? we have. it's funny to talk about that as the other issue. in normal times this would be the big issue, the massive issue. dominic raab this morning on the tv suggesting that we are close to a deal. we've heard that before, as you say, but he said it really is time and there was a real mutual interest in getting a deal done. of course, we've known for weeks, for months the sticking points on all of this have been fisheries on this issue of the level playing field, the state aid issue, if you like, with the eu. it sounded from his interview that actually, fisheries is really the sticking man. is really the sticking one. i think that's quite an interesting one because on its own economically, the impact fisheries have on the uk economy and elsewhere, particularly uk economy is relatively low, but it's a huge political point, it's a huge issue of sovereignty for many people who voted for brexit. so it is one of those things

and i think the government is going to be very, very keen to sort of get right and that seems to be the sticking point. the uk government has secured another two million doses of the coronavirus vaccine from the us which proved 95% effective after trials. the uk now has seven million jabs on order from the american company, moderna. if the vaccine is approved, doses could be delivered by next spring. 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. in the uk, the labour party says peak rail fares 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 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. there's been no independent confirmation and no word on casualties. the whereabouts of the head of tigray‘s ruling party are unknown. it comes as a human rights group in neighboring eritrea says thousands of eritrean refugees who've lived for many years in tigray have been abducted by eritrean troops who crossed the border. meanwhile, the us embassy in 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 40,000 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 re—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 nigerian president muhammadu buhari has expressed grief over the killing of at least a0 people in the northeast of the country. the victims are said to have been agricultural workers who were tied up by the attackers near maidugur 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. i'm joined now by the bbc‘s chris ewokor in abuja. was this the work of boco her arm, do you think? at the moment, no group has claimed responsibility for this attack, but we do know the group called islamic state west africa province have been active in that region. it is one of the worst kind of attack that has been carried out in that region in recent months.

tell us a bit more about the attack and who the victims were. the victims, they were rice farmers. they had gone to their form on saturday morning to harvest their rice, it is the harvest season in nigeria. there were many of them and they had gone in a group to their farms. they were rounded up by members of these attackers, who also came in numbers and tied them up and knifed them to death. they left them there, they also set fire to their rice farm and they burnt the farm. they left them for dead. this morning, the bodies were recovered and they were buried. but members of the community say that although they have recovered 43 bodies, they are yet to, you know, recover all of the bodies because more people are still missing and they don't know exactly

where they are. this is the reason why the president has called this attack a kind of insane. he said the nigerian government is giving the army all necessary support to provide security for the nigerian citizens. the governor of the state visited the community this morning and then saw the dead bodies before they were buried. he is now using they were buried. he is now using the opportunity to call on the nigerian government to call more young people into groups of vigilantes to help the army fired the insurgents in the area. thank you very much indeed, a terrible massacre there in the north—east of the country. at least 30 afghan soldiers have been killed in a suicide bombing in the east of the country. the attacker is reported to have detonated a military humvee vehicle filled with explosives at an army base in the province of ghazni. 24 people were injured in the blast.

there's been no claim of responsibility. but fighting has continued in the region between government forces and the taliban, despite peace talks between the two sides in qatar. the headlines on bbc news... 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 eu's chief negotiatior michel barnier continues talks in london over a post—brexit trade deal, with fishing rights a major sticking point. a british woman who's spent six years on a campervan tour of europe has gone missing while walking in the pyrenees. esther dingley who's 37 and originally from durham last

spoke to her partner dan colegate a week ago when she was on the border of france and spain. she was due to finish her solo trek on wednesday but has not been seen. mr colegate, who's travelled to france to help with the search said he was ‘shattered' by her disappearance. the number of people in hospital because of coronavirus senior sources at the arcadia group have told the bbc they don't expect last—minute rescue of the group. 13,000 people are employed by the group which owns topshop, dorothy perkins and burton. a bbc spokesman said they don't expect the rescue and administrators could be appointed by thursday. the number of people in hospital because of coronavirus has 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. our 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, the number of people who died here in the united states because of the coronavirus. and for six months, that figure, 2752, 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 — 2300, for example on wednesday of this week, just three days ago. i was telling you before that we're now looking at an average of 50 americans dying of the coronavirus every single hour at the moment here. no wonder the hospitalisation rate is worrying health officials here because they are fearing that the rate we're going, the system here just won't be able to cope.

the british actor who found international fame as the man behind the mask of darth vader in the original star wars trilogy, has died. dave prowse was 85. 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. a star wars superfan neil live—sey remembers dave as a very accessible star. i had the honour of meeting him at lots of conventions across the uk and in other places around the world. one of the greatjoys

of being a star wars fan is that unlike some fandoms, the actors are very accessible, they love to meet the fans and attend the conventions. dave was the top of that tree, he absolutely loved meeting the fans, signing autographs, posing for photographs. he was a really generous guy. why was he so good in the role, i mean, notjust his size? ithink... when you say notjust his size, i think his size and his stature really brought that iconic villain to life. you know, he was an actor, he had lots of other roles in the hammer films and a clockwork orange and things like that,

but behind that mask he wasn't doing very much acting. apart from with that huge frame that he had and he used his body to create that character of darth vader. i mentioned that his lines were redone by an american actor, did he mind that? did he want to be the voice of darth vader, do you think? i think he did want to be the voice of darth vader and he told me that it was his understanding he would be the voice of darth vader, they didn't tell him they were going to re—dub. but that happened to quite a few actors in the star wars saga. i think we can see some pictures actually of you meeting the great man. you were saying how nice it is to be able to meet the stars of star wars. and an actor like him, very accessible? very much so. i was fortunate enough to work with dave at a convention in liverpool and took him to a very well—known restaurant for dinner. i ordered a taxi, which we had to send away in the end because the guy was saying, look, i cannot wait any longer

because as dave was leaving, people were saying, can i get a photograph? please can i get an autograph and hejust would not say no to the fans. 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, kavaan will live out the rest of his years at a wildlife sanctuary in cambodia. these are the latest pictures of kavaan being prepared for his departure from islamabad. it follows a five—year campaign, supported by the pop singer cher. 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! 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. a fireball has been seen by people across wide areas of western japan in the early hours of sunday. cameras across the region captured the fireball in the southern sky the meteor was seen descending towards earth for a few seconds and then emitting a powerful light. it was reported that the glow was so bright it could be seen through closed curtains. us officials say a mysterious metal structure found recently at a remote desert site in the state of utah, has now disappeared. the shiny pillar was spotted by farmers counting sheep from the air. there was no indication of who put

it there and wild speculation that it was the work of aliens. now the monolith has gone, utah officials say they could only speculate that the aliens have ta ken it back. you are watching bbc news. one way of doing your bit to help the environment for years to come, is to grow a tree. tonight, bbc countryfile is launching a new campaign to plant 750,000 saplings across the uk — and wants us all to get involved. a number of high—profile names are supporting the initiative, including prince charles. i know that so many people during this terribly difficult year have had their appreciation of the trees and other green spaces around them deepened and therefore it is our duty, given how long that it takes for a tree to mature, to plant trees now for future generations to enjoy, and for the immense benefits, particularly in towns and cities from their shade in an ever

more overheated climate. there are so many opportunities for us all to plant more trees, to protect green spaces and, above all, to plant avenues of trees in our towns and cities. even small spaces can accommodate a tree or a green area planted with appropriate native species. so, as someone with a passion for planting trees, i can only encourage you all to get planting for plant britain. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise. 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.

hello, this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines:

the uk government attempts to see off a parliamentary rebellion over new coronavirus restrictions in england, by telling backbenchers the tiers could end in february. having a vote on regulations in january with sunset in february i think is the right combination of accountability and transparency with taking the measures the public need now. 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 eu's chief negotiatior, michel barnier, continues talks in london over a post—brexit trade deal, with fishing rights a major sticking point. sources at the arcadia group, which owns high street brands including topshop and miss selfridge, say they do not expect any last minute rescue of the clothing empire built up by sir philip green. the man behind the mask of darth vader — tributes are paid to the british actor dave prowse who's