good afternoon. the foreign secretary, dominic raab, says the government is listening to conservative mps who are unhappy with the latest coronavirus restrictions for england. the revised tier system comes into force next week, replacing the current lockdown. most of england will be in the highest two levels of restrictions. our political correspondent ellie price reports. tis the season to be jolly careful said borisjohnson tis the season to be jolly careful said boris johnson last tis the season to be jolly careful said borisjohnson last week and he needs to be, with a potential rebellion of his own mps unhappy

about the proper tier system in england set to start on wednesday. yesterday michael gove warned it wasn't just ministers yesterday michael gove warned it wasn'tjust ministers who had to ta ke wasn'tjust ministers who had to take difficult decision but mps, also. this morning the foreign secretary opted for more domestic diplomacy. we are listening, we do understand, people say to me we just wa nt to understand, people 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—disease—macro health and social implications and we will publish more analysis on that and we take seriously the principle of parliamentary accountability. the prime minister has written to all mps and peers are promising that if they back him he will give them a new doubt on the restrictions on january 27. he says a review of restrictions next month means some areas could come out of tier 3 on december 19, especially if the evidence suggests recent lockdown measures have had an impact. prime ministers tend not to give

concessions unless they feel they are forced to, even if it is nearly christmas. one conservative mp told me he had no confidence in the cack—handed way things had been put together. another mp told me that the letter was nice but he still hadn't decided how he will vote. if enough tories rebel, the government will rely on labour support, and that isn't a good look. so far labour haven't said they will support the measures, but they have never voted against health restrictions in the past either. the reason i'm not committing to vote for these measures is, we are not convinced at the moment that they are either insufficient or workable. it is not too late for the government to convince us of that but that's what they got to do in the next 48 hours. government scientific advisers say the tougher restrictions are crucial. the rates are still too high, there are too many cases, too many people dying, and if we take their breaks off at this stage, just when the end is in sight, i think we will be making a huge mistake. many mps are waiting

for the government to publish its so—called impact assessment tomorrow which will look at the economic and social effect of the english tiers. the mayor of manchester has called for more compensation for businesses in the restricted tiers, but for many, it is already too late. if you live in england and want to check which tier your area will be in, you can enter your postcode on the bbc news website — that's bbc.co.uk/news. the uk government has secured another two million doses of the american coronavirus vaccine which proved 95% effective after trials. the uk now has seven million jabs on order from the us company, moderna. our health correspondent katharine da costa joins me now. there are three effective vaccines we know about so far. what's the latest on a timescale for their roll—out? we haven't bought one yet. this latest agreement means the

government has secured a total of 357 million doses of seven different vaccines. the moderna vaccine has not yet been sent to the uk regulator to be assessed. the two that have, so far are the pfizer—biontech one and the oxford university astrazeneca one. the fire isa university astrazeneca one. the fire is a vaccine is reported to be 95% effective and on friday the government asked the regulator to assess the oxford vaccine. that's providing results that show it ranges from 62% if two full doses are given, 90% of half a dose is followed by a full dose, and that gave an overall effectiveness of 70%. it is the job of the relegate —— the 70%. it is the job of the relegate -- the nhra, to 70%. it is the job of the relegate —— the nhra, to look at the safety, effectiveness and quality of the vaccines being put forward. oxford has been supplying rolling trial data. that could speed up the process. so that a decision could happen within the next fortnight. the government has said that if one is approved, it would be in a position to start roll—out before

christmas. it has bought 40 million doses of the pfizer vaccine, 100 million of the oxford one, both given as two doses, but it is thought the bulk of vaccination would start in the first part of next year with the hope that most every 50s would be vaccinated by spring. vaccines are seen as the exit strategy, so we are moving closer, but we still have to get through the difficult winter months ahead. katharine, thank you very much indeed. let's take a look at some of today's other news. talks between the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier and his uk counterpart on a post brexit trade deal are continuing today, but downing street says there remains a lot to do at a late hour. the government says fishing rights are still an "outstanding major bone of contention" but there is a deal to be done. at least 30 members of the afghan security forces have been killed in a car bomb attack on a military base in ghazni, in the east of the country. it's one of the worst such attacks in recent months and comes

despite the ongoing peace talks between the government and the taliban. more than 10,000 turkeys are to be culled at a farm in north allerton in north yorkshire, over fears they could have bird flu. the department for environment, food and rural affairs said avian flu poses little risk to public health and that this strain of the virus does not affect food safety. senior sources at arcadia group have told the bbc they do not expect any last—minute rescue of the clothing empire built up by sir philip green. the group, which includes topshop and dorothy perkins, could go into administration as early as tomorrow, putting 13,000 jobs at risk. our business correspondent, katie austin, is in central london. katie, what is the latest? yes, we expect that arcadia is set to call in administrators at some point tomorrow. stores will continue to trade for the time being when they

are allowed to be reopened, while a buyer or buyers are sought for the group's brands. it is worrying is for employees, in the run—up to christmas. one aspect already attracting attention is pensions. the chair of the mp select committee on work and pension is today called for sir philip green's family to make good the deficit in that pension fund, whatever happens, as things stand, if administration goes ahead the pension funds would go into what you think of as the pensions lifeboat when members would get back slightly less than they would have expected. we expect sir philip green will not try to buy back any part of his retail empire, which did have problems including not adapting quickly enough to the new digital retail environment, before the coronavirus restrictions dealt a further blow. many thanks, katy austin, our business correspondence. “— katy austin, our business

correspondence. —— correspondence. mike tyson's return to the boxing ring at the age of 54, ended in a draw with royjonesjunior, who himself is 51. tyson looked in good shape in their heavyweight exhibition match in los angeles. he'll give some of his reported $10 million earnings to charity. dave prowse, best known for playing darth vader in the original star wars trilogy, has died at the age of 85. his co—star mark hamill, who played luke skywalker, has paid tribute to him, calling him a "kind man" who "loved his fans as much as they loved him". our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba looks back on his life. at 6ft 6", and 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... green cross code. it was 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 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. as darth vader, he had the bulk, he had the build, but he also had a bristol accent. ellis shipp are part piece by piece until you find them. 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 by the booming tones of james earljones. he may never have been the voice behind the villain, the man behind the mask of darth vader is how he'll always be remembered.

and, for so many, he played the most iconic cinema villain ever seen. the next news on bbc one is at 5:50pm. bye for now. good afternoon. let's start in south africa where england's cricketers won the toss and have elected to bowl in their second t20 match against south africa in paarl. they've taken wickets already, temba bavuma gone for 13 — bowled by joffra archer. and the captain, quinton de kock, caught by tom curran off the bowling of chris jordan, for 26. england are fielding the same side

that won the first match on friday. south africa currently 65—2. steve smith hit a second straight century as australia won the second one—day international in sydney, setting a new record for their highest odi score against the side. they made 389—4, beating the mark they set just two days ago — smith scoring 104 off 64 balls. there was a worrying injury to david warner early in india's reply — he's been sent to hospital for scans on a groin strain. pat cummins took three wickets, as australia won by 51 runs, to make sure of victory in the three—match series. liverpool are top of the english premier league as things stand following their draw at brighton yesterday, but they could be overtaken by either chelsea or tottenham, who face each other today. that's one of three matches, with southampton taking on manchester united in the early game, and arsenal are at home to wolves later. there's commentary on all of those

matches on bbc radio 5 live. and you can watch eight more fa cup ties on the bbc today, on the iplayer and bbc sport website, with some matches also on the red button — check the schedules for details. and on bbc radio scotland, there's commentary of holders celtic against ross county in the scottish league cup. rangers are at falkirk — the last two places in the quarter—finals are upforgrabs. it was a big night for british boxing, asjoejoyce sprung a major upset to beat daniel dubois in london and move a step closer to a world title shot. joyce used his jab expertly to trouble his opponent's eye and, despite being up on two of the thee judges scorecards, dubois failed to beat the count in the tenth round, claiming he couldn't see out of that bruised eye. victory gavejoyce the british, commonwealth and european titles. after all the hype and controversy, 54—year—old mike tyson's return

to the ring ended in a draw against royjones junior in los angeles. thejudges couldn't separate the two former heavyweight world champions in their eight—round exhibition fight. afterwards, tyson said he'd changed and now wanted to do charity work. iam capable i am capable of helping a lot of people less fortunate than myself. that is what i am capable of doing, all over the world. in a perfect world i am a missionary, in a perfect world. when i am in the ring, my real life is a gift, not only for myself. before it was a lwa ys only for myself. before it was always about me, the hot chick, and always about me, the hot chick, and a nice plains and the boat. it doesn't do it for me any more. despite the plans for tyson to do more charity work, there's talk of these two meeting in the ring again. however, our boxing pundit steve bunce thinks there's someone else tyson will fight before that. the rematch with royjones is not

the next fight. the next fight is going to take all of us back, all of us going to take all of us back, all of us back in time. even if we weren't born then on some of us were ringside then, you remember the night at the mgm, las vegas, mike tyson biting down and taking a lump out of evander holyfield's ear and spitting it on the floor and then being disqualified and then being fined $3 million and then being thrown out of boxing for two years. that's the next fight! i'd like to see that. lewis hamilton is on pole position for the bahrain grand prix — the 98th pole of his record—beating career. the seven—times world champion set the pace in qualifying, ahead of teammate valtteri bottas and max verstappen. the race starts at 2:10 and there's commentary on 5 live sport extra. that's all the sport for now but there's more on the bbc sport website, including text commentary on that england match against south africa. i'll be back with more later.

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 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 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. there's been no independent confirmation and no word on casualties, and 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, late on saturday night. the embassy didn't specify where the explosions took place or what was the cause. mark lobel reports. 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 mekelle 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 six 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 our 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. president buhari of nigeria has expressed his grief over the killing of at least 40 people in the northeast of the country. the victims are said to have been agricultural workers who were tied up by the attackers before being knifed to death. it's one of the worst attacks in recent months in a region where boko haram insurgents are active. the bbc‘s chris ewokor is in abuja and has the latest.

at the moment no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. but the group called islamic state west africa province have been very active in that region and is one of the biggest and the worst kind of attack that has been carried out in that region in recent months. tell us that region in recent months. tell usa 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 theirfarm they were rice farmers. they had gone to their farm on saturday morning to harvest their rice, it is the harvest season in nigeria. there we re the harvest season in nigeria. there were many of them and they had gone in groups to their farms were many of them and they had gone in groups to theirfarms and were many of them and they had gone in groups to their farms and they we re in groups to their farms and they were rounded up by members of these attackers who came also in their numbers and tied them up and knife them to death. and they left them there, they also set fire to their rice farm and they burnt the farm

and 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 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 kind of insane. he said the nigerian government is giving the army all necessary support to provide security for the nigerian citizens. again, the governor of the state visited the community this morning and then saw the dead bodies before they were buried. he will use the opportunity to call on the nigerian government to recruit more young people into local groups of vigilantes to help the army fight insurgents in the area.

at least 30 afghan soldiers have been killed in a suicide bombing in the east of the country. the attack 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 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 — 2,300, 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. 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 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 a star wars superfan neil livesey 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. 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. 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, as we can see, a very bright light. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear. 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.