hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. british mps are voting on england's new covid—19 restrictions before lockdown ends at midnight. although the vote is expected to pass — the government is still facing some upset from some conservative mps who oppose the tougher tier system, and have said they'll vote against it. as the united states tries to keep its economy going through the pandemic, joe biden proposes more members for his cabinet. first—rate team that'll get us through this ongoing economic crisis i've spent my career trying to make sure people can work in achieve the dignity and self—worth that comes with it.

german police have arrested the driver of a car who ploughed into pedestrians killing four people — one of them a baby. and an extraordinary story from brazil — where a convoy of gunmen pull off a brazen bank robbery, leaving cash behind on the streets. we're keeping an eye on the house of commons. mps are going to vote on the government's new coronavirus tier system which, if approved, will come into effect in england on wednesday. this is the scene live in the house of commons. mps havejust wound up a long day of debate. more than 100 mps made their cases either for or against the tier system. the last of which was health secretary matt hancock. the mps are in the lobby now as the

voting begins. this is what's they're voting on. if the plans are approved — there will be three tiers. 55 million people will enter tier 2 or tier 3 — the two stricter tiers. most will be in tier 2 — they will not be able to mix indoors with anyone outside their household or support bubbles. in tier 3 — the strictest — up to six people can only meet in public parks, beaches or in the countryside. and pubs and restaurants can only serve takeaway. here's prime minister boris johnson making the case for the new regime. this is not a return to normality. i wish it was so. but it is a bit closer to normality then the current restrictions. and what we can't do is lift all the restrictions that once or move too quickly in such a way that the virus would begin to spread rapidly again. and that will be the surest way of endangering our nhs and forcing us into a new year lockdown with all the cost that

that would impose. we know this is going to pass because the labour party and the liberal democrats — both in opposition — say they are going to abstain. they argue there needs to be more financial support for the hospitality industry, but that the planned tier system is better than nothing. here's the labour leader. we recognise the need for continued restrictions, but it's not in the national interest to vote these restrictions down today. and we will allow those restrictions to pass. but it's another wasted... we accept the case for restrictions. we want a plan that's going to work. we're on plan five, and this one's full of holes! the scottish national party is also abstaining for a different reason. these tiers only affect england. in fact, the real focus is on the prime minister's conservative mps — some are certain to rebel. one is mark harper, who chairs the covid research group. i wrote to the prime minister, with 70 colleagues,

asking for as much information as we can have about the effectiveness of the measures being imposed. —— being proposed. and that's notjust, by the way, madame deputy speaker, whether they're too tough. it's also whether they'll be effective enough. they definitely come with big economic costs, and i want to know if we're going to pay those economic costs, those costs on people's lives and livelihoods — i want to know that they'll have the effect on suppressing the virus. and we simply don't have that information. helen catt is in westminster. is itfairto is it fair to say they don't have the information? has the government not provided the detailed reasoning behind the system was yellow with the government did yesterday was publish some analysis on the impact. but a lot of it was stuff that had already been put out by the office of budget response building last week. one of the findings was that it couldn't predict with any a ccu ra cy it couldn't predict with any accuracy the impact of the specific restrictions over a defined time or what would happen if no restrictions we re what would happen if no restrictions were in place. so a lot of

conservative mps who've been calling for some sort of analysis to be published have not been satisfied by what was put out. sir graham brady, the chair of the 1922 committee of conservative backbenchers, a very senior conservative described it as being no serious attempt to answer the questions that they had. so there was lots of dissatisfaction about it. downing street say they published a lot of data over the course of the pandemic and have put this in the public domain. but it's certainly not been quite enough to convince some conservative mps, and many are saying that when it comes to the next vote on these tiered restrictions due early next year, the government needs to do a lot more to get them on side to. what do we think the numbers are here? how many people might rebel? to add to that, what political consequences might there be of a rebellion? it's difficult to call an exact number. we know this will pass, it's certain to pass because labour is in voting,

there abstaining because the snp are abstaining because it's an english system. so it comes down to that conservative split, meaning you would need a huge number of tories to vote against the government to defeat these measures, around 170 plus. so we won't see that. but if you look at previous rebellions, when it came to the national lockdown, there were 35 conservative rebels. so if you look at that number or lower, the government will be pretty relieved. if you get to a0 rebels, that's the equivalent of wiping out boris johnson's rebels, that's the equivalent of wiping out borisjohnson‘s majority, and the biggest rebellion he's had was aa on the 10pm curfew. so anything higher than aa, and you're looking at the biggest rebellion so far. and what it does is it shows the challenge, as i said, because there will be another vote on this early next year — it shows the challenge boris will have and keeping his mps on side, and putting pressure on as well see some of those areas move through the tiered system before then. helen, thank you for the moment. we think that's what

will happen in about 15 minutes — it's happening now, but we will get the results in 15 minutes. helen will be back with us and we will adjust the numbers. very likely to go through, the question is, how many of those conservative mps will have rebelled? many of those conservative mps will have rebelled ? we many of those conservative mps will have rebelled? we will find out soon enough. yesterday, we showed you the us health secretary saying he hoped two covid vaccines would be in use before christmas. well today, the head of the agency responsible for giving them clearance has been summoned to the white house to explain why it's not moved more quickly on the pfizer vaccine — the first to request clearance. xpo says he was being requested to speed ahead of the meeting,

fda chief stephen hahn told axios... but there is enormous political pressure, not least from donald trump. he tweeted in october... there's no evidence there's anything political about the fda's processes. and there are concerns that if vaccines are approved before full safety reviews, it may impact how willing people are to take it. here's the world health organization on that. many people actually currently are making decisions not based on good information, but based on some information they've seen on social media or elsewhere. and they believe it because they've not had access to the right information. that's prompted scientists

to upload their own videos — like this one — to try to tackle misinformation on apps like tiktok. our global health correspondent, tulip mazumdar, has been looking at this. a number of studies looking at people's attitudes towards a covid—19 vaccine are under way. preliminary data from 17 countries suggest that people in ethiopia, india, and saudi arabia feel the most confident about taking one, with at least 85% saying they would be immunised. there was more scepticism in countries including germany, france, the us, and also in the drc, where fewer than 50% of people said they would take a vaccine. gary o'donoghue is in washington, dc. i know the bbc has been trying to find out what was discussed at that meeting between the white house chief of staff and the head of the fda. how are we getting on? no word from the white house or the fda on

what was said during that meeting. but i think we can pretty much guess at its contents, can't we? because the white house and donald trump have been really unhappy with the regulatory bodies like the fda and with pfizer about the speed at which this is going. he made promises about the vaccine and accused pfizer of delaying the news of the vaccine until after the election to damage him. now there seems to be some annoyance in the white house that'll ta ke annoyance in the white house that'll take from 20 november, when they first applied for this emergency authorisation, until ten december — only 20 days, but what the fda has to do is observe all that data that pfizer gathered from its study and make an independent assessment as to its safety before it goes into people's arms. what are the political norms around these processes ? political norms around these processes? would we expect political pressure on the fda when it was

considering other approval processes ? considering other approval processes? no, i think considering other approval processes? no, ithink generally speaking, the rule here is that you trust the scientists to do things as quickly and safely as they say they need to be done. clearly these are federal agencies, they operate at the behest of the executive arm — in other words, at the behest of the president. but a kind of political pressure to get this thing done quickly or which may compromise safety would be the concern. this is a fast—track process already, the you ea is not your normal process. this is an exceptional process and is being done quickly, but not quickly enough as far as the white house is concerned. thank you very much, gary. now let's talk aboutjoe biden, because he's been formally unveiling his team of top economic advisers. a first—rate team that'll get us

through this ongoing economic crisis and help us build the economy back — notjust build it back, but build it back better than it was before. a team that's tested and experienced, with ground—breaking americans who come from different backgrounds and who share my core vision for economic relief here in the united states of america. he's also calling on congress to pass a robust package for economic relief. his nominee for treasury secretary is former federal reserve chairjanet yellen. president—elect biden said, "no one is better prepared to deal to deal with these crises." and here's what janet yellen said. i've spent my career trying to make sure people can work and achieve the dignity, and self—worth that comes with it. mr president—elect, i know you've done the same. i saw that understanding

during the last great recession and the recovery act that followed. and now we're facing historic crises again. let's speak to gary about that in a moment, but quickly, let's listen to the house of commons, because we are getting this vote on the new tier system coming through. motion number four formally. the question is motion number four as on the order paper. as many as are of the opinion, say "aye". to the contrary, "no... i opinion, say "aye". to the contrary, "no". i think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. thank you. with the leave of the house, i will take motions five, six and seven together. that is exiting for number five, exiting the european union animals, numbersix, five, exiting the european union animals, number six, exiting the european union... as you can see, it matters in the house of commons are moving on from the issue that we we re moving on from the issue that we were focused on, which was the tiered system — i heard exactly the

same as you did, so before confirming exactly what's been voted through, let me just take a moment or two to be absolutely clear. but as helen was saying earlier, unless something very strange happens, this new system will be approved by the mps. but this is a story, at 78 mps have voted against these measures being promoted by borisjohnson, the conservative prime minister. but bearin conservative prime minister. but bear in mind, the labour party abstained, and the lib dems abstained. the snp also abstained. so most of these people, if not all these people voting against, will be conservative mps— which is extraordinary, well above the a0 that helen advised us to look out for. helen isjust having that helen advised us to look out for. helen is just having a that helen advised us to look out for. helen isjust having a chance to digest the numbers as well as i am. your reaction? it looks like a sizeable conservative rebellion. it

looks like it'll be above the aa, which was the previous biggest rebellion under boris johnson's prime minister ship, if you like. the reason i can't say for certain what the numbers are yet as we need to wait for the breakdown to come in to wait for the breakdown to come in to see how many of those were labour mps. we know a handful of labour mps we re mps. we know a handful of labour mps were planning to break their whip and vote against the restrictions, even though labour is formally abstaining. but the anticipation is that won't be that many of those, so it certainly looks like it will be quite a sizeable rebellion against the government here. and for those of us just the government here. and for those of usjustjoining, those involved ina of usjustjoining, those involved in a sizeable rebellion, particularly for the conservative party — what would they like short, her borisjohnson to be doing, rather than his proposed plan? they don't want uniform view. a lot of what we've heard this afternoon is mps standing up and saying that their area has a reasonably low infection rate and it's been lumped

in with an area with a bigger infection rate. a lot of them were in the old tier system before the lockdown, which was tier 1, which had barely any restrictions. now they're coming out and tier 3, the highest level of restrictions. so we will hear from highest level of restrictions. so we will hearfrom a highest level of restrictions. so we will hear from a lot of mps this afternoon that sort of story, saying what they believe the government should be doing is looking at this ona should be doing is looking at this on a much smaller level, on a district or borough level, so it's more reflective of the very local infection rates. that's an argument they've been making since this new tier system was announced. it hasn't won the day this time. however, borisjohnson was talking about looking at this in a granular level when they review these tears in a couple weeks' time. that seems to have raised expectation that we could see some of those lower infection rates split off, if you like, from higher tiers. however, infection rates split off, if you like, from highertiers. however, i think we'll have to see if that materialises. but that is certainly

one of the major objections. and the idea from a lot of conservative mps is that this is a massive infringement on people's liberties. and if you're going to inflict that level of restriction, then you've got to know your justification level of restriction, then you've got to know yourjustification is absolutely there. they're saying they haven't seen necessarily the analysis or data to provide a comparison to see what would happen, and also what the impact would be if it wasn't done. so i think that's largely the argument that they're putting forward. just so we are absolutely clear on the process from this point on, this has been voted through, so this tier system comes in the place. you mention it will be reviewed in two weeks. but mps won't vote on it, that what comes later on? that's right. it comes into force at midnight tonight, the areas will go into the tears that were announced last week, so that will

happen at midnight tonight. but once promised is that every two weeks, the government will look at where different areas are and which tier they are, and see if that is still appropriate. so there opening the door to the idea that some areas may be able to move down the tier system, and that'll happen every couple of weeks. that will be done at the government level. however there is a sunset clause in this legislation, meaning it only lasts for so long, and it will run out at the very beginning of february next year. so if the government wants to keep the tiered system in place beyond february next year, mps will have to vote once again for it to stay in place, and that's expected to happen at the end ofjanuary or early february next year. that's the vote they were talking about. got it. thanks for taking us through, helen. at least four people have been killed after a car ploughed through a pedestrian area in western germany. a baby is among the dead, and a number of others

have been injured. the incident happened in the city of trier, in an area where a christmas market is usually held. it was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but shops in the street were still open. these are pictures from the scene. the suspect drove through the street for around a kilometre before being stopped by the police. a man has been arrested, but his motive is not yet clear. here's trier‘s mayor. translation: we all see these pictures again and again on television from other countries, and we always think, "that can't happen in trier." and now, it has happened in trier. and i'm standing here as mayor, and i'm speechless. how can a person get the idea to drive through the centre of the city of trier and kill people? damian mcguinness is in berlin. what more do we have about the circumstances in which this played out? you can hear the shock and sadness in the mayor's voice there. we found out more about the

perpetrator, he's a 51—year—old german man born in criciuma. he grew up german man born in criciuma. he grew up in the region, so he's a local man. it seems that according to initial assessment, he may have psychiatric problems. so he may have been drunk when you carried out this attack, as it's being called by the mayor, and he was living in the car that he used as a weapon. they say he acted with intent maliciously, that's how they put it. it appears he drove right through the beautiful mediaeval city centre of trier, meaning for people as he was going. so it was definitely done with intent, that's what officials have told us this evening. he's right now being questioned. officials also say there's no reason to believe there's any ideological motivation or religious motivation, or even any broader idea about what he might‘ve done this. so what the mayor has

said is that it all points to the possibly some sort of psychiatric problem, although we haven't got any official confirmation of that. but what we do know is that four people have been killed, including a nine—month—old baby and an elderly woman, as well. dozens are being treated for shock and trauma, and around about a dozen people are in hospital, some in critical condition. the whole city and region is in shock, and it brings back horrible memories in germany of the attack on a christmas market in 2016 when someone used a truck to ram into that christmas market, killing 12 people. this is a very different incident, it seems the only terror links don't seem to be ideologically motivated, but still very shocking obviously for the town and all the people involved. damien, thank you very much for the update. lets turn to an extraodinary story out of brazil.

an armed gang has stormed a southern city called criciuma — it robbed a bank, set off explosives, and took hostages before escaping with an undisclosed amount of money. the operation lasted two hours, and this is how it unfolded. explosions were first reported at just after midnight local. footage on social media shows the men firing weapons as they entered the city in a convoy of vehicles. we're told banco do brasil was then raided, and a tunnel leading into the city was set on fire, and the police headquarters was attacked. this footage posted on social media shows the getaway in a fleet of cars. and we can assume the robbers didn't mean to leave this behind. this footage, posted on twitter, shows residents picking up money in the streets. police say they've detained four people who picked up $150,000. none of them were linked to the robbery itself. the mayor of criciuma has called it a major assault. this ws his message earlier.

translation: hello, i'm here at city hall, after having lived through a true night of terror. unfortunately, we had a police officer who was injured, and a security guard who was also hurt. but the police carried out their role very well. now the mayor's office is asking for everyone to go back to their workplaces. let's let the police do theirjob. these pictures show the aftermath. this truck was destroyed by fire — it had apparently been used by the gang members. and here you have a police office deactivating explosives left on a street in the city. we're told 30 robbers were involved in the operation. camilla mota joins me now from sao paulo. it's just an incredibly extraordinary story. is there any parallel in brazil? have you ever known of an attack like this? well, brazil records around 100 bank robberies or attempts each year,

which is quite a lot. but we are not used to seeing something like this. although it's not common, it's not com pletely although it's not common, it's not completely unique, because we know that sectors of organised crime groups here in brazil are specialising in bank robberies and have been targeting for years now small cities — maybe because they think it's easier to flee. around £1 billion a year, and actually the biggest robbery in the history of brazil had been not long ago in 2005, so 15 years ago, when criminals actually dug a tunnel to get a ccess criminals actually dug a tunnel to get access to a central bank vault in the northeastern part of brazil. and they took with them £20 million, three tonnes of paper money with them. so a big story in brazil turning into a movie, even. and for those reasons, presumably this bank would have been protected. how do we

know how this gang it managed to get through security? well, we don't know, authorities don't know, and the state governor in a statement earlier today said they had no idea that this was coming, even though criminals most likely where planninguk the robbery for weeks now. people think they are from out of state, so they moved into the city to plan better what they were planning to do, but authorities had no idea this was coming up. so that's why the state governor is asking for help for fellow authorities to try to track the criminals, because we don't actually know where they fled to, and actually try to get some of the money back. camilla, thank you very much. those pictures you're seeing there is of money on the streets. people picked up $150,000, which begs the question, how much did the game get away with if that's how much they dropped on the street as they were fleeing? we've heard stories from the brazil, the uk, the us and germany, and we will continue

taking you right around the world in the next few minutes. hello there. we replaced november gloom with something a little bit more sparkling to start off the month of december. yes, we had some sunshine across the country. it was a day beautiful in ashford, kent. slightly different story further north and west — there was quite a lot of cloud, and the cloud thick enough at times to reduce a summer light drizzle. now this is a weather front that's arriving, and it will continue to bring the potentialfor some rain — a fairly narrow band as it moves its way into scotland and northern ireland. down to the south—east corner, we may well keep those clear skies, so temperatures here hovering close to freezing first thing. but it is the weather front that's the driving force behind the story over the next few days. it's a cold front and, as it sinks its way steadily south and east, it'll allow the flood gates to open to some bitterly cold air, and some strong and, at times, gale force gusts of winds.

so, a rash of showers expected on wednesday into the north west of scotland, some turning increasingly wintry, as well. our weatherfront sinks its way into east anglia and the south—east corner — by then, a weak affair, with temperatures down on where they should be for the time of year, particularly feeling cold in scotland when you factor in the strength of the wind. low pressure really dominates over the next few days. there'll be a frequent rash of further snow showers to come into the early hours of thursday morning and, at the same time, some wet weather into the south west. so we see some rain, some of it heavy at times, across south wales and southern england, accompanied by gale force gusts of wind, as well. best of the any sunshine further north, but again, it's a cool—feeling day for all, and we'll still continue to see a few showers. top temperatures of 3—7 celsius. moving out of thursday, that weather front should ease off into the next continent. but the low pressure staying close by, and it may well allow some wet weather to push in off the north sea as it pushes into colder air,

there's the potential to see some snow even at lower levels through scotland during the day on friday, and some snow showers potentially across the higher ground of northern england and north wales. we need to keep abreast of the forecast for that one. wales and south west england seeing the best of any drier weather, but there's a lot of uncertainty for the detail on friday. but it's certainly worth bearing in mind that, if you do have travel plans, there's the possibility of some snow particularly to the far north of scotland.

hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. british mps are voting on england's new covid—19 restrictions before lockdown ends at midnight. the government is still facing some upset from some conservative mps who opposed the tougher tier system. china accuses australia of attempting to "stoke domestic nationalism" as a row over this tweet from a chinese government account escalates. a chinese spacecraft has landed on the moon to collect the first rock samples in more than a0 years. and we'll have an update on the brexit trade negotiations, and although it's crunch time, spoiler alert, there's still no deal.

a chinese spacecraft has landed on the moon, and it's aiming to collect rock samples, something that's not been done since the ‘705. it's the third time china has landed a probe on the moon. and it decided not to show it us live. instead, once things had gone to plan, it released this footage of the chang'e—5 lander touching down in a volcanic area of the moon. it's going to now spend several days tryingt to scoop up around two kilograms of samples before heading back. here's more from jonathan amos. it's always hard. you've got to remember that these are automated events. you don't have somebody in beijing or wherever it is with a little joystick that's managing the spacecraft. you give it a series of commands, and then you hope it'll carry

them out successfully. this is the third time that they've done this. they put down previously two static lenders or little rovers. but this is another step up for them because this is notjust going down, they've got to get back up off the moon as well and bring these rock samples home in the next few days. the mission is the latest evidence of the ambition of china's space programme. and you can see some of the questions this raises in this tweet from nasa last week. after the chang'e—5‘s launch, nasa offered its congratulations, but said it hopes china... the artemis programme being the name of nasa's mission to land astronauts on the moon again by 202a. in other words — if you don't share with us, we may not share with you. but that doesn't seem to be a concern for the european space agency. this is professor bernard foing, who says they've already been working with china on this latest mission. here's more from him. it's simple.

we learn about the history of volcanism on the moon, but also are going to look at further places where we could settle in the future. because this is a very interesting area to explore, we've discovered these pools, with ice, but also in areas like this one that has to be explored from the scientific point of view so resources can be harvested and now we're looking at going like on a village on the moon with different parts where in collaboration with different international partners where we have access to science, technology but also we try to inspire all the public and a renaissance from the moon. there's no doubt, this mission is causing excitement. here'sjonathan amos again on why. aa years since we last retrieved samples from the moon. the apollo missions brought back most of that, just under a00 kilos.

but they went to quite old places. when i say old, i mean the rocks there are 3—a billion years old. what's interesting about this mission is that they've gone to the far northwest of the near side of the moon, to a region where the rocks may be 1.2—1.3 billion years old. and if we can get that material back and analyse it, then that'll tell us something new about the history of the moon, its relationship with earth and also something about the history of all of the planets in the inner solar system. in under a month, the uk's brexit transition period ends. that's the point at which the uk trading relationship with the eu stops being governed by existing arrangements. and at the moment, there's no trade deal to take its place. negotiations go on, though. this is the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier arriving today. he declined to say anything more than "good morning". we've heard a little more from the uk side. this is cabinet minister michael gove, who's overseeing the negotiations.

whether or not we get a free trade argument with the european union, we are definitely leaving the single market and the customs union on december the 31st come what may. so a lot of what businesses need to do is the same whether or not we get a free trade agreement or not. now, no one is keener than i am to see this negotiating process conclude, but nevertheless there are lots of things that businesses have done and can do on what's a no—regrets basis. there's no harm in doing these things because they'll be necessary come what may. but the problem for uk businesses is summarised by my colleague lewis goodall here. as he points out... we do know, though, there are only two scenarios here — a no—deal brexit and a deal. both will require companies who export from england, scotland and wales in the uk into the eu to fill out customs declarations and to complete checks at the border. chris morris from

reality check explains. and one concern is it's the same trucks going back and forth all the time. so if you have delays in one direction, you could have then delays in the other. and 85% of the volume of this trade is carried by european hauliers. and they are usually paid by that kilometre, not by the hour. so if they're going to be sitting, they think they're going to be sitting in queues all day, they may welljust not come for a few weeks at least. so trade might actually go down. next, this is a spokesperson for the uk's road haulage association. the government has told us what we have to do, but not how we have to do it. and of course the how bit is the most important thing, when as chris morris was reporting, there is this mountain of red tape that we have not had to do for 50 years or so that we now have to get our heads around. and the shocking lack of clarity we have had from the government on this is really worrying. northern ireland will be treated

differently to the other parts of the uk, and it's still unclear how this will work. no better guide to this aspect of the story than the bbc‘s john campbell in northern ireland. he tells us... so if a deal is done, that means companies won't have to pay tariffs on goods moving between northern ireland the rest of the uk, but there will have to be checks on those goods from the beginning ofjanuary. and businesses say the system isn't ready. they're calling for an extra adjustment period. here's chris page in belfast. at northern ireland's ports, including at belfast portjust across the water there, new border control posts will need to be built to carry out checks of, for example, products of animal origin, meat, milk, eggs, other dairy products that come here from the rest of the uk.

but at the moment, it looks like those border patrol posts are not going be ready certainly by the 1st of january and may not be fully constructed until well into next year. and it's notjust businesses in the uk which are facing uncertainty. in france, belgium and the netherlands, there are also concerns about disruption at the border. here's nick beake in brussels. in the netherlands, the government has been running a campaign to help companies prepare for brexit, and it's doing that with the help of a furry blue brexit mascot. and it turned up at rotterdam port today. anna holligan was there. so rotterdam is europe's largest seaport, with links to felixstowe and right across the uk. and this is the brexit mascot. he's making an appearance here today to focus minds really and highlight the fact that this will have consequences for firms doing business across the channel. he's been making an appearance in lots of the dutch government's brexit material,

lying against production lines, in front of computer screens, and it's really because they want to show that things have to be done in advance so that the trucks can keep on moving through. from the 1st ofjanuary, there will be changes here. inevitably, and so they are asking people to register in advance, to fill in the forms on the internal port database. those that fail to do that will be diverted. they've built 700 extra parking spots in a buffer zone. the traffic that have completed their customs forms will be allowed to pass through the port and onto the ferries to the uk. the others will be held there in this buffer zone for 24 hours to get their homework down before being sent home. and that's really why this blue fluffy muppet is here today, to remind people that brexit is 30 days away.

cannot believe that anna did not ask foran cannot believe that anna did not ask for an interview. a man of few words that brexit mascot. if you want background on any of these hugely complex areas of negotiations, get it through bbc news's website. china is accusing australia of attempting to "stoke domestic nationalism" in a row its response to a tweet from a chinese government account. an official shared this doctored image. we've blurred some of it, but it shows a man in an australian military uniform holding a knife to an afghan child's neck. the image is fake, but the chinese goal, which has been achieved, was to highlight a damning report last month into alleged australian warm crimes in afghanistan. and australia's prime minister scott morrison may want an apology for the tweet, but he's not got one. instead, here's a statement from chinese embassy in australia. it says...

right, but australia has already appointed a special investigator to gather evidence which could lead to criminal charges. and the head of the australian military issued an apology when the report came out. here's some of it. these findings allege the most serious breaches of military conduct and professional values. such alleged behaviour profoundly disrespected the trust placed in us by the afghan people. none of that is stopping a range of chinese state media twitter accounts. here's stephen dziedzic of abc news australia highlighting one such tweet and saying... in a bid to counter these messages, australia's prime minister scott morrison posted on the chinese social media platform wechat, writing...

well, the artist who made the original doctored image has responded to scott morrison's outrage. translation: i feel sympathetic for him. and fully understand mr morrison's mood right now. but i would still advise mr morrison to face reality and put his efforts into domestic affairs. and he's now released this image, showing scott morrison in the right of frame covering a dead body while pointing a finger at a chinese cartoonist. and we see the press focuses on the cartoonist, too. but this doesn't add up. the world's press covered the release of the report on afghanistan in huge detail. here's the new york times with the headline "blood lust and demigods: behind an australian force's slaughter of helpless afg ha ns". cnn also went with a culture of "blood lust". it was also reported

in the indian express and germany's deutsche welle. and many many more outlets. seen in isolation, this whole row appears to have escalated very quickly, but this is part of something far bigger. through 2020, relations have worsened, not least because australia called for an international inquiry into how covid—19 began in china. and china has imposing hefty tariffs on australian exports, including wine. as the chinese are well aware, that stings. china is the biggest destination for australian wine. and while the state of the australian wine industry may not seem like a matter of major international importance, this is all about the power balance between china and the west. for some, it's a cause for concern. a group of 200 mps from 19 countries have has launched an campaign to convince people to buy australian wine in december as an act of solidarity. here's a clip of a video it's released. cheers, and also say no

bullying from china. ah, that's a fine australian wine. the group says... and as my colleague nick bryant puts it... and if this is about the west as much as about china, then so far president trump has said nothing about this row. forjoe biden, how to handle a more assertive chinese foreign policy is one of many decisions that awaits him. stay with us on outside source. still to come, on world aids day, we hearfrom a man known as the "london patient", who is one ofjust two people in the world who has been cured of hiv. one of the oldest names on the high street, debenhams, is set to close,

putting 12,000 jobs at risk. the company went into administration earlier this year, but efforts to find a buyer have so farfailed. it comes a day after topshop met the same fate. our business correspondent emma simpson reports. debenhams, a big part of bristol for half a century. anchor stores in so many of her towns and cities, like brighton. i think it's really sad. i used to work for them a long time ago. and on the corner in leeds. but for how much longer? we won't have any shopping centres left, we'll have no town centres left when everybody shops online. in edinburgh today, nostalgia from younger shoppers, too. i know girls who bought their prom dresses there. it's memories, you know what i mean? and staff arriving for work to find out that when the doors open tomorrow, the stock starts to be cleared, liquidation and a closing down sale.

i think it's been a long, slow decline for debenhams. it's not really changed. it has been a constant presence through the decades, but its problems have been many years in the making, too. but the pandemic tipped debenhams into administration again during lockdown. jd sports had been closing in on a rescue deal, but they got cold feet and pulled out this morning. the last remaining bidder. in many ways, this is the worst week for high street retail we have ever seen. it's notjust the 25,000 jobs on the line, it's the role that these stores play, especially in smaller towns. the pandemic has created nightmare conditions for our strongest traditional retailers. now, the weaker ones are falling by the wayside. dozens of brands have already gone under and some have disappeared from the high street altogether.

this is outside source, live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is — as a nationwide lockdown comes to an end in england, british mps have backed a new set of covid—19 restrictions. 78 mps voted against, in a significant rebellion against borisjohnson by his own backbenchers. police in sweden have arrested a 70—year—old woman on suspicion of holding her son captive for up to 30 years. this is the block of flats in stockholm where he was discovered. local media say the man had been taken out of school when he was 12 and that he's now in his a05. and the man was found by a relative lying on a blanket on the floor with sores on his legs. here's the reaction from someone who lived in a neighbourning flat. translation: shock, first and foremost. one has read about these things

happening in other countries, with people who have locked up children and so on. shock is the first thing, and you start to examine yourself, like, shouldn't we have heard or seen something or thought something? but at the same time, it feels so strange somehow. that person should be locked up for 30 years. maddy savage has more from stockholm. details are still emerging, and police haven't officially released much information about the man's injuries. but they told me that he's so badly hurt that he remains in hospital some 48 hours after he was taken in on sunday here in sweden. they've confirmed that he is able to communicate, but there are reports in the swedish media here that he has almost no teeth and struggles to speak. what we know about where he was found and where his mother was living, it's a pretty regular apartment block, like thousands of others here in sweden, in a suburb about 25 km, 15 miles outside the centre of stockholm,

a grey and yellow building. swedish police say it is incredibly rare for this kind of suspected crime to take place in sweden. imprisonment potentially over a number of decades, so they say they are very keen to get to the bottom of what happened as soon as possible. the prosecution authority are understood to be meeting on wednesday. they, we understand, want to keep the mother in custody while investigations continue. she denies falsely imprisoning her son, but if she's found guilty, she could face a maximum sentence of ten years injail. a 23—year—old woman who began taking drugs to delay puberty when she was 16 to transition to a man has said she is delighted after a landmark high court ruling in the high court in london. keira bell, who regrets the treatment, took legal action against the tavistock and portman nhs trust, the uk's only clinic offering the treatment to children. the judges ruled that children under 16 are unlikely to be able to give informed consent about starting treatment. transgender rights campaigners have

criticised the decision. the tavistock says it will appeal the ruling. alison holt reports. for keira bell, emerging from the high court, this judegment was about decisions made as a teenager that started her on the road from transitioning from female to male. she argued she was too young to understand the impact of that treatment. the court agreed more checks are needed. i'm delighted at the judgement of the court today. it was a judgement that will protect vulnerable people. i wish it had been made for me before i embarked on the devastating experiment of puberty—blockers. at 16, keira was desperate to be a boy. she was given drugs to delay puberty and then male hormones. clinicians say for some children this is the right move, but keira believes it was a mistake for her. the discussions were very brief and there was no real investigation into why i had gender dysphoric feelings and how i got to that stage. i spoke briefly of depression

and anxiety, but again, it was kind of assumed by everyone that transitioning would alleviate that. her case was against the tavistock, the uk's only gender identity clinic for children. it argued that puberty—blocking drugs are only prescribed if a child can give informed consent, but today's judgement ruled it was doubtful a child under 16 could really understand the long—term implications, and for 16 and 17—year—olds, the courts may also need to be involved. this mother, who wants to remain anonymous, was also involved in bringing the action. her daughter, who has autism, is on the waiting list at the clinic. the long—term effects of puberty— blockers are not really known. they are given for extended periods of time at a time when your developing your body needs to be exposed to hormones. it does notjust halt the physical development, it halts the psychological, social and emotional

development of a child. in a statement, the tavistock says... it's a very important issue, and i'm happy to be here. and 18—year—old sonia calls the judgement and 18—year—old sonia calls thejudgement disheartening and wrong. snd says young people who want to transition like already face long waits for specialist help. it's taken more than two or three years just to get a first appointment, and that is before you even get to the prospect of discussing hormone replacement therapy and puberty— blockers. for me personally, it took a huge toll on my mental health because i couldn't see light at the end of the tunnel. i had no hope. whilst it's considering the implications of today's judgement, the tavistock says it is suspending all new referrals

of under 16s for drug treatments. today is world aids day. it seeks to raise awareness of hiv infection and aids—related deaths and mourn those who've been lost. since the 1980s, around 33 million people have died of the disease. but hiv prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care have all improved drastically. today, people with hiv can live long and healthy lives. the uk government has today adopted a target to effectively eliminate transmission of hiv over the next decade. the target for england is to bring new infections down to just 100 a year by 2030. now, only two people have ever been cured of hiv, both after receiving transplants for cancer treatments and where the transplant had a gene mutation resistant to hiv. the first was the so—called berlin patient, timothy ray brown, who died earlier this year of cancer. the other was adam castillejo, also known as the london patient. and to mark world aids day, adam has given his first ever broadcast interview, to the bbc. here's some of what he told us.

it was an incredible opportunity when i had these two transplants and the possibility to be cured of both. that was a mind—blowing experience for me to know that i was able to be cured, not only for cancer, but also cured of hiv. and i was very grateful. and then willing to do the transplant because people have to understand being hiv—positive is not always easy to get a bone marrow transplant because there are multiple complications which people behind me, some people died before me. before having the transplant, during the transplant and at the transplant. so i knew the risks attached. today is a very important day for the hiv calendar, which is world aids day. i feel like it's important to continue talking about and end stigma in this condition.

we still suffer to this day and i want to go on the campaign as well have people to understand, educate people about the disease and understand that we are just human beings who happen to have hiv. that's what i want to continue. and i want people to understand, it's hope, the early stages, but we are getting there and we will get there and please don't give up. i never did. a reminder of our top story, british mps have given their backing to the tiered system of coronavirus controls that will come into force across england at midnight. the ayes to the right, 291. the nose to the left, 78. the ayes to the left, 291. the noes to the left, 78. so the ayes have it, the ayes have it. unlock. the government won the vote in the house of commons by a majority of 213, with 78 voting against including many conservative mps.

who thought about that in the coming hours. thanks for watching, bye—bye. hello there. we replaced november gloom with something a little bit more sparkling to start off the month of december. yes, we had some sunshine across the country. it was a day beautiful in ashford, kent. slightly different story further north and west — there was quite a lot of cloud, and the cloud thick enough at times to produce some light drizzle. now this is a weather front that's arriving, and it will continue to bring the potentialfor some rain — a fairly narrow band as it moves its way into scotland and northern ireland. down to the south—east corner, we may well keep those clear skies, so temperatures here hovering close to freezing first thing. but it is the weather front that's the driving force behind the story over the next few days. it's a cold front and, as it sinks its way steadily south and east, it'll allow the flood gates to open to some bitterly cold air, and some strong and, at times,

gale force gusts of winds. so, a rash of showers expected on wednesday into the north west of scotland, some turning increasingly wintry, as well. our weatherfront sinks its way into east anglia and the south—east corner — by then, a weak affair, with temperatures down on where they should be for the time of year, particularly feeling cold in scotland when you factor in the strength of the wind. low pressure really dominates over the next few days. there'll be a frequent rash of further snow showers to come into the early hours of thursday morning and, at the same time, some wet weather into the south west. so we see some rain, some of it heavy at times, across south wales and southern england, accompanied by gale force gusts of wind, as well. best of the any sunshine further north, but again, it's a cool—feeling day for all, and we'll still continue to see a few showers. top temperatures of 3—7 degrees. moving out of thursday, that weather front should ease off into the near continent. but the low pressure staying close by, and it may well allow some wet weather to push in off the north sea.

as it pushes into colder air, there's the potential to see some snow even at lower levels through scotland during the day on friday, and some snow showers potentially across the higher ground of northern england and north wales. we need to keep abreast of the forecast for that one. wales and south west england seeing the best of any drier weather, but there's a lot of uncertainty for the detail on friday. but it's certainly worth bearing in mind that, if you do have travel plans, there's a possibility of some snow particularly to the far north of scotland.

you're watching bbc news with me tim willcox. the headlines at 8. 78. despite a big tory rebellion, mps vote to back the tiered system of coronavirus controls in england to replace the general lockdown — which ends at midnight tonight. that is what we can do when we work together in the spirit of common humanity. we have got to beat this, madam deputy speaker. we have got to beat it together. labour mps had been instructed by their party to abstain from the vote. we support public health restrictions, but we cannot impose public health restrictions without giving our businesses the support to

survive and