this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lewis vaughan jones. dr anthony fauci sets the record straight on what he thinks about the uk decision to approve the new pfizer coronavirus vaccine. i have a great deal of confidence in what the uk does both scientifically and from a regulatory standpoint. if i somehow came across differently, i apologise for that. us president—electjoe biden says he will ask americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office to curtail the spread of coronavirus. south africa's farm is under threat from the biggest locust outbreak in over a decade. and the million dollar teacher.

an indian teacher wins this year's global teacher prize. hello and welcome. we start with an apology from america's top infectious diseases expert dr anthony fauci after he criticised uk regulators over their rapid approval of a new coronavirus vaccine. britain on wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the pfizer—biontech vaccine for mass use. speaking earlier to cbs, dr fauci said the uk was not as rigorous as the us in its vaccine approval process. but when he spoke to my colleagues earlier on this channel, dr fauci backtracked. the point i was really trying to make, i did not make it well, which is why i welcome to the opportunity to get on your show and say it came out wrong. in the united states, there is such a considerable

amount of tension of pushing back on the credibility of the safety and efficacy that if we in the united states had done it as quickly as the uk did it, and that's no judgement on the way uk did it, and even though my statement did come across looking that way, if we had a, for example, approved it yesterday or tomorrow, there likely would have been push back on and already scrutinising society that has really, i think in the united states, too much scepticism about the process. so, when we had conversations, and i just had a recent conversation with the uk station, the first thing they said was we beat you to it, we won the race. and i wanted to get the point,

this is not a race where there is one winner and one good one and one bad one. it's a bunch of companies and a bunch of countries trying as best as possible to get vaccines to their citizens as quickly as they could possibly... we are trying to do that in the united states, but our process is one that takes more time than was taken with the uk, and that is just the reality. professor stephen evans, a professor at the london school of hygiene & tropical medicine, listened to dr fauci's apology. this is his reaction. well, he's a great man. he's a great scientist and he's a champion of truth, as you say on your bbc news logo. he is somebody who i have respected for as long as i've known about him. i don't know him personally and i really

respect him for the way he has responded. i think that is exactly what most of us in the uk thought. that is that the fda's way of doing things, they are doing it as quickly as is right for them and the uk process has been able in these special circumstances to move more rapidly. not because of brexit, not because we're out of the eu, but simply because of the particular circumstances that we face now. and i think that this pandemic has amplified so many things, both good and bad. i spoke earlier to our washington correspondent and put it to her that dr fauci had been critical of the british regulators. he was critical but, remember, you also had senior government ministers and secretaries in the uk saying that the uk scientists are the best in the world, better than belgium, france

and the united states so i think the surprise was that the doctor got involved in that back—and—forth and there were concerns raised that this kind of vaccine nationalism, this we are better than you, we are first back—and—forth is damaging when it comes to trust in the vaccine. certainly here in the us around 60% of people now say they would take a coronavirus vaccine, up from what it was insert timber but it is still short of the 70 descent —— up from september but it is still short of the 70% you need to create immunity. and less than 40% of people want to be first. there is a hesitancy around that. i think what the doctor has done is try to repair that damage and say, look, we have different ways of doing this but we are all going in the right direction. now president—elect joe biden says he will ask americans to wear face masks for his first 100 days in office.

that is to limit the spread of coronavirus. mr biden also said he would order masks to be worn on all us government buildings and on public transport. my inclination on the first day i am inaugurated is to ask the public for 100 days to mask. just 100 days to mask. not forever, 100 days, and i think we will see a significant reduction, if we incur that if that occurs, with vaccinations unmasking, to drive down those numbers considerably. so a bold statement, considering how divisive masks have become in the united states. it is a totally different approach from the current administration, isn't it? very different from donald trump's approach to wearing masks, certainly. but it is in line with whatjoe biden has been saying which is that when he is president or if

he became president he would follow the science and what the scientific community told him to do. and we had a warning yesterday from the head of the cdc, the top health regulatory body here in the us saying we are in for a terrible winter and many many more people could die. but if people wear a mask it could massively mitigate that. so i think that what we are seeing is joe biden really setting out how he plans to approach the coronavirus. dr fauci will also be his chief medical advisor. and just briefly, pretty grim numbers coming out of the us plo certainly, but also worldwide pretty grim numbers. we have more than 1.5 million people around the globe that

have died from coronavirus, 20% of those or just have died from coronavirus, 20% of those orjust under 20% of those are in the united states, so those are in the united states, soi those are in the united states, so i suppose that is why it is so so i suppose that is why it is so important that everywhere around the world there is this faith in vaccine efforts and the effort of government to keep people safe and controlled the virus too. let's get some of the day's other news. talks between european and british negotiators are going on late in to the night again. this was food for them arriving a little earlier. urgent compromises are being sought in key areas, including fishing rights and competition rules. its expected that eu's lead negotiator michael barnier will go back to brussels on friday to brief leaders on the state of play. facebook has said it will remove false claims about covid—19 vaccines from its platforms over the coming weeks. the social media giant said it has already removed mis—information on facebook and instagram involving claims about the origin and treatment of the virus. it's not clear whether similar posts will be removed from its encrypted

whatsapp service. it's been a fourth day of protests by farmworkers in peru. 0ne protests by farmworkers in peru. one person was killed in clashes between demonstrators and police trying to clear roadblocks on the pan—american highway. the protesters complained of lowjob security. the united states has recorded its highest ever daily death toll from coronavirus. more than 2800 people in a single day. 100,000 people are in hospital being treated for the disease in a country that already has the highest level death toll. the governor of california has announced plans for stay—at—home orders in areas where intensive care units are filling up. gavin newsome gave a start update on the state's figures. the hospitalisations have now increased 86% in the last 1a days and icu admissions by 67% over a similar period of time.

we have seen death rate increase significantly over the course of the last number of weeks. look at this slide. one month ago on november two we reported the tragic loss 01:14 lives and in the last 2a hours, similar to the previous 2a hours, we have reported back to back days with 113 deaths. just in the last 1a days, close to 1,000 californians have lost their lives due to covid—19. 0ur correspondent sophie long has more on the governor's stayed home measures. we heard gavin newsome there setting out those grim figures and why he has had to take this decisive action. what is stop short of earlier today was imposing a statewide lockdown that some people had been anticipating. what he has done is put in place regional stay—at—home orders in places

where intensive care units are more than 85% full. so there is some limited relief, perhaps too strong a word, that there is not a wide lockdown but people really are resigned to the fact that this must take place. the figures are grim and the fear here is that they will only get worse. it was thanksgiving here in the united states last week, one of the most important holidays of the year on those figures, those hospital admissions do not yet reflect the travel and the gatherings that took place exactly one week ago. we expect to see the impact of those in this coming weekend. so we have been speaking to some people who have been out and about in los angeles today and there was an emergency order put into effect here are the mayor. most people we spoke to were alarmed about that last night. it is a 12 page order with a lot of detail and looking at the first few pages it shows that perhaps you were unable to leave your

house on foot, by car or on public transport. when you look at the long list of exceptions it is not quite as severe but people were saying they understand the reasons why these restrictions have been put in place. they do not welcome them. some of them think they are necessary, others think they are over the top but even those who thought they were necessary were out and about walking the dogs and with their children so not everyone is staying at home, perhaps, when they could. locusts have been ravaging east africa all year and now they are in south africa stopping the region is dealing with the largest locust outbreak in a decade. they are a different species of locust but they can be just as destructive. if they are not stopped right now, food security will come under threat.

had quite a big swarm of locusts arrive on the farm, quite incredible to see how they went to work to decimate they went to work to decimate the field in 30—110 minutes. currently we are experiencing one of the biggest swarms in the last decade. every week we are planting a new block. we obviously do feel the locusts coming the next day to eat them up. we have 150 hectares of crop that we need to protect, if we do see something, we try to scare them off our fields. in the middle of an eight year drought, early spring rains have hatched long dormant locust eggs, forcing farmers to

act. they stand to lose thousands of hectares of crops and grazing land. it can all be devoured by locust in a matter of minutes. a small dedicated team of insecticide sprayers are at the forefront of stemming the locust tied. your animals will die of hunger, and it would be devastating. devastating for any farmer to lose his animals. we basically finished the swarms through the night. so we won't leave a farm 01’ night. so we won't leave a farm ora night. so we won't leave a farm 01’ a swarm night. so we won't leave a farm or a swarm that is not fully sprayed and finished. there is a lwa ys sprayed and finished. there is always teams on standby to be called and within an hour, are on—site. called and within an hour, are on-site. generators power insecticide sprayers on each vehicle. we are a team of four

tonight. first of all you have tonight. first of all you have to look at the wind direction, because of the drift of the insect side. you always want to have the spray drift over the locust. we are winning the battle. we a re locust. we are winning the battle. we are struggling, the rain is extremely difficult where we are, so most of them we killed, just as much swarms that are coming. the team has sprayed about 1000 swarms this year already. of course it is tiring. last night was the first night in seven weeks they had supper with my kids and my wife so that was quite nice. if christophe and his team can't stop the locusts here, could devastate south africa's main food growing regions. as a farmer, we tend to be resilient, in that we filed with the elements and we have many challenges, so just another challenge for us to overcome.

stay with us. still to come: coming soon to a computer near you, warner brothers's films had to the small screen. —— had to. —— head to. it's quite clear that the worst victims of this disaster are the poor people living in the slums which have sprung up around the factory. i am feeling so helpless that the children are dying in front of me and i can't do anything. charles manson is the mystical leader of the hippie cult suspected of killing sharon tate and at least six other people in los angeles. at 11am this morning, just half a metre of rock separated britain from continental europe. it took the drills just a few moments to cut through the final obstacle.

then philippe cozette, a minerfrom calais, was shaking hands and exchanging flags with robert fagg, his opposite number from dover. this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. the headlines: the us doctor leading the fight against coronavirus has apologised for appearing to question the speed with which britain approved a vaccine. us president—electjoe biden says he will ask americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office, in order to limit the spread of coronavirus. we going to speak now to a practising doctor and epidemiologist who served as a disease detective at the us centres for disease control and

prevention. she is live in atla nta. prevention. she is live in atlanta. georgia, thank you for coming on. thank you so much for having me. what do you make of these different speeds of these regulators in the us, regulators in the uk and dr anthony fauci there appearing to question the speed with which britain and its regulators have managed to approve this? right, ithink it is helpful to view this in a bit of context the number one is our president recently complained that the uk approved this vaccine earlier in the us did and therefore surprised that the earlier than the us did but is actually pretty typicalfor did but is actually pretty typical for the did but is actually pretty typicalfor the approval did but is actually pretty typical for the approval of drugs and vaccines in the us. because our drugs and vaccines in the us. because oui’ process drugs and vaccines in the us. because our process is a bit more deliberative, it uses raw patient data rather than group data provided by pharma companies to the glittery agencies and because there is a public comment process. our process of drug approval generally does take longer and lags a bit behind the uk's and

your‘s and other western countries so it is not that atypical thing. —— it is not that atypical. and this year oui’ that atypical. and this year our food and drug administration did rush through some drugs, particularly hydroxychloroquine, and those approvals seem to be politically motivated so i think all of that taken into consideration together, you could maybe hear doctor about your‘s remarks as signalling to the american people that in contrast with some of those apparent trust approvals earlier this year and in keeping with the kind of deliberative process that americans have come to expect from vaccine approval processes here, the fda is doing what it should be doing, as it usually does do, in taking its time approving this vaccine ——dr faucl approving this vaccine ——dr fauci. it is also worth noting the difference in time to approval is probably going to bea approval is probably going to be a matter of weeks between the us‘s and the uk's and the eu's schedules so i think there isa eu's schedules so i think there is a little bit of a inaudible.

that was a clear explanation of the differences and the usual processes there in the us. you would not characterise the british approach is rushed though? look, i'm not extraordinarily familiar with the british approach and i will say that this year with the transition taking place between the uk sort of being part of the uk sort of being part of the ama, the eu's regulatory agency, and having its own independent regulatory agency which, it has for a long time, there has been a bit of a transition process those agencies have sort of detached and there will be a whole new set of rules under which the agency, i believe it is the mhra, will be functioning come january one so this is all happening during a transition process. however, you know, glittery officials and the uk have said that it has been even more efficient under the current transitional process thanit current transitional process than it would have normally been under the earlier eu

process because it has been able to evaluate it on a rolling basis this year which it would not have been able to quite officially under the earlier rules so i'm not an expert, again, but it does seem to be that things are happening a little bit differently now than they might have earlier and then they might next year. i see, give talking us through regular treaty —— regulatory framework and making it so clear but i'm afraid we have to leave it in there but thank you so leave it in there but thank you so long for coming on, that is doctor keren landman. thank you. the film industry has been massively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic with cinemas forced to close their doors all around the world. now warner brothers has announced its line for next year will be available on a streaming service at the same time it is released in theatres. the first wonder woman film made more than $800 million at

the global box office so there we re the global box office so there were high hopes for its sequel. get used to it! but then along came covid—19. and the movie was delayed. eventually warner brothers announced it would be released on a streaming service, hbo max. the company has gone one step further, all of its films due to be released in 2021 will appear both in cinemas and online. if you asked me a month ago if hbo max in all: would be no. if you ask been now, it is absolutely in the game. inaudible the number of movies going there you would never have seen before. disney has already tried something similar. releasing is live action really —— remake of mulan on disney+ although it did charge extra. next year, warner brothers pictures is bringing you the biggest premiers... with hbo max you

will get all of the films of the first month of their release before they revert back to the big screen. potentially a big draw for a fledging struggling service but likely to be bad news for cinemas. they are already struggling to attract customers. how much harder will be if people can watch new releases from the and safety of their own homes. for warner brothers, this is a gamble. for hollywood, this may well be the future. tim allman, bbc news. a teacher from india has won this year's global teacher prize for his work transforming the life chances of young girls in rural villages. from over 12,000 teachers nominated from more than 140 countries for this prestigious prize, top of the class went to... ranjit disale, from india.

oh, and look, there's your whole extended family now. it's wonderful. oh my dear fellow. ican i can see how moved you are. thank you, i'm receiving this honour on behalf of millions and millions of students, teachers, those who are working hard in these hard times of covid—19. ranjit went to incredible lengths for over a decade, turning around this girls' school in maharashtra state in western india. textbooks were translated into the local language. qr codes were inserted to open up a world of poems, lectures and stories. school attendance among the surrounding tribal community rose from 2% to 100%. 85% achieved a grades in recent exams. his teachings have impacted life beyond the classroom — an end to teenage marriages in the village, desertification in the drought—prone

district reduced. ranjit's even built a science lab at home to share experiments with students in over 80 countries. he has also got young people talking between countries in conflict with one another, and has shared his tech skills with other teachers, too. in accepting the million—dollar prize, ranjit disale also made this extraordinary and far—reaching pledge. 50% of the prize money will be equally shared with the rest of the nine top—ten finalists. together, we can make a difference and we can make this world a better place. that's over $50,000 for each of the other nine finalists, including teachers from brazil, south korea and nigeria. this year's prize has also come at a time when lockdowns have reminded us how important the inspiring and face—to—face role teachers carry out really is. mark lobel, bbc news.

congratulations to him! that's it from me. lewis vaughn congratulations to him! that's it from me. lewis vaugthones. this is bbc news. hello. the weather is giving us a real taste of winter. some places have already seen a bit of snow. there is some more in the forecast for friday for the real mix for rain, sleet and snow falling from the sky. it will be cold, it will be windy, and this big area of low pressure is really dominating the weather across western europe. bands of wet weather spiralling around it and some pretty cold air being sucked down from the north. so that combination of cold air and wet weather, that is why we are still seeing some sleet and some snow. across scotland, snow falling for a time to quite low levels. there could even be a brief covering of snow through the central belt. and over higher ground, 10—20cm of snow is possible. could be some real travel problems for the high—level

routes, especially with some ice in western scotland. some ice possible in northern ireland as well. a chilly start here but mainly dry. some showers through wales and the southwest. wintry over high ground. this band of rain could contain some sleet and wet snow over high ground across some parts of eastern england. and these various bands of wet weather will just continue to circulate around our area of low pressure, most of the snow becoming confined to the highest ground. rain at lower levels. a lot of rain piling into eastern scotland — that could cause one or two problems. something a little bit brighter down towards the south. it will be windy with gusts around the coast, particularly out west, of 50 mph or more and it will be cold with highs between four and seven degrees. and we will see further areas of wet weather with some sleet and snow mixed in over the hills as we go through friday night. but the weekend is a story of things very, very slowly calming down. it will turn drier but it will stay cold.

on saturday, there will still be showers around which could, again, contain some sleet and snow over high ground, particularly over the scottish mountains, but more dry weather developing through the day. some spells of sunshine. it is still going to chilly with temperatures 6 or 7 degrees but the winds will fall a little later. and those winds will continue to fall during saturday night and very light winds by sunday, there could well be some mist and fog around which could be quite slow to clear. it will stay dull in some places. many spots, though, will see some spells of sunshine. just a few showers by this stage. but still feeling cold with highs of 4—7 degrees.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: dr anthony fauci sets the record straight on what he thinks about the uk decision to approve the new pfizer coronavirus vaccine. he said he had every confidence in the medical regulator and had only intended to highlight the differences between the two country's processes. doctor fauci is set to meet president—electjoe biden's transition team for the first time to assess the incoming administration's response to the pandemic. mystified and has said he would ask americans to wear masks for 100 days in order to curtail the spread of coronavirus. and a teacher from india has won this year's global teacher prize at a virtual ceremony, he was named as the million—dollar winner. he has said he will shout the money with his fellow finalists.