this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. brexit trade talks are paused after eu and uk negotiators fail to reach agreement, with just 4 weeks to go until the uk's transition period ends. after the uk, bahrain becomes the second country to approve the pfizer coronavirus vaccine. the world health organisation welcomes the news: progress on vaccines gives us all a lift and we can now start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. the uk promises to reduce carbon emissions more quickly than any other major economy, but a watchdog warns of a ‘colossal challenge‘. and the explosive sound that prompted hundreds to call the police in edinburgh —

it turned out to be a rare weather phenomenon — thundersnow we start with breaking news on the brexit trade talks in london. within the past hour, they have been "paused" after eu and uk negotiators failed to reach agreement. british prime minister borisjohnson and european commission president ursula von der leyen are to discuss the state of the talks on saturday afternoon. this is what uk negotiator david frost tweeted a short while ago: "after one week of intense negotiations in london, the two chief negotiators agreed today that the conditions for an agreement are not met, due to significant divergences on level playing field, governance and fisheries. " the eu's michel barnier tweeted an almost identical statement.

our political correspondent leila nathoo is westminster and our europe editor katya adler are in brussels with their analysis reflecting are in brussels with their analysis quickly and with has reflecting quickly and with the mood has been this week because in the middle of the week, it was much more optimistic. michel barnier had come here for an intensive round of negotiations, there is sandwiches, ta ke negotiations, there is sandwiches, take away its fuelling of the night yesterday, there was much more positive feeling that this was really the crunch point into yesterday, when the message of the uk site was hang on, we feel we are going backwards and the chances of a deal receding. they said the eu side was imposing last—minute demands in this morning, and the uk side talks about a difficult moment. i was still a crucial day and talks are going to continue right up until the end and so, if we look at it than in terms of the course the week, we now have the sites at the table as it

we re have the sites at the table as it were in negotiations are continuing, albeit paused, we already knew there was going to be a political intervention at the last minute with the two leaders, borisjohnson speaking of that. reflect on the fa ct speaking of that. reflect on the fact that people are talking about by the weekend or on the weekend, but we have michel barnier talking about significant divergences still remaining. that, ithink, it's really significant. in the injection of political will can certainly add to some momentum of the stalks and those deals could be wrapped up very quickly. but, ithink those deals could be wrapped up very quickly. but, i think now saying that it quickly. but, i think now saying thatitis quickly. but, i think now saying that it is paused certainly the message of the uk site tonight is that there has not been progress, there to the idea that new demands of been reinserted and the idea that the talks have gone backwards in their eyes and steering towards the phone call between the two leaders should not be taken as an indication that a deal is somehow ready to be

signed off. but it's more of an acknowledgement in their eyes that there is significant differences. what you make of this tree by both parties here in this talk of significant divergences are serious to think that is? i think better of these negotiations, you can choose to see them as glass half—full or hacked glass half—empty. strong contrast to what they were describing is a roller coaster of uk briefing during the week. the eu site has been cautious all week, cautiously optimistic but cautious in underlining throughout the week that significant differences remain between the two sides though so well— known three key sticking points in the rates of eu fishing communities to fish in uk waters after brexit, competition regulations of the eu saying that the uk to have unprecedented axis,

to the eu signal market that you wa nt to the eu signal market that you want to sign up to competition principles in the third point being governments of the deal, how to please the deal make sure both sides came to an agreement if it ever is agreed. your throughout the week on all of those issues, progress, limited progress was made but we expect always for there to be smile of political intervention and if you wa nt of political intervention and if you want to feel particularly positive, you could say that even if this deal we re you could say that even if this deal were nearly there, we have to underline this and particularly arguably borisjohnson underline this and particularly arguably boris johnson who has aligned himself so personally with the brexit process wanting to put the brexit process wanting to put the personal stamp on all of this. but, i think they're ready to get this done and dusted and tomorrow could still all be done by sunday and the reason why say that is even

though differences remain, once both sides say look, we're going to hold her nose make these compromises, this deal will happen very fast indeed, but we are not there yet. this can happen between boris johnson and the other tomorrow, how much have they been talking throughout this process. they found regular interventions with the people of the top of this negotiation because michel barnier is negotiating on behalf of the eu member state of the eu and not representing, the leaders and a technical negotiator. they can only go so far because they don't have a mandate as long as the eu leaders agreed to it in the uk government agrees to what they're doing, so i think there's been regular interventions that at this late stage, there is also going to be a last—minute iith stage, there is also going to be a last—minute 11th hour phone call between the two conversation between the two for all those reasons and i

say again, the message from the uk site is not to be too optimistic about this conversation, it is not the conversation that is going to sign off the deal, they have said that they're not in the basis of an agreement yet, but can they, in that phone call, agreed the bare—bones the compromises agree how far both sides are willing to move on those three issues perhaps and the deal can be done and wrapped up technically, if you like, quite quickly. but i think these next few days are absolutely critical we consume so days are absolutely critical we consume so long because it's worth just remembering that the plot is not running down very quickly and coming towards the end of the year, there's procedural matters that they need to ratify this and we've heard talk from france about using their veto, whether or not that happens, we'll have to see. there are various stages that this deal has to go through before the end of the year

if it's going to come at the end of the transition period. bahrain has just become the second country in the world to approve the use of the pfizer coronavirus vaccine. on wednesday regulators in the uk approved it for use over here, and the first doses have arrived already from belgium, where it's being manufacturered for use in europe. the pfizer vaccine offers up to 95% protection against covid—i9 illness, and is currently being checked by regulators across the globe. vaccines do not equal zero covid. vaccination will add a major, major powerful tool but by themselves, they would not do the job and therefore, we have to add vaccines into an existing public health strategy will have

to continue to work on managing our personal behaviour or hygiene and in many cases, we have to recognise that the vaccine will not be with everyone early next year. speaking at the same news conference — the w—h—o's chief scientist outlined it's aims for the covax project — which is it's effort to distribute the vaccine fairly across the globe. 189 countries — including the uk — have already signed up to the program that is expected to provide enough vaccines for around 20 per cent of their populations. our hope is that by the end of the first quarter of 2021, we will have half a billion doses available to be distributed across the countries in afair mannerand distributed across the countries in a fair manner and this is why we developed the framework that, in order to do this fairly to all countries, and then the second half of 2021, the volume of those will pick up at the speed with which they become available. coaches can start expecting those towards the first

quarter. as we mentioned — the uk has already received its first batch of pfizer vaccines — ready for the initial set of vaccinations to begin next week. it comes as the r number — the rate at which coronavirus reproduces — has fallen again to between 0.8 and 1 across the whole of the uk. that means growth has slowed and the number of new cases is declining. 0ur health editor hugh pym reports. any allergies you may have? in training for one of the biggest assignments in the history of the nhs. the covid—19 vaccination programme which starts next week. at the coventry and warwickshire nhs trust, they say as preparing staff to do the jobs, they have had to work out complex storage plans. it is an unusual challenge in that this is a vaccine that needs to be stored at —70. it is not the way we have had to handle a drug before. in the hospital we have handled other drugs that way, so we have had to have a new freezer which was delivered a couple of weeks ago. when will care home residents be vaccinated? the scottish government says this

will happen from december the 14th. nhs england say that is not so certain. the problem is the way the doses are packed. regulators need to approve them being broken down into smaller consignments. they say that should not take too long. breaking down the packs is involved at the very cold temperatures necessary. of course coming betting a day and it might be variable, but definitely within the next two weeks. the vaccine has arrived just as case numbers are falling in most parts of the uk. largely as a result of the various local lockdown restrictions. the latest survey of community infections by the office for national statistics suggest that in england last week, one in 105 people had the virus with the case rate coming down. in scotland it was won in 130 with the rate starting to full. in wales, one in 170 with the virus with the case rate no longer falling. in northern ireland it was won in 190 with the right

continuing to come down. the r number which is whether the virus is accelerating or receding was 0.8, slightly down on last week. what might that mean for this type of restrictions which may still be needed into the new year? this message from a policy perspective is that unfortunately, if we are going to keep infection rates are low throughout the whole winter, we are going to continue to have some restrictions and quite what the sweet spot is, it's not entirely obvious from the data around the uk. for now, the focus is on next week's vaccine roll—out around the uk with clinics like this being prepared for patients who are 80 or over and others likely to be the first to receive the jabs. authorities in moscow say their coronavirus immunisation campaign

with the russian sputnik vee vaccine will begin on saturday. medical staff, teachers and social workers will be eligible for the first jabs, despite the fact that large scale human trials of the vaccine are still under way. so, what do we know about the russian vaccine? russia claims that sputnik vee has been shown to be more than 95% effective after 42 days of trials. but those results have not been peer reviewed or approved by any international drug control agency yet. so there are some concerns about their legitimacy. and many countries, including india, south korea, china, brazil and hungary, have placed orders of sputnik vee as part of their plans to vaccinate their populations. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the explosive sound that prompted hundreds to call the police in edinburgh — it turned out to be a rare weather phenomenon — thundersnow

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'm 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 hippy cult suspected of killing sharon tate and at least six other people in los angeles. at 11:00 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 and then a miner from calais was shaking hands and exchanging flags

with his opposite number from dover. this is bbc news, the latest headlines. brexit trade talks have been temporarily put on hold without agreement. the lead negotiators say the eu president ursula van der leyen and the british prime minister, borisjohnson, will converse directly on saturday. the us president—electjoe biden has called for urgent bipartisan agreement in congress to help people who have lost theirjobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. two point three million more people have become long—term unemployed over the past three months. the latest us jobless figures show the jobs market is still growing — though at a slowing rate. mr biden said americans need help now and described the future as bleak unless they get it. earlier today, the november jobs

report was released and it was grim. it shows an economy that is stalling and remains in the midst of one of the worst economicjob crisis in modern history. but it does have to stay that way. if we act now, and i mean flow, stay that way. if we act now, and i mean now, he can begin to regain momentum and build a betterfuture. there is no time to lose. now to lebanon, where it's four months to the day since a devastating explosion tore through the center of the capital beirut. a cruise ship — the orient queen — was dangerously close to the epicentre of the deadly blast. in the hours after the explosion the ship capsized and two crew members lost their lives. quentin sommerville has the story of some of those crew who survived.

four months ago, it took the full force of the explosion at the port. 0nly force of the explosion at the port. only the crew was on board. they watched as a warehouse fire took hold. not knowing what was to come. the ships home port hit a safe harbour, italy in ruins. it was a bright with the engine room was flooded. in crew members were missing. 0n the quayside, it was badly injured. are ships interior was wrecked. he had a hard time getting out. i did not feel the sick implants because all slammed into a wall on the first one. when i came

to, i tried to stand, but my leg was shattered. now back in the philippines, for operations later, they have managed to save his leg. the port and much of beirut was in chaos. at the orient queen, they are still searching for missing crew. it took more than two hours to find the body. the ethiopian crewmen had been blown off the ship and he was found ata blown off the ship and he was found at a nearby pier. he would not be found for days, his father travelled from syria, his dna was used to identify his son's remains. the explosion tore away any remaining shred of credibility from a government that stored for years, dangerous chemicals here in the heart of the city. so much for the

rain to accept and even handle. the ships owner. if this happens to metal and concrete, can even imagine two she is seeing the wreckage for the first time she is overwhelmed with anger and disbelief that a disaster so easily avoidable was allowed to happen. i blame every person they knew it was there and did not take any action. so many lives, so many innocent people have lost loved ones and have lost their homes their work, their dreams. lost loved ones and have lost their homes theirwork, their dreams. it's notjust us, it's notjust the 0rient queen, it's everyone. notjust us, it's notjust the orient queen, it's everyone. dozens of arrests have been made by an investigation that was promised to

ta ke investigation that was promised to take on days four months later is still dragging on. this is a crime scene. the government knew that the dangerous chemicals are being stored here, so did thejudiciary, so did the port authority. many believe that the truth will never emerge from this pit of corruption. the 0rient queen is lost and she will never sell again, the reputation of the authorities that allow this to happen is beyond salvage. the uk has announced an ambitious new target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. the new target builds on its goal of net zero emissions by 2050 — and calls for a reduction of 68% by the end of the decade compared to 1990. the new target is in line with the uk's commitment

to reduce national emissions under the 2016 paris agreement — aimed at keeping global temperature rise under two degrees. the prime minister, boris johnson, says britain is "taking the lead to reduce our emissions by 2030, faster than any major economy. " i asked joss bleriot — from the ellen macarthur foundation — whether the new targets were overly ambitious, or doable. it is ambitious but that is exactly what we need at the moment. a lot of ambition, drive and commitment from governments and businesses alike. and due to the level of that ambition, it is really important to look at the full picture to look beyond the energy system because our research shows that 55% of greenhouse gas emissions are generated by these energy systems but if we look at the product in the food that we have that we consume and use, the width that this produced and used is amounting to 45% of those missions. which means that working towards innovating for

a solution in the domain of production and consumption is going to be absolutely key and this is why that interface between the private sector and the public sector working together on the solutions that can create a better growth as well and generatejobs is so important. create a better growth as well and generate jobs is so importantm that actually happening at the moment? it is, definitely. you see a lot of ambition from policymakers for sure but the strategy of circular economy that does tackle the production and consumption systems has been rising steadily recently and businesses are investing in the strategies and the need to write enabling conditions for those innovations to emerge and we see for instance that there is a strong drive from the financial sector to look at climate finance through those industrial strategies and we are working with the high level champion for climate change for the uk level champion for climate change forthe uk and level champion for climate change for the uk and he is the one bringing private sector to the

negotiating table in the run up to 2026. some say they're not putting their money where its mouth is. the chance to put huge sums towards hs two and huge carbon footprint that was put very little towards home insulation with e1 was put very little towards home insulation with £1 million which could save a huge amount of carbon. is going to be a credential or discussion to see what the exact sums of money will go but the important thing is to look at the plan and see that looks beyond the energy system and it looks at agriculture and nature —based solutions which are going to be critical as well. the agricultural sector will play a massive role by using soil as the sequestering method for carbon and therefore regenerating the actual system as well, looking at the mobility system but not only through the energy lenses, how to produce those vehicles and how we access them as well. how to make sure we keep this

really valua ble well. how to make sure we keep this really valuable materials as well and the products in the system in order to reduce the need for new materials that have the biggest impact when it comes to the emissions. police in scotland received hundreds of calls in the early hours of friday from worried residents in edinburgh, who'd been woken by what they thought was an explosion. but the loud bang they heard was actuallyjust the weather — and a phenomenon known as ‘thundersnow‘. here's our scotland correspondent james shaw. a flash of light, and then... rumbling ..a long, low boom. shaking windows and waking people up all around edinburgh and north into fife. but what had shattered the calm? was it an explosion? a collapsing building? no, it was thundersnow. this couple were woken around five this morning. so, woke up with this loud bang, and jumped up, opened the curtains and saw that it was snowing.

i thought, it can't be thunder. and spoke to my husband. he said, yeah, it will be thunder. and i thought, looked it up on google and found this phenomenon called thundersnow. snow and rain in scotland — not something to write home about. but thundersnow? that's a phenomenon that most of us had not even heard of, let alone been woken up by it in the middle of the night. thundersnow is quite simply a thunderstorm with snow, and like the storms we see in the summer, it's caused by instability in the atmosphere and lots of energy. the difference with last night is that we had cold air, and that's why we saw snow and not rain. and winter has onlyjust begun. plenty more time for another blast of thundersnow. james shaw, bbc news, glasgow. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some

of the team on twitter — i'm @samanthatvnews hello there. it's been a very wet day across some central and northern parts of the uk. we've seen further sleet and snow, mainly over the hills, and as we head through the course of the night, it stays very wet, very unsettled across central, northern and western parts of the uk as this area of low pressure continues to spiral across the country. it's going to bring further snow, mainly over the pennines and across the hills of scotland, but it generally should be rain, maybe sleet, down to lower levels. some clear spells across eastern england. here, it will turn cold, a touch of frost and ice. now, into the weekend, it's remaining cold, but there were signs of it beginning to turn drier, as our area of low pressure begins to slip away southwards. so the pressure chart for saturday shows the center of the lowjust to the south of the uk, towards the southwest quadrant. that's going to bring stronger winds here, showers or longer spells of rain,

which will slowly spiral away southwards through the day. so, an improvement here gradually. further north and east, there will also be a couple of showers. a bit of wintriness again over the mountains of scotland, but in between, we should start to see the sunshine breaking through the clouds. it may turn brighter for some. not a bad afternoon through some central areas but it's going to be another cold day, as temperatures are for 4 to seven degrees for most. the area of low pressure continues to push into the near continent for sunday. this weather front could bring just a few showers to the northeast of england, eastern scotland, but for most, actually, it's going to be a calm, quiet, still sort of morning. much lighter winds, could see some mist and fog around, which could be stubborn to clear, and it could lead to a grey day across and eastern areas. there will be some sunshine around, probably favoured spots towards the west. just one or two showers in the northeast thanks to that weather front. it's going to be another chilly day — three to seven degrees. now, into next week, it starts off dry and cold. there are signs of it turning unsettled from midweek onwards as the atlantic begins to get back to life again.

so this is the pressure chart for monday. i think we're in between weather systems. this one could move perilously close to the far southwest, so we could see strong winds here, maybe thicker cloud. some spots of rain for western cornwall, maybe the odd shower for the northeast, but for most, it'll stay generally dry. again, the winds fairly light, a little bit of sunshine around, some mist and fog and murk around too, but temperatures on the low side — two to six degrees. a similar sort of day on wednesday, and then from midweek onwards, signs of it beginning to turn a little bit more unsettled and those temperatures climbing very slowly.

this is bbc world news, the headlines. talks between britain and the eu on a post—brexit trade agreement have been temporarily put on hold without agreement. the eu president ursula van der leyen and the british prime minister, borisjohnson, will discuss progress on saturday. the head of the world health 0rganization has called for more funding to ensure worldwide access to coronavirus vaccines. he noted that most spending on health went on tackling diseases in rich countries. clinics in moscow will start offering covid 19 jabs from saturday — after president putin ordered the start of large—scale vaccination in russia for those groups most at risk. russia's sputnik vee vaccine is still undergoing phase 3 trials. us president—electjoe biden has addressed the latest report on us unemployment, which suggests the economic