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 four weeks to go until the end of the uk transition period. us president—electjoe biden calls for immediate bipartisan agreement in congress to help americans who've lostjobs as a result of coronavirus. i'm not alone in saying this situation is urgent. if we don't act now, the future will be very bleak. new lockdown orders and restrictions are imposed in san francisco to help kerb a surge in covid—19 infections. a special report from beirut, four months after the blast at the port which killed more than 200 people.

hello and welcome. talks on a post—brexit trade deal have been temporarily halted without an agreement, less than a month before the transition period comes to an end. the uk's lead negotiator david frost and his eu counterpart michel barnier have said that "significant divergences" remain. they said the negotiations were now paused, and tomorrow, borisjohnson and the president of the eu commission ursula von der leyen discuss the next steps. our deputy political editor vicki young reports. everything will soon be changing for this distribution company and thousands of others. injust four weeks, goods going back and forth across the border with the eu will need extra paperwork and checks. some fear that could lead to widespread disruption and congestion. it's difficult enough getting

in and out of the uk at the moment with the delays at the border crossings and ferries. if you're adding eight, 16, 12 hours — whatever that may be — going forward, who's going to pick up the costs? if our wheels aren't turning, in effect, we're not earning any money. in kent, they're preparing a park for 10,000 lorries. a trade deal with the eu would mean businesses can buy and sell goods without paying taxes or tariffs, but there will still be more checks whether there's a deal or not. reporter: will we get a deal? the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier has been in london all week. important day, determination. but the uk has accused the eu of making last—minute demands. we want the eu to recognise that the uk is a sovereign and independent nation, and it is on the basis of that that a deal will be done. it is tricky, but we are working hard. david frost and his team are working incredibly hard on this in good faith, so let's see where we get to.

but they didn't get very far. tonight, after another day of intensive talks, everything is on hold. a joint statement on behalf of chief negotiators lord frost and monsieur barnier said: "the conditions for an agreement are not met they agreed to pause the talks in order to brief their principals on the state of play of the negotiations". there is a lot at stake, and the irish prime minister says he fervently hopes there will be a deal. given the enormous negative impact of covid—i9 on our economic and social life, the last thing our citizens need now is a second shock of the kind that no—deal brexit would bring. for example, if the uk government wants to give financial help to tech firms, will it need permission from the eu? would there be a punishment if it went ahead anyway? this is all about businesses on one side not having an unfair advantage over their competitors, the so—called level playing field.

and then there's fishing. eu countries want a guarantee that their boats can continue to operate in uk waters. if not, the eu might make it much harder for us to sell fish to them. translation: france, like all its partners, has a veto. we'll conduct our own evaluation of a deal, if one exists. that is normal. we owe it to the french. we owe it to our fishermen and to other economic sectors. tonight, discussions have stalled and no one is quite sure when the negotiators will be back. 0ur europe editor katya adler is in brussels. like so much during the brexit negotiations, we can look at this as a glass half full or glass half empty kind of way. on the glass half—full side, both sides still say they want a deal and they want to work toward the deal. so, really

depends what steps they now take and how willing they are on both sides to ta ke how willing they are on both sides to take a deal. don't forget, these compromises are difficult and political, so you could cynically say this crisis is quite useful for

both sides to show to their domestic... there are clearly very big differences. it makes sense because the eu and uk have approached these trade talks from very different directions. they worry about uk competition. they hope to bind the uk and a kind of common rule book like on government subsidies. the uk want to be competitive, doesn't is on a tight hands and wants to hold onto as much sovereignty as possible. this is a deal still possible, yes, but is it definite, no. 0ne deal still possible, yes, but is it definite, no. one thing is definite and that neither side will sign up toa and that neither side will sign up to a deal unless they believe they can sell it back home as a victory. 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. 2.3 million more people have become long—term unemployed over the past three months. in a passionate speech, mr biden said americans need help now, especially as many covid emergency measures are set to expire at the end of the year. the folks are there aren't looking for a hand—out, they just the folks are there aren't looking for a hand—out, theyjust need help. they are in trouble through no fault of their own. nothing they did cause them to have hours cut. but they

need us to understand that we are in a crisis. we need to come together asa a crisis. we need to come together as a nation. we need congress to act and act now. congress and president trump failed to act by the end of december. 12 million americans are losing unemployment benefits they require a on —— rely on. merry christmas. to keep the lights on in the heat on. pay their bills. emergency paid leave will end. states will lose the vital tools they need to pay for covid testing. put yourself in that position. with me now is elise gould, a senior economist with the economic policy institute in washington. what did you make of what president—elect biden had to say? what did you make of what president—elect biden had to sawm was definitely the right move. the integration of all these relief

measures, the unemployment insurance, eligibility extensions as well as the extended unemployment insurance are really more relieved to see at the expiration of a lot of the health measures as well as the page and leave measures. all the things we need so dire as they pandemic continues to rage. what is the sticking point? why can't there be an agreement? that's purely a political question. it's what we need to do. we need to spend a lot of money. we have seenjob need to do. we need to spend a lot of money. we have seen job growth slow again. 0nly gains of... more than a third of those unemployed are

long—term unemployed. it is an absolutely dire situation and it's only going to get worse. you can actually see a double dip in the next year if any more aid is not provided... why is that? they were lower and significantly lower. i think we are continuing to see unemployment claims of about a million every week coming in. i think many people left the labour force last month, so we did see the unemployment rate down for the long reasons “— unemployment rate down for the long reasons —— wrong reasons. the hope was that maybe there would be some holiday pick—up and hiring. president—elect biden said in the speech that he has uneconomic plan. to put forward ideas and that they will implement in the new year when it becomes president. what you make of his suggestion to this plan? will

it work? i think absolutely. we need to provide relief to families today. they need that relief. many families are facing eviction in this country. they don't have enough money to put food on the table. there are simply not enoughjobs food on the table. there are simply not enough jobs out there and by all measures, many people should still be staying home as we face the raging pandemic. so, ithink we be staying home as we face the raging pandemic. so, i think we need to provide those measures and they will work. not only to provide the relief, but also when people have that money in their pockets. they will be stimulating the economy by spending it. that will be a job creator right there. good to get your thoughts. let's get some of the day's other news. president trump has ordered the withdrawal of nearly all american troops from somalia, where they have been conducting operations against al—shabaab and islamic state militants. it follows the drawdowns of forces from afghanistan and iraq. somali officials said the us withdrawal would be a morale boost for terrorists. the pentagon says the us remains committed to counter—terrorism operations. democrats in the us house of representatives have voted to decriminalise the use of cannabis, the first time the measure has

succeeded in congress. the legislation would bring federal law in line with more than a dozen states, but the bill stands little chance of passing if republicans manage to hold onto the senate next month. the mayor of san francisco said she and political leaders across the bay area were imposing new lockdown orders and business restrictions to try and contain a surge in covid—i9 infections. the us has recorded 14.1 million cases and 276,000 deaths from covid—19, the highest of any country in the world, and yesterday, it broke all records with almost 3,000 deaths recorded in a single day, the equivalent of two deaths every minute. let's talk now with our north america correspondent peter bowes, who is in los angeles. welcome. how bad is the situation in san francisco? it is very bad and it could probably

get much worse. right across the state, officials have set a 15% capacity in emergency units, that's 50% of emergency care beds available. before tough restrictions can end. of those officials in san francisco have set some day for the restrictions out of that point, and they say it's a little bit like driving off a cliff and then putting the handbrake on. it's too late. so they're not there yet but they fear in the next week or two, they will

have fewer than 15% of their emergency room beds available. that isa emergency room beds available. that is a perilous situation, and that's why these restrictions have come into force... a lot of people won't be able to go to work. they certainly won't be able to gather outside of the home or indeed, in the home, with people other than those close members of their household. how to these restrictions compared to what the city and the area ‘s experience in the last six months? they are similar, certainly the beginning of the pandemic, the bay area was one of the first to bring in some quite stringent restrictions. 0ne different this timei restrictions. 0ne different this time i think it is because officials have really learned over the months what works and what doesn't, so a lot of the recreational areas, public parks, hiking trails and the like will remain open. the beaches will remain open, and another big difference is it's will remain open, and another big difference is its december and fewer people are using those facilities right now. i think it's also been learned that those kinds of facilities are a lifeline for many people to be able to do it out of the home and exercise. that's the picture in san francisco. what about the rest of california? well, i'm in los angeles county right now, which is the worst affected area in the country right now. the positivity rate here, the number of people

testing positive apple the total, is 1296. testing positive apple the total, is 12%. it's really sort —— positive out of the total. the restrictions we re out of the total. the restrictions were tightened over the last couple of days, so this is an area... i think it is suffering more than most. honestly, you only have to drive around this area, —— inner—city areas like los angeles, the homeless numbers have gone up. people are holding their breath to get to the next few weeks. thank you. stay with us on bbc news. still to come... the impact of a massive explosion in lebanon is haunting survivors. we speak to those aboard a cruise ship which capsized. 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.

you're watching bbc news. our 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, boris johnson will converse directly on saturday. bahrain has 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 already arrived from belgium, where it's being manufacture red for use in europe.d for use in europe. the pfizer vaccine offers up to 95% protection against covid—19, and is currently being checked by regulators across the globe. but the head of the who health emergencies programme, dr michael ryan, stressed that we shouldn't over—rely on the vaccine. vaccines do not equal zero covid.

vaccines do not equal zero covid. vaccines and vaccination will add a major, major powerful tool to the toolkit that we have. by themselves, they will not do theirjob. therefore, we have to add vaccines into an existing public health strategy. we will have to continue to work on managing our personal behaviour, our hygiene and in many cases, we need to recognise the vaccine will not be with everyone early next year. speaking at the same news conference, the who's chief scientist outlined its aims for the covax project, which is its 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% of their populations. 0ur our hope is that by the first quarter of 2021, we would have about half a billion doses available to be distributed across the country, and

this is why we developed a framework in orderto do this is why we developed a framework in order to do this fairly to all countries. in the second half of 2021, the volume of those has been picked up and the speed in which they will become available. countries can start expecting those towards the end of 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 that you may have? no. in training for one of the biggest assignments in the history of the nhs — covid vaccinations for real, and starting next week in hospitals like this one in coventry. they say as well as preparing staff to do the jabs, they've had to work out complex storage plans. it's an unusual challenge

in that this is a vaccine that needs to be stored at —70. and it's not the way we've had to handle a drug before. but in the hospital, we have handled other drugs that way. so, from the pharmacy‘s perspective, we've had to have a new freezer. that was delivered a couple of weeks ago. it won'tjust be in hospitals. nhs england has said gps will start vaccinating at specially run clinics from december 14th. so, when will care home residents be vaccinated? the scottish government said this will happen from mid—december, though in england, that wasn't so clear. the problem is the way doses are packed. they need to be broken down into smaller consignments, a complex task, but regulators say that shouldn't take too long. various centres involved in breaking down the packs are involved now in doing that at the very cold temperatures that are necessary. and of course, putting a day on it might be variable, but i would say 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 suggests that in england last week, one in 105 people had the virus, with the case rate coming down. in scotland, it was one in 130, with the rate starting to fall. in wales, one in 170 with the virus, with the case rate no longer falling. in northern ireland, it was one in 190, with the rate continuing to come down. the r number, which shows whether the virus is accelerating or receding, was a range of 0.8 to 1, slightly down on last week. so what might that mean for the type of restrictions which may still be needed into the new year? i think the sort of message perhaps from a policy perspective is that unfortunately, if we're going to keep infection rates 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. hugh pym, bbc news. authorities in moscow say their coronavirus it's four months since a devastating explosion tore through the centre of the lebanese capital beirut. a cruise ship was dangerously close to the blast. the orient queen capsized, and two crew members lost their lives. quentin sommerville has the story of those who survived. a warning: some viewers may find images in this story distressing. lebanon is living in a state of aftermath, a country turned on its head. this was its only cruise ship, the orient queen. four months ago, it took the full

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, its safe harbour lay in ruins. the orient queen was upright, but the engine room was flooding. and crew members were missing. 0n the quayside, chef michael was badly injured. translation: our ship's interior was wrecked. we had a hard time getting out. i didn't feel the second blast because i was 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, four operations later, they have managed to save his leg.

the port and much of beirut was in chaos. at the orient queen, they were still searching for missing crew. it took more than two hours to find the body of haile rette. the ethiopian crewman had been blown off the ship. he was found at a nearby pier. mustafa airout wouldn't 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. it's too much for the brain to accept and for the heart to even handle. merhi abou merhi is the ship's owner. if this happened to metal and to

concrete, can you even imagine? she is seeing the wreckage for the first time. like many here, she is overwhelmed with anger and disbelief that a disaster so easily avoidable was allowed to happen. i blame every person that knew what was there at the port for not taking action. so many lives, so many innocent people have lost loved ones, have lost their homes, their work, their dreams. it's not just us. it's notjust the orient queen. it's everyone. dozens of arrests have been made, but an investigation that was promised to take only days four months later is still dragging on. this is a crime scene. the government knew that the dangerous chemicals were being stored here. so did thejudiciary.

so too did the port authorities. it was only the lebanese people who were being kept in the dark, and few of them believe that the truth will ever emerge from this pit of corruption. the orient queen is lost. she will never sail again. and the reputation of the authorities that allowed this to happen is beyond salvage. quentin sommerville, bbc news, beirut. and american world war ii veteran who had been suffering from coronavirus has been discharged from hospital to celebrate his 104th birthday at home. # happy birthday to you. # happy birthday to you. # happy birthday to you. doctors, # happy birthday to you. doctors, doctors, nurses # happy birthday to you. doctors, nurses and family members lined up with posters and balloons as he left

hospital in alabama. his family thank hospital staff. many congratulations. thanks for watching. it's been a renter he seen for many parts of the uk. we started with widespread snow in scotland. that then turn to rain and most of snow that's falling right now is really over the high ground —— a wintry season. particularly over the peak district. it's been a messy picture because we had these bands of cloud bringing wet weather around an area of low pressure with some stronger winds. that will tend to move down into france, so for a start, the winds will ease and that we can should be turning drier as well. but still in cold air. clearing skies across parts the midlands, eastern england where we are likely to find a frost and some icy conditions as

well. elsewhere will be quite as chilly or cold as last night in scotland. and what a rather across —— wetter weather. but for many, it will be turning dry with some sunshine. another chilly day, not as windy as it was on friday but those temperatures fall to 7 degrees. clear skies in the evening but we are likely to find some cloud and wetter weather just running into are likely to find some cloud and wetter weatherjust running into the far east of scotland and into the north of england as well. that'll keep the temperatures up here, but elsewhere we're likely to find frost more widely, and it brings the risk of lysine patches as well. it will be quite foggy by the morning and across the southeast —— of some icy

patches. we will still keep some cloud coming into the northeast of england, perhaps the midlands with a few showers. also some sunshine, the best temperatures probably in wales and the southwest, eight, maybe 9 degrees but in the cloud further east, it's going to be colder, around four celsius or so. early next week, one area of low pressure running to the southwest, another one threatening to come in off the north sea. that will bring some wetter weather across... next week is going to be dry generally. it is going to be cold and could be quite great with some patches of fog. —— quite grey.

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 goes on tackling disease 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 recovery is slowing. he's called for urgent bipartisan agreement to help those