this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm samantha sediments. brexit trade talks are pause after eu negotiators failed to reach an agreement. us president elect joe biden calls for congress to act without delay to help americans who've lostjobs as a result of coronavirus. i'm not alone in saying the situation is urgent. if we don't act now the future it will be very bleak. new lockdown orders and restrictions are imposed in san francisco to help further surge in cases. any special report from beirut, for eight months after explosion which killed over 200 people.

hello and welcome to the programme. talks on a post brexit trade deal have been temporary halted without in agreement. less than a month before the transition period comes to an end. the uk's lead negotiator david frost and his counterpart had said they significant divergence remains. they said the negotiations will now paused and on saturday borisjohnson now paused and on saturday boris johnson and the now paused and on saturday borisjohnson and the president and the eu commission will discuss the next steps. our deputy political reporter vicki young reports. everything will soon be changing for this distribution company and thousands of others. and just for weeks goods going back and forth across the border with iiittt you 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

crossing fairies. if you are adding eight, 12 hours whatever that may be who's going to pick up that may be who's going to pick up because? if our wheels are turning were not earning any money. in candidate they are preparing a park for 10,000 la res. preparing a park for 10,000 lares. a trade deal with the eu would mean businesses can buy and sell goods without paying taxes or towers. but there will still be more checks whether there is a deal or not. will get a deal? the eu as chief negotiator michelle bonnier has beenin negotiator michelle bonnier has been in london all week. determination. but the uk has accused the eu and make last—minute demands. accused the eu and make last-minute demands. we want the eu to recognise that the uk isa 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 ha rd his team are working incredibly hard on theirs. that in good faith. 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. it's a joint statement on behalf of chief negotiator lord frost and bonnier said the conditions for an agreement are not met due to significant divergences. they agreed to pause the talks in order to state of play of negotiation. there is a lot at sta ke. negotiation. 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—19 on our economic and social life, the la st economic and social life, the last thing our citizens need how last thing our citizens need now is a second shock of the kind of a 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. eu countries

wa nt to their competitors. eu countries want to guarantee that their boats can operate in uk waters. if not, that you might make it much harderfor us to if not, that you might make it much harder for us to selfish to them. translation: france has a veto like all its partners. we will conduct our own evaluation of a deal. that's normal. we owe it to the french and our fishermen and to other economic... tonight, discussions have sold and no one is quite sure when the negotiators will be back. our your editor gave us her assessment from the pause for brussels. we can look at in a glass or glass half empty situation. both sides still say they want a deal and they want to work towards a deal. it depends on how willing they are on both sides to compromise to get a deal. don't permit these

compromises are difficult and they're political so you could cynically say this crisis is quite useful for both sides. 0n the glass half side, there are clearly very big the priority has always been the single market. they worry about uk competition. but the uk after brexit want to be nimble and competitive, he doesn't want to tie at hand and i want to hold onto as much comity as possible. this is a deal still possible, yes. is it definite, no. 0ne possible, yes. is it definite, no. one thing is definite and neither side will sign up to a deal unless they believe they can sell it back home as a victory. us president elect joe

biden has called for urgent bipartisan agreement in congress to help people who have lost their jobs 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 after the past three months. in a passionate speech, bite said americans need help now, especially as many restrictions are set to expire. the folks are there aren't looking for a hand—out, they just 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 as a nation. we need congress to act and act now. if congress and president trump fail to act by the end of december, 12 million americans

are losing unemployment benefits they 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. elise gould is a senior economist. i asked elise gould is a senior economist. iasked her elise gould is a senior economist. i asked her if mr biden was right to pressure congress and president trump. it 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.

—— paid leave measures. 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 growth slow again. 0nly games of 245,000 jobs continue in the public sector. 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. those new job those newjob figures were far lower than most economists expected. 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 un—implement rate ticked down but i say it's for the wrong reasons. —— unemployment. the hope was that maybe there would be some holiday pick—up and hiring. president—elect biden said in the speech that he has an economic 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 economically, absolutely. we need to infuse a lot more money and provide a lot more money and provide a lot more money and provide a lot more relief to families today. they need that relief, many families are facing eviction. they don't have enough money to put 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, 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. let's bring you some of the day's of their 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—19 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. —— i got the latest from peter bowes. 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's15% of emergency care beds available. before tough restrictions can end. 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 is a perilous situation, and that's why these restrictions have come into force. it's not a total lockdown, it's a stay—at—home order but it will affect a number of businesses. 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 do these restrictions compared to what the city and the areas experienced 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 difference 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 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 to be able to get 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 12%. it's really sort —— positive 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, you see some in the inner areas like

hollywood, you see the people that are suffering, the homeless numbers have gone up. you see many boarding up stores that you read —— many more boarded up stores than normal. stay with us on bbc news. the impact ofa stay with us on bbc news. the impact of a massive explosion is hunting survivors. we speak to those aboard the cruise ship which capsized. —— haunting survivors. 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. 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, boris johnson will converse directly on saturday. joe biden calls to congress to act without delay to help americans who have lostjobs as a result of coronavirus. 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 manufactured 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 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. our hope is that by the first quarter of 2021, we would have about half a billion doses available to be distributed across the countries in a fair manner, and this is why we developed an allocation 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. so, countries can start expecting doses 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. 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 warninn that 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. hana 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. some quite dramatic footage to

share from minnesota, where an aircraft was forced to land on aircraft was forced to land on a highway at night. well, the single engine plane managed to fit in between cars, driving on the road at night. with very little margin for air, it appeared to have suffered an engine failure. just a minor collision with a car and no one was injured, although it took several hours for officials to clear the damage and reopen the road. a bit of hollywood history has a new era. this is the handgun used by the late sean connery in the firstjames bond film. it's now sold at auction. it went for £256,000 —— dollars in beverly hills by an anonymous bidder who has seen every an anonymous bidder who has seen every bond movie. it made its debut in the 1962 movie in the hands of sean connery, who died in october at the age of 90. that's it for me, you can

reach me on twitter. thanks for watching. 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. 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 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 won't be quite as chilly in scotland, more cloud around the sweater weather and the wetter weather across wales, western england will become confined to the southwest. a few showers blanking out, but for many it will be turning dry with some sunshine. weather improving in northern ireland as well and those showers and scotland's becoming fewer with some sunshine, especially in the southwest. not as windy as it was on friday, but those temperatures for— 7 degrees. heading into the evening, clear skies allowing those temperatures to fall quickly but likely to find some cloud just running into the far east of scotla nd just running into the far east of scotland and into the north east of england as well. that will keep the temperatures up here, but elsewhere we're likely to find frost probably more likely and brings the will risk of icy patches as well. quite foggy by the morning across the southeast of england and east anglia, that should tend to lift, perhaps certainly into low cloud. and we will

keep some cloud coming into the northeast of england. the odd shower elsewhere, but also some sunshine. probably the best will be in wales in the southwest, eight, may be 9 degrees but in the cloud further east, it could be colder at around four celsius or so. colder at around four celsius or so. early next week, one area of low pressure running to the southwest of the uk, another one threatening to come in off the north sea and that will bring some wetter weather on tuesday and parts of scotland, but early next week is generally going to be dry. however, it is going to be cold and quite grey.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines

for viewers in the uk and around the world. trade and around the world. talks between britain and the trade talks between britain and the european union have been put on hold until prime minister borisjohnson the commissioner can hold direct talks on saturday. they are trying to bridge significant distance differences in three key areas. the us president electjoe biden has called for urgent bipartisan agreement to help people who've lostjobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. he said americans needed help now. new figures show thejobs needed help now. new figures show the jobs market continues to grow although at a slower rate. the mayor of san francisco says she and political leaders across the bay area are imposing new lockdown orders and business restrictions to try and make draina curve restrictions to try and make drain a curve of covid—19. the us recorded more than 14 million cases. the highest of any country in the