this is bbc news, this is bbc news, the headlines: the mayor of san francisco says our top stories: she and political leaders across the bay area are imposing new lockdown orders and business restrictions to try and contain a surge in covid—19 infections. the us has recorded more than 1a million cases — the highest of any new lockdown on the streets of san francisco to help curb a country in the world. surge in coronavirus cases. brexit trade talks are pause trade talks between britain after eu and uk negotiators and the european union failed to reach agreement. have been put on hold until president trump orders the prime minister boris johnson withdrawal of nearly all us and the commission president — troops from somalia. officials there call it a morale boost ursula von der leyen — for terraced. and a special hold direct talks on saturday. report from beirut four months they'll try to bridge significant differences in three key areas — competition, governance and fisheries. after the explosion that the pentagon says president trump has ordered the withdrawal of nearly all american troops from somalia before he leaves office next month. some of the troops would be relocated to neighbouring the government knew countries, allowing

that the dangerous chemicals for cross—border operations. officials say the few were being stored here, that remain will be so did thejudiciary, in the somali so, too, did the port authorities. it was only delivered his people capital mogadishu. who were being kept in the dark. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we start with the news that the united states has recorded the highest number of covid—19 deaths anywhere in the world — almost 3,000 in a single day — the equivalent of two deaths every minute. the mayor of san francisco along with political leaders across the bay area are imposing new lockdown orders and business restrictions to try to contain the surge of infections, saying it's time for action. the governor announced his new stay—at—home order linked to hospital capacity. we know san francisco is not at that trigger point yet, as is also the case with other bay area counties. but that doesn't mean we won't be soon, and that we should wait to act. the measures we've tried so far simply haven't bent the curve the way

we need it to. we have to do everything we can to prevent this from being a holiday season that we look back on as one of sickness and death, especially now when we have vaccinations that are really within sight. there is a light at the end of the tunnel. erin allday is the health correspondent for the san francisco chronicle. she gave us her assessment of the situation in the city. it's pretty bad. i think what we're really concerned about here is as the pressure on our hospitals and especially the intensive care numbers get higher than they ever have been at any point in the pandemic and we have tried to restrict things, we have tried to hold back this latest swell and nothing's worked, and we just keep seeing these numbers climb and of course, what is especially concerning is we just had thanksgiving here in the states and we have not even seen the infections come up from that holiday, which almost certainly will have resulted in a lot of new cases. give us a flavour of what restrictions now will be

in place and if you think, well, if they go far enough. i think that is the question. so the new order that will be put in place in san francisco and other parts of where i'm living in northern california, they will be put in place on sunday. it is essentially a throwback to march and april and the very earliest stages of the pandemic when we were really fighting hard to try to stop this thing in its tracks. so it's the most restrictive measures we have had in many, many months. it's essentially a broad stay—at—home order, telling everyone to stay at home as much as possible and don't go out and don't interact with others and just kind of only go outside and go about your business if there is something you really need to be outside and doing, so it is very dramatic. i think the people are not really looking forward to this coming into effect — and it will be in effect through the end of the year, so that is through the christmas holidays and all of the other holidays so you know, it is definitely

really impactful. as for if it helps, you know, i think that's what were all kind of fingers crossed at this point. this is all we've got, right? like, there isn't anything more that we have got kind of in our pocket to throw at this. nobody really has an appetite for even more extreme kind of lockdown where you start arresting people on the street situation. so we're going to just have to hope that this is going to be good enough. just for our viewers, erin, around the world, give us an idea about how san francisco and the area there fits into the broader us picture. is it one of the worst areas? and how is the rest of the country feeling? well, the strange thing is we are actually one of the better areas. i mean, we're doing better than a lot of a lot of areas are — even places in california — and we doing a pretty good job of keeping our cases pretty in check, relatively low. the problem we ran into is we have always had a pretty good baseline of virus around here, it has never really gone away completely and nobody

knows, you know, why, whether it is geography — we were one of the first places to be hit by the virus in the united states and it has kind of lingered — but we have had, you know, pretty serious restrictions in place kind of all along. and we do have, especially in san francisco, the lowest fatality rate of any major city in the united states. i think some of these restrictions we are seeing are about kind of maintaining that record. we don't want to look like some of these other parts of the country, or even the rest of the state, that have experienced really, really bad and awful situations where their hospitals have been overrun and you see people russia's vaccinations programme will roll—out on saturday to clinics in moscow after president putin ordered jabs for groups most at risk. russia is using its own vaccine, known as sputnik v, which developers claim is up to 95% effective. but it's still in phase three safety and efficacy trials — with questions over how much of it russia can produce. mark lobel reports. russia's roll—out begins here

in moscow, with a cautiously optimistic public looking on. translation: i don't know whether the vaccine works or not but i'm sure there's nothing wrong with it. i'm not an anti—vaxxer, but it's yet to be proved how effective the vaccine will be. with thousands signed up already, those currently eligible to apply online are medics, teachers, social workers and those in contact with lots of people during their day—to—day duties. we expect to vaccinate around two million people in december. sputnik has good safety, good efficacy, it can be stored at plus two, plus eight. one jab costs less than $10, so definitely it is a very good contender to be part of the solution, but of course it cannot be the only solution to the world vaccine issues. president putin has now ordered the large—scale roll—out of this vaccine across russia, which is yet to finish its stage three safety checks.

having registered it back in august, as the country with the world's fourth worst caseload for coronavirus and the recent grim domestic record of 589 covid deaths in the day. so far, the sputnik vaccine‘s trial results have not been peer reviewed or approved by any international drug control agency, but the vaccine has been pre—ordered by india, south korea, china, brazil and hungry. one challenge will be to convince some of the somewhat sceptical russians of the reliability of sputnik v. translation: i am not going to get the vaccine jab, let everyone else get vaccinated and if they will, i will survive. but the vaccine producers say this offers real hope for russian medical workers and hospitals alike who, despite the constraints put in their path by coronavirus, are still finding way to smile and keep safe this christmas season. mark lobel, bbc news.

democrats in the us house of representatives have voted to decriminalise the use of cannabis. the first time the measure has succeeded in congress adopted 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 control of the senate in elections next month. negotiations between britain and the eu on a post—brexit trade deal have been put on hold, despite an earlier warning from downing street that time to reach an agreement was in short supply. the two sides‘ chief negotiators issued a joint statement saying they were still too far apart on key issues. borisjohnson and the european commission president ursula von der leyen will speak later on saturday in an effort to break the deadlock. 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? for every wheel that's not — 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 due to significant divergences. 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—19 on our economic and social life, the last thing our citizens need now is a second shock of the kind that 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 — 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's 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. president trump has ordered the

retreat of all us troops in somalia. it follows if done is done and iraq. officials call ita done and iraq. officials call it a morale boost for terrorist ‘s. bronwyn is director of studies at the africa centre at the atlantic council and assess the atlantic council and assess the troop withdrawal will only have a limited impact. my opinion is that the impact will probably be less than anticipated. the us has around 700 troops in somalia and they are mostly engaged in training and elite somali special forces unit. they are obviously an important component of us response in somalia but they are less important than the 20,000 peacekeepers currently fighting al—shabaab. those from uganda, djibouti, and other countries. sorry to jump in there but how strong is the threat from al—sha baab

and islamic state? al—shabaab has been a powerful actor in somalia since 2007 and nothing that the us has done has changed that. what a lot of folks are saying at the moment is that the somali government is incapable of preventing terrorist attacks in somalia without us support but the reality is they have been incapable of preventing terrorist attacks with us support. so the question is not necessarily will al—sha baab become massively more powerful but will become marginally more powerful as a result of this withdrawal? it is not a good thing if it does but i do not expect this to be the end of the mission and i do not expected be a significant game changer for somalia either. interesting. given that, do you think that the next president,

president biden should reverse the decision or if you think it will not make that much difference, why bother? the us will maintain the potential to continue its campaign of airstrikes against high—value targets in somalia and that has been the thing that the american population cares about the most. as long as they have the capability to conduct kinetic missions, it may be that president biden will seek to put a few troops back in but i think the main concern is that the somali government has not, in the 13 odd years that the us has been attempting to strengthen their army, shown significant progress. so i think the main problem in the us is that they have not had a political strategy in somalia that would make a military engagement effective. and unless biden has an idea for engagement in somalia that is better than the obama

and trump administration approach which were largely the same, then i do not see him putting troops back in. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: peerless to trying to do his bit to preserve the environment. —— pianist. 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 ”am 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 world news, the latest headlines: new lockdown orders and restrictions are imposed in san francisco to help curb a surgeon, francisco to help curb a surgeon, in most cases. brexit talks have been temporarily put on hold without agreement. the lead negotiator say the eu president and the prime minister will talk directly on saturday. it is four months and is a

devastating explosion tore through the centre of the lebanese capital, beirut. that since. a cruise ship was dangerously close to the blast. the orient queen capsized and two crewmembers lost their lives. quentin sommerville has the story of those who survived, and a warning that some viewers may find images in the 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. on the quayside, chef michael villanueva 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. 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 notjust us, it's not just 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. us president—electjoe 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 pandemic. 2.3 million more people have become long—term unemployed over the past three months. mr barnes has americans need help now, especially as many covid relief measures are set to run out at the end of the year. if congress and president trump failed to act by the end of december, 12 million americans will lose their unemployment benefits, that they rely on. merry christmas. unemployment benefits allowing them to keep food on the table and keep the lights on and the heat on. pay the bills. emergency paid leave alland. a the bills. emergency paid leave all and. a moratorium on evictions will expire. states will lose the vital tools they need to pay for covid testing and vital —— and public health. almost a0 years after a shooting in paris that left six people that i suspect has been

extradited from norway to stand trial. the decision has been welcomed by the family of victims is gail allen reports. in 1982 victims is gail allen reports. in1982a victims is gail allen reports. in 1982 a grenade was thrown intojoe goldenberg's at lunchtime, and assailants followed, spraying the packed restau ra nt followed, spraying the packed restaurant with rounds of sheen gunfire. suspicion immediately fell on the symphonic organisation, a dissident palestinian group that had split from fatah and plo. the extradition of a suspect has been made possible by an agreement the eu and norway. the director of the french association for victims of terrorism is has three other suspects are still at large in the middle east. but the families will be glad to see at least one person stand trial. translation: we are going to try to persuade jordan

translation: we are going to try to persuadejordan and the west ba n k try to persuadejordan and the west bank to follow norway's lead and join the fight against terrorism, because the fight against terrorism means never letting crimes go unpunished. we must all stand in solidarity to denounce terrorism, regardless of borders. waled abuzayed, now aged 62, has arrived in paris from oslo, where he has been living since 1991. he denies being involved in the attack, saying he was in monte in the attack, saying he was in m o nte carlo in the attack, saying he was in monte carlo at the time. the goldenberg killings were part ofa goldenberg killings were part of a wave of anti—semitic attacks in france in the 1980s, attacks in france in the 1980s, attacks which have again surged since 2015. the trial opens in controversy because of media reports of a secret deal in which french intelligence steward the abu nidal organisation it would not face prosecution as long as it didn't carry out any more attacks in france. the suspect will appear before an antiterrorism judge on

saturday. a group of activists are trying to stop the destruction of an ancient forest, and they had a guest to help them. tim allman points. so renowned and so respected is pianist igor levit... ..he can sometimes be found in the studios of the bbc. here he is rehearsing for an appearance on bbc news in 2017. a very different kind of performance, though, taking place in the wilds of central germany. a rendition of danny boy in memory of the dannenroder forest, some of which is being torn down for a road extension. translation: even though the occasion is very sad, i'm doing a rehearsal, i feel like i'm playing a swansong for something that leaves us, i'm still thankful, happy and content

to be here with you. protests have been going on here for more than a year. environmental groups, trying to preserve the country's habitat. the authorities, determined to allow lawful construction work to go ahead. "what is happening here is quickly "reduced to a conflict between activists and the police," this protester says. "this is an attempt to defend and protect ecosystems "and our livelihoods so that we can survive." something almost deeply poetic about it. the presence of igor levit certainly attracted some attention but the felling of trees continued. for these demonstrators, the day ended on a sad note.

tim allman, bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan—jones. this is bbc news. hello there. it's been a wintry scene for many parts of the uk. we started with some widespread snow in scotland. that then turned to rain and so the most of any snow that's falling right now is really over the higher ground. but, more recently, there has been some snow through the midlands, particularly over the peak district. but it's been a messy picture because we've had these bands of cloud bringing wet weather swirling around an area of low pressure together with some stronger winds. that low pressure, though, will tend to move down into france, so, for a start, the winds will ease and through the weekend we should be turning drier as well. but we're still in cold air. with some clearing skies by the morning across some parts the midlands, eastern england, we are likely to find a frost and likely to find some

icy conditions as well. elsewhere across the uk, it won't be quite as chilly, not going to be as cold as last night in scotland. there's more cloud around, there's wetter weather too. and the wetter weather across wales, western england will become confined to the south—west. we have a few showers breaking out, running into some eastern coasts of england but for many, it will be turning dry with some sunshine. the weather improving in northern ireland as well and those showers in scotland becoming fewer with sunshine especially in the south—west. another chilly day, not as windy as it was on friday but those temperatures a—7 degrees. heading into the evening, clearer skies in the evening allowing those temperatures to fall quickly but we are likely to find some cloud and wetter weather just running into the far east of scotland and into the north—east of england as well. that'll keep the temperatures up here, perhaps, but elsewhere we're likely to find frost, probably more widely, and it brings the risk of some icy patches as well. not only that, but quite foggy by the morning and across the south—east of england, east anglia. that should tend to lift,

perhaps only into low cloud, mind you. and we will still keep some cloud coming into the north—east of england, perhaps the midlands, bringing with it a few showers. the odd shower around elsewhere but also some sunshine. probably the best temperatures will be in wales and the south—west, 8, maybe 9 degrees but in the cloud further east, it's going to be colder, around a celsius or so. early next week, we've got one area of low pressure running to the south—west of the uk, another one threatening to come in off the north sea. and that will bring some wetter weather probably on tuesday into parts of scotland, but early next week, generally it is going to be dry. it is going to be cold and could be quite grey, 00:28:44,434 --> 2147483051:51:06,932 with some patches 2147483051:51:06,932 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 of persistent fog.